tinkerbell of winter
Keep Moving Forward-Walt Disney
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2004
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- 782
Being a DVC member and frequenter of the DVC boards, I will post my trip report for my European Road Trip here in case anyone is thinking of exchanging for world passport experiences or what have you.
The idea: I have always wanted to go to Europe and decided that a trip would make a lovely 30th birthday present to myself! I was looking at trips through Trafalgar and Contiki and one day at school I picked up a shaving cream sample and inside was a flyer for EF college break. After viewing this flyer, I decided that the 14 day European Road Trip was for me! (Especially since there were two full days in Paris, giving me the chance to indulge in my guilty pleasure-Disney parks!)
Amsterdam-first stop on the trip, we stayed here two nights at Casa 400, a tourist hotel near Amstel Station. I would stay there again. Amsterdam was a nice city, small enough to walk just about anywhere or take the tram. While in Amsterdam I went to the Heineken Experience, Anne Frank house, Gassan diamond factory, we took a canal cruise, and went to the countryside to see how they make wooden shoes and cheese, as well as to visit a small fishing village called Volendam. Holland was really beautiful, especially the countryside. It was ironic though, I saw cows and windmills, the same things I see here at home.
Heidelberg-This is such a beautiful city! I really enjoyed the castle and shops along the main street. We saw a gigantic wine barrel, so large that there is actually a dance floor on top of it. We stayed at the Hotel Scheid in the countryside, a very cute, smaller sized hotel. The rooms were nice and I would definitely stay there again.
Munich-We went to the Dachau concentration camp memorial site on our way to Munich. It was sad to see the place where so much torture took place, but it is essential for the world to be reminded of such atrocities to avoid a repeat. Once we got to Munich we had a guided tour on our bus, we saw the Olympic Park, Nymphenburg palace (which reminded me of Versailles), and ended up at the Glockenspeil for the 5 PM show. The Glockenspeil is basically a show like a cuckoo clock on the front of a large church like building. It was very neat. After watching that I got a crazy idea that I would climb a church steeple to get a better view of Munich. Well 14 floors later I had a pretty good view, and managed to get some impressive pictures. Later that night we went to the Hofbrauhaus, an outdoor biergarden. I must say I prefer the Biergarten at Epcot, it is much more entertaining and with better service!
Innsbruck-We stopped for lunch in Innsbruck on our way to Venice from Munich and saw the golden roof where Maximillian used to vacation. I loved Innsbruck and am seriously thinking of going back for a week long Austrian ski vacation with my daughter as soon as I get her a passport.
Venice-The city was beautiful, but also very crowded. There is so much history in this city, and it is really kind of sad the way the sea encroaches daily with high tide, often flooding the church and St. Marks Square. It was so cool to see the things I see at Epcot in person. We took a gondola ride through the canals which was a lot of fun. The canals were really full of gondolas though.
Verona-We stopped here for lunch enroute to Lucerne from Venice. I prefer Verona to Venice any day. It was much less crowded and slightly less touristy. I got my last taste of gelato in Verona-it is so good! We saw Juliet's house and the Arena.
Lucerne, Switzerland-My favorite country, absolutely! I love the Alps, they are so beautiful. When we got to our hotel in Emmeten Switzerland I went up the nearby mountain in a gondola where I got a great view of some snow covered peaks. Of course that made me miss winter, but it will revisit us soon enough. The next day we went to Lucerne for sightseeing and to see the crying lion monument and then an excursion to Mt. Pilatus. For the excursion we took a boat the length of Lake Lucerne to the incline railway which took us up Mt. Pilatus to the observation building. We did some hiking on the trails nearby the building and then headed down via gondola. That was the most fun part, we were so high up!! After that we headed to Zurich for an excellent dinner and to board the night train.
Night train-What an experience, six people to a compartment! We didn't get much sleep and I was thankful that I took a shower in the Zurich train station (the bathrooms were actually very nice, larger and cleaner than any of the hotel room bathrooms I had been in (other than the Swiss hotel in Emmeten). We arrived early in the morning in Paris.
Paris-On arrival day we took a bus tour and then were set free to explore the city on our own after a tour of Notre Dame and lunch in the Latin Quarter. I headed to the Cite De Sciences museum to view the Star Wars Expo. I really enjoyed it, they had tons of props from the movies, costumes, concept art, models, podracers and speeders. It was very cool. After that I headed back to the hotel where I ran into others from our group and ended up going to dinner with them. I tried escargot, and actually liked it. Also on the way back to the hotel I stopped at the Champs Elysses to go to the Disney store to buy my park hopper tickets. The next day I got up early and went to Disneyland park and Walt Disney Studios. I came back to Paris around 5 PM and went up the Eiffel Tower with the rest of the group, followed by a nighttime cruise on the Seine. It was absolutely beautiful, and Paris is definitely my favorite city of the trip! The next morning we got on the Eurostar train to London.
London-It only took the Eurostar 2.5 hours to get us to London (Waterloo) via the chunnel. Once we got to London we went to our hotel and then were set loose for free time. I headed to Leicester Square to find the elusive TKTS booth (which I never found), and ended up buying tickets to Les Miserables at a different booth. After obtaining tickets I headed over to the Tate Modern for some art, and intended to check out Shakespeares Globe theater which was closed for tours because of a performance. After Tate I ate some fish and chips at a pub on the bank of the Thames and walked to the London Eye. I really enjoyed the performers in the riverside park during the walk. The London eye was nice, but overpriced, twice the cost of the Eiffel tower ascent! After the eye I headed to the theater for Les Mis which was very good. The next day we had our guided tour of London where I had my picture taken with a guard, and we also went to Buckingham palace. After that I returned to Shakespeares Globe where I caught an EXCELLENT performance of Antony and Cleopatra. The actors were wonderful, and the price for a yard standing ticket was only about 10 USD (5 pounds). After that I headed back to the hotel where I met up with other members of the group for our farewell dinner at Adam's Rib in Piccadilly Circus. We went out after that and the rest is history.
I had such an awesome time, I would recommend it to anyone!!!
The idea: I have always wanted to go to Europe and decided that a trip would make a lovely 30th birthday present to myself! I was looking at trips through Trafalgar and Contiki and one day at school I picked up a shaving cream sample and inside was a flyer for EF college break. After viewing this flyer, I decided that the 14 day European Road Trip was for me! (Especially since there were two full days in Paris, giving me the chance to indulge in my guilty pleasure-Disney parks!)
Amsterdam-first stop on the trip, we stayed here two nights at Casa 400, a tourist hotel near Amstel Station. I would stay there again. Amsterdam was a nice city, small enough to walk just about anywhere or take the tram. While in Amsterdam I went to the Heineken Experience, Anne Frank house, Gassan diamond factory, we took a canal cruise, and went to the countryside to see how they make wooden shoes and cheese, as well as to visit a small fishing village called Volendam. Holland was really beautiful, especially the countryside. It was ironic though, I saw cows and windmills, the same things I see here at home.
Heidelberg-This is such a beautiful city! I really enjoyed the castle and shops along the main street. We saw a gigantic wine barrel, so large that there is actually a dance floor on top of it. We stayed at the Hotel Scheid in the countryside, a very cute, smaller sized hotel. The rooms were nice and I would definitely stay there again.
Munich-We went to the Dachau concentration camp memorial site on our way to Munich. It was sad to see the place where so much torture took place, but it is essential for the world to be reminded of such atrocities to avoid a repeat. Once we got to Munich we had a guided tour on our bus, we saw the Olympic Park, Nymphenburg palace (which reminded me of Versailles), and ended up at the Glockenspeil for the 5 PM show. The Glockenspeil is basically a show like a cuckoo clock on the front of a large church like building. It was very neat. After watching that I got a crazy idea that I would climb a church steeple to get a better view of Munich. Well 14 floors later I had a pretty good view, and managed to get some impressive pictures. Later that night we went to the Hofbrauhaus, an outdoor biergarden. I must say I prefer the Biergarten at Epcot, it is much more entertaining and with better service!
Innsbruck-We stopped for lunch in Innsbruck on our way to Venice from Munich and saw the golden roof where Maximillian used to vacation. I loved Innsbruck and am seriously thinking of going back for a week long Austrian ski vacation with my daughter as soon as I get her a passport.
Venice-The city was beautiful, but also very crowded. There is so much history in this city, and it is really kind of sad the way the sea encroaches daily with high tide, often flooding the church and St. Marks Square. It was so cool to see the things I see at Epcot in person. We took a gondola ride through the canals which was a lot of fun. The canals were really full of gondolas though.
Verona-We stopped here for lunch enroute to Lucerne from Venice. I prefer Verona to Venice any day. It was much less crowded and slightly less touristy. I got my last taste of gelato in Verona-it is so good! We saw Juliet's house and the Arena.
Lucerne, Switzerland-My favorite country, absolutely! I love the Alps, they are so beautiful. When we got to our hotel in Emmeten Switzerland I went up the nearby mountain in a gondola where I got a great view of some snow covered peaks. Of course that made me miss winter, but it will revisit us soon enough. The next day we went to Lucerne for sightseeing and to see the crying lion monument and then an excursion to Mt. Pilatus. For the excursion we took a boat the length of Lake Lucerne to the incline railway which took us up Mt. Pilatus to the observation building. We did some hiking on the trails nearby the building and then headed down via gondola. That was the most fun part, we were so high up!! After that we headed to Zurich for an excellent dinner and to board the night train.
Night train-What an experience, six people to a compartment! We didn't get much sleep and I was thankful that I took a shower in the Zurich train station (the bathrooms were actually very nice, larger and cleaner than any of the hotel room bathrooms I had been in (other than the Swiss hotel in Emmeten). We arrived early in the morning in Paris.
Paris-On arrival day we took a bus tour and then were set free to explore the city on our own after a tour of Notre Dame and lunch in the Latin Quarter. I headed to the Cite De Sciences museum to view the Star Wars Expo. I really enjoyed it, they had tons of props from the movies, costumes, concept art, models, podracers and speeders. It was very cool. After that I headed back to the hotel where I ran into others from our group and ended up going to dinner with them. I tried escargot, and actually liked it. Also on the way back to the hotel I stopped at the Champs Elysses to go to the Disney store to buy my park hopper tickets. The next day I got up early and went to Disneyland park and Walt Disney Studios. I came back to Paris around 5 PM and went up the Eiffel Tower with the rest of the group, followed by a nighttime cruise on the Seine. It was absolutely beautiful, and Paris is definitely my favorite city of the trip! The next morning we got on the Eurostar train to London.
London-It only took the Eurostar 2.5 hours to get us to London (Waterloo) via the chunnel. Once we got to London we went to our hotel and then were set loose for free time. I headed to Leicester Square to find the elusive TKTS booth (which I never found), and ended up buying tickets to Les Miserables at a different booth. After obtaining tickets I headed over to the Tate Modern for some art, and intended to check out Shakespeares Globe theater which was closed for tours because of a performance. After Tate I ate some fish and chips at a pub on the bank of the Thames and walked to the London Eye. I really enjoyed the performers in the riverside park during the walk. The London eye was nice, but overpriced, twice the cost of the Eiffel tower ascent! After the eye I headed to the theater for Les Mis which was very good. The next day we had our guided tour of London where I had my picture taken with a guard, and we also went to Buckingham palace. After that I returned to Shakespeares Globe where I caught an EXCELLENT performance of Antony and Cleopatra. The actors were wonderful, and the price for a yard standing ticket was only about 10 USD (5 pounds). After that I headed back to the hotel where I met up with other members of the group for our farewell dinner at Adam's Rib in Piccadilly Circus. We went out after that and the rest is history.
I had such an awesome time, I would recommend it to anyone!!!
