European Tour Pictures

We traveled to London via British Airways, arriving about 10 AM. Aftergoing through customs and immigration, we left for our hotel on the shuttle bus along with other folks to be dropped off at various hotels. We were booked at the Royal Scot.

On this first free day of our trip, we chose an afternoon tour of this great castle, which on our last visit was closed to visitors. The restoration (from fire) is finished and it is a complete success.

Windsor Castle Driveway	Main Entrance from town of Windsor
Inside Castle walls, cathedral on right	Living Quarters on left

There will be a wedding here in about a month and we saw where all the royals will be seated in the great hall of St Georges Chapel, located here within the castle walls.This is a magnificent place to tour, so much history and oppulence, it's hard to absorb it all.

First and Original tower built	Castle from bus parking lot downtown
Welcome sign at bus parking lot	Bus parking lot,castle in background

The weather was much cooler there as we changed to our tour bus and met both our driver and tour director who would be with us ALL the way, we thought. We headed for Brussels,BEL and our first overnight stop. It rained lightly most of the way, but we were still able to see the beauty of the landscape and lots of windmills as we neared the city.
We enjoyed a good pasta dinner at a sidewalk cafe and the rain having stopped, we took a walk around the city and found it to be very beautiful.

Leaving London	On bus to Chunnel
Switching busses in Calais,FR	On to Brussels

Our hotel in Brussels	Ready for downtown Brussels
Typical Brussels street	Pasta for lunch Mmmmmm...Good!

An afternoon of sightseeing ended with a canal cruise to see the city from water level. This was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon and we thoroughly enjoyed the sights of the city. We saw the Royal palace and the Government buildings which are right on the water, plus many of the apartment buildings that had started to lean due to sinking foundations. Bicycles, bicycles everywhere!!!! We stayed overnight here in Amsterdam.

A post card view	From the air
Leaning buildings	Goverment building

Outside diamond mart in Amaterdam	The sawing and shaping process
Polishing the facets on diamond wheel	Nice selection of loose stones

One of the beautiful canals	Lillie, me and David Yun, on cruise boat
Sidewalk cafe lunch with John and Mary	Shopping square in Amsterdam

A special treat today, a cruise on the River Rhine. We saw the Lorilei Rock, hilltop castles, half-timbered wine villages and terraced vineyards. It was amazing to see how these folks utilized every bit of hillside to grow the grapes. The vines were planted vertically on the hill side, and ropes tied at the top, were used to lower the workers down along the rows to cultivate the vines.
The weather was cool and somewhat misty, but we enjoyed this trip up the Rhine. Overnight is in the Heidelberg area.

Weekend Gardeners along the Rhine River	Guess What, along the Rhine
Koblenz, where we took river cruise	Riverside village from cruise boat

Cruising the Rhine. Mostly our group here	Ah yes, castles on the Rhine.
Our bus meets us at end of cruise	Just another castle, overlooking village

We drove south on the Autobahn, along the fringe of the Black Forest to Basle, then through Switzerland's rolling green meadows into the alpine heart of the country. Lucerne, one of the country's finest cities, is nestled in the snow-capped Alps, surrounded by it's lake which is nourished by the clear waters of the Reuss River. The rain wiped out all of the city sightseeing except for a short bus tour and a soggy boat ride. We did manage to get downtown to have a little lunch and visit some small shops, which had sand bags around the store fronts in case of flooding. Saw some fine Swiss watches and their fine Swiss prices. What a beautiful city it was, would love to return there someday. It rained all night.

On the road again, to Luserne, SW	Beautiful lake view
Wet streets didn't stop us,don't ya know.	Post card view -Ober-Lucerne

Sand bags were ready for flood waters	Post card view downtown building on lake
More wet streets, nice day for walk	Great place for lunch, inside of course

It was still raining next morning but our trip to Mt Titlis was still on as we would be above the rain at the top where it was zero degrees F. and snowing. As we got off the cable car there was a beautiful lodge with two restaurants and a bar to provide for everyones culinary desires. Located a the 3020 m/10,000ft. above sea level we walked on the glacier, strolled through the Glacier Grotto(ice cave) and relaxed inside at the observation lounge. Because of the cloud cover our visibility was somewhat restricted but the experience was great.
FOrstentum,Leichtenstein was the next stop with it's white CASTLE VADUZ,the residence of H.S.H. Reigning Prince Hans-Adam ll. There we found a good spot for lunch and were soon joined by several more from our group. Had to detour north, back into Germany,which added 100 miles to our day's driving in order to get around the floods which were covering southern Switzerland and Austria. Arrived in Innsbruk 4 hrs late but the hotel still had a good dinner waiting for us. What a great bus-driver!!!!

Over first hill, a beautiful valley? Yes	Starting up Mt. Titlis from Swiss village
Same valley village	Up,up,up and it's getting COLD!

The summit, 0 degrees and snowing	Ice caves, carved in the glacier, amazing!
BOY, is it COLD, not used to this!!	Gift shops and restaurants await tourists

Flooded rivers caused us to detour back into

Germany for about 100 miles. Got in late.

In Salzburg, birthplace of Mozart, we had free time to explore the city with it's beautiful square where a festival was in progress. For lunch we had a sausage sandwich and a coke from one of the street vendors then strolled downtown looking for McDonalds and their free rest rooms. Everyone else makes you pay. We saw the 'birth house' of Mozart not far from McDonalds. How quaint!!
Next stop, a visit to Melk, on the shores of the Danube, and a visit to it's Monastary. It was only a short drive then to Vienna where we had two nights, and time to see and enjoy this famous city.

Mozart's birth house	Church square
	Mr. Mozart's statue

Street festival in church square	Don't know who--looked interesting though
Looking for McDonalds. Castle at top of pic	Monastary at Melk, a photostop

On the included city tour we saw the State Opera, Parliment, Town Hall and stopped for a visit to St. Stephen's Cathedral. We had time for a walk on a main street and found 'Fridays', but decided to have lunch in a small cafe. The pastries looked wonderful. We had a small sandwich and a large pastry,Good choice!!
We had just enough time, before our bus arrives, to listen to the famous clock that plays organ music for 10 minutes and has historical statue figures that move across the face of the clock every hour on the hour. Amazing!!
In the afternoon, we visited the Palace of Schonbrunn and the Prater(a park) with it's Giant(Ferris) Wheel, thrill rides and a recreation area for local families. All this made for a full day of sightseeing. We are all ready for some dinner, a little rest, then off to our string concert, at The Stock Exchange Building, by the Vienna Residence Orchestra.The music was Mozart and Strauss. A very nice evening. It couldn't have been a nicer day.

Belvedere Palace	Carriage driver at palace entrance
Parliament building, I think, so many bldgs	St Stephen's Cathedral

Vienna city guide, in yellow, with our group	Bus late, still waiting, after city tour
Famous clock. Moving figures,organ music for 10 min on the hour. Beautiful!	City street near where we ate lunch, very clean and fun to walk on. Saw Friday's too

Gardens at Schonbrunn Palace	Schonbrunn Palace. Amazingly beautiful.
The'Prater' Rec area. Rides and games.	World's largest 'Ferris' wheel, at Prada.

State Opera House	Danube River
Vienna string concert at the Stock Exchange	Building. Lovely evening out.

On to Italy.....We travelled southward for the whole day reaching the lakeland area of Worthersee and a stop at Velden for a "coffee" break. We entered Italy by way of Tarvisio, and then through the flat fertile plains of Venetia to the Venice area for our overnight stop.
We stayed at the Hotel DaPoppi, about 15 miles out of Venice, a small, immaculate, old building with marble floors, stairs and bathrooms. A beautiful "oasis" out in the countryside.
After 300 miles on the bus, we were ready for some dinner (included) and some relaxation. Many however were still ready to go on an evening of boat rides, a stroll down Venetian calle to a local tavern to hear fine singing and a bottle of sparkling wine.

Driving SW towards Venice area	Still driving......
Hotel Da Poppi- classy bath, but small.	View from our window, nice gardens.

Our included tour started with a boat ride to St Mark's Square, followed by a visit to St. Mark's Basilica, then on to see the famous Venetian glass blowers at work creating some of the most beautiful pieces of glass-art that we've ever seen.
Passing up a gondola ride we chose a boat tour across the lagoon to the island of Burano,the picturesque fishing village, where the ladies create beautiful hand made lace. A wonderful experience and the talent for this art must be handed down from generation to generation.There are of course the usual tourist shops filled with this beautiful lace and other expensive gifts. It's a gorgeous, cool, sunny day just perfect for the boat ride back across the lagoon to the Isle of Venice.
We had a nice lunch at a sidewalk cafe on one of the very narrow streets. It was very good, gnoche with tomato sauce to start, followed by a small seasoned steak and FF potatos then topped off with ice cream and coke, of course.

Isle of Venice from the aireoplane	Our 'official' city tour guide. Very good!
Typical street scene. No red lights here!	St. Mark's Basilica and square, with pigeons

Glass blowers, at work. Everything is hand made here at this factory. What talent!	Beautiful Venetian glass and lady (not Venetian). Very expensive stuff.
Lunch at a side walk cafe, Lillie's dream come true.	More stuff........

Docking at Isle of Burano, near Venice.	Typical street in village,shops of course.
Leaving Venice,tired and hungary	Lace curtains made here,also mask, not Lillie

Back on the bus at 8 AM for a long drive southward across the Po Delta, to the expressway skirting the Adriatic coast. On one of our "necessary' stops, a little black dog came running over to meet our bus. We were told that he greets every tour bus with the same happy enthusiasm. He turned out to be a real 'cookie monster'. We shared our goodies with him and then had to say farewell as the bus was ready to leave. A nice stop!!
Later we crossed the Apennines(mountains) and stopped in Assisi, where St. Francis(who?) was born in 1812(wow). This is where the earthquake hit in 1997 killing several tourists in the church when part of the ceiling fell on them. Most of the this mountain village is still under reconstruction today including the St Francis Basilica.
This was also one of the best lunch stops of our tour, having found the cafeteria at the local hotel. Excellent pasta!!! We arrived in Rome for our first night in this great historical city.

View from Assisi across valley	Lunch at the local hotel(by awning), the best.
Intersection near Basilica	Basilica viewed through archway. Undergoing reconstruction after earthquake

The day starts with the same old bread and water breakfast(Oh...for some bacon and eggs). We were late starting for the city tour as some of group couldn't get it together at 7:30 AM. The ride into town was a nightmare of cars and motor scooters all over the place. They drive like crazy, especially the scooters, weaving in and out and speeding. The city regulations would not permit our bus to get very close to the tourist areas, so we had to walk several blocks to the Vatican.
The Eternal City is the sightseer's dream, but having been there before, we chose to leave our group and go on our own sightseeing adventure, a walking tour of ancient sights we had not seen. The most impressive was the National Museum of Castel Sant'Angelo. This structure was started in AD 125 as a desire of the emperor Publius Aelius Hadrianus-Hadrian- to erect a momumental tomb destined to contain the emporor's ashes and those of his successors. It was finished in AD 159, a year after his death. We walked up the circular ramp which eventually led us to the very top, where we could view most of the city. We had just time for a little lunch, at a small cafe on a side street where we got charged extra for the use of a table, before returning to meet our group at Vatican Square and the walk to the bus stop.
We went back to the hotel to freshen up for our evening out, a drive through the ancient villages in the Alban (Roman) Hills. It is a landscape of rare beauty, myths, legends and history. I took pictures of the Pope's summer residence, Castel Gandolfo, and viewed the beautiful crater lake below. It is all that remains of an ancient volcano.
Then to Frascati, a small mountian village for dinner in a tavern with several other tour groups. We had salami, bread, prosutti, pasta(very nice) chicken, potatos, fruit and finally lemon ice cream for desert. Entertainment was provided by local musicians, one playing the accordian and the other singing and playing the guitar. A nice evening and a wonderful day. Tired out!!

Castel Sant'Angelo Musuem	View of Vatican(white dome)from top of castle.
Another view from top of castle. One of the beautiful Roman bridges.	Vatican(white dome) masked with scaffolding for renovation.

One half of Crater lake, viewed from near the Pope's Place	Castel Gandolfo, Pope's Summer cottage in the Alban Hills(Seven Hills of Rome).
Packing to leave the Eternal City, Roma.	A rest stop on road to Florence.

It was an easy drive this morning, on the Highway of the Sun, to Florence. We arrived in the early afternoon and had to walk 10 to 15 mins to get to the town center. We roamed around by ourselves for a while before taking the 1 1/2 hr walking tour with a local guide. This renaissance gem and city of the Medicis was to keep us going all day. Traffic is banned in the historic center so visitors can relax and enjoy the city's timeless beauty in relative peace and quiet.
Our walking tour included the Piazza Signoria, the Palazzo Vecchio and it's courtyard, the Loggia dei Lanzi, and finally the Piazza del Duomo, it's Cathedral with the Giotto "Campanile" and the magnificent East Door of the Baptistry known as the "Gate to Paradise". These church buildings are a source of amazement to us considering how long ago they were built and how well they have held up through the years of use and misuse.
We stayed at a small hotel on the outskirts of the city where we had to pay for our water at dinner. It was a very tiring but informative day. Glad to get to bed.

Beautiful church building in Florence

Michael Angelo's "DAVID"

City guide in Florence

Home of $7.00 ice cream cones

Pretty good breakfast this morning, cereal and fruit cocktail along with our bread and water. We got started at 8:30 and drove for 3 hours to the first 'coffee' stop.
It's a short drive now to Pisa and one of the most famous buildings in the world, the Leaning Tower. Boy, is it leaning! Well worth seeing along with the Square of Miracles. Traveling again, past Genoa and along the Italian and French Rivieras, we encountered more than 100 tunnels. There was a contest on the bus to see who could count the exact number. We came in second with an honorable mention.
Nearing Nice, we visited one of the perfume factories for which the area is famous. A lot of the ladies took advantage of the wholesale prices here, we didn't because we couldn't find the fragrance we wanted. Our hotel, The Campanile, is located at the West end of the city and is very nice. We declined an optional tour to Monte Carlo that night so we could rest up. Couldn't be better than L.V. We had dinner in the hotel dining room which included a fabulus buffet of everything from soupa to desserts. A short stroll after dinner and we were ready to retire.

On the road to Pisa from Florence	A few statistics, if you can see them.
We made it, never thought we'd see it	Street vendors in Pisa, a few bargains!

Perfume factory brochure	Typical city wall of ancient times
	Roman water aqueduct, a photo stop

It was a gorgeous morning in Nice,on the Mediterranean shore,to stroll the Promenade des Anglais, shop in the old city section, or visit the elegant downtown stores. We strolled a bit then visited an antique sale at the old town flea market. Beautiful STUFF, but too costly for us. A visit to the downtown area with a quick lunch at McDonalds and a look in some of the dept. stores and our visit to this beautiful city is over. Back on the bus, Andres is waiting to whisk us, past our scheduled but aborted stop in Cannes, on to Avignon for the night. I could take more of Nice, anytime!!!

	On the way to hotel at West end of city
Our hotel, the Campanile in Nice	Nice, a downtown park and bus stop.

Going downtown in Nice for free time	Boardwalk, looking West along beach
Boardwalk looking East along beach	Another boardwalk view at Nice, FR

We left Avignon, the Motel Campanile and a very nice breakfast, at 8:00 AM . Our first stop was for photos at an old Roman aqueduct. Beautiful stone work and well preserved. We saw the Herault and Aude valley regions considered among the most attractive in France. Passing endless vineyards and picturesque fishing ports of the Langeudoc-Roussilon we headed for the Spanish border near Perpignan, France. This will be our last stop in France for now, and we need to get a few Spanish Petsetas for our stay in Barcelona tonight.
We have a beautiful old hotel, The Oriente, situated in the Spanish Village, facing a wide pedistrian walkway down the center of Ramblas street.
This walkway is filled with tourists, street vendors selling art work, flowers, animals, newspapers, ethnic foods(at the open-air market), souveniers and "living statues" in a variety of poses. It is hot and muggy here just like home.
Dinner tonight is included and we are served pasta,beef,FF's and ice cream. Barcelona is also a large seaport supporting several cruise lines. This evening was a real treat as we ventured to the Tablao El Cordobes located about a block from our hotel. Here we enjoyed seeing and hearing the best professional flamenco performers in Spain (according to our tour guide). They were excellent, in our humble opinion, and we relished every minute of their show. A busy day.

Hotel Oriente is behind me on the left, a great location. A grand old hotel.	Open air food market a short way from our hotel. Got red grapes as big as walnuts.
A lot of work to set this living statue up.	This one was really funny.

A great show, with all the trimmings.	This is authentic Spanish flemenco dancing.
Never saw feet move sofast as these did.	All in all, a wonderful evening out.

We had a whole day to enjoy the proud capital of Catalonia. Cervantes praised the city for it's beauty, courtesy and hospitality to strangers. A walk/ride tour(with local guide included) showed us the city the easy way. Many beautiful buildings and squares, ending at the Sagrada Familia Cathedral. They used geese as a security alert system years ago and some were still on duty as we walked through.
The guide then took us to a park, on a hill, overlooking the city, the Olympic stadium and village of 1992 and the water front. It was a good photo spot and picnic area for locals.
In the afternoon we took our bus, with a city guide, to the 4,320 foot high Montserrat Massif and it's medieval monastery. The guide told us the history of Catalonia's religious and cultural center, then led the group through the Royal Basilica to see the venerated Black Madona. We then had some free time to shop and take photos before departing for the city. This is a beautiful resort destination with all the facilities for family vacations.
On our way back, we saw the 'side hill' cemetery. It's built on the side of a very steep hill and the cripts are stacked one on another up the hill side. They look like apartments several stories high and run along the highway for maybe a mile or so.

Sagrada Familia Cathedral	Security flock of geese, on duty.
Fountain outside in church square	Wonderful pizza, one of the best on trip

Modernized rear facade of church	Top of original front facade of church
Detail of old original facade	Bottom of old original facade

One of the 'bull' billboards through out Spain.	Montserrat Tourist complex. Very nice and quite place for families to vacation.
Beautiful overlook toward Barcelonia	Another view to theSouth

We left Barcelona at 8:00AM today heading Northwest into the heart of Spain. This is the heartland of the country producing fruit trees by the thousands and mile after mile of cereal grain fields. The color was so green.
The center of Spain is located on a huge mesa that is about 2200 ft above sea level and is well cultivated and planted with many food crops. We took a coffee break at Lorida before pushing on into Aragon and across the mighty River Ebro to Saragossa, the birthplace of Goya, one of Spain's greatest painters.
We stopped here for lunch, a Spanish pizza with ham,olives,mushroms,red and orange pepper, and olive oil. Mmmmm.......GOOD!!! After lunch there was still time for a little sightseeing before driving to Madrid for two nights. We reached Madrid about 5:15PM.
We went out to dinner this evening. Starting with some topas (a large potato pancake) cut in small pieces at a small cafe, we then went on to another restaurant for the main course and dessert. Dinner was OK, veal, mushrooms, peppers, rice, procutti and cheese, potato salad and ice cream. Next was the city tour with the lights on every main building lit up like Christmas. It was beautiful. We walked under a wall of water at one of the city parks. GREAT!!!! This was a long day, time for bed........

Gorgious countryside enroute to Madrid	More of the same................
'Coffee Stop' enroute to Madrid	In the mountains now, still beautiful!

The Spaniards say this 2180 ft high city is the nearest place to Heaven. We had a full day here to enjoy the cool sunny weather and see this beautiful city. A city tour on our bus took us downtown to the Plaza Mayor, the center of the old city, to see many of the downtown sights and shopping areas.
After lunch we took a city bus(#23) back downtown to visit some of these stores and tourist sights. We walked to the Royal Palace and toured it on our own for the next 2 hours. This is a fabulous palace with all the opulance fit for a king, but he does not live there. He prefers an out of town residence, for himself and his family, out of the public eye and busy city.
Near the palace is the city opera house and next to it a sidewalk cafe, just what we needed for a little R&R. Here we met other American tourists on their way down to the Spanish Riviera, where they had rented villa, for a holiday in the sun. We took pictures for each other, then said fairwell and went shopping for "whatever". Back on good ole bus #23, we return to our hotel. Our late dinner of Paella was OK, but quite costly and the waiter was overbearing and rude. OH well!!! Goodby Madrid.

The Royal Palace in Madrid	Royal Guard at main vehicle entrance
A refreshing stop next to the Royal Opera House(on the left).	Beautiful shopping area, and we did till we're ready to drop.

We had the best breakfast of the trip so far this morning with ham, eggs, cheese, cereal, toast, sweet buns, fruit, juice and coffee. Every one was on board for the 8:30 departure. We climb the Somosierra Pass, the boundry between Old and New Castile, to the walled city of Aranda de Duero for a pit stop then push on to Burgos for lunch.
A pretty city with unusual trees, nice shops and of course a big cathedral to visit. We were then ready to descend from the 'Mesa' high country down to sea level again and our destination, San Sebastian, located on the North shore of Spain facing the Atlantic Ocean.
It was raining when we arrived, so we got out the umbrellas and walked to the beach anyway, as we would leave early the next morning, and this could be our only chance to see the beach. Later in the evening, the rain stopped and we once again walked to the beach, to find a beautiful city all lit up and begging to be photographed. We obliged, and were well rewarded with some nice pictures. Off to bed now for some much needed rest.

We counted 10 tour busses at this stop	Unusual trees at Burgos,our lunch stop
A rainy day at San Sebastian beach. Guess who's testing the umbrella.	A lovely evening on San Sebastian beach for a stroll.

Today's journey took us across the FLAT plains of the Landes, a part of Gascony, then through villages with names tied to some of France's most prestigious wines. We had a "coffee" stop in historic Poiters, where you hear about associations with the Black Prince(whoever he was). The country side is very green and well cultivated with all kinds of crops. It's only a few more miles to our over night stop at the Holiday Inn Express in Tours, a touch of home.
We arrived late in the afternoon to find everything closed, it being Sunday. It was a pretty little town with lots of trees, a town square and beautiful flowers. We took a short walk around town then returned to the hotel for our included dinner consisting of rice and corn salad,pork loin,FF's of course,rolls and chocolate cake in vanilla pudding. Quite good actually. A Ho Hum day!!

This is all there was to Tours,FR
Everything was closed.

We had our breakfast early, but did not leave until 8:30 as usual. Slept well last night and are ready to start our last week here in Europe, sooooooooooooooo, on to Paris.
Andres our driver, took the senic route along the shores of the River Loire, dotted with some of France's most famous castles, such as Amboise, Chaumont and Blois. A "castle"stop here in Blois is not very fruitful as all the shops are closed. We did find a coffee shop open, so got a big sandwich for our lunch stop later in the day. The castle was open but we chose to take a walk as we were getting 'full-up' on castles.
On to PARIS where we had time in the afternoon to visit the Eiffel Tower as the Louvre is closed due to a strike by musuem personel. We drove along the river Siene and right into the bus parking lot next to the tower. This visit is the realization of a life-long dream for me and I can't wait to get to the top. WOW, what a view. It was a clear day and we can see for miles and miles in every direction. Here at the top, is a small private 'office' built for Mr. Eiffel's use to entertain his visitors such as Thomas Edison and other well known people. It contained a desk, and several chairs. If there were no strike at the Louvre, we would not have stopped at the tower. How lucky can you get????
After the tower visit, we crossed a small bridge crossing the Seine river, walked down-river two more bridges to the entrance of the tunnel where Diana was killed. There were a lot of papers, notes to her, a few flowers and lots of people. We crossed back over the Seine to return to the bus and it started to rain hard just as we reached the parking lot.
We drove on to our hotel, the Comfort Inn Primevere located on the edge of the city. We had a nice room overlooking the street and a few big trees.There were many restaurants in this area and we were able to try a few. The Italian one was the best!!

The castle at Blois, FR	Downtown, where everything was closed except the cafes.
Bus parking area for Eiffel Tower	Post card view of tower

These are my shots of the tower. Couldn't resist taking just a couple.

We had a whole day to see Paris and marvel at this beautiful city. The included city tour started with a visit to Notre Dame Cathedral, then many of the best known Parisian sights: La Sorbonne, Arc de Triomphe, Opera, Madeleine, Eiffel Tower again, Pyramide near the Louvre, and the Champs Elysees.
Now it's off to Versailles, the splendid,recently restored Palace of Louis XlV, the Sun King. After the guided tour, we strolled a bit in the magnificent terraced gardens with their fountains and statues. All the 'Kings Louis' lived here through the years and Marie Antoinnete was the wife of one of them. There were 4,000 servants to maintain the palace and wait on 1,000 royals and members of the King's court. Fantastic place!!!
We had only 1-1/2 hours before our farewell dinner and we needed a little rest before dining. On our way to dinner,we visited Momtmartre, in the heart of Bohemian Paris, to see a beautiful white church situated high on a hill above the city. The view of the city is unsurpassed and the artist colony there by the church was busy painting and sketching the many tourists who had come out to enjoy a perfect evening. A ride down the 'Funicular'(an incline elevator) takes us to Pigalle where there were crowds of young people lining the street. The bus was waiting to take us to the PUB SAINT GERMAIN DES PRES for our farewell dinner. The food was great,the accordian player was very funny and very quick to respond to any comments by the diners. A fitting climax for such a fabulous tour and a very busy day.

River view of Notre Dame Cathederal	Front view of towers. Being renovated
Arc de Triomphe	City Opera House

On left, by lamp post is entrance to tunnel where Princess Di was killed	Memorial to her over the tunnel entrance right behind me
	Main gate to palace

Walking to the entrance of palace	One of many gardens surrounding palace
Frog fountain	Gallerie of glass/mirrors

White Church of Montmartre overlooking all of Paris.	Artist colony on grounds around the church. They are ready to paint you anytime.
Sidewalk cafe and gift shops	Eiffel Tower from Montmartre hill

We were up early to bid farewell to many folks who were flying home from here today, so there were a lot of good-bys and a few tears too. We had become like a big family, always watching out for one another making sure everyone was OK.
Those remaining, boarded the bus for the final drive north to Calais, on the coast of France. There we left our tour guide and bus driver and boarded the ferry to Dover and the white cliffs, made famous by the song during WW ll. It was a perfect day for the crossing, calm water, sunny and warm. The crossing took 1 1/2 hrs and we had to show our passports again in England.The local bus and driver(same one that we came here with) was waiting and away we went to London town On our way back to London, we saw one of the drills they had used to drill under the channel and would you believe it, it was for sale. It was only 40 ft high!!!!!!.
We checked in at the Kennedy Hotel for our last night. There was time for a walk down to the Euston station area with John and Mary to find some dinner. We settle on McDonalds as we are all bone tired and ready for some serious bed duty.

Our beautiful Volvo bus,driver Andries and tour guide Petra. A happy farewell to a great tour team.	Ferry awaits at pier, behind Lillie.
A passing ferry going to France.	White cliffs of Dover, England

This was our extra day to see more of London, so we took the tube, after studying the "underground" map, we decided what route to take, hike off to a nearby station and started our adventure. We purchased one-way tickets downtown to see Winston Churchill's War Rooms that are near to Buckingham palace. We arrived a few minutes before they opened and were first in line. These heavliy re-enforced rooms served as the command center during the bombing of London by Hitler's air force. It's incredible how these quarters have been preserved just as they were when the war ended.
A short walk across St. James Park and were are at Buckinham Palace again where the changing of the guard was about to take place at 11:30 AM. As always, there were thousands of people who wanted to be in the same place at the same time. Quite a sight!!! It was only a short walk to Victoria station where we boarded a city bus to Harrods Dept store. We shopped and shopped and shopped and saw the memorial to Princess Diana and Dodi provided by Dodi's father.
Food was on our mind, so we walked till we found a small restaurant with a salad bar, not too bad. We missed our veggies in Europe and needed to catch up on them. Time had come to find the nearest tube station and return to our hotel. A very busy and tiring and wonderful day in old London town. After a short rest, we went down to the hotel restaurant and had a big omlette because we were also a little hungry for eggs. Boy, it tasted good with a big hard roll,english butter and a cup of coffee. Very tired, must sleep now to be ready for tomorrow. Bob's throat feeling scratchy.

Churchill's War Rooms in London where he directed the last days of WWll.	Rooms were left as-is when the war ended.
Changing of Guard at Buckingham Palace	Princess Di's memorial at Herrod's Dept store

Hi Folks;