Roaming Through Europe
Home again 07/07/2010
 
We have been remiss in not posting news since the first day of the Battle of Waterloo reenactment. We are now home and readjusting to life in Canada!

The second day of the reenactment of the Battle of Waterloo was marvelous, except for the weather, which was rainy and cold. We had grandstand seats for the action, but, of course, as soon as it started raining, people opened their umbrellas, thereby obscuring our view!  We had plastic rain capes, so did not use umbrellas.  Fortunately the rain subsided from time to time so we did manage to see most of the battle. It was exciting seeing the cavalry charge, much of it in front of our stand!  The colours of the uniforms of battle were amazing, with so many different allied forces involved (British, Prussian, Hanovarians, Dutch, French, etc.). We are still sorting through photographs to try to identify the regiments.  Photographing the battle scenes was somewhat of a challenge, due to umbrellas obscuring views, rain (trying to keep the camera dry!), other spectators standing next to reenactors, and the limitations of my lens.  It was easier to photograph the reenactors in the allied bivouac area, but we were disappointed that we could not get to the French site, as it was a 4 km walk through wet fields and pouring rain. Vivienne had only one lens - a Nikon 18-200 zoom. We are reasonably pleased with the results, given the conditions.  If you view the photos in our photo gallery, you will note that the soldiers and horses were wading/galloping through tall grass/wheat, as in the day of the actual battle!  All in all it was a fabulous experience, despite the inclement weather!

Following this adventure, we spent the next day with some Belgian friends from NATO days. We were treated to a delicous lunch after which we chatted for hours. Too soon it was time to leave. Alan returned to Canada on June 22, and Vivienne traveled on by train from Brussels to Konigswinter.

Vivienne spent almost a week with a German friend in Konisgwinter. It was lovely having "girl" time with someone she had not seen since 2007. We took a trip on the Rhine river, had lunch and dinners out, did shopping (of course!), toured an old German village, just visited, and spent an interesting evening with a German family watching the world cup football match between Germany and Ghana! 

Now the European holiday is over, but many many memories will remain. Vivienne and Alan thank all our family and friends for their wonderful and generous hospitality and hope that some day we can return the favour in Canada!

 
 
On the day before the battle reenactment the weather was terrible!  As in the days of the actual battle(s), the skies opened up and rained periodically. Fortunately, the reenactment was not cancelled, but the actors must have been fed up with the wet uniforms! Alan had brought a rain cape for each of us, that he purchased when we saw the reenactment of the battle of Gettysburg two years ago.  The first day we "toured" the allied bivoacs, but not the French bivoacs as they were about 4 kms further up the road.  It was marvelous to see all the different uniforms of the time (Prussian, Scots Black Watch, Dutch, German, British Marines, etc.)!

Vivienne had a wonderful time (in between rain and hail showers) photographing the activities around the bivoacs. Photos will be posted next week as she needs to resize them for the website. Vivienne took many shots, hoping that at least 25% or so would be decent. It was somewhat difficult during the whole reenactment to take photos in which other "tourists" or modern infrastructure were not visible! 

As we walked the site, we were fortunate to observe the "troups" practising their manoevers, including even those on horseback (cavalry and lancers), a most impressive spectacle!  Vivienne and Alan also had the opportunity to chat with several reenactors along the way.  One lady from Yorkshire explained that she and her husband "fell" into reenacting by chance and now travel the world taking part whenever British reenactors were needed. As they had not yet retired from work could only take part if the "battle" or event took place when they could take holidays.  It was clear that she and her husband enjoyed this experience; what a fascinating "hobby"!!

Description of the battle to follow.....


 
Belgium 06/23/2010
 
From Austria we drove to an overnight stop in eastern France. Due to inclement weather and numerous road works en route, the journey took 10 hours!  Needless to say we were exhausted, particularly Alan, who assumed most of the burden of the drive.  We basically ate dinner, and then fell asleep almost immediately afterwards!
The following day we continued our journey to Diest Belgium, where we would be welcomed by our friends Roger and Liliane.  Along the way, however, we stopped at a French manufacturer of crystal that we had first visited during our NATO days. Vivienne purchased a small crystal "lapin" (rabbit).  We eventually arrived in Diest at about 6 pm. Liliane had prepared a lovely dinner for us all, and we had an enjoyable evening on the balcony, chatting until late in the evening.

The next day we all visited the nearby beautiful university city of Leuven.
One of the first things you notice is the hundreds of bicycles!  This is, of course, the primary means of transportation for all the students!  The city has wonderful old buildings, such as the town hall, in front of which is the large market place, complete with cobblestones. Roger kindly treated us to a tour of the newly remodeled art museum, after which he and Liliane treated us to lunch in one of the local restaurants near the town hall. White asparagus was the order of the day for Liliane and Vivienne!  The evening was spent at home, relaxing and chatting, and all too soon the time with our friends was over :(.  The next morning we departed for a town in southern Belgium close to the site of the reinactment of the Battle of Waterloo, which was next in our plans. Unfortunately the weather forcast did not bode well; and we realized that we would need to retrieve the rain capes from our baggage!
 
 
From daughter Sarah's house, we drove one day to the highest mountain in the eastern Alps, called Grossglockner.   The drive was about 3 hours each way, but it was worth it to see this mountain and to drive the high alpine road that had more than 30 switchbacks!  Although we were often above the cloud, unfortunately we did not see the summit as a result.
The remainder of our stay in Austria was spent just relaxing and visiting Sarah and her partner Jens (as well as 4 lovely 7 week old kittens, named "toffee", "moan a lot", "moan a little" and "sweetie"). Vivienne is definitely ready to welcome a cat at home again!
Our last evening we enjoyed a delicious dinner in a local village named "Strassburg" As it is still white asparagus season, we all had a fantastic cream of asparagus soup, the best Alan and Vivienne had ever tasted!  Vivienne had to have trout, as it is one of her favourites, especially because the Austrians and Germans prepare it very well!
 
Austria 06/14/2010
 
We have only a few days in south eastern Austria, and are mostly spending time with family who moved here a few years ago.  Together we explored two castles in the area, one of which had the most amazing defense system of 14 gates!  Each gate had a different method for the defenders to repel enemies, and as a result, the castle was never breached. Today there is a very steep cable ride to the top of Hochosterwitz castle, saving tourists the 160 meter climb!  We took the easy way uo, but walked down at the end of our visit, loooking at each of the 14 gates as we decended.  The second castle, at Strassburg is part of the property of the Bishops of Gurk, has been rebuilt in parts in the Renaissance style, and is often used as a setting for weddings and other events. We enjoyed lunch on the terrace at this castle.

Yesterday we drove to the highest mountain in Austria - details to be posted later.
 
 
After three days of exploring Venice and Burano, we decided to stay 'home' and relax for a while. We spent the day swimming and pottering around, sorting papers, clothes, etc.  Vivienne had been wishing to see the historical anatomical theatre at the Univerity of Padua, so it was to this city we next visited. Padua is only 30 minutes from Venice by car, but finding the centre was not very easy, despite all the signs indicating "centro"!  However, we found our way to the central station (rail) and parked nearby. The city had buses and trams leading from the rail station to the centre, but we decided to walk.

We located the Palazzo del Bo, but discovered that access to the "Bo" was not available until 3:15pm on this particular day.  It was only late morning, so we walked around the area and discovered a large fruit, vegetable, cheese, meat and fish market. It was one of the best markets we have seen during our trip. The range of products was amazing!  We then realized we were hungry, so found a local restaurant nearby the duomo (cathedral) to enjoy a leisurely lunch under the sun umbrellas in the square. People watching was definitely on the cards, and we were most amused with the antics of 6-8 local school boys (aged 12-14?) as they ordered their coca colas, ice creams, and chatted a mile a minute between themselves and on their cell phones!

Finally it was opening time for the Bo, and we were fortunate enough to obtain tickets without difficulty. One can only access this particular part of the Bo (University of Padua) as part of  a guided tour (maximum of 35 people), and one cannot reserve in advance. We were also fortunate that the multilingual guide chose to speak in English during the tour!  This tour included the hall where Galileo spoke, as well as other important rooms associated with the history of medicine, anatomy and the first "legal" human dissections. We were not permitted to view the anatomical theatre (shaped like an inverted cone) from the top down, but stood ( a few people at a time) in the space in which the dissecting table was placed, and looked upwards to the surrounding wooden galleries!  The guide was very informative about the history of this beautiful building, and the trip was well worthwhile.

Our remaining time in Italy was spent relaxing and seeing the area immediate to the agriturismo. Then, we were off to Austria, via the Dolomites.....

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Italy continued 06/13/2010
 
We followed Rick Steves recommendation and looked for bars that served  cicchetti, for meals in Venice itself. We found one in the back streets of the Rialto bridge, which worked out very well. We were feeling too hot to do a 'bar crawl', but if were staying in Venice itself, rather than 15 kms away, would certainly spend the evening moving from bar to bar!

One evening we attended a presentation about Venice that included part of Francesco Da Mosto's documentary series about Venice, followed by a live show, in which actors played out some of the history and folklore of Venice. It was held in the Teatro San Gallo, not far from St. Mark's Square, and we enjoyed the performance very much. 

Afterwards, we returned to our agriturismo by local bus, from the central bus station in Venice. There is no concept of lining up for the bus; as soon as it arrives, it is every man/woman for himself!  We decided to act like the locals and pushed and shoved like the best of them!!  As it was getting dark, we were a bit concerned that we might miss our stop, as the agriturismo was outside a small village, and there were not many street lights to guide us. Fortunately the bus driver was very kind and called out the stop for us. We then walked almost a kilometer along the country road, and arrived home just fine! 

Our place in the agriturismo was basic, but spacious, and the owners were very helpful. We listened at night to the bull frogs, or some variety of frog that was very vocal, and awoke in the morning to the cock crow.  There was a swimming pool for our use, along with other guests (hardly any during this week), and we overlooked the Brenta river. The only downside was mosquitos, due to the proximity of the river.  Otherwise we were very comfortable. About two kilometers away there was a large supermarket, which served us well - lots of cheese, proscuitto, fruit and vegetables, and local veneto wine.

It is now time to eat dinner - travel in Italy to be continued. Buona sera!
 
 
To those family members who visited Venice with us in Sept 2007, attenzione!  (Nicky's favourite expression!)  This time Venice was a little less crowded, and some gondoliers were actually 'touting' for customers. We managed to gain entrance to the Doges Palace with little difficulty, perhaps due to the time of year, time of day, to the fact that we pre-purchased our tickets, or was it just plain luck?  We spent about 3 hours there, and it still was not enough time; however, we were 'museumed out' at that point and the weather was very hot. We walked across the 'Bridge of Sighs', but we were fortunate enough to be able to walk out freely!  Although there was 'modern' grafitti etched in the prison walls, it was clear that some of the etchings were from centuries ago! 

We spent three days walking around Venice and the island of Burano!  We explored the back streets, canals and bridges, rode the vaporetto in, across and around Venice, and took the vaporetto to Burano, stopping enroute in Murano (glass production).  We loved Burano, it is much quieter than Venice, and is incredibly colourful (see a couple of photos in the photo gallery). 

Burano, like Venice, has many 'masks' for sale, but their provenance is not always clear. We bought one mask, in Venice, from a shop/workshop that actually makes them on site. Needless to say, they are more expensive than those sold in St. Marks Square, but we prefered to purchase the 'genuine' article! 

Out to look at Austrian castles now, so will update the posting later. Ciao!

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Before we left Provence, we had the opportunity to visit the museum of the French Foreign Legion!  Yes, it does exist in reality, and it has an interesting history. The museum described the areas and countries of battle over the years, and how now there are legionaires from 137 countries represented. They have to serve for a minimum of 5 years.  Some of the earlier uniforms, like those of other services, were quite colourful!

We had dinner in a medieval village on our last evening. It had a wonderful view overlooking the surrounding vineyards, and the food was beautifully prepared and delicious. After dinner we drove slowly (many hairpin bends in the road!) through the mediterranen pines home to our gite.
 
Austria 06/12/2010
 
We arrived safely in Maternitzen, near Gurk, Austria this afternoon. We chose to drive the 'long way' from Venice, via the Dolomites, which were spectacular!  Now in Sarah's lovely Austrian house high on the mountain side, the sun is shining, cows are in the field, and wine is in the glass, but not for long!  Update from Venice will be posted this weekend, as well as photos.
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Travel, France, Italy, Austria, Belgium, Germany, United Kingdom, Battle of Waterloo