Big Tin Bus » Places

Wein, or Vienna to you and I.

Keith — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 18:25:09 +0000

Did not tick to many boxes for us, the heat did not help, if you are a culture vulture it is great. Our take on it is of a city full of grand buildings from an age of great empires when it was acceptable to demonstrate great wealth and power by creating grandiose palaces, public spaces and lots of statues. It lacks the kind of personality that you find in some cities with the little alleys, small shops and old working buildings.

Venice.

Keith — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 18:13:48 +0000

You just have to go because it is there. We have all seen pictures of this city of canals, it is all of that and more. A very popular and busy place. If you go try to get away from the main thoroughfare’s and enjoy the little back streets, if you can ignore the shops. The waterways are manic, like there are no rules, sure there are , but, just not obvious.

We purchased a ticket at the camp site for €22 80 each. This covered the cost of two road buses and a water bus to Venice, plus unlimited travel on the water buses around the grand canal, good value.

Avignon

Keith — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 06:58:34 +0000

Well worth a visit, see the photo’s. Know nothing about the history, you can research it if you feel so inclined. Suspect a strong religous influence.

Most of us have witnessed, in various forms, people acting as statues, the one in the photo is very good. It is a source of good entertainment for adults and children. The children, screams of delight and fear when it moved as they approached. The little boy in the photo did not show any fear and was very persistent that the statue accepted the coin he was offering. The little boy eventually realised that he had to deposit the coin in the box provided. The reward? a sweet.

Adults enjoyed the general anticipation knowing what was going to happen and laughing at the children. The little boy received a round of applause.

Champdor

Keith — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 06:17:46 +0000

We decided to move into France a little south of Switzerland with a view to driving back north in the car to visit Geneva, it didn’t happen.

This is not one of the prettiest areas of France and the overall appearance is one little prosperity. However, the wild flora is outstanding and we enjoyed going for walks, flower book in hand, trying identify them. You really had to be careful where you placed your foot to avoid crushing orchids etc. The other benefit, in natural history terms, is the insect life, because of the flowers, it abounds.

Switzerland

Keith — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 05:35:14 +0000

A lovely picturesque country. The people are friendly and helpful, it’s clean, lots of high quality fresh produce. The down side, it’s expensive, two orange juices bought in Interlaken, 17 Swiss francs, 10 quid! There is a tax on everything, which you pay in addition to campsite fees. About half as much again, thats why we did not stay longer.

Interlaken ouses wealth and is a popular destination for hang gliding. How many places do you visit which have a field roped off to permit the safe landing of hang gliders, their equivalent to Heath row. They literally stack like aircraft waiting to land and, when they touch down, they quickly move to a designated part of the field to pack away their gear.

Luzern

Keith — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 07:26:57 +0000

Took the train to Luzern from Meiringen. After about a kilometer the train has to make an assent up a very steep incline, this it achieves by using a third rail which is toothed and engaged by a cog wheel mounted under the loco. The transition and climb were very smooth, over the top and down the other side. The Switz railways are modern clean and punctual. A lot of the route is single line working, this means that trains travelling in opposite directions pass at stations, the first train to arrive waits at the station for the second to arrive before either can proceed. There is only one platform at a number of these stations, the result, passengers from one train, usually the second to arrive, alight between the tracks and have to wait for a train to pull out before crossing the track to the platform. Can you see that happening in the UK? no.

Luzern is nice, compact and picturesque. We saw a dog swimming in the fast flowing river and were concerned for it’s safety. Later we saw it again swimming across the river, leaving the water by some steps. We understand that this is a common event and most people do not give it a second thought. Nice meal sitting at a table on the riverbank terrace of an Italian restaurant, and then the train back.

A drive through the mountain passes.

Keith — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 07:00:30 +0000

We took a circular route up to some of the high passes and then down, and then up, and then down again. In terms of distance driven about 8o miles, Linear measurement on a map about half of that. The snow at the tops is still about ten to twelve feet high in places, (see the pictures). The little car had it’s work cut out that day. Some of the mountain passes, including foot paths, are closed because of the amount of snow still lying.

Sanssouci park and palaces.

Keith — Sun, 30 May 2010 18:13:46 +0000

Sanssouci park and palaces are on the outskirts of Potsdam. We entered four of the palaces, they are very grand and luxurious and we were palaced out, giving up on the others. Wish we had simply walked around the grounds and visited Potsdam itself. Never mind it was enjoyable.

Two interesting dates in modern history that were a recurring theme. 1945, lots of things ” went missing”. 1988, the start of restoration, ones assume that ,that had connections to the end of the cold war?

We are not history buffs but could not help noticing the British/Germanic connection. Queen Victoria married a German. Their daughter married a Prussian king. Small world.

Berlin

Keith — Sun, 30 May 2010 16:34:13 +0000

Berlin, as capital cities go, is not to crowded. We took the tour bus to start with, a journey time of two hours fifteen minutes, most of that was stationary at traffic lights etc. Thought it might give us an oversight of particular locations that we wanted to explore in more detail. We had purchased a ticket that permitted us to unlimited use of the bus until 14 00 the following day on an hop on hop off basis. The plan was that we would stay on the bus for the first circuit and then the second time around would hop off, take some pictures and hop on the next bus, seemed like a good plan. Two things influenced our decision not to proceed with the plan, one, it was too tortuous, we abandoned the bus about two thirds of the way around, two, it was quicker, and more convenient to walk. That is what we did and enjoyed it. see the pictures.

Wernigerode.

Keith — Sat, 22 May 2010 17:02:37 +0000

This part of Germany is rich in towns with beautiful old buildings and, you wont find them on the tourist map.

Wernigerode is one of these towns, lots of historic, functioning buildings. Walking amongst them is a pleasant experience with lots to explore. Photographs can only give you a taster of the intricate details, some are works of art.

Two weddings took place in the town hall whilst we were there, rarely do you see one wedding leave by one set of steps while another enters via a parallel set.

The group of girls dressed in green and white are part of a group that greeted the second wedding party on its exit. The bride and groom were required to cut through a log with a double handed cross cut hand saw. Wish we new the significance. I am sure you can come up with lots of theories, all clean.

We took the horse drawn bus up to the castle, or schloss.

Whilst we were there we visited the railway station to obtain details of the steam train that runs up into the mountains. We plan to ride it, you have been warned.