Just another round-a-bout decoration! RIVA made in Italy.

This is just on one of the winding curvy roads on our way to Lake Iseo. Riva di Solto.

This is in Lovere. Such a beautiful drive.

Toscolano-Maderno from the road.

This is in the little town of Toscolano – Maderno facing the lake.

View of the pool and Lake Garda from Gargnano with all the “haze” that surrounds this part of the area.

We finally found our hotel in Gargnano, on Lake Garda, after quite awhile without GPS working. It was at the top of a hill, actually 9.2 km up the hill.

Took this picture while I was driving out of Gargnano, just such pretty scenery, couldn’t resist.

This is on our way back to Venice, we went through a lot of these, this one is short, but some were miles long.

Not a lot of traffic today on the Grand Canal!

Well, you can sure tell that George is gone!! This is the view from our balcony. We found out that CNN had our room while George was in town and they broadcasted from it! Cool!

Nice day for a gondola ride!

Bridge of Sighs.

Love these “roads” here in Venice!

We stayed here in Tremezzo, on Lake Como.

Here’s Norm!! We’re wondering why our car gets to be parked right here at the entrance, it’s not a Ferrari or a Lamborghini !!!!

Church along the coast of Lake Como.

What they used for the James Bond Movie ” Casino Royale”!

Just another lovely home that you can rent…. probably for a million gazillion dollars!!!

This hotel is for sale… Norm’s been pondering this venture.

Missoni ( designer ) home.

First sighting of George’s home, on the left, behind the BIG trees. You can’t see, but there are two other buildings (large homes) behind the house which is also on his compound. One is a studio.

He does have a lot of “lake frontage and property”.

This is his guest house, at the end of the garden area.

This was just a beautiful place along the waterfront!

We were told that kids jump off the top of this yellow home, there is a terrace up there and they jump directly into the lake! Must be crazy-ass Italians!!

Bellagio, a very quaint village on Lake Como.

This home belongs to the Guinness, still the best selling beer in Ireland.

Rockefeller’s house is the one in the trees overlooking Bellagio.

Nice corner lot we loved!!

And the Heinz Palace. This is as close as we could get, the people here in Italy are very respectful of Mrs. Heinz.

Couldn’t get the huge mountain behind this lovely home in the picture, but I think you get the point.

Could this be a postcard?

Now we’re back on the road again to Switzerland. Think this is what they call falling rock? Or one half of a tunnel?

I think we just crossed into Switzerland!

And now, the real beauty begins. This is also taken while driving.

And the curvy, winding roads begin, uphill here.

Imagine if you had this view every day.

Now this is one of my favorite pictures! Lake Sils, Switzerland.

St. Moritz, another beautiful place.

They do have modern architecture in St. Moritz.

View from the roof of our hotel in St. Moritz.

View of the Lake of St. Moritz.

These views are everywhere, Mamorera Lake, Switzerland.

I’ve got to stop taking pictures while driving, but I just couldn’t stop myself!

We could not believe the beauty here.

This is the close up….

This is the countryside photo.

So.. while Norm is out of the car, chasing these guys along the road for a picture of the cowbell, this guy comes up to my car window and says hello! I got the good picture!! LOL !

Appenzell, Switzerland – known for their “Painted Houses”.

We were amazed at how the gravesites were all in a perfect row and decorated!

Another view of Appenzell.

Train station in Appenzell.

This countryside just goes on forever! Such beauty.

WAIT!!!! We have a little roadblock ahead of us!

The bridge in Lucerne. Oldest wooden bridge in Europe. Second most photographed sight in Switzerland.

Little guy in Lucerne.

View of Lucerne from the bridge.

YEP!! Heidi is from here!

View of Zermatt Village from our bedroom.

Chandelier in our apartment in Zermatt!

O.K. what do you call this kind of building?

These types of homes are all over the place.

One of the many streets in Zermatt.

Nice use of old shoes!

Sunrise view from our room! Yes, I do get up early, I actually had to show this to Norm.

Nice view from Zermatt of the Matterhorn.

On our way up to the top view!

Almost there!

We’re here! Now lets get off this train and look around!

Beautiful view from the top!

We made it!

Another nice view from the train on the way down!

Close train tracks all the way up and down (when there are two sets)!

Now these people have this view every day! WOW!!

Another postcard in the making!

Looks like the kids had a great time in the pool! They could have stayed in it all day!

This is the river in St. Leon sur Vezere…. Tons of people come here to camp along this river, and the English actually swim in it!

This was an adversitement we saw on our way to St. Cyprien’s market day!

St. Christophe’s Rock… Thousands of people lived up here in houses built into the rocks, here is Tinael as we enter the rock village.

This is where they would hang their meat after it was caught! I guess this is the butcher shop. LOL!

Cheyanne and Tinael coming through a Troglodytes doorway! They were small??

Troglodyte church

He must have been a baaaaddddd Troglodyte!!

This is a medieval kitchen for sure!

One of their cave homes.

This is in the Prehistoric Parc!!! Mary and Angela… bet you wished you would have gone to see this!!

Now they are skinnin’ it???

This is a tee pee they lived in, uhmmm seems just like the ones we see in the U.S.

Apparently, Rock Climbing isn’t a new sport!

Pay no attention to that bush, moving around over there by that tree, it’s just a bush. Nothing to look twice at. Nothing to be alarmed about. This looks like it could be gravy. I smell varmint poontang, and the only good varmint poontang is dead varmint poontang.
FREEZE GOPHER!!!

A sudden downpour, and yes, the red wine is still great!

Norm keeps trying to steal Tinael’s hat.

Of course, we had to take Tinael an Cheyanne to Sarlat…

Cool balloons!

Another little harbour along our way to Italy.

Here is our first view as we “START” walking toward the Hotel lobby. LOL!

Game of chess, anyone??

Yeah, so this pool will do.

OK, we can see ourselves eating on this great terrace, along the way to the hotel entrance, still….

Hey Stephanie… This one’s for you!! She must have been a gymnast!

One more bend in the road, and soon….

Finally, the entrance door to the hotel!

OK, so now we have to walk to our room, which is the highest room they have, so that means a long way, and a lot of climbing!

And now we go down just a little bit, only to …….

Go back up again, Uh oh, a fork in the road, guess which one we took? The one going up!

Then through this nice little path…

Past this cool little archway…

And finally we make it to our room! Oh, yeah, we have to climb one more set of stairs!!!

I guess the hike, all that way, was worth it. This is our view from our room! Lovely!

Entrance to the church gardens.

And, when we came out of the church, and turned left, this is what was on the rock wall! It made NO SENSE to us… Does it to any of you???

Our last evening dinner was here, in this quaint little restaurant!

Breakfast on the patio was special!

And then we ended up here, in this quaint little port, “Portofino, Italy”. Very small harbour, but lots going on!

This is the symbol of Portofino…. we’ve searched quite a while, but cannot find out why?

View from the port side.

View from the starboard side.

This view is from the center.

We’re thinking…. will this big yacht fit betweeen these to other ones???

Oh, yeah, it did! Man, I can’t even back up my car straight!

Here’s a job for Norm in retirement!

She’s a beauty, even in the rain!

Swarovski Crystal staircase… only in Paris…

No caption needed, just sayin..

Cafe Fouquet’s… as we are walking inside for a special drink!

Awww, Norm and Angela standing in the middle of the Champs Elysees!!

Rita, Angela, Norm and Mary stopping for a Kodak moment with one of the great Paris monuments in the background!

Mary and Rita.. fun times in Paris!

Arc de Triomphe…

Franc Mayne Winery and Chateau..

Uphill is common in St. Emilion!

Mary and Rita, WOW.. how things don’t ever change with them!!

How nice of Norm to pull up the car for Mary, as we were leaving St. Emilion!

Here we are, getting yet another tasting of a different year!

Dinner the night before we left on our adventure to Biarritz.

Fish?

Lamb with truffles

Dessert…

And the “After Dessert” !! Who knew??

I’m not sure I can get this into my mouth!!! It’s a really big bite!

Our hotel in Biarritz is the one that looks like a ship jutting out at the beach.

First view of the lighthouse

Lighthouse overlooking Biarritz Beach.

Hotel de Palais built by Napoleon for his wife Eugenie. Now a very expensive hotel on the beach at Biarritz.

Rocky shoreline in Biarritz with St. Eugenie church in background.

St. Eugenie gothic church Biarritz.

The old port in Biarritz, now lined with seafood restaurants.

Craggy archway with Atlantic Ocean underneath in Biarritz.

Statute of the Virgin Mary at the entrance to the harbor at Biarritz.

Outdoor cafe/restaurant in Biarritz in the market area.

Biarritz casino from outdoor cafe on La Grande Plage.

Eglise Alexandre Newsky – Russian Orthoodox Church in Biarritz.

Nice little swim cove in Biarritz.

Happy hour or so….. at the Sofitel in Biarritz! Let’s get this evening started!

Chateau Pichon-Longueville

Wow! Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande

Chateau Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande

Chateau Pichon Baron Longueville                                   Grand Cru Classe en 1855

Chateau Margaux in the Medoc area of Bordeaux. One of five premier grand cru vineyards recognized since 1855.

Cabernet Sauvignon grapes in the Medoc. We were impressed with the quantity of grapes on the vines and the rocky soil in which they grow.

A small little church in the middle of Margaux’s winery.

Entrance way to Chateau Mouton Rothschild

A lot of work was done here for this.

Grapes from Chateau Mouton Rothschild. Don’t look any different to us from the last Chateau… uhm…

Chateau Latour

What a beautiful site driving up to Chateau Latour

The central “place” in St. Emilion, another wine area of Bordeaux is dotted with outdoor restaurants serving good food and wine.

Monolithic Church of St. Emilion from the 11th century.

Cute store front of one of many wine merchants in St. Emilion willing to trade wine for your money.

View beyond St. Emilion

Bicyclists at their morning briefing in St. Emilion before taking off on their 49.709 mile ride. My partners Craig Helmreich and David Robinson should check this out for future vacation plans.

Another great dinner Rita ordered, at least they cut the head off!!

A photo of the Church of St. Emilion from the town “place”.

Whoah… we took a wrong turn, (not using GPS) and stumbled upon this…

We discovered Chateau Monbazillac. Cool place!

Angle View

Close up back view!

And look at their back yard view!

I know you can see Bergerac from here! Gorgeous Views!

Up close and personal.

Side building where they store the wine.

Is this solid silver?

Chateau Lafite Rothschild vineyards in the Medoc. Another one of the premier grand cru red wines recognized since 1855.

Again, just driving home and saw this one. Probably privately owned, but it didn’t stop Rita from driving right into the driveway close enough to take this picture!!

Paris Skyline including Eiffel Tower from the rooftop restaurant of the Holiday Inn St. Germain de Pres.

Notre Dame at night

We think this is what the French do when there is no water in the fountain and sunny skies above!

The Dordogne countryside from the top of Chateau Puymartin.

The hand-laid stone roof of Chateau Puymartin.

The Chateau Milandes, the former home of Josephine Baker.

Chateau Milandes from the front.

Beautiful palm trees at Chateau Milandes.

They had a bird show after our tour, (had NOTHING to do with the castle) but we decided to watch it! Here is an eagle coming towards us! Look out!

Isn’t is amazing how close he is?

Another view

Yohan handling this big creature!

Hey Mary (Mary R) …. Is this my Owl????

Or is it this one?

Or is this my Owl???? We yelled his name, “Owl” and he turned around for me to take this picture!

View of another castle nearby Puymartin in the background. They are everywhere!

Norm trying to hold her back, yeah right, that’s not going to work!

Jasmine playing with her new duck friends!

Fresh Paella at the market in Sarlat!

Mother and calf are doing fine! The population of St. Leon-sur-Vezere has just increased by one.

Standing, walking and eating within the first 24 hours!

Norm and Lina in the Le Source Garden.

Le Source ( the restaurant) has a new friend for Jasmine… Meet Anna Sophia!! Yeah, I’d say she has a princess name too!

The most beautiful garden setting for our dinner!

At our last celebratory dinner with Lina, Jasmine, Isabel and Yoran!

Whitefish dinner topped with crayfish! AMAZING!!!

Free Range Pork dinner!

Here’s how you say it Rita…. TROIS!

Here is Jasmine’s facial expression trying to show me how you pronounce “trois”! TWA!! I still can’t do it right!

Dessert!! So Pretty! and Yummy!

Anna Sophia telling us goodnight! Bedtime calls.

Lina, Isabel, Jasmine, Rita and Norm… Bye Bye!!

Saying good bye to Yoran, Lina, and Jasmine!

Here we are with Ian putting on the finshing touches to our green salad we all made in class! Thank goodness Ian didn’t ban our iPhones!

Here we are with Matt and Amanda on the left and Ian on the right side of Rita looking over the fois gras stand at the La Bugue market.

Here is Ian pouring the cauliflower soup into these tiny cups! Another use for the many espresso cups in France. Just enough to wet your appetite and not get too full to enjoy the dinner.

Here is the duck after it had been roasted in a very hot pan for about 20 minutes and we are shredding it.

The beautiful gardens at Les Glycine resaurant in Les Eyzies de Tayac Sireuil.

Lez Eyzies built into the limestone rocks.

Such a beautiful little village street.

Chateau Clerens

See the magnitude of the Chateau?

Sunset on our way home from our dinner with Matt and Amanda at Ian and Sara’s place.

Castle “Chateau de Marzac”

Aerial view of St. Leon-sur-Vezere with our next door neighbor’s Castle and our landlord’s Castle.

Hamburger is hiding under the egg! It is on a bun with all the trimmings. Only the egg was unexpected.

Rita is no longer in charge of steering the canoe!

Petanque tournament in St. Leon-sur-Vezere.

Perigeaux’s Cathedral Saint-Front. Byzantine architecture.

See feather in egg carton? Those are really fresh eggs!

This would be considered a modern front door here in Montignac! We like them all!

We liked this home because it was a corner lot.

Here is a typical front door in Montignac.

Had lunch on the river bank in Montignac.

Just a little street we walked by in Montignac.

Saint Amand-De-Coly

Haute Fort

View of a few of the restaurants in Montignac.

Our first view of the Eiffel Tower!

Our favorite lady, Notre Dame. A visit is not complete without paying a visit to Notre Dame..

View from our hotel on Rue de Seine.

Les Deux Magot Cafe. Yes, it is called the two magots. No visit to Paris is complete without having an aperitif or two here on the left bank.

Our wonderful French family going back to 1968. Dominique, Alain, Aude, Yann and me.

Same group, without Dominique, but with Rita.

We drove to the French Riviera, St. Raphael to check out a house to rent. We stayed at this hotel on the beach.

A rare sand beach on the French Riviera at St. Raphael.

This is the main square at Sarlat la Caneda.

A timbered building in the old town of Sarlat.

A quaint street scene in Sarlat.

Market days are Saturday and Wednesday in Sarlat. This is an artisan bread maker. We eat lots of fresh bread and none of it is Wonder Bread!

You want fresh fish? This is the place. The market in Sarlat. Just cut the heads off before you cook!!

How about fresh produce? There is plenty to go around in Sarlat market.

Rita loves potatoes and white asparagus is in season!

In addition to food, the Sarlat market has other vendors. In this photo, the vendor is selling umbrellas.

We did a weekend in Brittany after Sarlat. This is the beach at La Baule. Notice the nice sand!

Evening was coming rapidly when we snapped this photo on the beach at La Baule.

A photo of our hotel in Dinard on the North Coast of Brittany. Our Megane is the first car you see in front of the hotel.

The beach at Dinard. Notice the low tide and wide sandy beach.

A photo of our hotel in Dinard on the North Coast of Brittany. Our Megane is the first car you see in front of the hotel.

No trip to Brittany/Normandy is complete without paying a visit to Mont St. Michel. It is incroyable.

We had lunch at La Mere Poulard a famous omelette restaurant in Mont St. Michel.

We spent the first day of Rita’s birthday at this hotel in Brantome in Dordogne. A great location.

This is one of the modern showers we blogged about. It has two rain shower heads and jet sprays on the sides. It also has a sign about saving the world by not laundering towels each day!!

Modern, or Contemporary Vanity, with towel warmer for those cool mornings.

A great chocolate dessert for Rita’s Birthday.

Dordogne is known for Foie Gras. Foie Gras is goose liver. It is really good. Yes, I know there is an ethical question about the forced feeding of geese. But, when in France it is hard not to partake.

Rita and I tried canoeing one day. It did not end well!

This is a privately owned Chateau (Castle) we ran across in Dordogne.

This is a pizza place in Sarlat with live music where we had dinner one night.

This is Rita in Sarlat buying produce in the market for the first day in our house. She used a lot of pointing.

To the left of our car is a limestone cave that our hotel was using as a parking garage! We didn’t go into the cave. We were afraid there may be troglodytes in it!

The first view of our house in St. Leon sur Vezere for the next 9 weeks. Rita did well. So far, so good.

This is the main house. It has four bedrooms and 4 baths You are welcome to come visit us.

Photo of main house with pool, covered of course.

Photo of living room.

Photo of kitchen with Chef.

Photo of master bedroom. No screens or air conditioning. You have to make choices. It does have a heated pool.

Photo of master bath.

This photo shows the name of our house and our nearest neighbors in the background.

This photo is of our landlord’s gatehouse which is located right next door.

Photograph of a home in St. Leon sur Vezere.

We are in Maison de Clerans. This is Chateau de Clerans, the Castle which is owned by our landlord and located right next door to us!

This truck is parked inside a home at St.Leon sur Vezere where it is being used to rehab an existing home.

This is a photo of our delicatessen. It is just one of 4 restaurants in St. Leon sur Vezere.

We finally arrived to the city of the Eiffel Tower!

Our TINY room! Who cares when you are in Paris!

This little gal was dancing away in the streets right on the corner of our street.

What we walk out to each day from our hotel room. Seriously, this is only about 6 steps away!

We love the activity in our little neighborhood!

This is your typical “cafe after cafe” in our neighborhood, we love this!

We bought our breakfast here.

Paris so soooo fashioable! Even the cars are dolled up!

This building blew us away!

If you can enlarge this, please do so. This is how they cover the buildings while they are rehabbing them. Notice the top where the picture is drawn to match the building!

This is the street we walked down to our cooking class, every street is beautiful!

This is the view from the top of the Montparnasse Tower!

Hotel des Invalids in the background.

These bikes are everywhere for anyone to rent anytime!

Well, it started out great, as we got upgraded to this! and only b/c the hotel was sold out!

Our sand pool.

Cute little bridge we had to walk over to get to the waterfall.

We felt like we were in a Hollywood movie.. Miami Beach in the 60’s!

View from Belvedere of Cooks Bay!

Panoramic view from Belvedere with both bays!

Bananas anyone?

This is a fake Palm Tree… a/k/a cell phone tower. They are all disguised like this in Moorea!

O.K. all you lakers…. Let’s get our pontoons looking like this!

Sunset from our hotel bar.

First sighting of Bora Bora.

Our transportation to the hotel.

Looks like Norm’s ready for this place!

I guess Rita’s ready too!

Nice entryway!

Oh, yeah… we can call this home for 6 days!

This is the lagoon beach where you can snorkel with very pretty fish!

Come on in, it’s great!

REALLY?? TWO story bungalows??

We ate at this restaurant. Red roof is Matira Beach Restaurant.

Yeah, she can drive a boat just as fast as a car!

Sunset in Bora Bora.

After our sunset cruise, we had dinner here.

Glub… Glub… Happy Turkey Day!

Rita???? Can you keep up?

Our last dinner out in Bora Bora, at the Saint James. Won’t be smiling like this tomorrow!

Great little place in Aitutaki!

Our pool and house bar in Aitutaki! The bar was on the honor system. You just write it down whenever you help yourself to anything!

This little guy, was just hanging out along side the road. Think maybe the rope around his foot had something to do with it?

These signs are posted everywhere in Aitutaki!

Anyone interested?

This is what lines the football field a/k/a soccer field in Aitutaki.

Wonder if the outrigger comes with the beach house.

Just a lovely view!

This is a beach cottage for rent. Not sure on the price, though.

Would this be an outrigger?

Now this one has a really cool anchor!

Rita’s favorite tree on our beach in Aitutaki!

Sea cucumber in the sand.

Sea Cucumber in the water!

Typical home in Aitutaki.

Now we think this picture could win some type of award!

The beginning of a great sunset.

Just magical how the colors change.

Norm and his “Island God”

Yes, Norm made Rita take a picture with the ‘Island God” also! She is playing Vanna White!

Must be a run on “Hair Dye” LOL!

Local Store advertisements.

We loved the advertisement UNDER the pay phone!

This is the airline office!

On our way to Honeymoon Island!

And this is George!

Trivelli fish! This fish swam with us!! Yeah, mostly Norm, as Rita jumped back in the boat!

Snorkeling with these yellow fish.

See the blue fish here too?

Blue and green fish! We really did snorkel with red fish and blue fish!

This is a turtle we could not keep up with and we were going fast!

Getting closer to Honeymoon Island, our first stop after snorkeling!

Honeymoon Island as we are walking to it from the boat.

Little guy that can’t fly!

Maina Island, this used to be connected to Honeymoon Island, but you can still walk there. It’s only about knee deep.

One of the 4 “Survivor Islands”

I’m sure the tribal council meeting was held here.

Survivor Island leftovers.

This is where one of the tribes set up camp.

These guys love our visits.

Our boat driver (Kimmy) messin’ with the native birds on survivor island.

We walked across the entire survivor island (through a walking path filled with mozzzies) and this is at the other end.

One Foot Island!

Ah, yes, a closer view of One Foot Island.

What is that on the island??

Here’s Norm hanging out at the Post Office on One Foot Island…He said this one looked nothing like the one he worked at during his first job in his hometown!

They sell postcards just like this at the front office of our hotel. Humm, could be a new business venture for us!

This is our place in Rarotonga. On the day we arrived. It was partly cloudy for about two hours.

We loved these chairs in front of our hut.

Norm, before the rain!! Not pouting here!

Even a cloudy day in paradise is better than working!!

This is a TINY crab!!

This is our view from our fist dinner at the Little Polynesian!

Our First Dinner at the Little Polynesian.

Our view the next night at dinner! with the plastic down protecting us from the rain!

Most of our days looked like this in Rarotonga. Hence why Norm was whining???

Yes, Rita drove a backwards car… well, the steering wheel felt like that on the wrong side!

Our last night in Rarotonga!

Bar Lush!

Sunset from the “Shipwreck” – supposed to be one of the top 50 beach bars in the world! This is in front of where the cat was sleeping!

First Sunset in Rarotonga.

These are flying roosters.

New Zealand Skyline

I guess these would be lounge lizards of NZ?

Hull of the NZ America’s Cup Sailboat

Info on the above NZ Sailboat Hull

On our way to Waiheke Island!

Sailors delight!

Vodafone racing sailboat

Ahh… here we are.. sure would like to live in the house on the top of this hill.

Typical style of housing on the island.

This is how they build in NZ.

No explanation needed.

Little Palm Beach.

Summer home on Little Palm Beach.

Oneroa Bay Beach, great family beach with a park, swings, great area for kids.

Pretty views from anywhere on the island.

Stoney Ridge Vineyard

Nice red flight.

You can’t see the white specs on this, but they are sheep.

These are the sheep!

This is what we walked through. Can’t even tell there was a walking path anywhere in there!!

Notice this says “VENOM”??!!

Sunrise in Sydney!

Our first sight of the south bank in Melbourne.

Helicopter rides over the city scape!

Evening on the boardwalk!

Whoah!! Didn’t know the fire was coming out of this when we walked by! We both jumped!

Lots of black swans here.

Walked by these on our way to the mall. Love them, they are named “Venus” and “Mars”!

One of the street performers that swallows balloons!

Yes, he REALLY did it!

Looks like a great place to stop for a drink!

Looks easy, right??

Actually, NO ONE could even get it started, they didn’t even pedal once!

Found these guys in the mall! Why he kept patting Rita’s head down, we have no idea!!

St. Kilda’s Beach

The Stoke House

Beautiful artwork on the beach, with real fire!

One of the first views along the Great Ocean Road.

Stopped along the way to take a picture.

Can you see the surfers?

Yes, Stephanie, you are correct… The top ten MOST DANGEROUS snakes live in Australia!!

When we stopped to see the Koala bears, we were told to watch out for all the birds. They attack people!

As mom is taking her sons picture, a bird decided to land on her iPad!

This is a sleepy head Koala bear.

Lots of these signs along the road.

We arrived! Here are a few pictures of the 12 Apostles          (we mean 9 Apostles)

Yeah, Not the whole story, here!

See this beautiful rock formation? It was once ONE piece.

The real story is…

This is called Loch Ard Gorge of 1878, where a ship wrecked right into the wall of the ocean.

Beautiful cove.

Here comes our bus tour!

This is supposed to be a ballerina’s tutu.

Cricket Stadium

Lego Building

Appetizer at Nobu.

We could do with out the eyes on this plate.

Norm, finishing his dinner with his MANNERS! At least he didn’t put them in his nose!!

Rita making friends with an Aussie woman to get some tips on betting!

O.K. Now let’s get down to business.

YEAH!! Won a couple bucks!

Entrance to the resort!

This is at the end of the walkway and they host weddings here and private dining on this patio with a pond on it.

Patio at the pond

These two greeted us while playing “Mary had a little lamb”.

Bar area with a great view

See the hooka pipe at the end of the bar?

Looking down the staircase, as there are NO ELEVATORS here at all!

On our way to our villa. Such pretty grounds.

First view of our villa. Where is it?

This is our roof to our villa with a lily pond and patio with bench.

Ok, here’s how we get inside.

See?

Our garden right across from our villa.

Lovely!

This is our view beyond the coconut trees in the back of our place.

Rita got these kids to wave at us while rafting by us!

We should compare this to the one on the page “Where are we going?” to see if we did a good job or not on our photos.

The sidewalks around the temple had these hand made pictures inlaid.

Round a bouts are all over the world.

A typical Balinese home

They do all their work by hand. Notice her tool she’s using?

Decorations for the nightly dinner.

Decorations for the night of Babi Guling!

Babi Guling! Delicious!

A few little guys greeting us as we pull up.

The Lobby

More little guys to the left.

View from the Lobby, looks like this will be a nice place.

Pretty waterfall coming up.

Yep, waterfall is beautiful up close.

Think we should depend on this handrail?

Our first dinner at Sundara!

Our view from our dinner table.

Tanah Lot

Pura Ulawatu Temple

The back side of Pura Ulawatu

What a view from our room! This is Marina Bay Sands.        Ku De Ta restaurant is on the top of this.

Night photo of the Marina Bay Sands

The WORLD’S largest ferris wheel.

View from Ku De Ta.

Another view from the top.

This soccer field is suspended above the water. Guess you lose your ball if you kick it to far!

Clarke Quay

Boat Quay

Boat Quay

Anyone Hungry??

Different options for all appetites!

Sunrise in Singapore

Our rock zen garden

Poolside

You can eat dinner in these ferris wheel cars.

Famous Merlion.

Breakfast in our room overlooking our pool and the ocean.

Heart Shaped Eggs!

This is breakfast from the veranda.

Breakfast view!

This was our personal tuk tuk driver from our resort.

This is how they do it in Cambodia!

One of the fountains at the resort.

This little gal played music for everyone in the mornings as we passed by her on our way to breakfast.

I think I’ll stick to a regular pedicure, thanks…

This is the GOLDEN BUDDHA. It is worth over 250 Million dollars.

I think we’re going the right way.. not sure..

Looks like lunch time as we approach Udaipur.

Yep, let’s stop for bite to eat.

So far, Udaipur looks nice!

This is the drive to our hotel docking pint to catch the boat. Looking better!

This was our first view of our hotel upon arriving at the boat dock that takes you there!

This is the front of our hotel where the rose petals dropped on us from above!

This boat is for use of the hotel guests for dinners, tours, etc.

View of the City Palace, Udaipur

View of our courtyard area at the hotel.

One of the many flower arrangements hanging around the hotel! These are done daily with fresh flowers

Another clever flower arrangement! (Uh oh, are we getting OLD??? taking pictures of flowers??? BTW…. Norm took these!! LOL )

Just a cute picture and a bird hanging near the spa!

Pool area, very nice. Don’t understand how they can have a marble tile bottom and walls in the pool. Maybe b/c of the good climate?

Cows are even hanging out at the City Palace by the lake!

O.K…. now this was in OUR ROOM! How cool!

One of the gals that was in the photo shoot for the promotion. We caught her poolside here.

This is a view of the hotel with a storm brewing as we went out for our evening cruise.

This is the City Palace at night.

Jag Mantir island palace courtyard at sunset.

View of the Jag Mantir summer house for the King when he wanted to get away from the Queen.

This is the garden area.. nice place to relax, I’d say!

We thought we’d act like the Japanese tourists…. minus the peace signs! LOL!

Entrance to the City Palace of Udaipur.

The Palace is so big you can’t really get a great picture of the whole thing. This is the best we could do from the courtyard.

Another God inside the foyer of the Palace.

The Kings bedroom with mirrored walls.

The Queen’s chair/swing. She sat her and her maidens dressed her from head to toe, including jewelry!

One of the conference rooms used at the Hotel inside the Palace.

This entrance is to the side of the City Palace and is actually the entrance to where the KING currently lives.

Such a calm lake before the storm.

It was weird to see the rain and storms b/c we had sunshine at the hotel. But we loved watching them.

Dancers at our hotel.

She’s getting flexible, see her feet?

Not sure if you can see this (double click to enlarge the photo) but she is doing a backbend to pick up two rings with her EYES!

WHOAH!!! We have never seen this before!! WOW!!

Just taking a walk down the road with my donkeys!

Can you believe they use bamboo for scaffolding and for support?

Yeah, Norm said this was our hotel!! Right….

They are all singing and going to temple.

See again, the women work hard!

Now this guy was coming straight at us!

This taxi has at least 35 people on it!

Again, just walking, just sayin!

Women work hard in India.

These gals kept staring at Rita, we said to the driver, it must be b/c of Rita’s blonde hair. He said, NO… it’s b/c she’s WHITE!! LOL !

Oh, Yeah.. we have to dodge Elephants too!

Entrance Gate to the “Pink City”.

Just a couple guys hanging around inside the Pink City…

The women used to sit behind these windows and watch the action in the streets.

Jaipur City Palace

Largest silver pot in the world!

Another view of the Palace where the current king lives.

Aquarius!!

A few snake charmers.

This gal struck a pose for us! Wasn’t that nice of her? She is sweeping the palace dressed like that! Amazing!

This little guy won Rita’s heart for sure! He was singing in French, Italian, English, Spanish, and when we stopped to listen, he asked us where we were from, we said… USA… he then made up a song about us from the USA visiting his India home! HE WAS SO SPECIAL!

Photo of Elephant Ride.. We’re the ones on top waiving to you !!

This guy almost got kicked over by this animal! uh.. yeah Norm??

Bad picture b/c of the reflection of my blue pants ( Angela/Steph… blue pants??) anyway… the guy in white is a medicine man, if you have anything that pains you, he will heal it by rubbing his hand over the area and chanting. Been doing it for over 50 yrs in the same spot!

A former lake palace in Jaipur, they are turning this into a restaurant.

The Samode Palace is currently used as a hotel.

This little guy does magic tricks and he should be on TV, he is soooo good!! Wish I could get him hooked up!

See… we are relaxing… Norm lost at Croquet! But we had fun!

Crazy gift from the maid! They are always monkeying around!

Yes, she is dancing and twirling all around with 6 clay pots on her head!

Rita’s favorite waiter… he has such a large… PEPPER MILL!!

Our original room

View from our room

Another view from our room

Main Gate entrance to Taj

This is a temple on the side of the Taj, there is an identical one on the other side also.

First nice view of Istanbul from our room. After the drive into Istanbul, this was very welcoming!

A look down our street !

Went to one of the top restaurants rated for its beautiful view of Istanbul at sunset. This is what we got!

The look on Norm’s face when he saw the view. He is also singing, “Why does this always happen to me?”

At least Norm got a good picture of the bridge connecting Europe with Asia.

This Topkapi Palace is behind the trees you saw in our first picture.

Eunuchs Gate at Topkapi Palace

Coming in to Samos, Greece harbor.

We always rush to the window to see what kind of view the hotel gives us. Pretty nice…

And this is the view from the other patio we have! Love it!

View from Alki’s balcony! Nice…

Nice little meal we had at Four Seasons on the harbor. Don’t you love Eva’s  little flower? Green been stems, mashed potato flower with a carrot in the middle!

Pythagoria harbor at night

This view never gets old.

Love the sunrise in the early morning!

This is our view as we left Samos heading back to Kusadasi.

Off we go back to Kusadasi!! We are almost there!

Rooftop restaurant we ate in all three nights!

This is the cook and our dishes are in the glass case, we picked whatever we wanted! They grilled up our main course right there!

This is the other end of the restaurant where you can drink and play cards or backgammon!

OK, this place looks like a nice hotel for our last night in Selcuk!

Nice patio upstairs

Pretty entryway!

And they sent us off with a very nice HEALTHY breakfast! Norm wants this lazy susan at home… Right….

First turn to our hotel…

Then we turned down this street… Mind you it was really dark upon arriving here!

Then this is the house next door. You probably can’t see the dog sleeping next to the steps. Never barked once.

And this is opposite the house and our hotel.

Finally we arrived at our hotel… is it the white house??? and is that our balcony we paid for?

OMG!! Thank goodness we stopped short of the house. Here is our entrance to our hotel. Very nice place!

Ahhh… very deceiving welcoming to this CONCRETE bed!!! LOL !

These types of water pipes were invented here for the first time.

This is the Odeom, it holds only 1500 people, used for musicals and plays.

Hard to believe that this only holds 1500 people. Also used for meetings of the Senate.

Overall View of Curetes Street in Ephesus as you enter.

Two columns left of the Temple of Domitian

These are the toilets for everyone to use. They are directly across from the Terrace Houses. We were told that some people would send their servants down to sit on these to warm them up prior to using them.

Not sure if you can tell, but there is drainage built into these. Amazes us since these were built in 1 A.D.!!

These writings were supposed to be in ancient greek, “but you know, the greek word came from” latin, and as you can see on these you can actually read ENGLISH words. A/K/A “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”

Harbor Street – it led to the Harbor. I like simple!

The Library of Celsus built by the Romans in 2 A.D. held an estimated 9000 to 12000 scrolls and had an underground tunnel to the brothel.

The wall on the left side is the actual Library wall, the wall on the right side was built around the entire library with this air to protect the scrolls from water, moisture, or other elements of weather. Smart builders back then… now a days we call it “Insulation”!

A side view of the Library. There is still 110 more years of excavation that needs to be done here.

This is the view of Marble Street from atop of the Terrace Houses.

Close up of Harbor Street – all streets were lined with statues and under them ran sewage canals and, above, water from fountains cascaded down the slopes continually keeping them clean. To help drainage and prevent feet or chariot wheels from slipping, the city scored and etched the marble in a way not unlike that seen on concrete roads today to prevent aquaplaning. Holes in the marble show where portable street lights were placed when it became dark, b/c Ephesus was the only city at the time to allow lights after dark, as it thrived with business at night time.

This foot is on Marble Street and tells the story to the men… Enjoy our city, and this is the way to the Brothels! If you don’t know what are in the brothels, then go to the Library!

The  Great Theatre that held 24,000 people. This is still standing after many earthquakes and only the very top section has been restored!

Amazing again, to us!

Original inscription on this part of a temple.

Temple of Hadrian, the Emperor of Rome, a very small temple for the Emperor.

Interior of one of the Terrace Houses. All the colors are pictures and are made out of mosaic tiles.

It’s like the different color of marble they used for these pictures were actually their wallpapering!

A more aerial view of the Terrace Houses

These were built in the landscape and tiered down the sides. A Cliff home resemblance !

Statue of Artemis – The fertility goddess!

The remains of the first church dedicated to Mary.

The alter in the Church of Mary.

The baptismal in the Church of Mary

After Ephesus, we stopped by the Seven Sleepers Cave and had lunch that these ladies prepared for us!

Look at how she sits with her legs out ALL DAY, preparing this Turkish bread!

The cave where seven people slept in for over 200 years.

The shrine built where the fireplace was in honor of Mary.

Side view of Mary’s house, the part in the back on the right was her bedroom.

Entrance to Mary’s house.

The outdoor sanctuary next to Mary’s house.

We actually drank some of this at another venue!

Big beer wagon!

Yep! Another beer wagon!

Another area from Germany! There were 60 in all.

Every area from Germany was represented in their original costumes.

Beer wagon in parade!

And their OX!

Yes, they do love their reindeer around these parts!

Oh Deer me!!!

Another great tent!

Looks like a great spread for all of us to enjoy while we watch the parade!

Here’s David, Rita’s new friend, he’s 24 from California… just a kid, but we all got along great!

Whoah… A lot of people enjoying the day and night!

Band taking a break and drinking a beer between sets!

Get your Gingerbread heart here!

Front row seat for this little gal, in her everyday wear!

Mini Kegger purse, it actually pours out beer for people watching the parade.

This was set up on the outside of our hotel for us while we watched the parade.

More of the party people..

All the lovely people…

Better view of our tent.

One of the largest tents, holds over ten thousand people!

Nice welcome sign for all of us festival goers!

Here is our tent! Yeah we found this too with no problem!

The band is in the middle of the tent.

WOW! What a crowd, and this is going on in 14 other tents for 16 days!

PROST!

View from our table, ONCE WE FOUND OUR TABLE… LOL!

Little harbor in Sucuraj where we stopped to have a drink at the bar our taxi driver owned while we waited for our ferry to Drvenik.

First Buza bar we found to have a drink and watch the sunset.

Our live entertainment in the middle square of Old Town. Notice the beautiful stained glass windows that light up in St. Blaise church in the background.? (St. Blaise is the patron saint of Dubrovnik)

Dubrovnik Cathedral

Yea.. we found this place through a narrow tunnel and stairway. No food, but good drinks!

Nice pathways that lead to ????

One stairway inside the walled city

A view from our walk along the Old City walls. The walls are 20 ft thick and this wall can get as high as 72 ft! One lane only in some places!

View of Dubrovnik from above the mountaintop!

Rector’s Palace

These three guys were AWESOME!! They sang in French, German, Italian, Spanish, but mostly in English!

Nice view of our lounge to have a drink after sightseeing and watch the colors around us.

Another walkway that opens into a square.

Our best shot of Dubrovnik between the two of us! Trying to get that ONE shot that you see on all the brochures!

See the lady that lives in this apartment? She gets to watch the entertainment every day!

We would say that every view is pretty spectacular!

We ducked into the Excelsior Hotel and took this picture and a few more. They have a great view of the Old City.

Little boats in the harbor.

Different view of our Buza #1 place!

This is the new bridge into Dubrovnik. We stopped along the way into Dubrovnik to take some photos.

View of our private beach from our hotel room above. Glad they had a lift to get us down there.

Another beautiful doorway on our walk into town.

We didn’t stop here for a drink b/c we were on our way to the Old City, but this sure looks like a great place!

Stradun – pedestrian main street in Old City. Notice all the green shutters? They all MUST match and use the same shade of green.

Everyone danced in the middle of the square to the live music.

On the second night, we had only two entertainers, one from the night before with a new guy. These guys played a lot of old rock music, all of which Norm and I knew! We loved it!

Let’s see…. what am I going to have??? fish, grilled fish, or fish?? Yep, that about sums it up! They certainly like their fish here! Ok then, get me some wine… FAST!!

Pretty nighttime view of one of the towers.

This is one of our FAVORITE pictures!!! And it was one of the first we took after we got on our ferry to Drvenik!

Phoenix 2 by day!

Polish billionaire’s yacht, Phoenix 2. 5 stories high!

Watched these go by a we laid on the beach!

This is our third stop, a little beach with very clear water!

Looks like we might have run into a little traffic!

One of the smallest islands

Our fresh catch of the day!

There motto here!

Sittin in tree house…. having a drink! Looks like they were having fun!

This is where we decided to stop and eat lunch!

Here’s our beach bar… anyone thirsty?

This was our next stop, beautiful!

Pretty much what the coastline looks like!

Pull up a rock and have a seat for the day!

At first, we thought our captain dropped us off at Gilligan’s Island… but we never saw the Skipper, Mary Anne, Ginger, Gilligan or Thurston Howell III!

Our first stop on our boat day. This creature greeted us as we entered the beach area!

Pretty much what the coastline looks like!

Goofy’s in the harbor!

Town square

More of Hvar’s harbor

This is a small yacht pulling out for a cruise!

Partial view of the Hvar harbor

View from the balcony of our hotel, don’t let this fool you, the pool water was ICE cold!

When we first walked down to the harbor, this is what we saw as we rounded the corner.

Our first sight of Bol, Croatia after getting off the ferry.

AHH… the opposite side of the pier when pulling in off the ferry.

Took a little walk and whoah.. these people are what we call “GREEN”!

Found this nice thatched roof bar…. We definitely had some great cocktails here !

The harbor corner.

This is what we saw as we were walking to our famous Zlatni Rat beach!

Oh, yes, this is going to be my new wallpaper on my computer! Here’s our beach we’re looking for!

The very tip of Zlatni Rat beach from our angle.

This is where we landed! Took this from my beach chair! Loved watching the colors all day.

View of Bol, Croatia

Oh, my, another place to have drinks outside, and with a TV screen in the trees!

Bol street, this one is exceptionally wide!

Anyone need any doilies? table runners? tops?

Our villa, we stayed in the room just under where the towel is hanging from the top floor balcony!

This path is what we walked along to get to the beach. Very nice shaded path all the way.

Our rules just before entering the beach area!

Dummies that were trying for two hours to dock this boat with an anchor just outside our swimming area!

We weren’t the only ones that thought these guys were dumb or inexperienced!! Every one came down to take a picture, b/c they had to be towed!

This is the shaded area that has all the vendors, pretty nice place.

This is the bar that serves drinks only at the beach, the vendor behind this serves sandwiches, the vendor behind that serves french fries, and the vendor behind the french fry guy serves ice cream. But you can bring all your food here to eat under the shade trees and order drinks!

First View of Split, Croatia from our room

Thought we’d sit here and ponder what to do the next day!

Split Promenade at night

Just a simple corner street inside the Diocletian’s Palace.

One of the entrances to the Diocletian’s Palace grounds, yes this hotel sign is inside the “grounds”.

Morning view of the Promenade

A small simple church in Split

Just in case you don’t know where Split, Croatia is, enlarge this and take a look at this map.

Just amazing to us that this is still standing and people live and work inside of these walls.

One of the Squares inside where people like to gather.

This lion is one of the two originals built in 305, amazing that it only has a crack in it after almost 2000 years old.

The middle structure you see here is the original wall, that is how thick most of the walls are.

The corner street during the day. So nice! The streets are all marble.

One of Split’s beaches

Another beach in Split, for those of you who like to be on the “Edge”!

View of Split rooftops, everyone uses the patios.

Here is where we were entertained by the two guitarists!

Pretty cool, Heh? They just sit and play to the people at night!

See how narrow the streets are?

Beautiful view of Split from the pier.

The church in the background is inside the Diocletian’s Palace.

Different view of the Promenade during the day.

YEP!!!! They have “GONE TANNING”!

Fish Market

Looks like sand, but it is tiny pebbles.

Nice restaurant!

Just loved walking this at night, cool breeze in the air….

Norm’s picture of hops on our 160 kph drive to Munich !! Not bad!

Really?? Hot Pink shower lights while showering??

Tower on New Town Hall in Marianplatz

Lovely couple walking along the streets of Munich. A LOT of them dress like this every day for no reason.

This is a skeleton of St. Mundita, made of gold, which they have adorned with jewels.

Beer garden inside the 3 story Hofbrau Haus

Main Entrance to Hafbrau Haus

What else to get but Bratwurst and Kraut

Pretty flower boxes on most buildings here

We’ll be back again to sit with these folks only under a tent at Oktoberfest!

View from our room. Reason why we pick our hotels by location.

Such beautiful tree lined streets with great architecture.

View of the Vltava River from the Charles Bridge

View of the Castle at night

There are windows like this that line the church on all sides

These guys were playing beautiful music for everyone in front of the Palace entrance.

This is the oldest original piece of furniture in the Palace. Very nice condition.

Ceiling painting in Palace is very intricate.

A statue dedicated to Mary on the grounds of the santa casa Loreto

Bigger picture of its workings

Another Picture of the workings of this clock

This is the view from the other side. Pretty cool, yah?

Yep, Rita’s missing her grandchildren, she’s thinking these two are going to talk back to her! Never gonna happen!

This Opera House is in between these Cathdrals.

Beautiful Alter – Evangelical – Protestant

The interior of the dome

You can see the edge of the previous picture here above the pulpit. This view is from the upstairs balcony.

These people were trying to get ANYONE to join them just for ONE MINUTE of exercise just outside of Brandenburg Gate

But only saw this one with the Lederhosen on all of the guys.

Different view of the Holocaust Memorial

Check Point Charlie

Although Rita’s driving skills are excellent, her parking skills need a little work.

Close up of Sanssouci

This is from the pond at the end of the gardens.

Just the vestibule and its chandelier

The China House – where they would go for afternoon tea. This is in back of the gardens.

Inside the China House

Ornate statues on outside of the China House

This is the servants quarters across from the Neue Palais

Another view from the Roman Bath House

We see the strangest things again in the roundabouts.

Hopefully you can see this, but our bridge ends in the middle of the water and goes into a tunnel to finish our journey across to Denmark.

Nyhaven was our favorite place on this day.

Loved the name on this “toilet”.. Norm knew it was for men.

But then, we’d need a new boat!

Amalienborg Palace

NIce place to walk around and view the gardens.

This is very pretty, not sure this picture does this justice. Look on our “where are we going” page to see a better picture of this.

Then when it gets dark, everything lights up!

Then at the end of the night a water / light show begins.

Tsum Department store of Moscow

Different levels in GUM

These would make a great pair of shoes to the “Night before the INDY 500 race party”!!

Resurrection Gate – The only gate to Red Square.

There are nine separate chapels under each of these nine onion bulb like domes.

Can you believe that Putin waved to me???

Cathedral of Christ our Saviour

This place does get hoppin!

A canal street

One of the many canal bridges

Interior of St. Isaac’s

View of the Winter Palace through the garden

One of Gardens at the Winter Palace

Norm eating “Borscht” soup! He HATES beets and this is made out of beetroots!! But you have to eat the local food. It’s a rule, kinda like the “carry-on” luggage only. LOL!

Interior of the Church of the Spilled Blood

The walls and ceiling were lined with mosaics.

Really??? She took about 10 different poses with this knife!

Peter and Paul Cathedral at the Fortress

The alter of the Lutheran Cathedral

And the Organ, quite beautiful.

And a chandelier that hangs in the middle of the greek cross plan of the church. No candles in this church that we could see.

A couple of boats in one of the many harbors of Helsinki.

Interior of the orthodox cathedral

They even had baked goods.

These gals had our favorite spring rolls.

Kamppi Interior is entirely curved and very quiet, a place to go and get calmness during your busy day.

180 window panes, and there is live music playing all day long here, every day.

The ceiling is a copper wire dome.

It is really unique!

Grand Hotel allowed for some great viewing of the harbor.

Another view from our room.

This is another island.

Beautiful old architecture here.

Did a lot of boat watching, too.

Of course, Rita had to try it!! Felt like Lily Tomlin for a minute!!

Look what Rita found as we were walking the old town!! Best quote ever!

This one was Norm’s favorite. He started coming towards our car.

Guess the little guy was hungry!

Finally they decided to get off the road.

Pretty scenery.

Bergen harbor

Bergen harbor

Ferry boat was another mode of transportation.

Little village along the fjords.

The reflections were amazing.

Stave church in Eidfjord

They pull their caravans up to these little cabins and park them alongside. Some look like they are attached to the caravans.

This was our absolute favorite one!! Seriously, how does this happen and how can these heavy trees not collapse the roof???

A little island in the middle.

The glacier.

We loved the colors!

Another pedestrian shopping street in Copenhagen

Scenery around Amsterdam

Took a dinner cruise on this boat, very nice time!

More of the architecture in the square

Brussels Square is way larger than Brugge

More Belgium Architecture

Oldest home in Brugge

Of course, the Belgium Waffle was delicious!!

OMG!!! 195 MEALS ON THE ROAD!!! WE HAD TO BUY NEW T-SHIRTS!!! DO YOU LIKE THEM???

Norm, Rita and Isabelle

Old town Lille, France

Inside the church, still modern looking.

Statue in front of the entrance to our hotel.

Here we are on the Pont des Arts ( the LOVE BRIDGE)

Here’s one for sale. Good condition for an old car.

Beautiful daytime view of the Eiffel Tower

Place de la Republic

Celebrated our last night in Paris at the Moulin Rouge show. The acrobatics were our favorite parts of the show. Amazing…

Beautiful Notre Dame

Cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris

Cool place they have.

They store Sancerre in stainless steel tanks.

We were worn out afterwards!!

They make all of this here in this tiny village.

Panoramic view because it is to big to photograph!

We had aperitif’s on the patio first.

Such a beautiful place

This is the called the Rose Window.

Front gate of Versailles

Original Clock, astronomical clock, made in 1749, still keeps perfect time.

A sunset picture of Versailles

This is the chapel which is a separate building, very unusual for the time.

This is incredible!

This is the back of the castle.

I’m entering this one in the broadripple art fair. It is better than some I’ve seen.

Grand Hall that leads to the back door for exiting into the woods to go hunting!

Built over a river.

Stopped to take our buddy’s pictures along the way.,, They were pretty cool about it.

Seriously??? Can you see the “RECEPTION” sign?????? It’s there!!

This is where we stayed. We had our own little flat, b/c no one was occupying the upper floor.

This place is filled with wine shops.

Statue of Mary as she appeared to Bernadette

This is the line of people on the other side of the river bank waiting to get in line

This is how big the place is to fill up and it gets totally filled every night with this procession from people from around the WORLD.

A picture of the original grotto. Water still flows from the stones surrounding this shrine and you can touch it as you walk by.

Then of course, the Basilica is lined with these stories.

A close up of the top of the
Basilica, the columns behind are separate chapels with the middle one being the largest. We walked up the sides of this ramp to the first story to watch the procession, there is also a second story to watch from.

This cave like wall doesn’t look like the water is flowing from it, even close up, but when you touch it, it is totally wet.

Here is Betsy getting us lost. Not really, we think it was just a new round a bout.

Side view of walled city.

The storm came out of nowhere, we cut our visit short. Good thing we had finished our lunch.

Then the moon was awesome in Cap D’Agde.

The sun was setting when we left, thought is was very pretty colors.

Loved this little alcove

They do their exercising on the beach, mind you the beach is all rocks here.

Now the storm is here

We stopped here to have some lunch

This says it for sure

Cathedral of Monaco

Blitz and Bling in Monaco

Nice cars here, I’d say!

Another View from the top!

Here is a view of Positano. We stopped along the curvy mountain road, jumped out, took the pic and got back in, just in time.

Here we are, ready to head off again.

Castel St. Angelo

St. Peter’s Basilica – Chair of Saint Peter. It’s hard to capture the Dove in the middle above the chair, but its wings are 6 feet wide each.

Roman Forum

Pantheon

Visiting the Vatican

No shortage of motorcycles

Beautiful Trevi Fountain at night

Spanish Steps/ Daytime

A little snow capped mountain up ahead

It was only 9 celsius here, but warm

Street view of Waterfall

View of Steffisburg landscape

Norm trying to get the best angle. He got his shoe/foot in the picture. LOL!

Scenery along the way in Colmar

She warmed up by playing the piano for us.

lenses = lentils?
striped = layered?
ok, we couldn’t figure out what “laminated” meant.

But we also see things like this, too!

Rhine River Cruise

It was not easy asking someone to take this.

We have found NO shortage of sausage in Germany.

O.K. So every time Norn’s been using the “WC” (toilet) he’s been thinking there was a non-flusher before him. Putting on his glasses revealed that these are painted on bugs (fly) above the splash guard. Guess they are targets? ??

Our Garden Patio. All the homes have this type of a backyard.

Entrance to Rothenburg

Finally we’re inside!

Hohweg Castle this is right in town and you can walk to this one easily.

Zugspitz Mountain, Can you see the rainbow on the left side of pic?

The front facade of the church in Mondsee used for the wedding

The door to the Abbey that the soldiers came looking for the Von Trapp’s.

Road look familiar too?

and along the horse baths….

Fountain

We had to climb over this to find the actual hill, after driving up a mountain in Mehlweg

Again, loving these crazy signs.. to us they are cute.. I’m sure they all mean well. Kathryn, this ones for you !!

Great landscape from above.

Accordion Music everywhere…I mean everywhere…

Walk out the front door of our hotel and this is the view.

Mozart’s home

Yep, we ate in the oldest place!! Had a great meal.

Woke up to this view Monday, had to say goodbye and get going to Salzburg.

We ate at a gas station. Not really… it used to be one. This place had great food. The Austrians really know how to recycle their buildings.

Cool house in St. Gilgen

Mozart’s sister’s home in St. Gilgen

Picture #2 – yes or no?

This is the view of the pool, hot tub and lake swimming area. The large pool at the end is solid stainless steel, kept at 86 degrees year round and is floating in the dock, next to it is the cold lake plunge pool, and the little pool under the flags is the hot tub. All floating. Pretty cool.

Norm kept asking me to pull over while I was driving 80 so he could get a picture of the “BRA” sign. I couldn’t hear him half the time and the other half of the time I thought he was crazy… who ever heard of a bra sign???? Finally, I figured it out, stopped, and Norm got his picture.

You may have to double click on this one… it’s a warning for a waiter with drinks crossing sign.

View from our walk around the lake.

Church Alter

A cute local family

There were 48 of them with number 1 being the oldest.

Parking in Friasch – Yeah, can’t back out of this one.

Fresh fruit / vegetable stand in Kindberg

Lost in translation???     Running sushi??

Can’t wait to make a Cosmo out of this

Had some hot chocolate here and some desserts

Pedestrian street shopping area Vienna

IT department hard at work again, looking for our hotel in Vienna, off we go!

View from our lunch table..

This is what we saw along the way while driving

Ceiling in Marble room – looks like it is curved ceiling but it’s an optical illusion

Random people walking in Abbey Corridor, at the end is the entrance to the church

Explanation ( YOU MAY HAVE TO DOUBLE CLICK THIS TO ENLARGE THE PRINT)

Front view of the courtyard to church

Kitty on a ledge (third story) said Hello to us

Small church in Melk, mass was going on here when we arrived.

First glimpse of Abbey

Cute place to sit outside and have a drink.

Lots of water activities all day along the river.

Close up of church dome in Cesky Krumlov

Think we’ll have to do this and just keep going…

This is the sign outside on the house. It used to be a Michelin starred restaurant

Entryway into the main street area of Landshut

Maybe this is why the Europeans are so much healthier than us… clever

Aunt Lisel telling us a story about my mom… with our GREAT INTERPRETER.. FABIAN!! He was sooooo great!

Landshut

This is a typical “double” in Europe… Next time we’ll ask for a KING bed… for sure…LOL

Pena Palace in Sintra. This place was amazing. I could post an album of the pictures here. It had the original furniture in most of the rooms.

Another beautiful doorway in Obidos, Portugal

Sanctuary of Fatima – This picture cannot do this justice. The alter in front faces the parking lot and the grotto on the left.

This was taken at the nave area, the people at the alter look like ants.. crazy big. It holds 8000 people.

View at night while swimming

Place Jemaa el Fna at sunset

Hotel Dining Room – One of ten

Norm and his new drinking buddies!! People were actually paying these guys for a drink..

I was appalled when the driver turned down this street to our hotel the night before. This is daytime…. Walk out of our front door and this is what you see. Norm thought it was the best couple of asses he had seen in Morocco…

Norm looking very dapper. Please also note the “Eye of London” in the background as it is very hard to take focus away from Norm.

We are looking at real estate in Edinburgh. What do you think about the Castle of Edinburgh?

This is the Royal Bank of Scotland, talking to them about financing our real estate purchase.

Drinking a pint of ale in the pub, pondering the real estate options.

This is a true fact. After reading this history of our pub, we decided to NOT buy real estate and return to London for one last hurrah!

Off to another Pub!

Brad Pitt World Premiere

Look what I found in between Westminster Abbey and Big Ben!

Good thing they have these instructions at each cross walk!!! They have been very helpful!

Who says men never ask for directions!