AN EUROPEAN ADVENTURE

Although I haven't finished my holiday stories from Tripping USA in 2013 (which is now 12 months ago), over the last 6 months we have started planning our next overseas holiday.

This will be our first time in Europe - visiting the countries of France, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary.  As it will be autumn when we are there, the changing colours of the landscape will be nice to see, and hopefully make for some pleasing photography.  

When we leave Brisbane in September this year our first 7 nights will be spent in Paris.  At the same time Barry has 2 friends (they are doing a walking tour of France), will be there so we will catch up with them one night for dinner.  I really enjoy French food and I am looking forward to tasting all the wonderful cuisine and visiting local patisseries.  I think we had both better stay on our exercise regime.  Before, during and after.

We have booked a Battlefields tour for 4 days which visits the Western Front of World War 1. Some of the sites we will be going to are Flanders, Ypres Salient and the Somme.  These areas were major battlefields for young Australian soldiers as well as many allies and thousands of these brave men lost their lives.  I originally had no interest in doing this tour, but after seeing the ANZAC broadcast from Villers-Bretonneux and reading a little more information about the Western Front I have become increasingly interested and see this as a different experience. 

We return to Paris for 1 night, then intend catching a train to Reims, in the champagne region where we will stay for 3 nights. 

City of Reims (Google Images)

We will do a champagne tour and after reading the tourist bureau information Reims has alot to offer.  From here we will take the train, crossing the French-German border for our next destination of Stuggart.  As it happens Barry has found 2 things of interest in Stuggart.  A visit to the Porsche factory as well as the Mercedes Benz museum.  At the same time on the Saturday the beer festival starts so we opted to stay an extra night to enjoy these festivities.    


From Stuggart we travel to Prague which is part train, part bus travel and from all internet inquiries the scenery looks amazing.  We have a few spare days in Prague before meeting our river cruise tour. We intend hiring a car and head out to the country to other interesting tourist destinations and Barry is hoping to get to the factory where his glider came from.  As long as he doesn't want to buy a new one. 

Our river cruise on the Danbue River is for 10 days and will be one of the many highlights of this European holiday.  The tour starts in Prague but we board our floating hotel at Nuremberg visiting numerous towns on the way before disembarking in Budapest, where we have a few extra days to explore, then plan on going to Salzburg and if time permits Bratislava, before returning to Vienna to make our way home via Dubai for 2 nights.  In Dubai we have booked to do the Dune Safari dinner which has been recommended and I am looking forward to that as well.