Entry #6 For those of you who have been waiting in dire anticipation of our latest antics, we apologize. Sometimes it is a little hard to find an internet cafe with the time that will let us update our journals. We finally have found the time here in Romania in the small medival town of Sighisoara, the birthplace of Dracula. As you might remember we left you off at the end of our stay in Paris. We proceeded to head off to Brussels to Ralph's cousin Ruth, the manager of the Beckers Hilton of Erps-Kwerps. She was kind enough to let us recharge our batteries and get organized for the next leg of our trip. During our stay we took a day trip to Brugge where we took a tour of the canals. We encountered an afternoon rain storm and ran into a cafe and enjoyed Belgium mussels and beer. Later after the rain had passed we strolled along the shops and purchased some homemade chocolates for the train ride home. Although Ralph prefers Brugge, Lisa likes the small town of Lier, outside Antwerp where her family lives. It is a beautiful, quiet town often refered to as Little Brugge and not as visited by tourists. But most important of all, we had quality time with the family. We always thought Belgium was an overlooked country in Europe and the fun we had there further proved this point. Next stop: Southern France. We started off our trip to Southern France with a stop in Valence. This is one of the towns where the main high speed train station is outside the town and you take a small local train to the village center. Valance is a nice town where we enjoyed a great outdoor meal and significantly warmer whether than Brussels. We walked a bit through the town, the buildings and parks were really nice, we found it unusual that all the streets are decorated with fountains and statues and the buildings with columns and carvings. Each restaurant would advertise its speciality and its chef. We can't remember the name of our chef but the meal was first rate, we spent a few hours in the sidewalk cafe with our waiter Savaign enjoying local wines and food. The other thing though, that we are still getting used to is the noise. The people ride around in noisy cars and even noisier scooters. The following day we made it to Juan-Les-Pins for a couple of days in the French Riveria. This is a suburb of Antibes about 2 km away. The local trains are impossible and Lisa met a friend and spent the wait learning the French slang probably not all nice, but had a great time. We arrived on a Sunday and it was pretty crowded because of the weekend getawayers. Once they left, things calmed down and we were able to enjoy the French coast. A lot of the beaches have been taken over with a pay for your stay of 16-20 Euros for which you get a chair and umbrella, but we had this great little hotel run by an ex-New Yorker right next to the public beach. Our host was an artist and had decorated the villa and gardens wonderfully. I believe his wife and daughter run the place with him and after giving us the lowdown and the maps of the area, he recommeded a long bath in the Mediterian Sea. After the recent walking tours, Lisa was all for it and plopped herself right down on the beach for the afternoon and evening, had a great swim and chatted with a few groups of people on the beach. Ralph isn't the type for resting on a beach and went for more exploring. Lisa met some other couples and we spoke in this mixture of English, Portuguese, Arabic, French, and Italian. Then one couple starting some singing and music and we were dancing. One woman was married to a guy from Lousiana and was really into zydeco. Ralph came back with a picnic supper which we then enjoyed. One day we took a day trip to Antibes to enjoy more of the French Riveria. Our stay there was a few days before the Cannes Film Festival so we stayed away from that part of the coast to avoid the pre-festival crowds. We saw on the news its a mad house in Cannes with all the stars doing interviews and we weren't the least bit interested in waiting hours for any of them to grace us with their presence. For future reference there is a local bus that brings you up and down the Frech Riveria beaches for 1.70 Euros a day. Next stop: Italy. We had made plans to go to Padova Italy, A good HQ point to see Venice. The trains were running on Italian time so we missed the connection and stopped in Milan for the night. Things turned out alright though because we got there early enough to explore the city during the sunset hours and got a great hotel recommendation from the tourist center. The hotel manager (Tomasso) gave us the low down on Milan with maps and metro advice and what to visit (the Victorio Emmaunal Center and newly renovated cathedral beside it). We also made it to the shoe store Lisa's foot doctor recommended with homemade shoes. Unfortunatly they only do mens shoes, but it was in a really cool area in Milan to visit, so no loss. Coming back the the hotel we had a bit of a walk because the public transport decided to strike for 4 hours. We made it by stopping at pizza and ice cream places along the way. It was an enjoyable experience. But will we ever make it to Padova? Yes, we made to Padova the next day. Padova is a university town about 30 minutes outside of Venice. We decided to stay there instead of Venice because it was cheaper and mellower. And we were right. We stayed at a little pensione called "Junior" run be a little old lady. It was cheap and we had a good breakfast under her watchful eyes each morning. We had a chance to tour Padova and it was something that was better than I had expected. A smaller city with a lengthy history. Its a student town so a lot of young people practicing their English. We proceeded to Venice the next day were we used the whole day to explore the city. After the obligatory stop at the Piazza St Marco (which was extremely crowded) we got ourselves lost in the side streets, which is the best way to explore the city. We also took the water bus to Lido Island were we hung around the beach for a while and where Lisa found the best gelato in Italy. From that day on we had to have gelato everyday in Italy. Before we left Venice, we picked up a bottle of Limoncello to go with dinner back in Padova. We definitely enjoyed dinner and we definitely enjoyed the Limoncello because it is twice as strong as what you get in the states. Our waiter was student originally from Albania who had a friend going to Ohio State University. I think he got a kick out of us getting buzzed in his restaurant (not realizing the difference in alcohol content). Next: Roma. After our two days in Padova we headed out to Rome for 4 days, a great city but with a lot of people. We took a get on, get off bus tour of the city and enjoyed such well know sights as the Colesium, the Forum, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps and St Peters Basilica. We did Rick Steves recommended walking tour of the city and it worked well. We were sitting at the Spanish Steps at night and noticed a flashing blue light and then all of a sudden every vendor rolled up his sales items (including DK belts, Gucci handbags, rolex watches and Rayban sunglass - all for under 10 Euro. Authentic? Right!) and ran, a lot leaving items behind, After this stampede, a second took place, where all the locals and tourists went to grab the stuff that was dropped. It was quite amusing to sit back and watch. The locals all know Rick Steves they call him Ricki Stevi and we saw hundreds of his books in tourists hands all over Italy. The only major sight we did not see was the Vatican museum because there was a three hour wait to get in. A reason to go back again. We tried to book ahead transport and accomadations for Greece, but everything was sold out. After the hecticness of Rome we decided to seek the calm of Cinque Terra instead of even attempting Greece as originally planned. Cinque Terra is a group of five small towns along the Italian Riveria. The town we stayed in was Corneglia. We had a room at the top of the town which required 365 climbing steps to get there. (There is a shuttle bus as well.) Once we made it though, it was worth it. For the next few days we explored the coast, hung out on the beach, hiked the trail between towns, went to farmers markets and drank local wines from the fields which surrounded us. It got a little hectic during the days with all the day travelers, but at night it was calm and peaceful. Our apartment had a rooftop patio where we usually had breakfast and dinner. Although one night we went to the fancy town restaurant (only 1 in town) and had a long dinner on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Italian Rivera. It was the only rally good pasta dish I got in Italy (I was surprised by this the most, I prefer American-Italian pasta, but all the other cuisine we had in Italy was great). Next: Vienna. It had been our first time to Vienna and we were looking forward to it. On the way we met a fellow Bay Arean: Valerie. She did what we did: quit our jobs and traveled. It was her first time here and we hooked up together and went to Florence together via Pisa. Of course when we were in Pisa we checked out the leaning tower. We all then headed to Florence. Valerie was planning to spend a few days there while we just did our laundry while waiting for the overnight train to Vienna. We know we have to go back and visit Florence properly, we just didn't have it on our agenda this time and had not made any reservations (either for rooms or sights, which are both required here). We did see a bit of the bazaar and Lisa would love to come back with an empty suitcase to Italy and shop! We made it to Vienna the next morning and enjoyed the sights. We checked out Schonenburg palace (the next best castle to Versailles). We also checked out "Der Haus of Musik." It is an interactive and historical music museum. We could of spent a few days in this museum. We played a roll the dice game to compose a Vienna Waltz (Lisa's came out better than Ralphs:) Then there was an interactive way to conduct an orchestra. We both failed miserably and the virtual men in the game got up and told us so - in German, which Ralph happily translated for me. (You must be at least 21 years old to get the specific translation). The only regret we had about going there is that we did not have enough time. We have noticed that many of the cities have several names and Vienna was no exception. The locals call it Wein. The Russian Behr and someone else Behre. We wonder why we do this, its the same with Munich. The locals call it Munchen and the Italian call it Monaco, how confusing is that? We though the public transportation system here was really easy, 1 24h pass for everything. The local TI recomended a great hotel off line 18 and when we got there the place was a palace. We had a high ceiling room with chandiler lighting. There was a private garden where we hung out one night. The other evening we hung out in St. Stevens plaza, the pedestrian only area with street musicians and cafes. We had the Spaghetti ice cream (worth a splurge if you ever come to a Germanic country) Next stop: Budapest. Budapest was a great city only a few hours fron Vienna. We explored the castle distict, checked out Heroes Square and enjoyed the world famous thermal baths. It was a great way to relax before we took the overnight train to Bucharest. We spent a few days at the Charles hotel in the Buda section of town. This was run by some great entrepeneurs who bought up the area just after their government change in 89. Buda is the hills and quiet part of the city where the old royal castle is, Pest is the plains and active section of town. There was this great park (on a great hill, just up the street from us) We saw the people there hustling with 3 card charlie games. Its easy to win but Lisa thought the money they were giving out was counterfeit, so they win anyway. Lisa sat and watched the process for a while but to the relief of Ralph, Lisa would not play. From a distance Lisa could see how they cheat, they are not as good as the guys in NY yet. We went further up the park/hill and there is a staue at the top with the Saint who brought Christianinty to Hungary. They put him in a barrel and rolled him over the cliff for his troubles, but then put up the statue and converted anyway. From the top of the hill though you get the best views of the city, better than the castle. Next, another overnight train to Bucharest, Romania Bucharest was a tough city. Having been newly opened to the Western world it was not the most conducive for tourists, but we made the best of it anyway. While we were there, we explored a little bit of the city and took a day trip to Constanza on the black sea. Lisa dipped her toes in the water and Ralph just looked. The last place we made it to was Sighisoara, the birthplace of Vlad the Impaler (Dracula). This was the best place in Romania. We spent a few nights in the old city staying in a reconverted medeval hunting lodge. If you wanted to go anywhere in Romania, this area, the Transylvania Mountains would be our recommendation. Although Romania was not conducive for tourists compared to other countries, the people were definitely the most friendly. There are a lot of poor people and beggers here. But there are also people absolutly working their butts off. It was hard to figure out. We saw mothers critizing their small children when they didn't harass the tourists enough to get a good haul, then we saw a lot of amputee victoms who just seem to be left to their own devices. It took us 3 days to figure out what to do but the food here is cheap and the best we've had in all of Europe so far. When we buy food, we just buy extra premade sandwiches, snacks, stuffed breads, whatever; and give them out to the amputees and the older children, not the little ones with mothers encouraging them, but the 9-16 year olds that just look undernourished. Lisa asked if they were orphans because they appear to be living in the subways but a women we met said no, the country takes care of the orphans. I felt very safe in Romania, and we met some interesting women on the train rides. One women was pointing out all the sites and letting us know her opinion of the trains schedules or lack there of. She showed us the nuclear power plant (not Chernobyl, was quickly pointed out) and we had plenty of time to chat when the train in front of us on the tracks broke down. On another trip, we met a chemist who had been in Constanza doing an audit. She explained that even after NC left as president in 89, his right hand man took over the temporary presidency for the next 15 years. The government corruption is still pretty bad. This explains why the big difference between Hungary and Romania. Both had their governments collapse in 89, but today Budapest is a vibrant happy city and Bucheresti is still trying to build infrastructure up. We were really looking forward to going back to the Carpathian mountains which we passed through on the way to Bucherest. They are beautiful, Lisa saw a bear from the train, but a professor (born in Romania, taught at Berkeley) Lisa met on the train assured her they were very friendly and not to worry when hiking. He hikes here all the time. (An excuse not to trapse up the mountains though). We stayed in the House with Stag in a medival citidel. When we got here (a little late due to the train) we were greated with a parade and folk dancers and musicians. It appears that it is German Culture week here in Sighisoara. This is definately an area to come back to! After several hours of trying, we were able to get train tickets out of Romania tonight, remember next time book round trip, I can't imagine what it was like when NC was pres:) Now it is back to Becker's Hilton to regroup for the next leg of our European trip: north.
Entry #7 We realize it has been a while since our last entry and to our many fans we apologize. Since we did not bring our own laptop it sometimes was tough to find a computer and time to update this website. So with no more delay we will fill you in on the latest. When we left Romania we headed back again to the Becker´s Hilton in Brussels. It was time to regroup and prepare for the north. Before we headed to the Scandanvian countries we stopped off at our cousin Monika´s in Hamburg and stayed at the fabulous Muller Hyatt. As well as having quality time with the entire family (including our nieces boyfriends) we were treated to a tour of the city by our guide Rheinhard Muller, head of the Muller Hyatt empire. We toured the harbor (one of the largest in Europe) and explored downtown ie shopping:) Hamburg is an overlooked city in Germany and we would highly recommend it as a vacation destination. Further, the Hamburg Sea Devils won NFL Europe championship. Next stop: Copenhagen Our trip to Copenhagen by train included a ferry ride. Not just for us, but the whole train. They just drove the train onto the ship and away we went. (It's worth noting the ferry was 8 stories and had a shopping mall and several restaurants.) We arrived just after the riots started from the tearing down of the social club in Christiantown (the hippy section of the city) but the city had recovered very well. Already the Little Mermaid statue had a new head and had been repainted. It appears the Danish protest by painting things pink, adding the #69 to things, and by decapitating the famous statue, luckily it happens often enough that there are spare heads. Our exploration of Copenhagen included the standard canal tour and Tivoli. Based on a recommendation by our friend and colleague David Wittenkamp, we went to the town of Roskilde and checked out the Viking Museum. It was well worth it and we thought it was better than the one in Oslo. We then went to the Smors Bors Cafe for lunch. Another great recommendation. They did not serve Viking food. Tivoli for those that have never been, is an old fashion amusement park. From the ground the most adventurous ride is a pleasent looking swing, so we went on it. After several minutes frozen in terror as the swing spun practically out of control, up and down a 20 story pole above the city, centrifical force trying to break the chains and send us sailing out over the city and into the North Sea, we decided to stick with the shows. While in Copenhagen we were the guests of Juliana originally from Padova, Italy. We rented a bedroom in her private apartment and she was a fabulous host. We were treated to her homemade Lemoncello and great departing breakfast which included great conversation. Thanks Juliana! We are coming home with several recipies including the one for Italian Lemoncello so watch for our we're back party:) Next Stop: Stockholm. When we arrived in Stockholm we were the guests of Mirva and Tom Boothe and their sons Patrick and Daniel, proprietors of the Boothe Four Seasons. A great place which included a true Finnish sauna, local games, and a trampoline. Mirva gave us a great tour of the city and we also checked out the Vasa Museum. The Vasa was a viking ship that sank in the harbor on its maiden voyage, it was pulled out in the 70's and is being restored even today. We had arrived in Sweden about a week before the Mid Summer´s eve festival and Tom and Mirva invited us to join in the festivities. With some time to spare before the festivities we decided to spend a few days in Oslo, Norway. Oslo is a great city but it was unfortunately one of the few cities where we had trouble finding accomodations. We eventually ended up in a youth hostel which wasn´t such a bad thing because it is an expensive city. When we were there we purchased an oslo card to take a standard tour of the city and checked out a plethora of museums. They included the Kon Tiki, Viking, Polar Fram, Ski and Noble Peace Prize. After we saw "all of Oslo," we took the overnight train back to Stockholm. This was the best overnight train we took because our cabin included a toilet and shower. The shower was better than the one in our hotel in Rome! We made it back in time to Stockholm for the Mid-Summer´s Festival. We were treated to and participated in local singing and dancing. It was great because the celebration was truly local and not for the benefit of any tourists. That evening we continued the Mid-Summer´s celebration with Mirva´s brother and sister-in-law with local food, schnapps and singing. We attempted to sing in Swedish. But after a few drinks it really didn´t seem to matter how good or bad we were. We finished our stay in Stockholm with a local tour by Tom and Mirva and a solo tour of city hall. Tom was in the process of completing his MBA online at U MASS Amherst! But still took time out to show us around. Next leg: Inlands Banen. (senic train through central Sweden) After Stockholm we headed to Ostersund to the begining of the Inland Banen. This is a Semi-tourist train that goes throught the central of Sweden to Galivare, north of the Artic Circle. We call this a semi-tourist train because it is a transportation train, it also provides a running narrative of the area. The train also stopped along the way for lunch, snacks and dinner (which we ordered ahead of time on the train) and specific key points (such as the artic circle) for us to explore. Along the trip we also spotted numerous reindeer and moose. The moose in Sweden are light brown and blonder than the moose in New England. There is also a herd of white moose which we saw, and later talking to a hunter, we found out it is a very rare sight we were treated to. We noticed that the cows mostly had twins, I think that is different from the American moose as well. When we arrived in Galivare we were greated by our host Marita, who has a great Bed and Breakfast. Unfortunately is was cloudy in Galivare so we did not have a chance to see the Midnight sun. But even with the clouds it was still bright enough to read outside at midnight. In the town just before Galivari, there is a woman named Patrica Cowern, who emmigrated from England to photograph the northern lights and the Sami (Lappland) culture. Her work is great. The other highlight of Galivari is of course the mosquito museum. Next: Over to Finland. After Sweden, we the headed over to Finland. This sometimes a tricky proposition, because they have a slightly different railway system than the rest of Europe which creates a little bit of a compatability problem. We had to take the bus to cross the border into Finland. Fortunately, our Eurail pass covered the bus, so everything went without a hitch. The bus service is called Bussgods and they were with us from Lulea to Kemi. Once we crossed the border we headed south. As we headed south we decided to get off at a random town in Finland in order to spend the night. This would have worked in most countries, unfortunately there was no place to stay and the next train would not arrive for four hours. So we did the next best thing and headed back north to Oulu (the capital of northern Finland) because the wait for that train was only a few minutes. We liked the town so much that we stayed there for two days. When we were there we discovered the game of Finnish Baseball. Definitely not like we americans play. In Finland the catcher pitches the ball straight up in the air at home plate, then dodge out of the batters way. If the batter hits the ball, he has the option of running to either third or first base positions. We weren't sure of all the rules/stratigies of this game but it looks interesting and they have both mens and womens professional teams. Ralph decided to rest up a bit in Oulu, so Lisa went out on the town, it turns out the Finnish word for sale is ale, and ale is never beer, since both drinking and shopping in Finland are great adventures, Lisa was quite happy. In Finland we carried on exploring the lake country via Jonnesuu on the way to Helsinki. Very Beautiful countryside. Our final destination before leaving Finland was Helsinki. Here we were greated with vampires (more than in Translyvania) and gay pride festivals. It was just like walking down Hollywood Blvd in the 80's, only much cleaner and with better architecture. It turns out there were 2 festivals, Gothic Rock/Heavy Metal and Gay Pride simultanous in the city ~ 30,000 people each. This led to an interesting atmosphere in the city. As we did in Olso, we bought a Helsinki card and enjoyed the many amenities the city had to offer. We took the standard bus tour of the city and checked out a fortress built on one of the islands off Helsinki. It was considered unconquerable until February 1808 when the Russians walked across the ice and took the fort. It appears until then all battles were done in more pleasent summer weather on the sea and no one thought an army would break the rules and walk over to the fort. The tour of the fort was interesting in that we were giving a comprehensive history of the country. The country was established in 1917 and fought two wars during World War II. From Helsinki we took the train to Turku and another overnight ferry to Stockholm. This overnight ship that went through the archapilego between Finland and Sweden. The ship was a virtual cruise ship with restaurants and entertainment galore. Our cabin was on the 11th floor of a 12 story ship. And even though we were well below the artic circle the sky was still blue at midnight, the sun above the horizon at 11:30 PM. When we arrived in Stockholm we were planning to head back to Hamburg via Gothenburg and the Danish Jutland. We made as far as Fredrickshaven the first day where we rented a nice room from an older couple living on the coast. When we think of European coasts we usually thing of the Riveria, but we have discovered that there a lot of beautiful coastal areas not in the Riveria. From Frederickshaven we took the train down the center of the Jutland back to Hamburg in time for fourth of July. When we arrived in Hamburg our cousin Monika had prepared a great Fourth of July Dinner with American flags. The only thing that was missing was music from John Phillip Sousa. We were now back in Germany ready to visit friends and relatives. First German city: Neuschwanstein castle and Munich. When a lot people think of Germany, they think of Munich and Neuschwanstein castle (The Sleeping Beauty Castle), Germany´s most famous sight. We started our Bavarian part of the trip by staying just below the castle by "Mad King Ludwig." We toured the castle itself as well as Hochschwangau, the predecessor castle to Neuschwangau. We were lucky because it was not crowded and we could better experience the castles nestled in the Bavarian Alps. After our day at the castles we went on to spend a few days in Munich. This is definitely the most popular German city among foreigners. After our experiencing the Hofbrau house and the taking the beer tour, we can see why. We also took some sombering tours of Dachau and the Third Reich of Munich, a great history lesson. Next stop: Wurzburg. We went on to visit our Aunt and Uncle, Mia and Willy Beckers, proprietors of the Beckers Hilton II. They gave us a great tour of Rothenburg on the Romantic Road and we had a great time exporing the city Wurzburg. We took a day trip to Lohr-am-Main where we got many souveniers with our name on it. We also discovered that a woman from that town was an inspiration to the Grim brothers for their story of Snow White. We tried to lay claim to the town, brewery, and castle. Fotunately we were able to make back to train before the villagers came after us with pitchforks and torches. In truth it was a great little town, with very nice people and when they found out our last name was Lohr, the really opened up. Next: Back to Brussels for quality time. We went back to Brussels this time for a quality time with the family. We were treated to a day in Antwerp by our guides (our cousins) Ruth and Guido. We had a chance to observe a wedding that had Volkwagens as part of the processing. Is this what we call a budget wedding? We also had a chance to spend some quality time with our nephews Mathias and Steven who were in the process of preparing for finals. Good luck Guys. Next stop: Aachen. Aachen is the hometown of Ralph´s mother and home of her childhood friends, who have been good to us many times. The first people we visited were Clara and Wolfgang Czwalina, proprietors of the Hotel Czwalina. We had a great time together and saw the town of Monschau together. A well preserved medeval milltown in the westfalia area. After that we visited our friend Elsbeth Wieseman, proprietor of the Hotel Wieseman. During our stay there she treated us to a session at the Aachen thermal spa. She also loaned us her Mercedes Benz so we could take day trips to Maastrich in the Netherlands and to Dusseldorf. We drove a Mercedes Benz on the autobahn and survived, we have photos:) We spent some time with her daughter Ullrika, her son-in-law and her family. It was great getting to know them. Next: On to Switzerland and our friend Cindy. Our next stop was Basel Switzerland, the temporary home of Cindy Du-Puy, proprietor of the Du-Puy Hilton, and permanent home of Mama Roche. When we arrived Saturday, Cindy treated us to a great Swiss Dinner. The next day she gave us a great walking tour of the city and we explored the Hinkley museum (sponsored by Roche) before we caught the latest "Harry Potter" movie. Fortunately the movie was in it´s original version, so no translating was required. Basel is an interesting place. For recreation people rent dry bags, strip down to their skivies or bathing suits or less and jump in the river then let the current drag them down the Rhine River. Next: One of our favorite cities, Berlin. We spent four nights in one of our favorite cities, Berlin. It is one or our favorite cities because of its diversity and history. Even though the wall is down, you can still see remnants of the cold war and World War II. We stayed at the Potzdammer Platz, which until the wall came down, was nothing but an open field. The city has rebuilt itself tremendously. While we were there we took the usual tour of the city. We also took a bike tour of the city where the wall used to stand and went to the "Story of Berlin" museum. Of course we had to do some shopping while we were there. Being the home of KaDeWe, the largest store in continental europe, one seems compelled to do some shopping. Next stop: Dresden. Dresden is one German city which has show a lot of growth in recent years. When the wall came down in 1989 many bombed out buildings were never rebuilt. This includes the Frauen Kirche which was nothing but a pile of rubble until a few years ago. It is now completely rebuilt. The train station has been refurbished and next to it is a completely new mall area which was built three years ago. We took a long walk through the city which gave us a great understanding on why is was such a cultural city before World War II. While we were in Dresden we took a day trip to Prague in the Czech Republic. The trip included a walking tour through the city which we presumed was in English. Unfortunately it was in German which meant there was a lot of translating by Ralph that day. In spite of the "language barrier" we had a great day. During our last day in Dresden we went to a DDR museum in a small town outside the city. It had a lot of paraphenelia from the DDR days and gave one a good impression of what life was like in the DDR. We also noticed how the town was in a state of neglect, remnants of the old East Germany days. Next destination: Amsterdam. Even though the primary focus of this destination was Amsterdam, we stayed in the town of Haarlem, only 15 minutes outside of Amsterdam. It is a great town which is more typical of a dutch city. When we went to Amsterdam we purchased an IAmsterdam card which gave us unlimited public transportation and free entry many attractions. The ones we saw using the card were the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum, the city canal tour and the houseboat museum. With the card we also got 25% off our meal at a dutch pancake house. The following day, which we called "vice day," we went to the Heineken Experience. During the self guided tour we got free beers. After that we took a tour through the red light district given by an expatriot and checked out the shows afterwards. It turned out to be a long night. During the final day in the area we went to The Hague. When we were there we went to Madurodam, a minature representation of the Netherlands. After that we went to the coast of the city. It is another one of those coastal areas that can be easily overlooked by the casual traveler. Last stop on the continent: Brussels. Brussels is the final stop on the continent so we can regroup and prepare for Great Britain. Another visit to the Beckers Hilton. This was the fourth time we stopped here and everybody´s support here has been invaluable. We are now finishing an important section of our trip. We are sad it is coming to an end, but we also have a lot to look forward to.