A digital travel diary. · WP v1.08 · Updated
Today, we took the train from Brussels to Antwerp, Belgium. We arrived at the Centraal Antwerp Train Station - an impressive-looking building on the outskirts of Antwerp.. . . . The Centraal Train Station is modern and very unique-looking.. . . . Once we stepped outside, we were in the modern-looking Belgian town of Antwerp. We immediately noticed the very wide streets (which are uncommon)..…
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Today, we took a train from Brussels to Ghent to explore this old Belgian town. The train ride from Brussels was relatively short. When we arrived in Ghent, we took a trolley to the downtown area.. . . . There are many old Renaissance buildings throughout Ghent, and we explored the city on foot. Touring Ghent on foot or by bicycle is best, as the…
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Today, we took an early morning train from Brussels to Bruges. Bruges is a small Belgian city crisscrossed by multiple canals and is considered the "Venice" of Belgium.. . We took the local bus from the Bruges train station to Bruges downtown / Burg Square.. . As it was early morning and not very crowded, I climbed the Belfort Tower for a better view of…
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After spending the afternoon in Lyon, France, we drove to Brussels, Belgium, for the next part of our European trip. . . . I was happy to be out of France - the cost of all the paid tollways started to irritate me (compared to toll-free roads in the Netherlands or Germany). Thankfully, Belgium's roads were free, and we had a good time in Brussels..…
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After a two-hour drive from Baden-Baden, Germany, we finally arrived at Metz, France, at around 9:30 pm.. . . I had made Airbnb reservations with Nelly Clesse in Metz for a single room. Metz is conveniently located halfway between Baden-Baden and Brussels, and it would make a nice stop (to avoid a non-stop 5-hour drive). . . . When we arrived in Metz, we found…
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The drive from Sankt Goar to Baden-Baden took several hours on the autobahn. The weather was overcast with occasional rain. Germany is full of trucks ferrying cars and other industrial goods. Compared to other countries, the number of trucks on the autobahn was significantly higher in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands.. . . Most cars drove at 75-85 mph on the autobahn. Only once did…
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After visiting the Burg Eltz Castle and Cochem, we decided to stop by Sankt Goar.. . . . Since we ended up on the other side of town, we had to take a car ferry to get across the Rhine.. . . . Many other people were crossing the Rhine, including pedestrians, other autos, and motorcycles.. . . . There were many castles, some in…
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After visiting Burg Eltz Castle, we decided to visit the little town of Cochem, Germany. Cochem is located on the Moselle River. The whole region has many quaint little towns with numerous wineries.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . There is a small tourist train that shuttles tourists from downtown to the Sesselbahn. . . . .…
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Today, we drove to the famous Burg Eltz Castle in Germany. Burg Eltz is located above the Moselle River, between Koblenz and Trier.. . . . . According to Wikipedia:. Burg Eltz is a medieval castle nestled in the hills above the Moselle River between Koblenz and Trier, Germany. It is still owned by a branch of the same family that lived there in the…
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After visiting Cologne, we stopped by for the night at the little German town of Bacharach. Bacharach was highly recommended by Rick Steves in his travel guide to Germany, and we wanted to experience the wonders of this small town.. . We had hotel reservations at Hotel Zur Post, with a room upstairs.. . . . The town is relatively small - a very quaint,…
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After a delicious breakfast at our neighborhood Winkel restaurant, we loaded our Opel Astra with all our luggage and headed for Cologne, Germany. Getting out of Amsterdam was tricky, as the narrow streets and the Monday morning market (along with many bicycles) made leaving Amsterdam a bit fatiguing.. . Once we got out of the city, the freeways were moving nicely, and we made it…
Read More: Cologne, GermanyToday, we took the train from Centraal Train Station to Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, where I picked up a rental car from Avis for our drive to Hoge Veluwe National Park and our further adventures in Germany, France, and Belgium.. . I wanted to drive a VW Golf, but Avis selected an Opel Astra with Belgian license plates (since I would return the car in Brussels).…
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Saturday, June 29, 2013. . On the way back to Amsterdam from Delft, we decided to stop by the small college town of Leiden.. . . . Leiden is a college town with the famous Leiden University (founded in 1575).. . . . . When we arrived, we learned there were scheduled boat races (Leiden Lakenfeesten) at 7:00pm, so we decided to wait for them…
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Today, we purchased train tickets at Amsterdam Centraal to Delft, with possible stops in Leiden and Haarlem.. . The train ride to Delft was uneventful. We got off the train at Delft and walked to the city center. We noticed a considerable bicycle parking lot near the train station - something that has become a common sight in the Netherlands and unimaginable in the United…
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Today, we flew from San Francisco International Airport to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, with a stop in Chicago. Our United Airlines flight UA372 departed from San Francisco at 10:00 a.m. and landed at Chicago's O'Hare Airport at 4:10 p.m. We changed planes and departed on UA909 at 6:10 p.m. for Amsterdam, arriving at 9:30 a.m. the next day (Tuesday, June 25).. . Amsterdam is the first…
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. Today, we took the train from Praha Hlavni Nadrazi (Prague's Main Train Station) to Vienna's Meidling station aboard the EC 79 Gustav Klimt (departing Prague at 2:42pm). We purchased the train tickets online in advance using the Czech Transport website. The cost of the tickets was 44 Euros (for two passengers).. . . . . . The train ride was uneventful, though we had…
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In the summer of 2012, we decided to visit Prague, Czechia, because we were looking for inexpensive airline tickets to European cities we had not yet seen. For some odd reason, tickets to Prague were cheaper than tickets to London, Paris, or Rome. Since we had never been there, we decided to visit Prague first and then travel by train to Vienna.. . We flew…
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Sunday, June 6, 2010 . . . We really enjoyed our time visiting Mont-Sainte-Michel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .…
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After a delicious breakfast in Honfleur, we visited Etretat - a beautiful French seaside village with a unique natural arch. . . . . The drive from Honfleur to Etretat took just 35 minutes. We parked our car on the outskirts and walked onto the pebble beach. The weather was beautiful, with hardly any wind. . . . . . . . The downtown was…
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Friday, June 4, 2010 . . . For the French portion of our England-France European trip, we began our journey in Le Havre (after crossing the English Channel from Portsmouth on the LD Lines ferry). . . . . . . . We departed Portsmouth, England, aboard LD Lines (Louis Dreyfus) on June 4, 2010, at 08:30 and arrived in Le Havre at 12:45 (a…
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