A week to go. Weeks behind. Oh, well, what the hell.
Our fourth trip to Europe in ten years will begin like the last trip back in 2006: Fly to London, stay two nights, but thanks to a 6:55 a.m. flight arrival, have two full days to spend touring that city before flying on to The Continent. Last trip, our first stop after London was Vienna; this time it will be Prague.
Here's the full itinerary (which you can trace out on the interactive map on our trip blog): London-Prague-Dresden-Berlin-Munich-Austrian Alps-Alsace (eastern France, bordering Germany along the Rhine River)-Black Forest (German side of the Rhine)-Amsterdam-London-Home Again. Thirty-two days, ten stops, over 10,000 miles of travel by train, plane, and car, one flight within Europe (London to Prague), five days of train travel, eight days of driving a Mercedes (maybe), diving under the English Channel at Calais, France aboard the
Eurostar fast train, and coming up for air twenty-minutes later in England. Lots of sausages consumed. Lots of beer swilled. Too many museums and cathedrals to contemplate.
Something old, something new, on this trip.
Old: Dick goes to
Prague, formerly part of Czechoslovakia, now the capitol of the Czech Republic. In his early teens, Dick listened to English language broadcasts beamed around the world in the short-wave radio spectrum by "
Radio Prague" (which is still on the air today).
New: "Shorter" trip this time: 32 instead of 34 days.
Old: Cindy returns to
Berlin, a city divided, part in West Germany, part in East Germany, when as a sixteen-year old she went there by train with her Army officer father and her mother and sister.
New: This time Dick goes as a published travel writer, so it will be, at least to some extent, a "working vacation" for him.
Old: London. We spent eight days here, two at the beginning, six at the end, of our 2006 European adventure. We'll stay at the same hotel (
The Sumner, near
Marble Arch and
Hyde Park, owned and operated by a Polish family) at the beginning and end of this trip, just like we did last time.
New:
Queen Elizabeth will be up in Scotland when we arrive, so we can tour
Buckingham Palace unlike our last trip when she cut her stay up north short, and cut off our chance to see How The Royals Live.
Old: Gone for the entire month of September, just like in 2006.
New: All of the other stops on this whirl-wind trip. ("It's Tuesday, it must be
Munich!). No week-long stay in a stone farmhouse in Italy and France this trip, just sleeping in a lot of hotels, and mostly shorter stays at all destinations.
New: Goodbye, faithful (at times) Palm PDA blogging gizmo. Hello,
Dell netbook mini-laptop computer. Hello, iPhone. Better living through technology. Easier blogging, look for more photos in the on-line album while we are on the road, if all of this new technology works properly.
New: First two trips (1999, 2001): Crammed like human sardines into "cattle car" seats flying to and from Europe. Last trip: Mo' bettah, moved up to Business Class and flew free using on "frequent buyer" miles. This trip: Mo' bettah yet, flying in First Class for "free" (except for those pesky fees and taxes).
Old: Last time London was our final stop and we returned there from France on the
Eurostar. This time we'll end the trip at London with a final train ride from Brussels on that same, speed and luxurious train.
New: In 2006, you had to go to the trip blog to read about our escapades. This time, you'll can track our travels by subscribing to the blog via an RSS feed, or just check your e-mail inbox for our updates from the road.
