After the cruise, we took a plane to Amsterdam where we picked up a car and set off on a whirlwind road trip. We were told the car had no GPS so we struggled with maps until after Luxembourg when I found by chance that a GPS had indeed been installed. After a few false starts when Adriano thought he knew better than the GPS, we floated along with the horrendous navigation part of the journey taken care of. I had thought that my head was never going to be lifted from a map and the relief was enormous. She did put us wrong a couple of times including having no idea where she was when we got to the airport area of Amsterdam. She took us 20 kilometers to get to the hotel which was a few kilometers away, and even then, we had to disregard her and take over. But apart from that, she made life a breeze, especially in heavily built up areas like Paris. I don’t think I could ever have got us to our hotel there without a divorce.
Here are a few highlights of the trip.
I have been to Paris a few times now and it is always a joy to visit.
Luxembourg was a real jewel and quite unexpected.The city is built over two valleys with a very steep drop off from the upper town to the lower, as you can see in one of the photos below. Luxembourg was clean, organised and very beautiful.
Cologne had two highlights – the dramatic Gothic cathedral. It is immense and hard to photograph well. It is quite dirty but for me that increased the drama of the building. The other highlight is the Hohenzollern Bridge across the Rhein River where couples fix padlocks to the railings on the Bridge to ensure everlasting love – they then throw the key into the Rhein river below.
Bruges was every bit as fascinating as I thought it would be. The movie, In Bruges, introduced me to this interesting town and the reality did not disappoint.
We are now in Amsterdam and waiting for the plane to take us the 30 hours all the way back to New Zealand.
Such a great trip! Never been to either Luxembourg or Cologne — would love to visit them. Fun pictures — thanks.
Luxembourg is definitely worth a visit. It was quite a surprise. I have never really thought much about it before.
There are so many great countries to visit and it is so difficult to narrow them down for holidays. I am definitely glad we went to Luxembourg.
I’ve been wondering how you are and how you have been going on your holiday. It sure looks like the most wonderful trip. The weather, architecture, food and gardens are all stunning. I hope the trip home wasn’t too arduous xx