We took the train from Gare de Nord in Paris to Antwerp. We made reservations the night before on our phone and were surprised to find that our options for a direct train were very few. Who knew everyone was coming here on a Monday? We found a train at 9:46 in which we had to change trains in Brussels to arrive in Antwerp at 12:30. Gare de Nord … Continue reading Antwerp, Belgium
This town is at least an hour outside of Paris, but you can get there using only the metro, which is an amazing deal. Why go here? It’s the last place that Vincent Van Gogh lived. It is where he died and also where he is buried. You can visit various areas that were the inspiration for his paintings, visit the room that he lived in for 70 days … Continue reading Auvers-sur-Oise, France
Chateau Chantilly We took a train from Gare du Nord to get to this chateau. It was about 40 minutes. At the train station there was a bus that took us to the chateau for free. A walk would have been about 25 minutes. We knew we would be walking all day so we took the bus. You need to buy a ticket in advance to get in and … Continue reading Chateau de Chantilly
Chateau de Fontainebleau Today we did something a little different and booked a tour to the two chateaus. We usually do things on our own, but these two chateaus are located a ways from train stations and the travel seemed complicated. Our tour included transportation from Paris to each chateau and back and admission to both chateaus which included audio guides. We had no guide on the … Continue reading Chateau de Fontainebleau and Chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte
I was excited to see Sweden, since it was the only country on the cruise I had not visited. However, Kronborg Castle is right across the bay from Helsingborg and we really wanted to check out what is known as Hamlet’s Castle. We had to take a shuttle bus into the city. The bus waited until every seat was filled and only left on the exact half … Continue reading Kronborg Castle, Denmark, Helsingborg, Sweden
After spending the day relaxing and cruising the Kei Canal, we were ready for another adventure on land. On our quest to see as many castles as possible, we traveled by train to Schwerin Castle. We planned to return by bus, but the clerk at the train station said we would need to pay the driver in cash and we had none. So we decided to still get … Continue reading Schwerin Castle and Wismar, Germany
Apparently, this town is not pronounced as we do the cheese, which is one and the same name. It starts with an H sound. How-da is more how it sounds in the Netherlands. Our ship was docked in Rotterdam, so we took the tram to the central station. We used our credit cards to pay for the tram, which made things very easy. Our round trip tickets to … Continue reading Gouda, Netherlands
My husband had a big plan to take a train to a town about an hour from Dunkirk, but we were so tired from our adventure with castles, we decided to take it easy and just explore Dunkirk. The cruise provided a shuttle bus to bring us into the center of the city. It dropped us off in front of city hall. My husband searched for a … Continue reading Dunkirk, France
We took a train to deal from Dover. It only took about fifteen minutes for the ride. After arriving in Deal, we stopped at a bakery for my husband to get a delicious donut. Everything looked lovely, but I was not hungry. I believe the shop was called Albert’s. It was on the main pedestrian street. There were quite a few people out and about on a Friday … Continue reading Deal, Walmer and Dover Castles, England
Today we opted to take an excursion through the ship. We didn’t know when we would be close enough to Mont Saint-Michel to visit it. However, when we got on the bus, they told us the ride was closer to three hours than two. I did not enjoy the long ride. There is always some loud talkers that stop everyone from resting. We arrived at Monte Saint-Michel around … Continue reading Monte Saint-Michel, Normandy, France
Bonney Voyage 