Wednesday, April 2

Spring Trip to Europe

 March '08. We cruised from Florida "crossing" the Atlantic. 
Enjoyed port stops @ Lisbon, Gibraltar, Malaga, Palma  ...
then on to spend a few days in Barcelona. 

We flew to Frankfurt, Germany ...and picked up this little apt. on wheels !


Drove south thru France to Pont du Guard
Arrived at this 13th century fortress...just as it was way back then!
Impressive !!

On to visit wonderful, charming towns 'n villages in Provence

 French Riviera.. in early spring!


the Nice Spice Market


.....on to Monaco

along the Med. Sea to the Cinque Terre, Italy !!

on to stay in Florence ...and Pisa, too

 Visited many places in Tuscany area....Orvieto is above





















Drove from Tuscany to Southern Italy.....saw the Pompeii + Paesteum ruins.
This was our "turn around" point.
Back up north to.... Rome ~ for a week ! 
After that, on to see the smallest country of San Marino
then spent several days in Venice, before continuing north... over the Alps to Austria
Of course, a visit to the Neuschwanstein Castle and then east to Salzburg.
 The "Sound of Music" place!  We camped upon a hillside with views of the city below. 
   Leaving Saltzburg we followed along the Danube River ... 
above is a favorite memory / tour of fabulous Melk Abbey.


 Continued east along the Danube. Then we left our camper,
 to train in + spend several days in lovely Vienna.
 
Vienna was our turn around point. Headed west along the Danube again, 
 to Hallstatt + camped on that picturesque lake.
 Driving north on the Romantic Road ..lovely areas, scenic villages !!
Leaving our camper again, we went into Munich + enjoy their interesting sites !
We continued driving north to Rothenburg, the walled city above.  
Then a ramble south thru the Black Forest of Germany.
.....continuing on into Switzerland for "a'bit of a stay".
Camping + watching Para sailing off the mountains into the valley.

                        Sadly we left Switzerland to drive north into France.
                      Our "route" was thru/by many colorful villages +  
                       castles in the Alsace region. Views above 'n below...



                                ~  Route du Vin ~ our route north
                             
                               Then turning west, we drove across France and...
                             
                    Ahhhhhhhhhhhh,  it's Paris !!  Fabulous of course!



We quickly became "residents' of this grand city + 
saw everything we could for several days.

                                Oh yes, we had to leave the enchanting city
                                         Drove east/ back across France and...

                          Again just rambling along...stopping here'n there.
                        So...it was up the Mosel, but then down the Rhine.


           Our last stop was @ Frankfurt where we turned in our camper car, 
             flew to London + back to the states.  What a grand trip it was !