China Day 3

Here's a hint for anyone who has considered going to China but just hasn't got around to it - don't delay, get yourself going and get here asap. In just a couple of days we're judging it as one of the absolute top tourist experiences. Today we were taken to the Ming Dynasry buried grounds - a huge area at the base of the mountains to the North of Beijing set aside for the buried of most of the Ming Emperors. Each has his own set of buildings leading up to the buriel mound under which is located the grand buried palace 22metres under ground level. The approach buildings are magnificent, based on those in the Forbidden City. Mind-blowing architecture and building techniques.

Another great traditional lunch and we were off to the Great Wall which again is unlike anything you've seen and exceeding expectations. 6000 km long from the sea in the East to the Wesrern borders - an unbelievable feature of construction.

Back through the incredible Beijing traffic and home about 6. Found a restaurant a few blocks from the hotel and had yet another beautiful meal.

Apologies for no blog photos - I haven't been able to download pictures from my camera to the tablet. Seems I have to use a card reader so will try to purchase one soon and get some photos attached, 

Last Beijing day tomorrow  - car hire a very fast train at 2 for a 4 hour trip to Xian.

China day 2

How to describe Beijing? Words like massive or extraordinary come to mind but really don't fully describe it. We spent the day with our guide Kai and explored Tianamin Square and the whole of the Forbidden City which both are on a scale never seen anywhere. We walked and climbed for the day with a break only for a traditional Chinese meal for lunch. 

Lots of photos of course. Had a very light dinner and sorted out some of our technical communications problems but still can't get internet on the tablet. Might get sorted one day.

Going to sleep well tonight!

China Day1

Arrived in Beijing after about 14 hours in the air, great trip really and the one hour transit in Hong Kong worked out to the last minute. Haven't seen much of Beijing really apart from an hour drive in from the massive airport - everything is way beyond our normal experience in size and numbers,

Robyn and Pud arrived at hotel reception at the same time as we did and then we both had problems sorting out the wechat money payment system but eventually sorted it. Found a great restaurant nearby for dinner which was pork and mushrooms and bacon and we came away unable to think about any more to eat. Wechat money system worked!

Downside of the day - walked into the room which was quite hot, went down to reception to sort something out - sorry sir, the air-conditioning does not operate at night!

Big day with Kai our guide around Beijing tomorrow.Good sleep tonight we hope.

China here we come

This is just an initial test to get set up for China blog. See you soon folks!

2023 European adventure final day

Last day before the travel process starts to take us home! We'd given an extra day to spend relaxing in Frankfurt before the joys of 20+ hours sitting in aircraft and we've really appreciated the lack of time pressure. Late breakfast at a fantastic little Turkish restaurant nearby and then set out to go to the klinemarket on Wolfgangs recommendation. Got there no trouble and mystified to find it closed at 11 am! Friendly Geerman family explained that today is a national holiday to celebrate re-unification. Other plans for the day were to check out the old town and to go to sachenhausen for the obligatory porkknuckle and cider. We partly succeeded. When we first hit the streets this morning we were stunned with the litter - we've never seen anything like it. Packaging, paper, broken glass strewn across the streets. We were starting late - around 11 - and the cleaners were starting to use high pressure hoses to shift the rubbish to the centre of the road for the street cleaning trucks to pick up. When we got over the river to Sachenhausen we found the whole area deserted. Graffiti everywhere and lots of restaurants chained up. Had to go back to the old town square and found a restaurant with the required menu but not quite the same as the old Sachenhausen cider pubs. We had our first rain of the trip this afternoon. Timing was perfect though. We were just near the hotel and thinking about where to go next and a storm broke so straight into the room for rest time! Flight leaves 1:10 pm tomorrow. We'll get to have lunch with Be on and Lucius and his parents on Thursday and back to Brisbane on Friday for rest of family catch up.

2023 European adventure day 31 - 1 October

Travel day. Taxi through morning peak hour in Paris (mayhem) to Gare l'Est to catch the ICE train to Frankfurt. Grabbed some French bread rolls with meat, cheese etc to eat on the train as final tribute to French cuisine. strain left spot on time as expected and we were soon flying through French countryside at 300 + kph - until we got to Lorraine and we came to a halt. Words like "Problem technique" were being announced which didn't sound good. English announcement soon after - " Ladies and gentlemenlease do not open the train doors - we have enough problems already" followed by "if you see a man in a life jacket walking beside the train please do not panic- it is the driver looking to find the problem" About 50 minutes later the train began to move to General applause but proceeded to Frankfurt at only half speed. We've been offered a 25% refund because it was more than an hour late - imagine if QR had to do that finally got to our lovely and very central hotel - went two doors up to O'Reilly'# Irish Pub for Guinness and a stew meal. Todd end to the day actually

2023 European adventure day 30 (30 September)

Beautiful sunny (Bit hot actually) day in Honfluer for a day of looking around, taking it easy, enjoying coffees, crepes, bakery delights and their beautiful cider. Never ceased to be amazed by their medieval architecture and huge number of art shops. Had just the best day but had to back to the hotel at 3:30 to catch a cab to the bus station to connect with the Paris train at Trouville. Problem was that the connecting bus just never turned up, leaving about 30 people stranded and doomed to miss the 4:55 train! A local bus eventually turned up and luckily we had some dual linguists in the group who were able to get the driver to deliver those of us who stuck around to the station and then explain to the English speakers what was happening. We didn't get go Trouville until about 6 and then wait in a line to change tickets while the 6:20 train sat at the platform. Too detailed to explain here (story for Christmas or coffee or whenever) but we managed to get tickets for the 6:20 and raced down the platform to jump on while everyone else had to (a) pay for a new ticket and (b) were put on the 7:20 train! Sometimes things just work on the right way. Didn't get into Paris until about 8:45 so by the time we booked into the hotel we decided it was too late for dinner. Bed.