Greetings from the Grand People (Final Chapter)

Dear All,

Well here we are back in good old South Africa, but not home yet.  However we are safely back with all our baggage intact after a fairly pleasant flight with Emirates Airline via Dubai.

Last weekend was special as we spent Saturday exploring the quaint German town of Regensburg built alongside the Danube River.  It was only about a two hour drive from Plzen so we left early and only went for the day.  When we arrived we found parking in a car park which was half occupied by a type of farmers market, reminiscent of the Sedgefield Farmers Market and after looking at all the stalls we went off to explore the town.   We walked along the river bank watching the river boats full of tourists as far as an old stone bridge which was well photographed and then headed into the old town with an old Roman Fort built in 179AD, which we duly photographed (from all angles!).

 

We then explored some very quaint old streets until we arrived opposite a very old church where we made a pitstop for Beer, Coffee, Cool Drinks and hot Chocolate, under the shade of a large umbrella.  We had to go through the pub to get to the loos and I was so impressed with the pub I took a couple of photos.

From there, refreshed, we continued to explore the town, ending up back at the old stone bridge at lunch time to have sausages and sauerkraut at an open air restaurant on the bank of the Danube.  However this was no ordinary Wors!  It was The Historical Wurstkuchl of Regensburg!  The oldest sausage tavern of the world! 

"By the Danube whirlpools right next to the Old Stone Bridge you'll find the over 500 year old historical WURSTKUCHL!  Little has changed since the days where in the Middle Ages Regensburger stonemasons and dockers treated themselves to refreshments at this tavern: with it's charcoal grill, homemade sausages purely of ham and pork, sauerkraut fermented in their own cellar and of course the Wurstkuchl mustard following the original recipe of Elsa Schricker."    Most enjoyable, but very busy and of course there is only one item on the menu.  The only variation is the number of sausages you order with your sauerkraut.  We went the most economical route and ordered three plates of twelve sausages and shared between the six of us, plus beer and cooldrinks.

Suitably refreshed we continued our exploration which included a couple of very old and ornate cathedrals with very colourfully painted ceilings and lots of statues.  Needless to say we used up lots of our camera memories with all the pics we took.  We also found a few town squares filled with lots of people attracted by various bands and singers entertaining the crowds.  The people were all very well behaved and Jolly and I'm sure the beer sales were excellent.  What a pleasant vibe everywhere.   We left Regensburg after five PM having had a lovely last day of exploration.

Sunday was pack up day.  Hayley had found out that our bus to Zurich stopped in Plzen so we did not have to go all the way to Prague to catch it.  This saved a lot of traveling and it left from Plzen an hour later than Prague, giving us more time with the family.   We said our good byes  to Colin and the girls at the flat and Hayley drove us to the Bus Station with all our luggage.  The bus trip, starting about 22h30, did not give us much sleep.  After about an hour we stopped at a Macdonald's for a 15min pitstop and then  at the border the lights came on again and we all had to produce our Passports.   A few hours later, possibly at the Swiss Border on came the lights again and we had to hand over our passports which were taken away and scrutinized before being handed back to us.  It was about 06h00 when we got to Zurich and all got out at the bus station.  Luckily there was a coffee shop and a hotel right there so we made our way there and treated ourselves to a magnificent mug of hot chocolate whilst finding out how to find our hotel, The Europe Hotel.  We learned we could catch the No 4 tram nearby which would take us there, we had to get off at the Opera House stop and it was just around the corner.  We reached the Hotel safely and they had an empty room which we could occupy right away, so had a bit of a ziz until near midday.  The hotel organised for us to do a two and a half hour bus tour of Zurich starting at 13h00.  We caught the tour from the bus station where we arrived so it was easy to find.  We enjoyed the tour and the guide was good and after landing back at the bus station we decided to walk back  to our hotel, taking in the sights alongside the water/river.  We also found the Tourist Info Centre who suggested we do a round train, hike, cable car and train round trip by ourselves the next day.   We found a pleasant restaurant for supper and then crashed quite early after a tiring night and lovely day.

Tuesday dawned fine after intermittent rain the previous day.  After a good breakfast we packed our bags and left them in Reception and arranged for the airport shuttle bus to take us to the airport at 18h50, in plenty of time to catch our flight home.    We caught the No 4 tram again to the main station where we caught the S10 train from Platform 2 to Uetliberg.  That was the end of the line and we hiked up quite a hill to get to "The Top Of Zurich".  It is the summit of the highest hill in Zurich at 869.6 meters with lovely panoramic views of Zurich and surrounds below.   From there we did a super walk of approx. 6kms through forests all along the ridge with many undulations to the cable station at a place called Felsenegg.  Here we had a jolly good lunch of Goulash soup and bread rolls plus a beer for me and apple drink for Mom.  The cable car ride down was interesting because we stopped half way down whilst a technician in the car coming up stopped at a pylon while he climbed out and onto the top of the pylon superstructure to carry out some repairs or inspection.  Anyway it added interest to the ride down to Adliswil.   From there we had a short walk through the town to the railway station where we caught the S4 train back to Zurich station. It was a thoroughly enjoyable outing.   We then strolled along the waterfront and stopped at a pub built out over the water for a rest in deck chairs and refreshments until it was time to go back to our hotel to catch the shuttle bus to the airport.   We both loved Zurich which is a clean city and nearly everyone is smartly dressed and pleasant. They are helpful and one can normally find someone who understands the English language, so getting around is that much easier.  It is a beautiful city.

Our flight back to Cape town was uneventful and quite pleasant.  From Zurich we had the two seats on the side with a good window position so could see the approach to Dubai.  From there ,however, in the larger plane we were not able to get seats in the centre on the isle, but had the window and centre seats of the three on the side, so had to ask the isle set passenger to let us out every time we needed to go walkabout.   However it was a day time flight so the window was an advantage at times when there was no cloud cover and we could see the ground.

As you may have heard, Michelle took a tumble down the stairs at her home last week and ended up in hospital with a couple of crushed vertebrae (compression fractures) so we have broken our journey in Cape Town and will only fly back to PE on 31st July.  It was so fortunate that we flew overseas from CT and not Joburg and are able to be here to help the family.   Michelle is coming on nicely now. She must spend most of the time over the next month on her back, but has been given a brace to strap on to be able to get around the house a bit.  She must either be on her back or she can stand or walk a bit, but cannot sit for more than 15 minutes a day!    So, here we are in Cape town for a while and since we arrived on Wednesday it has been very cold and wet.  Yesterday we woke to find fairly heavy snow on the mountains to the north, which we can see from their home.  Today dawned clear and sunny but not very hot. All the spectacular views from the house are very clear after the rains and as it was such a nice day Pierre suggested we go and climb Lion's Head after lunch.   He, Michael and I set off after lunch and had a super climb in perfect weather.  Mike managed the climb extremely well and even managed the scrambles up the chains without help from Pierre.   The views after the rains were clear and spectacular and we had a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.

Well, that about sums up our holiday, with our very grateful thanks to Colin and Hayley for all they did for us and making it all possible.   A holiday and travel experience we will never forget!!!

As I write this The Wood family are in London!    Hayley learned just a few days before we left that she had to fly to Zurich and then go on to Zug on the same Monday we arrived in Zurich.  She had to attend a two day meeting in Switzerland and then back home and on to London on the Thursday for more meetings until the weekend.  Next week, Wednesday she has to fly to Johannesburg for more meetings, returning home to Plzen next weekend.  Wow, what a busy girl!   Anyway,we were surprised to get an SMS to say she was in London with the whole family for a few days, until Monday!   No doubt they will have more interesting news on their Blog in a few days time and we look forward to reading all about it.

Bed calls so it's time to stop my waffling.   Lots of love to you all from us all in Cape Town.

(Greetings Chapter 2)

Greetings from the Grand People (Chapter 2)

Dear All,
Our wonderful holiday is galloping to an end at a rate of knots and it seems that in a blink of an eye it will be all over!!  Boo Hoo!   Wow, have we had a tremendous time with the family!  Time has flown by since our last letter round about 10th June and we  have crowded so much into the time.
During the weekend 14th/15th we all went to explore two quaint old towns built around hot mineral springs, Marianske Lazne and Karlovy Vary, which are very beautiful with quaint buildings and beautiful Garden Parks.  People come from far and wide to experience the therapeutic benefits of the mineral waters and the hot baths. 

  Everywhere one walks in the towns there are mineral fountains with people drinking the mineral water or collecting it in bottles and containers.  As you can imagine, our cameras worked overtime.

The next weekend was the cherry on the top, our trip into the Arctic Circle!   On Friday afternoon, 20th we flew to Tromso in Northern Norway via Oslo, arriving there in the evening.  The trip was for Hayley to run the "Midnight Sun Marathon" and because there was no available accommodation in Tromso we were billeted in cabins in a caravan park in Skittenellv about 21kms out of Tromso.  This again was a bonus because of the beautiful setting. 

On Sat evening Hayley ran the marathon and finished in a very creditable time of 4hrs 32min, looking very good as she crossed the finishing line.    Next day was an easy day, naturally, for Hayley to recover and we spent most of the afternoon in Tromso.   Next day, Monday and Hayley's birth day, we did a spectacular tour of the area by bus which crossed two fjords by ferry to a place called Skjervoy. The bus and ferry trip left Tromso at 14h00 and arrived at Skjervoy at 18h00, where we had a two hour break before boarding a passenger liner for the journey back to Tromso, arriving there at midnight, but of course it is still daylight!!.  

We got back to our cabins at 01h00, still light enough to take photographs.
Next day we did a car tour of the other side of Tromso, stopping for photos along the way and having a lovely meal of fish and chips at a cafe in a small fishing village. 

It was early to bed on Tuesday night as we had to be up at 03h00 to pack and get to Tromso to catch our early flight home, as Hayley had to go to office in the afternoon.
This last weekend we went South and explored two Castle Towns, Hluboka and Cesky Krumlov, and once again our tour guide, Hayley, cracked the jackpot!  We first explored Hluboka and toured the Castle and surrounds before moving on to Cesky Krumlov where we found a super Pension for the night. 

It was delightful accom with a stunning view of the town below.  Sunday was spent exploring Cesky Krumlov and doing the Castle tour. 

The town has a river meandering through it which is a huge attraction with hundreds of people hiring canoes and drifting down the river shooting a few rapids built over wiers and all along the river are restaurants with tables on varandas under umbrellas.  Here again these towns are crowded with weekend visitors and tourists, with a tremendous vibe.

This coming Saturday we are going to another old and quaint town in Germany about 2hrs drive from here, a favourite of the family.  It will be our swan song, as we depart on Sunday night from Prague by bus for Zurich. It is an overnight bus journey arriving in Zurich at seven in the morning.  We will have Monday and Tuesday to explore Zurich before flying home.  Our Emirates Airlines flight leaves on Tuesday evening, 8th July, via Dubai and arrives in Cape town on Wednesday 9th July, flight EK seven seven 0, at 16h25 if all goes according to plan. (the seven key on our keyboard no longer works!)
We fly from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth on Thursday 10th July, flight 1391, departing five pm and arriving in PE at 18h10.  Mishie. we hope you will be able to meet us in CT and drop us off next day and Dennis, can you do the necessary at the PE end please??  If it is at all inconvenient, Trevor has also offered to collect us, or we may be able to rope Rick in if he is not out of town on business.  Anyway we will phone from Cape town before arriving. 
Looking forward to coming home and catching up with you all.  Lots of love from all the family here.   Dad and Mom.   Geoff and Marion.

(Greetings Chapter 1)

(Greetings Final Chapter)