Bus

Today was another travelling day - to Firenze (Florence) via Siena. We arrived at Siena around lunchtime - walking around the city fortifications to St Catherine's cathedral. It was nowhere near as big as St Peter's, but still quite large. Meredith found it quite moving, as the patron saint of this particular church died when she was only 33. More walking through the streets till we found ourselves at Il Campo, the centre of the town where they hold a massive horse race each year. It was quite hot here, so we headed back to the side streets to find lunch. Will had their local speciality (pici pasta - thick handmade pasta with a meat sauce) & Meredith had a pork chop. The pasta was not so good - because it is so thick it is still quite gluggy in the middle. Gelati for dessert, then back on the bus, destination Florence!
Arriving at Florence our hotel was in a one-way street that had no parking for the bus - our driver wasn't happy! We held up the traffic while we all piled off, then he did a lap of the block before unloading our bags up the road. A short time to freshen up then in to town for our included dinner - a pizza party. A variety of pizzas were brought out, followed by panna cotta for dessert. Then back to the hotel!

We woke up to an ordinary breakfast, leaving the hotel at 8:30am on our way to Rome - we had a big day of driving. In the morning we did 3 hours having a stop at an Autogrill pizza / restaurant and Burger King - then driving again for 3.5 hours. We watched Gladiator (set in Rome) to give us an idea of what we would have been up for ... if we went a thousand years earlier! Meredith got bored / tired so went and slept on the back seat of the coach.
We arrived in Roma (Italian for Rome) straight to our hotel, the 'Ergife Palace' to freshen up - this place was no palace! We left at 5:15pm from the hotel to go to town where we saw the main square. From there we walked to our included dinner of Veal which wasn't terribly nice. After dinner we met our tour guide for Rome by Night who took us to the Spanish Steps & obelisk, a pond with a boat in the middle (with fresh running water - drinkable). Stopped for a long time at the Trevi Fountain, where we each threw in a coin (supposed to bring you back to Rome). More walking, saw some statues, leading the way to the Pantheon. Afterwards Tania took us to a Gelati shop (she knew the owners) and we all had a cup / cone with 3 scoops. It was all home made, and absolutely delicious!
We walked back to Piazza Nivona where we met Tania at 10:15pm then walked to the bus - at the hotel and in bed by 10:30pm!

We woke up at 7am to our continental breakfast. Jumping on the bus at 8:30am we left Amsterdam, heading for our Rhine river cruise. We arrived at a little town called St Goar, where Will bought a giant pretzel & practised his German. On the cruise (about 1hr) we saw some pretty little townships, a few castles, and Lorelai, a statue of a mermaid that is said to protect the seagoers. Then off at a little town called Boppard. From there more driving till we hit Heidelberg - a quick walk around then up the 315 steps (they were numbered!) to Heidelbergschloss (castle). Dinner at a local tavern - Weiner Schnitzel with chips and a mushroom sauce - YUM! Then all back to the hotel for an early night (9:30pm!).

We woke up at 4:30am - though we hardly slept due to thinking we would miss the alarm. We showered & put our suitcases out to be collected. Then we had breakfast at 5:30am, meeting in the foyer at 6am to board the bus to begin our tour.
We headed for Dover which was 2hrs while hearing from Tania (our Tour Director) "things we need to know". Arriving at Dover port we were let through without having to do a passport check which is apparently very rare! at 9:30am we boarded the ferry (to Calais) on the bus, unloading & exploring the upper decks, and having lunch at the buffet - which at that time was full cooked breakfast! At 12:30pm we loaded back into the bus and synchronised our watches to Europe time (GMT+1).
Much more driving through France, Belgium (having a dream run on the Antwerp ring road) then finally to the Ibis Schiphol (Amsterdam Airport). 2hrs to freshen up (we got some laundry done) then a different bus & driver in to town. We were taken through the canals in a glass roofed cruise boat, going under bridges, seeing the different architecture styles of the common / warehouse areas as compared to the 'Gentlemans Canal' which had much more decorative arches & ornate statues on the roofs. Finally stopping at the 'Sea Palace' - a floating Chinese / Indonesian restaurant that is a smaller replica of one in Hong Kong. A mixed banquet style of food was served (which Will enjoyed but Meredith ... not so much) and we got to meet some of our fellow travellers (there are 22 all up, nice and small).
An early night was in store - as we got on the bus a spaced-out guy picked a verbal with the bus driver - he was older but held his own quite well, eventually jumping back on the bus & shutting the doors while the looney was trying to kick them in! Most of the ladies wanted the guys to jump to the rescue, but none of the guys were too keen!