We have managed to get a summer house on the west coast of Denmark.  We are in the resort town of Blavand.  The cottage is a 3 bedroom home and is about 2 blocks from the beach.  We are going down to the beach today since the weather is good.  We are heading home on Friday so this will be my last blog.   The vacation has been great but we are looking  forward to getting home

Blavand Beach

We are really enjoying our trip here in Denmark.  The people are very friendly and everywhere you go you will find people speak English.  Denmark is mostly surrounded by water so it gives them some of the greatest beaches. 

 On Sunday, we went to the West coast to a resort area called Blavand.  The beach there has powder white sand and it separates the town and summer houses.  There is plenty of shops and restaurants on the main drag into town and it is really busy right now as the factories in Denmark have closed for 3 weeks vacation.

 On Monday, we went to Legoland.  Denmark is the home of  Lego and the park is right across from the Lego plant.  That is probably why the store in Legoland has all the new Lego not available yet in Canada.  The cost to get it was about 50.00.  All the rides are based on Lego characters and everything in the park is made of Lego bricks.  It is really something to see. 

Legoland

 On Tuesday, we went to the island of Romo which is attached by a causeway.  Romo has the widest beach in all of Europe and you can drive your cars onto the beach as it would be too far to walk especially if the tide is out.  We stayed there for 2 days and we are now back in Kolding.   We are trying to arrange a summer house in Blavand for a couple of days so I will let you know what happens there. 

Romo

Well we made it to Denmark.  It seems funny to be travelling in Europe, all the borders seem as one as we did not have to show our passport or clear any customs.  It is kind of like flying from Saskatoon to Calgary. 

 When we checked in at the airport in Paris, the counter only opened two hours prior since Denmark is not considered an International Destination, so there is really no need to get there early.  

 When we arrived in Copenhagen, we had to change our money from Euros to Kroners since they still have their own currency.  Jorgen’s Mom met us at the airport and we picked up our car today.  We are heading off to the small island of Romo on Monday for a couple of days.  It will be nice to spend a couple of down days after the hectic pace of Paris. 

 We are going to see Harry Potter tonight.  We stopped by the theatre to buy our tickets and you preselect your seats so you can come any time and still get a good seat.  The best part is there is beer sold right in with the snacks.  Now that’s my type of movie Talk to you soon.

Copenhagen

It has been a very busy 2 days.  Monday night we went shopping on the Champs Elysees, 15 blocks of pure pleasure.  This note is for the ladies,  July is sale month in Paris and every store in the city has between 20% – 70% off.  It’s the law! 

Notre Dame

We have been to the Sacre Coeur, Notre Dame, Latin Quarter and out to Versailles today.  Taking the subway in Paris takes a while to get the hang of but once you do, it is so easy to get around. 

Paris is expensive but worth it!  The cheapest thing around is a sandwich and pop at 7.00 Euros.  When we sit down at a side walk café we are paying between 40 – 50 Euros depending on what you order and how much wine you drink

We are heading to Denmark tomorrow so we will talk to you from there.

Sacre Coeur

Hello from Paris.

We arrived yesterday after our flight on Air Canada.  The flights all went very smoothly and on time.  When we arrived at the Paris airport, we decided to take the train into Paris.  We had bought a 5 day 6 zone pass that was good from the airport.  The train station is easy to find and well marked.  The ride into the city was 30 minutes.  After finding our apartment and the 105 steps up we headed off to the Louvre which is 2 blocks from our apartment.  It is an amazing museum and a must for all Paris trips.  The Mona Lisa is always a show stopper and still as busy as ever.

 Today we took the Fat Bike Day Tour of Paris.  If you are not the bus type and want to try something different, this is the thing.  We biked through Paris and stopped at all the main tourist attractions.  Although we did not go in, your guide lets you know all about what you are seeing.  It is amazing.  It is nice to bike around Paris and see it from a totally different perspective.  From here we are off to our boat tour on the Seine. 

 That’s all for now. 

Louvre - Paris, France

Yesterday we went on a afternoon/evening trip to Barcelona.  We toured around the Las Rambla street for 3 hours.  Our legs were pretty tired by the end of it.  So we stopped to have tapas and pizza at one of the restaurants in the middle of the street.  We are not sure what we ate but it was pretty good.  Then we walked around the port of  Barcelona on our way back to the bus.  We then went to the famous fountains for the magic show at night.  We arrived back at the hotel about midnight very tired and hot. 

 The humidity is very high, and that is killing us.  The temperature has been 30 plus every day. 

Today we are leaving.  Our bus leaves at 1245pm.  See you on Monday.

Here is the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona

Hello everybudy it has been a busy couple of days here in Salou.   On Monday we went to Barcelona and spent the day touring and shopping.  On Tuesday we walked around the town of Salou checking it out.   We found a trolley that took us around to different areas that we did not realize were even there.   It was a lot of fun.   Salou is very much like Waikiki in Honolulu it is very commercialized and touristy.   The beach has very fine sand the water seemed much warmer.    Today we went to Montserrate and visited the Monastery and then we went to the Torres Vineyard and toured the wine cellar.   This has been the best tour that we have been on so far.  

The food at the hotel has been okay.  We would not say it is great but we are not starving.   The one thing that we have found is that the price of pop is the same or more expensive than beer.   We did discover that the Gelato is wonderful and have made that a treat everynight.      Talk to you later.

Our Hotel - H10 Europa Park - Salou

Just arrived in Barcelona.  The flights with Air Transat were great.  We left on time and arrived on time.  Our transfer took us to our hotel in Salou, the H10 Europa Park.  We are not able to check into hotel yet so we are wondering around the area of Salou.  The beach is about a 7 minute walk.  It has beautiful soft sand just like the Caribbean but the water is a tad bit chilly as we put our toes in the water. The weather is beautiful at 7 am this morning it was already 20 degrees and is getting hotter.  Thats it for now.  Check back later we are going to see if our room is ready.

The transfer from San Marco to the airport was actually a very nice way to end the trip.  The 1.5 hour boat ride was like a bit of a tour in itself.  The boat drops you off at the airport pier and it’s a 7 minute walk to the terminal.  Checkin with Transat Holidays was very smooth and the flight home was amazing.  Again, I recommend the Club Class seats for the extra room, comfort, meals and exceptional service.  The flight attendants were extremely attentive and friendly.  The only problem was that we ate too much.

Four movies later and after a smooth flight and we arrived back in Toronto.  We had to overnight in Toronto and it ws actually a very civilized thing to do.  While we were tired, we weren’t in that zombie state that we would have been in if we had to tack on another 5 or 6 hours of travel time.  Again, something you might want to consider than just the urgent need to get home as quickly as possible.

Thank you again for all that have been following our blog.  If you have any questions, you can just email me or call me at 934-3400.  Thanks and hope you too can experience Greece and Italy!

“The way it was, where it was”.  This is a loose translation that the Italians use with respect to rebuilding old buildings.  Such is the case with the Gran Teatro La Fenice – Venice’s old opera house.   While the initial opera house was built in 1792, it burned in 1836 and then again in 1996.  The symbol of the theatre is a Phoenix rising from its ashes and it seems very appropriate.  Rebuilt and only opened again in 2003, they have re-created the building the way it was and it is an extremely beautiful and ornate building inside.  No pictures are allowed inside the building but the façade, shown below is almost all original.  The self guided audio tour is worth making the effort to see this landmark.

La Fenice - Opera House

La Fenice's Symbol - Phoenix

Gallerie Dell’Accademia is listed as one of the top 10 sights in Venice.  It is an incredible museum of some grand old paintings easily dating back to the 15^th century.  I’m not a big enthusiast of old works of art but even so, we enjoyed the hour or so we spent there.  If you love art, plan to spend at least a couple of hours here.

This is our last day in Venice and we are flying out on Transat Holidays tomorrow.  As such, this is the last blog of the actual holiday.  I’ll do a short entry when we get home to let you know about the flights, etc but I want to thank everyone who has followed our adventures through the blog and hope that it has in some way inspired you to travel to Greece and Italy yourselves!   Buona Notte from Italy.