Euro Travel & More

I have taken train trips before but not long ones or for a vacation – so I am told that taking a train trip isn’t that bad – and since the kid wouldn’t go on the airplane this year – because of watching some movies – we’ve decided to explore the possibility of a train trip instead.   Many people uses the train these days for their business trip – my ex boss was doing the same thing this year too.  Why?

Less hassle he said – and the train trip always proved to be on time and he gets to upgrade his sleeping cars all the time – the food on board was good and now they even have Wi – Fi on some of the trains – now that has got to be a bonus.  But wait a minute – what about the kids? what can they do?  on board a train? nothing one cannot do on the plane – that was what my travel agent told me – and plus you get to have pit stops too.  Meanwhile, travelers considering long-distance train trips this summer can take advantage of new programs and package deals — amenities that provide a pleasant counterpoint to the service cutbacks and increasing indignities of air travel.

Yes ! air and hotel only at $299 I heard coming up – so look out for it!  I’m sure I would take advantage of the sale as soon as it comes up.   I heard that if you are the first 100 – you get up to $100 discount making it only at $100 for a 3 nite stay at some resort.  Not some lousy resort either – pretty good ones – Ocean front resort was what i was promised.  So don’t forget to check them out yourself.

Newfoundland is known as the iceberg capital if you don’t know by now.  You don’t get to see many iceberg eh and yes – i never thought of sharing this with you till my friend came by with some Newfoundland gifts after her trip there to visit family.   But having said that, I did spot some in St John’s one year while I was going up there to look into a life insurance policy for an aunt.  Did you know that the famous ship that collided with an iceberg off Newfoundland in the fog and sank is a real story?  It definitely was a breath-taking view and I’ve seen people kayaking during October – even though the water was cold and all – brave!  Newfoundland is not only about icebergs of course, lots of exploring to do and lots of friendly people.  I would love to visit again really soon – what about you?

Thinking of coffee yet?  haha!   I don’t know if the coffee – blue mountain derived from this Blue Mountain in NSW – Australia but The Blue Mountains are located in the western part of Sydney and about 2hrs away from the center of Sydney.  We took a trip out one day with the co-workers on a Sunday sunny morning.  Blue Mountains is densely populated by oil bearing Eucalyptus trees.  You can feel droplets of oil in the air which together with the dust particles and water vapour, scatter short wave length rays of lights causes blue in the color of the surroundings.  But going up on Blue Mountain causes my skin to be really dried up it seems – i was reading about  prototype 37c and may need it if I was still in Australia and going there often enough.

This is Echo Point

An old mine in Katoomba (no longer used)

View From Echo Point

A customer was in a few minutes ago – to say that he and his wife was turned back in Quebec because the airports in Glasgow were closed due to the ashes. He said – fun stuff – and thought his wife was joking since he was looking at some  instant free life insurance quote and not paying attention.  So anyhow, he turned back and he was at our store – renting a movie and waiting to be called by the airline – they expects it to be Monday at the latest.Looks like it’s not only the Glasgow airport is closed – there are quite a few in Europe too – Belgium, Copenhagen, Helsinki and the list goes on.

The weather was pretty warm yesterday and we had wanted to do something different for the weekend instead of getting stuck in town and doing the same old thing.  We headed out for the Farmer’s Market that was advertised on the local papers  but alas – we were pretty disappointed.  There were only a few vendors, very unlike the Farmer’s Market in Australia – Sydney – no homemade soaps or acne cream but there were some jewelry vendors and some food vendors.

Digby was one sleepy town on a Sunday – we hardly saw anyone – except for the vendors – there were hardly any traffic in the big wide road.  Great for retirement because the sea view was excellent here.  Not much was opened either – i guess summer isn’t here yet – so no tourist around to be profitable enough to be opening on a Sunday.  Most of the eateries that we saw in Digby weren’t opened except for good ole Macdonald’s and Tim Hortons.

A chinese restaurant if it is any consolation to the people out of town and don’t eat a lot of Chinese food as it is – like us.

A very beautiful church – that this picture did not do it any justice.

Some bike rally flea market that we bought some old LPs for $15.  And of course – for those who loves biking – check out the rally – biking is a big thing in Nova Scotia.

And a Seafood & Steak house that wasn’t opened.  That sums up our day trip to Digby – but in the summer – it’s much more vibrant – i assure you – so don’t give up on Digby now.

Playing golf in Canada has never been cheaper – but of course not in big cities like Toronto and Vancouver.  If you are looking for a vacation with your most loved sport – then Sluice Point Cottages and Golf is the place to watch out for.  Even if you are just passing thru’ from Maine to the gateway of Canada – you can still spend a very cheap day here at only $14 for a 9 hole green fee – now tell me it’s not cheap enough or what?   I know they have just about everything in this golf resort but I can’t be sure if they have any kind of disability insurance , so do check with the owners about it.

Located right on the ocean front, this exclusive resort is really more beautiful than the pictures I am showing.  The owners are super friendly and they come from Europe – private golf courses, spectacular views  – means a very romantic getaway.  All amenities are new – as they just acquired the property last year and renovated it majorly.

I called it the blue boat ride because I first saw this in a movie of Jackie Chan some 15 yrs ago when i was getting an lcd monitor and the sale man wanted to show me how clear the picture was on it.   So when you are in Amsterdam  – don’t forget to take that canal cruise ride on board the Rederij Noord – Zuid (hard name to pronounce eh).   It’s really meant for tourist if you asked me.  But we had used the day pass for the ride which lasted 75 minutes.  I had motion sickness – so i had taken some gravol like 2 hours before I went for the cruise.  It was very relaxing and one can see the different views of Amsterdam -  they have these electronic voice tour guide on board the cruise.  The cruis is from 10am to 9pm and adults are charged like $12 USD and d$7 for kids – kids below 4 yrs old goes on them free.

Easter in Paris was most memorable because the chocolate makers were definitely trying to outshine their competitors all around Paris.   All of them were awesome with their window display and this one was from Ladurée @ Metro Str.  Germain des Pres.  Check out their deal of the day and even though it’s Easter – you have to try their macaroons.

Don’t forget to check out Patrick Roger who was voted the best chocolate Maker in France for his window display of a collection of eggs, with some of them covered with 24 karat of gold leaf.  I heard that 1000s of hours and 1500 Ibs of chocolate was used.