Europe Tour
Paris, Amsterdam, Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Venice, Florence, Rome, Cinque Terre
All photos copyrighted by Dave Chapman
| Our first tour of Europe! Standing in the heart of Paris in the enormous Place de la Concorde (home of the guillotine, Revolution and Enlightenment). |
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| Unusual fountain in Place Igor-Stravinsky, discovered as we walked to our hotel. |
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| Eiffel Tower the following afternoon. Our off-season approach doesn't work as we end up in a huge crowd on All Saints' Day, a French holiday. |
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| Despite the long wait, the view from the top is worth it. |
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| The Left Bank of the Seine River. |
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| Looking straight down. |
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| For fans of huge classical paintings, the Louvre is wonderful. The crowds weren't bad for most of the art galleries because they all crowded around the Mona Lisa. |
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| One of the many amazing sculptures. |
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| Notre-Dame, which only took 180 years to build (imagine a large construction project being completed now that was started in 1830!). Back then churchgoers were illiterate, so the emphasis on communication was non-verbal: incredible architecture, stained glass windows, etc. |
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| Beautiful Seine River on a cool November day. |
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| Fall foliage in the middle of Paris. |
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| Cannons and a moat guarding Hotel Invalides (a huge 1600s structure built by Louis XIV for disabled war veterans, not a hotel as we know it). |
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| Pere-Lachaise Cemetery, which has tombs for Chopin, Oscar Wilde, Proust and Balzac...and of course Jim Morrison (it was the one with the crowd of Americans around it). |
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| Juggler (with goldfish) in Place de la Bastille, the square made famous by the storming of a prison during the French Revolution. |
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| Another view of Notre-Dame as sunset approaches. The following morning we use our Eurail Pass to take us north to Holland. |
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| During a lunch stop in Belgium, we enjoy the incredible architecture of de grote Markt (or Grand Place) in the heart of Brussels. |
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| Our two days in Amsterdam are an adventure of dodging bicycles, cars and trams, doing some unusual window shopping, and enjoying the two main museums (the Van Gogh museum was a highlight of the entire trip). |
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| Train ride up the Rhine Valley (that's another train on the opposite bank). |
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| Two of the many castles along the river. |
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| We stay overnight in the scenic town of Rudesheim at a small B&B. |
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| Our plan to spend three nights in Germany is cut short by a pending train strike. We escape to Vienna, Austria. |
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| Winter arrives early. |
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| Schönbrunn Palace, home of the Habsburg dynasty...and I mean dynasty. At various times from 1282 to 1918, they ruled Germany, Austria, Hungary, Spain, Portugal, Mexico and the Holy Roman Empire. Even Marie Antoinette was a Habsburg (Habsburg Kings married their daughters to foreign rulers so they wouldn't start wars against the family). |
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| We leave modern Vienna to journey behind the former Iron Curtain, into the Czech Republic. Cold snowy weather adds to the Doctor Zhivago ambiance. |
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| Prague is wonderful! This is our favorite city so far on the tour. |
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| Site of the inspiring Velvet Revolution in late November 1989, where a half-million peaceful citizens gathered in the immense square of the New Town, part of mass street protests that led to the resignation of the Communist regime. |
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| One of dozens of very scenic shopping streets in the Old Town. |
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| Colorful subway in this modern, pleasant, affluent city. |
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Continue to Page 2 of Europe Tour
Dave Chapman's Storm Chasing and Outdoor Photo Galleries