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Nancy and I got back from our month-long vacation in Europe, visiting 9 countries.
We started by flying business-class to Munich. We spent three days there before taking the night train to Florence and then on to Siena. We had purchased the Eurorail pass, which was wonderful. We then went to Venice where we spent the night before boarding the Splendor of the Seas for the first of our two 7-night back-to-back cruises. We went to: Corfu, Greece; Athens, Greece; Kusadasi, Turkey; Split, Croatia; Dubrovnik, Croatia; Katakalon, Greece; Mykonos, Greece; and Santorini, Greece.
We ended back in Venice where we took the train to Austria, then on to Munich. The next day we took a train to Frankfurt and on to Amsterdam for a few days, then on to Belgium and ended up in Paris for 3 days before flying home.
Needless to say, it was a remarkable trip and extremely tiring. We were exhausted when we got home, but very satisfying and educational. But I would not recommend doing what we did. While I do recommend spending a couple of days in the embarkation port and maybe a day or two after the cruise, we wouldn't spend a week before the cruise touring around and a week afterwards touring some more. The main reason is luggage. Europe is not as equipped as the U.S. to handle those who are physically-challenged or hauling big suitcases. There are very few escalators and hardly any elevators. As an example, in Venice there are many steps up and down all those bridges crossing the canals. Everywhere you see people dealing with their luggage over the steps. Luckily, I'm in pretty good shape for someone who's almost 60, but it was alot of work wearing a 25-pound backpack while carrying two 50-pound suitcases up and down all those steps, especially in the subway in Paris.
While we loved touring, had it not been for the cruise, we could have left alot of clothes back home. I purposefully did not take a suit, opting instead just to wear a shirt and tie for formal nights. Turns out, I was more in the majority than the minority.
I wrote in our trip journal every day about all the things we did, how much we paid, tips about what to do and what not to do, and general thoughts on how to make it easier, but needless to say, it's much too long and detailed to include here. But if anyone has any questions, I'll be happy to answer them.
I will give a few thoughts about our trip.
First, we were extremely lucky to be in Katakalon, Greece where we boarded the little train to Olympia. Royal Caribbean did not bother to tell anyone about this train, where the price for the 38 kilometer 50-minute ride on a brand new train only cost us $5 euro (about $7.50 U.S.). Instead, RCCL kept touting their shore excursions to Olympia for $75. While I can understand them wanting to make money, we heard alot of complaints from passengers about RCCL's lack of information. This was true in several ports where they never talked about any other options on how to get anywhere.
Anyway, we took the train to Olympia to find the archeological site was closed until 2:00pm for the Olympic Torch lighting ceremony. So we find a bar, sat down, had a couple of beers, and watched the entire ceremony on a big-screen TV. Back in the U.S. they'll show a quick 10 to 15 second shot of the lighting of the torch. We got to watch the whole one-hour ceremony that was wonderful. And then after they lit the runner's torch, he started his journey and we were right there watching as he came down the street. He stopped to pass the torch and on it went through the streets of Olympia. We got the whole thing on video and also got our picture taken with the first torch runner! The whole thing was the highlight of our trip - just happen to be in the right place at the right time. The bad thing was that the RCCL shore excursions left the port late, since they knew the site was closed, and they did not get there until after all this was done, so none of them saw any of this.
Another highlight of our trip occurred while we were on one of the bullet trains leaving Munich. We were in first-class in the first car of the train and there was a glass wall and door separating us from the engineer. I walked up to take some pictures; he opened the door and invited me in. I was standing right beside him as we were barreling down the track. I asked him how fast we were going and he said 330 kilometers per hour. I asked how fast that was in miles per hour and he responded it was 200 mph!! As I looked out the front window I saw we were approaching a train station with people standing on the platform and we just speeded right on by. It dawned on me that this was the same speed that NASCAR drivers go - what a rush! Then I saw another bullet train coming at us and it was also doing 200 mph, so the closing speed was 400 mph. Amazing! I got back to my seat, Nancy asked me how it was, and all I could say was, "Wow! What a rush!" My adrenaline was really pumping. How often does someone like me get to go 200 mph on land?
While we were in Munich, we took the train to Fussen and then went over to see the Neuschwanstein Castle. This is the castle that King Ludwig II built and Walt Disney used as a model for his Sleeping Beauty castle at Disneyland. It was truly amazing and well worth the whole day adventure.
We also went to Dachau and saw the infamous Nazi concentration camp. Very moving.
And we went to downtown Munich where we saw the famous glockenspiel and finished the day with some beer, brats, and pretzels at the Hofbrauhaus.
Absolutely love Germany! People were friendly, trains were wonderful, food was great, and the Bavarian Alps were amazing.
Of all the cruise ports, Santorini was our favorite. Would love to have stayed there for a few days. The trip up from the pier to the town is 800' and can be done by cable car, burro, or walking. There are no signs, no coordination, and no communication to tell people where to go or what to do, so it is rather chaotic. The line for the cable car was quite long, so we chose to ride the burros ($10 euro each), which was definitely an adventure.
Amsterdam was great! We toured the Van Gogh museum and thoroughly enjoyed it. We also enjoyed the coffee houses (and no, they don't serve coffee there - if you want coffee, you need to go to the cafes), and we enjoyed the Red Light District, especially at night. All the beautiful young ladies in the windows - gives the term 'window shopping' a whole new meaning! lol
And Paris was wonderful! We saw the light show on the Eiffel Tower, saw the Statue of Liberty, visited Notre Dame, visited Napolean's tomb, walked the Champs Elysees, and watched the sunset from the top of the Arc de Triomphe.
As I mentioned, Europe as a whole is not user-friendly for those with limited mobility. Except for Germany, most of the food is rather bland compared to what we're use to in the U.S. and very expensive. An average meal will run anywhere from $40 to $75 U.S and this is not at a big or fancy restaurant. This is about twice of what the comparable meal would cost here. The one big plus is the train system - everywhere we went it was great! They can sure teach the Americans how to run a railroad. Always on time, very comfortable, very fast, and goes everywhere.
Overall, it was an absolutely wonderful trip. It really makes it easy traveling around when everywhere we went had the Euro, so there was none of this having to change all our money in every country. The only bad thing was the exchange rate; 1 euro equals roughly $1.50 U.S.
The only real downside was on the ship. While the Splendor of the Seas was very nice, albeit crowded, the service was good and the beds comfortable. But the food was not all that great and very disappointing.
Glad to be home! We sure missed our waterbed!
Let me know if you have an questions, especially about boarding a ship in Venice - we can tell you all about it, what to do, what not to do, where to go, and what to expect.
Pete
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Thanks so MUCH for this!
... 
SOUTH CAROLINA!
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