Holiday 2008

Pie Eaters in Euroland 08

On the boat from Newcastle to Ijmuiden/Amsterdam. The international Hide and Seek begins.... :o)

Entertaining nuns??

Oh well, that's better. Nuns turn into dancing girls

Remagen, not our stop in Germany (that was the MC Pegasus Party - check the pictures) but the second one

which one is nicer..??? ;o)

The hotelier said it's only a ten minute walk... aye right!

... a piece of art or what?

leftovers of the "Bridge of Remagen".

Nooo Seth, don't touch it, it might go of! :)

we were not sure about this hole in the hill. Could be an airvent as the train goes through this mountain. Or soldiers used it during WW2 to shoot on the enemy? At the end we agreed it giant rabbits were responsible...

and more walking...

market square in Remagen

Beautiful timbered house and remains of the city wall from the 14th century

the gang waiting for the boat to take them to Linz - just a fw miles down the Rhine

Jude and Duthie

After Remagen we hit towards Idar-Oberstein. This was a quick stop at the Mosel-Valley. Here the bridge we had to cross

Mosel-Valley

Felsenkirche in Idar-Obertein directly above our hotel. The church is built into rock

Our hotel in Idar Oberstein

market place

over 300 year old pub

Jude and Duthie

view from the church

Ken and Goonz

Church bell modernised

inside the church

on the way into the gemstone mine

you can keep your hat on... :o)

precious stones

fern growing inside the mide due to artificial light

quick stop on the way to our next destination, we are now heading for Speyer

Technic museum in Speyer

looks great, doesn't it? :o)

We did not get accomodation in Speyer, so went ahead to Ludwigshaven. Sat a few hours at the train station, phoning all hotels in and around the place. Nothing available. At 9 pm we were still loooking!! Then decided to bite the bullet and booked into the expensive hotel Excelsior at the train station. After all the stress some of us still enjoyed ourselves. Picture taken in the hotel's Sky bar on the 17th floor (they did great cocktails! Hungover was all mine next day!)

view onto Ludwigshaven from the Sky bar

Worms. Initially we thought of it as a industrial pit. Far from it. Worms has a lot of history and is a fantastic place! Well worth visiting

Part of the old town wall

A walk in the park....

Goonz having fun with the water feature

Kaiser Ludvig? I forgot. Well, some old celebrity anyhow

Pub in Worms. The hotel owner closed the restaurant bar as he wanted to see the football match Germany v Spain! Well, we can spend our money anywhere, the lucky pub was right next to the hotel

Jude and Duthie

Hellloooo!! :o)

Watch the lady pestering Goonz. She was a local drunkard and apparently a pain in the butt, lol

Background left - the barman. Background right - don't know exactly who the lady was but we got loads of free drinks. Thank you again, much appreciated :o) (maybe they were so happy we spent so much money in the pub?)

Leather, put that shirt down! Tisk, tisk... ;-)

Big parade through Worms after the Germans won the football match.

Getting ready for departure. Next destination: Summer Party, BC Country Riders Leonberg/Stuttgart. Hary, get the drinks ready, here we come. Yeehaaa :o)

Hotel Rebstock in the Black Forest (we went there after Hary's rally)

Annie, Dek, Chris, Leather and Elaine from the Caledonian Phoenix leaving for a tour. Nearly ended in a disaster!

Walking down from our hotel in Schonach to Triberg. Funny things can be picked up on the way, eh Seth?

The biggest cuckoo clock in the world!

looks like a land slide but it was actually built like that! Scary

Jimmy and his wood carved counter part

Now all is clear. MCC = Master Carvers Club. Of course, what else could it mean, lol :o)

Hotel Rebstock honoured us by flying the Scottish flag. Priceless!

We were all a bit tired that night. Before we went to the Black Forest we were partying at the BC Country Riders in Stuttgart

Departure time again. This time we are heading towards Luxembourg. Route will take us through France

Here we go, that's us in France. A cafe/restaurant type thingy. Don't go there if you fancy good food. Maybe the waitress was just a bit stressed?

Arrival in Vianden/Luxembourg. Just waiting for the hotels to get sorted.

Having a few beers

Ian, Buckie Mick's son

Annie, Dek and Chris ready to leave the hotel in Vianden.

That's them on the way then. At this moment clueless. Not knowing that Dek will have two punctures within 30 miles, they will not get to their initially planned destination as they run out of time and they also did not know at this time that Chris is going to run into Annie's bike (poor Annie suffered quite a few bruises). Hope you are all well now guys! :o)

walk through Vianden

Aaahhwww, baby swans

Cable car in Vianden. Quite a few of the gang suffering from fear of height but all were brave and took up the challenge :-)

Gosh, that's steep!

Castle in the Sky

it was raining a bit...

Hary and Ian

Oooooo???

Cheese :o)

castle again

From left: Jude, Goonz, Ken, Elaine, Em, Seth, Duthie, Ian and Jimmy

very picturesque