Tag Archives: train travel in Europe

Two nights in Saint Moritz

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After disembarking in Saint Moritz from my wonderful Bernina Express train ride, I had a 15 minute uphill walk (with luggage) to my lodging for two nights. After checking in I went to the grocery around the corner. Restaurants in Switzerland are very expensive. I walked down to Lake St. Moritz, which is smaller than the main lakes of the Upper Engadin valley, but very beautiful! It was mid-June and the weather was glorious.

These were the views from my accommodations.

p.s.  If you’ve just began reading…I planned an 11 week, 5 European country, 21 accommodations solo trip from April – June of 2022.  Photos were taken with my LG Velvet Android phone.

Three nights at Lake Como, Italy

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After taking the Gotthard Panorama Express from Lucerne, Switzerland, I arrived in Varenna, Lake Como at 7:30pm. My lodging was located there, only a three minute walk to the train station and three minutes to the water. The next morning I did laundry in my washer, hung it to dry, purchased an all day ferry pass for €15, took a few photos in Varenna and then boarded a ferry for Bellagio (which I’ll cover tomorrow).

Varenna is charming.

The view of Varenna from one of the ferries.

Traveling solo has it’s pros and cons, like anything in life. Although this is a beautiful view, I didn’t sit around much. I was usually walking, exploring, and taking photographs.

p.s.  If you’ve just began reading…I planned an 11 week, 5 European country, 21 accommodations solo trip from April – June of 2022.  Photos were taken with my LG Velvet Android phone.

Seven nights in Colmar, France

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It was mid-May when I left my place in Tours, France at 10 am, walked 10 minutes to the train station and took the 10:44 am train from Tours. I changed trains twice and arrived in Colmar at 3:20 pm. It was a 10 minute walk to my Airbnb, but the owner came to pick me up, which was very nice. She had a bottle of champagne in the refrigerator for me and was just so warm and friendly. As you can see from the photos my Airbnb was cute and situated right in town but on a quiet street. (Plus she did my laundry for €10)

I fell in love with Colmar! There’s a photo op every 3 steps and filled with the half-timbered architecture I love.

My Airbnb host let me borrow her bicycle so one day I bicycled 15 miles round trip along a canal called the Canal de Colmar. It was peaceful being out in nature, listening to the bullfrogs croak, the birds chirp, and admiring the pretty yellow flowers (some would call them weeds) lining the trail. There were some cyclists out and I saw an occasional farmer in the fields and men fishing. It was flat and there were some concrete benches along the trail.

My little Airbnb

To save money, I like to occasionally cook so it’s nice to have a kitchen.

Dinner out one evening…Char Filet, Butter Sauce, Vegetables

p.s.  If you’ve just began reading…I planned an 11 week, 5 European country, 21 accommodations solo trip from April – June of 2022.  Photos were taken with my LG Velvet Android phone.

Going Solo in Amsterdam

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My friend and I arrived to Amsterdam‘s Central Train Station just before 9am on May 30th, following a not so comfortable overnight train ride from Munich.  I’ve taken overnight trains in Egypt and Portugal and I have to say this was the least comfortable.  I’m sure my friend, Richard, can’t get comfortable in many beds because he’s 6’7″ tall, but it was also quite noisy throughout the night and when I would wake, I was being tossed to and fro.  Enough complaining!

We bought our 72 hour transport card and followed the Google Map directions I had printed off leading us to the Metro line that would deposit us less than a half mile from the Airbnb I had rented for our 3 night stay in Amsterdam.  Upon arrival to the Apartment, we were shown around by the owner, and once she left we settled in.  It is situated on a canal and had everything we needed.  We were especially thankful for the washer and dryer, which we put to immediate use!

Richard’s twenty something year old Cousin, Tobias, from Germany was arriving by train a couple of hours later, so I went exploring by myself, while he went to meet him at the station.  This little car was parked on the Street in front of our Apartment.  I call it the half car…

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Having traveled in Southeast Asia, six countries in Africa, and other developing Countries, and experienced the organized chaos associated with a multitude of bicycles, I was surprised by this in Amsterdam, along with absent helmets on most children and adults, and the legality of motorcycles on bicycle lanes.  There’s nothing like biking along and suddenly feeling the air whoosh by from a large motorcycle within inches of your handlebars!

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Europe for a Month

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You haven’t heard from me for a while because I’ve been busy planning the European trip I mentioned in a past post.  In the other post, I gave you information about the first adventure taking trains from Prague–Vienna–Bratislava—Budapest and it occurred to me that I could stay in Europe longer and offer a second trip to another group.  I have purchased train tickets to travel from Budapest to Munich for a few days, then an overnight train to Amsterdam for a few days.  I’ll be staying in an Airbnb in both locations.  Next, I fly from Amsterdam to Copenhagen where I’ll meet the other group for an unforgettable Scandinavian adventure!

We’ll head to Stockholm, Sweden for a few days, then to Oslo, Norway, and finally take the scenic train and boat cruise of the fjords in Norway to Bergen, where we’ll fly home.  There will only be four of us for the second portion.  I’m so excited!!

My three passions in life are photography, travel, and organizing/minimizing and all of my dreams are coming true!  I just helped an elderly couple yesterday with organizing their retirement village home and will be spending a lot more time with them.  And…my photography assignments have been coming along.  I’m still working with iSPYCINCY and have an upcoming assignment Sunday.  I answered a Craigslist ad for a Merchandise photo shoot.  My husband went with me because I was going to the man’s apartment in a new area of Cincinnati called “The Banks”.  He’s starting a business selling picture frames and wanted some lifestyle photographs of them.  Here are a few of them:

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