"The Old Country - Visits over 50+ Years" Europe by grandmaR

The first Grand Tour of Europe was in 1950 with family at age 12. My father had been asked to give papers at two International medical conferences - one in Paris France and one in Oxford England. His expenses were paid, all he had to do was to find a way to fund us. We landed in La Havre and went to Paris. From there it was, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, (with a day trip to Sweden), Germany, Austria, Switzerland (this photo), and then back to Paris. From here we crossed the channel - first London and then after Oxford we rented a car to go to Edinburgh. We boarded the Nieuw Amsterdam in Southampton to sail back to the US. I don't have too many pictures or tips from that trip.

Me in 1964 on right with Girl Scout leaders

The other tour that I did was in 1964 to meet my husband's ship on its Med cruise

Tuesday, 14 July: I flew to Germany
Wednesday, 15 July: arrived in Cologne on a German Society charter. Then I took a train up the Rhine to Frankfurt, did an overnight to

Thursday, 16 July: Paris, and then another overnight to

Friday, 17 July: Madrid. I met my sister and my one year old niece there that evening and
Saturday, 18 July to Sunday, 19 July: We toured Madrid and
Monday, 20 July to Thursday, 23 July: Lisbon. We returned to
Friday, 24 July: Madrid. My sister went back to Germany, and I overnighted by train to
Saturday, 25 July to Wednesday, 29 July: Valencia. I took a daytime train to
Thursday, 30 July: Granada. After spending the night at the Washington Irving Hotel and touring Granada, another overnight train
Friday, 31 July: Madrid arriving on Saturday, August 1. I had trouble getting from Madrid to meet the ship a second time, so on
Sunday, 2 August: I took a day trip to Toledo and then a night plane to Barcellona and then a train. I arrived

Monday, 3 August: Marseille where I met my husband, rented a car and
Tuesday, 4 August to Friday, 7 August: visited St. Tropez, Avignon, Arles, and Chateau d'If. After Bob went back to the ship, I took a night train to

Saturday, 8 August: Paris, where I visited Versailles, and took another night train

Sunday, 9 August: Nuremburg where
Monday, 10 August to Wednesday, 12 August: I stayed with my sister. (Her husband was stationed there.) This photo was a tour of the local toy factory. I left for

Thursday, 13 August: Naples. Before the ship got there on
Friday, 14 August: I did the tour of Pompeii, Amalfi, and Sorento.
Saturday, 15 August and Sunday, 16 August: was my last meeting with the ship, and we went to Capri.

Monday, 17 August: We both left Naples and I took the train to Frankfurt flew home on
Tuesday, 18 August: after five weeks

In 1992, after my mom took her various grandchildren on trips, I also took a trip to the Iberian peninsula with her - Madrid, Segovia, Avila, Portugual (Lisbon, Oporto and Fatima). Andalucía (Córdoba, Granada, Sevilla), Gibralter, Torremolinos, Tangiers, Toledo and El Escoril.

Grandson and I embarking

My next visit across the pond was July 2002, when we took a trip to England to visit our oldest daughter who was there on a three year job exchange.

2002-July 18 -Transit strike -Landed at Gatwick. Thursday July 18 to Friday July 19 Big Bus tour.
2002-July 20 (Saturday) British Museum and the London Eye
2002-July 21(Sunday) Greenwich
2002-July 22 (Monday) Took the tube to meet our daughter and she took us to
Salisbury, Stonehenge and Avebury before going to her house in Cheltenham
2002-July 23 (Tuesday) Went to Bath with our grandson.
2002-July 24 (Wednesday) Visited Wales - Llangollen and the aqueduct at Trevor Also stopped at Iron Bridge
2002-July 25 (Thursday) the Canal Museum in Gloucester in preparation for...
2002-July 26 (Friday) We started a narrow boat cruise in Dunhampstead which is so small that it isn't on VT so it is under Droitwich. We continued on July 27, 28 and 29 to Tibberton and Worcester
2002-July 29 (Monday) We stopped off in Bourton on the Water on the way back to Cheltenham
2002-July 30 (Tuesday) We rested, packed and then July31st (Wednesday) flew home arriving 2002-August 1 (Thursday).

Most recently I took my grandson to Spain and Italy in March 2008. We flew to Barcelona via Madrid, and embarked on a cruise ship to Italy - the Vatican, Rome, Naples (Pompei and the Amalfi Drive), and Venice.