London, what a fascinating place. And what a change from the quiet tranquility of the Rhine river valley. No more slow cruises, sitting in the sunshine overlooking the river or gentle country rambles. Instead the noise, bustle and many people, buses, cabs, pubs, shops of London city. Quite a change. It was a long day of train travel from the Rhine river valley to London using four connecting trains, including the Eurostar that travels under the English chann...

We have spent the last 3 days in the beautiful middle Rhine river valley, in a small medieval town, Bacharach, located right alongside the river between Mainz and Koblenz. What a picturesque part of the world, with little villages and medieval castles, dating back to the 11 th century dotted all the way along the river. It is a very busy river with cargo boats as well as tourist boats travelling along the river constantly. This is also a famous wine grape regi...

Just for your interest, these are the many ways that you can choose to take a sightseeing tour around Berlin: Walking, bus, horse drawn carriage, balloon, Douglas DC 3 plane, Travi car! Also bikes of many varieties - 2 wheeled, fat tires, scooter, 3 wheeled bike, tandem bike, 5 person bike, taxi bike. Also, limousine if you really must! This is a tourist mecca, and it is not surpising as this city may not be particularly beautiful, but is an open history book...

Berlin has a very troubled history through hundreds of years of fighting with its European neighbours and the city's architecture has become a real mix of old and modern structures that represent this chequered history. It is certainly a very large, busy and dynamic city. In particular, there is a big tourist presence and the usual bevy of buses and tour guides and souvenir stores that go with that! The public transport system is very comprehensive with trams,...

Have spent the last 3 days travelling by car around the western side of Latvia countryside, known as the Kurzeme district. Visited a military museum with many old bombs, guns and tanks (mainly Russian) from World War 2. Also the ruins of an old fortress at the harbour of Liepaja. These were unhappy times for the Latvian people with many years of repression and deprivation from both the Soviet and German armies. Abandoned and derelict buildings from the collec...