Introduction
In the spring of 2001, David
(Tonya’s biological father), & Holly Butler, Holly’s sister (Sally) and
husband (Dwight Brown) invited us
to take a trip with them to
the
Chris is a corporate Ford
employee and is on temp. assignment to the
His wife, Janet, took a
contract with the London Underground developing business cases for platform
safety improvements.
They rented a four bedroom
house outside Old Harlow in
In addition, the
They settled on a 12-day
Traflgar motorcoach “Whirlwind” tour that started and ended in
And … as it turned out, the
was willing to intercept our
tour in
Below is a summary of our
visit to the
Web links to the locations and
points of interest are blue and underlined.
If you “right-click” and open the blue underlined link “in a new window” you’ll
be able go to the site and keep this
page minimized on your task
bar and available for recall.
David & Tonya Miller’s 2001 Euro-Tour |
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We departed LAX Saturday,
Sept 08, 7:00 pm (LA time), and 10 hrs. later, arrived in |
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Date |
While in the
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and later that evening … |
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Su Sep 9 |
Arrived at London’s Heathrow airport,
through customs, quick money exchange, load up in Chris’ rented van and we’re
off to Old |
Had a killer Dinner @ CJ’s
(Chris & Janet’s) Menu: Tomato/Basil
SaladPasta w/ Arrabiata Sauce steak/Chicken Tiramisu |
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M Sep 10 |
Jet lag recovery at CJ’s
quick walk up the “River
Stort” navigational canal to the “Mudhen Restaurant” and marina where we
saw dozens of the 6’ x 50’ canal boats. |
Dinner at nearby East Indian
restaurant |
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Tu Sep 11 |
10:10 depart Stansted Airport for Dublin
, |
coast tour with taxi driver. “Powerscourt Garden” tour (where we
learned of terrorist attacks) |
Check into Aaron House Bed &
Brkfst. on Dinner at local “Cooper’s
Café” restaurant, pints at “Crowes” |
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W Sep 12 |
Trinity
College (“Book of
Kells” “Long Room”)
/ Christ Church / St. Patrick’s Cathederal
/ Guiness Brewery / |
Another night at Aaron
House. |
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Th Sep 13 |
Continued |
5:40 fly out of Dublin Airport. |
Dinner at CJ’s |
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F Sep 14 |
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Pizza Hut outside Harlow, |
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Sa Sep 15 |
Laundry prep for the 12 day
EuroWhirl Tour |
Dinner at CJ’s |
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Day # |
On TheTraflgar
Euro-Whirl #693 12 Day Tour …
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and later that evening … |
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1-Su Sep 16 |
7:00 a.m. Check in @ Trafalgar Tours in downtown, |
Took the |
4:00p: Arrived by coach at the Paris Holiday Inn La
Villette That evening, we saw: Effel Tower, Seine River cruise |
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2-M Sep 17 |
While in |
That evening we had dinner
at a local “brasserie” (wished we did the
optional Moulan Rouge
dinner show) Another night at the La Villette
Holiday Inn |
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3-Tu Sep 18 |
Onward from |
We had dinner/lodging at |
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4-W Sep 19 |
In Lucerne
we saw: Bucherer dept. store |
In the afternoon we drove
onto |
After we arrived in Spent the night at the |
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5-Th Sep 20 |
Spent day driving to |
That evening in Trevi Fountain, Piazza Venezia |
Had a dinner at a local
restaurant off the Piazza Venezia Spent the night at a very
nice hotel outside |
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6-F Sep 21 |
During the day in Vatican Museum (Gallery
of Maps), Sistine
Chapel, St. Peter’s Basilica, Colosseum Forum, Domitilla
Catacombs |
Another (had a great dinner at the
renown Tanagra restaurant
with live Italian singing entertainment) |
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7 Sa Sep 22 |
Drove onto |
We spent the night at the
Bologna Ramada Inn |
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8 Su Sep 23 |
In the morning we drove to Glass blowing at Vecchia Murano glassworks,
canal cruise |
That night we had dinner at
lodging at |
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9 M Sep 24 |
We drove to |
(D) Best Western Mondscheim / Grauer Bar |
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10 T Sep 25 |
Drove onto |
Scott took us to his
personal favorite Greek restaurant and ordered special food for us. A most
excellent meal. Scott ordered a taxi and we caught up with the tour at |
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11 W Sep 26 |
Took a river cruise down the |
A quick tour through the Stoelitie diamond cutting
business, hotel check in at the ???. Then back on the bus to our canal cruise
and ‘ |
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12 Th Sep 27 |
Quick stop at a local
windmill and we’re on the road through Antwerp towards Calais, Fr. Another ferry ride to Dover,
through a UK passport checkpoint and we’re on a bus back to London. |
Arrive in KFC dinner and we’re off to
bed for recovery. |
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Date |
Back from the
tour and still guests of
Chris & Janet
Brown (CJ’s) in
Old
Harlow,
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and later that evening … |
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F Sep 28 |
Late get ups, news updates,
and laundry chores |
Dinner at CJ’s |
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Sa Sep 29 |
On the WAGN train, connecting w/ “The Tube” to see: Buckingham Palace,
lunch at the original London Hard
Rock Cafe, then a tour of the Houses
of Parliament. a trip through Covent
Garden Market area for dinner at a “Spain-ish” restaurant. |
Train rides back home,
tired, bed-ee-bye. |
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Su Sep 30 |
Body hurts, (a huge mall complex built
on the remains of an abandoned quarry) |
Dinner at the “Santa Fe”
(inside the mall) and we’re home late again. |
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M Oct 1 |
Tired, lazy kick-back day |
TV “Attack” news updates |
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Tu Oct 2 |
Back in |
Prime rib dinner at the NEW
“Outback” restaurant |
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W Oct 3 |
Drive up to |
Spaghetti rerun |
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Th Oct 4 |
Half the crew is off to Warwick Castle and Stratford on Avon and the other half
is off to Bainbridge Designer Outlet mall. |
Another killer CJ dinner |
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F Oct 5 |
David M. is off to the British Museum (by himself) while the
others are off to the shopping malls |
Dinner at “Robin Hood,” a
killer “Thai” restaurant (go figur’) |
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Sa Oct 6 |
Everybody off to a play
while Janet & Tonya “bond” at |
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Su Oct 7 |
Up at 6:00a for a 7:00a ride
to London’s
Heathrow. |
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We departed Heathrow at 11:30a ( Later that week, the CA central coast warmed up
to enjoy a long awaited nap in the sun. |
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Concluding Remarks
In
three words or less, “absolutey amazing.”
