MEET THE CELTS AND VIKINGS
This was a Celtic heritage program I operated for a group of forty seniors in 2003, visiting the countries surrounding the "Celtic Lake" of the north sea. It is still an excellent project, I may repeat it again in 2006.
8 COUNTRIES - 15 DAYS - FRANCE, THE LOW COUNTRIES, SCANDINAVIA AND BRITAIN
Day 1: Monday:
By 7:15PM: Check in at Newark Airport, Terminal B with Virgin Atlantic Airways.
9:25PM: lv: Newark (EWR)
on Virgin Atlantic (VS) flight 002.
Sometime during the flight,
set your watch ahead five hours. We’ll expect to have a ‘midnight
snack’ enroute, as well as a good breakfast before arriving in England on;
Day
2: Tuesday:
9:05AM (London Time) ar:
London Heathrow (LHR) Airport.
Annie Roberts, our ‘champion
tour manager’ from Sterling Associates will meet us on arrival, and help
us get comfortable in our special ‘Time Capsule’ from Cavalier Coaches. This
is where we first meet top driver, Mr. Peter Swan. We will be well
acquainted with Peter before we leave London next time.
We have some, but not a lot
of time to look around the local countryside, because we are ‘booked’ to
transit EUROTUNNEL (the ‘Chunnel’) at 1:21PM.
We arrive at Calais,
in the ancient Republic of FRANCE to visit an important part of the third
largest country in Europe (after Russia and Ukraine). In ancient times France
was part of the Celtic territory known as Gaul. Its present name is
derived from the Latin Francia, meaning “country of the Franks,” a
Germanic people who conquered the area during the 5th century.
Our coach journeys south from Calais through NORMANDY to the important center of CAEN. (Keep in mind this is not the Mediterranean city of CANNES. That’s for another trip). Our hotel is just down the street from Charlemagne's Castle. Do you feel medieval yet?
Overnight at Mercure
Hotel Caen, in Place Courtonne
Day 3, Wednesday:
Continental breakfast is
served at the hotel from 6:30AM. (BAGS BEFORE BREAKFAST PLEASE!)
9:00AM: Our beautiful local guide Karin will meet
us at breakfast, and will be taking us on a morning tour of the area. Since we
are in Normandy shortly before our Memorial Day – it seems appropriate
to begin with a visit to the American Cemetery, situated on a cliff overlooking 
Omaha Beach, east of the town of St. Laurent-sur Mer. This memorial covers 172
acres, containing graves of more than 9,000 American War Dead, most of whom died
in landings and ensuring operations on the European continent.
June 6, 1944 “D-Day” forever changed the course of
history. Yet in the United States there is no National Memorial to those who
gave the greatest sacrifice here. Our brief visit is to honor them in our
memory, and set a stage for understanding the experiences we will have, and the
people we will meet as our trip continues.
Retracing part of our route
along the ‘invasion coast’ we spend most of the rest of the day enroute to Bruges,
BELGIUM:
From one of the largest, we
now enter one of the smallest countries in Europe. This Constitutional Monarchy
lies at the crossroads of Latin and Germanic Europe. The northern part, loosely
referred to as FLANDERS, has a predominantly Flemish-speaking population. In the
south, known as WALLONIA, the principal language is French. From these two
peoples Belgium has derived a rich cultural heritage, as well as a tradition of
sectional antagonism still much a feature of its national life. The county’s
name is derived from the Belgae, a Celtic people who inhabited the
area in ancient times. Historically associated with the Netherlands, Belgium
became independent in 1830.
Overnight in Bruges at De Tassche Hotel, Oude Burg II
Day 4, Thursday:
Buffet breakfast at the hotel, where we will
meet our local guide.
9:00AM – 11:00AM
we will be on a ‘w
alking/sightseeing tour’ of Bruges. We will learn that the
history of Bruges began around 2000 years ago as a Gallic-Roman settlement on
the site of the city. The inhabitants did not live by agriculture alone, they
also traded with England and the rest of Gaul. When Saint Eligius came to spread
Christianity in the area around 650, Bruges was perhaps the most important
fortification in the Flemish coastal area.
The new sea-port, inaugurated in 1907 in
Zeebrugge, did not achieve full prosperity until the last quarter of the
twentieth century. Since the end of the nineteenth century Bruges was also known
throughout Europe as a city of art and a tourist center. The Bruges monuments,
museums and particularly the unspoiled historic cityscape attract millions of
visitors every year. The port of Zeebrugge and the cultural/historic patrimony
of Bruges give the city a European and particularly international dimension.
11:30AM – we leave Bruges to travel to
our next port-of-call in THE NETHERLANDS:
This is a country partly reclaimed from the waters of the
North Sea, and around half of it lies at or below sea level. Land reclamation
has, in fact, been a dominant motif of its history. The result is a country of
resonant images – windmills and church spires, canals, and miles and miles of
grassy dunes puncture its flat, fertile landscapes.
This afternoon we check into
our hotel in Amsterdam (Note: for reasons only the Dutch would know,
there is no ‘porterage’ included here. This is one of the country’s
‘young folks’ residences, and everybody gets to hustle their own luggage.
Remember- I told you this could happen…)
8:00PM: We will transfer
from the hotel to Central Station,
where we board one of the city’s colorful barges for a Dinner Cruise
along and among Amsterdam’s famous canals. We’ll be on board until
about 11:00PM.
Overnight at Hotel Arena, Gravesandestraat 51
Day 5, Friday:
Buffet breakfast is served
at the hotel, starting at 7:00AM.
At 9:00AM,
we will meet our local guide for a panoramic sightseeing tour of approximately 3
hours in this fantastic city. We will learn that The Netherlands is one of the
most developed countries in the world, with the highest population density in
Europe. Its fifteen million or so inhabitants (most of whom speak English and
ride one of the country’s more than 30 million bicycles) are concentrated into
an area about the size of southern England.
The Dutch are people of
ancient Germanic origin, with some Celtic admixture. They are also among
the world’s most ardent supporters of the Arts. The nation’s rich historical
and architectural heritage is apparent in more than 40,000 monuments, medieval
castles, Gothic churches, old townhouses, windmills and municipal
fortifications. All of this enhanced by the rich artistic contributions of Hals,
Rembrandt, Van Gogh and Vermeer. The Concertgebouw Orchestra is considered one
of the world’s finest. Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum and van Gogh Museums are on
our “must see” list.
12:00Noon: We
will depart from our hotel, to continue our drive across Holland and into GERMANY.
Our accommo- dations have been reserved in Hamburg at:
Ibis Hamburg Altona, Konigstrasse 4
Day 6, Saturday:
Buffet breakfast is served in the hotel, starting at 6:30AM
At 9:00AM, we will meet our local guide, Kathrin
Helle, for a 2-hour city sightseeing tour. Reunified
following the collapse of the East German communist regime, this dynamic country
is bordered by the North Sea, Denmark and the Baltic Sea, on the east by Poland
and the Czech Republic, on the south by Austria and Switzerland, and on the west
by France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. The 1990 unification was
preceded by a complex series of treaties between Germany and its World War II
adversaries.
11:00AM, we leave Hamburg for the rather long, but
very interesting journey to (and through) DENMARK.
(Through, because there is ‘no room for us in the inn’ in Copenhagen. We
will be traveling across the German border into Jutland, then across the Islands
of Odense and Sjaelland and the ‘big bridge’ into Malmo Sweden. Here
our hotel is the
Radisson SAS Malmo, Ostergatan 10
Day 7, Sunday:
Breakfast is served in the hotel restaurant from 7:00AM
9:00AM we depart back across t
he road bridge to meet
our local guide in Tivoli Gardens, COPENHAGEN. Guide Claus Heje has arranged a panoramic 3-hour
sightseeing tour in this glorious capital. He will return us to the city center
around 1:00PM, and the entire afternoon is left at leisure for your inde-
pendent
discoveries in the treasure house of Copenhagen. One of my recent tour members
made a special trip to the harbor, to see if the "Little Mermaid" felt
real.
Wonderful Copenhagen
“salty old girl of the sea” is the home of Hans Christian Anderson, the
Little Mermaid, and of course “our own” Victor Borge. We will revisit their
wonderful legacies as we tour this beautiful Scandinavian capital city.
We’ll agree on a time and place to meet Mick, and transfer back to Malmo
and our hotel for overnight.
Radisson SAS
Malmo, Ostergatan 10
Day 8, Monday:
Breakfast is served in the hotel from 6:30AM.
9:00AM, we will leave for the long and interesting journey proceeding north through Goteborg (where we will stop for lunch) to Oslo beside the narrow Skagerrak, Kattegat and Oresund, separating southern Sweden from Denmark. Most of the day, we will be watching the panorama of SWEDEN, largest of the five Nordic countries forming Scandinavia.
This long, narrow country is
an advanced industrial nation with a high standard of living. The country has a
relatively homogeneous population in ethnic stock, language and religion.
Because of its isolation, relatively few non-Swedes have intermixed through the
course of history. Nearly 90 percent of the populations are members of the
state-controlled Church of Sweden (Evangelical Lutheran). Religious freedom is
guaranteed by the constitution however, and the country has a number of other
Protestant churches, Roman Catholic churches and Jewish Synagogs.
Impoverished at the end of
the Napoleonic Wars, Sweden initiated a policy of nonalignment that kept it out
of both World Wars I and II, allowing it to begin a steady if undramatic social
and economic revolution within its new borders. With the Social Democratic party
in power for much of the 20th century, Sweden has become one of the
world’s richest and most socially progressive nations. Late this afternoon, we
will arrive in Oslo, capital of NORWAY.
Overnight
at the Radisson SAS Plaza, Sonja Henies Plass 3
Day 9, Tuesday:
Breakfast
served in the hotel, starting at 7:00AM.
9:00AM,
our guide Greta Kristoffersen will meet us and take us on a grand overview tour
of the historic and colorful city of Oslo. We will learn that Norway is located
on the west side of the Scandinavian Peninsula. Its long, craggy coast (2,125
miles of it) fronts the Atlantic Ocean – known in that area as the Norwegian
Sea. To the southwest the North Sea separates the country from the British
Isles, and directly south the Skagerrak separates it from Denmark. To landward,
Norway shares an extensive border with Sweden and for a short distance in the
north with Finland and the Russian federation.
After
a quick lunch on our own, we will depart westward into the rugged and
spectacular scenery of Norway. Land of the storied and fierce Vikings, Norway is
also the Land of the Fjords. Rugged mountains interrupted by narrow valleys that
cut deeply into the land mark most of the terrain, and only about 3 percent is
arable. For this reason Norway was forced to turn to the sea for its livelihood.
From this country the great Leif Erickson sailed west, and is now believed to
have been interacting with the American Indians nearly 500 years before Columbus
made his Caribbean landfall.
Probably
the place in Europe where you will use the most film, and shed the most tears of
sheer joy, our motor coach delivers us for the night in spectacular GEILO. Our
“Norway in a Nutshell” guide Age Vallestad will meet us here at dinner.
Overnight at the HIGHLAND HOTEL, Lienvengen 11
Day 10, Wednesday:
Breakfast is served at the hotel from 7:00AM.
There is some free time after breakfast to wander about and take copious photographs in this delightful town, and then it’s off to the train station, where at 11:40AM
12:50PM to the onward rail journey, arriving 1:50PM in FLAM.
At 3:00PM we board the ferry, to wind through the fjords to Gudvangen (alleged to have been Kaiser Wilhelm’s favorite vacation spot). Magically, we will meet Peter here, and re-board our coach for travel onwards to BERGEN.
Overnight at
the Radisson SAS Hotel Norge, Ole Bulls Plass 4
Day 11, Thursday:
Breakfast is served in the
hotel’s Ole Bull Restaurant from 6:00AM.
This is Norway’s “Independence Day” and we have a full day free in Bergen to find a spot in the festivities. This is a “Royal” holiday – and our Norwegian friends take it very seriously – that is to say they have one of their most ‘serious’ fun holidays of the year on this date
This afternoon, we’ll bid
a temporary ‘adieu’ to driver Peter Swan – as he and the coach have to get
aboard the North Sea ferry at 5:00PM. (This is so he can meet us again in
England, and take us on our excursions there). We’ll be enjoying another
overnight at
Overnight at the Radisson SAS Hotel Norge, Ole Bulls Plass 4
Day 12, Friday:
Breakfast is served in the
hotel’s Ole Bull Restaurant from 6:00AM. EAT MIGHTY FAST!
6:30 AM EARLY!!! We transfer with a local coach company to the Bergen Airport for departure
8:00AM: Scandinavian (SK) flight 515 departs south across the North Sea. (Does anybody see Peter down there?)
9:05AM:
Arrive London’s Stansted Airport. “Lovely Liz” Pairman will meet us there
with another Cavalier Coach, and transport us into central London for
another of her famous ‘lookabouts’. (We’ve asked her to include all the
stuff we missed in 1999. If the members want to tackle the admission to the
Tower Of London [About $15] we’ll even stop there!)
Later on, we’ll transfer
into our hotel – where everybody has permission to ‘crash’ for the
evening, at least.
Overnight at the Regency Hotel, 100 Queen’s Gate
Day 13, Saturday:
English Breakfast served in
the hotel from 7:30AM – 11:15AM
FREE DAY IN LONDON TOWN!
A full day on your own to shop, explore, rest, relax, or go wild and crazy in
Regents Street! You’ve all got a good overview of the city, and here’s a
chance to go back and visit those places where you wanted to spend more time!
For most of the people on
our tour, this is a return visit, allowing us to become even better acquainted
with this grand old city. Here we get to revisit the progeny of that original
Celtic population, superimposed upon by the Romans, the Germanic Angles, Saxons
and Jutes; the Scandinavians, Norman-French and countless other groups.
Overnight at the Regency Hotel, 100 Queen’s Gate
Day 14, Sunday:
English
Breakfast served in the hotel from 7:30AM
9:00AM we’ll meet Liz
and Peter at the hotel for a full day tour to Cambridge. Although
light industry - electronics and publishing - has developed locally, Cambridge
is essentially a university town, and its life revolves around the several great
colleges here.
Further on, we will visit Duxford
- once a primary home of England's premier fighter squadrons. The field is now
dedicated to an expansive museum of WWII aircraft of both America and the
British - most in original flying condition. The internationally famous
architect Lord Foster designed the American Air Museum here. It is one of the
major developments at Duxford, housing the finest collection of historic
American combat aircraft outside the United States. Using the aircraft and
supporting exhibitions, the museum tells the story of American air power and its
effect on 20th century history.
DUXFORD
also claims a very American significance. After the Battle of Britain, this
became the home of several specialist units, among them the Air Fighting
Development Unit. The AFDU's equipment included captured German aircraft,
restored to flying condition for evaluation. Squadrons with newly acquired
aircraft were also posted to Duxford for trials, one of which was the unusual
American Bell P-39 Aircobra.
In April 1943 the airfield was fully handed over to the United States 8th Air Force. The 8th was the largest of the U.S. Army Air Forces at this time, fielding some 200,000 men at peak strength.
Returning to London late
this afternoon, there is still time for an exciting dinner on your own, or
perhaps a group ticket could be purchased for a current London theatre
production.
Overnight at the Regency Hotel, 100 Queen’s Gate
Day 15, Monday:
English
Breakfast served in the hotel from 7:30AM
At 12:00,
we’ll be reluctantly checking out of our hotel, and at
1:00PM, our Cavalier Coachman will meet us at the hotel for our departure transfer to Heathrow.
4:00PM, we leave LHR
on Virgin Atlantic flight 1.
(set your clocks BACK 5 hours)
6:40PM: (Eastern
Daylight Time) we arrive ‘home’ to NEWARK.
Hugs, a few tears, and a lot
of smiles are scheduled at this time – as our Celts & Vikings adventure
closes – and the memories begin.
God Bless us, Every One….
And thank you all again,
until once more you LET ME BE YOUR GUIDE!
NOTE: For your
Emergency Information: Advise your family
and friends you may be reached in the event of an emergency by calling Annie
Roberts at Sterling International in Maidenhead, England. To
reach Sterling, dial 011-44-1628-773415. Please
call during their office hours (5:00AM – 12:00Noon, Eastern Daylight Time).
Annie or anyone on the
Sterling staff should then be able to reach us (you) immediately at any time of
day or night.
.