A Grand Tour!

When I was seven, my grandparents took a long and fascinating tour around Europe, taking in numerous countries in the style of great artists and poets before them (only, instead of those romantic horse-drawn days, Grandma and Grandad went on a Wallace Arnold coach!)  As part of the great family history project, I've been busy collected some of the photos of this Grand Tour, and what a wonderful snapshot in time they are.  So why not come on a journey with me, back to 1992, to an age before digital cameras, when tours and holidays were booked face-to-face with the travel agent, and when a trip around Europe meant several different currencies in your pocket.

Somewhere on the English Channel, Mr. and Mrs. Major are heading to The Netherlands, to Zoetermeer near Amsterdam, to view the Floriade, a once-every-ten-years flower show (ask Grandma about it today, and she'll still tell you how colourful it was!)  From there, they will visit Amsterdam, before taking a trip down the Rhine, and eventually make it to the Bavarian town of Oberammergau, famous for its passion play and woodcarvings.  After this, it's a short hop to the Austrian city of Innsbruck, then on to Salzburg and Vienna, where Grandad will insist they go in search of the Beautiful Blue Danube.  They find it, too!

The Floriade

Oberammergau

Grandad at the River Salzach in Salzburg

The Beautiful Blue Danube at Vienna

After a whistle-stop tour of Austria, it's on to the magical city of Venice.  Grandma recalls how she never thought she'd get to see the city, but having seen pictures and paintings for nearly 70 years, she finally makes it.  Grandad, meanwhile, enjoys the architecture of the Doge's Palace, as seen in a previous blog post!  Rested and rejuvenated by Venice's soporific air, the tour moves on again to bustly, dusty Rome, where Grandma drops her camera, resulting in a unique holiday snap of some roadworks.  After Rome, it's the cultural hotspots of Florence and Pisa, before the stylish French riviera lures the tour group, to Monaco and Nice.

Venice, looking toward to San Giorgio Maggiore

Unusual holiday snaps in Rome

Michelangelo's David, in Florence

Monte Carlo

By now, the Swiss Alps are calling our globe trekkers, the lakeside towns of Thun, Interlaken (it's got a bit of a reputation in our family as a place to be!) and Lucerne nestled into prestine mountainous landscape, and a firm favourite with Grandma and Grandad.  Finally, in one final city stop before returning home, the workhorse of a coach trundles all the way up the backbone of France, stopping for a little exploration in Paris, a fantastic way to end the trip of a lifetime!

View between Interlaken and Lucerne

Wooden bridge, Lucerne

Up in the Alps

What an amazing journey, seeing some of the very best that Europe has to offer, and a wonderful photographic record to live in the family forever.  And not to forget the family, they even brought us presents - I eventually grew too big for my Florence baseball cap, but I can still picture it today, absolutely covered in little pictures of the city's iconic towers and cathedral.  It really is surprising how interesting other people's holiday snaps can be, so if this has piqued your interest, why not take a look at the rest of the collection?