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FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | JULY 2024 15 Eiffel Tower near our hotel A working windmill in the village of De Zaanse Schans, a short distance outside Amsterdam, Netherlands Our most colorful scene in Bruges, Belgium It took several weeks to finalize our four-week itinerary. We packed lightly; each of us had a large backpack and a carry-on. We were amazed how those backpacks grew heavier as the trip went on. Some pieces of clothing were washed in our room and some were sent out to the laundry a couple of times. Guess what? Nobody realized we wore several outfits more than once, or twice or … you get it. Here are a few things we learned. The train stations did not have live people for answering questions. We did find lots of people who saw our bewildered faces and offered help. We figured out how to read our tickets in foreign languages. After learning to read the boarding times, destinations, numbers on the car, and seat numbers, we thought we were hot stuff. However, the track is not posted until 10-15 minutes before departure. We did have to run a few times. We also stopped arriving an hour early to the stations. Our seats were in four-person cars, two-person cars, and a few times in first class. That was nice! We had plenty of room for our luggage. Food was available for purchase. Restrooms were plentiful and clean. Our rides ranged from four to eight hours. We enjoyed watching the scenery and met wonderful people. A young student from Budapest wrote down all we needed to see. A couple invited us to their home in Switzerland if we missed our connection in Berlin where we had to change trains. People had warned us about the French but we had great experiences. Our taxi driver in Paris did not speak English but he pointed out many sights in the 25 minute ride to our hotel near the Eiffel Tower. It was a fantastic trip and we would do it again but spend even longer in each city. We can also research the train routes better as access to smaller cities was also available by train and would not impede our desired destinations. We finished up this adventure feeling proud of ourselves. We saw some outstanding architecture, enjoyed the history of the old towns, ate some great meals, and loved the hospitality. Before flying home, we added a 29-day transatlantic cruise to the Baltic and several other ports. Edited by Elizabeth Westbrook