Loading our Car in the Chunnel Train

This is Folkstone, England near Dover. We loaded our car on this train which took us under the English Channel and into France. You enter the rear of the train and drive forward several train cars until the cars have stopped. We took a week-long trip to Europe that took us to France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Austria.

Our Car Inside the Train

Here is what the inside of the train looks like with our car in the background. It takes 30 minutes to make the crossing and we didn't have to worry about the rough seas of the English Channel. After this trip we determined that this is our favorite way to drive to Europe.

Chunnel Train Scheme

This is a drawing of the configuration for the Chunnel Car Train. We rode on the top deck on the way to Europe and and on the bottom back to England.

Our Hotel in Gorlitz, Germany

Our first stop on our trip was Gorlitz, Germany which is on the Eastern German border with Poland. The next day we drove 20 miles into Poland so Sheila could go pottery shopping.

Charles Bridge, Prague

Sheila and Christopher on the Charles Bridge. The bridge is pedestrian only and filled with artists selling there wares. After we finished pottery shopping in Poland we took the short drive down into the Czech Republic and visited Prague for a couple days.

Prague Curio Shop

Christopher poses next to an interesting looking puppet outside one of the numerous curio shops in Prague.

Prague Castle

This castle complex towers above Prague and is really not a castle in the traditional sense. It is a conglomeration of palaces, cathedrals and government buildings.

Hungary Border Crossing

We crossed from Slovakia into Hungary for a short time. You can see from this photo that the border post could use some tidying up.

Melk, Austria

On our way through Austria we stopped at a nice town called "Melk" that sits on the Danube River. It was a nice relaxing stop before our next city Salzburg.

Mauthausen, Austria Concentration Camp

This gas chamber disguised as a "shower" received heavy use in the early 1940s. The sign is of course new and note the "shower heads" above that never dispensed water but only zyclon B poison gas.

Brugge, Belgium City Hall

This fine building sits overlooking the beautiful city square in Brugge. The square was lined with many fine restaurants and a couple "french fry" shacks that served the best fries ever! We stopped here on our last night before taking the Chunnel Train back to England.

Belgian Chocolate Shop

Luckily this shop was closed when we found it otherwise we would have left a few euros there.

Brugge Canal

Christopher poses next one of the many fine canals in Brugge, Belgium.

Brugge Bar

This was a neat old bar/restaurant that we found our last night in Belgium. It was just around the corner from our canal side hotel room.

Sheila's Treasure

Here is the Polish pottery that Sheila started us on this journey for. She plans another trip back this fall or next spring to "guide" some other folks to the pottery shops.