Great Rivers of Europe - 1

Hi, Ruthe and I spent 2 weeks between Amsterdam and Vienna on a cruise of the Rhine River, the Rhine - Main - Danube Canal and the Danube River during the first two weeks of May. This is the first post of some of Ruthe's and my photos from the trip.

After boarding the ship in Amsterdam we were informed that a free shuttle would operate that afternoon if we wanted to go downtown.  We elected to do that.  

We spent a couple of hours that afternoon walking around (above and 10 below).

Boats like the one on the left are used to  provide tours of the canals.

We were told that May 1, the day this first group of photos was taken, was some sort of holiday so people were everywhere.

Dam Square (above and below) was a gathering point.

From Dam Square we walked back to meet the shuttle bus taking a convoluted route so we could photograph the always interesting canals (above and below).

When I saw these couples just hanging out I asked if I could take a photo.

The Basilica of St. Nicholas rises behind a basin used to board canal boat tours.

Central station has a magnificent  facade.

The next day we took a canal boat tour in the morning (above and two below).

After the tour Ruthe returned to the ship where she photographed this mariner statue (above and below),

the new Palace of Justice,

The Film Institute, and

a boat (above) with a dad taking his young child for a sail (below).

While Ruthe returned to the ship by boat I walked back (above and five below).  The display above is in the window of a house boat.

The Westerkerk is a church from the 1600s.

This clock tower was built in 1516 and extended to its current height in 1606.  It was originally built to help defend the city.

Thanks for looking.

Trains and Trolleys in Japan - 3 and final

Hi, The only trams I saw on this trip were in Nagasaki. There were a number of different generations of cars in a variety of paint schemes.

The photos above and two below were taken through the front window of our tour bus from the left hand front seat.

The remaining photos (above and four below) were taken outside of Dejima, a reconstruction of a Dutch trading port of the same name established in 1639 on an island that once existed at this spot.

Thanks for looking.

Trains and Trolleys in Japan - 2

Hi, On July 26, while our ship was in port between cruises, Ruthe and I took the day off from touring with the group in Yokohama and rode the Shin Kan Sen to Nagoya. We purchased reserved seats on the super express which took about one hour and twenty five minutes for the trip.  Our layover in Nagoya was about 30 minutes.

We were impressed by the excellent time keeping and the high passenger counts on the trains.  The ride was very smooth.  It was not even possible to tell when we passed over a switch.

While we waited for our train a super express departed for Tokyo from the Shin Yokohama station.

Another super express headed for Tokyo arrived a few a few minutes later (above and below).

Here is an interior view of our reserved seat coach.  Note the 3-2 seating.

The Shin Kan Sen station in Nagoya is situated next to the standard Japanese Railroads station.  Here a commuter train arrives.

Each platform had a variety of Kiosks from which one could purchase food.

A super express arrived from Tokyo just before our train for Tokyo arrived on the near track.

Thanks for looking.

Trains and Trolleys in Japan

Hi, My wife, Ruthe, and I spent 3 weeks in Japan last month. The first two days after our arrival were spent touring Tokyo and Yokohama after which we boarded a cruise ship for the rest of our stay. In this and the next two posts from Japan I will present some of the rail images I obtained. Ships and travel photos will follow eventually.

The photo below was taken in Tokyo as we were walking through the city.

We used public transportation to get around Tokyo and Yokohama.  The photos below all were taken from the same platform as we were returning to our hotel.   All of the trackage shown here is Japan Railways and is 42 inch gauge.

I am not sure as to the purpose of the train shown on the left of the above photo.  The train on the right is a commuter train.  The commuter trains were 16 cars long.

East Japan Railways, a member of the Japan Railways Group, operates this Limited Express train.

All of the commuter rolling stock is painted in a color specific to the route it operates on.  We saw green, orange, and yellow in addition to Blue.  The double decked cars, 4th and 5th in the consist, are first class.

Thanks for looking.