Germany - Day 16

Our last full day in Germany.  We slept in today and did not make it down to breakfast till about 8 or so.  This hotel puts out a delicious spread with a wide variety of goodies to choose from.  Nutella was definitely on my toast!  But the light-earted frivolity of the last days suddenly was going to take a hard right turn.

We rode in the hotel shuttle to the train station and boarded.  We were headed to the Dachau Concentration Camp.  Dachau was the first concentration camp in Germany and opened in 1933 at the sight of a munitions factory.  When we got to the end of the train line we still had to take a bus the last miles or walk to the camp.  Some of us decided to walk and with Jens as our guide, we started off.  The weather was perfect and we enjoyed the blue skies and mild to warm temperatures.

We walked briskly for over half an hour and as we approached the camp we came upon a long lane.  We followed the road and some of us discussed quietly that perhaps this was the path prisoners may have walked.  As we learned later, it was exactly the same path that was taken.  The camp did not have a train leading into the camp as some camps did, and once off the train in the town of Dachau,  the prisoners had to walk through the town and down the path just as we did this morning.  It was very sobering to learn later in the tour that this path we followed into camp was called The Path of Remembrance. My heart ached for those who came before me.

We spent the next several hours touring the grounds and remaining buildings with a wonderful guide who explained everything quite thoroughly and answered all of our questions.  There is a museum there that we visited and also several chapels that we did not have time to visit.  The most disturbing to me was the crematorium where we could view the ovens and some of the equipment used.  It was very hard to see and everyone left this room with a lump in the throat and a feeling of. "How could this happen?"

I choose here not to go into great detail about this visit to Dachau. Please take the time to read more about the camp.  My words can not do it justice and there is much documentation available.  It was an intense experience and I believe that everyone should visit if ever given the opportunity.  The documentary film showed at the end of our tour about the camp was very moving filled with photos and film from the 1940's. and I think that tears were shed by everyone there, in the silent darkness and safety of the theatre.

Sandy and I did not discuss this until tonight but neither of us took pictures of each other in this place.  We learned from each other tonight after we were at the hotel, that we both felt that it would be wrong in some way to pose here and that this was after all, a memorial and should be respected as such. We were allowed to, and did, take some photos of Dachau.  The photo below is a picture of my hand in a prison cell.  I had to touch the walls where hundreds, perhaps thousands of prisoners had passed by. I can not explain why.  I just had to do it and my heart ached for those who came before me.

In spite of Dachau being an emotionally challenging place to visit I am glad I did.  I knew that I could not have the opportunity to see this piece of history and not go.  It is to important to our world's history and we must honor it.  - “for the dead and the living, we must bear witness.” from ElieWiesel. -

We again boarded the train and headed back to our hotel and a yummy last supper together as a group of 18 traveling companions.  I am so happy to have met my new friends and have been able to take this trip.  Thank you friends and family for supporting me through this journey and a special thank you to Jens and Judy for putting this together.  See you all back at home real soon and I will post some reflections later.  Bye for now.  Deb 

PS.  The photo below is of a guard shack and outside fence at Dachau.  It seems so hard and a bit unreal next to the rich summer colors of the trees and grass.  We must never forget.

Germany - Day 15

Another WOW day!  This time, in addition to the pristine beauty of alpine meadows with cows grazing contentedly and gently flowing streams, we also witnessed the raucous behavior of drunks, vomiters, partyers, and fighters, in other words Oktoberfest!  We also had another perfect weather day with sunny skies and moderate temps.  These Americans must be living right!

The day started out innocently enough with breakfast and checking out out of our hotel in Salzberg.  Loading into the vans we were off on another day's adventure!  Starting out "on the lam" as Jens put it we avoided the Austria Autobahn because of not paying the toll a day or two ago!  We leisurely drove through the Austrian countryside enjoying the green fields, happy cows, farmers going about their daily chores, beautifully tended homes, (we have yet to see a "slum" area) and flowers everywhere and soon left the beautiful Alps behind.

We quickly passed back into Germany and looked for the German Autobahn, but it was elusive and it took us a while to find it!  Meanwhile, we enjoyed the views of rural German life which looked a lot like rural America only without so many alpine-styled houses.  We finally found the lost Autobahn and soon were racing toward Munich.  Well, not exactly racing because Jens is a careful and thoughtful driver and we have to keep Judy behind us always in mind.  But after noontime we were safely in Oberschleiheim, a suburb of Munich, and checked in to our lovely hotel which has a real bathtub!  Yeah!

We met as a group again and caught a train to Munich. Munich is the capital city of the state of Bavaria and has a population of 1.35 million people.  And people were everywhere! You could feel a certain excitement in the air and it was a bit exhilarating!  The city was bustling with activity for a variety of reasons. It was Saturday and people were doing their shopping, Oktoberfest was going on, there was a soccer match this evening, and 18 Americans from Illinois were there to see it all!  And again, there were flowers everywhere!

We were met by a friend of Jens and Judy's whose name is Toni.  Toni taught a year of school in Orion in the mid 70's as part of the teacher exchange program Jens is involved with.  Toni took us on a walking tour of the inner city of Munich.  Its native name, München, is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order and the Catholic influence is heavy here as well as everywhere else in Bavaria.

I think we toured my favorite German church today.  It was St. Michael, built in the 1500's in the gaudy baroque style, and was awesome!  As throughout much of Munich, St.Michael's was heavily damaged during WWII and had been restored to its glory!  Another restoration of the facade is currently going on and is a three year project.  While this is occurring, they have placed a canvas of sorts, over the front of the building attached to the scaffolding, which has pictured on it a photo of the finished project.  It is incredible! 

There are people and beauty here everywhere!  There a darling little two people carts that are pulled by a bicyclist that will taxi you from place to place, walkers everywhere, parking lots filled with bicycles, and the humanity!  Have I mentioned that there are people everywhere!  It is absolutely exhilarating and exhausting all at the same time!  I can not describe this place and country for that matter, adequately.  I am simply running out of adjectives!

We toured a bit more of the city and stopped for an ice cream snack.  I have figured out that with as much walking and biking as the German people do, this is why they can eat so darn much ice cream!  I am really glad that I practiced walking long distances before I left on vacation or it could have been too much for me!  It has been fun to live like a German for awhile and walk throughout the cities for literally miles and then sit at a little outdoor cafe and enjoy a snack between meals. Very chic and European!  However, I gotta tell you about the ice cream.  This was the most expensive ice cream I have ever eaten in my life!  I had an ice cream sundae and it cost me 6 Euro which is roughly $9.  Pretty darn expensive so I am glad it was good!  LOL

We bummed around a bit and then headed for the biggest beer festival in the world...Oktoberfest in Munich!  At first glance it reminded us of a state fair with carnival rides and food vendors and carnival games.  But on closer inspection we saw all that plus about a quarter million people and most of them practicing some serious alcohol consumption!  5 million will attend the event over 2 1/2 weeks in Munich.  Only beer brewed in the Munich city limits is allowed to be served and they will go through 7 million liters!

Since I am not a beer drinker that part I passed easily on.  But my interest was held by all the people that were there!  I don't think I have ever seen that many people in one place at one time and many of them were enjoying the local brew!  We saw a fight, some guy puking his guts out, someone taken out on a stretcher, lots of hearts around people's necks with sayings on them, many different kinds of food, weird hats, darling lederhosen and dirndls, and SO MANY PEOPLE!  It was what I imagined New York City on New Year's Eve to look like.  There was garbage everywhere as people did not have cans to put it in. It was a very interesting evening and I am glad I went to be able to say I have been there! However, they need to learn about food on a stick!  There was not a corn dog to be found and there wieners everywhere!  White ones, spicy ones, some with grilled onions, small ones, huge ones, very long ones and still not a single corn dog!  I bet I could become a carny and serve nothing but corndogs and deep fried Snickers and funnel cakes and make a killing!  Hmmm....perhaps an autumn working vacation next year!

But the most challenging part of the day was yet to come!  Picture us...exhausted, overwhelmed with new information, in a strange city where we can not even speak the language or read the signs, (except for Jens and Judy) and we can't find the train station!  Even Jens got turned around and we walked, and walked, and walked.  We asked numerous people, even police and  got different answers.  Finally deciding to take the advice of a young couple who were heading that way too, off all of us trudged.  We walked for miles and miles through the streets of Munich (ok maybe a slight exaggeration) but we walked and walked.  We joked it was like the Bataan Death March but that march was only 60 miles long!  And I am actually a little sorry that we joked like that because Day 16 will be spent at the Dachau Concentration Camp.  Wow!  What a day!

Germany - Day 14

Today was definately an OMG day!  First of all, it was the most perfect day weather-wise you could ask for!  Blue skies, white fluffy clouds, and temperature about 70.  A perfect day for taking a boat ride on a mountain lake or taking a gondola up a mountain and then finish climbing to the very top or for enjoying ice cream with friends.  So, we did all of that!

After breakfast we drove back into Germany to Lake Konigssee for a boat ride in an electric boat to a small settlement at St. Bartholoma.  The lake itself is very clear and there is not much shore because it meets up with a mountain wall.  Along the way the scenery is so beautiful that I can not begin to describe it!  We saw a waterfall seeming to come from nowhere except a rock.  We saw a mountain called Schlafende Hexe which means sleeping witch.  We could picture a witch, lying on ther back, looking at the sky. We could see at the top of another mountain the infamous Eagle's Nest.  This was Hitler's diplomatic house and a present for his birthday, and is now a restaurant which is open to the public. In one special place there is a wall that the sound bounces off and produces an echo several times over.  They used to demonstrate it by fireing a weapon but now the captain of the boat plays a short tune on his trumpet.  It echoed as promised and was quite magical!

After reaching St. Bartholoma we left the boats and began to explore the area.  There is a restaurant and biergarten, a church, a fish smoking house, some hikers huts, and a few other small buildings.  There were alot of hikers here.  In this area many people are hikers and it seems to be the national pastime! We saw lots of backpackers and rather envied the seemingly care-free lifestyle!

The lake was large and cold but it wasn't long before Sandy and I wanted to test the waters.  We knew that it would be very cold but took off shoes anyway and waded in walking on the gravel bottom.  It wasn't too bad once our feet got used to the shock of it!  A log seemed to have been placed there specifically for photo ops and our new friends, John and Marilyn snapped away.

We strolled along the shore simply enjoying the scenery.  There was a barn with wood stored in it.  On the roof were heavy stones layed neatly in rows.  They are for breaking up the snow and preventing too much of a build up.  We stopped by the chapel which was constructed in the 17th century.  The chapel was beautifully decorated  even on the ceiling.  The grass was a beautiful and lush green color and would have been perfect for picnicing but our little Germany family had plans to eat in the biergarten and so we gathered for lunch.  I had a vegetable medley in spicy tomatoe sauce with parmesan cheese and potatoes and Sandy had a beautiful salad.  All of the salads we have eaten here have been presented beautifully with quite an artistic flair and using many different varieties of lettuces.

After lunch we all had some time to stroll the grounds some more and visit the WC.  The restrooms here are usually indicated with a blue sign that has a large WC meaning water closet.  We soon had to leave this place and boarded the boat again and headed back to our original dock.  Once back on shore we had some shopping time and then met at the gondola ticket area.

We could see the gondolas and lift on Mount Jenner.  They rose half way up the mountain and then veered over a bit to complete the assent to the top. Clamboring aboard I was excited because I love mountains and was eager to start.  Up, up we went and part way up the mountain we saw a lake and started hearing bells. What kind of bells you may ask?  Why, cow bells silly!  A herd of beautiful dairy cows were grazing the slopes.  Every time they moved their head it would ding-a-ling and there were alot of cows, producing alot of ding-a-lings.  It was truly a magical moment to see and hear.  I so wished I had been able to record it!

Up we continued till we could see snow! It had snowed up there a few weeks ago and some of it was still there in patches.  After a 30 minute ride we were out of the cars and heading for the look out points to see what we could see!  And the views were awesome!  From the 6,150 ft peak you can view over 100 German and Austrian peaks!

But were we satisfied yet?  No, there was a walking trail to the very top and off we went! I gotta admit that I was huffing and puffing most of the way, but gee, it was a tough climb!  The upper section even had a cable to hold onto and pull yourself up with.  We were sweating and had removed our jackets in  bright sunshine but were smiling broadly at the top!  We were pretty happy with ourselves but then soon realized we had to go back down that steep rocky slope!  But the going down actually wasn't bad and we were soon rewarding ourselves with ice cream snacks.

Back to the gondolas we went and down the mountain to our vans.  On the way down we were entertained by at least four gliders.  They go up on the lift and ride the air currents back down.  It was a colorful sight of orange, red, and yellow against the blue skies. We were soon back in Austria in our hotel and began to journal.  We spent a couple of hours doing that and catching up on Facebook and decided to go downstairs for some supper.  Happily several from our group were dining also and we all sat together around the tables sharing stories and a few political opinions. Another day is closing out and we must prepare for leaving Salzburg tomorrow and going to Munich and other adventures!  But I do wonder how we can top this OMG day!  Love to you all.  Deb 

Germany - Day 13

Wow!  What a day in Salzburg, Austria!  These hills were alive with the sound of American voices!  We sang and chatted our day away with beautiful skies and warm temperatures!  I can not say enough about how lucky we have been to experience good weather nearly every day, and when it did rain this trip, it only rained lightly.

After breakfast at our hotel we were met by our tour bus, covered with a colorful mural, to take us on The Sound of Music tour!  As many of you know, the 1965 movie with Julie Andews takes place in Salzburg.  Some of the filming was done here and the rest of it was done in a studio in California.  We took a four hour tour of the places in the movie and got a behind the scenes look at this remarkable place.  The landscape is very beautiful!  Mountains always speak to me and the Alps are no exception!  Lush green valleys topped by craggy outcroppings are everywhere.  The VonTrapp family sure did have a great place to call home before they had to flee from the Nazis! 

The bus tour started with a drive through the city center.  There was a market going on and as we drove by I could see foods of all kinds and also some wares such as linens for sale.  This town takes biking seriously, and I even saw a bicycle repair shop set up under a tent in the town square.  He had customers too!

One of the first things they showed us was the lake where the children fell in the water and the palace were the VonTrapps lived.  There were swans floating in the lake and townspeople were fishing.  Then we got to remember being "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" and viewed the gazebo where Liesl and Rolphe sang to each other and she danced along from one bench to another.  Sandy and I had our photo taken in front of that very gazebo which the VonTrapp family donated to the city of Salzburg.  Our guide shared that Liesl fell on the slick bench and fell through a pane of glass cutting her ankle badly.  They wrapped it up and filming continued.

The long walk that Maria made while walking to the Von Trapp residense for the first time and singing "I Have Confidence" was lined with trees and we could stroll down its path.  Again, beautiful flowers were everywhere but soon, back on the bus we went and headed out of town and pulled over in an area where we looked out over a town in the mountains.  You seemed to be able to see forever and it was gorgeous!  We rode quite a distance to a nearby town where the church that the wedding took place in was filmed.  It was another elaborately decorated church that was several stories tall and filled with statues and gold gilt and paintings.  We were able to walk around in this town and explore on our own and we both tested the ice cream here.  It was very good!

From there we headed back into Salzburg.  Our guide was a perky little gal with a long blonde braid, and she knew how to get everyone involved.  As we rode along, they played songs from the movie and many of us sang along!  It was quite fun!  Do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do!!

From there we viewed a very large palace garden in the middle of town.  This garden was flanked by two of the statues that were used in The Sound of Music movie.  Flowers of every color and kind were used in the garden, as well as intricately carved shapes, like a paisley print,  in the grass lawn.  The contrast of green lawn and black dirt, which we guessed were going to be filled with fall bulbs for spring color, was very striking to the eye.

Everyone went their separate ways in the afternoon and explored the city on their own.  Sandy and I decided to cross the river, walk through the business district, and go up the elevator inside the rocky wall, to the top of a giant cliff in the Modern Art Museum to have lunch.  The view was spectacular! We could see all of Salzburg below us and the mountain range seemingly, next door.  What I loved to look at were the perfect green valleys with a few houses plunked down in the middle!  What a sight!  I enjoyed a late lunch of pasta with tomato sauce and red peppers and basil.  Very good!  It was a lovely way to relax a few minutes before another ten thousand step journey!  We are walking our legs off here and it is a good thing with all the yummy stuff we have been eating!

Back down the elevator we went and back into the city.  There were several horse drawn carriages and the clip clop of the horses hooves was nice to hear amid the hustle and bustle of city noises.We wandered from store to store but finally decided to head to the nearby town of Anif to hit a certain store Sandy had looked up on the internet.  We grabbed a taxi and off we went, (first we told Jens and Judy what our plans were, we aren't stupid ya know) We did our shopping and had asked the cab driver about the city bus back into Salzburg.  We figured out where the bus stop was and waited there.  A few minutes later the bus came by and we headed back.  When we got into familiar territory we bailed out and headed to meet our group.  Quite a successful outing!  We were pretty happy with ourselves for figuring out how to manage getting around Austria public transit without speaking the language!

Our group decided to eat supper at the street fair that was being held and so again we scattered our separate ways agreeing to meet at 8pm.  We were sure that we could find some good food at a street fair and we were right!  First we found a giant pretzel vendor and tried pretzels.  Then we wanted something with meat in it and decided on Toast Langos which were ham and cheese covered in a pastry dough, deep fried and when it comes out all hot and melty and bubbly, it is slathered with a garlic and butter mixture and sprinkled with salt.  Pretty darn good! We watced some of the activities at the fair.  There was a whip cracking demonstration  with the whips cracking in time with music, OomPah bands playing, carnival rides, and a type of bowling done with a heavy wooden ball on a wooden course which was very noisy!  The little kids we saw doing it were having a blast!

We paid to use the loo a couple of times today.  Half a Euro seems to be the going rate whether it is in a permanent restroom with a coin slot to open the door or a plastic porta pottie at the street fair. We actually questioned in our minds if the guy sitting at the porta potties was supposed to be charging or not.  We found ourselves wondering if the city hadn't brought in the potties and the guy saw an opportunity to charge half a Euro each and plunked down and started charging!  Oh well, they were relatively clean and had toilet paper which is a big plus.  We carry a small package with us in case of a "no paper situation!"

At 8 pm we met at the big church in the center of the square with the big green dome and discussed what to do next.  Some folks had already gone back to the hotel but the city was doing a fireworks display and we wanted to see it.  So we waited and chatted and waited.  After awhile we started walking and sure enough, as soon as we get out of good viewing range, they start!  We stood and watched what we could see and when they finished we headed to the vans.  We rode home girls in one van and guys in the other.  The girls van I am sure was much more fun because we sang all the way back to the hotel!  Do re me and Edilweiss were in our repertoire!  We were still singing as we got out of the van and a child was on the other side of the fence where we could not see him.  We finished our song and this little voice shouted, "That's enough" and we laughed and laughed.  I gues we didn't sound as good as we thought we did!  What a fun day!

Germany - Day 12

Today was beautiful!  The weather was sunny and the temperature very comfortable.  Much of today was spent in the vans because we had a 6 hour drive to our next hotel destination in Austria but the longest travel day of our trip is now behind us.

As we drove along, leaving the Black Forest behind us, we soon could see the Alps.  Snow was on the top and as we got closer, they got bigger!  Some of the sights we saw along the way were absolutely breath-taking!  Picturesque villages nestled in green valleys. Fields of lush green pastures filled with brown and white dairy cows wearing cow bells on their necks grazed everywhere.  We drove past many, many vineyards with the vines heavy with purple and green fruit ready to be picked.  Some were harvesting today and we saw large tubs of grapes loaded onto the wagons.  Some were not quite ready and were covered with huge nets to keep the birds from eating the fruit. There were many apple orchards too along the way, that were sagging  under the weight of their produce. Many of the trees are very small yet are producing many, many apples and I wondered how they didn't break under the weight!

Lunch was pretty special. We ate veal, and pumpkin soup, and apple struedel at a lovely restaurant looking up at Neuschwanstein Castle which was said to be the model for the castle at Disney.  It was sitting high on the hill and we enjoyed looking at it while dining.  We will not be visiting this castle because it is so touristy but wanted the opportunity for photos.  We saw several hang gliders soaring down the mountainside with colorful sails. That is something I hope I can muster up the courage to do some day!

After lunch we had some time to roam around the village and Sandy and I ran into a man fixing his fence.  He was an older gentleman and wore a Bavarian style hat complete with feather, short pants with knee socks, and cute shoes also with a small feather.  This was apparently his normal working attire as he was going about his daily chores.  Very cute and he reminded me of Grandpa Wilfred a little, complete with a scab on his nose from some minor injury.  His goat was very interested in befriending me and I talked sweetly to it but there was a fence preventing him from getting to me.  Probably just as well because I know I would have petted him and you know how goats have a very pungent aroma about them!  I asked the farmer if I could take his photo and he quickly struck a jaunty pose for me, happy to oblige.  What a nice memory!

Back on the road again, we traveled south and east heading for the Austrian border and our hotel for the next three nights. The views were stunning of the mountains and our eyes could not get enough!  Sometimes there was a beautiful lake on the left and the mountains on the right.  Awesome views everywhere!  I am continually amazed at the beauty of this place with their flowers everywhere!  I think Dan is going to have to build me a few more windowboxes for next year! As we crossed the Austrian/German border there was a toll area.  Driving slowly, looking for a place to pay the toll we did not find one. Pretty quickly we were back on the road without paying our toll.  What to do?  You can't exactly turn around and go back.  So we continued on.  We laughed at Jens comment, that we were "Living on the edge!"  This was followed by jokes about the tv show "Locked up Abroad."  But we wondered if the van rental company might receive a ticket in the mail! Hey, we tried to stop and pay!

Supper together at a beer hall down the street from our hotel completed our day.  I had a delicious plate of cheese dumplings with salad.  Off  to bed for me...tomorrow is the Sound of Music Tour and our bus arrives at 9 am.  Bye for now!


Apple harvest is not far away.



Farmer fixing his fence with castle in the background.

The beautiful castle

Germany - Day 11

This morning dawned bright and sunny, but still cool enough for jackets.  After a yummy traditional German breakfast (Nutella is my friend) we loaded into the vans to head for Meersburg Castle on Lake Constance in southern Germany.  In fact, we were so far south that across the lake we could see Switzerland!  This castle is awfully old.  In fact, it was built around 630 and is the oldest castle in Germany that is currently inhabited.  I wonder what the living quarters are like because the rest of it looks pretty darn rugged!

The folks who built this castle and lived in it over the many centuries had to be some hearty stock.  It would have been cold and drafty and quite uncomfortable in our estimation.  However, it did have its own cell for criminals!  It was a deep, deep room that the person was lowered into, by a rope.  It surely would have been pretty grim!

There was a bathroom of sorts.  It was a small room next to the kitchen that held a stone bench that had a hole in it.  The waste emptied directly into the moat a couple of floors below.  The kitchen garbage also went directly into the moat along with who knows what else!  Imagine how stinky that must have been!

Because of the age of the castle there were several centuries of artifacts and articles on display from armor to furniture.  Very interesting stuff and again made me feel really small and insignificant in the great big picture of this awesome world we live in.

After the castle we enjoyed a group lunch.  It was fun all being together to dine, and it was Anna Rehder’s 30^th birthday and we called her in Texas and all sang Happy Birthday to her!  I hope she enjoyed it because with the acoustics in this great big castle room we thought we sounded pretty darn good!

Some light shopping followed and then a visit to a nearby church overlooking beautiful vineyards, there are many vineyards here, and Lake Constance, Germany's largest lake.  The clouds over the Alps let up some and we could see the mountains in the distance.  The church is the most elaborately decorated pink church I have ever seen in my life!  Everywhere you looked there was decoration at the Basilica Birnau.  It was almost too much for the eyes to take in and the mind to comprehend.  Gold gilt was everywhere and statues and paintings and carvings just went on and on. I cannot begin to describe it but trust me; the decorations fairy threw up all over this room!

Home at the Park Hotel was only a short hour’s drive away and we bailed out of the vans and headed our separate ways.  I wanted to get a manicure and Sandy wanted to visit the local cemetery. I walked to town but after three shops could not find anyone who could take a walk in so I just went to our meeting place by a fountain near our hotel. 

I hadn’t been there long and my adopted friend stopped by for a nice long visit.  You see, yesterday an orange and white kitty was roaming the streets.  Of course, I stopped and petted him and after a minute or two he sauntered off.  Then early in today’s venture into town I ran into him again downtown and we spent a few minutes together.  Later, when I was waiting for Sandy on the park bench he strolled up and I scratched gently behind his ears and he promptly jumped up in my lap and stayed sitting there for 20 minutes or so until San showed up.  He was purring contentedly and shedding white and orange hairs all over me. He was really a nice ice breaker with the passers-by and several of them stopped to chat in broken English with me and pet my friend.  Even a grandma with a baby in a stroller stopped to say hello.  When Sandy arrived he stayed long enough to receive a few more scratches, pose for a picture, and head on down the road.  I will miss my furry Villingen friend when we leave tomorrow.

Sandy and I walked downtown and stopped at a restaurant with outside seating near the cathedral bell tower.  We enjoyed supper as the bells pealed every 15 minutes and it was really nice to hear. At 6:15, we don't know why, but the bells rang for 6 straight minutes! They put on quite a concert for us!  

As we sat here in this ancient city in Germany I got a little misty-eyed thinking how this was my Great Grandfather Carl’s country of birth. He left Germany 120 years ago and here I am, thousands of miles from my home, back where it all began. I am humbled by this place and honored to have been privileged to come here. Often, when Sandy and I see something we will comment on how that practice or event had shaped our youth and lives, or Wilfred would have remembered using this particular item, or Marvin would enjoy seeing a particular piece of equipment.  Memories...they are flooding in and surrounding us in this place and it makes me very conteted and happy to be able to experience this.  This was a great night!

After supper it was back to our home away from home, and journaling and editing photos.  An early day again tomorrow, with a road trip to Austria!  The hills will be alive with the sound our foreign American voices and I can't wait!  Love to you all!  Deb

Germany - Day 10

Monday in Germany.  Wow!  Only a week to go!  It has gone so fast and we have seen so much I can barely remember it all!  Thank goodness for the written blog and photos to refer to.  I must get them scrapbooked asap.  Dawn, Rhia, Gin, sounds like winter get-togethers to me!

Today dawned misty and grey in Villingen, but our spirits were bright and expectations high!  I had breakfast early with the Millers and Courtney and an interesting gentleman from Australia who is spending 6 weeks roaming around Europe after taking an early retirement.  What a great way to live life, just buying a EuroPass and stopping when you want and hopping on another train when you want to move on.  Sure sounds like fun!

The 18 of us were met by a lovely lady named Lisa.  Lisa was our city tour guide and she was one interesting gal!  She is an American citizen living in Germany.  She was married after WWII to an American and moved to Alaska with her hubby and raised her children.  She is now living in Germany but refuses to give up her American citizenship because that is where her children are, and proudly said she votes in every US election!  Lisa pointed out where the underground shelters were located around the city, which have been dismantled now. Her brother was a prisoner of war, and her sister was in a Russian concentration camp and Lisa teared up and wiped her nose, remembering her sister looking like a skeleton when she was released.  Both siblings died at very early ages because of the trauma they suffered as a result of the war and Lisa commented several times, “I wish there could be no more war!”  We all heartily agreed.  This trip, as with every trip I take, reminds me how much alike we people are.  We all just want to raise our families, enjoy life, be happy and see our children be happy.  Sorry, getting sappy here I know, back to the trip.

As we toured the city we learned that the city was founded in the year 999.  It is one of many walled cities in Germany,  3 of the gates are still visible along with most of the walls.  The fourth was torn down to use the stones to build a public building in the 1800’s.  We visited a monastery that was used during WWII as a refugee camp.  Lisa imagined it being like after hurricane Katrina and everyone was in the super dome.  I tried to imagine the building in 1945 filled with starving, homeless refugees being cared for by the monks.  What stories these walls could tell!

There are fountains everywhere in this city and 27 horse watering troughs.  The troughs are made out of stone, filled from a faucet, and most of them are decorated with a statue of some sort.  The water is from a spring and you are able to drink it straight from the faucet as it tested regularly to assure the public of its pure quality. Because Villingen had a reliable water supply, during times of trouble they were able to wait out their enemies inside the strong walls.  Lisa teased Judy Rehder that once the very stubborn Swedes tried to overtake the city but Villingen had plenty of food and animals stored inside and so thirty days later, the hungry and tired Swedes finally gave up and went home.

There is decoration and color everywhere here!  I am seeing elaborate building architecture, colorful paintings, manhole covers adorned with scenes, and of course, flowers everywhere! America needs to take a few lessons from Germany and spend more money at their local florist!  Often I see folks carrying around fresh flowers while heading home, and there are fuchsias, marigolds, geraniums, begonias, sunflowers, petunias, dusty miller, daisies, and more simply everywhere!  Gardens, lawns, porches, windows, fences, and even bridges are adorned with flowers.  It is truly quite beautiful!

There are fountains all over the city.  They are adorned with so many different scenes.  On the fountains I have seen ladies carrying flowers, dogs, gargoyles, a woman watering flowers with a watering can, a man being doused with water, a little boy peeing, a man smoking, a woman washing her hair, a man and a woman showering together, modern abstract art, and more.  It is truly quite amazing!

We visited a couple of churches and they were magnificent!  The money spent to create and maintain these works of art is staggering to my mind.  Just the organs alone would have been small fortunes!  And the bells!  Bells are in every town we have visited!  I am listening to some ring right now!  Every 15 minutes some bell is ringing somewhere.  There is even a small column of several bells donated by a local lawyer, that plays assorted songs at appointed times.  I found myself wondering where Orion could put a bell column and who would pay for it!  Oh, damn the practical part of life!

After the city tour we wandered around the city on our own before meeting again to pile into the vans for a sort ride to a small deserted castle ruins.  This was only the beginning of our climbs for the day!  It was up a large hill with precarious footing but we all made it to the top and back down again in one piece! The castle was built at the top of a pass and was used by the builder to collect a toll from those who wished to pass.  I imagine that 850 years ago many dragons and knights in shining armor passed by and had to pay the toll on their way to save the princess as it was completed in 1185.  This place sure does have some old stuff!  Wow!

As we drove through the Black Forest on our way to the city of Triberg, we saw tall stately pines and understood why it was called the Black Forest.  Very little light reaches down to the ground and moss grows everywhere.  The trees were literally growing out of a carpet of beautiful green moss.

In Triberg is the tallest waterfall in Germany.  To get to the top you have to climb about a zillion steps.  Thank goodness there are stopping and resting spots ‘cause this gal was huffing and puffing most of the nearly straight up climb.  But it really is a gorgeous scenic climb and was glad I did it and made it to the top!  Until it was time to go back down that is!  That was almost as hard as the climb up because it is so steep and the knees really had to absorb quite a lot of stress.  It was misting heavily and we were really careful because a torn ACL in Germany would not have been a good thing!  After the falls, we shopped the town a bit and if you like cuckoo clocks this  be the cuckoo clock capital of the world!  Awesome to see thousands of them in the same place all at once! 

Again, we piled into the vans to head back to Villingen and our current home.  But first we must make a stop.  Where you might wonder?  Well, at Kaufland, of course!  It is Germany’s answer to WalMart and was certainly interesting!  It was as big as a super store in the states and carried just about everything.  We were wanting a few snacks for our room and settled on M&M’s, Snickers, (hey, we needed something sorta familiar) and for the salty purchased Cheese Flips, which were corn curls, and Zwiebel Ringes, which are FunYuns. 

What a day!  I am certain that my feet will be killing me tomorrow, after walking nearly 2 zillion steps today, but it was worth it and I will be ready to do it all over again tomorrow!  Bring it on!

Germany - Day 9

I left the protection and hospitality of the Pfiefers this morning.  They were wonderful hosts and I will miss them but it was time to head on down the road. It must be raining because we are sad to leave here.  This is our first day of rainy weather but it is only misting heavily.

We drove for quite a bit and actually were only about a half an hour from France!  We teased that we need to head over the border to get our passports stamped! Stories were told all 'round and we all had a great time in the van laughing and sharing. Our group is getting along quite nicely and since we mostly do not know each other, the stories are new and interesting.

 We reached our destination which was an open air museum in the black forest called Vogtsbauernhof.  It is a collection of buildings from the Black Forest region from 1590 and forward.  They took the homes, barns, and other buildings and tore them down and reassembled them in this are for the public to view.  It was really neat walking in and through the very buildings were people once lived, cooked, worked.  It was extremely interesting and we could have stayed there much longer but it was time to head for our first hotel stay of our trip.  Man Gin, you should have seen the colorful sequin, bobble, ornament, pearl, jewel, mirror encrusted traditional wedding hats we saw today!  Made you want to create one immediately!  Wow!  See picture below.

We checked into the Park Hotel in Villingen and walked the town for a bit.  We have a city tour scheduled or tomorrow and mostly we were looking for a place to have supper.  We found an Italian restaurant that had promise and the Miller's and Sandy and I headed inside.  I had a yummy homemade cheese ravioli and then back to the hotel we went planning to blog.

  But alas, no internet so we scurried around looking for an internet cafe to at least report to our loved ones we are still alive and well. We ended up finding a place but it was a little scary and we did not stay long!  I am turning in early tonight tonight try to catch up on sleep.  Sleep!?!??  Ya right!! I can sleep when I am dead!  There is way too much life to live right now!  Bye bye!  Deb

Germany - Day 8

This fine Saturday morning I awoke to another sunny, beautiful day!  It did rain overnight though and still was a bit humid.  I did not have to be anywhere until 1 pm and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast with the Pfiefers. My favorite new discovery is Nutella!  I had never tried the stuff and so this morning I slathered it on my pretzel bread. It was delicious, tasting rather like chocolate frosting and it was great with the salt on the pretzel bread! I think I could even use it for frosting on cake or brownies it is tat good!  It definitely will be making it into my shopping cart from now on!  Mmmmm!  Everyone in the family had a busy day planned and soon we would all be heading separate directions, but first I had journaling to do before it gets away from me.

Also this morning, Jasmine and I were planning a walk around her village of Oberndorf population about 1,400.  We started out toward the path up to a high point above the village.  Up we climbed, stopping once along the way to breathe, and finally reached an awesome lookout spot.  The village lay below us and the sight was truly beautiful as red roofs looked back up at us.  Also at this point was an outdoor Stations of the Cross but Jasmine and I had to get going and went on without visiting them all.

We walked all through the town and peeked in the little bakery where fresh bread smells wafted out and a little butcher shop had people doing their early morning shopping for the weekend. There was a darling fishpond where goldfish of all sizes swam and a barn that must have been 200 years old stood.  It was fun to see!  And everywhere were more flowers!  I must plant more flowers next year, because it is so darn beautiful to see then en masse. 

We visited the Pfeifer’s Catholic Church.  It is quite beautiful and old and very ornate.  Except for the altar that is.  The altar is made from plain cement blocks!  Yes, cement blocks because during WWII some church members buried it and then when they went to dig it back up they didn’t remember where it was.  I don’t know if the person doing the burying died or what, but nevertheless, the altar is still missing.

The next OMG moment was The Hohenzollernn Castle.  It sits atop a small mountain and overlooks a huge amount of ground and several villages.  We were able to tour the castle at our leisure but had to wear these really attractive and huge grey slippers that were so big they fit over men’s shoes!  Anyway, we saw their bedrooms and living quarters and the King’s offices and a treasure room filled with, well, treasure!  Silver pieces, a jewel encrusted crown, a scepter, and medals, uniforms and snuff boxes and on and on!

We were lucky to have been there at the time of a falconry exhibit. Those beautiful birds were flying all around our heads diving and whirling at the mouse parts being used to lure them. I was also amazed by the giant ivy plants growing everywhere.  Some of the stems of the plants were the size of small tree trunks! No kidding, these trunks were several inches around and the ivy grows from that.  I have also seen lots and lots of blooming ivy!  I did not even know that ivy bloomed, but I assure you, it does!

My evening was spent at home with my home stay family and we sat and talked into the evening after a delicious dinner of goulash.  I could not have asked for nicer folks to stay with!  Thank you Pfiefer family!

Germany - Day 7

Another beautiful day of sunshine!  That makes 7 in a row!  How long can this last?  The forecast says rain tomorrow.  We shall see. 

At 6 am my eyes popped open and I began the day.  I woke up in my host family's guest room in Oberndorf,  at the Pfiefer's, where I'm staying for three nights total.  Mr.and Mrs. names are Manfred and Sabine and they have three children, Francesca, Jasmine, and Max.   All speak English quite well including Max who has only studied it for two years.  Jasmine speaks English the best and she traveled to Illinois last year spending 6 weeks in Moline.  Today is Jasimine's 19th birthday!  This birthday is not quite as important to celebrate as her 18th because that is when German teens get their driver's license!  Tonight I gave the Pfiefer's thier gifts I brought them from Orion, Illinois.  The kids received Rock the Park Tshirts and I showed them a picture of the band shell on the internet so they could understand it better. 

This morning I was able to do two loads of laundry and I hung it outside to dry.  This is the first time in about 25 years my underpants have hung outside, but there they were, flapping in the breeze in Germany!After breakfast Sabine drove me into town to meet up with the rest of the travelers to tour Rottenburg on the Neckar River. 

The city tour was led my the town historian and again, this town is filled with beautiful architecture, colorful windowboxes, statues, and cute little shops.  One surprise was a Roman ruins.  The Romans once ruled here and their influence is everywhere.  Over the centuries, houses and buildings have been built upon the ruins and usually a building has to come down before they find these ruins buried in the ground. They have protective ordinances about preserving the architecture and they work very hard to preserve and restore it.

Right here in the middle of Rottenburg is a Roman ruins discovered only about 20 years ago.  We viewed the display complete with original stones.  One interesting thing is the toilet trench area.  It seems that using the toilet was an activity not necessarily done in private.  They would go to the toilet area which was set up above the trench.  They had a bench to sit upon with holes in it like in an outhouse.  There were several holes a people would go there and while doing their business, they would have a nice little chat with their neighbors!  Certainly not what we do today, thank goodness!

They also discussed there being a vomitorium...I am certain that you can figure this one out! I guess folks have been eating and purging for many centuries!  Yuck!

Around the town were many cute shops and I found a couple of flower shops I couldn't resist visiting.  I wanted to get something special for Jasmine's birthday and I settled on a peach colored kalanchoe in a black ceramic pot.  Very cute!  We at lunch at an outside cafe' and met the others to head to the nearby town of Tübingen. 

In Tübingen we rode in canoe-like boats on the Neckar River.  They were poles along like I have seen done in photos of Venice, Italy.  It was a very peaceful and relaxing ride.  On the banks of the river were Lutheran University buildings and housing.  Our guide who was poleing was a seminary student.

We toured the town where a big festival/market was taking place.  There were many vendors selling wine, cheese, breads, sweets, clothing, wooden carved items, and much more.  The vendors had beautiful colorful displays and the meat vendors cases were filled with dried and luncheon type meats.  We keep seeing sausages covered with white mold and I asked Sabine about them.  She said that they are dried meats and you can eat the mold or peel it as you choose.  It was kinda ugly and not something we are used to seeing!

The hot food vendors were selling every variety of food you could want except for corn dogs and funnel cakes!  These vendors were from France, Italy and Germany and each of the three countries will do a festival in each of the three countries once each year, simply traveling around.

Soon it was time to meet on the bridge over the Neckar.  This town, expecially near the bridge area, is covered with HUGE hanging baskets of white, fragrant alyssum, red angel-wíng begonias, vinca, yellow marigolds, English Ivy, and much more.  Very very beautiful! All alnog the bridge which has a wide walking area, were more flowers!  The bridge was lined with pots hanging on the railing over-flowing with color!  On the bridge was on old toothless lady in colorful dress with an umbrella shading her, singing for coins.  We dropped a few in her battered cup.

This city has bike paths everywhere!  On the right of streets is a bike path and they have the right of way and you better get out of their way because they zoom along like crazy!  Many have kid carriers and I even saw one with a dog carrier.  This great big dog was just riding along being pulled by his master.  It's tongue was lolling out and he looked very happy!  There are lots of dogs in this city too, but I have yet to see a pitbull.  When I stp and chat with people and admire and pet their dogs they often ask if I have one and I say yes, a pitbull and they act surprised and act afraid of them.  It seems they have a bad rap here in Germany too!

We met Kelly Parrish who is originally from the Orion area.  She currently lives in Tübingen and she took us to the University and we strolled through the student park area where people were biking, lounging, sun-bathing and just generally enjoying the beautiful day!

We walked to the train station for supper.  It was a large station and had a nice restaurant.  It also had a Burger King and a flower shop.  We ate at the nice restaurant and I had thick cheese slices, breaded with crumbs, and baked to a gooey goodness, served with salad, pears, and cranberries.  Yum yum!

After supper we went home to spend the evening with our host families.  After conversation till 10:30 it was time to call it a day and head to bed.  Another adventure awaits tomorrow!

Please forgive mis-spellings because I am working on a German computer and their spell check, spell checks it in German and thinks EVERYTHING is wrong! LOL

Germany - Day 6

Waking up early in the hostel, I went downstairs to catch up on a bit of journaling and to see what was happening in the Facebook world.  After a breakfast of scrambled eggs, roll, and fruit we loaded 18 people's luggage into the vans and piled in!  One van full went to the John Deere factory in Mannheim and our van went to Heidelburg. 

Heidelburg is truly a beautiful old city on the Rhine River located in a valley.  The hills on either side of the river are covered in lush trees that are just beginning to turn their beautiful autumn colors.  Interspersed amongst the trees are beautiful homes.  On one side of the river is one of the most expensive places to live in Germany and only wealthy people are able to afford homes there.  After Judy found a place to park the van, not an easy chore in crowded Heidelburg, we were met by our tour guide, Klaus.  He was a very friendly guy with a wild mane of curly grey hair and a big bushy moustache. He took us to a few of the local sites to view and soon we headed to the cable car that would take us up to the top of the hill to Heidelburg Castle. 

This castle overlooks the river and once was used as defense against enemies.  We saw where canons once stood overloooking the river, ready to fire as needed.  Some of the castle is in ruins as it has deteriorated and some has been blown up over the years, but much of it is still standing proudly.   This castle had a wet moat where the sewage and garbage was emptied into and also a dry moat surrounding it where animals including lions would roam.

I was taken to my host family and I will tell you more about them tomorrow.  TaTaForNow!  Deb

Germany - Day 5

Another beautiful day!  Both weather-wise and the beauty of this country my eyes were filled with!  I awoke early in the hostel and headed downstairs to do my computer work with disturbing the rest of my roommates.  This was followed by a breakfast of cheese and cold cut meat on dark bread, and cereal with really sweet milk.  I wondered if it was soy milk.  Today's plan was a boat trip on the Rhine River.

We gathered all 18 in our group we piled into the vans and headed to the river about an hour away.  The day was sunny and clear as we boarded the big boat.  It was a really big boat holding a couple of hundred people.  We went clear to the top which was open to the air, and found a place on the rail to enjoy the view.  And what a view it was!  The river must have been really deep throughout the river because huge boats and small barges navigated up and down the river, as well as small boats and kayaks.  I thought of my sons, Eric and Greg when I saw the kayakers.

Today was a day of gorgeaous scenery and castles.  I do not know how many castles we saw but it was a lot!  All along the Rhine we saw the most beautiful scenery you could ever imagine!  The banks mostly went steeply up into a hillside covered by man-made terraces and thousands of grapevines in perfect rows  and green, green trees and foliage.  It is harvest time and we saw many fields being picked.  It was really steep terrain and I think it must be really difficult to walk up and down these hills but I understand that this area is perfect for grapes as they like well- drained soil and it certainly would drain well!

The nature was beautiful beyond words and the man-made structures were awe-inspiring.  There were small quaint villages mainly with an old-world charm of architecture and then there were the castles!  There were abandoned castles beginning to fall into ruin as well as castles that still had activities being held in them. Some were hotels and others I do not know what they were used for but I saw people there.  It was easy to let my imagination go to work and imagine what it was like hundreds of years ago when these were built and wonder how in the world they got the stone block used to build them, placed in any kind of manner to build a building!  Wow!

No pictures for today.  Not enough time. Leaving you for now.  Deb

Germany - Day 4

Today started out early again and we enjoyed one last breakfast with Christine and Hermann.  We gathered our things and crossed the bridge to catch our taxi to the train station.  We said our goodbyes and thanks to Christine and Hermann.  Hermann went with us all the way to the station to make certain we knew where to go and what to do.  What a dear man! 

The train ride through the countryside was pretty and smooth.  We were a little nervous but just kept following directions and when in doubt, asked one of the folks standing around and they were always quite happy to answer question and point us in the right direction.
 
Sandy and I spent the afternoon wandering the town center of Darmstadt after checking into our hostel. The hostel has a great big lake with a swimming area and we are disappointed that it is not as hot as it was the last few days in Regensburg, or we would have been swimming! I haven't ever stayed in a hostel before and it could be an interesting stay. Six women in one room?? Think of the baqthroom issues in the morning!! LOL LOL But we are all in the same boat and I am certain we will be just fine. We are looking at it as part of a great adventure! LOL

In the town square there is a nice fountain and some beautiful buildings to see. There was also really buff fella that couldn't take his eyes off of me but I finally ditched him!  He was just too slow for me, I can walk pretty fast.  Oh, those darn European men!  Sandy did capture a photo of us together to use for blackmil, but I fooled her and posted it below!

It is surrouded by shops of al kinds...shoes, clothing, shoes, department store, shoe store, deli, ice cream shop, shoes, grocery store, shoes and a $1.50 store. Are you seeing a theme here? It seems that this city really appreciates a nice pair of shoes! The $1.50 store is really a Euro store with everything for a Euro, but we called it a $1.50 store becuase that is what the exchange rate is! And I saw lots of things I have never seen in IGA Orion Food Center! Let me tell you they eat some odd (to me) things. For example we saw an advertisement for a deli that was selling what appeared to be a raw slab of fish covered with sauce on a bun in the shape of a fish. Now the bun looked good and it was really cute, but the raw fish slab just wasn't for me. Sushi is not part of my diet I'm afraid!

What was on my menu for tonight was sausages on rye bread with mustard and a wonderful Kasespatzle which is spatzle with cheese and onions. My goodness, was it good! Tasted like a really rich macoroni and cheese with homemade noodles. Greg, I don't think I will get my ice cream tonight. Just don't really want to walk clear downtown to buy it. It will have to wait till tomorrow.

I didn't really purchase anything significant today other than we finally determined what kind of bottled water to buy! Now the reason this is so significant is that it seems in Europe they like sparkling water and that is often what is served in restaurants when you ask for water. So we look for "still" water and that is much better. I guess my taste buds just aren't sophisticated enough to enjoy sparkling water 'cause I think it's awful stuff!

I guess we will turn in early tonight because there really isn't anything to do after we upload photos and get our blogging/journaling done. I am sure when I climb into the top bunk I will listen to my book for awhile. Then tomorrow is another day of adventure! Can't wait!