Always ready to celebrate

Our first day in Dresden was great. We found a wonderful brkfst buffet awaiting us with lots of free stuff to take with us for the day including fruit, granola bars and yoghurt drinks. Best ever, is that our room has a huge window which opens wide right onto my bed - yahoo menopause, bring it on. I had a great sleep. Chilly all night.
We headed into the old city for our bus orientation tour. We had an hour, before the english tour started, so we headed to a cafe for a "gross koffie" - you can't beat that.
We met our tour guide who was this cute young man of 35 who spoke English well and who had saved us a seat, because we were the only English travelers, right behind him and he turned around to talk to us personally each time. He kept offering us extra time after the cruise to explain to us where we should go to see the sights. After the tour we took him to a restaurant that he had recommended and we had a lovely lunch together. I ate something called "spoon sized dumplings" made out of something I've never tasted before and came in the size of two huge softballs sitting on my plate. Wow, were they good.
We shared stories, laughed, gave him our card so he can visit us in Wpg and then hugged him and sent him on his way.
We continued on visiting the old city and arrived back at our hotel to partake in the late tea and swimming.
We had every intention of coming to Dresden and not liking it as much as Leipzig because we had enjoyed Leipzig so much, but we can't help ourselves. Dresden is a city as large as but with more character and interest and certainly more history.

Dresden

So sorry for the incommunicado business but although Leipzig was tres,tres beautiful, our hotel was also tres, tres expensive. It cost 15 euro for one day of Internet use - ouch. The bar in the hotel was super riche, therefore, super $$$'s were needed and it even cost 3 € to swim.
We couldn't get into any Mc'Do's to use any free Internet - not in little Leipzig..
So now we made the trek to Dresden and are in our next hotel which, when walking to it, it felt as if we were back in Brussels 3 years ago. Lots of close buildings, construction, weird store fronts and it made us wonder what we had booked. Again, don't judge a place by first impressions.
Our hotel is quaint but well taken care of. We have brkfst every day, free Internet, free use of fitness and spa area and all day long coffee - yeah for me, and all day long cookies, pastries, fruit and juice, yeah for G. Never mind that we had to change our room cause our rad leaked a huge puddle over the floor and nobody noticed. It's still adorable.
We are sitting in our front lobby - near the free stuff :), and will later take our first walk around to see what we will do first. Probably swim later in the evening.
We're baaaacccckkkkk:)

New Address- Leipzig

Our last night in Hamburg we spent walking and visiting with family from Schwerin. They drove the hour and 1/2 to see us Wed. at 4 and we were really happy to see them again. G got to meet some new members of his clan and we were sad to see them go.
The next morning we took our train to Leipzig. We have a month-long train travel card with reserved seating so we made it to our next place in comfort. We are in a 27 floor hotel and because we always reserve our rooms with Expedia or some sort of email system, we always get the email rooms set aside for those customers. So we are on the 13th floor. No such superstitions here about 13. Our spa here is also 4 floors high and of course, a Finnish spa again. What happens in Europe, stays in Europe.
The town of Leipzig is beautiful. It is the birthplace of Bach where he was a young cantor for the church St. Thomas, a Lutheran church where Martin Luther preached and where Bach is now buried. There is a circular area in the old part of the city where hundreds of cafes, restaurants and stores are. Today, G's 4th cousin, Alexander, took the train from Dresden to visit with us for the day and so we walked and visited the cafes for 5 hours. Again, we were heart-felt to have met him and think that he is a wonderful young man with a great heart.

Life in the spa

Well, life should be full of learning experiences. When you have the ability to take part in a wonderful spa, you must. For G it was a new experience altogether.
The spa is actually 6floors high. At first I went up and down the water slide and then we played in the pool for a bit. Because of the olympics, we thought that we should try the pose in the water from the movie Dirty Dancing. You remember when Swayze lifted Baby up into the air. We nearly made it except that I was uneven and fell to the side each time. G said that Swayze must have been very strong and much younger because he couldn't do it. Of course it has nothing to do with my frame, it's all him. So we settled with his walking around with me on his shoulders.
Next we went up the elevator set aside just for the spa to the 5th floor for the sauna. By the way, it was a Finnish sauna and G's first time. There were 3different sauna rooms with 3 diff temps, a cool pool, foot baths, a solarium, showers and quiet beds. Everyone was given robes and towels to sit on. We had a lovely time.

Tour of harbour, A walk on the wild side

After a lazy morning we took the S-Bahn to the harbour for a 2-hour boat trip in and around the harbour ships and piers. It's a massive area where we saw ships from all over the world unloading cargo and moving about in the water and our little boat was right in amongst them. This harbour is very old and the buildings all around it show their age and need for attention. Many of them have been torn down and replaced with new age fancy architecture. Lots of wharf sites to walk around for the tourists.
After the walk and ride, we started walking again as usual and got lost again, as usual, and ended up in a very shady area. We were getting hungry but this area wasn't one where we would stop to eat. When we headed down to the underground station, we came face to face with 7 cops and
3 subway guards. Anyone that looked at them sideways or even twitched a finger were pulled over and sent to the cops for checking.
Of course I had to ask what was going on and was told that too many people are taking the subways for free or doing drugs etc. down in the tunnels. Sounds like any big city to me that we've ever been in but it sure was nice to see a clean up going on.
We headed to a street that we had once walked down that is like a busy street at home for us and stopped to have a typical german meal. We will spend the rest of the evening in the spa again and enjoy our surroundings.

Info and impressions of Hamburg

1.7 million people, 2nd biggest city in Germany right after Berlin and just before Munich. It is very expensive to live here at 8000 Euro per sq meter. Even the cheapest house/apartment cost 1 1/4 million Euro to buy and just a small bachelor 2-room is 650 euro/1000 dollars. Just this last year alone the rent has gone up 31 percent.
As we moved around the huge dockyards by the harbour, we found Dock 17 where the Bismarck ship was built. You know,the one everyone tried to sink.
The harbour front is quite impressive in size with all the new architectural sites and interests but there is a problem with graffiti and garbage. The main bahnhof (train stn) is massive but not terribly clean or impressive. It needs to be spruced up. Their rule is that Classical music will be pumped over the speakers so to deter and ward off the junkies etc. from hanging around. They seem to hate good music but, from what we saw, they are starting to like it.
It's a huge city of many over crowded street people and homeless who are all trying to get by. Flea markets are popping up everywhere and the different nationalities are all clustered together in certain areas causing overcrowded and poor living arrangements. Now this might seem as if we can say this for any city and so we can, but because of the high cost of living here, cheap drinks, drugs and smokes and the fact that the city is tearing down older areas and building up new and beautiful places, they are having a harder time giving the young people and immigrants jobs and a place for a proper life.
This place reminds us of Milwaukee because it's a very industrial city with only a little more space to spread.
On our trip throughout the bus ride, we weren't terribly impressed with quality of life and set up of the city. Because we are not so easily put off, we set out on foot to find and celebrate what is good. We always come across a lot of good once we act like the locals and do what the locals do. There are many areas where people come together to exercise, talk and enjoy their city. Along the two lakes many people, mostly younger, are running or blading. There are many older couples who set out after evening meals for a walk. We walked up and down several streets lined with cafes and bistros. Of course, just the sight of them invites you in to rest , so we rested - a lot.
Much of the city is in need of repair. These areas house the homeless and poor, as well as those types of stores that you don't want in your neighbourhood. People here refuse to live in a basement apartment so the city has placed all stores, restaurants and bars on the below-ground level. Therefore, below all apartments and homes are stores for shopping. This creates a "noise all day and into the night" atmosphere.
G and I took the u and s bahns into the deep city parts and walked around for hours. We met lots of lovely people and an old lady even called us "two angels."
Once the harbour plans and the extra housing work is done, the city is going to be amazing. It definitely has the ability to move people around quickly and there is evidence that they know what to do to provide safety to the public. It has been an interesting and learning experience here.

Bus of city and then ;)))) hof brau house

Got up late - go figure. Headed to a city tour atop a double decker. We do it to set our itinerary for what to see in a new city. We finished our 90 minute trip and then it was my job to find our way to The Hofbrau House (which is world famous in Munich) but now a smaller and acceptable copy of it has been created in Hamburg. It is a huge beer parlour and restaurant dedicated to cheap but good food and tons of beer.
We had our late afternoon 5-euro meal and G got his 1 liter beer, plus, oh my Heavens, G got more cd's of beerfest music. We talked up the waitress and had a great time. It was a wonderful way to close off a day's trip.
G is having a nap now and then we will head off to the spa again to enjoy the water. Yesterday, as we were in the water, G had a wondering eye as he was mesmerized by a beautiful woman. He didn't watch what he was doing and slammed right into the pool wall. I had to laugh so hard that I choked.

Hamburg- harbor city

Left by train around ten and things were very quiet. Then we reached the changing station for the northern part of Germany, and pow, not one seat to sit on. Problem is that we could only buy our ticket at a smaller station in Holland for a German line and they wouldn't let us reserve a seat so we sat on the floor of the train for 30 minutes until another transfer point. It's not the first time we had to do this. Have to be flexible :)
Our hotel was right across from the bahnhof so we landed early and were in our room ready to go for a walk in the city. Don't even ask me where we ended up although I'm starting to think that we need to buy shares in the sex shops and movies trade. We found a grocery store and stocked our fridge with 4 days of food.
As we walked around, again we were amazed how easy it was for the guys to use the watering hole. I ask - is it because women are strong or because they are not cared for? I was able to get a picture of someone just stepping into the metal 1/2 circle.
In the evening we headed to the spa area of our hotel and swam, went down the water slide, did the sauna, steam room and hot tub. By 8 we were ready for bed.

New days , family reconnections

Yesterday we had a late sleep in, a late breakfast and a late start but it was an exciting day none the less. We walked to my aunt and uncle's place. We surprised them by ringing their bell and they were totally okay with it. We found out that my Aunt had her leg amputated because of blocked arteries that would eventually have turned into strokes. Both of them were in great spirits and have made all the necessary changes to keep their life going and happy. We shared lots of stories and left after 4 hours.
Later that day we swam and ate supper late. Then we walked to relax and spent the evening going around from place to place in the resort enjoying the activities.
We moved to our next hotel and then a few days of family visits. We had a lovely evening out and touring day with my cousin Ben and his family. We had a chance to meet our second and third cousins and we added some unusual family members to our brood. Chickens, rabbits and dogs- yeah, who could resist them? They were lovely. In the evening, we spent a laughter filled meal with aunts and uncles and some more loving from cats. It has been a wonderful time loving our European family and we want to say a big thank you for all the good times and love spilled back to us during our Netherlands trip.

The indoor carnival

There are some very interesting things in the indoor fair in our hotel. One is that up in the ceiling in the center of the facility is a whole host of instruments from horns, drums, accordions to piano parts. It is driven by computer and gives off the most incredible sounds. Kind of like calipso music. Every time we go, which is every evening of course, I stand under it and am mesmerized. For me , it's like a drug.
Also, seems we western world people could learn a bit from how everyone rides around on bikes and then trains it to work. However, if our cities would only grab a clue and begin to help us make it possible, then maybe we would follow suit. Just look at how it is possible to store your bike through the day. Incredible!

Days in Preston Palace

We do so love it at the palace. For someone on the road for a long time, this place is worry free and entertaining. The added bonus is that it's close to my family.
It is similar to a cruise ship in that all food and drink is included - yes all drink. They go through a tremendous amount of alcohol and food every day. There is a star-bright ceiling swimming spa, cafes, bowling, mini golf, child's area, many bars, dancing halls, cinema and not last but certainly a favourite with me and the children (go figure) is the indoor carnival or fair rides. All is free. I have been riding rides for a few days now, screaming the whole way. G and I have been dancing every evening just to get the folks up - people are pretty slow to get moving but when we get up and start making all kinds of mistakes and laugh our way through footsteps, others seem to join in eventually.
We have one more fathered and then we walk into town pulling our luggage to our next hotel. It's another beauty and this time it's air conditioned. Yahoo. Hard to find, air conditioning I mean, but ladies in menopause are way more active in the colder air. Yesterday as I was wilting in the heat when we headed to the next town to get our tickets for Hamburg, I walked straight into a pole - always remember to keep your head up.

Moving Day - Train To Almelo

We were packed the night before so we just had to get up and tram it to the train stn. We always buy our train tckts as we get into every place for the next leg of our trip so that we are always prepared, so all we had to do is get ourselves to the stn.
Don't ask me how we always get ourselves into a strange situation but as we got onto our platform, we were bombarded by the crowd of "Gay Rights" people who were headed to a town down the way to celebrate "Rose Monday" - a carnival where activists of all kinds show up.
We were pulled into their celebration of dancing and loud music as we all waited for the trains. Everybody was wearing pink. The guys were dressed up as girls and girls as guys. There was a news caster there who was giving coverage of the event but his tie was crooked so G told me to go fix it. I walked up to him and pulled it straight - don't know if I got on tv or not but he looked better.

July 22 Last day in the "Anything You Want" city

We're moving on to Almelo tomorrow where my mother's family is from and still resides. We took a canal cruise and saw the city from another perspective this a.m. and then walked for most of the day. We did sit on the side of the canal and watched all the boats jockey for movement, fed a pigeon a whole granola bar and soaked in our first whole sunny day since we left July 5. Then we walked to, in and around The Red Light Area again -gotta love that place, well, we do anyways. You can buy anything there, ANYTHING ;) Of course I'm talking about a new swiss army knife so that we could cut our food.

July 20 & 21 Life in the fast lane

I'll tell you one thing- big German guys wearing sandals shouldn't wear such things in Amsterdam. G has tripped over every uneven stone in this country. Do u know how many cobbles there are in the big city? Today the man even drank a pint of beer with his bacon and egg meal. Okay, he ate breakfast for supper.
We did go to the Heineken Brewery today. It was interesting but not as good as the tour we had in Saint John
of the brewery - Moosehead.
Yesterday we headed to the town of Delft to watch pottery being made and then to The Hague, which is the country's political seat. Finally we headed to Madurodam which is a huge 1/25 scale setup of different places and buildings in Holland.
Did u know that most of the area known as Amsterdam was under water and that lots of the land is 4 meters under sea level. Maybe that's why we're so tired. It's not the fact that our blood is almost total spirits. Tomorrow is a resting day.

July19 Amsterdam

Up early-9:30- yes,people, these days that is early for us. We took our tram to the bus stn for our trip tck's and then probably the best coffee in an Italian eatery. Best ever so I had 2.
We went to Marken, home of the wooden shoe. Of course, I got a pair. Mom had purchased a pr for all the girls in the family but they were the original so I got a pr of normal ones which were actually made there. We went for a walk in the town where all homes are green or black because in the olden days, sounds so cliche, the only colours were green from the herbs and black from tar because people were too poor to have anything else. Beautiful town but people weren't very fond of visitors. I get it. Also viewed a cheese shop - Gouda, of course. Yes, I bought some.
Next off to Volendam which is a wonderful fishing village that u have to take a ferry to get to. Quaint homes and great food. Guess what we had for lunch? Yeah, u'r so smart. We of course had rose wine and fish- locally caught. Delicious!
We headed to a small village where there were a small set of windmills. The town of Zaanse Schans - a Unesco listed windmill village. There is a man names Jab something, who has made it his life's work to save the windmills. Now from 30 000, there are only 3 000 left in Holland.
This day, for me, has been a re-enactment of a day my parents had spent together a very long time ago as my Mom was able to revisit her homeland and share it with Dad. It was a cool day.
We reached our hotel, dropped off our grocery stuff and headed off for a walk to do various things. Wow, various things are plentiful here in Holland.

July 18, In Amsterdam

Had a pretty slow day yesterday for the most part. J fixed my computer problems and so it is a go again. He drove us to airport and we landed in Amsterdam at 9. We were amazed that this land is filled with water everywhere, hence the name "water land" - and it was the first time that we were able to see it from the air. We will be able to take our bikes out into the country and ride all along the water ways.
We slept in a bit today and then went for a special breakfast at an organic shop where we drank great soup bowls of organic coffee, ate a mix of 5 breads and organic eggs with gruyere cheese.
We took the tram into the visitor office to collect our week-long transportation
and trip tickets and canal cruise passes. We are headed tomorrow to Marken, where they still make wooden shoes, then to Volendam, where an old fishing village is still in progress and finally to view several windmills.
It was quite rainy today but we were not deterred from entering into the red light district and stopping in at several places to taste and try some new things. Even the ladies beyond the windows smiled back at me as I smiled and waved at them. Heh, everyone has to have a job and I'm okay with that. We stopped for groceries as we have a fridge and headed back to the hotel to do some hand wash. Here is how we hang and dry our lovely things.

Wedding day, July 14

Yesterday was the big day. The children were busy for days before, getting all things ready and creating special things for everyone during their special day. All the women bagged and tied and ribboned little candies called Soor plums- which are actually green hard candies with the taste of green suckers. Rae's Mom prepared children's activity bags for all kids- teachers, I tell ya- always try to think of everything.
The sun came out of a three week dull and grey summer just in time for our ice cream walk in the park for pictures. The meal was superb, the dancing was great, the company was lovely and the couple were beautiful and much in love. A wonderful time was had by all answer are goodly tired for a goodly reason.

July 13 In Edinburgh

Landed fine although it was a very long trip all scrunched up in our tiny seats. I did have my special 30$ socks on that pushed the blood into better circulation and they did just that. Gerhard always says that my brain could use a bit more blood anyways so all was fine.
Gerhard is being his usual self - taking everything in stride. At the airport he was walking his normal pace as we headed for our flight and I, in my normal ultra speedy fashion, walked the wrong way on the moving walkway all the while looking behind me to laugh at G as he was shaking his head. Still I made it off the walkway well ahead of him yet I was no further ahead of him in the line to go on the plane.
It's mostly damp and rainy here but still enjoyable. We've walked and bussed several places and have been on the city's ghost tour. Tonight James is making a huge bean and pulled pork for all family members so that we can all meet each other. Tomorrow is the big day and that shall be a big relief as planning a wedding can be very stressful when loads of people are coming from far away.
Our first fish and chip meal was at a cool place called Land's End which was in a location were the medieval wall ended and most people never left or went outside the town for their whole life. Then we spent time on The Royal Mile - a roadway which runs from the Queen's palace to the castle where lots of shops and restaurants are placed. We watched many buskers perform. This red haired fellow was very funny and quite good at his trade.

On our way!!! Whew, can't quite believe it!

We are here in the airport. Now that may sound quite simple especially for us two but.....we are sitting in the "very special people's lounge". That's right...all food is free and, you guessed it, alcohol too. We just spent a very busy and fun, child-filled 5 days with our grand girls in Toronto. Every one is fine and thriving. We are at the airport 3 hours before, which is required, and had a lovely talk with the check-in lady who was telling us of how wonderful it was for us to just LIVE -give in to our crazy side and just go. Little does she know that we are already crazy and this is what crazy people do- unusual things that most people don't do. Well,must go get more free food. See u on the other side-of the ocean, that is.

Get Ready For It

We are heading back to good 'ol Europe for the summer of 2012. This time for the seasons of summer and fall. Time is the same - 4 months. We can't wait and are eager to share our love of this great land with you as we go along on our explorations. Stay tuned and enjoy. xox

Still Reading After All This Time

Funny, all I have to do to enjoy our trip all over again is to sit down and reread some of our entries. Oh what fun we had.

J and G

Home!!!!

Having a look at the best part of our holidays:
We can't tell you how grand it was to meet and learn and come to love all of our relatives. It was so special to be able to see them and talk to them face to face when we are separated from each other by thousands of kms. We have truly fallen in love with Holland and then Germany is a very close second. We would say that we have visited several very special places and met some wonderful people all along the way and were lucky enough to have suffered no setbacks or problems in our 4 months overseas.
Before coming home:
We spent two nights back in the outskirts of Brussels getting our things ready and resting up for our long trip back. Our first flight left at 6 so we were up and out by 4 a.m. Then we had four long hours to wait around in Heathrow Airport before we could board the plane. To our surprise, or frustration, we're not too sure yet, we sat another hour in the plane because the maintanence check hadn't been done on the plane earlier in the day. So, just as we were to pull away, we shut down and sat, or rather kept sitting. We got into Toronto a bit later and so we didn't have as much time with son Ryan and granddaughter Austyn but it was a precious hour nonetheless.
Home Town: Winnipeg is brown - brown, I tell you, and cold. Actually, we keep having these feelings as if it's fall here and that we need to get out our winter clothes soon. This is because we haven't had a winter this year and keep forgetting that we still have the entire summer season to look forward to. It is so nice to be back in our own bed and our own home. No sign of food anywhere but that's easily fixed.
Our van started up without a hitch after months of resting, which was nice. My grass needs to be cut. Today I'm unpacking all the boxes of things put away for 8 months - it's like Christmas. Tomorrow we head out for a little holiday with a school group.
Yup, you heard me, a holiday.
Well my dear loved ones, this is probably my last entry in what has been an enjoyable recount of our many days learning about the world. We've discussed how we probably did approx. 60 000 kms all total - including trains, bus, and van driving. We are feeling pretty darn lucky to have had the chance to do this trip.
Now for that awaited list of things that we need to change for the next time.
1. Each person should have their own camera.
2. Why backpack? Millions of people move with their little wheely suitcases all over the world. We're getting ourselves one of those. No more backing it for us.
3. We wouldn't change it now but it's important to have learned. 4 months away from our own country and our own home was too long. It turned out to be very difficult to find the things that were needed such as deodorant that actually worked, skin cream that didn't irritate our skin, foods that didn't upset our systems, beds and pillows - and quietness - that afforded a good sleep.
Alas, this is "The End" to this part of our life's story. But, the memories of all the places and things that we experienced and the connections to our new family members and new friends from around the world will strongly remain.
Tschuss, Ciao Ciao, Aurevoir, Bye

Last Day in Lux

Started out slowly today. Walked to the city center to take another trail into the underbelly of the city and we found new things to see and do. As we walked back up into the city from the valley, we found a pichet (or half bottle) of rose wine at an outdoor restaurant. Heh, don't blame us, the last day of Luxembourg's manifestations was going on and we had to escape it somehow. The streets were full of parades and protests. We left that restaurant and mosied along to our way back to the hotel only to find the streets still full of singing and marching. So...... we stopped, again, for another rose and some food. Gotta fill the belly with sustenance along with all that alcohol. Here we are, back in the room, ready to pack up for tomorrow and our new train ride back to Brussels where it all began. We will take a day and go back into the city to visit some of the places where we started this whole experience of Europe.
Sure hope our new hotel has a bathtub. Can't tell you how much I miss a tubby.
J

Whirlwind Trip and Home

Good Day to you both!!! Can hardly wait for you to get back to see your photos (from the camera that almost got lost) and share in your excitement of people and places from the months of travel. Have a safe trip back. Love to both of you. Phyllis & Wolfgang

Days in Luxembourg

Our days here are moving along quite quickly. Our room is comfortable - even the ants think so - and we have the ability to do our laundry and dry it on the large heating register in our room. It's been cloudy and cooler so having the heat on to dry my jeans has not been a problem. I'm turning into the laundry genius.
We went out walking today and ended up underground in the Casemates. These are up to 17 kms of underground tunnels built to hold the horses and men of the 13th century wars but were later used to protect up to 35 000 people during the two world wars. There used to be 23 kms of tunnels but only 17 remain. We walked down up to 40 meters into the earth where water dripped on our heads, mold spoke to us from the corners and puddles, threatening to swallow us up, met our every turn. Oh yah, not to forget that with every new tunnel came a new head-banging experience for G. It was pretty scary for me because I didn't want to get my runners dirty. That would have been torture.
We felt like we needed soup so we set out in the old town to find a hot bowl. Even the little restaurants that said they had soup on the menu, didn't. So now G has a new truism. You can't count on soup in Luxembourg even when it's on the menu. Finally, in the last place that we were going to try, voila, vegetable soup. Oh, but it doesn't look like vegetable soup, rather pureed broth. This, from a very expensive restaurant where the servers looked at the way we were dressed and put us in the back. They don't know that we still look this good after living out of a backpack, with hardly any clothes in it, for 110 days. Two bowls of soup and water runs you about 30 dollars in Lux.
On our way back to our hotel, we ran into several blockades. How does this always happen to us. Today, there was a manifestation. A manifestation in this part of the world is known as a strike. Yes indeed, on every street which surrounded our hotel were several thousand protesters holding signs and screaming for fair treatment.
We went for our next train tickets to Brussels airport for our next two-day stop over before our flight for home. On our way back to our hotel, we stopped into a grocery store to buy more cereal and milk for supper and two beers. The price of wine and beer here in Europe is something we will desperately miss when we get home. Two huge 1/2 liter cans of beer for 91 cents. So, while watching our new favourite tv channel, the Eurosport Network and tennis or snooker, we are drinking beer and G has put a dent into a bag of chips.
J

In Luxembourg City

Back to the land of French. Poor Gerhard, he's missing Germany already. Funny thing - I'm understanding more when I watch German TV than I do when I watch French TV. Yikes!
We trained it to Lux City on an 8 Euro Special. Imagine - 8 little euros to travel 1 hour to another country. When we got off the train, we went across the street to a Best Western to ask directions to our hotel. We sent me in because it is a French speaking country. The lady was speaking perfect German so I talked to her in German. Go figure.
Anyway, she gave me directions to the street but little did we know that she sent us - yes, in the right way, but from the other end of the street. In other words, it was a two km walk instead of a 5 min walk. Another yikes!
It poured here yesterday - same as in Wpg we heard - so we rested a bit and then went out for groceries. Got caught in a thunder and lightening storm - us with perfect little metal umbrellas pointed straight up into the air just asking for trouble.
Today we are headed into the fairy tale picturesque old part of the city to spend the day. Might take a hopon-hopoff bus to see the sights first.
Our hotel room has ants. C'est la vie!!!!!!

Almost Home

Hey Gerhard and Jo

You have been to my favorite mountain, the Matterhorn ... miss that scene a lot and wish it were me in the foothills. Your whirlwind tour of Europe is almost over and you will be returning home soon. Weather wise you made a good choice to come back now because its all uphill from here. Have a safe journey home and hope to see you after you unwind and unload.

All the best,

Hans and Brenda

May 12

We are in Trier, western Germany and heading back towards, eventually, Brussels. Please go back to the entry titled "May 12 and recapping" to get to the first entry that we've been able to put in for many days. We have been in the mountains for so long with no access to email - tiny hotels with no computers or no time.

Yesterday, we spent all day travelling up to the small western corner, not far from Luxembourg City, in a town called Trier. It's reputed to be the oldest town in Germany which has the Porta Nigra gate dating back to being built in the 2nd century. From here, we take an 8 euro ride on Thursday into Luxembourg City for four days. Our trip here was long because we had to change trains three times due to this being so far out of the way. Our hotel continues to be another one of our experiences. Our first room had no hot water and was facing the front noisy street on the third floor. We had that changed pretty quickly. We viewed two other rooms and chose one with a smaller shower WITH HOT WATER and facing the back courtyard. We had a wonderfully quiet night - not easy to do here in Europe in most places. We are now in a smaller room on the 4th floor with a slanted roof where the rain that is hitting the tin top makes it sound as if we are in a tent. Heaven.
Last night we went out to find a restaurant - one which would give G a schnitzel - and we found a place which specialized in potatoes. So, he had his schnitzel and I had this concoction of a baked potato with chicken pieces, spinach, garlic and three kinds of melted cheese. Sooooo good. We are going back today for potato pancakes and apple sauce.
We are planning to take it easy today and just do laundry and hang out reading and watching tv in our room. This is a good thing especially as it is pouring outside.
We are getting pretty excited about our return home but don't want to rush away our time here. I think I need a nap.

Salzburg

This was one of my memories that didn't remain very clear. I seem to have had Salzburg and Vienna confused. We enjoyed our time in this little river city and walked the center where Mozart's statue always reminds you of where you are. We saw where he lived and where he spent his days. We went into an old French church - very beautiful, and saw an original student art show from the university. We stopped in the main square, faced Mozart, and drank local beer in his honor. We shopped in all the little stores and found me a purse - imagine - Jo with a purse. But that's beside the point. Here's the point - it's a purse from Paris which we found in Austria on sale. Couldn't do that in Paris!!!
In the pm we took off to head for Munich again and our new hotel. We walked the streets, getting lost of course, and then asked a stranger for directions to a good local stube or restaurant. It sure helps to have G along with the German. We had supper in a small neighbourhood German husband/Yugoslavian wife restaurant. Whaooo, was it good and were they ever friendly. We enjoyed them so much and they both came out to talk to us when they found out we were from out of town. They fed us free snapps - with cherries on the bottom - and she stood there until I would finish the little bottle of fire. We gave them Cdn pins of course and we exchanged addresses. Hugs and kisses all around again before we left. What a wonderful way to end off the bus tour's last night.
This third bus tour gave us the most unusual sights and places for our money. It was G's favourite. Not mine, of course, for reasons that I don't have to tell you about. Again, we would never have done it without a bus tour to help us along.

More Mountains

My favourite phrase lately - Good Grief!
This surely suits for this day's travel arrangements. Most of you do know by now that I'm terrified of mountains don't you? I must love Gerhard.

After Venice - we went through the Dolomite Mountains which run from Italy to the border of Austria. It's the only way to get there from Venice. The range is unlike any you will see in the world. It is wild, rugged, pointy and beautiful. Gerhard has decided to call them JoAnne. Words escape you as you are treated to one peak after another and can't possibly snap pictures as fast as you drive.
As we passed into the Austrian Alps, we started to ascend the mountain range towards the Grossglockner. Good Grief! In the morning we had news that one of the passes was closed. I was starting to relax thinking that we wouldn't be able to go up but to no such luck. It's a national park which has 36, count 'em, 36 switchbacks. Now, to anyone who has ever taken a switchback - especially on a bus - one is way too many. 36 of 'em was my undoing. To tell you how high and dangerously close we were to going over, Gerhard said that he would never do it again. He said that it was exciting and thrilling, but........
The snow was 4 meters high and small avalanches continued to make their way down the mtn sides to fall onto the main highway. We had to stop our bus two times as we saw the slides and had to wait to ensure that the snow would not fall onto our bus and turf us overboard. The snowplows and blowers were on constant guard. One side of our highway was covered with huge banks that had become so heavy with warmer snow that they couldn't keep their place. Up at the top was 7 degrees plus a wind.
We got to the top and stopped for lunch where I promptly had 1/4 bottle of wine to soothe my nerves. Would have taken valium if someone had given it to me. At the top, we had a snow ball fight being sure not to hit the bus driver in his ever-important eyes. We descended the next 22 switchbacks where I could finally stop watching the floor. We stopped in the Austrian valley at a chalet for the night where I had a huge nightmare - just guess the subject of that dream. That's it for mountains for me!!!!!!

Onto to Venice

We left the haunted hotel early, thank goodness, to get through Milan before traffic snarls. We headed towards Venice. We had to make a few detours because of protest demonstrations which closed highways. Good grief! We eventually made it to port where we took our watertaxi to the island of Venice. Whoa, Venice. The next biggest thing on our tour. G was amazed. If you ever go here, don't drink too much - going to the washroom costs you 1 euro 50. Yikes! Do you know how many times people over 50 have to go?
We made our way to St. Mark's square to visit St. Mark's Cathedral. It is still amazing and unchanged after all this time. We went in and, still, it is so awe inspiring that there is no need to speak. The church is filled with miniscule-sized mosaic tiles to create many pictures that cover every surface. The floors, of course, still flow in ocean wave highs and lows. As you walk, you need to watch the floor. This is a good thing because the floor is totally covered in tiled patterns that amaze. It reminds me of M.C. Escher and his mathematical drawings where the eyes are tricked with illusions. The floor is as beautiful as the ceiling.
G and I - spent so much money GOING that we decided to just walk and get lost for awhile. Easy to do with all the little channels and small alleys. We found many bridges to walk over the canals.
Later on, we took a gondola ride. We had an accordianist and an Italian singer on the gondola with us serenading our group. How lucky were the two of us to not have to share this ride with anyone. The others were all squished into a gondola - 6 per boat. G and I just had two men. Jo and three men - what could be better!
Our hotel this night was a scream. We went up as usual and G tried to go to the washroom. When he sat on the toilet, it was as if his knees were under his chin and he would have had to be a contortionist for it to work. We took a picture - he couldn't stop laughing. Needless to say, we changed rooms.
Toilets seem to be an important part of our history lately.

The Glacier Express

Today we headed for Lugano by taking the 2 1/2 hour train called the Glacier Express straight through (and down) the Alps into Andermatt (another place still in the mountains 4700ft). If you ever get the chance to take this train, it has the most beautiful scenery that we've ever seen. The train ride is pretty slow - it's called the "Slowest Fast Train" because it's the fastest way out of the Alps but the slowest because it can't go that fast around the mountains. Snow-capped mountains, deep rocky gorges, quaint Swiss homes and waterfalls around every corner. In Andermatt we met our bus again and went down (again) the switchbacks (I must love Gerhard) to get to the valley (and safety).
In Lugano, a city of funniculars for the mountains reaches and a beautiful resort city on the lake, we had the most unusual hotel on the trip. Here's the gist of our time there. Two steps down to get into our room, none of the lights worked, the shower was too small for G to get into, no curtains and rooms directly across from us, too hot to close the windows and the bathroom stunk like a sewer. Oh, don't let me forget that a funnicular ran right under our hotel room up the mountain behind us. When you hung your feet over the mattress, your feet shook from the movement of the rails under the funnicular. Oh yeah, and it ran up and down every two minutes. I think the place was haunted.
Happy to leave this place but will cherish the memories of how we got there.

May 12 and recapping

Through clear skies we headed to Chillon Castle which is a castle built on rock, similar to the one we saw in France, but was once a prison/bastion. Very cool - we went into the bowels and saw how they attached it to the bedrock. It was a place that Lord Byron once visited and wrote the story of a man imprisoned in the depths for 6 years. For lunch on this day, we though we would just mosey on over to Lake Geneva - Heh Gerhard, wanna go to Geneva for lunch? Our whole trip has been like this. Wake up in the morning and say - think we'll go to France for the day.
Geneva, of course, is the world's official gov't business headquarters because of tax-saving purposes but also because they can all fit into a beautiful spot. We saw Unicef, Red Cross, United Nations etc. You name it, it's there.
After a bit more nail-biting Alps climbing, we landed in a small town where we took our cog-wheel train up to the top of Zermatt where we, again, climbed a steep street to our beautiful hotel chalet. G and I had one of the biggest rooms where we could hold a party in the bathroom (actually had a speaker in it from the tv) and also we had a beautiful balcony looking up to the Alps. We opened up wine (of course) and cheered on Zermatt. Here we found ourselves out after dark - for only our 6 or 7th time - and found all the other Canadians on our bus tour walking as well.
Zermatt is the most quiet place on Earth. No cars allowed. Only electric quiet motors. There were some actual diesel-run work vehicles doing construction etc which get flown in by helicopters or by the train but they only work in the morning.
In the morning, we took our second cog-wheel train straight up to 10,000 feet to visit Gornergrat where we had a perfect view of the Matterhorn. It was a beautifully sunny and warm day - even though there were several feet of snow left and we had to hold onto mountain ropes to get the highest up we could. We had a great time watching the marmots and ibex run about on top of the snow sunning themselves. When we descended the mountain to Zermatt, we went for a walk and found private cemeteries where all the men had been placed for their failed efforts in trying to conquer the climb up the Matterhorn.
We tried to spend great deal of our time in the world of the places that we visited and so we meet some very original and wonderful people who lived there. We kept trying to fill the pockets with change of the little girl who was our server at our hotel. She was so cute and was saving to go to Lucerne to university. Big hugs and kisses for her when we left.
Zermatt was everything we thought it would be.

Starting our last bus tour

We left Munich with high expectations. Well, this was easily actually because as we walked down the street to catch the train, we ran into a dead rat just laying on the sidewalk waiting to say goodbye to us. Poor fella.
Our first trip on the tour was to a castle called Linderhof - built by crazy King Ludwig II. That's not most important thing that happened to us though because as we were walking around waiting for our times entry into the castle, a bigger Russian man fell to the ground and had a heart attack. The ambulance and doctor was called and they worked on him - out in the open where we all watched - for over 30 minutes until they pronounced him gone. His poor wife was there the whole time as she wouldn't leave but it was terrible to see. This was only the first day of our bus tour - it had to get better after this.
Lucky for us, it did. We've been to see some marvelous scenery all through the Austrian Alps and today we continued through the Swiss Alps. I know, I know what you're all thinking. JoAnne, again, in the Alps. What gives. Let's say it's my huge present to my husband - who is enjoying it immensely. We have been to some beautiful cities in the middle of a ring of mountains. We've been through, literally, hundreds of tunnels and bridges in order to get to some of them. Today, G took a funicular and then a gondola up to the Stanserhorn mountain to get to its summit. I've been before so I stayed on the ground and visited the town and had several espresso coffees while waiting for him. He had a really great time even though it was pretty foggy and cloudy and really cold and snowy. Many women held onto his arms, rather tightly, as they climbed to the summit. Anyway, on my own, I journeyed up into the trail a bit up the mountain and came upon, what else would you come upon up the mountain in Switzerland - a whole herd of cows, each wearing a cow bell. I stood there and closed my eyes and just listened to the sound which was so melodic that I felt as if I were far removed from Earth. Each cow moved at a different time so the bells were creating music. How wonderful it was - and magical. G would have loved it. Well, one can only sit with cows for so long so I descended to the valley and went for another coffee. Just like the good ole' days in Lahr. We used to call them a "European Day." We spent the rest of the day in Berne and are now in Lausanne for the night. We are in a brand new hotel and I am sitting here with a wine in the front bar while G is in the room writing in his journal. Just like a 4-star hotel, I got a huge plate of free cheese, meat and crackers with the wine.
Tomorrow, we are heading for the number 2 rated event of this trip. Our train ride straight up the cog-wheel train mountain to reach the carless Zermatt to spend two nights. We are staying in an actual Swiss Chalet. We will then, the next day, take the next cog-wheel train higher up to visit the Matterhorn Mountain.
Gotta finish my wine - and, free stuff.
J

Learning So Much

Wow, who knew that there was so much to learn! Well, we did actually but sometimes keeping it all straight is very difficult. We spent 4 hours yesterday with a tour guide walking the area within the old city of Munich. We learned so much especially about how Germany became Germany, how Munich became Munich and all about the escapades of its historical people such as Napoleon and Hitler. There are amazing memorials all over the city that you can't find or understand unless an historian shows them to you and tells you what they mean. We walked famous or infamous streets, all with a gruesome or interesting story. And who knew that as we drank beer in the famous HofBrauhaus, we were in a place where Hitler had locked the doors on several people and military men to convince them to support him in a 'power over Germany' campaign. This all led to the Beer House Push. Good grief, will I remember all of this? No matter, G will remind me. He's better at it than I am. All this in the rain.
Last night started their huge celebration over May Day. Fireworks, parties, bands, noise all night. They sure do party hardier than we do in NA. We have experienced partying in almost every country and city that we've been in. One has to wonder why. I guess that if I lived in these crowded cities and had to struggle with their economic and political difficulties, I would need to party too. It's much like that group of people that adopted us in Cologne during Karneval, who told us that no matter what, they needed to have the celebration where they could just let go.
Here's the realization for me: Years ago when I was younger and living here for so long, I was smitten with the place and wanted to live here forever. Now, in my older years and back here with Gerhard and looking at it from different eyes and with more experience under my belt, I can see that it's far too volatile of a union for me to want to be a part of. Even our guide yesterday said that the countries are afraid that if one thing goes wrong with any one country, then they are all embroiled in the problem because they are so intensely connected. We have very much enjoyed our time here in Europe but as someone visiting from off continent, we can see all the things that this great collection of countries doesn't get yet.
Cheers to my home country of Canada.

G's special day

A big event for Gerhard today. All holiday long since we've been in Germany, he's been at me to get him to a place where he can buy himself a set of lederhosen or German Bavarian costume pants and the getup. I kept telling him to wait until we were in the right spot. Well three weeks before we are set to come home, I am finally able to present him with three stores from which to chose his special gift. One of the stores - and again I say that you have to be prepared for anything - changed the price from 120 euros for the knee trousers to 180 euros just by walking down the stairs from where we tried them on. Imagine! The other store was just too expensive and the last store - really, the second that we visited in Munich - was just perfect. There were two lovely young things to wait on Gerhard and he was in his glory as they ran to and fro getting him what he wanted, or rather needed with his long body. We had such a fun time with them. We walked out with our purchase and fond memories of the event. He's so proud of himself and, actually, he's quite cute in his costume.
Then, to top of the day, we walked around the old town of Munich until we found the HofBrauHaus, or the very excellent beer brewery where you can sway to the live German beer music and drink and eat to your hearts content. We walked into a huge area just a brimming to the top with people and jolly beer talk and found ourselves a spot at a long table. At one end of the table was an older German gentleman, beside me, who did snuff all night. That great aroma of menthol wafted up to my nose just as strongly, I'm sure, as it was going into his. I tried talking to him but his mind must have been all confused or something. Across from us was a couple, not actually a couple but, a young Torontonian man and his father's friend whom he was visiting. It turns out that this young man is on his first week of his three-month European tour. That's right - see, we aren't the only crazy people on this earth. He just up and quit his job because he felt that he needed to see the world.
I don't think that I need to tell you that when a young man challenges Gerhard to try and finish their 1 liter beers together, Gerhard is going to say no. So..... watching them was hilarious. Naturally, G lost but it was in good sport and G said that he was just trying to give the younger fellow some good stories to tell about how he beat another man in drinking. Yup, right!
Munich city old town is a great place. Many museums, shops, parlours and cafes. Tomorrow we think that we will take the 3-hour free walking tour and then the 1 hour bus tour around the entire city. More to learn.

Things We've Done Right

The biggest thing that we've hit 5 stars on is our decision to constantly take the train and to not bother with renting a car and trying to get from place to place paying for fuel and car rentals - not to mention the hassle of driving the autobahns and highways and trying to find our way around. Train travel is so comfortable and cheap. We get up and walk around, go to the washroom or the bar/restaurant car or talk to other people. It is a very civilized mode of transportation. We only need to find a hotel and then train it to that place and not worry about parking and the rest. For each city or town that we visit, the methods of transportation such as the trollies, busses , subways and trams far outperform the worry over a car. We have purchased separate 4-day monthly passes here in Europe rather than having purchased a Eurorail pass from Canada. It was cheaper here because we could get the specials and deals set aside only for those already in the country.
The second best thing is the money and speed that we've saved by booking our hotel rooms over the internet with, usually, otel.com. With them we usually prepay and save tons of dollars compared to the prices given to you over the counter or phone. We collect points too and then use them on other bookings. We've always chosen hotels close to the train stations so that we need not walk too far to find them with our backpacks.
The third best thing is that we tend to walk everywhere and stay in places that most tourists wouldn't dream of seeing. It has helped us to connect with the locals and to see and get to understand how they live and how the world around us is changing.
One of the biggest things that has made a huge difference in our trip is that we have taken bus tours to give us a break over having to set absolutely everything in motion for finding a place to stay and eat. It has been very nice to just let someone else take care of things. In this way too, we have been given a chance to see many more places that we would never have bothered to get to because they would have been to difficult - like the Alps, or too scary to go near - like Morocco. It has also given us a chance to meet some incredibly fine people on our tours with us.
We also put our "Europe on a shoestring" given to us by the kids to good use and followed quite a bit of suggestions. We always dropped into the tourist bureau every single time as we entered a new place and this helped us to get ourselves settled with knowledge.
Look for our list of things we've done wrong.

Munich or Munchen

Change of plans in Freiburg. We went to Basel on Sunday instead of to the pioneer village - shorter train ride. We enjoyed Basel but there's not much to it because it's a regular city with a smaller older part suitable for free walking. Besides, it was Sunday and things were mostly closed except cafes and things of that nature. The most striking thing that we forgot about was when we paid for something and got nothing back but Swiss Francs. Oh yeah - duhhh! We did walk the old town and saw an ABC - as we tourists here in Europe like to call it - another bloody cathedral, castle or church. All apply. It's true, this land is so old and there are so many of the three mentioned types of buildings that you can't walk 500 meters without running into one or the other. Anyway, the church was the most beautifully renovated one that we've ever seen.
Today we took the three-hour train ride to Munich and, for the whole way, we had a private booth closed in so that we didn't have to listen to the world around us. Gerhard gets sick on the trains if he is sitting backwards to the mode of travel and so we have to ask for and reserve two window seats so that we can change according to going forward. It was a lovely empty train - not going to happen too much often because tourist season is about to blow wide open. Yes, even with the so called "economic crisis" we are still seeing a huge amount of tourists streaming into Europe.
Our hotel is, again, in the middle of where the new cultures settle. Our hotel clerk tells us that it's gone from being an Italian, to Russian and now to a Turkish quarter. It's always around the train stations. It was too funny as we set out this evening to try and find some cereal and milk for supper. Again we were reminded that these cultures don't eat cereal or drink milk. However, their grocery stores, which are abundant in fresh produce, are some of the cheapest that we've ever found.
Heh, I finally have a bathtub and not a shower. It's like opening a present every time we get a new hotel room. Shower or tub. Now we both run to the bathroom to check.

Freiburg

We got here Fri. morning, ditched our luggage and then went downtown. We ended up finding a little bar and sitting for happy hour cocktails with two young female students from Med School here in the city. We had a blast and didn't leave until after 11:30. They are just 20 and seem like such babies to us but they spoke fine english and we switched between german and english all night.
It is such a young city here because of the universities and so is far more relaxed and safe for walking out and about in the night. Yesterday, we went shopping a bit for much needed things. I've seemed to have washed the crap out of most of our stuff so socks and things are needed. I`ve been suffering from allergies here in the southern parts of Germany and I knew it would happen but my face often has a rash and my hair was in bad need of a cut. So, yesterday was kind of a dolly-day.
Today we are heading out by regional train to an old fashioned village set up to show what life was like in the olden days of the Black Forest. Tomorrow, maybe Basel, SW.
J

Special Day in Lahr

Today we drove to a mineral bath and spa in Baden Baden. I did promise G a very good time. We swam, lazed around, went into the aroma therapy steam room, and ate a very healthy lunch. This is not the very special time that I promised him however. At the end of our day, when he went for a shower, he was to find himself and 6 other men in the room all showering together - which is normal. However, when a cleaning lady mozied in to spray the floors and wash the drains out all around the men, this was not normal. So,,,,,, Gerhard decided that when in Germany - behave as the Germans do. AAAhhh, he decided it was a good time to wash his private parts. Well, enough of that. Poor G - Europe is having its way with him. Females, on the other hand, even got private shower stalls to choose from if they wanted.
We drove all over places in Lahr today just to do justice with our little car and to show Gerhard as much as possible. We even went to the old airfield to see how much it has changed. Lots of the buildings have been taken down and the land is now in the process of being marked for fire hydrants and streets. There were still many of the airfield buildings left - my old office building was even renovated and is a beautiful thing in the midst of a bunch of ugly green old military buildings left to be dealt with. We drove around as much as we could and took pictures of many of them because they will soon disappear from the face of the earth. The entire area has been filled with companies that deal with shipping or trucking or big business.
All of our little trips only used 1/4 of a tank of fuel, but that's not saying much because the tank only holds 1 cup of fuel anyway. Just kidding - 30 litres. We return the poor little bugger tomorrow just before we take the train outta here. We leave with very fond memories of this place - still knowing that we Canadians left a wonderful impression on these people and knowing that the city is starting to fare better in the last 10 years.
Onward we go - due South.
j

In Lahr

Well, to say the least, G fits into a Smart Car. Knees just barely clear the wheel. Do you people know how tiny it is? Do you know how long it takes for him to unfold to get out? The wheel is like holding onto a kiddy car.
We drove all over the countryside yesterday to find my old house that we moved into when we first arrived. It is about 30 minutes outside of Lahr and we didn't stay there too long because the kids ended up taking a 1 1/2 hour school bus ride twice a day to school. But, the house looks just the same and the old town too. I felt like Alice in Wonderland - slipping into a world not mine but still mine.
We then headed out to the largest amusement park in Germany. EuropaPark. We had a wonderful day. The weather was great and the beer was too. We saw many shows - ice shows, dancing, time travel, medieval josting, and many people just being themselves putting on a show they didn't know about. It was the best time of the year to go. Most kids were in school but it seems kids from France never go to school. They were there in droves. This just after they have had two weeks off. The park is much bigger than when we were here. It now boasts two huge roller coasters that you can see from miles away. The whole park is now put into countries of the European Union.
We drove back to the park after 8 hours of walking and playing and then drank some wine and went to bed. Great day - Great wine is so cheap - rose for 2 euros. Right from France - the same stuff that we had at the winery. Gotta come home soon or we'll be pickled.
Heading out to Baden Baden today with the little four-wheeled motorcycle. I did promise G a turn in the mineral baths. It's about a 1 hour tuna can ride on the little side highway number 3. We would never take the little car on the autobahn because it can't keep up - the engine is so small. The engine is smaller than James' motorcycle. Just picture a pregnant roller skater with two people on top - says G.
We will do a little more sightseeing in Lahr later today and then head out for Freiburg tomorrow for 4 days. Talk to you later.
j