Final post

This is to be my final wrap up post. Thanks to all my readers. I hope you enjoyed my commentary about our trip. I am glad to be home. The flight home was good and there was 3 fairly recent movies to watch. Our oldest son, Adam picked us up from the airport and brought us home. The house was not a mess as I had feared but the grass did need cutting. Since it had rained recently I am assuming that the two children would have cut it if they could have!? People have been asking what I liked best and I was not able to have an answer at hand. I have been thinking out this and I sense that Europe is different from Canada because of its' rich, often bloody history. The makes the people very proud of and entrenched in their customs. It feels different from Canada, perhaps because we are a comparatively young country. There are tangible symbols of their history on every street corner in the way of churches, old townhalls, old homes and even Imperial Palaces. Our river cruise highlighted castles seemingly every few kilometres perched on mountain tops along the rivers. It was intriguing, amazing and beautiful. This was a "trip of a lifetime" for me. I loved the river cruise and would love to do another one someday but the day to day car touring was also interesting albeit slightly more stressful when it came to finding a place to sleep. I think Austria was the most scenic because of the mountains and Germany's romantic road was the most tangible reminder of the past with two still intact walled cities that can be walked around. Actually, all of it was interesting. I was never bored and even though we saw many churches they still had the power to awe. To sum up, I had a great time and am thinking about our next destination. Stay tuned and thanks for reading.

June 10 Amsterdam

The train was interesting and I am glad I did it for the experience. The cabin was a small space and I lost track of the numbed of times I bonked my head and even my bad knee got a good whack. There is a small sink to wash but the water temperature is unpredictable and it is difficult not to splash the floor when washing. The bed was fairly comfortable but small and when the train cornered there was a tendency to slide up or down on the bed. There is also the pleasure of sharing a toilet although this was never a problem. When I woke up very much before our arrival time I still felt tired because of the less sleep hours but we washed, packed up and waited to arrive. In Amsterdam, the bags were installed into lockers and we went to stand in line for the Anne Frank house. We waited about an hour and only I went in because Carl had already been here. In situations like Anne's, I want there to be a happy ending but she didn't make it. Her story does however live on in her book and this museum. Afterward, we strolled around for a while longer and then caught the train to the airport. Here we found our hotel shuttle bus where we were spending the night. We need to get some rest since we have an early start to going home tomorrow.

June 9 Stuttgart to Munich

Woke up to a thunderstorm that passed over but its remnants left a cloudy day. We ate, packed, said good-bye to Gerd and headed for Dachau. By lunch time I could feel my chest tightening up and then I knew I had contracted Gerd's cough/illness. I started coughing periodically but thankfully no other symptoms appeared yet. Gerd, thanks for your hospitality. Even though you were sick, you were still a great host. Maybe we can return the favour when you come visit us. I cannot quite describe how I felt about Dachau. Even though you see all the proof of the atrocities committed there, it just boggles my mind to think that this was allowed to happen. I did not even want to take pictures but finally as we were about to leave I thought I should just to remind myself that I had actually been there. The rental car was returned next and we headed for the train station. We got our ticket verified and sat down to wait for our overnight train to Amsterdam which was to leave at 11:55pm.

June 8 Stuttgart

Got up, had breakfast and debated what to do for the day. We ruled out the Porsche museum and the Ritter sport museum and chose the Wilhema zoo and botanical gardens. This was a very nice and interesting way to spend the day and we were pooped when we were done due to all the walking. We headed back to Gerd's for a snack and late lunch or early dinner. Gerd took us out for dinner. We drove a few km out of Stuttgart into a part of the city that was forested and a one lane road. There are many private gardens in this area. We walked a short bit to a restaurant that Gerd knew about. The restaurant was special with a grassed backyard and picnic tables outside. You have to order your food inside and then they bring it out. We enjoyed our meal sitting outside until the night turned chilly. Thanks Gerd for showing us this piece of Stuttgart. The view from up there was amazing and I'll never forget the small of apple strudl baking as we stood and looked at Stuttgart and countryside. Since it was our last night together, I broke out a small icewine for us to share. The sun had made us all tired so we said good nighg. Sunday we drive to Munich to drop the car and catch our overnight train to Amsterdam. Monday will be in Amsterdam and Tuesday morning we fly home.

June 7 Rottenberg to Stuttgart

Sunny again and our credit card company sucks! Sears Mastercard got declined when Carl went to check out of our hotel. He had to use another card because there was no one at Sears MC to take our call due to the time difference. We headed for Gerd's in Stuttgart stopping first at Creglingen to pop into Herrgottskirche which houses a famous carved wooded altar by Tilman Riemenschneider between 1505 and 1510. The next stop at Bad Mergentheim was a quick walk through but it was sufficient to get a flavour of the town. Arrived Stuttgart at 13:00 hours and were greeted by Gerd. We unpacked, chatted a bit and decided we needed some lunch before heading to the Mercedes museum. The museum was quite well laid out and informative. We were there close to 2 hours and from there went downtown to see a bit of the city and to look for Tarok cards. Tarok cards were located but not the type (Piatnik) Carl wants so we thought a stop for refreshments at a patio was in order. After this and since we still were not hungry due to the big lunch we did some grocery shopping. We needed some breakfast food and local beers. Upon our return to Gerd's, we baked some apfel strudel for the next morning and then called it a night.

June 6 Rottenberg ob der Tauber

Sun! Slept in a bit, had breakfast and set off for the museum of Medieval Crime and Justice. There were some gruesome products and information. For example, if a baker made his bread not heavy enough, he could be dunked in a steel cage into the spring, summer or winter. Apparently, there was not much cheating in the winter time, I wonder why? From here we continued our walking tour around the town, had some lunch and caught a guided walking tour at 2. After this, I said it was time for an apfel strudel so we stopped for a cafe, apfel strudel, schneeballen(snow ball is the local specialty) and some ice cream for Carl. Ha, you thought I was going to say beer, didn't you? The snow ball is made of strips of pie dough loosely rolled into a ball, deep fried and dusted with sugar or chocolate or something else sweet. I would not recommend this treat but we had to try at least one small one. After all the sweets, we had to get our butts moving so we walked around the rest of the city wall until dinner time. We had a fantastic schnitzel for dinner and headed for the Night Watchmen tour. This was recommended by Rick Steves who apparently shows up here once a year. The guy was hilarious as he told tales of the town's history. What a way to make a living! Time to call it a night. Travel day tomorrow.

June 5 Augsberg-Hapburg-Nordlingen-Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Augsberg is the romantic road's largest city with 260,000 inhabitants and a Renaissance era atmosphere. We strolled down the streets in the aldstadt, peeked into the city hall, climbed a bell tower for the view, popped into a church and then spent a while trying to get out of the town that was all caught up in construction. We made a detour through Hapburg just to see the river and the flooding. It was fairly minor here but still a few streets were closed due to flooding. Nordlingen im Ries is the only town in Germany with walls and battlments that can be walked all the way around in the medieval alt stadt. This walk was very cool, around the whole city on a covered wall. There was even a cafe on the wall where we stopped for a rest and a beer and ice cream. Moving on to our destination, Rottenberg ob der tauber we arrived late in the afternoon and headed straight to the tourist information to get a room. With 2 recommendations, we visited each b&b and asked to see the roms and eventuallz booked the second but, no internet. What a pain! Our Gasthof served an excellent dinner and then we decided to walk their medieval wall. Very cool but it was getting dark so we headed back to the hotel for a good nights sleep.

June 4 Neuschwanstein

Sorry this is late but no internet lately. Our b&b did not come with breakfast so we headed to the local grocery store which also had a cafe. Carl had bacon, cheese bun and I had a big cherry cheese streusel. Since we did not want to stand in line at the castles we headed up the mountain earlz and got an 8:50 entry to Schloss Hohenschwangau and 10:55 for Schloss Neuschwanstein. King Ludwig II lived in the first castle until he was 18 and he build the second as his own castle. The view of this castle is incredible especially from the outside but the inside was also interesting. The view from the castle of the surrounding area was breathtaking. We finished our tours, had some lunch and began our trip on the Romantic Road. The guide book sent us to Wies and the Wieskirche. This huge church is seemingly in the middle of nowhere and although plain on the outside, the interior is a Rococo masterpiece. There were bright frescoes, statues, columns, gilded stucco wood carvings and an enormous cupulo that took 8 years to create by 1754. Landsberg am lech was the next stop. After parking beside the river, it soon became apparent that something was going on. The locals were gathered on the bridge watching the water. It was high and about 1 metre to the bottom of the nearest building. The flooding at Passau was all over the news today. If we had taken a later cruise we could have been stuck here. There was 2 cruise ships stranded in Passau. We stopped at a Gasthof late in the afternoon and inquired about a room. This ended up being our last stop for today with authentic german food served for dinner. Interestingly no English was spoken here and no internet was provided.

June 3 Innsbruck and to Fussen

Up early, had a nice breakfast, arranged our parking and started on our walking tour. Everything in the old city seemed very compact and concentrated. We saw the Imperial Palace and most of the highlights, had lunch and then drove to the Ambras Castle on the mountain. The castle had a very large collectjon of medieval body armour, a glass collection and lots more Hapsburg portraits. There were peacocks wandering around the garden grounds and they put on a nice display for us. Back in the car we headed for Fussen, a one and half hour drive. It started raining on the way and the temperature dropped. We found the b &b but the proprietess suggested a different location where they had another room so we followed her, checked it out and checked in. Shortly after we walked down to the old city and located some german food. It was a great meal and we walked back to our place and prepared for the castle assault we have to do in the morning; Neuschwanstein.

June 2 Venice and to Innsbruck

Checked out of the B&B and headed for Venice. We parked the car and did the Grand Canal touf by water bus to St. Mark's square. Unfortunately because of Corpus Christi the Basilica was closed to the public so we wandered around the square and found the clock tower and the Doges Palace. Took some pictures by the Bridge of Sighs and headed for the Rialto area. Although the architecture is unique, the shops are not and many shop names are recognizable. In one of the back streets we stopped in for a pizza, pop and WC. Boy, you don't want to have a bathroom emergency in this place as it costs 1euro50 to pee. Continuing our wandering through the city and canals eventually brought us to the tram that takes you back to your car. Next stop, Innsbruck. The drive to Innsbruck, Austria through Italy was one of the most picturesque we have seen. The autobahn is nestled between the mountains which are dotted with small towns, churchs and vineyards. There was a bit of stop n go traffic since all the long weekenders were returning to Austria and Germany. It took us longer than expected to get to Innsbruck and the GPS couldnt find the b&b so we ended up at McDonalds for the free wifi searching for a place. Found one, the Gasthof Innsbruck, right in the heart of the old city so we finally settled in after 10 and I went straight to bed.

June 1 Bled Castle Gorge Ljubljana Village

Sun! It's been so long since we've seen it and it's the perfect day for Bled, Bled castle and the Vintgar gorge. Bled was beautiful but I guess I expected more based on all the chatter. My cousin Gerhard's opinion was that we have scenery just as nice in Canada but, we do not have many castles built on a rock on the mountain. Vintgar gorge was worth the drive. An hour hike beside a river that is crystal clear and that is cut through the rocks. I would highly recommend it. Since the sun was still peeking through the clouds, we headed for Ljubljana. We did the Readers Digest version of the city centre; the square, the bridges, the buildings and McDonald's for lunch. We were soon heading back to Narin, stopping at Rude so Carl could invite him for dinner. A brief walking tour ensued followed by a trip to Cveto's house where the whole family visites over proscuit, potica and wine. I got the rest of the evening off to relax and update my blog while Carl dined with Rude and another friend.

May 31 Caves Castle and Village

7:30 breakfast and it was time for a road trip to Postojnska Jama. Did I mention that it was still cold and rainy? They were saying that it has not been this bad a spring for 30 years. We got to the caves early and stood around a bit but we got the first tour. The caves were quite spectacular and wouldn't you know it, we got stuck behind a chinese tour group. I felt right at home. The group was armed with cameras, face masks, umbrellas and rain gear and of course they had to take pictures even though it is not allowed. I admit even I sneaked in a few photos. There is also thr Predjama Castle nearby but since Carl said that the interior is "forgettable", we drove over and just looked from the outside. The castle looks quite impregnable built into the side of the mountain and it still looks to be in good shape from the outside. We had a fast lunch at a place we spotted on the highway. I ordered the lunch pizza special and Carl the rib special that came with soup, salad, ribs and potatoes. We were stuffed when done but we had to keep going because other rellies were expecting us. Finding Fani was a little challenging but the locals pointed us in the right direction. We were warmly welcomed and Carl and I were given a huge piece of cake. Fani's husband does not look at all good. They seem to spend their time in the kitchen where the wood stove keeps them warm. After a time, we said our good byes and moved on to Stanko and Silva's where we were also warmly received. Since we had recently eaten and eaten, we just snacked on some cheese and proscuit while we chatted for a few hours. We saw Duchon??'s daughter, Alexi and Tanya and Simon's youngest son. The older boy was away at a camp learning to swim. When we left there, Silva gave me a little handmade gift. It was time to call it a night.