1ST DAY IN GERMANY OUTSIDE FRANKFURT
Stayed with Volker and Ursula in Windecken
Ursula’s dad gave us the royal tour of the village
Enjoyed a good home cooked meal and local beer late into the evening
with the entire Heilmann clan and friends
Spent the night at Volkers brother’s house. His brother Windford and his wife Barbara were wonderful hosts
Our first day was spent with the Heilmann clan cruising around the picturesque
town of Rothenburg, between Frankfurt and Munich.
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Ursula was happy staying on the ground while the rest of us explored
the wall around the city
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Yes, it was a great view from the top!
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We met up with Andrea in Regensburg and for dinner that night she brought
us to a great beer garden along the Danube river. Great German beer and
brat worst was had by all.
Andrea had been a foreign exchange student at CU in 2001 - 2002 and
we were her virtual family while she attended CU.
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We made a stop at the Dauchau concentration camp outside of Munich the next day, on our way down to Austria. Dachau was as depressing as you would expect. It's amazing to me that such an atrocity occurred then and that ethnic cleansing still a topic that we read about in the news!
Pension Waldrast in Ruette, Austria, nestled in a valley between Austria and Germany near King Ludwig's castles-Neuschwanstein and Hoenschwangau.
Wow, I can pick this car up with one hand!
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Rachel and I elected to take the King's carriage up to the castle while
Joey and Carol pounded the pavement.
Ruette was a quaint little town and we enjoyed relaxing after a filling
lunch at one of the local restaurants
All of the local musicians of Ruette have a tradition of getting together
( hiking) to the top of the local peak and playing traditional Austrian
folk music once a month. We were lucky enough to be in town that night
and joined in the festivities. The music was very folksy, and the crowd
was friendly, and the beer and wine plentiful.
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The concert was over prematurely and the hike down was exciting on the dark, wet trail!
Back in the car and off to Interlocken, Switzerland with a stop in Luzern to check out the covered bridge and cool off on this unusually hot summer day.
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The view of the Juangfrau and Eiger from downtown Interlocken was awesome.
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The next morning we headed up to Murren which is only accessible by cable car and then train. Wow, this place has some of the most incredible scenery you can imagine!
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I was expecting Heidi to jump out behind one of these old barns that
are still used today to store feed hay for the long winter months
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The hills are alive, with the sound of cows bells!
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The Swiss are meticulous when it comes to their homes, gardens and stacking
wood. Every pile of wood was always neatly cut and stacked.
After 3 days of glorious hiking in the Alps, we headed for my old stomping grounds, Geneva Switzerland. I spent 3 years of my elelmentary school years in Geneva and wanted to stop by and see what I still remembered. Well, they still speak French and the lake has not changed shape.
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Even the local grocery in Plains les Watts was still there along with
the house that we shared with the landlords who lived upstairs.
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The next morning we were back in the car and with the company of "Harry
Potter and the Chamber of Secrets", book CD. We were all so absorbed in
the book by the time we pulled into the IBIS hotel in Paris, nobody wanted
to stop the car! We finally tuned out and cruised into town by subway to
check out the sights.
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The Eiffel tower stairs was our first bit of exercise that day and well
needed. The view as the sun set over the city was awesome!
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The next day was spent checking out the big tourist attractions Notre
Dame, the Louvre and Museum D'Orsay. After 2 hours in the Louvre,
we realized how little appreciation we had for the art world. However,
now that Carol and I have just read "the DA VINCI CODE", we are ready for
a return trip to check out Mona Lisa and the Last Supper.
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What trip to Paris would be complete without speaking to Mickey Mouse in Francais?
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After 4 days in Paris, our next and final destination was Bonn to visit
with our wonderful friend and ex CU foreign student Alex and his girlfriend
Eva. Alex insisted we stay over at his place and we enjoyed 2 full days
with our new found tour guide.
We started our first day checking out castles just off and on the Rhine.
The first one we visited was untouched by the wages of wars. Unfortunately
I'm writing this over a year since we visited and I don't remember the
names of either castle!
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This 2nd castle was on the Rhine and had great views and a torture room
that was Joey's favorite!
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We cruised up to Cologne the following day and checked out the Stollwerk chocolate factory. Joey and Rachel signed up on the chocolate bean quality check out team
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Our last stop was the huge cathedral that will go nameless for now! Unfortunately we had a plan to catch the next morning so we said our good byes and headed off to Frankfurt
See ya next year, some new place, some new
time, lots a new adventures!!!!!!!!!!!!!
