I love Paris in......November!

Paris  is fabulous -- even if you only get two days to visit!  I had a three day weekend so attempted a short visit.  Most folks think I'm crazy, but we left Thursday afternoon, arriving in Paris on Friday morning, and left for home on Sunday!!

And Paris in November is still great!  I did learn that I need to bring a larger suitcase even on short trips as shopping often gets the best of me!

We spent more time at La Defense -- including at this fountain below, where I think it looks like a place where old ice augers go to die.

And of course, no visit is complete without the obligatory picture of the Seine....



We're home! and random pix

We made it home safely on Sunday, July 10th.  No delays or problems with the planes and we are still impressed with KLM -- they serve the best food and snacks, even on short (e.g., 1 hour) flights!

Jet lag has not yet been totally conquered although last night, we both managed to stay up and awake until 9:30 pm which is our new record this week.

The trip was magnificent -- and I still have random photos from the 'blog camera' that I haven't had a chance to upload, so here goes, and some even with description or commentary....

Church in Seefeld

First mountain driving after leaving Seefeld, on the way to Canazai.

Lovely pedestrian (no bikes or motorcyles either!!) path between Penia and Canazai.



The walking trail was complete with rock climbers practicing!

Motorcycle with built in GPS -- how cool is that!

Our little Ford, bless her little heart, she tried to keep up!

More scenery and driving views...

Terrifying electrical storm

So on our last night in Europe, we headed down to the open-air shopping/eating space at the airport -- which, as I mentioned, is connected to our cool hotel.  Remember this picture?

Well that is all metal and glass-type structure ensuring that shoppers stay protected and dry, right?  Well it was truly put to the test on our last night.  The mother of all electrical storms managed to show up with us at the epi-center!  I actually saw a bolt of lightning strike right above our heads!  Everyone kept asking me to take a picture, take a picture.  But I was too busy cowering so you'll just have to use your imagination!

Thankfully, the storm passed over after about 10 terrifying minutes (althought it felt like an hour)!  We managed to enjoy our food and get a picture of all five of us!



Little Miss GPS

Our little miss GPS has been with us through thick and thin on this trip.  I can honestly say, I'm not sure where we would have been without her during those times we either were not traveling with Rodger, Rusty and Pam or those few times where we got separated.  Well actualy I can imagine....we'd probably be somewhere in Poland by now.

Other than a few strange "suggestions" and the times where she got mad at me for overriding her request (you know....RECALCULATING), she has been stellar.

I've tried several times to get a video of her pronunciation -- this is the best I could do and I hope this works!  Please turn your volume up and note that we were being directed to turn onto St 2584...

Food, part 2!!

Our food adventure has been wonderful.  Lest you think we forgot, we have all tried several versions of Apple Struedel.  I wasn't able to capture a picture of the untouched struedel as we were usually too hungry!  However, here is the end result

Today, we have turned in all three rental cars and are checked into the Hotel Kempinski that is literally AT the Munich Airport.  That will make our departure process tomorrow morning much less stressful!  What a hotel!  We enjoyed lunch in the airport outdoor shopping courtyard which is next to the hotel. 

Airport food you think ... but it was wonderful as illustrated below.  I had potato soup with a selection of Bavarian cheeses.....

Gordy tried the 'two pair of weiners with pretzel"...

Rodger tried the pike perch...

Interestingly enough, mixed in with the airport shops, there is a large grocery store! We still are not quite sure of the logic, although obviously we don't know the area.  Having driven into and out of the airport though, having this grocery store here seems a bit odd.  Perhaps one arrives back in town and does one's grocery shopping with one's suitcases before heading home?

A morning of remembrance....

I questioned whether to post anything about this as I do not want to trivialize this into a tourist stop.  This morning we were able to visit KZX-Gedenkstatte Dachau -- Dachau Concentration Camp.

I can only say that it is an overwhelming place and one that leaves me still in shock and horror.  It, however, is a place that you should see if you can.   I will only post a few pictures in remembrance.

First, a thank you to all those in the armed services and their families for their sacrifices to try to prevent or rescue those from this type of horror.

There were 30 barracks for prisoners here at one time....

Entering and exiting via the infamous iron gate with the slogan Arbeit macht frei ("Work makes you free")

May the example of those who were exterminated here between 1933-1945
because they resisted Nazism help to unite the living for the defence of peace
and freedom and in respect for their fellow men



Harry Young, wherever you are!

Quite an interesting situation this morning while waiting for our first tour.....two polizei, a police van and a very stern looking castle employee were looking for a Mr. Harry Young!  After calling his name out in the crowd waiting and getting no response, we all assumed that it was a closed deal.  Then later during the tour, the intercom for guides loudly proclaimed "Harry Young of Canada, please report to the ticket area".  We still have no idea what happened but please someone let him know they are searching for him in southern Germany....

Neuschwanstein Castle

As I mentioned earlier, I have wanted to visit Neuschwanstein Castle for a very long time.  So much of the myths surrounding this castle and its builder are intriguing, but also may not be totally true.  For example, it is widely said to be unfinished; however, one-third of it was completed and King Ludwig actually lived it in for 172 days.

While most of us and most guidebooks say that King Ludwig was "mad" -- it appears that the issues may have been more related to his willingness to spend the kingdom's money!!

Regardless, the castle is beyond words, both from a distance and on the inside.  For example, the wood carving in the King's bedroom took 14 woodcarvers over 4 years to complete!

Here are just a few of the over 50 pictures that I took!

The King's Castles

We woke up on Friday morning to pouring rain.  This is our day to tour the "King's Castles" which include Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein (which, by the way, inspired Walt Disney).  To say that I was depressed doesn't do it justice -- I've been looking forward to this for ages!

But we have reservations, so off we go.  I need to also note here that Rick Steve's guidebook had put a bit of fear into me, and I quote "You must use your ticket while your number is still on the board.  If you space out while waiting for a polite welcome, you'll miss your entry window and never get in."  However, I need not have worried.  The Germans are very organized here -- gotta love it! 

And my German ancestors must have been smiling down on me as the rain stopped and the sun came out just as we were arriving at the first castle --  the day was glorious!

We paid for the guided English tour, which I highly recommend. Our first tour was Hohenschwangau.  History lesson here...this castle is older and was King Ludwig's boyhood home.  The castle was built in the 12th Century and was later ruined by Napoleon (boy he got around!).  This is actually quite a beautiful castle and very impressive.

I will do a separate post for Neuschwanstein Castle.

Food!!!

Caution - portions of this post may not be appropriate for those with a squeamish stomach.

The food has been wonderful -- I've always thought that German food was supposed to be heavy and boring, but not so!

I'll start though with a couple of the dishes we tried at our hotel in Italy.  The Caprese Salad was a big hit and also was so large that we all got to taste test.

That night we also ordered a wonderful cold cut plate -- the presentation was amazing.

But now to German food...  And what would a visit to Germany be without wiener schnitzel!  Gordy tried this version in Erding and found it to be "incredible"

And now comes the section that those of you with a squeamish stomach may want to avoid -- Consider yourself warned!

Okay, so I love liver!  And they had it on the menu here in Erding and I tried it!

IT WAS AWESOME! 

I know many of you will not believe it.  This is seriously the best food I've eaten all week!



Guten Appetit!

Sneak peak at Neuschwanstein!

Today, we checked out of The Cube and headed out of Switzerland, through Lichtenstein and to Pinswang, Austria.  I've been especially looking forward to this part of the trip as we hope to tour mad King Ludwig's castle tomorrow.  However, we arrived at our wonderful hotel early enough that, according to Rick Steve's guide, we should be able to walk to view the two castles!

The guide book says that the castles are a little over an hour walking from our hotel and 30 minutes by bike.  Conveniently our hotel rents mountain bikes!  The word 'mountain' in front of the word bike should have been my first clue!  Neither Gordy nor I have ridden a bike in over 10 years!  Somehow the Wii Fit did not prepare us well, no offense to Nintendo.

So off we went....can you just say LOTS of up hill trails.  I only got half use out of my bike -- the downhill part.  I had to push the bike up the hills -- I prefer to remember it as the bike was too heavy for my delicate constitution!  It's my story, and I'm sticking to it.  The guide book said biking would take 30 minutes and walking over an hour -- we split the difference, it took us 45 minutes each way.

It was a cool trip, now that I'm back and have survived. You actually cross into Germany on the bike trail.  The guard station is not staffed.  But just to prove that we were there and had bikes....

And we finally got a glimpse!

Can't wait until tomorrow!  And this time, we'll drive over!