On the road....

Photos taken from the road. Megan got a big giggle about the gute fahrt sign on the warehouse. Exits from the highway were also funny because they were ausfahrts.

gute fahrt = good drive
ausfahrt = out drive (or drive off the highway, exit)

Yes, we did travel on the autobahn system. It is amazingly civilized driving. There are three lanes and slower traffic keeps to the right except to pass. We often travelled at 140 kmh (88 mph) and would get passed as though we were standing still. To paraphrase the line from Pirates of the Caribbean -- "Speed limits, they're actually more of a guideline."

Germany uses both nuclear power and alternative power sources. We saw one wind farm with over 60 windmills. Pretty impressive!

Downtown Aachen....

We rented a van to get around, not expecting to be issued a 9 passenger Mercedes Sprinter. Driving, and parking, on the narrow streets of small German towns was an interesting adventure. Luckily we found a public parking garage right close to the center of town. We parked the bus and walked around the area. The cathedral was built by Charlemagne and for a time Aachen was his capitol. We tagged along with a tour being given in German, even though we couldn't understand a word, because it allowed us to see Charlemagne's throne. It was surprisingly plain, not much more than a bench with back and armrests. We also toured the cathedral treasury which houses many historical treasures and several reliquaries.

Breakfast.....

Breakfast was different in Europe. We were generally provided with french rolls, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, along with a selection of lunchmeats, cheeses, butter, cream cheese and jellies. Juices were often made with soda water which gave them an interesting taste and consistency (that's a nice way to say "ick"). A couple of places also had cereal, eggs and bacon along side the standard fare. Tea and coffee were also served and were very good.

More pix from the trip.....Aachen

Well, we're still a little jet lagged but getting better all the time. I think I'm only 2 time zones out of sync now and hopefully will be back to normal by tomorrow.

So.....here are more photos from the trip......

Our first night we stayed in Aachen. Aachen is about 40 miles west of Cologne/Bonn and is on the border of Germany, Belgium and France. The pictures were taken at the Hotel Buschausen where we stayed. We had dinner on the patio, notice that there aren't (yet!) any beers on the table.
This hotel had several traits in common with all our accommodations on the trip: the room was spotlessly clean; the beds did not have sheets and blankets but instead a feather bed with a crisply ironed duvet cover; the pillows were large, square and down filled; and none of the hotels provided washcloths. I had read that German hotels were BYOW and we found it to be true. Some places were also BYOS (soap). Oh! Also, the double beds are two twin mattresses on a full size frame.

Guten Tag from Hannover, Germanz

We've not had internet access for a couple of days, so we're behind the times :).

We found our way to Ermelo, the Netherlands, on Saturday and had a wonderful visit with the Knoppert family. Anneke didn't want to cook (I can relate to that) so they took us to lunch at their favorite Indonesian restaurant. Apparently Dutch food is very bland, boiled everything, and as a result of Indonesia being a former Dutch colony, there is a sizable Indonesian population in the Netherlands. The food was delicious and there were mountains of it. We joked that they would have lunches for a week.....until they explained that in Europe doggy bags are not done. Whatever you don't eat goes in the garbage.

That afternoon/evening we went on up to Bremerhaven. After a bit of driving around we found a deluxe (really!) downtown hotel that even had an indoor pool which the boys enjoyed for a bit. Next stop was the maritime museum on the Bremerhaven waterfront. The wind coming in off the North Sea is cool, strong and carries lots of rain. Standing up on the breakwater was only fun for a few minutes. After lunch we headed over to see the hospital where Steve was hatched. We walked around, took some pictures and hit the road again.

Sunday evening we made it to a southern suburb of Berlin called Ludwigsfelde. After a few wrong turns we found our way to the pension Tietz....a comfortable place run by a young couple. Monday morning we took a commuter train up to Berlin for some sightseeing. We went to the Checkpoint Charlie museum....at the former barrier between east and west Berlin....and also saw a bit of the wall that is left standing as a memorial. It is quite moving. We then went to the Pergamon Museum which has a huge collection of artifacts from Rome, Greece and Babylon.

A quick word about typing this on a German keyboard. Most keys are the same except that the z and the y keys are switched. Aaarrrrrgh! Typing becomes a very interesting task.

Today, Tuesday we are in Hanover (Hannover in Deutsch). We did the self guided tour (a 3 hour tour, a 3 hour tour) through the city. It is not a huge city but it is filled with interesting buildings and architecture. We stopped at the Waterloo Biergarten to re-hydrate, really!, and then finished the tour through the city. In front of the opera house a brass quartet was playing baroque and classical music....made me wish I had the movie camera. Dinner was in another bier garten and was delicious. All I can say is that it's a good thing we're doing so much walking or we wouldn't fit in our plane seats to come home!

Tomorrow we'll make our way back to the Bonn and Cologne area, do a bit of sightseeing and get ready to head home on Thursday.

I'll add more pictures later (and turn those that are facing the wrong direction).

See you soon!

More Liebenstein/Rhine Pix.....

Castle Liebenstein in Kamp-Bornhofen Germany

We got to Kamp-Bornhofen in the afternoon. Our suite was on the top floor of the newer part of the castle, it only dates back to the 16 century, unlike the old part of the castle which was built in the 11th century. Our room was at the top of a very narrow, very tightly wound spiral staircase, then up a short, steep flight of stairs from there. One of the windows overlooked the Rhine river and the neighboring castle. We had dinner there, poked around a bit, Aaron wrangled snails and we enjoyed a wonderful evening. All of us slept well with no ghostly visitors whatever.

The morning brought breakfast, again overlooking the Rhine and the local goat herd. After checkout we headed down to town and booked a cruise on the Rhine. We rode the boat up to St. Goar, did a little shopping, and caught the next boat back to Kamp-Bornhofen.

This afternoon we drove up to Amersfoort in the Netherlands. It's pretty up here, flat and rural, kind of like Ohio or Illinois out in the country. We can also see why so many German settlers moved into the Midwest, it looks a lot like Germany. The traffic here can be horrible, lots of traffic jams around the cities and very little parking room in the cities. It doesn't help that we're driving a van that could pass for a schoolbus! Tomorrow we'll head over to the next town to visit the Knoppert family, friends of ours from when they lived in Colorado.....

Bonners in Aachen

Aachen is a very beautiful and historical city. We stayed at the Buschhausen Hotel, complete with dairy cows across the street. Lunch was at the Albrect Druer cafe, which had great food and was the perfect place to hide from the thunderstorm. We checked out Charlemagnes' "crib." The cathedral was very impressive. Our next stop is Kamp-Bornhofen and the Castle Liebenstein. If we see the Baroness of Liebenstiens' ghost, we'll say hello. Pictures from the top left - A votive candle for you, Gerry Sue; roof of the cathedral; us with the cows; us ready to leave Newark.

Twas the night before vacation.....

...and all through the house we were running around like a cat after a mouse.

Or something like that.

Most of the packing is done (just the last minute items need to go in the bags), the house is cleaned, the note to the pet/plant sitter is written, the mail and paper are stopped, the boarding passes are printed and the bank has been called so that they don't put a fraud hold on the debit card. That would be a drag. Oh, and the pictures have all been downloaded and cleared from my camera.

I think we all have a little case of pre-trip jitters. It'll feel good to actually hit the road in the morning.

The first half of the trip is well planned and the last half we'll kind of wing as we go along. We'll land at the Cologne-Bonn airport Wednesday morning. After picking up the van we'll go to Aachen and explore a bit there. That was Charlemagne's capital city and he's buried there. We'll spend the night there. Thursday we'll drive down the Rhine to Kamp-Bornhofen and stay the night at the Castle Liebenstein and maybe take a sightseeing boat trip down the Rhine. Friday we'll drive up to the Netherlands and spend the night in Amersfoort. Saturday morning we'll make the short drive over to Ermelo (still in the Netherlands) and visit friends of ours there. After visiting and lunch with them we'll make our way toward Bremerhaven. From Bremerhaven we'll go on to Berlin and from there we'll loop on back to Cologne to catch our flight back home.

I've decided not to take my laptop so we'll be posting whenever and wherever we get the chance. Maybe not until we get home ;-).

Getting ready to hit the road....

We're making a list and checking it twice. Packing the treats and everything nice. And on Tuesday we head for Germany!