Jul 18, 2018 - Bremen and into the Netherlands

Now in Netherlands. Stopped at Bremen on the way – a really nice city. I thought it was a large town, but it has over half a million people. Lovely buildings in the centre of town, a flower market in one square and a food market in another. Ken discovered a fish and chip shop, so we had those in the park for lunch. Were very nice, although a bit salty and we were both pretty thirsty all afternoon. Biked into town – Germany has so many bike paths, both town and country. So easy to ride, too – most sealed or concrete. Had trouble getting out...

Jul 14, 2018 - MotoGP - qualifying

The circuit is only an hours drive from the hotel, so we got there in plenty of time to watch qualifying for a few classes in the Rossi stand. The atmosphere in the stand was amazing and this was only qualifying. Tomorrow is going to be something else!

Jul 3, 2018 - Leipzig

We dedicated five days for Leipzig and as we near the end of our stay it was enough time. As we did in Berlin and Paris, we took a walking tour to get a feel for the city center. Just like Dresden and Berlin, nearly the entire old city center of Leipzig has been rebuilt primarily after reunification. The architecture is quite impressive however most of the rebuilt buildings are shopping malls, high-end standalone shops and restaurants. We are taking about major shopping! There are at least three malls within the center of Leipzig that...

Jun 30, 2018 - Cologne Cathedral

During the night, we arrived and docked in Cologne, Germany. We had a walking tour of the old part of Cologne which was almost completely reduced to rubble during the bombing but some buildings close to the Cathedral escaped destruction. A great addition to this morning for Darrel and Kathy was the arrival of Silke who lived with them for a year as a foreign exchange student about 30 years ago. Our cruise director was able to arrange that she could board the ship, have breakfast with us and join the tour. She said she learned a lot of...

Jun 29, 2018 - Marksburg Castle & Koblenz, Germany

This morning we docked in Koblenz and the Deatz/Rineharts left to see Marksburg Castle. It is a medieval castle and has been perfectly preserved (furniture and everything) as it was in those days. The steps inside are rough and uneven and carved right from the mountain itself. These steps were carved with a rough surface intentionally to keep the Knight's horses from slipping on rainy days. Originally named Burg Braubach, The Marksburg rises high above the right bank of the Rhine River, crowning a cone-shaped hill overlooking the town of...

Jun 28, 2018 - Schloss Vollrad, Rudesheim & Boppard, German

We had a full day today visiting a winery, going through the Rhine Gorge with all the impressive castles and the two small villages of Rudesheim and Boppard, Germany. The Schloss Vollrad is a castle and a wine estate in the Rheingau wine-growing region in Germany, that has been making wine for over 800 years. The Riesling grape is the only grape variety used in the wine. Today the core building of the estate is a substantial tower house surrounded by a square pond and is only reachable by a bridge. This keep can be traced to the first third...

Jun 28, 2018 - Along the Elbe River

Dresden lies on the Elbe River which is about 650 miles long, runs through several countries and is one of the major rivers in Europe. Viking Cruise Lines runs small ships on the river. In Dresden, there are state-run steam boats and trams that connect to some of the popular villages along the river. One of these villages along the river is called Meissen - world renowned for manufacturing high-quality porcelain. It once belonged to King Augustus the Strong of Saxony and is now state-owned. Since we have never seen a porcelain factory, we...

Jun 27, 2018 - Doktorenhof Vinegar Estate

Our educational trip this morning was to the Doktorenhof Vinegar Estate – a small family owned place that makes drinking vinegars. The estate is located in Venningen in the Palatinate and the vinegar is fermented in centuries-old barrels. The owner of the Doktorenhof wine vinegar estate, Georg Wiedemann is dedicated to the “sour arts” and produces the finest vinegar with passion and flair. Here vinegar is produced by hand and matured in the warm, dark cellar in huge barrels. This vinegar is made from fine wines also produced on the small...

Jun 25, 2018 - Final good byes and home to Canada

This has been a week of many sad “good byes”. We cannot believe a year has gone by with us living this completely new life in Germany. Right now it feels like we are between two worlds: thinking about this amazing experience and thinking about resuming our lives in Pender Harbour. We keep asking ourselves if we really took full advantage of what was available to us; it feels like there is far more pressure on us living abroad than living at home vis a vis making every moment count! The year has flown by with the solitude broken by visits...

Jun 25, 2018 - Spreewald and Berlin Part 1

If I remember correctly (actually I'm making Katie look it up) we left off on June 15th, which is the day we left to go to the Spreewald with Ralf, Weebee, and Beeke. Katie and I spent the day sleeping and packing. We hit the road after everyone got home from work/school. The drive took about an hour and a half with Berlin traffic. The apartment we rented was very modern and pretty. The whole apartment was controlled by an iPad or Alexa, whichever you chose to use. It was a little bit excessive with the windows being controlled only...

Jun 25, 2018 - Historic Green Vault

We visited the Historic Green Vault Museum located in what was once Dresden’s Royal Palace. Well, it wasn’t a vault like the name implies, but rather nine rooms that house some of the most stunning and lavish collection of objects dating back to the 13th century. (There is also a museum in the same building called the New Green Vault but the treasures there are newer – dating back to the 1700s, not the 1300s) It was Augustus the Strong, the ruler of Saxony beginning in 1697, who had built most of the palaces in Dresden. The historic green...

Jun 20, 2018 - An Intro to Dresden's Neustadt

We are now in Dresden. It is the capital of the state of Saxony and lies along the Elbe River. Dresden has two very distinct sections – Neustadt (New town) and Altstadt (Old town). Altstadt is where most of the museums and ornate buildings are located and where all the tour buses stop. Neustadt is considered the alternative, quirky section. We got to explore outer Neustadt in a unique way by attending a festival called BRN. The festival was billed as an “alternative” festival so we weren’t sure what to expect. The web site was very vague...