Jul 22, 2017 - Hamburg, Germany

Ok so I figured out the counting situation. It's not my lousy French or my complete lack of German. The problem is my fingers. Have you ever seen the movie "Inglorious Bastards?" Great movie. It's a WW2 movie. An American undercover agent who speaks fluent German is discovered as a spy by the way she counts using her fingers. She held up her index, middle and ring finger to signify three. This gave her away because a true German would have held up the thumb, index and middle finger to signify three. (Another common way to spot a spy was to...

Jul 22, 2017 - Munster, Germany

As I work my way from The Netherlands (also known as Holland) towards Norway, I will be traveling through Germany first. I just found out that the small town I'm staying in, Warendorf, is known as the horse town of Germany because apparently many famous horses come from here like those in the Olympics and horse shows. This explains the beautiful horses I saw on the ride in on the city bus as well as the huge ranches. Also, it explains all of the random horse statues around here. Although I have been to Germany before, I am getting a much...

Jul 20, 2017 - Amsterdam and River Cruise through Germany and France

Arrived in Amsterdam on July 15th. Stayed at very nice Hotel with a very nice Restraurant right on one of the canals. It has a retractable roof, but the weather was wonderful and they only closed it for breakfast. On Sunday, we walked to Beethovenstraat (street) and found a nice outdoor cafe to have brunch. all the shops were closed on Sundays in the area we were in so we saved some of our money. Monday, we walked down to the Museum Square where they have several museums. The Ruijs Museum was very large with over 1 million items to view....

Jul 15, 2017 - Some early impressions of our new home

We have now been in Germany for a couple of weeks and thought it would be interesting share some early observations about our new home: 1. There is no speed limit on the Autobahn. If you drive 120 km/h, cars are screaming past you at an alarming speed. 2. There is a great recycling program at your doorsteo; however, it is like trying to interpret a train schedule to determine which recyclables go out on which day of the month, all different, some once a month, some twice: green, paper, garbage, packaging....all to be set out in different...

Jul 13, 2017 - Day 5: Miltenberg, Germany

Day 5, and we've moved from the Rhine onto the Main now. Our first stop on the Main is Miltenberg, a scenic riverside town full of cobblestone streets and colorful Bavarian-style buildings, most of which have been repeatedly flooded. As a result, the first story of most of the buildings appears markedly different from the upper stories, as they have been repaired and reinforced to better deal with future flooding. Of particular interest (to me) during our walking tour of the downtown was to pass the local Faust Brewery right in the center...

Jul 3, 2017 - Arrival in Hooksiel

The little village of Hooksiel in NW Germany has far exceeded our expectations. We arrived after 9 hours flying from Vancouver, 4 hours waiting in Amsterdam, an hour long flight to Bremen and an hour drive "home" from there. After all that, we drove into this delightful little town, built on a "siel" which is basically a canal used to transport goods (in this case from the North Sea), filled with red brick houses with steep, red tiled roofs. Some of these are very old fishermens' cottages, many are newer holiday homes. Hooksiel, because it...

Jun 27, 2017 - Tired in Munich

We made it to Munich! Now to get our bodies used to the time zone here. We got settled into our hotel and headed off for downtown Munich. We wondered around the same area we visited eleven years ago when we were last here. Still just as beautiful! We are calling it a night as we're exhausted from the flight. Off to Split in the morning, then driving to Plitvicka National Park for some site seeing. More pictures then!

Jun 16, 2017 - Munich, Germany

Work on my blog while waiting for breakfast, then down for coffee and breakfast, back to room finished packing and luggage down to front desk to store until time to head to airport, checked out then off for a walk to explore more of Sofia last day here. Book a massage great needed it LOL, then more walking the city, a stop for lunch then back to hotel got my luggage and headed off to the airport on the Metro line. Got checked in for my flight through to Denver checked one bag then off to security and passport control, a bit of time before...

Jun 16, 2017 - Day 1 Europe 2017 - Frankfurt

Our flight was scheduled to leave Melbourne on time. At the last minute one of the passengers decided to not fly anymore. We had to sit and wait for 30 mins while they removed her bags. The rest of the flight to Dubai was pretty uneventful, I managed to get some sleep. When we arrived in Dubai, it was 6.30 in the morning and already 36 degrees. The second we landed you could feel the heat. I'm not sure what was happening, but we seemed to be waiting on the plane to disembark for about 20 mins. Once we got off the plane we had to get buses...

Jun 14, 2017 - Day 6: Wurzburg, Germany

Day 6, and we docked in Wurzburg, located on the Main River in northern Bavaria. Our tour here first visited another UNESCO World Heritage site, the Bishop's Residence, built between 1719 and 1744. The 400-room palace was then heavily damaged in WWII by British bombers, and was rebuilt and restored from 1945-1987. The Four Continents ceiling fresco, at almost 7300 square feet, is larger than the Sistine Chapel ceiling, and was painted by the Venetian painter Tiepolo, and completed in 1753. After the Palace tour, a short bus tour of downtown...

Jun 12, 2017 - Day 4: Koblenz, Germany, & Marksburg Castle

After departing Cologne the previous evening, we arrived at Koblenz, Germany the next morning. Koblenz is located where the Rhine and the Moselle Rivers merge. The merge is very evident where the waters meet, as the Moselle is clear water and the Rhine is quite cloudy. At that spot is a promontory point of flat land known for the equestrian statue of William 1 (Kaiser Wilhelm), the 1st emperor of Germany. It was erected in 1897 and destroyed in WW II. Following German unification a replica of statue was erected in 1993. The two sides of the...

Jun 11, 2017 - Day 3: Cologne, Germany

Our third day on the Rhine, and we have already passed from the Netherlands into Germany. This morning, we approach Cologne mid-morning. Watching from our balcony, I was first surprised to see a massive FORD Motors plant along the banks of the river. The entire complex must have stretched for nearly a mile. Adjacent was a refinery complex; whether that was part of the FORD property I don't know, but I suspect not. Soon after, Cologne came into view along with the many church steeples of the city. We passed under a large multi-use bridge...