On The Road

The Ballard's Travel Blog

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Into the Smokey Northwest

September 5, 2017 | Rex Ballard We are about to head North for a quick 2 week road trip. The first day of our trip will take up through Grants Pass, Oregon. We will just over-night there and then head on up to the Seattle, Washington area. One concern we have is that much of the Northwest is in flames right now. Today we happened to run into someone that was up in Medford, Or over the Labor Day weekend and they said that it was 109 degrees and the air was thick with smoke. We are hopeful that the firefighters will get some of these fires under control. Click on the interactive map below.

Once we get past Seattle, we should be in the clear. There are fewer wildfires up in British Columbia, Canada, which is our primary destination. We'll keep you all posted. Rex Recent Posts Into the Smokey Northwest September 5, 2017 Wine, Food & Family August 21, 2017 Long Weekend in Fort Bragg, CA August 6, 2017

[backroadblues]

A Long Weekend in Fort Bragg, CA

Hi there everyone!Elisa and I decided to spend a long weekend on the Northern California Coast near Fort Bragg.  Fort Bragg sits on the coast just north of the quaint seaside town of Mendocino.  The County of Mendocino was immortalized by Willie Nelson and Lee Ann Womack who sang the great song "Mendocino County Line", a personal favorite of mine.

Mendocino is now very famous for producing some amazing wines.  I am partial to the Pinot Noir wines from the area.  But on this trip, our focus was going to be abalone.  We would be joining our niece Amberly and her fiancé Christian who along with several of their friends annually celebrate the re-opening of abalone season by diving for the tasty muscles in the kelp beds right off of the Mendocino Coast.  They would be roughing it by tend camping at Van Damme State Park.  We on the other hand would be "roughing it" in our Legacy Motorhome just up the road in Fort Bragg.

Fort Bragg was originally occupied by Native Americans but in the mid-1800's the Indians would be resettled onto a reservation near the mouth of the Noyo River.  A military garrison would be opened nearby by Horatio Gibson, who would name the fort after one of his commanders, Braxton Bragg.  By the 1890s the Indians would abandon the reservation and the military would leave shortly thereafter, but the town would remain and a growing lumber industry would propel the Fort Bragg to prosperity.  Fort Bragg would experience a boom in 1906, when the lumber industry would be called upon to help rebuild San Francisco after the great earthquake of 1906.  Today, the lumber industry has moved to other places and Fort Bragg's focus is now on tourism.  The beauty of rugged coastline is certainly a great draw, but just off the coast are the beautiful redwoods.  This is what makes Van Damme State park such a great spot, it has access to the coast but sits among the trees in a large sprawling state park.  There are also countless quaint B&B's and cozy Inns that line scenic Hwy 1 from Point Arena to Fort Bragg.

Getting to Fort Bragg was the most challenging part of our trip.  For starters, we were late preparing for our trip, because we had to take Elisa's brother to a number of different doctor's appointments.  Then, our little Hyundai that we tow behind our motorhome would have a problem and end up in the shop.  So we would have to make arrangement s to rent a car from Enterprise up in Fort Bragg.  We left Martinez, CA at around 10:30 AM and the trip would usually only take about 4 hours.  Unfortunately, we would be tied up in traffic on Hwy 37 near Napa Valley.  We were leaving on a Thursday, so there shouldn't be traffic in Napa Valley, but apparently Route 116 was closed and we would be re-routed to 101 just past San Rafael and we would then be caught in the Pentaluma traffic.  Bottom line is that the journey would take over 5-1/2 hours.  We had an appointment to pick up our rental car at 4:00pm and we weren't going to make it.  We called ahead and the gal working the desk suggested we not take Hwy 128 and instead stay on 101 to Willits and then take Hwy 20.  it worked out, and we would arrive by 4:25 just before she was closing for the day.

We had a difficult time reserving as spot for our 38' motorhome on this first weekend of August.  That's because it is the first weekend after the opening of Abalone season and apparently everyone who as camping - except us - was diving for the little buggers.  We did end up finding a spot at Woodside RV park.  it's not the most scenic and well equipped park we've been in but we did get a nice pull through spot.  By the time we got settled into our spot, we needed to begin thinking about dinner. Elisa had picked up some great looking ribeye steaks before we left so that problem was solved and we had a great dinner. The next day, we would spend some time exploring Fort Bragg and taking a long walk with our dogs Oreo and Bella on Glass Beach.  Glass Beach is a popular tourist spot just north of Fort Bragg, and as the name suggest, the beach is abundantly covered with beach glass.  The interesting story is how the beach came to be covered in glass.  From the 1860 through the 1950's the town of Fort Bragg would dispose of their garbage by first burning it on the beach and then dumping it directly into the ocean.  Over time, the ocean would decompose the discarded items and expel the diestrus all along the shoreline.  The glass from bottles and jars that were thrown into the ocean would become broken sanded smooth by the tides and then deposited along the beach.  Nowadays, much of the glass has been picked by tourists and locals and while there is still a lot of glass it is nowhere near as plentiful as it once was.  There are signs everywhere, asking people not to take the glass but most of the folks we saw out there were filling their pockets and pails with the glass gems.  At this rate, they're gonna have to come up with a new name for this beach.

Later that Friday evening we wold drive down to Van Damme State park and connect with Amber and Christian and we would get some quality time in with our newest Grand-Niece Kirsten.  She is only about 4 months old but this is her second camping trip.  What a trooper.  Earlier in the day, Christian had been out with the rest of the gang diving for abalone.  He would report that there were lots of them out there but they were relatively small.  We would arrive just in time to see his friend John running the abalone through a meat grinder so that they could make abalone won-tons and abalone pizza.  Others in the group were slicing, pounding, breading and frying abalone.  We would find abalone in salads and tacos. We brought along some Italian sweet sausage and some Bockwurst sausages to round out the faire.  Everything was delicious.    We would call it a night around 10:00 and make our way back up to Fort Bragg, which is just 15 minutes up Hwy 1.

On Saturday, we would sleep in until about 9:00 in the morning, this was partly due to the fact that our little dog Bella decided to wake us up at about 4:00 am so she could go out to the bathroom.  Once that was done, she decided that everyone else should wake up and join her.  It took awhile to get there back to sleep so, we would make up for it by sleeping in.  After we had a hearty breakfast of eggs, hash browns, breakfast sausage and toast, we would head back to Glass Beach for another walk.  It would be low tide, so Elisa wanted to head down to the tide pools to look or critters.  After spending a couple hours looking at the seals and sea lions just off the shoreline and exploring the tide pools we would head down toward our campground to explore the Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden.  They would be having a art festival and beer and wine tasting at the gardens.  It was very crowded.  The gardens are very deceiving from the entrance, it looks like it will be relatively small so my expectations were low.  But once we got beyond the entrance, we were amazed by how large the gardens were.  It was beautiful.  They are known for their collection of rhododendrons and dahlias.  The rhododendrons were not in bloom but the dahlia's were beautiful.  The grounds wind their way from Hwy 1 all the way down to the beach, about 3/4 of a mile.  On this day, open spaces in the park would be occupied by artists exhibiting their work.  In between the artists were different vintners and brewers of craft beer.  It made for an entertaining afternoon.  

Later that evening we would make another pass through Van Damme State Park to see Amber, Christian and baby Kirsten.  They were all so cute dressed in their Where's Waldo costumes, which was this years theme for the abalone fest.  Even Lizzie the black lab would be sporting a Waldo classic white and red striped shirt.  We wouldn't be staying for the abalone on this night as we wanted to try Luna Trattoria in Fort Bragg, a highly rated Italian restaurant.  We would get there by 8:00pm and they were packed.  Apparently, the great reviews aren't just hype.  Chef Massimo and his wife are from Northern Italy and they lovingly prepare authentic dishes that include fresh made pastas and local seafood.   We ordered a starter to share, Polenta with a meat sauce.  it was perfectly prepared, the polenta was sautéed so that it was a little crispy on the outside but soft and creamy on the inside.  The meat sauce was also delicious.  For our entree's Elisa would order their gluten free fusilli with a creamy red sauce with salmon.  It was excellent.  I would go for the mixed grill with oven roasted potatoes.  The grill platter would have a 4oz skirt steak that was accompanied with a spicy Italian sausage and house made pork sausage.  They were drizzled with a nice tomato and garlic aioli that paired nicely with it.  The potatoes were to die for.  We declare Luna Trattoria as a "must go".  Check it out if you find yourself in Fort Bragg.

On Sunday morning we would pack-up and head back home.  It took us 5 hours again to get home, but the drive back was beautiful.  We would wind our way along the coast on Hwy 1 and then head inland on Hwy 128.  We would go from the rugged coast to redwood forests and then to rolling hills lined with oak trees and then into wine country Alexander Valley straddles  Mendocino and Sonoma counties and it produces some fabulous wines.  

It was a short but fun trip.

[backroadblues]

June 6th, 2017 - Frankfurt, Germany

The time has come to bring our grand European Adventure to an end. it is befitting that it would be grey and rainy on this morning in Germany. It is as if the Country itself is sad that we are leaving. We make our rounds through the home that we rented in the small town of Rossdorf, we close all the windows, empty the trash and say farewell to Gretchen, the 70 year old tortoise that lives in the back yard. We load our things into the back of our trusty little min-van, a Ford Galaxy, that we picked up about 3 weeks ago at Ciampino Airport in Rome. We close and lock the door to the house and drop the keys in the Post Box as requested and we are off at about 9:00 am to head to the airport in Frankfurt.

The traffic around Frankfurt is a bit heavy. The GPS continually re-routes us trying to help us beat the traffic tie-ups. The trip that ordinarily should have takes us about 30 minutes takes about 40 minutes. At 9:00 am we are on the tail-end of the morning commute. Frankfurt is a very large and sprawling airport - seemingly built under the roof of one huge terminal. In spite of its size, airplanes still often must park on the tarmac and have buses retrieve the passengers. We are flying on Lufthansa on the way home, which departs from Terminal 1, but the rental car return is near Terminal 2. We will have to take the bus to Terminal 1. We make our way to the Hertz rental car return, and fortunately, it is not that busy there. The attendant points us to a space where we can park the car - a saucy lass from England is working the returns today. She quickly hands me a receipt after inspecting the car and we are off and on our way.

Here is an interesting aside - well interesting to me, but the rest of you are free to skip this paragraph. I look at the receipt and see that we drove a whopping 4,766 kilometers - for the unconverted in the USA - that’s over 2,955 miles. I am shocked, I had no idea we had driven that much. To make the math simple - if I assume we averaged 60 miles/hour that means we spent a total of 49 hours of our time in Europe driving from point “a” to point “b”. We were in Europe for a total of 27 days - if we further assume that 16 hours of each day (24 hrs / 16 awake hrs) that’s 66% of the day that we are awake and can be spent doing fun stuff. That means we had a total of (27 days x 24 hr/day x .66) 428 hours available to us for fun stuff and we spent 49 hours of them driving or a little over 10%. I decide that wasn’t a bad trade-off when I consider all the neat places we got to go and the fact that a lot of those driving moments will be unforgettable - like cheating death by driving along the Amalfi Coast and cruising through a sea of pedestrians in Bellagio. Those moments are priceless. I’m sorry I had to turn this into a math problem, but that’s just the way my strange mind works. The reason I went through all of this is because some people think that simply relying on trains or flying from point “a” to “b” is the way to go. The disadvantage to that of course is that when you get to point “b” you’re sort of stuck - sure you can take cabs or buses but if you factor in the “hassle factor” knowing us, we would have missed a lot of the really special places we got to see because we were able to simply hop in the car and go. There is also the fact that when you drive, you are setting your own itinerary and schedule - if we want to make a side trip to Volterra or Porto Venere, we can and were are certainly happy we didn’t miss these places. So, if you are a little adventurous, my recommendation is to go ahead and rent a car. It is not that tough to drive in Italy or Germany.

A little about our trusty little mini-van. When I was making plans for the trip, I had a special offer from Avis to rent a nice E class or CL class Mercedes sedan for our trip. I was all ready to go for it. I had visions of us screaming down the Autobahn at some un-Godly speed, flashing our headlights at everything in our way, but then I looked at the trunk capacity in these cars. I even suggested that everyone watch Rick Steves video on how to pack lightly for a trip to Europe. Sure we only need 1 pair of shoes and 3 changes of clothes all stuffed into a soft sided backpack. If we could all do that, we could easily fit luggage for 4 passengers in the trunk of the Benz. if your have read any of my other posts (#rick-steves-is-an-idiot) you know by now that most of the people on our little trip elected not to follow Rick’s sage advice. So I went from looking at Autobahn pavement burners to looking at soccer-mom mini-vans. This is how we ended up in the Ford Galaxy. Now after having driven it over 2,900 miles, I have to say that I have no regrets at all. Our little 4-cylinder, diesel engined van had plenty of pep and allowed us to cruise at (Elisa and Carolyn - don’t read this part) over 100 mph with ease on the Autobahns in Germany all while getting great fuel economy. The driver’s and co-pilot seats were very comfy and I never had a sore back from a long days drive. The rear seats were equally comfy - so comfy that our rear seat passengers converted some of those “awake hours” to “sleeping hours”, but then there is Trent, he starts to nod off when he simply lifts the handle to open the car door. Let’s not forget to mention the ample amount of cargo capacity in this little van. With the 3rd row seats folded totally flat we had enough room (though just barely) to accommodate Carolyn’s suitcase that we affectionately named Moby, leaving just enough room to spare for 3 other suitcases. As the trip went on, it did seem as if the number of pieces of luggage was beginning to multiply. Either there was some suitcase hanky-panky was going on back there, or it may have simply been due to the many shopping sprees Carolyn and Elisa would embark upon. Also, there was a large retractable cover that would conceal all our goodies out of sight when we parked. If I had one complaint about the Ford Galaxy, it is that the turning radius on that little mini-van was pretty horrible. Many a time what should have been a simple 3-point u-turn on street would turn into a 9-point turn. The turning radius of the car when coupled with the narrow streets we encountered, made for a lot of hand-over-hand turning of the steering wheel. All things considered, I would highly recommend a diesel Ford Galaxy to anyone that needs a comfy cruiser for 4 people and their luggage.

Reflections - Elisa:

I asked Elisa to comment on what she felt were some of her most memorable moments on this trip. The first thing that came to her mind had to do with the main reason for our trip. We had been invited to attend the wedding of her cousin Alessio. They were getting married in the same Church in the small Tuscan hill town of Suvereto where her parents got married in 1955. Elisa had a faded photograph of her parents on that wedding day in 1955 and was always surprised to see how many people seemed to be on the steps of the church as her parents were emerging after saying their vows. Elisa had always wondered who were all those people and why were they all there. Then here we were on the steps of that same church in 2017 some 62 years later and her questions would be answered. When we exited the church after Alessio and his bride Dana had finished taking their vows, we saw that the entire town had convened on the steps of the church and on the plaza in front of the church. There was a band playing music and lots of rice being thrown. Many of the people knew Alessio, but many did not - it is just what Italians do - they celebrate the important things in life. All those people were out there and we were bathed in joy their joy as we stepped out into the sun. Elisa now understood what it was that was happening in that faded photograph back taken back in 1955 and she was filled with tearful emotion. As she milled about the towns people, she actually met a woman that was standing on those steps on that very day back in 1955 and she was there celebrating the wedding of Elisa’s parents just as she was on this day in 2017, celebrating another marriage. It was clearly very emotional for Elisa.

Elisa and I have been to Italy and other parts of Europe many times. We have usually traveled with our kids or kid and their friends and each of those trips have been special to us, but Elisa really believes that this was our very best trip (so far). Traveling with my brother Trent and his wife Carolyn made it special. Even though we had been to many of the places we took Trent and Carolyn to before, re-experiencing them again with and through them made it more special for us. Like, we usually do when we travel to Italy, we visit a lot of Elisa’s relatives and by introducing Trent and Carolyn to all of them they are quickly embraced in true Italian culture, which revolves first around family and secondly around food. There were lots of both to go around.

Another highlight of this trip for Elisa is our stay in the tiny town of Grainau in the German Alps near Garmisch-Partinkirchen. We stayed at a vacation rental called Ferienwohnung-Zugspitze and our hostess Carolin did such a fine job on the accommodations and God lent a helping hand by placing the majestic Zugspitze mountain right in the backyard of our apartment. We were there for only 3 nights and we could have spent several more. It was so relaxing there. There are a number of things we would have liked to have seen but we missed - Bertchesgaden and the Eagles Nest. We would have like to have spent a day in Munich. We would have like to pay our respects at Dachau. This gives us a reason for another trip.

Lastly for Elisa, the trip was special because she was able to reconnect with her long lost high school friend Terri Rooney and meet her terrific husband Gary. Although the 2 hadn’t seen each other for over 30 years the friendship picked up right where it left off. We also got to make a great new friend in Gary, her husband of 25 years. He is a terrific guy and the only person I’ve gotten to know that has more karaoke stuff that Elisa and I have - a lot more.

Reflections - Rex

For me, I agree with Elisa that traveling with Trent and Carolyn made the trip a lot more fun, They hadn’t been to Europe before and It was great fun sharing with them some of the many things we had seen and done before. By doing it with them, we would learn so much in the process as well. The best thing about this trip is that there is so much we did not get to cram into our schedule - such as - trip up the Italian and French Rivera. We love Santa Margherita and Porto Fino. We didn’t get to take in San Tropez or Nice or Monaco. We didn’t get to venture into Switzerland. We missed Paris, the Bordeaux region and we also missed London, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. All of these could make up a nice itinerary for another trip some day.

Another highlight for me, was the different personalized tours that we took. Usually, Elisa and I would read up on a location, take information from guidebooks and then explore on our own. Our experience with Roberta in Rome has convinced us that it is well worth the extra money to find a knowledgeable and friendly guide that speaks English well. We really think it is worth the extra money to arrange for a private tour. By doing this, you and the guide can interact and she can tailor the tour to what it is that you are most interested in.

Driving in Italy - The Amalfi Coast - I never tire of seeing it and driving it. Yes the roads are narrow, the cliffs steep and the Italian drivers all think they drive Formula 1, but I am glad we got to go there again. Once again, we had great accommodations there with great views. Our dinner at La Tagliata was also a real highlight for me and if I could only name a few of my most favorite things about the trip, La Tagliata would have to be on the list. When it comes to driving, I will never forget driving into the town of Bellagio and having to wedge our car into that tiny street with pedestrians inches from our car. That was unforgettable and now that it is over, I look back on it and find it to be fun and exciting, while at the time, it may have seemed a little terrifying.

Lastly for me, I would have to put our cooking lesson with Chef Sylvia on the list. It didn’t hurt that our menu was featuring Italian Mussels that are harvested right here in La Spezia and I love mussels. But Chef Sylvia was funny and friendly and we really appreciated her opening her kitchen up to us. Even though her staff was preparing for another busy day of serving lunch to locals and tourists that flock to this Michelin rated restaurant, they made us all feel like this day and this kitchen, had been set aside just for us to learn a few of Chef Sylvia’s favorite recipes. The fact that we would get to walk the open air market with her Husband Alessandro, and shop for some of the ingredients we would use in our cooking was also a very nice touch.

I do have to cram one more highlight in here - our trek to find Carolyn’s ancestral roots was also very fun. I am so happy that we not only found the little town of Lugliano, but that we got to find a living relative our her Great-Grandfather. It was another emotionally unforgettable experience.

Closing out the trip…. Elisa and I spent spend a total of 27 days there, 23 of which were with Trent and Carolyn. We all got along well and had a great time. With all the neat places we weren’t able to fit into the busy itinerary we will surely be traveling together again at some point. A sad fact is that we have more days behind us than we have ahead of us - so we have to do it while we can. And when we do - I’ll try to write about it so that maybe I can inspire some of you to remember, that our lives are not only about working and making money - it is also about experiencing the world we live in and getting to know and help our fellow passengers on this journey we call life.

That’s all for now.

Rex

[backroadblues]

June 5th, 2017 - Mainz to Boppard & and Kelkheim, Gernany

Today is our last full day in Germany and tomorrow we head home. We decided to take a Rhine (or as the German’s spell it, Rhein) river cruise. We left the house by 7:15, so we could head to the town of Mainz to catch one of the river boats that sales up and down the Rhine river. We get to Mainz by 8:10 and there is a boat leaving at 8:30AM. We park at the Hilton am Rhine and it is just a short walk over to the river boat ticket office. We ask the agent if the we can go to Koblenz, she says yes. Once again, I learn that in Germany you have to be very specific with your questions. I’ll come back to this later.

With our tickets in hand, we hop on board the MS Godsburg. It is a large cruiser operated by KD (Koln/Düsseldorf) Ship Lines. It has a main deck that is indoors and is set up much like a large restaurant surrounded by large picture windows so that anyone sitting here has a good view on either side of the river. There is also a large open air deck up above, with low railings and cafe tables set up nearest the railing on either side of the ship. My research suggest that its best to be sitting on the left hand side of the ship when going down stream toward Koblenz, or at the very bow of the boat, however the bow is closed to passengers today. There is friendly waiters who are eager to take orders for food and beverages. There is a slight premium for shipboard service but not as much as I was expecting.

We start out bright and early on the upper deck. The ship’s initial point of departure is Mainz and there are only about 20 people boarding, so Elisa and I have our pick of the seats. We also purchased a map/guide of the sights we will see on this ride. We are seated on the left hand side of the boat near the front with unobstructed views forward and of the landscape on the left bank of the Rhine. It is 8:30 in the morning, the clouds are thick but the sun breaks through intermittently and best of all there is no rain in the forecast. I have my rain jacket with me just in case, and it is a good thing becasue it is downright cold out here on the water. Eventually, we head downstairs to get out of the cold.

As we leave Mainz the boat will be making several stops at towns along the way, and the ride to the end of the line will take over 3-½ hours and we are only traveling about 35 miles. There is a lot of barge traffic out on the river at this time of the morning. We see a great many barges heading upstream that are riding very low in the water, with their open holds carrying a wide variety of different cargo. We see coal, containers, sand and other raw materials. However mostly what we see are tanker barges carrying crude oil upstream, having picked it up in Rotterdam and taking it to refineries up river. We also see a lot of tanker barges carrying refined petroleum products back down stream - heading to Rotterdam where they will export them around the world. Between Mainz and Rudisheim, the scenery is mostly industrial. This journey takes about one hour.

As we approach Rudisheim, we see the dock filled with tourists - mostly Asian - waiting to board. With that is sight, Elisa heads up to the top deck to nab a prime spot before they all board. I stay back finishing my breakfast I ordered. When i head upstairs to join Elisa, I see the top deck is very crowded, we are lucky to have gotten our prime seats once again. The trip up river from Rudisheim is where things start to get really beautiful. We are headed into the Rhine Valley Gorge. In this section, the hills on either side of the Rhine are steep and dotted with many different castles. There seems to be the ruins of castles almost every ½ mile. These castles largely popped up in the 1400’s when Germany was not yet united and the land was carved up into over 350 nation states. The Rhine river was a key corridor for the transportation of goods into and out of the area. This was a time when there was no motor driven vehicles. Navigating the fast moving waters of the Rhine was treacherous and would require assistance from handlers and animals on the shore. The castles would pop-up along the way by self-appointed “Princes”, who were people with money and they would extract tolls and fees for services from the barges making their way up and down the river. Because of the valuable cargo moving on the river there were also robbers out there and barges could seek refuge or protection from the various castles in return for fees paid. As the castles popped up, so too did towns. The land that these towns would occupy were on lands claimed by the castle owners, consequently the people in those towns would have to pay taxes to the castle owners in return for the use of the land and for protection from mauraders. I suppose from this chaos of extortion modern governments would arise.

We see so many stunning castles along the way. Many are in ruins but others are very well preserved and have been rehabilitated to house hotels and restaurants. There is one stretch of river that makes some sharp bends and the river also narrows. Consequently the current runs fast here. There is a tall stone cliff on the right hand side of the river and they call it the Lorelei rocks. Legend has it that beautiful sirens would sing their enchanting songs from the top of the rocks and distract the sailors and they would wreck their ships. I think that the sailors of yore were simply looking for something to pin the blame on for any accidents they might have. Sort of the equivalent of - “oh, a cat ran out in front of my car, and I had to swerve into the tree to avoid hitting it.” Once we get past the Lorelei, we pass two castles on the right hand side that are very closely situated with one another. At the very top of the hill, between the two castles is a very large and high wall. Legend has it that these castles were owned by brothers who had a disagreement. They call the wall the “hostility wall”. The legend goes on to say that the two brothers would end up killing one another in church in the town below the castles. After about 3-½ hours on the river its about 12:00 noon, we are nearing the town of Boppard. It is about 5 miles away from Koblenz, our desired destination. We are told that the boat we are on will be turning around at Boppard and heading back down to Mainz. We ask what about going to Koblenz and we are told that if we wait in Boppard for 3 hours there will be a boat that continues on to Koblenz.Well, it sure would have been nice to have that little piece of information from the agent when I was buying my ticket. We don’t have time to wait another 3 hours for the boat to Koblenz.

Instead we walk around this quaint little town and we learn that settlements in this location date back to Roman times around 4BC. The settlements would expand and grow through about 12AD. Roman walls and thermal baths are found in the area. By 12AD the Romans would be pushed out the Saxons. Boppard wouldn’t re-emerge until around the 11th century. Because of its location, it is fought over occupied by many different groups. In the 1400’s there is a 30 year period of wars and during that time the town of Boppard would be occupied by the Spanish, French, Swiss, Bavarians and Prussians. As the feudal system began to develop in the late 1400’s Boppard would pledge it’s allegiance to the Counsel of Trier. In return, Trier would protect the city and its prince. However, the city would have to build a palace and taxes would be collected from the people, further subjugating them. It sounds like a tough life back then if your weren’t a 1 Percenter. It’s now about 1:00 and we decide to fine a place for lunch. We need to get to the train station by 3:00 so we can make it to Elisa’s friends house by 5:00 in Kelkheim which is near Frankfurt.

So, we look at this one restaurant and we see that there are about 10 tables inside with most of them empty. There are also a few tables in front of the cafe outside and in the shade. Over all it doesn’t look too busy, we thine we’ll be able to get a quick bite to eat. As I sit down at one of the tables inside the restaurant, I have a view outside and I"m looking out on the plaza and I see an area with about 30 tables under umbrellas. It takes our hostess about 15 minutes just to give us menus. That’s when I notice that our hostess along with one other waiter, are also waiting on the 30 tables out on the square - all of which are full of diners. They are doing their best to keep up with all those tables plus the ones inside, where we are sitting, and the ones right out front. We feel really sorry for them because they are really overwhelmed. We finally place our orders after waiting 40 minutes. Our food comes out by 2:15, we wolf it down and are dashing to the train station. We see a sign pointing across the street to the ticket office. We dash over there but it’s closed. I’m assuming we will have to purchase a ticket on the train. As I figure out what track we will be leaving from, Elisa decides she needs to use the restroom. By now it is 2;30 and our train arrives and departs at 2:44. I see that there is a ticket machine on the landing where the train will be arriving. I go up to buy our tickets. The first machine I go to is not accepting my credit cards. It’s now about 2:38. I find another machine, finally it is working - I buy our tickets. It is now 2:40. My phone starts ringing, I’m sure that Elisa is wondering where I’ve gone since she doesn’t see me in the entry way of the station. I dash back down and urge her to come onto the platform. We are finally on the right track with our tickets in hand and the train arrives on time at 2:44. Once again Minerva is with us and everything works out.

The train ride is very smooth and quiet. I don’t know how those Germans get this trains to run so quietly. If only they could do that with Bart. I takes us about an our to make our way back to Mainz. By now, my phone is totally dead from having taken so many pictures on the river boat ride. Elisa’s phone is also very low. The challenge is to figure out how to walk the mile from the Mainz train station to the Hilton Hotel where our car is parked. Normally, we would use my phone’s GPS and maps to help guide us, but my phone is dead. I take a look at a rough map that we have and I have a good general idea of the direction we need to go. For some reason, Elisa does not have confidence in my dead reckoning skills - it might have something to do with the fact that my nickname is “wrong turn Rex”. I’m pretty sure I’m going in the right direction, but she is sort of in a panic. Fortunately, her phone has just enough charge left in it to lay out a course on the GPS and we are in deed going in the right direction. After about a 15 minute walk we see the Hilton Hotel sign in the distance. We are back to our car by 4:30. We have to be in Kelkheim by 5:00 and our GPS now says we are 36 minutes away. Close enough.

If you read yesterday’s blog post, you know that we reconnected with Terri, one of Elisa’s high-school friends, whom Elisa had lost contact. We had such a good time reconnecting, with them we made plans for dinner at their home in Kelkheim. Today was a German Holiday for them and it would not be too much of an inconvenience. They make us a fantastic dinner. Gary has deep fried a small turkey that has a garlic and herb rub on it. It tastes great. Terri has made some asparagus. - Elisa is thrilled because it’s so hard to get veggies when eating in restaurants here. Terri also make some really tasty roasted potatoes. The capper to this great dinner is the homemade Creme Brûlée that Terri has made. She has a little trouble getting the torch to stay lit so she can caramelize the sugar on top but Gary gets it going. It is really good

Terri and Gary live in a beautiful home in this suburb of Frankfurt. It is sprawling and occupies 2 levels plus a basement. They have been leasing it since they arrived in Germany over 6 years ago. The owner did an excellent job of renovating it. The home is very unique, in that the basement which occupies the full footprint of the home at one time had a dance studio and pub in it. This is fantastic, since Terri and her husband Gary love to entertain. What also makes this the perfect home for them is that Gary used to operate a karaoke and DJ business. So he has plenty of room to set up his sound system and all of their parties include karaoke down in the basement / dance studio. Elisa thinks she has died and gone to heaven. She loves to sing karaoke and she hasn’t really been about to do it since we moved into the new house. She, Terri and Gary sing several songs and I must say they sounded great. I am a happy audience for them.

As we begin to roll up on 10:00 pm we need to head out and let Terri and Gary get their rest so that Terri can go back to work tomorrow. Also, we need to re-pack our bags and get ready to head home to California tomorrow.

So this may be my final Aufwiedersehen. I will write an epilogue to this installment of my Backroad Blues Blog.

I’m so long winded, that I’m sure few of you have had the time or inclination to read my ramblings. I do it so I can remember what we’ve done on our many trips. I also do it so that I can share our experiences with all of you.

Thanks, Rex

[backroadblues]

More photos from Heidelberg. The first photo is the picture that Elisa found on the BofA website that allowed Terri and her to get reconnected.

Gary had his corvette shipped over and it is one of only 10 or so in the country. For some reason, GM does not sell them in the German market. It is a real traffic stopper, and what better car to have here in Germany where the Autobahn's have no speed limit. Vroom, vroom.

[backroadblues]

June 4th, 2017 - Heidelberg, Germany Elisa and I both slept well tonight. We didn't have anything specific on the agenda today other than making sure we got into Heidelberg by around 12:00 noon so we could meet with one of Elisa's long lost High School friends - Terri Rooney and her husband Gary Fowler. Elisa and Terri had lost touch with one another in about 1979 or 1980. Both she and Terri were moving to different locations and they simply fell out of touch. When we began planning on our trip to Europe, for some reason her friend Terri popped into her head and although she had searched for her many times on the internet, Facebook, etc. all her searches came up empty. This is largely due to the facts that Rooney is such a common name and all of her searches would be overwhelming. Nevertheless, something was urging her to do another search. This time she searched while adding another piece of information that she remembered about Terri and that is that she was in the Navy at one point in her life. This time the search produced some new results - Elisa was led to a webpage on Bank of America's website. The page was celebrating its employees who were U.S. Military Veterans. Lo and behold, up pops a faded photo of her friend Terri, from when she was in the Navy. The page indicated that Terri was now a Sr. Vice President with BofA and working in......wait for it.....Germany of all places. It is so strange, that Elisa got the premonition to do another search prior to our taking a vacation to Italy and Germany. (Cue eerie music). How wierd. So now we at least knew that in 2014, when the webpage was created her friend Terri was working for BofA in Germany, managing banking operations for US military bases. Now the problem was to figure out how to get connected. It just so happens that our daughter Krista's fiancé's mother Connie also works for BofA. So Elisa gets in touch with her, and Connie explains that there are strict rules at BofA that prohibit her from distributing personal information about other employees - totally understandable. However, Connie is able to use the information to find a LinkedIn page for Terri. Bingo, Elisa is able to use that to message Terri. Our only concern is that if Terri is like us, we don't look at our Linkedin messages that often. We are in luck and within a week or two, Terri responds and the two are reconnected - after some 37 years. The two catch up via email on each other's life story and plans are made to meet when we are near the Frankfurt area. How exciting. So, today is that day, when the two will finally see one another again and Elisa is filled with anticipation. We get up around 6:30 am, we take our time getting ready and eating some breakfast. I'm busy reading the news and at 8:30 she says let's get going. We aren't scheduled to meet with Terri and Gary until 12:00 in Heidelberg. So, we decide that we will go early so we can visit the Heidelberg castle before we get together with them at noon. We leave the house by a little before 9:00 and we are headed up the hill to find parking near the castle by around 10:00. Most people park down in the Altstadt and take the funicular train up the hill to the castle. We opted to search for parking up near the castle entrance since it is near opening time. We are in luck, we find a great parking space (thank you Minerva) right near the entrance - and it is a free parking spot. The castle sits about 300' above the city of Heidelberg, and as we make our way into the grounds we are taking photos along the way. We pay for our admission and pick up an audio guided tour of the grounds. The castle is really amazing. They are largely in ruins, but great efforts have been made starting back in the late 1700's to preserve the ruins as opposed to reconstructing them. Some items, such as some of the statuary are remade to create an accurate historical record of the castle. Construction of the castle was commenced around around the late 1100's. It was periodically destroyed by fire and war but rebuilt. By the 1600's the then Kings made very elaborate additions to the castle. However by the early 1700's the castle would again be destroyed by the French who had taken it in the "Nine Days War". Which came after the Thirty Years War. I'm going to have to study up on the history...all these wars seem to have to do with the feudal system that emerged in Germany where you had a bunch of rich guys holding rule over people in an area and a political struggle that emerged between the Holy Roman Empire and the Palatine rulers - oh and then throw in hostilities from neighboring countries from time to time. Anyhow, this time the French really did a number on the castle, they exploded the powder magazine which blew one of the huge stone towers completely in half. They then set a number of fires. There are stories though that suggest that one of the French general that was leaving told the villiage towns people to light fires so the smoke from their fireplaces would make it appear that the castle fires were larger then they really were. Supposedly, the General wanted to leave enough to the beautiful and might castle behind for the sake of history. This time, the castle would never be rebuilt, however by the later 1700's efforts were made to preserve the ruins and it would become a visiting ground for philosophers and writers of the day - including Johan Von Goethe the famous German statesman and writer/philosopher. Our tour of the castle was really interesting. We got to see the mighty giant wine barrel. One was original and it was the "tithe barrel", where growers and wine makers that served the lord of the castle would have to bring 1/10th of their harvest to be turned into wine and poured into the great barrel. This thing is huge and lore indicates that it was only filled 3 times in its existence - by the way the wine wasn't very good. In the 1800's an even larger barrel was built to celebrate the church. That barrel was never filled with wine - its a good thing because it is the size of a small house. There was also a "traveling exhibit" at the castle that detailed the history of the "Apoteke" or pharmacy. This too was very interesting. It provided educational details on the history of medicine making. There were recipes using different types of plants to cure various maladies that date back to 120BC. The ancient Greeks began accumulating these recipes from faraway lands in Africa and Arabia. The Romans would enslave Greeks to be the modern day equivalent of doctors for the Roman Empire. Marcus Aurelius would endeavor to create the first collective library of medicin making and the collection of the plants and other natural materials that would go not these locations. The science would continue - there would be setback in the early ages - when religious fervor would look down on man made cures. However, by the 1500's the pharmaceutical business was back in business. The museum included private collections of entire "drug stores" of different time periods starting in about the 1500's. It was very interesting and a real highlight. Based on my web research, this exhibit has been here for some time. By the time we were done, we notice it is going on 11:30 and we needed to find our way down the hill to get to the restaurant where we would be meeting Terri and Gary. Unfortunately, our internet connection is down on our phone and we can't get the map coordinates for GPS plugged in. After heading blindly down the hill we make several wrong turns but finally we have a good enough connection to get the GPS working again - and none too soon because we were already attracting a toot of a couple of horns based on my meandering the streets of Heidelberg. We make our way over the Rhein River and find the meeting point, but there is no parking. We find a spot a few blocks away (thank you Minerva) and we head over there. The two spot one another while we are still about 100 yards away. We all rush together and hugs are exchanges and tears are falling - the two are so happy. Gary and I shake hands and get to know one another as well. The plan is for us to take a short hike on the Philosophers Way in Heidelberg. This paved walking trail was a favorite hangout for the famous philosophers and writers of the day - back in the 1800's. We can understand why, after you make the steep up-hill hike, the views are wonderful. At the summit we have a commanding view of the Rhein River, "Old" Heidelberg, the cathedral and of course the castle. It really is breathtaking. The forecast included rain, and it was cool and rainy when we left the house, but by the time we are making our way up the hill the clouds parted - a little bit - and the rain stopped. (Thank you Minerva). This is the Germany I remember from when I lived here - the days of blue skies and warm weather were far and few between. The hike is about 2-1/2 miles and it take us up a steep hill for about 3/4 of a mile, the next 3/4 of a mile is a flat to gentle uphill slope and next 1/4 mile is pretty steep downhill and the last 3/4 is flat and takes you along the riverside and leads us back to our restaurant - River Cafe. By now, it is around 1:45 and we are ready for lunch. Gary and Terri had held their annual Cinco-de-Mayo party the night before - it was delayed due to Gary being back in the States in May. Their German neighbors love and look forward to it every year. Apparently the Germans love Mexican food. Who would of thunk it. So, we are glad that they could make the trip down to Heidelberg to meet us. The restaurant is small and cozy and has a menu that leans a little Italian and little French. Elisa decides to go light and orders a shrimp and avocado salad - (we have been missing avocados). Terri and Gary also get a salad - Gary has Caesar with Chicken and Terri one with goat cheese. I opt for some sautéed veal steams with fingerling potatoes wrapped in crispy bacon. I have to say that the Germans do potatos very well, there potatos have a unique, almost sweet tast to them. I also order some grilled vegetables for Elisa and I to share. I wash mine down with a great .5 liter of blond pilsner beer - delicious. The food is great and we all enjoy it. We dine at a leisurely pace, and the restaurant does not mind. After eating we stay another couple hours catching up and filling each other in on our lives, kids, likes, dislikes, etc. Before you know it, it is going on 5:30 - talk about a leisurely lunch. We loved it and had a great time. Before parting, Terri and Gary give us a great suggestion to catch one of the Rhein River boats in Mainz and to make our way slowly up the Rhein to Koblenz. We can hop on and off the boats that run regularly up the river. We'll spend about 5 hours doing that tomorrow and hopefully make our way to a castle here and there along the way up. Then we will stop by Terri and Gary's place on the way back from Mainz and have dinner and some Karaoke at their place. It turns out they met each other and fell in love singing karaoke 25 years ago. Elisa's eyes light up - she has found kindered spirits because she too loves karaoke. Unfortunately, my talents in this area are non-existent but I make a great and enthusiastic audience. I'm looking forward to it as well. So that is all for today. our step count was at about 12000 steps or 6 miles. Not a bad day. Aufwiedersehen for now!

[backroadblues]

June 3rd, 2017 - Rossdorf and Miltenberg, Germany

Today, after we dropped off Trent and Carolyn off at the airport, Elisa and I decided to head out to a beautiful Rhine River town of Miltenberg. It is a very well preserved example of medieval German construction. The homes / buildings in this town date from 1339. The town square is so quaint, it has been featured in a number of different films. You can practically hear the “clip, clop” of horse hooves on the cobblestones streets. It takes us about an hour to get to Miltenberg from the airport. We zoom down the autobahn at what I think is a high rate of speed when I’m passed like I’m standing still by a number of Audi’s a Porsche and a few Benz’s. Oh well, our Ford Galaxy mini-van does pretty well now that its only hauling around 2 pudgy Americans instead of 4 and not to mention we are not sans one Moby sized suitcase.

We pull into Miltenberg and once again Minerva is with us. A car pulls out of a space in a free parking area. For once we won’t have to pay to park. Elisa and I stroll along the banks of the Rhine, where we are met and entertained by a group of swans. They must assume we have something to feed them because one swan inparticular starts to make a fuss with the others to make sure he is at the front of the line should some bread crumbs or corn flakes suddenly appear. Unfortunately, we disappoint our floating friends and they quickly depart to the next set of people strolling along the river.

Miltenberg’s roots date back to pre-Roman civilizations around 150BC. Many items and artifacts dating from the bronze ages were discovered in and around the current city. Around 1BC to 12AD Romans would establish settlements near current Miltenberg. Roman baths and artifacts and coins have been discovered in the area. However the city would take on its current footprint starting around 1200. A large castle was built here and the town would spring up around it. Elisa has read that the town of Miltenberg was famous for making violins, but we see little evidence of that as we stroll through the streets and look in the shops. We take a break for lunch at a local eatery - the KostBar. They specialize in organic and home-made foods. We have a nice meal that is a little like breakfast and lunch combined.

After our lunch, we stroll over to the Miltenberg Museum that is situated at one end of the really lovely and well preserved town square. The Museum costs 4 euro for adults (no senior discount) but it is very nicely done and it is easy to spend a couple of hours looking at everything. Regretablly all the displays are only in German, but I’m able dust off my German language skills and make out the gist of the various displays. What I cant read and understand I simply make up and share it with Elisa - I hope she doesn’t read this blog. The displays in the museum share artifacts dating back from the early Bronze Age to the time of Roman settlement to the time as a city of the HOly Roman Empire, to the Middle Ages and into modern times. There are stones, sculptures and parts of bath houses that date to Roman times, there are coins from the same era. The museum is laid out inside of three old homes build between 1520 and 1720. As you make your way through the museum they have left parts of the buildings exposed so that you can learn about how the buildings were constructed. This is very interesting and something I haven’t seen at other museums.

It is heading toward 3:00 pm and we have an hour drive back to our apartment near Darmstadt. So we head home. Both Elisa and I are a bit wiped out. Neither of us slept well and we are a little bummed about losing our travel buddies. So, to show how bad we are without them, we promptly head home and take naps. We’ve only managed to get in 3-½ miles of walking in. We’ll have to get back on track. Later in the evening we head into the nearby town of Darmstadt and have dinner at Ban Thai, one of the areas best rated Thai restaurants. Our expectations were low, but they needn’t be, the food is excellent. Maybe, there’s an upside to Trent and CArolyn not being here - for once we order a reasonable amount of dinner and we don’t over eat. We even have left overs to bring home for dinner tomorrow night.

Well that’s all for tonight. Tomorrow we are visiting Heidelberg and catching up with an old friend of Elisa’s who she hasn’t seen in over 38 years. It should be fun.

Aufwiedersehn!

[backroadblues]

June 3rd, 2017 - Frankfurt & Miltenberg, Germany

Today was kind of a sad day for all of us. Our travel buddies for the past 3 weeks, Trent and Carolyn Ballard were heading home. It’s hard to believe that some 7 months ago we tossed out the idea of going to Italy and Germany and we off-handedly asked them if they wanted to come along, and to our pleasure, they said “Yes!”. My Brother Trent and his wife are both younger than Elisa and I - by quite a bit and we weren’t sure we could keep up with them. Fortunately they were even more out of shape than we were. We all did fine on this trip. We would consistently walk between 5 and 12 miles per day and up and down countless steps.

With the 2 of them heading back home I thought I would recap the highlights and locations of our trip that started 3 weeks ago. Hopefully, they can use this to fill in some of their highlights along the way.

Rome - We landed in Rome and spent 2 action packed days in Rome. On our first day, right after we landed at about 11:00 AM local time, we promptly put in about 12 miles of walking seeing some of Rome’s most famous sites in the central part of the city. Our objective was to tucker ourselves out so we would hopefully sleep through the night and get over our jet lag. It didn’t work - we were plenty tired but we all woke up in the early morning hours. The next day we saw the Vatican and the Colosseum and Forum with our lovely guide Roberta. She made Rome special for us. We arranged for her through Rome Tours by Rudy - they get 5 stars from us.

Positano - We then headed down the Amalfi Coast to Positano. The ride into the seaside town is breathtaking, and so were our accommodations. We highly recommend Residence Alcone - ask for the room with the large balcony. Although, we were the center of a couple of international incidents that helped us coin the term “International Eye-roll” we had a great time there. Our dinner at La Tagliata was very special and again, we recommend it if you find yourself traveling to Positano or any other towns along the Amalfi Coast.

Pompeii - We did a day trip out to Pompeii and arranged another excellent private tour with Claudia. We enjoyed our previous visits when we tried the self guided tour, but with Claudia we learned so much more this time around.

Isle of Capri - We did another day trip out to Capri taking a morning ferry and returning in the early evening. The boat ride out was pleasant, but Trent injured his left arm and shoulder when he slipped coming down some steep steps on the boat. The injury would bother him for the rest of the trip - I still think he was trying to avoid having to carry Carolyn’s closet sized suitcase that we lovingly named “Moby” - like the whale - you know the one I’m talking about - yes that one, only that one was a little smaller than the suitcase. Anyhow, Capri was nice but not as nice as Positano and we were happy to be heading back to our amazing rooms and the town of Positano.

Siena - After our stay along the Amalfi we headed up toward Tuscany. It was a long drive, but Elisa had booked us a very nice hotel for our 1 night there at the Hotel Garden. It is just outside the gates to the old walled city and an easy walk to the Campo. We had some amazing food all along the way, but our dinner in Sienna was special - we ate at Trattoria Fonte Dei Giusto. It was very good.

Colle Val d'Elsa - we took a side trip to this little town in a valley nestled in the heart of Tuscany very near Siena and San Gimignano. While there, Trent and Carolyn had their first real Italian cultural experience. We met with some of Elisa’s relatives. Although Trent and Carolyn spoke no Italian and the relatives no English, a family bond was struck and Trent and Carolyn felt the warm embrace of Italian “Parenti” relatives.

Casole d'Elsa - We went to yet another hill town in the heart of Tuscany, again to visit with some of Elisa’s relatives. Once again, the gathering was warm and welcoming. We hated that it was only such a short visit.

Venturina - We went to this small Tuscan town that sits near the Mediterranean Sea. It is located about 70 miles south of Pisa, of leaning tower fame. Here we would make a home base in Tuscany for 6 days. We are staying at a hillside residence apartment - Poggio Aprico. Our host there is friends with Elisa’s cousin Gianni. We have the entire place to ourselves as it is still a bit early in the Holiday season. Our apartments are built into an ancient converted farm house. The views are amazing and the hospitality warm. From here we will combine visits of many Tuscan cities and towns while spending time with Elisa’s relatives.

Suvereto - This is a tiny hill town just outside of Venturina. It is here that another of Elisa’s cousins will be getting married. The ceremony takes place in the same church where Elisa’s Mom & Dad got married back around 1955. We meet with several other relatives of Elisa’s that live here. Trent and Carolyn are able to join us for a really special and unique Italian wedding and reception. All held in this quaint “story book” hillside town.

Barratti and Popolonia - these are two small towns along the coast of Tuscany that are noted for ancient Etruscan ruins. Trent and Carolyn are taken there by Elisa’s cousin Gianni while we visit with Elisa'a Uncle Giuseppe and Aunt Vivianna.

Florence - We took a day trip up to Florence, mainly to visit with some of Elisa’s other relatives - cousins Andrea and his fiance and also with Elisa's cousin Pietro. It is very warm in Florence on this day and we barely can make our way through the hordes of tourists. In spite of the heat and the crowds we do take in many of Florence’s sites, but for the most part we find ourselves missing the relative quiet of the small Tuscan hill towns.

Volterra & SanGimgnano - We took another day trip up to these hill towns. San Gimignano is certainly the more famous of the two but we all enjoyed Volterra the most. The streets were less crowded and there were fewer tourists there. The city is built atop ancient Roman ruins and it is filled with great shops and cafes. Our visit to San Gimignano is made special because we meet and have a great lunch with Elisa’s cousins Roberto and Martine along with their daughter Sabrina and husband Massimo and cute granddaughter Margo. It is great catching up with them all.

Lugliano & and Lucca - We took another day trip here in Tuscany, primarily on a search of some of Carolyn’s family roots. She had information that we could use to find the town and home of her Great Grandfather. While we are there and with Elisa’s help translating English into Italian, we are able to find an actual relative that still lives in the town of Lugliano. From there we visited Lucca, the famous walled city of Tuscany and stroll along Via del Bastardo - how would you like have to address your envelopes with that one?.

LaSpezia - We leave Tuscany and are headed for the Cinque Terre. We use the town of La Spezia as our home base. While here we all take a really fun and tasty private cooking lesson with Chef Sylvia in her restaurant Osteria del Corte. We all really enjoyed this and we again heartily recommend this activity. Our accommodations are at B&B Gateway Cinque Terre. It is set in a renovated portion of a very old apartment building. Our initial impressions of the place are a little suspect because of it sharing space with residential apartments, but our host there has done a very nice job renovating 5 rooms into the space. The location is very good near the main pedestrian corridor of La Spezia and very close to the train station.

Cinque Terra - the cities of Riomaggiore, Monterosso, Corniglia, Manarola and Vernazza. Elisa and I visit only Riomaggiore and Manarola. Carolyn and Trent hit all of them except Corniglia. We come away from Cinque Terre somewhat disappointed. It is a victim of its own success. Each little city is now over run with tourists, the merchandise in the shops is not very good and aimed at the tourist trade. The views are amazing but the crowds were difficult to contend with.

Porto Venere - on the recommendation of Chef Sylvia’s husband we visit the tiny town of Porto Venere, which sits out on a point of land that actually looks back at the 5 towns of Cinque Terre. We fall in love with this little town. It seems to be a little secret - there are very few tourists and it seems to be where locals from La Spezia and Cinque Terre come to get away from it all. We have another amazing dinner at the Royal Sporting Hotel in Porto Venere. We have a wonderful table that gives us a sweeping view of the water.

Bellagio - from La Spezia we head to Lake Como where we will Be staying at a small hotel right in the heart of the little town of Bellagio. Once again the ride into Bellagio is a bit breathtaking - both because of the views and the narrowness of the roads. To get to out hotel we have to wind our way down a tiny pedestrian filled street, only to emerge lakeside at our hotel.

Verona - From Como we are headed to Venice, but before we get there we spend time in the city of Verona. This city and its neighboring city of Venice were immortalized by William Shakespere through his retelling of the tale of Romeo and Juliet and the play Merchant of Venice. Elisa and I last visited Verona over 10 years ago and at that time, it really wasn’t on the map of most tourists. We remember viewing the balcony of Juliet and having the courtyard largely to ourselves. Similarly, the walks to the other key sites in Verona were easy strolls. Not so this time. Juliet’s balcony is swarmed with tourists from every country and of all ages. It is all we can do to make our way in. Now, there are swanky pedestrian streets crisscrossing the ancient parts of the city bringing “Rodeo Drive” to Verona. It is still a nice detour on our way to Venice.

Venice. We are spending 3 days and 2 nights in Venice. Getting into Venice is always the hard part when you are touring Italy by car. You have to park your car at either Tronchetto or the nearer Piazzale Roma. We try Piazzale Roma first hoping to find close parking that will get us into Venice more quickly. It turns out to be a bad choice because the garages are full and we must make our way back to Tronchetto. It takes us over an hour to park and get to our tiny apartment. The effort was really worth it. Although Venice is also very crowded with several cruise ships in port, it is so unique and special for Trent and Carolyn who have never traveled to Italy before.

Innsbruck, Austria - After 3 great days in Venice we are heading out of Italy now and making our way to Germany. Before we get there we will first stop for lunch in Innsbruck, Austria. We get our first taste of German cuisine and we receive efficient although curt service from "Frau Grumpy Pants" as we came to call our waitress. We are all having trouble changing gears from Italian to German - especially when trying to speak. We get by and have great lunch and spend a little time in the Altstadt - Old City.

Grainau, Germany - From Innsbruck we head over the Brenner Pass into Germany. We will be spending 3 days in this tiny town just outside of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. We absolutely loved our accommodations there. Easily the best we’ve had on this trip. We are staying at Ferienwohnung - Zugspitze. Our host Carolin has done a wonderful with this place. There are 5 apartments purpose built into a traditional Bavarian style home. We occupy one of the 2 apartments on the lower floors. The apartment occupies the ground floor and a basement where there is a private bedroom and bathroom. Everything is so well done and not a single thing has been forgotten. We have everything we need to stay for a month and we are sorry we will only be there for 3 nights.

Fussen & Schwangau & Linderhoff - We take a day trip of castle touring. We see the fairy tale castle Neuschwanstein and King Ludwig’s family home Hohenschwangau. The horse ride up the mountain and the views from Castle Neuschwanstein are stunning. We then head over to Ludwig’s bachelor pad - Linderhoff castle. Seeing these castles really sets the mood for us here in the Bavarian Alps.

Oberamergau - While touring the Ludwig castles we also head into Oberamergau where the girls do some shopping for Christmas ornaments. This town is famous for the holding of the Passion Play once every 10 years at Christmas time. The play tells the story of Jesus and all the parts in the play are played by local townspeople.

Eibsee & Zugspitze Peak - Trent and Carolyn head up to the top of the Zugspitze peak ticking off 2 more modes of transportation on this trip - they ride the Cog wheel railroad part way up the mountain and then take the gondola ski lift to the top. While up there, the strangest thing happens to them. They meet “Fonzi”, Henry Winkler. He is on site at the top of the mountain filming an episode to his series “Better Late then Never”. He is a great guy and takes photos with Trent and Carolyn.

Garmisch - Partinkirchen - we cruise through the streets of this tiny town and see all the traditionally painted Bavarian homes and shops. We also head to the Ski Stadium from the 1936 Olympics that are still in use today.

Rothenberg - As we make our way out of Bavaria, we make one last stop and that is to the city of Rothenberg. This city is one of the best preserved medieval walled cities in Germany. We have a great lunch there and explore the city. The city is also known for Bavarian Cuckoo clocks and Elisa and I go cuckoo for Cckoo's. We find one we like and make arrangements to have it shipped to us in the US.

Rossdorf, Germany - from Rothenberg we make our way north out of Bavaria heading for the outskirts of Frankfurt. The towns are quite different here, it is clear we are near the commercial and industrial heart of Germany. The town where we are staying makes no effort to draw tourists. It is a suburb of Darmstadt and larger Frankfurt. We’ve chosen this location because it will be close to Frankfurt Airport where Trent and Carolyn will be departing as will we in a few more days. However, our location does serve as a good hub for visiting nearby Heidelberg and many of the older and more quaint towns along the Rhine river. However, Trent and Carolyn will miss most of those as they will spend their last full day in Europe taking another day trip.

Worms, Germany &the Strasbourg, France - On their last day in Europe, we head to Strasbourg. This allows Trent and Carolyn to tick another country off the list for their vacation. More importantly, it gives Trent and I an opportunity to revisit places that were special to us when we both lived here 47 years ago with our parents. Our first stop is to the small town of Worms that sits on the banks of the Rhine River. We drive by our old house at 8 Keplerstrasse and to our surprise we see that the home next door is still home to our neighbors back then - the Koegler’s We then head into Strasbourg, France. Our prime objective is to find the Kammerzell Haus as the Germans call it or Maison Kammerzell as the French all it, where we had many an amazing meal when we were growing up. We succeed in finding the place and we have an excellent meal that does not let our memories of the place down. We then spend time walking through the old part of Strasbourg. We are totally taken in by the Cathedral there and spend a great deal of time marveling at the construction, the stained glass , the art and also the amazing celestial computer clock - built in 1845.

Frankfurt Airport - This ends Trent and Carolyn’s part of the trip. This morning we drop them off at the huge Frankfurt Airport and they are making there way back home to California.

We were all so blessed on this trip. There were so many fortuitous events, starting with Trent miraculously managing to get his ticket straightened out at the last minute before we departed on the trip. The United customer service rep was named Minerva (Roman Goddess of Hope) and Minerva was constantly with us. Invariably we would pull into a location and the people would tell us, “good thing you weren’t here a day ago - the weather was horrible - cold and rainy”. We had good weather all the way. We may have complained about heat, but Elisa and I have been here in August before - trust me we did not have an “hot” weather. We consistently missed the rain. Minerva would make parking spaces appear out of nowhere when we would need it the most. Most importantly, we were blessed with each other’s company. The trip was a really special bonding moment with 2 brothers who have been separated by time and distance for too long and there wives. We would tease each other mercilessly during the trip, especially poor Carolyn and her suitcase “Moby”, but it was always in good fun. (Really, we love Moby) When you will be spending 3 weeks traveling with people, even those that you know well or are related to, it is difficult to get along 100% of the time. But we did - (or if we didn’t I’m sure they won’t tell us). So, it helps if everyone is compatible and we all were. Trent is so funny and he kept us all lighthearted and Carolyn is so sweet and she worked so hard on our accommodations - plus she and Elisa made great “shopping buddies”, something neither Trent nor I are really excited about doing. Instead we would find a shady cafe and have a few apertivos. I’m sure it made for better shopping for Elisa and Carolyn as well. We would travel over 2200 miles by car and we never got on each other’s nerves - except when Trent would “sleep drive”. Consequently, we didn’t let him do a lot of the driving, but he did enough to give me a break.

What a great trip we had. We can’t wait to do another trip together.

Ciao, “Trentino Limone” and “Carolina Proscuitto” as they have been lovingly named.

After Elisa and I dropped Trent and Carolyn off we did make a day trip out to Miltenberg on the Rhine River. I’ll write about that in another post.

[backroadblues]

Cuckoo for cuckoos - the clock we picked is in the first picture in the lower left.

[backroadblues]

June 2nd, 2017 - Strasbourg, France & Worms, Germany

Hello there everyone! Today is Trent and Carolyn’s last day in Europe. Tomorrow they will be flying home. We’ve had a great time, but we can tell they are a little anxious to get back home - if for no other reason than to get to sleep in their own bed and hug their kids. For now, that will have to wait, because today we are heading to France. We will make a quick detour to the small town of Worms, where Trent and I both lived in 1969 & 1970. That was 47 years ago, and the town of Worms is not so little anymore. Trent was only 5 years old when we lived here and I was 14 so our memories are a little sketchy, but we wanted to come back and see where we used to live.

The drive to Worms from where we are staying near Darmstadt is about 45 minutes - mainly because of morning traffic and the fact that they seem to be working on so many of the roads around here. The drive into Worms is as impressive as I remember it. You have to cross over the Rhine River on a bridge and pass through the impressive stone towers that once protected the small town of Worms. The bridge looks much bigger and newer than I remember, but the stone tower is still the same. We decide to head over to the St. Peter’s Dome and Cathedral so we can learn about Martin Luther and the famous Diet of Worms. The Cathedral is now surrounded by buildings and shops. My memories of it are that it was very visible from the town center & Rathaus, but now the cathedral is largely obscured by other buildings. all you can see are the spires soaring above the buildings. We see the Trinity Church that stands on the sight were it is believed that Luther posted the tenants of his Diet - (a Diet was a tribunal and not a weight loss program). Martin Luther came to Worms to express his beliefs about the need for reformation of the church in the 1500 because Worms was a Free Imperial City, meaning that it reported to and was to some extend governed directly by the Holy Roman Empire.

Martin Luther believed that the religious hierarchy of the time had become corrupt and more concerned about raising funds and controlling the peoples relationship with God. Luther espoused the belief that man could have a personal relationship with God and man should be able to have, read and interpret the Bible directly, rather than having it spoon fed to them by the church. After convening the Diet to discuss his beliefs, Martin Luther was declared to be a heretic and Church Elders wanted him taken into custody. However, Luther’s ideas struck a chord with the people of Worms and with other noblemen of the time. One of whom actually came to Luther’s rescue and gave him refuge in his castle. Although Luther only spent 10 days in Worms, his teachings took root and set in motion a Protestant Reformation of the Church. All of that happen right here in Worms.

While we are walking the streets, Elisa happened upon a dress shop and decided to look for a dress for Krista’s upcoming wedding. Now mind you, she has already purchase a dress for the wedding, but now she is having second thoughts about it. So what better thing to do than to shop for a dress while we are on a quick side trip to Worms. Guess what, she finds one she likes - at least for now - so she decides to buy it from a little shop where we will never be able return it if she should change her mind. In any event - she is happy - so I am happy.

After the dress purchase, we get back into the car for our 2 hour drive to Strasbourg, France. We have chosen to come to this particular city in France because both Trent and I remember coming here with our parents when we lived in Germany all those years ago. We remember how quaint and lovely the old city was. It has some of the best restored and preserved gothic architecture in Europe. In particularly, what we remember is having lunch at the Maison Kammerzell, or as the German’s call it - Kammerzell Haus. This restaurant is located in a building that was first build in 1427 as a Civil building. It was renovated in the 1460’s and again in the 1500’s, but it is largely unchanged since then. The building has been occupied by a hotel and restaurant since the 1600’s. When we came here in the 1960’s It was arranged a bit differently. The building is a 5 story structure, and what we remember is that the first floor had a large bar and informal seating and dining along with outdoor dining. The next three levels of the restaurant were dedicated to fine dining with the menu and quality of the food and service increasing the higher one went in the restaurant. The kitchen would occupy the 5th and top floor with prepared meals being delivered by a food elevator system. Today it is a bit different. the large bar on the first level is no longer there. It is a more informal dining room and the outdoor seating remains. The menu is the same regardless of where one sits. The next 3 floors are more finely appointed dining stations with a bit more service staff, but there aren’t any difference between the three upper floors and the menu is the same for all parts of the restaurant. The restaurant has occupied a prominent place on the Cathedral square. In fact, the building that the restaurant sits in was there before construction of the current cathedral was completed. Today, there are streets with trendy shops that now lead into the square where the Cathedral and the restaurant now sit. It is really breathtaking when you come around the corner and are confronted with both the cathedral and the Maison Kammerzell building.

We enter the restaurant for lunch and we will be dining one level above the street entrance. Our waiter directs us to our roomy corner table that has a great view, albeit through wavy glass that is original to the renovation in the 1600s. We are having a late lunch so we are all a bit hungry.

For Starters we each place an order. Elisa opts for the smoked salmon with a cheese garnish. The salmon is and excellently prepared and served with a delicious cheese sauce and caper berries. Carolyn, has the cold soup of watermelon and melon. She is really thrilled with and finds it refreshing on this warm day. Trent has the Onion Pie - which is like a quiche - Carolyn takes a taste and describes it as follows, “if you could take a serving of classic French onion soup and put it into a quiche, this is what you would get. We all try it and it is very special. I have the snails in classic butter, garlic and herbs. They too are wonderful.

For our main course: Carolyn has the beef filet served with gratin potatoes, a vegetable soufflé and hollandaise sauce with her steak that has been perfectly grilled. Elisa has the beef tenderloin. It too is perfectly cooked and seasoned, but she wishes she had some of the hollandaise sauce to go with it - so Carolyn shares. Both Trent and I have the lamb chops that are served with a array of vegetables, a wonderful brown sauce, and a crostini that is covered with an olive tapenade that to our surprise complements the lamb quite nicely. We also split a bottle of French Medoc that is wonderful.

For desert: Carolyn has a pistachio mousse with red plum ice cream and merengue, I have a chestnut ice cream with blueberries, whipped cream and merengue cookies. Trent has a trio of sorbet (lemon, red plum and peach) they are then drenched with brandy. Once again his favorite is the lemon. Both Carolyn and I love our deserts. The meal was as good as we remember from 47 years ago and we are happy we came.

After our late lunch we are walking the town and making a few small purchases here and there. Carolyn is thinking that she might need another piece of luggage to carry home some of the treasures she has acquired along the way. However, Elisa suggest that Carolyn use her suitcase to carry home her items and Elisa will purchase a new one. One of the wheels on Elisa’s suitcase is getting a little wobbly and she would prefer a 4-wheeled roller. I’m ok with the idea, but I’m guessing that in this part of town we will have difficulty finding a luggage store. On top of that she has her eye on a Samsonite model similar to the Moby suitcase Carolyn has. I’ve spent a lot of time in France for work and my recollection is that they somewhat eschew American brands and prefer to focus on or only carry French brands such as Delsy. So I tell her we probably won’t get her a Samsonite. We look in a lot of stores and don’t see any luggage. I suggest we give up when the only store we can find that carries any sort of luggage is a Louis Vuitton store, and I’m not interested in spending that kind of money. It’s now coming up on about 5:30pm and we have a 2+ hour drive back so we decide to give up on the suitcase. Since Carolyn and Trent are flying tomorrow and we will be here for another 3 days, Elisa tells her to go ahead and take her suitcase as an extra. Carolyn says no - worried that we will be busy and not find one, or that the search for a suitcase will get in the way of our remaining days of vacation. We turn the corner to head back where our car is parked and walk smack into a luggage store. We have had that kind of luck on this trip. If you’ve read my very first post you may recall that Trent almost didn’t make the trip because of a ticketing snafu that resulted when he arranged is ticket using a shortened name than appears on his passport. The night before we left he was on the phone with a customer service agent named Minerva - who miraculously got things squared away. We deemed at that point that Minerva, the goddess of hope has blessed us on our entire trip. We weather has been great, whenever rain has been in the forecast, we have dodged it, whenever we were searching for a parking space we find one at the last second. Now, Minerva has struck once again, for not only did we stumble into a luggage store in France, this one carries Samsonite and they are having a sale. To our surprise, the price of the suitcase is very comparable to home. The other thing that Minerva has blessed us with is that the store is very close to where we parked our car.

With our Strasbourg mission now complete, we are on the road to head back to our temporary home. Trent takes a turn at driving and when we are about 45 minutes out of time, he declares that he is in need of a bathroom break. We drive along and do not see any signs for upcoming service stations. By now, Trent has been talking about needing to go to the restroom so much, that now we all feel the need. Even though we have enough gas to make the trip home, we are now in search of a gas station. After another 10 minutes of driving on the autobahn without seeing signs for service, we decide to exit the autobahn at a small town, thinking we will definitely find a gas station near the autobahn. Guess what, no gas station. We now pull over and query our navigation and find a service station located a couple of miles away. We finally find it but not without making a couple of wrong turns along the way. We are all roaming around the service station - inside and outside - looking for the much needed restroom. I finally go inside and ask the owner, a nicely dressed German woman if she has a restroom here. She replies with a very disappointing, "Nein". With our luck we happen to find the only service station that doesn’t have a restroom. The disappointment on our faces must have been obvious because she points us toward a large supermarket a little down the street. We head on over there thinking at last. We pull up to this very nice and modern grocery store, probably the largest and best stocked one we have seen since we started our trip over 3 weeks ago. Here we are roaming around this store, wishing we hadn't purchased groceries at the store in town, since this one is so much better stocked. We then remember, we are on a mission to find a restroom. I ask a stock clerk and he, tells me in German that it is outside near the Getrenken Automat - this is the automated machine for redeeming empty drink bottles. We find the restroom - finally - but it is locked. Elisa asks the checkout clerk and she tells us it is closed for repair. By now, we are all getting a little desperate. So I google McDonald’s since we’ve seen a number of them here in Germany. We are in luck - there is one only 3 miles away. We rush over there and we are all pleased to find well equipped and clean restrooms. Now that we are all relieved, we feel obligated to order something. Not that any of us is hungry after our gourmet French meal, but a "cheeseburger chaser” is the capper for our French dining experience.

I drive us the rest of the way back into Darmstadt and we arrive by 8:20pm. We are all relaxing and there are not thoughts of eating in any or our heads - except for Elisa. She is the only one that did not feel compelled to order something from the McDonald’s that was our oasis in a desert sans restrooms.

Elisa has now emptied her old suitcase, transferring her thing into her new and swanky Samsonite - roller bag. It is not “Moby” sized, thank goodness, but the same size as the one she had. She shouldn’t have any trouble packing all of her things. Trent and Carolyn now have plenty of room to take their goodies home with them. As they pack and take their showers, Elisa and I realize that we will miss them as we spend the next 3 days here in Germany on our own. They have been great traveling companions and together we have ventured out and done so much.

Tomorrow we will drop them off at Frankfurt airport - one of the largest in the world. It will serve as a dry run for us when we need to travel home. We will have a rental car to return and luggage to handle, so we will scope thing out as we drop them off tomorrow. With that in mind, it dawns on us that our trip too is about to come to an end.

More later on our final days.

Aufwiedersehen!

[backroadblues]

June 1st, 2017 - Headed to Rossdorf Germany - Rothenberg Hello everyone! Today is June 1st. The stunning realization has befallen both Trent and Carolyn that their vagabond trip will soon be coming to an end. It has been a trip that has taken them across much of Italy, into Austria and Germany. Before their trip is done they will have also traveled into France. They have visited some amazing places, seen so many wonderful things and got to meet and mingle with so many locals in theses countries. However, today and tomorrow are their last full days here and they will head home on the 3rd. Today we will be in transit. We will leave our cozy and cute nest in the little town of Grainau, located just outside of Munich. We spend 3 really wonderful and relaxing nights there. We will be headed up towards Frankfurt, where our flights will be departing - theirs on the 3 and ours on the 6th. I had a difficult time finding an apartment to rent on VRBO or Air B&B up here. We had hoped to stay in Heidelberg but we weren't able to book anything. What we found was a home to rent in the little town of Rossdorf which is a suburb of Frankfurt and sits outside of Darmstadt. The home is quite large and spans across 5 floors - basement to attic. We meet with Maximillian who is our host to pick up the keys to our home of the few nights. "Max" is young - maybe mid to late 20s. The home we are renting was his childhood home that he grew up in. Max speaks excellent English and shows us the home. His Father, who owns the home now lives in another city and he has left the home to Max to rent. Regrettably, it is rather sparsely equipped and will probably rank as our least favorite rental. Another reason, we aren't thrilled with it is because of the town where it sits. We are no longer in the touristy confines like those that we've been in, and we have probably forever been spoiled by our last stay in the Bavarian Alps. Rossdorf is a working mans town. It does have a small cathedral for the towns people and it is currently being renovated, but there is no quaint little town square with wide pedestrian boulevards with little shops. For Trent and Carolyn, they will only be spending 2 nights here and then heading back home. As we head out of Grainau, we must head back into Austria to go around the mountains once again. We are taking the same route as we did when we headed to Fussen. This will allow us to hit the Autobahn and take a pretty direct route to our first stop - Rothenberg. The trip up takes us somewhat longer than the planned 2 hours due to there being a lot of roadwork on the way. We depart at about 9:30 am and arrive in Rothenberg at around 12:45. We have lunch at Hotel Reichskuchenmeister, it is a beautiful hotel with a reputation for a great restaurant and Beer Garden. Today we are dining in the garden. I have the schweineschulter (pork shoulder), Trent the sauerbraten (braised pork loin) each of our dishes are served with a potato dumpling and some sauerkraut - his made with purple cabbage and mine with white. Elisa has the wiener schnitzel and Carolyn a flammkuchen (flame cooked flatbread) with salmon. Carolyn's dish is not what we ordered, there may have been a communication problem with the waiter, but rather than send it back she keeps it because it looks good. We have been spoiled with pizza in Italy, but this is a little different. The crust is softer and more bread-like, but it is still thin, The cheese is really soft and zesty tasting - not like a mozzarella. It has almost a cream cheese consistency. Lastly, there is no red sauce on it. The salmon is spread generously across the "not-quite-like a pizza" dish and it is delicious. My pork shoulder is very good the brown gravy served with the generous portion is also delicious. Both Trent and I find the potato dumpling to be a little different with a soft and sticky consistency - similar to Japanese moochi. With the gravy it is tasty, but they are very heavy in consistency. I can barely eat one of them. Elisa's "original" wienerschnitzel is well prepared but it needed some sort of sauce or gravy on it, but she declares it to be "not-offensive". After lunch we had only about an hour and an half to do some sightseeing and shopping. Clearly not enough time to thoroughly explore the town of Rothenberg. Rothenberg is probably one of the best preserved medieval walled cities in Germany. Although it was severely damaged during WWII it was beautifully restored. We stroll through the narrow streets and see the town square and the cathederal. We see the main gate to the city and the oft photographed Ploelien - which means little square. Elisa and I also are shopping for a cuckoo clock to take back home. There are lots of tourists visiting Rothenberg on this day, but it is not overly crowded. We are all surprised by the number of Americans visiting, but also the many Chinese tourists that are there. This may explain the Chinese restaurant, we saw as we walked to the Reichskuchenmeister restaurant. A little about cuckoo clocks - they were originally designed and built in the German Black Forest region of Bavaria. The most distinctive features of the cuckoo clock is the small bird that will appear from behind a door to call our the hour of the day with its unique "cuckoo" sound. They are traditionally made from native wood and are hand carved. The oldest known clocks date back to the 1700's. There is a society, that strictly regulates the manufacture of these clocks today. The finest clocks must be made entirely of wood that is hand carved and hand painted. The cuckoo sound is made from tiny bellows and music comes from Swiss made music boxes. The clock movements are made from brass and hand assembled in Germany. There are 3 primary makers of cuckoo clocks here in Germany. Since we will be soon leaving Bavaria, Elisa and I are on the hunt for one. Rothenberg is an excellent place to shop for one. Many of the shops carry fine cuckoo clocks along with less expensive versions that do not carry the guild certification. We end up finding one we like at the Uhrenhaus - a Kathe Wohlfahrt store. We arrange to have our clock shipped to our home. This way, they do not charge us the 19.7% VAT tax that is built into the price of the clock. Also, they fully insure the clock and will warrant it for 2 years. There are authorized repair shops throughout the US and if repairs are needed they will make the arrangements. Another advantage of buying it through the large Kathe Wohlfahrt store a large chain throughout Germany, is that we get a gift card for our purchase that can be used in any of the Kathe Wohlfahrt stores on a subsequent purchase. Coincidentally, there is a huge and world famous Weihnachtsdorf - "Christmas" store right here in Rothenberg. As I wind up the purchase of our cuckoo clock, Elisa, Carolyn and Trent head to the Christmas store to take advantage of the 40 Euros on our gift card. With the sightseeing done and the gift shopping completed, we head back out on the road to make the 2 hour drive to our temporary home in Rossdorf. We meet young Maximillian and take possession of our large but albeit sparsely equipped home. When we get settled in, we make a quick run to the grocery store before it closes to buy some supplies for breakfast. At around 8:00 pm we set out to find a local restaurant. The 2 restaurants that Maxmillian has suggested are both nearby. His favorite, is a restaurant called Zur Sonnen (to the sun), but it is closed on Thursdays. It seems odd to us, but since these are family run establishments, they too need a day off now and again. Max's second suggestion, Zum Schutzenhof is open on this night. We walk in, and the person that greets us at the door speaks no English. I trot out my limited German and we ask for a table for 4. He says something back to us in German after looking in the dining room and beyond and all I can pick up is "nichts" which means nothing. As we are about to turn and leave to look for another restaurant in this small town, the lady of the restaurant says something to him in Italian. Elisa overhears it and turns back to to the lady speaking Italian and her husband that has now joined into the conversation. They tell us in Italian that they are really busy right now and if we could wait about 15 or 20 minutes they will be able to seat us. They seat us in an indoor dining room, but since it is warm today, everyone is dining outdoors on a nicely shaded and breezy patio. We are served some complimentary Prosecco for our inconvenience. Once seated, we are surprised that Zum Schuetzenhof has an entirely Italian menu. We are all humored by the fact that after we've eaten our way across Italy, we end up in Germany only to be eating Italian. However, our host are Italians that immigrated to Germany 48 years ago to open this restaurant. The food is good and authentic. The portions are huge, seemingly the way Germans like them. Carolyn has a veal parmigiana - this way she get a prosciutto fix in. Elisa has the Veal Limone, Trent and I both have the steak with mushrooms. All of our food is good and we are given boxes, almost unheard of here in Europe, so we can take our leftovers home with us. There is enough left to make a decent sized lunch for us all. After dinner, our hosts spend some time chatting with us in Italian and we are treated to a very nice limoncello. After than, we call it an night and all turn in around 11:00 pm. Tomorrow, we are off to Strasbourg, France. Aufwiedersehen for now!

[backroadblues]

May 31st, 2017 - Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany This Wednesday was probably the most relaxing day we've had on this trip. There were no specifically planned activities and we couldn't think of a better place to be relaxing other than this beautiful Alpine setting. We took our time getting up. Carolyn made us all a great breakfast. We finally did find a grocery store that was open. We are all amazed at how affordable the food is here in Germany. We purchases 3 bags of food that included chicken, breakfast meats, eggs, butter and several other items and walked out of there having spent only 35Euros. The homes may be expensive but the cost of living is very reasonable. At around 11:00 Trent and Carolyn decided to take the Cog Wheel Train up the Zugspitze mountain. Elisa wasn't feeling that well so we decided to hang back and maybe stroll around the town. We were happy to get a detailed report back from Trent and Carolyn when they got back. Here is what they had to report on their ascent to the top of the Zugspitze - the tallest mountain in Germany. Trent speaking: We set up base camp in the small town of Eibsee. Here we would acclimate ourselves to the high elevation before we would make the climb up the treacherous Zugspitze. We check our provisions here. We want to be sure we are fully prepared for all eventualities that might arise. When you are climbing in the Alps, one cant be too cautious. The check in with the local guides, they consider hiring a Sherpa or two to help them with the ascent up the mountain. Alas, the time is now right to set off to the top of the Zugspitze. That means they board the comfortable Cog Wheel Railroad - I hope you didn't think they were going to walk and climb up the mountain. So with a name like Cog Wheel Railroad, I was imagining a tiny train struggling to make its way up the steep mountainside; sounding just like a roller coaster making its way to the top of the hill. Not so, the Germans had managed to carve the railroad through much of the mountain. When the train leaves the station, you travel about 10 minutes up the side of the mountain, but the grade is not as steep as they expected it to be. The town of Eibsee sits at about 4000' elevation. The peak of the Zugspitze sits at about 10000' elevation. The train will take about 40 minutes to reach a mid-way point up the mountain, much of it through tunnels bored into the mountain of stone. Where the train stops is at an elevation of about 7000'. The rest of the trip up to a point very near the summit will rise about 2800' via a gondola that rides on a cable. Near the mid-way point of the train ride, there is a break in the tunnels and the train emerges into sunshine. The driver slows the train to offer the passengers a spectacular view of the lakes, villiage and valley below. The train then descends back into the tunnel and continues its serpentine climb up the mountain. When Trent first came up with the idea to go to the top of the Zugspitze, its pretty safe to say that Carolyn was not too excited about the idea. The weather forecast was calling for cool temperatures and the possibility of rain. So, I'm sure Carolyn was imagining there to be blizzard like conditions at the summit and the two of them would only be armed with light jackets. She was also a little nervous about the steep ascent up the mountain by both train and gondola cable car. When the train arrives at its stopping point it is about 2/3 of the way up the mountain, there is a small collection of buildings there where there are shops, a cafeteria and numerous lookout points with picnic tables. Trent and Carolyn decide to head straight for the cable car station that will take them up the steep final section up toward the top of the mountain. The cars are relatively large and capable of carrying about 40 passengers at a time. The ride up to the top is relatively quick and since the car hangs freely and level from the cable, you don't feel the ascent that much. The trip is fairly quick - only taking about 5 minutes with all passengers standing. They know the elevation is high, because the gondola is rising up through the clouds that are hanging around the mountain. Once the cable car reaches its summit they are standing at an elevation of about 9800' and they are now above the clouds and are looking down at the tops o them. The actual summit of the Zugspitze is marked with a large and ornate gold cross and it is accessible, but you have to make the final ascent by foot. However, on this day the walking trail is closed. The landing area where the gondola cable cars drop you off is much smaller than the stopping point for the train. There are vista points that offer spectacular views down the mountain. There are a few picnic tables and a smaller walk-up bar that offers beer, drinks and snacks. The biggest surprise for both Trent and Carolyn when they reach the summit is that weather up there at the very top of the mountain is beautiful. Since they are above the clouds the entire are is bathed in sunlight and it is nice and warm. So the fears that Carolyn had when she begrudgingly agreed to go with Trent are quickly allayed and she is thrilled to experience this jaunt up the mountain - besides she now gets to tick another couple of different modes of transportation off of her list. After taking lots of pictures at the top and looking down at the tiny village of Grainau, where we are staying and the many lakes that are nearby they decide to head back to the mid-way point of the mountain where they can get a proper lunch. So they board the gondola again and make the quick decent to the area where they can catch the train. The find a spot in the little cafeteria there. As they enter, Trent spies a familiar face and sees someone whom he never would have expected to run into at the top of the Zugspitze. It is none other than Henry Winkler of "Fonzi" fame. Henry is up here dressed in traditional lederhosen filming an episode of his new series "Better Late than Never". Henry, the Fonz is kind enough to take photos with Trent and Carolyn. Who would have thought they would meet the Fonz up there. After the photos, Trent and Carolyn have a tasty lunch of brats and schnitzel and of course the ever present pomme frites or French fried potatoes. By now it is about 2:00pm and they decide to make there way back down the mountain on the railroad. On board the train, there are seats that face in either direction. When they came up the mountain, they were facing toward relative to the direction the train was traveling. This means that as the train was going up they would be leaning back in the chair and the 45 minute ride would be comfortable. When the board the train to head back down, they sit is opposite the direction as when when they came up. This means that for the decent they are now sitting facing forward relative to the the direction of the train travel. As they now are heading down the mountain, they can feel the angle of decent. They find that they need sit with their feet extended in front of them so they can push themselves back into the seat. They also feel the muscles in the tummies having to hold themselves back. After a few minutes the begin to feel a little uncomfortable and the switch seat so that they are riding backwards down the mountain. Now with the aid of gravity, they easily lean back in their seats. I pick them up at the train station at Eibsee at 2:45. While I'm waiting there, I too see Henry Winkler walking in the parking lot headed with his driver to his car. Now though he is not wearing the lederhosen. He now looks very LA-movie star. He's wearing a pair of creamy-yellow slacks with purple / lavender colored suede shoes and a turquoise colored shirt. Very inconspicuous - not. After we get back to the apartment at around 3:00 we decide to head back into the Partenkirchen side of the city to walk the streets of the old part of town. Here the buildings are painted in traditional Bavarian style with beautiful murals. Many of the shops close for business from 12:00 not to 3:00 pm. So many are now reopening. We do a lot of window shopping and are really amazed at the artistic creations at Aimlee's chocolatier shop. They are all so beautiful it would seem a waste to eat them. At around 5:00 we head over to the Ski Stadium, which served as a venue for the ski jump at the 1936 olympics. The jump towers over the city of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The original stands and viewing arenas are still there and still in use today. On this day, there is a large beer garden tent that has been erected. They are having some sort of corporate event there and we are disappointed we haven't been invited. We take lots of photos and decides to make another stop at the grocery store so we can have dinner at home once again. As Trent and Elisa head into the little Aldi store to pick up a few things I head over to the liquor store - sort of a little Bevmo - to pick up a bottle or Riesling wine to go with dinner. As I walk into this largish store, I'm surprised. I was expecting something like a Bevmo at home based on the size of the store, but instead of aisles made up of shelves the store is only lined with shelves along the wall. In the center of the store the wares are arranged on pallets and the beverages are stacked in milk crates. The pallets are arranged in long rows to make up the aisles in the store. There are about 9 total aisles. To my surprise the first 3 aisles are bottled water. There are hundreds of different brands and many coming from foreign countries. This is bottled drinking water. I don't get it, they have some of the best drinking water I've tasted coming right out of the tap, buy at this store you have over 100 different brands of bottled water you can chose from. The other 6 aisles are totally devoted to beer. Here again, the variety is amazing. They are also experiencing a "craft brew" revolution here in Germany, but its been going on for centuries. Their are countless little breweries spread across the country and it would seem you have the opportunity to buy them all at this store. On one small shelf that is no longer than 30' I find their wine selection. It is surprisingly small. Over 20' of the shelf space is devoted to imported wines from many different countries. I'm surprised that the USA section is dominated by wines by Gallo. As I survey the German white wines, I am unfamiliar with any of the vintners. I ask the clerk who speaks a little English to help me to select a Riesling. He reaches up to a top shelf and hands me a bottle and tells me it is their best. So I head to the check-out and I'm shocked when the total comes to 4.61 Euros. So, I'm thinking back to that 15euro bottle of Barolo the other night and I'm wondering if this will be just as bad. To our pleasant surprise, we open the bottle for dinner and it's not bad. We wouldn't award it a gold medal but it is easily drinkable. We all turn in a little early. Our plan is to head north. We will visit Rothenberg and then head up to our next stop near the Rhine Valley. More later. Aufwiedersehn!

[backroadblues]

May 31st, 2017 - Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany This Wednesday was probably the most relaxing day we've had on this trip. There were no specifically planned activities and we couldn't think of a better place to be relaxing other than this beautiful Alpine setting. We took our time getting up. Carolyn made us all a great breakfast. We finally did find a grocery store that was open. We are all amazed at how affordable the food is here in Germany. We purchases 3 bags of food that included chicken, breakfast meats, eggs, butter and several other items and walked out of there having spent only 35Euros. The homes may be expensive but the cost of living is very reasonable. At around 11:00 Trent and Carolyn decided to take the Cog Wheel Train up the Zugspitze mountain. Elisa wasn't feeling that well so we decided to hang back and maybe stroll around the town. We were happy to get a detailed report back from Trent and Carolyn when they got back. Here is what they had to report on their ascent to the top of the Zugspitze - the tallest mountain in Germany. Trent speaking: We set up base camp in the small town of Eibsee. Here we would acclimate ourselves to the high elevation before we would make the climb up the treacherous Zugspitze. We check our provisions here. We want to be sure we are fully prepared for all eventualities that might arise. When you are climbing in the Alps, one cant be too cautious. The check in with the local guides, they consider hiring a Sherpa or two to help them with the ascent up the mountain. Alas, the time is now right to set off to the top of the Zugspitze. That means they board the comfortable Cog Wheel Railroad - I hope you didn't think they were going to walk and climb up the mountain. So with a name like Cog Wheel Railroad, I was imagining a tiny train struggling to make its way up the steep mountainside; sounding just like a roller coaster making its way to the top of the hill. Not so, the Germans had managed to carve the railroad through much of the mountain. When the train leaves the station, you travel about 10 minutes up the side of the mountain, but the grade is not as steep as they expected it to be. The town of Eibsee sits at about 4000' elevation. The peak of the Zugspitze sits at about 10000' elevation. The train will take about 40 minutes to reach a mid-way point up the mountain, much of it through tunnels bored into the mountain of stone. Where the train stops is at an elevation of about 7000'. The rest of the trip up to a point very near the summit will rise about 2800' via a gondola that rides on a cable. Near the mid-way point of the train ride, there is a break in the tunnels and the train emerges into sunshine. The driver slows the train to offer the passengers a spectacular view of the lakes, villiage and valley below. The train then descends back into the tunnel and continues its serpentine climb up the mountain. When Trent first came up with the idea to go to the top of the Zugspitze, its pretty safe to say that Carolyn was not too excited about the idea. The weather forecast was calling for cool temperatures and the possibility of rain. So, I'm sure Carolyn was imagining there to be blizzard like conditions at the summit and the two of them would only be armed with light jackets. She was also a little nervous about the steep ascent up the mountain by both train and gondola cable car. When the train arrives at its stopping point it is about 2/3 of the way up the mountain, there is a small collection of buildings there where there are shops, a cafeteria and numerous lookout points with picnic tables. Trent and Carolyn decide to head straight for the cable car station that will take them up the steep final section up toward the top of the mountain. The cars are relatively large and capable of carrying about 40 passengers at a time. The ride up to the top is relatively quick and since the car hangs freely and level from the cable, you don't feel the ascent that much. The trip is fairly quick - only taking about 5 minutes with all passengers standing. They know the elevation is high, because the gondola is rising up through the clouds that are hanging around the mountain. Once the cable car reaches its summit they are standing at an elevation of about 9800' and they are now above the clouds and are looking down at the tops o them. The actual summit of the Zugspitze is marked with a large and ornate gold cross and it is accessible, but you have to make the final ascent by foot. However, on this day the walking trail is closed. The landing area where the gondola cable cars drop you off is much smaller than the stopping point for the train. There are vista points that offer spectacular views down the mountain. There are a few picnic tables and a smaller walk-up bar that offers beer, drinks and snacks. The biggest surprise for both Trent and Carolyn when they reach the summit is that weather up there at the very top of the mountain is beautiful. Since they are above the clouds the entire are is bathed in sunlight and it is nice and warm. So the fears that Carolyn had when she begrudgingly agreed to go with Trent are quickly allayed and she is thrilled to experience this jaunt up the mountain - besides she now gets to tick another couple of different modes of transportation off of her list. After taking lots of pictures at the top and looking down at the tiny village of Grainau, where we are staying and the many lakes that are nearby they decide to head back to the mid-way point of the mountain where they can get a proper lunch. So they board the gondola again and make the quick decent to the area where they can catch the train. The find a spot in the little cafeteria there. As they enter, Trent spies a familiar face and sees someone whom he never would have expected to run into at the top of the Zugspitze. It is none other than Henry Winkler of "Fonzi" fame. Henry is up here dressed in traditional lederhosen filming an episode of his new series "Better Late than Never". Henry, the Fonz is kind enough to take photos with Trent and Carolyn. Who would have thought they would meet the Fonz up there. After the photos, Trent and Carolyn have a tasty lunch of brats and schnitzel and of course the ever present pomme frites or French fried potatoes. By now it is about 2:00pm and they decide to make there way back down the mountain on the railroad. On board the train, there are seats that face in either direction. When they came up the mountain, they were facing toward relative to the direction the train was traveling. This means that as the train was going up they would be leaning back in the chair and the 45 minute ride would be comfortable. When the board the train to head back down, they sit is opposite the direction as when when they came up. This means that for the decent they are now sitting facing forward relative to the the direction of the train travel. As they now are heading down the mountain, they can feel the angle of decent. They find that they need sit with their feet extended in front of them so they can push themselves back into the seat. They also feel the muscles in the tummies having to hold themselves back. After a few minutes the begin to feel a little uncomfortable and the switch seat so that they are riding backwards down the mountain. Now with the aid of gravity, they easily lean back in their seats. I pick them up at the train station at Eibsee at 2:45. While I'm waiting there, I too see Henry Winkler walking in the parking lot headed with his driver to his car. Now though he is not wearing the lederhosen. He now looks very LA-movie star. He's wearing a pair of creamy-yellow slacks with purple / lavender colored suede shoes and a turquoise colored shirt. Very inconspicuous - not. After we get back to the apartment at around 3:00 we decide to head back into the Partenkirchen side of the city to walk the streets of the old part of town. Here the buildings are painted in traditional Bavarian style with beautiful murals. Many of the shops close for business from 12:00 not to 3:00 pm. So many are now reopening. We do a lot of window shopping and are really amazed at the artistic creations at Aimlee's chocolatier shop. They are all so beautiful it would seem a waste to eat them. At around 5:00 we head over to the Ski Stadium, which served as a venue for the ski jump at the 1936 olympics. The jump towers over the city of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The original stands and viewing arenas are still there and still in use today. On this day, there is a large beer garden tent that has been erected. They are having some sort of corporate event there and we are disappointed we haven't been invited. We take lots of photos and decides to make another stop at the grocery store so we can have dinner at home once again. As Trent and Elisa head into the little Aldi store to pick up a few things I head over to the liquor store - sort of a little Bevmo - to pick up a bottle or Riesling wine to go with dinner. As I walk into this largish store, I'm surprised. I was expecting something like a Bevmo at home based on the size of the store, but instead of aisles made up of shelves the store is only lined with shelves along the wall. In the center of the store the wares are arranged on pallets and the beverages are stacked in milk crates. The pallets are arranged in long rows to make up the aisles in the store. There are about 9 total aisles. To my surprise the first 3 aisles are bottled water. There are hundreds of different brands and many coming from foreign countries. This is bottled drinking water. I don't get it, they have some of the best drinking water I've tasted coming right out of the tap, buy at this store you have over 100 different brands of bottled water you can chose from. The other 6 aisles are totally devoted to beer. Here again, the variety is amazing. They are also experiencing a "craft brew" revolution here in Germany, but its been going on for centuries. Their are countless little breweries spread across the country and it would seem you have the opportunity to buy them all at this store. On one small shelf that is no longer than 30' I find their wine selection. It is surprisingly small. Over 20' of the shelf space is devoted to imported wines from many different countries. I'm surprised that the USA section is dominated by wines by Gallo. As I survey the German white wines, I am unfamiliar with any of the vintners. I ask the clerk who speaks a little English to help me to select a Riesling. He reaches up to a top shelf and hands me a bottle and tells me it is their best. So I head to the check-out and I'm shocked when the total comes to 4.61 Euros. So, I'm thinking back to that 15euro bottle of Barolo the other night and I'm wondering if this will be just as bad. To our pleasant surprise, we open the bottle for dinner and it's not bad. We wouldn't award it a gold medal but it is easily drinkable. We all turn in a little early. Our plan is to head north. We will visit Rothenberg and then head up to our next stop near the Rhine Valley. More later. Aufwiedersehn!

[backroadblues]

May 31st, 2017 - Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany This Wednesday was probably the most relaxing day we've had on this trip. There were no specifically planned activities and we couldn't think of a better place to be relaxing other than this beautiful Alpine setting. We took our time getting up. Carolyn made us all a great breakfast. We finally did find a grocery store that was open. We are all amazed at how affordable the food is here in Germany. We purchases 3 bags of food that included chicken, breakfast meats, eggs, butter and several other items and walked out of there having spent only 35Euros. The homes may be expensive but the cost of living is very reasonable. At around 11:00 Trent and Carolyn decided to take the Cog Wheel Train up the Zugspitze mountain. Elisa wasn't feeling that well so we decided to hang back and maybe stroll around the town. We were happy to get a detailed report back from Trent and Carolyn when they got back. Here is what they had to report on their ascent to the top of the Zugspitze - the tallest mountain in Germany. Trent speaking: We set up base camp in the small town of Eibsee. Here we would acclimate ourselves to the high elevation before we would make the climb up the treacherous Zugspitze. We check our provisions here. We want to be sure we are fully prepared for all eventualities that might arise. When you are climbing in the Alps, one cant be too cautious. The check in with the local guides, they consider hiring a Sherpa or two to help them with the ascent up the mountain. Alas, the time is now right to set off to the top of the Zugspitze. That means they board the comfortable Cog Wheel Railroad - I hope you didn't think they were going to walk and climb up the mountain. So with a name like Cog Wheel Railroad, I was imagining a tiny train struggling to make its way up the steep mountainside; sounding just like a roller coaster making its way to the top of the hill. Not so, the Germans had managed to carve the railroad through much of the mountain. When the train leaves the station, you travel about 10 minutes up the side of the mountain, but the grade is not as steep as they expected it to be. The town of Eibsee sits at about 4000' elevation. The peak of the Zugspitze sits at about 10000' elevation. The train will take about 40 minutes to reach a mid-way point up the mountain, much of it through tunnels bored into the mountain of stone. Where the train stops is at an elevation of about 7000'. The rest of the trip up to a point very near the summit will rise about 2800' via a gondola that rides on a cable. Near the mid-way point of the train ride, there is a break in the tunnels and the train emerges into sunshine. The driver slows the train to offer the passengers a spectacular view of the lakes, villiage and valley below. The train then descends back into the tunnel and continues its serpentine climb up the mountain. When Trent first came up with the idea to go to the top of the Zugspitze, its pretty safe to say that Carolyn was not too excited about the idea. The weather forecast was calling for cool temperatures and the possibility of rain. So, I'm sure Carolyn was imagining there to be blizzard like conditions at the summit and the two of them would only be armed with light jackets. She was also a little nervous about the steep ascent up the mountain by both train and gondola cable car. When the train arrives at its stopping point it is about 2/3 of the way up the mountain, there is a small collection of buildings there where there are shops, a cafeteria and numerous lookout points with picnic tables. Trent and Carolyn decide to head straight for the cable car station that will take them up the steep final section up toward the top of the mountain. The cars are relatively large and capable of carrying about 40 passengers at a time. The ride up to the top is relatively quick and since the car hangs freely and level from the cable, you don't feel the ascent that much. The trip is fairly quick - only taking about 5 minutes with all passengers standing. They know the elevation is high, because the gondola is rising up through the clouds that are hanging around the mountain. Once the cable car reaches its summit they are standing at an elevation of about 9800' and they are now above the clouds and are looking down at the tops o them. The actual summit of the Zugspitze is marked with a large and ornate gold cross and it is accessible, but you have to make the final ascent by foot. However, on this day the walking trail is closed. The landing area where the gondola cable cars drop you off is much smaller than the stopping point for the train. There are vista points that offer spectacular views down the mountain. There are a few picnic tables and a smaller walk-up bar that offers beer, drinks and snacks. The biggest surprise for both Trent and Carolyn when they reach the summit is that weather up there at the very top of the mountain is beautiful. Since they are above the clouds the entire are is bathed in sunlight and it is nice and warm. So the fears that Carolyn had when she begrudgingly agreed to go with Trent are quickly allayed and she is thrilled to experience this jaunt up the mountain - besides she now gets to tick another couple of different modes of transportation off of her list. After taking lots of pictures at the top and looking down at the tiny village of Grainau, where we are staying and the many lakes that are nearby they decide to head back to the mid-way point of the mountain where they can get a proper lunch. So they board the gondola again and make the quick decent to the area where they can catch the train. The find a spot in the little cafeteria there. As they enter, Trent spies a familiar face and sees someone whom he never would have expected to run into at the top of the Zugspitze. It is none other than Henry Winkler of "Fonzi" fame. Henry is up here dressed in traditional lederhosen filming an episode of his new series "Better Late than Never". Henry, the Fonz is kind enough to take photos with Trent and Carolyn. Who would have thought they would meet the Fonz up there. After the photos, Trent and Carolyn have a tasty lunch of brats and schnitzel and of course the ever present pomme frites or French fried potatoes. By now it is about 2:00pm and they decide to make there way back down the mountain on the railroad. On board the train, there are seats that face in either direction. When they came up the mountain, they were facing toward relative to the direction the train was traveling. This means that as the train was going up they would be leaning back in the chair and the 45 minute ride would be comfortable. When the board the train to head back down, they sit is opposite the direction as when when they came up. This means that for the decent they are now sitting facing forward relative to the the direction of the train travel. As they now are heading down the mountain, they can feel the angle of decent. They find that they need sit with their feet extended in front of them so they can push themselves back into the seat. They also feel the muscles in the tummies having to hold themselves back. After a few minutes the begin to feel a little uncomfortable and the switch seat so that they are riding backwards down the mountain. Now with the aid of gravity, they easily lean back in their seats. I pick them up at the train station at Eibsee at 2:45. While I'm waiting there, I too see Henry Winkler walking in the parking lot headed with his driver to his car. Now though he is not wearing the lederhosen. He now looks very LA-movie star. He's wearing a pair of creamy-yellow slacks with purple / lavender colored suede shoes and a turquoise colored shirt. Very inconspicuous - not. After we get back to the apartment at around 3:00 we decide to head back into the Partenkirchen side of the city to walk the streets of the old part of town. Here the buildings are painted in traditional Bavarian style with beautiful murals. Many of the shops close for business from 12:00 not to 3:00 pm. So many are now reopening. We do a lot of window shopping and are really amazed at the artistic creations at Aimlee's chocolatier shop. They are all so beautiful it would seem a waste to eat them. At around 5:00 we head over to the Ski Stadium, which served as a venue for the ski jump at the 1936 olympics. The jump towers over the city of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The original stands and viewing arenas are still there and still in use today. On this day, there is a large beer garden tent that has been erected. They are having some sort of corporate event there and we are disappointed we haven't been invited. We take lots of photos and decides to make another stop at the grocery store so we can have dinner at home once again. As Trent and Elisa head into the little Aldi store to pick up a few things I head over to the liquor store - sort of a little Bevmo - to pick up a bottle or Riesling wine to go with dinner. As I walk into this largish store, I'm surprised. I was expecting something like a Bevmo at home based on the size of the store, but instead of aisles made up of shelves the store is only lined with shelves along the wall. In the center of the store the wares are arranged on pallets and the beverages are stacked in milk crates. The pallets are arranged in long rows to make up the aisles in the store. There are about 9 total aisles. To my surprise the first 3 aisles are bottled water. There are hundreds of different brands and many coming from foreign countries. This is bottled drinking water. I don't get it, they have some of the best drinking water I've tasted coming right out of the tap, buy at this store you have over 100 different brands of bottled water you can chose from. The other 6 aisles are totally devoted to beer. Here again, the variety is amazing. They are also experiencing a "craft brew" revolution here in Germany, but its been going on for centuries. Their are countless little breweries spread across the country and it would seem you have the opportunity to buy them all at this store. On one small shelf that is no longer than 30' I find their wine selection. It is surprisingly small. Over 20' of the shelf space is devoted to imported wines from many different countries. I'm surprised that the USA section is dominated by wines by Gallo. As I survey the German white wines, I am unfamiliar with any of the vintners. I ask the clerk who speaks a little English to help me to select a Riesling. He reaches up to a top shelf and hands me a bottle and tells me it is their best. So I head to the check-out and I'm shocked when the total comes to 4.61 Euros. So, I'm thinking back to that 15euro bottle of Barolo the other night and I'm wondering if this will be just as bad. To our pleasant surprise, we open the bottle for dinner and it's not bad. We wouldn't award it a gold medal but it is easily drinkable. We all turn in a little early. Our plan is to head north. We will visit Rothenberg and then head up to our next stop near the Rhine Valley. More later. Aufwiedersehn!

[backroadblues]

Linderhoff

[backroadblues]

Linderhoff

[backroadblues]

Linderhoff