Final Entry

We are back home again and travel home went well. It is good to be home, but we look back with fond memories of all the things that happened. We spent our final night in a castle, it was our anniversary, so we enjoyed a good meal and a very romantic location. What a great time we had on our whole journey!

June 14

First of all, Happy Birthday Kristen.
This will be our last post before we head home. We are now on the Romantic Road, which is a unique series of roads from Fussen to Wirzburg. It goes through interesting and historical towns and through some great hilly country. We are in a town called Nordlingen, which is built into a crater. Yesterday George climbed to the top of the church bell tower. He got to the level of the bells just as they began to ring LOUD!!! The view from the top was fantastic. Then we were able to walk around the ancient city walls, which had been built in the 15 hundreds. The hotel we stayed in was built in the 1400´s. The picture is of our hotel. It is called Sonne Hotel and guess what? This morning the sun was shining for the first time in many days.
Looking forward to seeing you all when we get home.
Love,
George & Carla

June 12

We are now in Fussen, Germany. This is the beginning of the Romantic Road. The first picture is the view from our current hotel.

Today we went up to visit the castles Hohenschawangau and Neuschwanstein. We couldn´t take pictures on the inside, but here are a few pictures from the outside. It has been a great vacation and we have seen so much, yet we have not felt rushed or stressed. It is hard to believe all the places we have seen and all we have done. 6 a half weeks ago seems like a long time. Looking forward to the last few days and also to coming home.

Love,

George and Carla.

June 10

We are now in Mittenwald, on the border of Germany and Austria. It is a mountainous region and we are in a quiet little hotel with a balcony which looks out over the mountains. Yesterday and today we went for hikes. Yesterday to two little mountain lakes and today up a canyon where there were waterfalls. The area is like the Rockies, but more developed, especially the great hiking trails. Yesterday evening we experienced a Bavarian buffet, complete with a guy playing an accordian and yodelling and all the German food we could eat, including knodel, pancake soup and three different kinds of pork. Carla had some deja vu regarding food her mother used to make and so it was very good. Carla was very brave today as we walked down the canyon. Some of it was on metal walkways suspended over the canyon, which stretched her somewhat, but she did great. The weather was sunny and when we can, we should be able to post some great pictures.
Love,
George & Carla.

June 8

Saturday
We had one of the best days yet. We had come from Salzburg to Melk, which is close to Vienna, on Friday. Saturday morning we boarded a ship to cruise down the Danube River. The weather was cloudy and sunny and there was a little threat of rain, but we went anyway. We cruised from Milk(Melk) to Cream(Krems), a distance of about 36 -40km. Sadly, they did not play the Strauss waltz called The Blue Danube once. It was through the Wachau valley which is quite beautiful with little villages, vineyards, castles, churches and great natural beauty. Once in Krems we took our bicycles and picnic lunch and started back to Melk along bicycle paths. The paths also went through the middle of the little villages, through the vineyards etc. It was so enjoyable!! For the first half we took it easy, enjoyed our lunch, the sun was shining, it was relaxing and great. We crossed the river on a ferry and once on the other side noticed a building thunderstorm. Then we began to cycle seriously and within about an hour were back to the starting point, and only got a little wet, no downpour.
This morning we went to the huge catholic church in Melk. It is uber ornate!! There were quite a few people there. We have seen so many such churches and we were curious to see what Sunday would be like.

We are now in Dachau and have just come back from the concentration camp. We wanted to go tomorrow, but found out that it is closed on Monday, so we had a rather rushed visit. What a sad place but still a valuable experience to know and see what happened there, especially since we saw the holocaust museum in Jerusalem.

Love to you all. Only a little more than a week till we come home.
George & Carla.

June in Salzburg

Sound of Music tour. We learned that the Austrians don't like it because it isn't true to the story of the Von Trapp family. Hollywood took a few liberties. We took a bus tour and saw some of the places where filming was done. We went to the lakes district, which is quite beautiful. Our tour guide had the Sound of Music sound track playing so we could sing along. The best part was the Mirabel Gardens where a lot of the shots from the Do-Re-Mi song were filmed. We have decided to stay in Salzburg an extra day and are going to a Mozart dinner and concert this evening. Therefore, we are not going to Vienna. We have found out that Europe Soccer championships are taking place in Austria and Switzerland and prices here will be going up on the weekend. One of the first games is in Vienna on the weekend, so we will want to get out of Austria and go to Germany. The weather has been cloudy and a bit rainy, but we are having a good time anyway.

June 2

What an amazing day we had on June 1. We took two trains, about a 2 hour ride, to the Top of Europe, which is the top of the Jungfrau. It was the best day to do this we have had so far. The trains do not just run on rails, but have cogs to help with the elevation change which is quite rapid. The view from the top was amazing. They have an ice palace built into the glacier and you can also view a panorama of the surrounding mountain peaks. The day was not sunny, but the view was still awesome. When we got to the top, it was somewhat clear and we got to see the vista, but later as it clouded over, it changed, but was still beautiful because of the changes in color and shades of light and dark and clouds and distances. Wow. There are several restaurants up there, souvenir shops and a post office. We hiked further on snow(that was a real thrill) but it was.... help me I am running out of adjectives...but it was quite a climb, so once again, we are getting our excercise. We hiked to a small restaurant, where you could also stay for night.
Today we have travelled on and are in Innsbruck, Austria.
Hope you are all well.
George & Carla