Through the Alps

Vienna, Austria to Paris and Barcelona

We found a nice hotel through Tripadvisor, the Pension Attache with the accent over the e. The trams stopped right outside and a three day city transport pass was very helpful. We toured art museums and the Treasury of the Hapsburgs. Connie was impressed by the jewels on the crowns and necklaces. We looked at St. Stephans Cathedral in the middle of the pedestrian center of the old city. Speaking of that, in the Treasury were numerous religious artifacts collected by the Hapsburgs and placed in gold and silver containers. A terrific number of thorns from Christ's crown of thorns, pieces of the cross, pieces of Christ's loin cloth, nicely embroidered, and one of the actual nails used in nailing Christ to the cross. I believe they we specific in which hand it was, as well.

Mark Twain had much to say about relics in Europe when he toured here 150 years ago. Something like "if all the pieces of the true cross were gathered together, you'd have enough wood to heat a cabin in Nevada for the winter." If he didn't say that, I apologize, but I'm certain he addressed the subject in like manner.

Vienna has an amusement park with a large Ferris wheel, been around as long as the tower in Paris. We took a ride on it and it stll gives a good view of the city. This is a town that believes in music and opera. Mozart look-alikes roam outside every public place trying to sell tickets to an opera. If they depended on me, they would starve.

Actually, I'm beginning to have enough of museums. Our next stop is Innsbruck.

In Innsbruck, miracle of miracles, our Ibis was interconnected with the train station. A car rental was across the square. Food was everywhere all around the clock. We toured the town, walked to the Alpenzoo, although we did not go in. We rented a car and drove to Neuschwanstein castle where we walked up the trails along with many Japanese tourists, all of whom had to stand at the best viewing point and have one picture taken of themselves, followed by a group shot. I got the required picture of the castle, but I also climbed some rocks to get a view without the jostling. Connie was not pleased with my taking risks, however.

I'll have to say that my knee complains a lot. After mailing my VA brace home earlier, I had to turn around and buy a new brace in Vienna, but it was a good one, very supportive, breathable and flexible without using neoprene which causes an allergic reaction on my skin. Hereafter I'll wear a Bauerfeind GenuTrain size 4 or no brace at all.

I followed the advice of the Info office (in the Innsbrucke train station) guy and drove back by back roads that took us across the Germany-Austrian borders four times in a winding route that paralleled rivers and a elongated lake. We saw blonde children naked and as brown as nuts running by the water while their parents lay in hammock chairs soaking up even more sun sans bathing suits for the most part. What I only saw once, however, was anyone dipping a toe in that glacial runoff that made the river an icy blue. At one point we and all the traffic behind us were delayed several minutes while a herd of cows ambled home from the meadow, just a dog and a boy with a switch to keep them moving along.

The route was perfect for motorcycling and dozens were out but frustrated by the traffic. They often took chances darting around RVs and cars on curves. It reminded me of my biking days except I would not have passed on a blind curve. Too much risk, even for me.

We saw the old city part of Innsbrucke, and it was as commercial as Rothenburg, but somehow it seemed more medieval by its closeness and crooked old buildings. It was the most heavily touristed area of the city, the rest of the town was uncrowded, although it did have a fair number of street people.

The wall of mountains all around and the variety of Italian and German dishes made this a very interesting city, one that might make a good winter visit as well.

Next we left for Paris to try and catch a night train to Barcelona for a two week stay. We changed trains in Zurich and had a nice lunch between trains. Could have sworn that Steven Spielberg was eating a few tables over, but who knows? The guy left before I could get a closer look.

In Paris we ended up at Gare d' est around the corner from where we stayed last year, so we booked a room at the nearby Ibis Chateau Landon. We ate in the hotel that night, but had lunch the next day at the brasserie by the same name, Le Chateau Landon, that we frequented last year.

Connie was somewhat amazed that the manager of the brasserie remembered us from our trip last year. We had a four-cheese quiche and a fresh salad with Dijon dressing, good bread and a jug of Bordeaux house wine at what I think of as my local bar in Paris.

With luck, I got a two person cabin on the train for that night. I was very pleased with myself because other connections from Zurich and Milan had been booked up.

We took the night train out of Paris Gare d' Austerlitz and Connie was a bit leery of whether she could sleep on the train or not. I thought since she seemed to sleep well enough on day trips with her head against the window that having a bed would be OK, since the rails here are so smooth.
Boy, was I wrong. The rails may be smooth but the rolling stock is very modern on most of the day trains. The rolling stock on the sleepers is much older and every weld on the rails told its tale, as did joints, switches and other imperfections, not to mention starts, stops, passing high speed trains and tunnels. If I lay on my back my belly actually shook like the proverbial bowl of jelly. I got a little sleep, but Connie could not.

We got to our Bed & Breakfast at 10 a.m., showered and slept. I went down the hill for sandwiches, while Connie slept. We ate and we slept some more. We went to dinner, but they don't open restaurants until 8:30, so it was sandwiches again at a bar and up the hill by little bus where we will sleep more. The B&B is run by a delightful young lady with a 18-month old and a large puppy. It sits almost at the top of one of the tallest hills overlooking Barcelona. It takes ten minutes to walk to the nearest market and 15 coming back , allowing for rest stops and if you go up the stairs. I've done it once. Down isn't so bad, but if the bus is running from now on, I wait. If not, I'll get a cab. If I lived here, I'd get a motor scooter.

However, we watched the light pass into night while overlooking the city from the balcony as all the lights came on and lighted cruise ships passed by out on the sea. The little bar where we ate this evening the owner insisted we have coffee with brandy in local fashion after our beer and chorizo sandwiches. It was his treat and something we haven't experienced elsewhere, so Connie was rather charmed by that.

More on Barcelona later.

Germany

Rhineland

First we decided to go up the Rhine since our Eurail pass would cover the boat ride on the KD line. I called in advance to see if the boat went from Cologne to St. Goar where we planned to stay at the Hotel Am Markt, as suggested in Rick Steves' guidebook.

On the phone we were assured that the boat did go from Koln (Cologne) and I also called to reserve a room at the hotel. So much for phoning. Apparently my Cologne sounds like Koblenz to German ears, since we got to the Cologne dock early to discover that the boat we needed departed from Koblenz. Off to the train station, which was uphill all the way, to catch the next train to Koblenz. We arrived just in time to catch the boat.

Although it was still rainy, it was somewhat warmer and we were able to enjoy lunch and the view of the remarkable castles as we cruised up the busy Rhine. Arriving at St. Goar, the hotel owner had no record of my call, despite my showing him the number on my cell phone indicating I had called two days before. But he had a room anyway, so no harm done. We used St. Goar as a base and either took the train or a KD ship to see Marksburg castle, the best preserved of all the castles. We also toured the one above St. Goar, Rheinfels castle, once the largest on the Rhine.

An interesting fact, the portion we could see was, perhaps, a quarter of the size of the whole fortification in its heyday. The plateau behind the castle was once the majority before it was destroyed by the French. We took a walk up the hill and then through the woods on a nature path (clearly marked for hikers) that showed us crumbling remains here and there of the old stonework.

We also took in Bacharach, which was a small river town that had a section of wall left upon which one could walk and a ton of food and souvenir shops. We shopped for the best price and had a good inexpensive lunch at a small restaurant where the proprietess spoke good English---French, German and Polish, too. She had once been recommended by Rick Steves, she told us, but he since changed his recommendations to more expensive spots and insisted she take down the sign showing his earlier recommendation of her food. The food was excellent and she was a delight. That was the Cafe Restaurant Rusticana at number 40 Oberstrasse. It is still listed in Let's Go, however they have the nationality of the owners wrong.

The Cheesecake at the am Markt is fantasic. A special recipe the owner says goes with the hotel if one wishes to buy the business. One thrill I should mention was that an American choral group was on the KD boat the day we traveled to Bacharach and they serenaded the approaching docks a couple of times, including ours. Since we started just down stream from the famous Lorilei rock where the singing of a maiden led sailors to their deaths, it was kind of hair-raising--in a good way.

Next we went to Rothenburg, another of Rick Steves "must do" spots.

As it turns out, it is not as unique as the guidebooks say. A large portion of the town was bombed during WWII and a lot of reconstruction had to be done. The "double bridge" was blown up by the Germans to prevent crossing by Amercan tanks. We took a look at the town from the one watch tower that is open to the public and the fellow taking the money told me that. He said, "since you can walk across the river--it is so shallow--it was just crazy." He also thought it was crazy for the town to be bombed since there was no military significance to it.

I'm not sure, however, there is a factory on the outskirts of town. Was one there at the time? What use did the German military make of the area and what might they have done with the standing fortifications. The things that made the town invaluable in the middle ages was its location on two trade routes. The same geographic factors that made trade pass through the area probably still controlled the overland movement of armies.

For those of you who have been to St. Augustine, Florida, Rothenburg is simply much more of the same thing. Buildings are built and rebuilt to look the same. Outside the walls of the medieval city are car dealerships, modern suburbs and other businesses and buildings. However, from below the walls in most directions the town looks much as it would have looked since the walls were built. The walkways and paths around the farms and river valley are well maintained. The double bridge, in the little valley, was rebuilt in the 1960s and you can see from old photos that it looks as if it was never destroyed.

I will say that shopping and eating was reasonable. The hotels offer good value. The restaurants aren't overpriced--mostly, we don't go in the ones that are--and we made a couple of purchases that were nicely priced. Birkenstock shoes are made in Germany and cost less here. We also met a friendly woman returning home to Rothenburg from a teaching job in The Ukraine. She later invited us to have dinner with her and her husband in their subrb home. The husband had homemade brandy that was very nice as were the two people, very pleasant to chat with.

From Rothenburg we went to Munich.

While in Munich we took a day trip with a tour to the "Eagles Nest", Hitler's mountaintop retreat. It was several hundred feet above the actual location of the houses and complex of bunkers that Hitler used. The Eagles Nest was used to impress visiting diplomats and other VIPs. Our guide kept insisting that the Germans did not call it by that name, Eagles Nest, but by the name of the mountain. She also kept saying that nothing important was ever decided there and that we--us Americans--made too much of the place.

Funny, down in the bunkers were generators and communication equipment and Hitler stayed there quite a bit without dropping control of his government. It would be like saying nothing ever happens at Camp David when the president is there. It sounds to me as if the Germans still don't want to face facts.

Munich was a fun town for me, but the trip is beginning to wear on Connie. We climbed a bell tower. We walked through a garden. We listened to all the bells of all the towers sounding for 20 minutes in the evening on the Karlsplatz shopping street. The next day my knee began to bother me so I paid a price or all that climbing. Always surprising is the number of Moslems, indicated by the women wearing various degrees of coverings from a mere scarf to full purdah. On the tour was a a family of Yemenis. Remind me to tell you about them someday.

Next Austria.

Netherlands 2

Amsterdam

We took the train on the 14th of July from Arhem to Amsterdam. We put up at the Ibis Stopera, a pleasant enough and quiet location east of the New Market Square and Rembrandt House, which we toured during our visit.

We saw the Sarah Bernhardt special exhibit at the Jewish Museum, Persian artifacts and art at the Hermitage, and half of the the Dutch Resistance museum on one day, The next day we saw the Historical Museum of Amsterdam before we had to call it a day due to weather. Then on the next day we visited the Foam museum of photography and went back to the Dutch Resistance museum to finish the second half.

We ate Indonesian food and lots more, but throughout our stay the weather continued to be wet and cold as it mostly has been from the beginning of our trip. We looked at the weather predicted for Denmark and Norway and Sweden and decided that we would go south instead of north when we left Amsterdam.

I have to say that Amsterdam contnued to uphold its traditional warm spot in my heart. With all those bicycles going by it is a vision of flying skirts and flashing legs--sometimes a bit more than legs. While there are a few bums panhandling, most street people seem to find some way of earning your spare change by playing an instrument or putting on some entertainment. We can't say enough about Amsterdam and there is always so many things to see and do that we will have to go back another time and see more.

But now for the Rhineland castles and warmer weather.

Netherlands 1

Arnhem, Netherlands

Near Arnhem is a small community of Rozendaal. Some of Connie's ancestors come from there and one of her great uncles still lives there. It is both a farming area and a national park area. Rozendaal has a castle, the lord of which gave the estate to the government to be used as a preserve. A bit farther north is another former estate that was made into a national park, the largest in Holland.

So, here, not far from the German border, in the area where one of World War II's great battles was fought, in one of the most densely populated countries in the world, is all this wonderful park land with wild deer and mountains--although small mountains--and forests. And roadsall over the area, including the towns, can be forested lanes with tall trees interlocking overhead because all the powerlines are underground. The only overhead lines are those for electric buses, trams and trains.

We rented a car in Arnhem. It was a small fiat with an automatic and a gas engine. Must have had a small tank, as well, but it only took 10 liters of petrol in three days of driving. The initial directions I got from the Hertz agent were hard to follow and I was forced by traffic past the turn I thought was correct. That meant going to the next turning place and driving with the general idea of following the road as if I were going the right way. Since my sense of direction wasn't bothering me too much, it worked out. I got on a road going the right way, but just a little off. A bonus was that I drove across the John Frost Bridge, renamed after the commander of the British forces that took the Arnhem side of the bridge and held it for days against increasingly overwhelming odds. When I did have a chance to retrace the route back to Arnhem centre and out again, I found the correct way was exceptionally difficult and not marked in a way the stranger could follow.

We found the Rozenhoek restaurant and hotel, which was more like a bed and breakfast than a regular hotel. It was within walking distance of the small town, which we found to be delightful. No giant malls here, just all the shops you'd need to get by. It was also very close to the nursing home that Connie's uncle lived in. He has Parkinson's disease, but while it affects his hands and balance, he is sharp as a tack. We visited with him through an afternoon. We had brought copies of old photographs that were in Connie's parent's home, but were generally unmarked, some obviously almost a century old. The uncle was able to identify about half the pictures, the ones that came from Connie's Dutch Grandmother's family.

Then we took him to dinner at a restaurant that he suggested. It was several kilometers away, which I thought odd, but the food turned out to be very good and he had a surprise for us. Instead of returning the way we came, he directed me into the Rozendaal national forest and brought us back to within a couple of blocks of the nursing home. We saw wild deer and an occasional other person in a car or walking or jogging and we saw the mountains.
This seemed to affect Connie deeply. Like me she had no idea that Holland had any wild left, because what we always hear about is the land created from the sea and never much abut the portion that they started from.

Her uncle had been in the Dutch resistance in WWII and was a delight to visit.
On our second full day in the area we drove to the outdoor museum of the Netherlands, just to the east of Arnhem and north of Rozendaal. Along with families and school groups we wandered a large area with homes, shops and farmhouses from many eras in Dutch history. Most farmhouses from earliest times to recently, perhaps still in places, were house on one end and barn on the other. As times changed the use of the barn changed from keeping animals to sleeping quarters for the help to a place to store equipment. There were windmills and geese, cows and sheep and a old-fashioned trolley to ride around to the different points of interest.

Then we continued on the the national park to the Kroller-Muller (but don't hold me to the spelling) museum. The parklands and the museum were donated by a wealthy family to the nation. The contents of the museum were the result of a wealthy woman wanting to establish a great collection of modern art, beginning with everything of Van Gogh's she could find. She hired an expert to manage the collection and find new pieces for it. What a ride he took her on. There are some truly great pieces, especially among the Van Goghs, but for every great piece there must have been at least three dogs. One large canvas was merely a dirty white. Another painting was shiny green and nothing else. Some sculptures were simply blocks of wood. Some were sort of stacked like Lincoln logs, others were randomly placed about a floor.. With rare exception most of the new acquisitions were horrible. One photography exhibit was apparently polaroids of the photographer and his friend, both looking like strung-out drug addicts and neither captured doing anything of interest. Before we got through the museum we were both laughing at pictures while serious-looking art students were studying these atrocious works as if they were something special.

Next we are off to Amsterdam.