Archive for the ‘Germany’ Category
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009
We escaped the Pfizer work at the American Heart Convention and are ready to play! On our own, we have reservations at “Shades of Green’; a military resort on the disney properties. There are 5 military resorts worldwide and we have been fortunate tostay at 3 of them: Disney, Garmish, and HaleKoa(the other two are seoul and virginia beach).
Shades of Green has all the amenites of any Disney resort and cheaper. When we checked in, we found out that every active duty or retired service person was intitled to a free five day pass to the Disney theme parks and a reduced price for anyone with them!!!!!
Our original plan was to spend one day at Epcot and then head to my Dad’s. Change of plans: add one day at Disney Studios and be a day late to Daytona (they understood)!
Tags: american heart convention, daytona, disney, disney studios, epcot, garmish, halekoa, military, pfizer, seoul, shades of green, virginia beach
Posted in Autumn Back East 2009, Family, Florida, Germany, Hawaii, Korea, Virginia | 2 Comments »
Monday, June 15th, 2009
Now that we are down to a very precious few days, we are scrambling to see all that we have left on our wish list!
Rothenburg, Germany is an old walled city with all of the flavor remaining. Yep, a genuinely, charming tourist trap. With a gorgeous day to enjoy it, we arrived early from Ansbach Army Base and enjoyed ourselves until about 1pm. We even met up with a Westmont graduate and his mom, and shared a nice visit. But it was time to move on.
Grin and bear it. We drove 8 hours to Puttgarden, germany, at the edge of the–oh some huge body of water– that required a huge car ferry to take us over to Denmark (Baltic?). Two more hours of drive time and we were in Copenhagen (kopnhaven is how they spell it)!
We went to Tivoli Gardens for what remained of the day and into night and thoroughly loved watching all the families enjoy their Sunday and each other. This is where Walt Disney got his idea for his Magic Kingdom. We did a city tour today and saw the “Little Mermaid” bronze on her rock in the harbor, and canals, and 4 cruise ships!! And as we approach the longest day
of the year, we only have about 4hours of dark.
We press on tomorrow to the Carlsberg Beer Factory Tour in the morning,and then on to Sweeeeden!
Tags: ansbach army base, carlsberg, copenhagen, disney, puttgarden, rothenburg, tivoli gardens, westmont
Posted in Denmark, Europe Trip 2009, Germany, Sweden | 5 Comments »
Friday, June 12th, 2009
Enough said…
Tags: dachau, nazis
Posted in Europe Trip 2009, Germany | 3 Comments »
Friday, June 12th, 2009
All business, banks, stores were CLOSED in Munich for the holiday. We wandered from our hotel to Marienplatz to see the street scene which was alive with street muscians and the glockenspiel played at 5pm.
But the real attraction was our pilgrimage to the Hofbräuhaus! So yes, I had to lift a stein also, as we toasted Andy! Prost!!
The costumes, the umpah band, the bratwurtz, pretzels, mustard, and the boistrous crowds. That was Munich !!
Tags: andy, beer, glockenspiel, hofbrauhaus, marienplatz, munich
Posted in Europe Trip 2009, Germany | 5 Comments »
Friday, June 12th, 2009
We left early to head to Munich (just one day) but we were held up by a parade! June 11 is a holiday in Austria and Germany that honors “religion” (that’s all I could get from the many people I asked). All the church bells were ringing constantly, canons firing, and plenty marching bands and local citizens in their native garb. All church’s were hanging a yellow and white banner from their bell towers. I love the local stuff that makes the area unique!
After the procession , we headed a 1/2 hour away to meet up with our niece, Brittany! Here is a picture of she and her host family (so her folks see she arrived safely!).
Tags: brittany, munich, parade, salzburg
Posted in Austria, Europe Trip 2009, Family, Germany | 4 Comments »
Friday, June 12th, 2009
No one got all the signs right on the last contest, but there will be a prize for the entrants! The answers to the May15th entry were as follows:
Anticipate Backup of Cars
Entry into a Blind Curve
No Horns
Pay Attention
Uneven Road
Grandparent and Child Crossing
Here are more signs, but just for fun. These are also known as “Debbie in Europe.”
….and the obvious ones.
Tags: contest, debbie
Posted in Austria, Europe Trip 2009, Germany, Italy, Traffic Signs | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
It was during our daily call to Steve’s dad, George, in Costa Mesa, that we mentioned our stay in Garmish-Partenkirchen; on hearing the location, he came alive with memories!!!
As a youth, he was inspired by the Olympics at Lake Placid N.Y.to work harder on his passion, speed skating ,and try for the next olympics (he was living in New York and was a young teenager). He did try out when the time came, but only made it as second or third alternate to the Garmisch Olympic games in 1936, so he stayed home and continued to dream (he still has lots of medals on display in his home)!
With even more dedication, he focused on the next Winter Olympics but then came war in Europe. So George, with thoughts of you in our hearts, your son made it to Garmish .
Tags: garmisch, olympics, partenkirchen, speed skating
Posted in Europe Trip 2009, Family, Germany | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
THIS way out…
Exit signs in Italy and Germanic countries make me laugh. In Italy, every freeway off-ramp etc are labeled “Uscita”, pronounced “u-sheet-a”. Here in Bavaria they are on everything and are “Ausfarht”. They both sound like potty-humor!
Tags: bavaria, exit
Posted in Europe Trip 2009, Germany, Italy, Traffic Signs | No Comments »
Saturday, June 6th, 2009
Awesome day, tho’ raining. We headed out to Neuschwanstein Castle. Think Disneyland and Mad King Ludwig. Oh my goodness! Incredible! It has such a view, waterfall, murals, and a hike. It is AMAZING to come upon this sugar-cube castle sitting on top of a mountain, built before major roads, heavy equiptment or tourists.
After our hike in the rain through the forest, we had a pretzel and some fried “snowballs” (do-nut like or even begnet with powdered sugar) which we scarfed down after all the exercise.
Then headed into another mountain valley to Oberammergau – site of the every-10-years Passion play. Cute! Do you think dirndls and leiderhosen will ever catch on in San Diego?? It was tempting to buy one, and people do wear them in everyday life to some extent.
Throughout Bavaria, the houses have beautiful paints on the exteriors, history, or religious, and even a few fairytales. I’m gonna fall again, if I don’t watch my feet and keep my head out of the clouds.
There was so much history today, I was at a loss to know what I was looking at. Shame on me for not thinking beyond Italy (who can blame me). But I’m gonna do some google-ing and bone up.
Tomorrow we hit Innsbrook (swaraski crystal world) and then 4 days in Salzburg (staying at a pension just outside of the city). I’m ready to yodel, it’s so exciting to see all we are seeing!!!
Tags: bavaria, castle, dirndes, disneyland, donut, google, innsbrook, king ludwig, leiderhosen, oberammergau, pretzel, rick steeves, salzburg, san diego
Posted in Europe Trip 2009, Germany, Italy | 4 Comments »
Friday, June 5th, 2009
Say “cheeeeeese!”
We found it, in the middle of no where – the Emmental Cheese Factory! It is a beautiful alpine factory sitting atop a large green pasture and it was quite an education.
The cows drop off their milk, some enzymes are added, it curdles and it pressed into molds, and aged, and aged. Bubbles in the curing process seek to escape, and wa la….swiss cheese (sounds
like Steve)!
We are in Garmisch, Germany now. Tomorrow we visit King Ludwig II’s crazy castle (think Disneyland on a mountain peak).
Then on to Salzburg. Mozart, Sound of Music, struedal and beer? We will find out!
Tags: beer, cheese, disneyland, emmental cheese factory, garmisch, king ludwig, mozart, salzburg, sound of music, steve, struedal
Posted in Austria, Europe Trip 2009, Germany | 1 Comment »
