Day 11

Today we leave Heidelberg traveling the Weinstrausse - this is the autobauhn that winds through the wine country of Germany. The vineyards are beautiful and are nestled among the fields of wheat and corn. The sun is shining and we soon head off the autobauhn to travel through the little villages of Germany. Maikammer is a little village with narrow streets that you would think only one car could go through. But they just move over to the edge and everyone can pass. Grapes hang over the streets on wires between houses. There is no grass - just walls of houses running right up to the streets with a narrow sidewalk on in front of some houses. Then we park in St. Martin and walk the streets. There are a few little shops but mostly houses and churches. This is a town dating back to the medival times. There are dates on the homes and wine stores from 1400-1500's. The old wall of the city is still there. We stop in Deidesheir at the Deidesheimerhof for lunch. This has the largest beer cask - stands 2 stories tall. Houses here have dates of 1485. THere is a large flea market going on and so we walk through it and buy a cut glass beer stein and a cup and saucer.

Next we head to Freinsheim - now this is an old town. Wow, these buildings are very old yet they are kept up so nice. Lots of wine stores again. Just up the road is Frankenstein and the famous Frankenstein castle. Percy Bethshelly was visiting here when he was inspired to write the story of Frankenstein based on this castle. It stands high on a hill and the only way there is to walk the long trail up to the top.

Now we finally arrive at Munchweiler where Erick and Vio live. Vio was Bill and Karen's opper (nanny) when the boys were 5 and 7 years old. Her parents are Margit and Edmund Knab who live in Pheddersheim about 20 minutes away. Her brother Oliver, runs the family vineyards there. The family vineyard has been in the family for 4 generations.

Erick's parents are Claudia and Carl-Heinz Jennewein. The farm has been in their family since 1928. Erick farms wheat and sugar beets. Erick's brother David and his partner Valentin run the Klostermuhle Hotel that is connected to the farm. That is where we stay - beautiful new contemporary style rooms. David also runs the resturant there and his mother is the main cook. Wonderful food and wonderful people. Erick also has a two sisters named Astrid and Carla who we didn't get to meet. Erick and Vio have two little boys - Louis is 20 months and runs around everywhere showing us the farm and scenery. He talks constantly when he warms up to you - but all German of course! Yoseph is just 10 weeks old. He is such a good baby - sleeps most of the time and wakes up so happy - never hear him cry or fuss - full of smiles! It is so good to meet a German family and talk with them. Erick spent some time in North Dakota learning about farming and so both Vio and Erick speak very good English. We have dinner with them at the Klostermuhle in the garden and sit and talk for three hours while Louis plays soccer in the yard with some older boys - yes, he is 20 months old and can kick a soccer ball.
Now to bed.

Day 10

Today we leave Munich and head to Heidelberg. It is a long drive with beautiful country side. Chuck and Bill push the limits on the autobahn - going 108 miles per hour - 180km/hr! We are coming into wine country now and the hills are rolling with beautiful vineyards along the way. The grapes are still green but huge clusters are hanging and you can see them from the road.

Heidelberg is known for the place where all the great theologians studied and all the great German writers and poets. - Gutenberg built the printing press here.

We are staying at the Heidelberg Mariott on the conseir floor. There is a lounge at the end of the floor that has a balcony that overlooks the river and you can see the castle from there. They have a "cocktail party" complete with lots of food - chicken wings, brasetta, fruit cups, other hor deveres, fresh french bread, and lots and lots of pastries and desserts. We eat our supper there and sit out on the balcony. It is a beautiful evening. We meet some people that are visiting their daugther who works with Young Life on the military base. And others who are Jewish who work with an organization that helps military families who need help. Bill is great at talking to all the people and we are old friends very soon.

Down the Nacker River we can see the castle sitting in the hills. Tonight they are re-enacting when the French burned the castle and bombed the city during the war between the Germans and the French. We wait and wait. Finally about 10:30pm the castle is lit up with red and it looks as if it is on fire. They have fireworks over the river - our second fireworks in Europe! It is beautiful - then to bed...

Day 9

Today we leave Berchtesgaden and head to Munich, Germany. It takes about 4 hours on the autobahn which means "Ribbon of highway". Yes, some really drive fast! Chuck and Bill take turns driving - getting up to 170km/hr which is 108 miles/hour! You NEVER drive in the left lane unless you are passing. They fly up that lane and if you are there and they flash their lights at you they will run you over. We leave the Alps behind now and the land changes drastically. We see farm land of wheat, sugar beets, and corn. The fields are beautiful as they are striped with golden wheat and bright green beets and corn fields. There are little rolling hills off in the distance but it looks very much like Minnesota or Wisconsin now.

We get to Dachau and find the concentration camp right on the edge of the town. Signs call it "KZ Gedenkstatte" or a memorial sight - they don't call it a concentration camp. No one around, Germans, acknowledges that it is there. We go in the back door next to the Catholic convent - parking is just outside the wall rather than 4 blocks away from the main entrance. Wow, this is so emotional. They have the gas chambers and crematoriums still there. People were told they were going in to showers and were taken to one room to take off their clothes. The next room they were placed in and then the gas was turned on and they were murdered. The next room was the crematoriums. Outside everyone walks so solemn and go past memorial chapels that have been built - Russian Orthodax, Protestant, Catholic, and the Jewish Synogague. There were 30 barracks. One has been rebuilt like it was. They had men packed in these small, 4 foot long, 2 feet wide beds. There is a large museum with many pictures and descriptions of of life at the camp. This camp was not just for German Jews. It was for anyone who questioned Nazism - priests, ministers, Polish, homesexuals, government dissidence, etc.

This is the hottest day, 94 degrees, and walking the long courtyard of Dachau is horrible, many blocks long. There are many school kids there on tour and yet no one is talking or smiling - all walking quiet and solemn. When we leave we find our hotel and check in - Munich Marriott. After checking in our rooms we drive down to the "Seehaus im Engish Garten" This is a beautiful little restruant right on a lake in the middle of Munich. It is beatuiful and we have a great late lunch.

Next we drive down to the markplatz or Munich's City Center. We time it perfectly - it is 4:55pm so we get to see the big clock strike 5pm. Dancers come out and dance in a circle and music plays. This all happens at the clock tower of the headquarters of city hall. The city is very busy and crowded. There are bikers and cars everywhere and traffic is horrible.

We drive to the Hoffbrauhaus - the oldest beer house in the world. It was built by Monks. When Hitler was an artist in Munich, he spent a lot of time there. He would discuss politics with others and made speeches there and started his following of people. He spent time plotting and forming his political party there. It has a huge open garden in the middle of the building where people sit and drink beer. There are rows and rows of small compartments where they leave their beer mugs and lock them up for the next time they come. Some old men come so much they have their own coasters made with their pictures on them and have their own booth that is always reserved for them to sit in.

We head back to the hotel and go swimming and have dinner at Champions - a hotel restruant with real American food. It is so good to have regular hamburgers! This has been the longest day - maybe because of the long drive...maybe because of the emotions at Dachau, maybe because of the heat...Home feels very far away....

Day 8

This is the day to discover the Salt Mines of Berchtesgaden - the salzzeitreise. We put on one piece jump suits and get on a little open train that we straddle. It goes down under ground very fast and the tunnel gets very narrow. When we reach the bottom it is about 32 degrees. There are very large rooms that we walk through and tour the making of salt. When they find a pocket of salt, they drill a huge hole the size of a football field. Then they fill it with water and let the salt dissolve in the water. Then they drain the water and distill it and the salt is left. They repeat this process many times until all the salt is out of the rock. In two areas they put us on a wooden, long slide that we sit on and it chutes us down another two stories. We all go together - Chuck, me, and Bill - we scream all the way down and the Germans give us dirty looks for making so much noise. Another thing to note about Germans - they hate noise or loud talking - they even close car washes on Sunday because they make too much noise for the neighbors that live near by - really!

I have now conquered the mountain tops by cable car, the tiny elevators, and now the caves and salt mines below the earth. I am over coming any fears that I once had...Amazing!
After the salt mines, we stop at a small little store and buy home made sandwiches, Cokes, and chips and head up the mountain following the Rossfeldstrasse. This is a little windy road that climbs the mountain above the Obersalzberg and straddles the borders of Germany and Austria. It reaches 1500 meters. We stop and have a picnic lunch on the way, looking at the mountains above and valleys below. Truly amazing sight to see the majestic beauty.

The weather is sunny and warm today. We have had PERFECT weather - in the 70's each day. When we climb the mountains it gets cool, probably in the 50's, and we need our jackets but when we are down below it is just comfortable. Today though it is very warm - high 80's and so we next head to the Konigsee, "Lake of the King". It is a beautiful emerald green lake with mountains towering up the sides of it. There is many shopping stores along the water streets and so Bill and Chuck sit and Chris runs through the stores.

We get back to the hotel and go swimming in the outside pool and lay in the sun for a time before having dinner outside on the terrace at the Alpenhof hotel. Bill is close friends with many of the watresses and so we get to meet Mandy #1, Mandy #2, and Katerina. Very nice young girls who love to tease with Bill.

A few more thoughts about Germany: Diesel Gas is 1.51 Eros/liter There is 4 liters to a gallon (so about 6 Eros per gallon) and $1.50 dollars per Ero. So we are paying about $9.00 per gallon of gas. WOW! Regular gas is just slightly more but you get more miles to a gallon with diesel.
Houses/towns: They love flowers and so there are flower boxes under every window. Did I mention there is a church in the center of every town and the cemetery is always within the church gate and go right up to the church. They often have pictures in ceramic of the person on the grave stone. Every town also has a memorial monument that lists all the men that have died in each war from the town. Often there is a painting or mosaic picture on the outside of their house and always have the name of the family painted on the outside of the house. Example: "Haus Anna" "Haus Watters" Often there are rocks on the roofs so when it snows the snow doesn't collect on the roof but falls off easier. There is such a uniformity of life here. No one is allowed to paint their house any color other than white unless they get permission from the town. They must keep it up or they will be fined. They would never think of not following the law or even small rules. They police themselves - they will tell you if you are not obeying the law and expect others to do what is right.

Many of the older women still wear the diendl dresses and especially the shop owners and waitresses in the restruants wear them. Men often are wearing the Bavarian suit coats with the little stand up collars.

Day 7

This is our Hitler day. The sun is shining and so we head up to the Kehlestein or "Hitler's Eagle's Nest". This is a retreat center of Hitler's that was built for him and given to him for his 50th birthday in 1938. He only visited it a few times because it is high above Berchtesgarten and he was afraid of heights. You drive half way up the mountain and then have to take a bus to the bottom of the ledge. From there we walk through a tunnel of the mountain and take an elevator up to the top throuogh the mountain. THe elevator is the original - with solid gold walls and the orignal phone in the elevator. At the top you can look over all of the Obersalzberg and down to Berchesgarten. An incredible view. Once again we are amazed at the beauty and majestic mountains that God has created. Breath-taking!

We have lunch at the top in the Kehlestein and watch as clouds start to roll in.
Next we head back to where Hitler had his home. The Hotel Cumturken was next to his home and was taken over by Hitler during his reign. When the US bombed Hitler's home, the hotel was untouched. We met the lady who was a little girl when her family owned the hotel before Hitler took it from them. She finally got the hotel back 10 years ago and it was then discovered that there was a huge bunker system built under the hotel and Hitler's home that was still intacted. We went down into this bunker system and saw where it led to his home. It was created with massive thick walls, had rooms for the soldiers that protected Hitler and separate rooms for Hitler and Eva Braun, his girlfriend. We then found another bunker that runs under this large field in the valley, near a resturant that Hitler often visited. Small pipes come up through the ground in the field that were the air system for the bunker.

We discovered the first hostel in the world that is still being run as a hostel. Hitler often would go there and take pictures with the teens staying there. Strubkaserne is just down the street from it. This is a German military base. The buildings are from the Third Reich and were built by Hitler.

Day 7:
July 9, Wednesday

This is our Hitler day. The sun is shining and so we head up to the Kehlestein or "Hitler's Eagle's Nest". This is a retreat center of Hitler's that was built for him and given to him for his 50th birthday in 1938. He only visited it a few times because it is high above Berchtesgarten and he was afraid of heights. You drive half way up the mountain and then have to take a bus to the bottom of the ledge. From there we walk through a tunnel of the mountain and take an elevator up to the top through the mountain. The elevator is the original - with solid gold walls and the original phone in the elevator. At the top you can look over all of the Obersalzberg and down to Berchesgarten. An incredible view. Once again we are amazed at the beauty and majestic mountains that God has created. Breath-taking!

We have lunch at the top in the Kehlestein and watch as clouds start to roll in.

Next we head back to where Hitler had his home. The Hotel Cumturken was next to his home and was taken over by Hitler during his reign. When the US bombed Hitler's home, the hotel was untouched. We met the lady who was a little girl when her family owned the hotel before Hitler took it from them. She finally got the hotel back 10 years ago and it was then discovered that there was a huge bunker system built under the hotel and Hitler's home that was still intacted. We went down into this bunker system and saw where it led to his home. It was created with massive thick walls, had rooms for the soldiers that protected Hitler and separate rooms for Hitler and Eva Braun, his girlfriend. We then found another bunker that runs under this large field in the valley, near a restaurant that Hitler often visited. Small pipes come up through the ground in the field that were the air system for the bunker.

We discovered the first hostel in the world that is still being run as a hostel. Hitler often would go there and take pictures with the teens staying there. Strubkaserne is just down the street from it. This is a German military base. The buildings are from the Third Reich and were built by Hitler.

Then we went adventuring - looking to find Paula Hitler's grave. She was Adolf's only sister. She never married and lived just outside Berchtesgaden. We found the cemetery but the workers there refused to tell us where the grave is. So we start walking around and ran into a lady pushing a stroller. She points in one direction and starts to tell us where it is when the grave yard workers come running after us and yelling at her, "You can not tell"! So as she leaves us we go in the direction she was pointing when a quiet little old man walks up behind us and whispers, "I'll show you." So he takes us to the grave. It is marked with a different name because they were tired of people coming through the cemetery but on the internet you can find the story showing this exact grave. Only the marker is changed - the tall wooden monument still stands.

A few impressions about Germany and Germans:The technology here is far beyond America. They are very environmentally advanced. Very "green". Most buildings and hotels have motion detector lights in all the halls and bathrooms so they only go on when you use them. The toilets and bathrooms are beyond clean - even in gas stations - They have a little automatic cleaner so after you flush the toilet, the toilet seat makes a circle and gets cleaned.

The beds all have big feather duvets - two single ones so each has their own - saves pulling the covers! The fancy hotels that we stayed in all had robes and slippers to go to the pool. The tables are set with the knives on a rock or shell under the tip of the knife. Fresh flowers are everywhere on the tables.

People are very friendly. They don't know much English but we are beginning to talk a few German words to get by. Signs are all in German only. People are very quiet and very proper. They won't think of breaking the law - we don't see police ANYWHERE. I guess they are not needed like in America. They get upset if we stop on the side of the road because that is not done. The bend over and talk quietly in restaurants. They believe in building buildings to last - average is for 200 years, where in America houses last about 70-80 years. We have seen some OLD buildings! Built in the 1400's. People are very health conscious - they walk everywhere with walking sticks - like ski poles in both hands. All throughout the mountains are cars parked and people no where to be seen - out walking the trails of the mountains. Or they are biking up and down the mountains - AMAZING! Even very old people.

Day 6

Today we leave Corvara, Italy and head to Berchtesgarten, Germany. It is a long drive and takes about 5 hours. We go through beautiful Barvarian towns and the swiss alps again. The sun is shining and sparkles on the mountain. We eat in a little Austrian resturant on the side of the alps. We arrive about 2:30pm and immediately head up the mountain to find the Kunterweg Church in Ramsau. Josef Mohr who wrote "Silent Night" was parish assistant here in 1512.

We then head to Obersalzberg for a quick overview of the land. This was Hitler's military base and personal retreat center away from Munch. There are still so many buildings still standing and in use from the Third Reich. We find the ruins of Hitler's house. It was bombed by the US military. There are bricks from the front of the house and the back retaining wall still standing. It was not high on the top of the obersalzberg - Hitler was afraid of heights and is nestled in the woods.

Then we head to our new hotel - the Alpenhof Hotel nestled in the mountains. It is a beautiful hotel with an indoor and outdoor pool. Stephen is the owner and a friend of Bill's. Dinner and breakfast is included in the hotel price. Another wonderful dinner.