Click here for the GERMANY - DRIVING ITINERARY
MAY 10 – JUNE 6, 2006

Wednesday, May 10, 2006
London Heathrow
Club Lounge

We are off to a splendid start. The British Airways flight was comfy; new pod seats, somewhat like a Victorian loveseat with heads facing each other. Seats went flat into beds and service was impeccable. The best part was flying Business Class on frequent flyer miles which gives new meaning to the phrase "The Price is Right". We are waiting for our flight to Frankfurt which leaves in less than an hour. Then we will rent our car and drive to the small village of Beilstein where we have reservations at a small hotel on the river.

Hello to all of you. We will check in frequently.

TUESDAY MAY 9 and WEDNESDAY MAY 10, 2006
CLYDE HILL USA to LONDON TO FRANKFURT, GERMANY

The alarm rang promptly at 4:15 a.m. Karen picked us up promptly, at 4:40 a.m. She is an angel to us: she took Ty last night, kennel and all, came back this morning and drove us straight to the Alaska terminal at SeaTac. What a delight to have real airline reservations. First class to LAX, than a long but comfortable "layover" in the British Airways Club lounge. Prompt departures on both flights were greatly appreciated. We actually had six and a half hours uninterrupted sleep on the flight to London. The subsequent flight to Frankfurt on an Airbus was not as appealing as the Boeing 747-400 but it was on time! Miracle of miracles, the bags we checked in at SeaTac appeared in Frankfurt almost immediately. Frankfurt Airport is an efficient place to rent a car. The elevator to the garage is right in the terminal, the parking spot clearly marked, exits to freeways similarly user-friendly. We're on our way to Beilstein in less than an our after arrival. You may be wondering why we did not fly directly from Sea-Tac to Frankfurt. The lure of free tickets from our frequent flyer miles made the extra legs more than acceptable to us.

Good fortune for us. The rains seem to have departed the area, and we are blessed with sunshine and clear skies. The highways here follow the familiar European system: Autobahns with no speed limit and the endless supply of would-be race car drivers in the left lane; Motorways, efficient but not as fast, and then the "B" roads, more rural and scenic. Our itinerary combines some of each, the latter being our preferred way to go in order to get more of a flavor of the real way of life here.

Departure from airport: 3:16 p.m.
Arrival in Beilstein: 5:20 p.m.
Beginning odometer: 3468 km.

WEDNESDAY MAY 10, 2006
FRANKFURT - WEISBADEN - BEILSTEIN

Beautiful, peaceful drive through picturesque rural villages. This is the section of the "Castles of the Rhine and Mosel" itinerary suggested by our travel guru Karen Brown, without whose Guidebook we never travel. Her suggested routes, hotels, highlights, etc. are always nearly perfect for our tastes. In addition, for this journey, we found on the internet, thanks to Google, the Michelin site for Driving Directions in Europe. We have twenty maps which we have printed out from that site. There is a tiny colored map on the front page of each with a flag for the departure point and a flag for the destination. Suggested highways, interval distances, and total distances are included, as well as a predicted time the trip will take. We had no idea if the maps would be useful when we printed them, but today's was perfect. Some of the small rural roads into Beilstein would have been difficult to find, so we are pleased!

Karen Brown, Rick Steves, and Fodor all use the same term for Beilstein: "Romantic". We agree. Located right on the lazy Mosel River, the village seems to be centuries from the pace of modern life. Our hotel has just five guest rooms. The Lippman family owns five hotels here; the Haus Lippman, our choice, is just above the popular terrace restaurant where both locals and tourists mingle among flowering trees and cobblestone streets just opposite the river where the old flat ferries take passengers and cars to the village on the other side. In addition, the flat river barges laden with the peaches which grow profusely in the area, pass by constantly, as do the river barges which tourists take for both day trips and multi-day adventures.

Our arrival here attracted some attention. The narrow, curving, cobblestone streets down from the top of the hill by the castle to the hotel and river below, were barely wide enough for our car, the four door Opel Automatic which is fairly large, especially for these roads! We found ourselves among many pedestrians, including what appeared to be a fairly large tourist group. We had to fold in our rear view mirrors at one point, and paid careful attention to the hand gestures from helpful people in the street as we crept slowly down the last curve to the large square which we assumed would be the public parking lot next to our hotel. We could clearly see the "Hotel Haus Lippman" sign above the entrance. Imagine our surprise and apprehension when we found a series of narrow bollards preventing exit from the square in any direction! Fortunately, a helpful hotel employee said there was no problem, went out with us, took a key which opened one of the bollards, unlocked it, and Ed was able to drive over the bollard (thank goodness for enough clearance underneath the car) and found a perfect parking on the street just below our room.

We love our room 8 here in the hotel. The house itself, now the hotel, was the home of the original Duke who ruled Beilstein, and it dates back to 1725. Our room is light, high ceilinged, with a big bed with soft down pillows and comforters. We have had an excellent dinner on the outside terrace and a perfect start to our German adventure.

Odomometer end of day: 3605
Total distance: 137 km.
arrived 5:30 p.m.
2 hrs.

THURSDAY; MAY 11, 2006
BEILSTEIN - COCHEM, GERMANZ TO CITY OF LUXEMBOURG IN LUXEMBOURG - BADEN BADEN;GERMANY

Today became like a rally minus the time controls! We wandered around Beilstein after a quick breakfast. We slept until 10 a.m., unheard of for us, checked out at 11 and were on our way along the road right next to the Mosel River. What a lovely river! Narrower and slower than the Rhine, it meanders slowly along the steep cliffs of vineyards which line both sides of the river. Famous wines from the region carry the name of the individual vineyard and some are world famous. This stretch from Beilstein to Cochem is considered the prettiest of the entire route of the "Castles of the Rhine and Mosel". We drove it along both sides of the river, and we agree. The scenery is so spectacular that even the photographs will be unable to capture the full beauty. We drove Highway 49 all the way to Trier. Perfect choice, small villages, orderly, tranquil, less gingerbread than Switzerland but similar architecture. Many Anhalt touches along the way.

Our first venture into Luxembourg was today. Another "notch" in our belt of countries we have visited. No border guards, empty border stations. The EEU has simplified travel enormously. We were totally unprepared for the size and traffic of Luxembourg after the peaceful rural villages we had passed all morning long. Avenue John Fitzgerald Kennedy was four lanes in each direction, each lane packed with cars. Tall buildings, huge modern city with many French- inspired older buildings co-existing with the new glass skyscrapers. Not at all what we expected, and we probably could have found the inner city quite charming had we been willing to investigate, but we are not in a city mood, especially after the charm and tranquility of Beilstein. We looked at the lighted electronic signs of the major parking garages, each blinking how many spaces were remaining; On both sides of the boulevard, some of the signs were blinking "Full" while others specified the exact number remaining, some in three figures, others less.We looked at the masses of drivers and pedestrians and hotels and made the quick and easy decision to leave Luxembourg and head back to Germany and the resort and spa atmosphere of Baden Baden, another two and a half hours of driving, but far away from the maddening crowd. Luxembourg is decidedly more French than German, but the green hills, etc. are similar to the farms we have seen all over Europe. We missed the hostorz of the old quarter and we are sure manz have found good times there, but we look forward to the famous spas and healing waters of Baden Baden.

We are on Map 4 and Day 4 of our planned itinerary on Day 2, but we are happy! German roads are excellent, well maintained, well signed, and other than the usual Mercedes and BMW's going 120 mph and pushing everyone in the left lane out of the way, drivers are good and the driving straightforward. There is more road construction than we expected, but the delays have been minimal. Highway signage takes practice - as many as six names of towns will appear on an exit sign, then disappear mysteriously, onto reappear after several miles, usually just about the time we wonder if we could have made an error. Many of the rural roads are marked only on small, short wooden posts on the left side of the road and only intermittently. We are concentrating today!

From Luxembourg, a small portion of France is on our route, all of it the
Lorraine area, part of the Alsace Lorraine which Germany and France and others have battled over for centuries. Familiar names on one of our exit signs in particular: Verdun
Reims
Paris
Walibii-Schtroumpf
Metz - est
Sarrebruck
Strasbourg
Try reading them all at once at 120 kph!

Today was more of a sign-reading lesson than a leisurely country drive, but the sun is shining, we haven't been lost yet, and we are safely arrived in Baden Baden in a truly beautiful atmosphere. The long drive is worth it!

We arrived through a long tunnel; the first exit out "Congress" ; as usual, Karen Brown directions have saved frustrations. We easily found what we thought would be our first choice of hotel, the "Romantik Hotel de Kleine Prince", noted for its decor and illustrations of Saint Extupery's "Little Prince". The hotel is luxurious and filled with priceless antiques and is quite formal; in addition, it is out of the main old town. The manager showed us an elegant room which he agreed to keep for us for an hour or so, but we were hoping to stay within walking distance of the considerably interesting attractions of the famous resort.

We drove down the hill to the Sophienstrasse, the upscale shopping boulevard, found a parking spot right by the Volksbank and Godiva shop and went looking for Karen Brown's other suggested hotel, the Am Markt. All we knew was that it was behind the famous Friedrichsbad ( the no-clothing allowed historical spa). A nice young man on the street, pushing his small child in a stroller, offered to show us the hotel. Six blocks of speedwalking later, up a narrow, steep, winding, cobblestone street, we found our charming hotel. He was as surprised as we were of its hidden location. Armed with our copy of the new 2006 Karen Brown Guidebook, we asked for Room 2, her favorite, and were rewarded with a spacious, light filled, high-ceilinged sitting room and bedroom with a big bed. The bathroom was just as luxurious as she said it would be, much nicer than most luxury hotels. The nearness to all of the town highlights and the charm of the hotel and room made our decision to stay there an easy one, especially since the rate was 77 Euros, including breakfast, instead of the 295 euros at the first hotel.

We went back down to get our car, this time taking the steep stairway of 87 stairs from the hotel, and found a lovely courtyard restaurant in a setting of large flowering trees and spring flowers, with the tables each under large blue Lowenbrau umbrellas and the employees in traditional Bavarian dress. Again, excellent food and service and GARGANTUAN portions of food. The waiter said that is traditional and typical Bavarian hospitality. They have not heard of nouvelle cuisine here.

We drove up the steep hill which we had walked before dinner and were fortunate to have parking right in front of our hotel. Even though the streets looked to narrow to drive, we made it and were happy to park the car for the final time today.

We went over to the old church next to the hotel which is being restored. When we walked in, Ed thought music was being piped in and played, but my childhood Thursday nights' experiences made me recognize immediately that it was weekly choir practice, with live chamber music accompaniment. I could practically hear my parents and aunts and uncles from so long ago.

Baden Baden has a rich history as the 18th and 19th century playground of Europe's royal families. The town still today has the largest number of millionaires in Germany. The mansions and the parks are splendid, and so are the many fountains. Baden Baden is more formal than our resort "get-a-ways", more of a symbol of days gone by, but still upscale today. The shops rival those of big cities and of Rodeo Drive. The casino requires coat and tie for men, but they now allow jeans with the jacket and tie.

The Romans discovered the healing waters of the baths centuries ago. The Freidrichstad is the older of the two existing spas. They are both open to the public for a fee. The Freidrichstad offers a "brush scrub massage" which the locals assured us is fabulous, but no clothing is allowed in the coed baths and there is a twenty minute hot steam bath included which we decided would not be in our best interest healthwise. The idea of being naked in front of strangers is really off our "radar screen".

The lovely park along the river was supposedly Queen Victoria's favorite part of the resort on her many visits here. Soooo much history surrounds us wherever we go on this trip. We feel that everything seems to be going so smoothly!

Odometer end of day: 4019
Total distance for the day: 137 km
Arrived 5:15 p.m.
5 hrs. 30 minutes

FRIDAY; MAY 12, 2006
BADEN BADEN - FREUDENSTADT - FREIBURG; GERMANY TO SUHR, SWITZERLAND

We thought fleetingly of staying another day in Baden Baden but we are well rested and are eager to see what is next in store for us. We felt the distinct need to "behave" in the dining room of our hotel. The service and food for breakfast were excellent, but the efficiency and speed of the hostess and waitress were indeed stereotypical German behavior. They were polite and nice but rigid.

We opt for the high road through the Black Forest, the SCHWARZWALD HOCHSTRASSE via Freudenstadt and Freiberg, through a series of small tourist towns with lovely hotels which indicate that these are crowded areas during the summers.

MORE TOMORROW. It is late now.

FRIDAY MAY 12, 2006
BADEN BADEN - FREUDENSTADT-FREIBURG (GERMANY) to BASEL AND SUHR (SWITZERLAND)

Driving the Schwarzwald Hochstrasse, the Black Forest High Road, was one of our good decisions. The extreme color differences between the pale green of the younger deciduous trees against the dark, nearly black of the evergreens was startling and lovely. The old forests are nearly gone, much of what we see is forty or fifty years old at best.

Each small village today has a charm of its own. There is a similarity in roof lines and architectural details which gives each village its own separate identity. Each has at least one fine hotel and surrounding Biergarten and restaurant. The origin of the cuckoo clock is here, even though Switzerland most often tries to take credit.

Freiberg is too busy for us. A huge medical student march in protest of something; all the student marchers are dressed in white, several hundreds marching along the boulevard at the University. We found the correct route out of town purely by accident.

Stopped for lunch at Kolliken at a freeway fuel and restaurant right off the autobahn, as close as our rest stops. Food quality is excellent here and reasonable. A cut above MacDonalds, for sure.

Switzerland is similar in landscape to Germany, so much so that one would not know about the border unless it were marked. SUHR is much different from the quaint village which both of us had pictured. There are a huge number of workers in several large businesses and factories. The Phister Shopping Center near the railroad station at the Zentrum (Center ) of town has a multi-storied parking garage which was apparently full.

Hotel Baren at first glance was not impressive except for the white lace curtains hanging perfectly in each window. We decided to stay because we were too tired to go on - good decision a nice room with a separate sitting room is ours. The young woman at the desk said it would be noisy because it was on the streetside and that we should perhaps drive on to their other hotel 8kms away but we thought it would be quiet enough right here and we were right.

The dining room is excellent. Rich burnished walnut with freshly painted walls and old, weathered floors with fine carpets on top. Again, white linen service! The watercolor of tulips next to our table was painted by an artist named Bos. Ed's maternal grandmother was Jennie Bos of The Netherlands. The lines between Germany and the Netherlands and other surrounding countries have changed often throughout the centuries and the similarities in people and cultures are astounding.

Veal Cordon Bleu and french fries are on every menu. Tonight in addition there is pork tenderloin with apricot stuffing and blue cheese sauce. A new recipe to do at home. A "gift from the kitchen", a shrimp appetizer, was an added treat.

Didn't find any Suhrbiers in the phone book here, and of course we had hoped to find a SUHRCO, but we have many more sources to try.

Tomorrow is another day of new adventures.

SATURDAY MAY 13,2006
SUHR TO ZURICH SWITZERLAND TO LIECHTENSTEIN TO FELDKIRK THROUGH THE TUNNELS TO INNSBRUCK AUSTRIA AND TO THE SMALL VILLAGES OF NUTTERS AND MUTTERS

Today was the day we again altered our itinerary. We continue to do best when we are flexible, and today we were amply rewarded.

After a leisurely morning breakfast and departure from Suhr and after no luck in finding any more Suhrbier roots, we decided that with only one Suhr and one Surber in the phone book, our detective skills would be limited. there was no local knowledge of how the town was named except for the Suhrren, "Suhr - Little River". One waitress pronounced it Zoohr but the young man at the desk called it Soor, with a soft s. We enjoyed speaking with the nice young woman named van Geldeer, married to a Dutchman (her term). She has traveled extensively in Australia. Everyone so far is extremely open and friendly and eager to make sure that "Everything is Goot?".

We took the slow road to Zurich, winding up hills and curves. Much road construction in the "Zentrum" center of Zurich. wanting a photograph along the "see" led us into an area "verboten" to cars but our speaking only English spared us reprimand from the local security police. Again, we leave the city as quickly as possible. Zurich at first glance has none of the spellbinding charm of Lucerne. We are both definitely in a quaint, rural, tranquil mode.

We have definitely"deviated" from our original route, but there are no penalty points this trip. We drove east on the north side of Zurich via St. Galllen, then south to Buchs because we decided we wanted to "Lunch in Liechtenstein". A nice young man on the street in Buchs told us we were just a few kilometers from Vaduz, the capital of the Principality of Liechtenstein, so we headed there and found a perfect outdoor cafe in the heart of the city below the enormous castle at the top of the hill. The shops here are amazingly upscale, the facilities excellent, and an eclectic combination of traveling students, formally dressed locals "lunching", and expensive automobiles. The scenery here is much the same as Switzerland but L. is out of another era, truly fairy´tale, picture postcard beautiful. The Alps are extremely steep here, heavily blanketed in snow and seemingly close enough to touch.

Several people had told us the only safe travel right now was to be along the A12 E60 through the long tunnels into Austria. We were not prepared for the number of tunnels or for their length. Just one went for over ten kilometers and we didn't even count the total number of tunnels. The engineering skills here are awe-inspiring. Just after the longest tunnel, we came to another where all traffic was stopped completely; no sign why, no police or officials to say why the tunnel was closed or when it might open. For the first time on the trip, there are no villages around, just tunnels and steep cliffs and mountains. Suddenly, a steady stream of cars behind us moved rapidly out of the closed lane, turned 180 degrees and headed up a narrow road along the cliff adjacent to the highway. We were reluctant to do the same but quickly asked the car behind us (with the navigator hopping out of the car to ask the surprised driver of the latter) just as he was pulling out to make the u turn if the road he was approaching would lead to Innsbruck. Fortunately, he spoke English; he said quickly "I don't know but I am going to find out if it is open". He pulled out as I ran back to our car. Suddenly he was gesturing to us wildly, motioning us upward and onward. Ed assumed correctly that he meant the road was open, that it would lead us to Innsbruck, and that we should follow him. He waved goodbye to us less than a kilometer later. More tunnels, narrow lanes and roads, few signs, but we entered Innsbruck successfully less than two hours later, relieved that we would not be sleeping in the car at the entrance to a tunnel in the Alps.

Innsbruck is far larger than we expected. The Austrian ski "village" which we had pictured is now a big city with tons of people and cars. The hotels were not appealing, even those indicated by the "Hotel Zone" arrows along the road which are found in nearly every city here. We headed across the bridge out of town toward the final arrow. Nothing! Tired, we almost gave up, but a bartender at a local Gashaus who did not speak good English wrote down on a small piece of paper the word Nutters and, below that, the word Mutters. I kept trying to ask him if those were hotels, but he didn't understand, so we took the paper and went outside. the gestures of three lefts in a circle made no sense to us. A young customer in the courtyard spoke enough English to tell us Nutter and Mutters are towns just a few kilometers away and they would have hotels.

PERSEVERENCE PAYS! We found a quiet, beautiful hotel on the steep hill in Mutters and we must have been given the best room here. On a corner with a view of the whole town and valley with the Alps as the background, we have a large balcony, the sun is shining and will be setting soon. The memory of this setting and serenity and perfection of the view will be with us always. The ski lifts from the 68 and 74 Olympics are right in front of us, and we can see the huge ski jump as well.

Our room is in what is termed the Private Boarding House of the Hotel Amselrain. Dinner was served in what is termed the main hotel in the adjoining building. Again, perfect service and excellent food served in a lovely atmosphere. Huge difference from being "on the road" in the USA.

Speaking English leads to short but interesting conversations with fellow diners. The Austrian next to us had been in Seattle and Victoria. He liked everything but the rain.

Beautiful sunset, peaceful, contented evening.

DEPARTURE THIS MORNING. 9:45 a.m.
ARRIVAL IN INNSBRUCK. 5;15 p.m.
ODOMETER AT END OF DAY. 4692

SUNDAY; MAY 14, 2006
INNSBRUCK AUSTRIA TO BERCHTESGADEN AND EAGLE'S NEST TO MUNICH, GERMANY
BEGINNING ODOMETER. 4738
DEPARTURE: 8:00 a.m.

Breakfast was served promptly at 7:30 as we had requested. We were the only guests in the dining room. We are quite sure that we might have been the only guests in the hotel. Yesterday the sunshine and snow-covered Alps provided an unexcelled view. We awakened this morning to clouds, rain, and fog. The mountains have disappeared. Now we know how Seattle tourists feel when they fail to even see Mount Rainier.

We arrived at a guard station on the Australian motorway about an hour and a half after we left our hotel, just a few kilometers before we were to arrive back into Germany. We were stopped, asked for our passports, told to park our car and enter guardhouse. We couldn't imagine why but the armed guards left us little choice. Nearly every place we have been, we easily meet people who speak excellent English. Not these Austrian guards. They must have watched too many World War Two movies because they walked, gestured, and spoke much more like Nazis than like Baron Von Trapp. Once we followed them into the Guardhouse, they handed us a printed card which we could read because it was in English. It stated that we could avoid "Punishment" for the violation of not having a sticker to allow us to drive on Austrian Motorways if we would pay immediately a fine of One Hundred and Twenty Euros. No one at the Austrian border had mentioned the need for such a sticker when we entered the country. None of the guidebooks or Michelin directions included the information. 'We had already traveled several hundred miles on Austrian motorways without being asked for one. When I began to to object to what I considered a true injustice, the guards were clearly unimpressed. It was Ed who immediately and calmly offered to pay the fine and kept telling them "It's fine, it' okay, we will pay". they took our Visa card. It is obvious to me that they enjoy adding to their Austrian treasury. Adding insult to injury, we had fewer than ten kilometers left in Austria before we again entered Germany.

Later today we were again on Austrian motorways. No guards, no signs about stickers, no nothing. Ed says I should let it go and I will, but I was temporarily infuriated.

We arrived in Berchesgaden after a gray and rainy drive. Much cooler temperatures today. We have been spoiled with perfect spring weather up to now. Young forests all the way, most trees only thirty to fifty years old.

Much of the Bavarian architecture along the way is so much like Leavenworth and our Edelweiss Apartments in North Bend. Our beloved bright green shutters still abound! Straightforward houses and public buildings, orderly, perfectly maintained, little gingerbread ornamentation. The villages, each one a separate ski area in most cases, are similar but each has a roof line similarity that gives each village its own unique identity. Some familiar names from the Winter Olympic skiers' hometowns, those such as Kitzebuehl and others.

The rain in Berchtesgaden made touring the medieval buildings and marketplace unappealing, so we headed to the Eagle's Nest "Documentation" (museum). We knew about Hitler's visits to Eagle's nest with its hilltop fortress. The pictures of him with Eva Braun on the concrete terrace are clear in our minds. We were not, however, prepared for the emotional tour of the Documentation. We had earphones in English and we able to listen to each individual station which was numbered at the top. We could have just looked at the pictures, but to hear the exact details of Hitler's rise to power from 1924 until his defeat in 1945 and to look at copies of actual newspapers and magazine articles of the times made for history coming to life instantly. Neither of us knew anything about the vast bunker system which had been built just below Eagle's Nest. Suddenly we found that we were actually going down into them. Our pictures will document the extent to which thousands of prisoners, slave laborers, built a complete city underground in the mountain rock. There were kitchens, private quarters, a small hospital, on and on the tunnels go. More about this after the trip. We came away with a combination of disbelief and a certain ironic realization that the golf course, Intercontinental Hotel, and other facilities nearby are a strange juxtaposition of items. The entire museum and Eagle's Nest facilities now belong to the Republic of Bavaria, part of Germany. Until 1997, the facilities were operated and used by the U.S. Army, in part for R§R for the troops after Desert Storm.

The rain made staying in Berchtesgaden less than appealing and we were somewhat stunned by the museum experience, so we opted to drive on to Munich.

Uneventful drive into Munich; we called ahead for reservations at the Torbrau Hotel and had good directions to take the Aldstadt Ring (Old City) to the Isator Gate, the oldest of the gates guarding Munich. The hotel should have been right on the corner. It was not. Again, luck was with us. As I got out of the car to find someone who spoke English, a well dressed man came across the street, smiled, and spoke English. He advised me that the Torbaur was at another gate and that the drive to it would be "tricky". As he tried to explain where we should go, he asked where our car was. I pointed to Ed just five feet away, still in the driver's seat. The German man said to please wait, that he would get his BMW 3 and would drive us there if we would follow him. We had a personal escort through a tunnel, around several one way streets; Ed began to doubt that the fellow knew where he was going; just then we saw the hotel, the man got out of his car, pointed us to the front door, and went on his way.

We parked right next to the hotel, checked in to yet another elegant room where the price is right, and congratulated each other on another day of adventure successfully completed. We plan to stay two nights here because Munich has many attractions, and we have done many kilometers already.

ODOMETER IN MUNICH 5074
Day's Total: 336 kilometers

MONDAY, MAY 15, 2006
MUNCHEN (MUNICH, GERMANY)

We are comfortable here in this much more beautiful than expected city. We have heard for years of the famous Oktoberfest. Craig was here years ago, and now it is our turn. Our hotel is adjacent to the Isotar gate, the oldest of the gates which guarded the city. We are just a block and a half from the Marienplatz, the center of town in front of the old and new city halls and the site of the old clock which attracts thousands of tourists each day at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. when the music plays and the figures dance. The scene is similar to that in Prague, but the show is not as dramatic or intricate.

The weather is perfect, sunshine and clear blue skies. Munich is the proud capital of Bavaria, the proud republic which has always been and remains fiercely independent. The 1946 Bavarian Constitution gives it a separate place in the first line.

We are told that it is just a few blocks to the tourist bus station and a short walk. We are learning that what Germans consider a short walk is one which is under a half hour. Ones longer than that are considered a fair walk. Anyway, after some escalators up and down through the train station just to cross the major streets, we arrive just in time for the city tour which both of us believe is the best way to begin one's visit to any major city. Most cities use Gray Line or similarly well organized tours, and at least in Europe, allow a whole tour and then use of the ticket for the rest of the day with as many stops as one wishes. Great way to return to attractive museums, etc.

Munich is so green! Trees, flowers, parks, beautiful! The architecture depends upon one's personal taste. The Baroque influence is everywhere. Mad King Ludwig had a lot of influence here. The buildings on Ludwigstrasse are more formal, massive, with ornamentations everywhere. The transition to Leopolstrasse is immediate. The buildings are more Parisian, softer, more welcoming.

Maximilian Strasse is the high end shopping district, full of all of the well known designers, each with a huge shop of its own. Hertie's is the famous local department store. Along with nearly every other sports shop in town, the upcoming World Soccer matches are causing excitement and every trinket and tee shirt imaginable. Munich is especially feverish because Bayern Munchen is the top team in Germany. I thought the clerk would have a nervous breakdown when I asked quite innocently if she might have a player's jersey in something other than red. Evidently that is exactly the same as asking for a Husky jersey in something other than purple and gold.

One of the loveliest symbols in this town is the gold Angel of Peace which is evident from her perch high above a monument as from many points in the city. The main rings and boulevards of the city make getting around a pleasure.

Dinner at the famous Hofbrauhaus which is the beer hall famous for its Oktoberfest celebrations as well as live music each night of the year. Wooden benches and long tables, people from all over the world sharing in the famous Munich hospitality. A new addition to German pubs: Bier Alkoholfrei, just as in the U.S. Brands vary from region to region. Clausthaler and Beck's seem popular. The rule seems to be here that one never orders a beer; it must be an order for a specified brand. The mugs (steins?) are so gigantic that we cannot believe people finish them, but they do and then most often order more.

We are on our way tomorrow with fond memories of Munich. Our Torbrau Hotel provided a computer in a small business office on the same floor as our room, which was convenient. Would have been able to catch up with these, but their mouse had an internal problem which made it difficult to use. Comfortable way to do these; better than an internet cafe. I had the room to myself.

TUESDAY, MAY 16, 2006
MUNICH TO DACHAU TO NURENBURG TO DRESDEN, GERMANY
Departure: 8 a.m.
BEGINNING ODOMETER. 5074

The gold Angel of Peace was our visible guardian to the right ring road out of the city. Without her we might well have gone into the Zentrum and become part of the morning business traffic jam. Fortunately, we could see her from far enough away to make all the right turns. By the time we reached the outer ring road of the city, we reached the 1000 "mile marker" of our trip so far!

Our weather luck continues to hold. We basked in sunshine all day yesterday, but this morning is cool and rainy. We head to Dachau, the first of the concentration camps and the model for the others in WWII. The pictures we saw at Eagle's Nest Documentation and those we have seen in years past make us painfully aware that this morning will not be fun and games. Dachau is only 21kms from Munich but 45 minutes of driving time.

Dachau itself may be a pleasant town, but it is tainted for eternity. There are several tourist attractions in guidebooks of all kinds, but we had no stomach to go to them. The ghosts of what we saw in the remains of the camp and what we read on the excellent boards as we went through the museum at Dachau which has been placed there as a memorial to those imprisoned there were so overpowering that we were both emotionally drained, even though most of the information was not new to us. Man's inhumanity to man was here!

The whole theme of the camp is the famous phrase "NEVER AGAIN". We were impressed to see the large number of busses filled with high school students which arrived to tour Dachau at about the same time we did. The teachers were speaking to them seriously. We were totally impressed with the discipline and the good manners of the students. There were no "goof-offs", no smart remarks, just hundreds of young people who could scarcely believe their eyes except for the photographs, articles, and personal letters and memoirs of former prisoners.

In Munich, we had seen evidence of the White Rose, the German group of resistance fighters of which Sophie Scholl was a member. The film about her was one of the hits of last year's Palm Springs International Film Festival, and deservedly so. Today we learned about more heroes who tried to stand up to Hitler's evil. Fourteen Luxembourg prisoners were impressive, as well as many others.

The massive iron sculpture at the entrance to the museum has a beautiful inscription in four languages. The tangled skeletal bodies which form the sculpture are bound by barbed wire. They extend perhaps fifty feet horizontally and are at least twelve high. The inscription is dedicated to the men who stood up against the terror and the monument is in the hope that those who look at it today will forever treasure freedom, justice, and in respect of their fellow man. Nearly everyone standing in front of it was visibly moved.

Dachau was first used in 1933 and was still in use when the Allies freed the prisoners in 1945. It began as a camp for all those considered politically dangerous by the Nazis. The list of prisoners grew to include gypsies, Jews, and any other groups the Nazis decided they did not like. A particularly chilling memo that we read was written by the Mayor of Dachau in which he praised the economic benefits to the town of having the camp in Dachau. I am particularly grateful that he was not one of my antecedents. Enough details. Dachau has taken away our holiday spirit temporarily, but we felt it absolutely necessary to visit and silently pay our respects to those who suffered there and to the many who perished there. The rain suited our mood as we said farewell.

Back on the highway. We have noticed all day in this region names familiar from home, but different sounds. We were first informed that Dackhau is improper pronunciation. It is Dah-haw. Rohrbach is Rohrbaugh (Dave and Joann's dad's family may have changed the spelling to make life easier). Bach is Bauhh, and so on. Our German is limited, but we find we can understand quite a bit and can read even more. We find at least one person who speaks excellent English wherever we go, and the young students all seem to be fluent in English.

As we drive toward Nurnberg, we pass Ingolstedt. Many signs point to the huge Audi factory and museum. Germans are loyal to their cars. Flat farms and rape seed fields give way to steep, tree lined hills along the highway. Sleepy villages are tucked in flat areas below the highway. Steep red roofs abound. Some of the names of the villages must present a real spelling challenge to the elementary school teachers here.

We opt for a short tour into Nurnberg mostly because of its historical significance as the site of the war crimes trials after WWII. There is a wall around the old town. Everything here seems slightly worn and the old buildings need maintenance. We take many pictures from the car but decide not to do more touring. We are still somewhat emotionally drained by Dachau. We do notice a new style in this town. Nearly every middle aged and young woman has her hair dyed brilliant red henna. The use of the word brilliant here is not in the British sense of magnificent. We mean the shockingly intense "brilliance" of something too bright. None of them will go unnoticed!

New and old combine here but not always comfortably. The Grundig factory seems to be a big employer.

On our way to Dresden. We are happy we stopped in Nurnberg because it was here that nearly every single Nazi accused of war crimes was convicted! As we drive on, we are again amazed by the biggest surprise of our trip, the vast expanses of undeveloped land all over Germany. Today we can literally see all the way to the Czech border across rolling hills of green and of the bright yellow rape seed fields near Erzgebirge.

There is an overpowering sense of order to the picturesque farms we see all along our way. Neat, tidy, no farm equipment in sight, nothing out of order at all. Our pictures will describe everything so much better.

We approach Dresden ready for a room to relax. Our cell phone is proving invaluable. Instead of driving to our chosen hotel only to find it is fully booked, we are able to call ahead an hour before we arrive in a certain town. Phone coverage is excellent and Karen Brown is careful to include phone numbers in her hotel reviews. The pen and ink drawings of each hotel help and so do the one page reviews, the words of which we have learned to decipher pretty well. Today our first choice and second choice are fully booked but the latter gives us the name of the Bayerrischer Hof Dresden. The desk clerk who answered the phone spoke limited English but we were quickly transferred to a young woman who not only spoke perfect English but gave perfect directions for our entry into Dreseden and to the hotel. Dresden is known for its difficult driving, so we were fortunate to come here "straightaway". Our "room" is a suite with two TV's, a separate large living room with fine furniture, separate big bedroom, and huge bathroom. German hotels are consistently excellent so far and more reasonable by far than we had expected.

We actually watched CNN tonight. The good news of the day is that the American dollar is showing its greatest strength against the Euro in more than a month!!

Long day for Ed. He is doing a remarkably great job driving. We are sparing you descriptions of the extent of the roadworks and disappearing lanes on the highways to avoid repetition!

ENDING ODOMETER: 5616
DAY'S TOTAL: 542 km (!!!)

WEDNESDAY; MAY 17, 2006
DRESDEN; GERMANY

What an amazing city. 2006 marks Dresden's 800th anniversary as a city. The February 1945 bombing of the city by the Allies dominates everything one sees. Evidence of the bombings still exists after all these years, but the painstaking reconstruction is celebrated by locals and visitors as well.

Today is one of the days when everything went well at exactly the right moment.

Another fine breakfast in our hotel, included in the room rate as nearly every German hotel does. Linens, porcelain, crystal and a wide choice from the buffet. We repeat ourselves, but the dining rooms and service in these small hotels are remarkable.

The Opel gets a well deserved rest today and so does the driver. Yesterday tested all his many skills and experience. The "roadworks" are proceeding all over Germany. The resulting narrow and often closed lanes, temporary striping, barricades, etc. leave no margin for error with the huge trucks which dominate the Autobahns. The ever-present 140kph crowd enjoys living on the edge. The weather required further concentration and the more than 500 kms. of the day would have exhausted anyone.

Our "rest day" today is typically our style. Cab into town, past the "Westin Bellevue Hotel". We did not realize last night how close we are to the Alstadt, Old City.

We then opted for a double decker bus tour (headphones for the English narration). In an hour and a half we saw and learned more than we ever could have on our own. The Allied bombings destroyed architectural treasures, but nearly everything is now completely rebuilt to its original interior and exterior and the city has vast treasures to inspect.

A brief digression. The tour bus ticket sellers in this city have a new technique. Ours approached us with a sales pitch, took our money, then told us to walk three hundred meters to the bus. 300 meters sounds just around the corner; the bus was three or four blocks away. She was hilarious, buxom blond married to a German, she came from St. Petersburg, Russia. She has visited the United States, going from New Jersey to Florida. She immediately informed us that Florida is s---.
There are more immigrants here than we had expected.

The bombings in 1945 were on practically the last day of the war. Fires burned for five days. Reconstruction has continued ever since. Jewish synagogues near the river replace those burned in the terrible "Crystal Night" destruction in 1938. The new starkly modern square buildings have no outward embellishments at all. The corner stones all face Jerusalem. Inside the square exteriors are tent shaped buildings like those of the Old Testament.

The Altmarket is the Old Market Square. It was the beginning of our tour. Just adjacent to the Elbe River in front of the Katholische Hoffirche (Catholic Church), throngs of people congregate all day long. The Augustus Bridge spans the river. It is a reproduction of the 17th century Baroque bridge which was blown up by the SS shortly before the end of WWII. in their attempt to stop the Soviets.

Toured the castle and residential areas and out to the White Stag Resort area where the royals used to hunt. All of the history makes more sense when looking at the actual places read about and studied in classrooms. The Blue Bridge was one of our favorite spots. It is one of the few things that survived the bombings. In addition, it survived a planned bombing when two Dresdeners climbed under the bridge and removed the explosives.

After the bus tour, we had a short lunch stop on a terrace above the river where the ferries take tourists along, Then on to the Zwinger, the most famous of the Dresden attractions. A huge crown dominates the entrance gate. A large square contains several museums. We went to the Semper Gallery to see Raphaels's Sistine Madonna and actually managed to navigate the hundreds of stairs required to view it. Breathtaking Mary and Santa Barbara on one side of her.

We wanted back out into the sunshine. Met a lovely widow traveling by herself who had ties to both western Germany and the Netherlands. She gave us the name of the Gold Train, part of the trans-Siberian Railway. Perhaps that will be an adventure of ours one day.

The Semper Opera House tour in English was too good to pass up, Quite a large group waited for five minutes past the appointed starting time, shocked that anything in Germany could be late. It simply does not happen here. The guide came, apologized profusely, and we were on our way with a lovely, refined, articulate and knowledgeable young woman well versed in history, literature, and especially opera. As with the other Dresden treasures, this too was destroyed. The newest version of the Semper Opera House is larger than the original. The outer walls were taken down, moved out two meters (six feet) all around, and reconstructed. The columns in the interior are faux marble, patterned after an old method which required four hundred man hours of labor for each of the columns, and cost far more than real marble. The interior of the opera house is such a surprise. Four levels of white, pale blue, and gold. Light and airy. The flat boxes where only those in the front row could see the stage have been replaced with comfortable seats, each with an air conditioning vent in front of it and great visibility from everywhere.

The premiere performances of Der Rosenkavalier and three of Wagner's operas were here. When the new opera house recently reopened, it was expected that the former would be the best choice, but the local political leader thought the four and a half hours was too long, so he chose a two and a half hour performance for the opening instead. The stairs for this tour were unreal. At the top of the first steep flight, the guide said "Good - I didn't lose any of you". We are pretty sure she meant to heart attacks rather than anything else. We have nicknamed Dresden the "Stair City".

Frosting on the cake for me was Ed's offer to take the ferry along the river which I was so eager to do. We literally ran down the street when we saw the 3:00 about to leave. They waved us on to the boat without tickets and told us to pay on board. We made it and off we went. Seeing the three castles along the steep banks of the Elbe was magnificent. The first was built outside the Dresden gates because the young prince had married a Dutch girl who was not royal and so he was banished. He built his palace looking directly back at his relatives across the river. The second palace was built for his servants. The third is now the Bulow Hotel, Dresdenäs luxury hotel and one of the finest in Germany. Each of the adjacent castles has its own vineyard. There are still some intriguing empty mansions along the river, decaying and vacant. Many of the large mansions reminded us of some of those in Washington Park.

Met another lovely woman and her granddaughter on the ferry. She interpreted the narration which was only in German. She had toured the United States only in California and Las Vegas. She loved Santa Barbara, but said that in Las Vegas, they were told to leave their luggage inside rather than outside as they had done in every other place. She could not believe that one had to pass slot machines to reach the reception desk. It is fascinating to get others' impressions of our cities.

One more short tour today to Frauenkirche, the large church still under restoration in the square just opposite the end of our ferry tour and also on the plaza where we began hours ago. Outside the church was a St. Petersburg brass quartet playing the familiar music that accompanied our 2000 departure from Tower Bridge. It still sounds somewhat like the Lone Ranger theme but it was as if they were playing it just for us as we entered the church where we gave thanks not only for a special day today but for our many blessings.

Found a great carryout deli right on the square by the cab stand. Dinner in tonight.

This hotel was incredible to us. The beautiful young woman who had checked us in and was so good to us went beyond being helpful. She allowed me to use her own computer to do some updates. That is beyond what anyone could imagine.

This country and the people deserve more respect from the world in general.

THURSDAY MAY 18, 2006
DRESDEN - LEIPZIG - WITTENBERG - POTSDAM
BEGINNING ODOMETER 5616
7:41 a.m.

On our way on schedule. Sometimes I look for the time control table New itinerary for today. We will skip Meissen and the porcelain factory in favor of Leipzig and Wittenberg on our way to Potsdam. We have learned a new term for German navigation. The word Crossing is used whenever a German is giving directions. It is where major highways intersect, not always in a typical cross but often with two or three overpasses above the main autostrada. Very useful tidbit of information if you ever drive here.

Miles and miles of yellow rape seed fields this morning on the way to Leipzig. Huge windmills, new and modern, similar to those near Palm Springs, are everywhere in Germany.

Leipzig is the old city where Bach was organist and choir director for years. His family home is here, called the Bosehaus. Could it be that the Bose music system is named for great music rather than by a man named Bose?????????? Will check that out after our trip. Leipzig is also the birthplace of Richard Wagner. Bach is finally buried in the church here most associated with his life.

We see both the BMW factory and the Porsche factory, which explains the 500,000 population in this location. More "roadworks".

Stopped for fuel near Dessau, an important city to those interested in architecture. This is the home of Gropius, founder of the Bauhas movement.

Coswig, at the exit to Wittenberg, somewhat resembles what is worst about the economic problems of what was East Germany. an old Lucky Strike sign on a dilapidated building, vacant old houses, this is a depressed town right on the Elbe River, Again, much undeveloped land, but this is a sad town. The GDR becomes even more highly offensive when one sees the ugliness of the plastics factory nearby. No maintenance, ugly and dreadful. This would not happen in most parts of Germany.

Arrived in Wittenberg before the opening of Castle Church and museums. This is often called Lutherstadt, Luther's City. We photographed the place where he first hung his 95 theses protesting the indulgences of the Catholic Church. As we entered the church, Ed suddenly grinned and said "For a Lutheran, this is like going to Mecca.". His humor contained a lot of truth. The town was filled with Lutherans on tour. We were invited to join a Minnesota pastor and his group but it was a three hour tour. Ed did enjoy telling him about Mount Olivet and his confirmation by Pastor Youngdahl and Ed's subsequent return forty years later to find Pastor Youngdahl had not aged a bit. It was his son, however, who was now Pastor of Mt. Olivet, still the largest Lutheran church in the U.S.

Luther wrote his 95 Theses in Latin. After he hung them up, someone took them down, translated them into German, distributed them, and led to the reformation. Today, the results are evident in Germany. Saw all of the sites in Wittenberg, then on our way to Potsdam. Weather is deteriorating.

We will skip the details of our arrival at the Schloss Cecileienthal Palace Hotel in Potsdam, but we are staying in the palace built for the wife of the son of the last Kaiser. They and their six children lived here in the rambling and appealing English styled palace until the fall of the dynasty at the end of World War I. when they fled.

This is the exact place where Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met in 1945 after the end of World War II to determine the political and economic future of Germany. If Stalin had had his way, Germany would be paying reparations until the year 2088. As it was, Potsdam was not highly successful. Roosevelt died, Churchill was defeated in his bid for re-election, so Stalin was the only one of the three original participants at Potsdam who was there when the Agreement was finally negotiated and signed.

The museum is run by a different company than the hotel even though they are in the same palace. This leads to some confusion and lack of continuity, but the ability to stand where the famous photographs were taken, to stroll the grounds, to see the actual room with the big red round table that is twenty-five feet in diameter where the negotiations took place and to see the small studies where Truman, Stalin, and Churchill retired to work with their aides, all of these are worth the small frustrations of coping with the disorganization of the management here.

Brutal rain and wind gave way to sunshine later in the day and we were more able to appreciate the grounds. The palace itself is best seen in pictures. We bought a good book to bring home.

FRIDAY; MAY 19, 2006
POTSDAM - BERLIN
BEGINNING ODOMETER: 5915

Pouring rain and cold winds left us little choice this morning but to limit our visit to the castles of San Souci even though the park and treasures of Frederick the Great's palaces warrant hours of wandering. We checked out of the Cecilenhof Hotel pleased that we had seen the historical places there but it was far from our favorite hotel so far.

Potsdam has a lovely residential area; many are unrestored and would make lovely homes but the reconstruction costs appear prohibitive. The school in the town, with many bicycles, looks far better to us than U.S. high schools with concrete parking lots filled students' cars. Even in the rain, the pace of Potsdam makes it appear highly livable. The maintenance of buildings, yards, etc. is not as good as that of southern and central Germany. The years of dictatorship under the Soviet puppet government of the GDR has had some lasting and troublesome effects, but even here the feeling is one of progress, of hope and confidence. As we said before, we believe that as Berlin grows even beyond its present numbers of nearly four million, Potsdam will become more of a bedroom community.

We had intended to walk on the famous bridge this morning that has been the scene of so many spy exchanges, in life as in novels. This bridge was the exchange of Gary Powers for Rudolph Abel and then the group of Israelis for another important spy. Of course, the Third Man Theme is in our ears wherever we go in this area.

The road works we keep mentioning are irritating, but the condition of both the Autostradas and the minor roads make us wish their highway departments were running ours! We are on our way to Berlin, choosing the Autostrada for the short 24 km drive into Berlin, mainly because the highway signage out of the Zentrum of Potsdam is much better. First decision of the morning is whether to take the first exit we see to Berlin Zentrum. Another sigh of relief; this will be a great way to approach the famous city. Tree lined and many years old, it is the old Berlinstrasse, the old main highway into town. No signs of Aurora Avenue here. Miles and miles of trees and open space punctuated by occasional houses but absolutely no subdivisions.

What a stroke of good luck. The instructions to our hotel have told us to take the Ring Road to the Kurfurstendamm, the main boulevard in Western Berlin commonly known by the locals as the Kudamm. It is difficult to ask directions unless one knows the nickname. Anyway, the first main street we hit is the Kudamm. A short hop into a pharmacy where English is spoken fluently confirms our hotel is only a few blocks straight ahead and to the right. Off we go, nearly gloating at our good fortune. Then the first real blip of the trip. We are in our lane, proceeding straight ahead, when suddenly a bus is just inches away from the passenger side of our car just as a large truck appears so close to the driver's side that we have no way to breathe. There is a loud noise as the truck sideswipes us and races away up the boulevard. Fortunately, he hit only the large rear view mirror that Ed uses constantly. Ed managed to repair it enough to fold it back out from its squished position, but we have not adjusted it since. We will leave well enough alone. Again, we have been fortunate.

As we keep repeating, our cell phone is invaluable on this trip. We have been hoping to stay at the Hotel Residenz here in Berlin because Karen Brown says that it is the best location of any hotel in Berlin at any price. We had therefore been disappointed to find that they were fully booked. I asked the reservations clerk to please call me back if they happened to have cancellations, but we did not expect her to be able to find us anything. The International Air Show is in Berlin now. So I called the Westin. Their price was more than $ 400 per night in Euros which meant over $ 500 U.S.

I told the man on the phone I thought he should find me something more reasonable because I was from the city where his hotels were born, and that the Boeing people were probably staying in their hotel for the air show. He laughed and said that Airbus was actually all in their hotel. No price break. While I was one the phone, I missed a call. She called back, and it was the Residenz. Hooray - they had the needed cancellation, and, without even asking, we have Room 317, Karen Brown's mentioned favorite. Using her name seems to work magic in some hotels.

The hotel is on Meinekestrasse, just off the Kudamm a short distance down from the old Kaiser Church and designer boutiques. Surrounded by a few other hotels and many cafes and restaurants, it is charming. The parking garage is across the street so Ed parks while I check in and find that the long bus tour of Berlin which we are hoping to take is leaving in just ten minutes. The desk clerk makes a quick call, the bus agrees to wait for us. German hospitality is much greater than its reputation. In fact, we both believe that nearly everything about Germany is seriously underrated. The Hitler era erased so much good from people's memories.

Just as I am about to worry that Ed has been delayed in the parking garage, I see him half way up the street in front of a flower shop. This is the only exit from the parking garage and it is on the way to our bus. They have indeed waited for us and we embark upon a three and a half hour tour that is just the tip of the iceberg of what our day will become.

Prepare yourselves, because the minute details of our trip to Berlin may bore you but we want to have a record for ourselves to read when we are ninety. There is a surreal atmosphere this morning. Neither of us had ever expected to see Berlin, symbol not only of the WWII, which dominated the first few years of our lives, but symbol of the Cold War, spies, threat of WW III., and so much else. Here we are, driving the wide boulevards of upscale and magnificent landmarks, listening to details of each one as we sit wide-eyed and totally fascinated.

The "Berliner Stadtrunafart" is our bus. We are lucky to be on the top level and each of us has a window seat which allows good photographs. No headphones this morning. The woman guide speaks fluent English and is highly knowledgeable. We notice the more we travel in the eastern parts of Germany that no one uses the GDR, nickname for the German Democratic Republic which ruled East Germany, without a definite scorn in their voices. A bitterness of the long division of the City is evident. The "Wessies" and the "Ossies" are still divided in many ways even after unification of the City and the country. Just a couple of years ago, there were under 200 marriages of West Berlin women to East German men, and about the same for East German women to West Berlin men. This out of more than fifty thousand marriages in Berlin in two years.

We see all of the major sights of the City, starting first in Charlottenburg, the "borough" where we are staying and the heart of West Berlin. The palace built for her is large and rambling, the gardens lovely. Again, the amount of green in the heart of the City adds to the beauty. The Linden trees line the boulevards. One can hear Marlene Deitrich singing of them. Trees are labeled here in Berlin. There are over a million trees. According to our bus guide, that approximates one tree for roughly four and a half dogs. There are some absolutely gorgeous dogs here, but no Yellow Labs to make us miss Ty even more. Note: We also miss you, Craig and Karen, Liz and Dale, Kate, Tess, and Michael, Kota, Annie, Zoey, and Kotee. No discrimination here. The dog park in West Berlin is surrounded by a beautiful wrought iron ornamental fence and benches are scattered around so that the dog owners can sit while their dogs run. Windermere and Medina should take note.

Berlin becomes more appealing with each passing mile. New and old exist in a startling but interesting ways. The architecture is similar to that found all over Europe but with some major differences. The three years of Allied bombing of Berlin during WWII. left over 80% of the City in ruins, including most of the significant historical structures. As in Dresden, many have been and are still being painstakingly restored to their original basis both inside and out. The strange thing we see is that the statues for the most part are still original. They survived the bombings when the buildings did not. The new buildings do not have the patina that the originals would, but there is quite an interesting response to the skill and care that have gone into restoring Berlin to its great glory.

The Olympic Stadium built for the 1936 Olympics still stands. One can see both Jesse Owens and Hitler and what were then huge crowds. The stadium appears small to us now.

Now we enter East Berlin. This is the hardest for us to believe. We stop at Checkpoint Charlie to have our photos taken with the "guard" who makes his living posing for photos with tourists. The huge pictures of an American soldier and a Soviet soldier hang back to back. They look so much alike that they could be twins. We listen to the description of the American general who was on his way to the opera in East Berlin in 1961 when diplomats were allowed to pass freely from West to East Berlin. He was stopped by Soviet guards. Despite his objections, they refused to allow him to pass. He returned to West headquarters in the American sector and returned followed by U.S. tanks. He was still refused entry, and soon the Soviet tanks approached Checkpoint Charlie. The tanks stood face to face there and the world feared WWIII. until Kennedy called Kruschev and persuaded him to take the tanks away. The Soviet tanks backed up, then the American tanks backed up, and the threat of war was averted.

General Lucius Clay of the U.S. is a revered figure among West Berliners. He is the only American honored by a street in his name while still alive. He refused to allow the city to be sealed off by the Soviets when they tried to tear up the Potsdam agreement.

Our next stop was to be the Reichstag, the symbol of German government. The guide became very flustered because the streets to it were blocked off. The demonstrators were marching in the thousands in the plaza of the People. Quiet and well behaved, surgeons, doctors, nurses, students, etc. were marching to protest their long hours and poor pay. This whole area has been the scene of huge people gatherings and marches for centuries. Now preparations are underway for Berlin's biggest party ever, the three week long party for the World Cup. Outside biergartens are being built; large corporate soccer balls adorn various buildings. Coke must have beaten Pepsi for the rights to sponsor; huge red soccer balls with Coke on them are visible all around.

The architecture in East Berlin dazzles the senses. Almost too much to comprehend in one visit. When we reach the Reichstag, huge lines run down the stairs and around the plaza in front of it. The huge crystal dome of 1999 replaces the original dome from the 1894 building which still stands. We are so mesmerized by what we are seeing that we decide to stay here instead of returning for the final short portion of the bus tour.

Ed is the source of knowledge about all these places. He correctly identified the name of Checkpoint Charlie as the third letter of the alphabet in military terms. Checkpoint Charlie was the third but most famous of the divisions between East and West Berlin. (Alpha, Beta, Charlie). The picture of the American soldier was not a picture of a Charlie.

Ed's best of the day was his reminder of the first American tank that entered Berlin. He has often seen the film clip of the tank in front of the Reichstag, taking dead aim at the Swastika on the peak of the facade above the main entrance and blasting it off. It remains off to this day. Standing in front looking at the bullet holes which remain in the columns and on the building are more reminders of an era which cannot and should not be forgotten. The lines are so long today to tour the Reichstag that the wait will be more than three hours. A girl tells us that if we can get reservations to the cafe inside, we will not have to wait so we will try for that tomorrow. Advance reservations just to tour the crystal dome must be made six to eight weeks in advance.

The Berlin Adlon is the oldest hotel in Germany, famous not only for the royalty, world leaders and celebrities who continue to stay there to this day, but famous also as the site of the infamous photo of Michael Jackson dangling his young son over the balcony. What a disgrace. He once filled the entire huge plaza for his famous concert in Berlin in 1988.

We chose lunch at the most popular and crowded cafe in the area at the north corner of the huge plaza at Starbuck's. They do get the best locations. Just as we finish lunch, we spy a handsome young man in a bright red shirt surrounded by about fifteen people, touting a FREE walking tour of East Berlin, starting in just five minutes. It is hard to describe Mike accurately. He became our tour guide quite by accident. We have a tough time explaining to each other how we just joined in without even discussing it. Something like our purchase of the Graves white heron. Mike is, to put it mildly, passionate about the city of Berlin and about European history. From Wellington, New Zealand, this Kiwi came to Berlin to tour, stayed, and now gives tours. There is an attraction and an almost intoxicating atmosphere here. We feel it and can hardly explain it.

Everything on our tour this afternoon is totally dominated by Hitler and the destruction he brought, the division of the City, the Wall, the recent reunification, economic and social problems, but there is also a sense of confidence and determination among the Berliners to go forward and to restore Berlin's former glory that one must be impressed. Somehow the feeling is so different from London and Paris which both seem rooted in their past glories and not quite sure where they are going in the future.

Germany continues its advances in significant architecture. The American architect Peter Eisenman was given the task of designing a tribute to the victims of the Holocaust. The first idea had been to have a bus station erected to take visitors out to the prison camp at Spanshausen to view the horrors. Clearer heads prevailed and we believe Eisenman has created a masterpiece, subtle, haunting, meaningful. Open just since May 2005, the monument covers what appears to be more than a whole city block square. There are a huge series of concrete blocks which appear to be coffins or headstones or whatever one imagines them to be. They appear in almost mazelike combination of different heights, widths, asymmetrical but visually cohesive to a staggering degree. They are graphite color, and there is absolutely no graffiti at all. Guards are there 24 hours a day, but the lack of graffiti is the result of a special paint which repels attempts to write on it. The company awarded the large contract for the painting was found to have had Nazi ties. The resulting outcry was so loud and intense that the controversy was finally ended when the firm volunteered to donate the paint job as a part of the memorial.

Walking through the memorial one finds that the apparently level ground on which the paths proceed is actually sloping as much as six to eight feet below grade. We are surrounded by silence. There is an underground information center which contains the names of each of the known Holocaust victims. On the surface street level, though, there is no sign, no identification at all of what is there. The brilliance of Eisenham's design in our minds is that he forces visitors to wonder and to inspect further to see what this huge memorial is. Its memory will remain with us always.

Other well known names in architecture have added their talents to the rebuilding of East Berlin. Frank Gehry won the commission for the new DeutschBanke which is severe and cold from the outside. Local building restrictions kept him from putting his proposed gigantic fish sculpture on the exterior of the building, so he put it with its wild tail into the interior of the building. It is somewhat controversial among locals and visitors alike. I.M. Pei also designed a new addition to one of the old museums.

Our first look at the Brandenburg gate made us feel very small. Topped by the Quadriga, the sculpture of the Goddess of Peace or the Goddess of Victory depending upon which century you refer to, this four horse chariot driven by the Goddess is of course the most recognizable icon of the City of Berlin. It is difficult to include all the details of its history here or I will never be able to complete today's entry, but as we stand in awe in front of it, we are standing in "No Man's Land" where no one was able to set foot during the 28 years of a divided Berlin. At one point in the past, after the "little man with his hand in his pocket", as Mike describes him, defeated Prussia, he dismantled the quadriga and took it back to Paris with him. After Napoleon's own defeat, it was returned to its original place at the top of the Brandenburg Gate. It was destroyed again in World War II., but the original molds were discovered in West Berlin and a new copper sculpture was made and presented as a gift to East Berlin from the City of West Berlin.

By now on our walking tour in which we may appear as chaperones to the rest of the young 20 somethings who are with us, we are somehow keeping up with our guide Mike no matter what because he is mesmerizing. He has a definite flair for the dramatic, his arms waving wildly, his voice loud and excited. To those passing by, he may appear a little crazy, but he is extremely well informed and passionate.

By now we gave been on both sides of the Brandenburg gate, and I have realized an error earlier in this entry. The huge rally of medical students was taking place here and the traffic here was cut off. I think I said it was by the Reichstag earlier, but it was definitely here that the huge rallies have always taken and continue to take place in Berlin.

We are in for a huge surprise on the tour. We are standing on a simple sidewalk in front of a large and luxurious (by East German standards) apartment complex which while the GDR ruled had been only for the Stassi, the Secret Police,, their friends, and Olympic Gold Medal champions such as Katarina Witt , "Heroes of the Republic". She lived there for some time. Mike asks if anyone knows where we are standing. No one does. There are no signs, no identification, no bronze, no arrows, not anything any of us can see. We are in disbelief at first; we stand on top of what was the underground bunker where Hitler spent the last six to eight weeks of his life in a delusional state that his soldiers were yet to be victorious. The bunker no longer exists. Made of nine foot thick German concrete, it was impervious to explosives. Attempts to blow it up failed, so finally, holes were drilled into the roof of the bunker and finally the roof was made to cave in on the bunker and it was buried in gravel. Part of the reason no signs identify the location is to prevent any possibility of neo-Nazi gatherings. There is a justice in the worn, poorly maintained grass at the site. Dog owners seem not to bother to use poop scoops here. There is a definite message to Hitler on a continuing basis.

More cold chills as we stand in front of the dreaded SS headquarters. We did not go inside, but Mike says the terror continues today as the german version of the IRS tax men inhabit the building now!

One of the only major buildings of East Berlin to survive the three years of Allied Bombings is the Air Force Ministry. Surprisingly, the RAF headquarters in London also survived all the Nazi bombings. Germans continue to ponder if that could be a matter of professional courtesy, a tribute to the belief among airmen that a pilot should die only in the air. A mystery.

Yet another surprising statistic. as we view the river and the bridges on our tour, we learned that Berlin has more bridges than Venice and Amsterdam, more bridges in fact than any city in Europe except for one, Hamburg.

Museum Island is just that. It was founded near 1200 as Colnn a separate village from the fishing village of Berlin. So Berlin has been divided and united twice in its history. Too many museums to detail here, but they are massive and nearly overwhelming to view. We grow in admiration for Frederick the Great who attempted to make Berlin a welcoming beacon of tolerance for a wide variety of beliefs. He built matching churches for the Lutherans and for the French Huguenots when the latter were expelled by Louis XIV. Then the Catholics said, Hey, how about us, so he built Hedwig's to encourage Poles and others to come to Berlin.

A short note about the origin of the word Berlin. Pronounced Bearlin here, many think the number of bears around the town, sculpture bears, that is, are the origin of the first syllable of the city name. Not so, says Mike. The Slavic word for bog is "ber", and that is the origin because Berlin is indeed built on a bog. Credence to this theory is lent by the installation of huge blue pipes above current construction sites which are put up by the contractors to take away the surface water from the construction sites. The new American embassy now under construction is heavily barricaded and the street to the current embassy closed to traffic. Sad comparison to the barricades around our White House.

Back to Museum Island. Albert Einstein was the head of the Physics Department at Humboldt University here, before he was forced to flee the increasing persecution by the Nazis. His E equals M squared is memorialized in a huge stainless steel sculpture visible from several blocks away. It must be at least eight feet high and thirty feet long. The University continues to be prestigious today.

Standing in the square where the burning of the books by the Nazis is another emotional experience. The simple glass rectangle in the center of the square looks down upon empty bookshelves, signifying the burning of more than 20,000 books in one night of horror, books stripped from the adjoining library by frenzied nazi troopers.

The origin of the ugliest building in the entire city will not surprise you. It is the government building built by the Soviet puppet government, the GDR, after WWII. and used by them while they were in power. Slated for demolition, there were those who wanted to keep it for historical purposes. The people were given the vote. 98% voted to tear it down. It is being demolished at this time. It is hard for us to believe that in spite of Berlin's current catastrophic financial condition and near bankruptcy, and in spite of all of Germany's considerable financial struggles, the government plans to spend more than seven hundred fifty million Euros ( over a billion US dollars) to build on the site a brand new, you guessed it, authentic reproduction of the royal palace of the Hollenzerron (sp?) dynasty which ruled Germany for more than five hundred years before Kaiser Wilhelm was forced to flee into exile at the end of WW I. Before the war, the Kaiser built himself a huge church on Museum Island which was to be his final resting place as well as that of all of his family. During the war and after, he vowed not to be buried there until a new Kaiser had resumed the throne. He did not care for the idea of sharing power. The Reichstag was built outside the City gates for that reason. Anyway, the irony is that the Kaiser is the only member of his family NOT buried in his own church. There are those who might fear that if his palace is rebuilt, some remaining member of his family or someone else might seek to take the "Throne". The funds could be put to far better use!

Just about the time on the tour our knees were suggesting "No Mas", we sped up the pace for a short but welcome visit to Schatzky's Deli. Justin, a young man from Kamloops is about to take a job at Microsoft in Redmond so we were discussing the Eastside at length. Also at our table was a young woman who is in property management in Portland. Truly a small world. We asked Mike how much longer the tour would be. Another hour. We have unwittingly but fortunately joined a three and one half hour walking trip. Every minute has been worth it.

We climb to the top of the stairs of the Egyptian museum and it is there we say goodbye to Mike after the best story of the day. We have left the Berlin Wall for the end of the day because to describe it here would take too long. Its fall, however, was due to the most unprepared speech ever given at a press conference in Berlin. The minister was given a typed press release which he was supposed to read to the journalists gathered from all over the world. At this point, nearly three million had escaped to the West from East Berlin, but by now there were white crosses between the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate which were in memory of those shot in No-man's land while trying to escape. At the time of the press conference, Hungary had opened its border to Austria and East Germans were going there to escape. Suddenly, there were tentative plans to ease the restrictions at the Wall. During the press conference, however, the minister unwittingly said the restrictions were over right away. It was then the people began tearing down the wall.

Reagan's "Mr. Gorbachov, tear down the wall" and Gorby's own call for perestroika had helped, but it was the people of Berlin who marched and finally tore down the wall.

We end the tour exhausted but invigorated by what we have experienced. The bus home in the Friday rush hour traffic was something else. standing room only, twice the people on board as should have been, and still more kept coming. Heavy traffic. breathing limited. Back to the comfort of our hotel, trying hard to comprehend and analyze our feelings.

Just as our knees said NO MAS, we must say no mas to more entries for Berlin right now. We must check out of our Rostock hotel now. More of our second day in Berlin and our great stop in Rostock whenever we find the next computer. Bye for now.

SATURDAY, MAY 20, 2006
BERLIN, GERMANY

If you come to Berline, give the Hotel Residenz a try. We love it. Small, boutique, gracious. comfortable, perfectly located to everything. Our room has the usual high European ceilings; a big bay window lets in lots of light and we have windows which actually open!! Breakfast in yet another well appointed, intimate dining room. Smart people run this hotel; coffee is one the tables in carages, ready and waiting. Coffee is usually served by waitresses who disapprove of refills.

We are on our way by 7 am this morning. We tried to get reservations for the Reichstage Cafe because we didn't want to wait in line for hours and we didn't have the six to eight weeks in advance which are necessary to reserve for a tour without waiting. Just the waiting list for the Cafe was 65 people for today when we called for reservations early yesterday. Popular place. We hope that by being at the Reichstag forty minutes before it opens, we may find the line not quite so long. When we arrive about 7:20, the line is already 80 to 100 people.

Standing outside the Reichstag is surreal. As we already said yesterday, the Swastika on the cornice facade over the entrance was blasted off by an American tank in 1945 when we entered Berlin. We can still see bullet holes all over the columns and the building. The Reichstag has an interesting history. When it was built in 1894, it was outside the gates of the main city of Berline. Kaiser Wilhelm I liked it that way. Both he and his son Kaiser Wilhelm !!. considered the Parliament which met there little more than a nuisance. The Kaiser maintained veto power. After WWI., the Weimar Republic used the Reichstag, but in 1933 it was burned down. Hitler blamed the Communists for the fire and used the fire as an excuse to assume "emergency powers" with Von Hindenburg's approval. The supposed arsonist was found beheaded several days later. To this day, the belief is that Hitler and his Nazis arranged for the convenient fire which allowed them to consolidate power and continue their march to complete power.

After Hitler was defeated in 1945 and Berlin was divided among the Allies into four sectors, the capital of West Germany was moved to Bonn. It was just since the reunification of Germany in 1999 that the capital of the country was moved back to Berlin. In 1999, the crystal dome was added to the 1894 building, and the parliament today works in the building below the dome. The architect who designed the dome in glass did so as a symbol of open government; he believes that people should be able to view their government making its laws, and so in Berlin it does. We are today for some reason comforted by the fact that Hitler himself never set foot in the Reichstag. He and his Nazi henchmen met nearby but not in this building.

Only small groups are allowed in at a time. Security is tight, metal detectors and all, but as usual, the German well organized efficiency is admirable. Swift elevator take us up the beginning of the Crystal Dome. The wait in line is worth it. As you walk up the gentle circular ramp of the dome, all of Berlin's glorious sights are clearly visible and are well identified on signs all along the way. We were able to see again all the landmarks which we saw yesterday from our tour bus and on our walk with Mike. We are overwhelmed with our sense of history and of actually looking at what we had only expected ever to see in photographs or old film clips.

We didn't mention yesterday one of Berlin's newest areas, the gigantic modern buildings by the Deutsche Bank, Sony, Grand Hyatt, all of which as skyscrapers worth of New York City. A large cinema complex shows first run movies in English in that area.

At the entrance to the Cafe which is "fully booked" for several days, we see some empty tables and