We Are Back Home

Our Last Night in Germany

Our last dinner was with Frank, Hanjoerg's son and his girlfriend at

an Italian restaurant! Yes, we ate pizza!

One of our last things we did, was a visit to Hansjoerg's former police station.

Gary and I are sitting in a Mercedes police car!

Back Home

We made it home in the wee hours of the morning. To be exact, our

plane landed at midnight and we drove home from Los Angeles.

I think our heads hit our own pillows at 3:30 a.m. We had been

up for about 30 hours. The only glitch on our return was a two-hour

delay of our connecting flight that made us get home

pretty late. Just yesterday, United finally sent an email in response to my complaint, and we now have 2 $100 vouchers for a future trip with United.

We had a wonderful time with our friends, Hansjoerg and Silke.

They took very good care of us, not only as the Travel Master, but as our interpretors.

I'm not sure we would have gone without their invitation. Hopefully we can return the favor when they come for another visit to the states.

Back to Pfaffenberg, Germany

We have returned "home" to Berggasthof Schlussel in Pfaffenberg, Germany.

This was our original starting point. We will spend our last week sightseeing

around the Black Forest.

One of our stops was at the Police Station where Hansjorg once worked training police dogs.

The officers gave us a demonstration with one of their dogs.

Here we all are with Silke's mom. One of the best parts of the day when

we sit down with a glass of wine and have dinner with some special people.

The main meal is shnitzel, of course! Still waiting for my Black Forest Cake.

We went to Deutsches Uhrenmuseum--the clock museum.

Cuckoo clocks and musical clockworks have made the clockmakers of the Black Forest world famous. The originals of these branded articles can be found in the collection of the Deutsche Uhrenmuseum
(German clock museum) in Furtwangen – and have been for more than 150 years. The Deutsche Uhrenmuseum owns one of the world's greatest collections of Black Forest clocks, it offers a trip through the entire history of chronometry.

Which one shall we get?

The scenic highlight of Titisee - Neustadt is doubtless the fantastic setting of Titisee lake whose crystal-clear water attracts thousands of enthusiastic swimmers to the healthy climate of the resort town bearing the same name. Since its conversion to a pedestrian zone and waterfront promenade, Seestraße is considered the loveliest street for strolling in the Southern Black Forest.

It is here we stopped for a snack and did some souvenir shopping. Yes, we did get a cuckoo clock!

Yum, apple stuffed "cake".

Delicious dinner made by Silke and Elsa.

We do so appreciate a home-cooked German meal.

Sausage salad, potatoes and wine.

Ostheim, France

Struthof Concentration Camp

Before leaving the France area, Gary really wanted to see a concentration camp. It was a worthwhile trip, although it really makes you think about this part of our history.

Natzweiler-Struthof was a German concentration camp located in the Vosges Mountains close to the Alsatian village

of Natzwiller (German Natzweiler) in France, and the town of Schirmeck, about 50 km south west from the city of Strasbourg.

Natzweiler-Struthof was the only concentration camp established by the Nazis on present-day French territory, though there were French-run temporary camps such as the one at Drancy. At the time, the Alsace-Lorraine area in which it was established had been annexed by Germany as an integral part of the German Reich, unlike other parts of France.

The memorial to the departed at Natzweiler-Struthof Concentration Camp in Alsace.

Natzweiler-Struthof was operational between May 21, 1941 until the beginning of September 1944 when the SS evacuated the camp intoDachau. Its construction was overseen by Hans Hüttig. The camp was evacuated and sent on a "Death march" on early September 1944 with only a small SS unit keeping the camp's operations, and on November 23, 1944, discovered and liberated by American Allies as the first concentration camp in Western Europe.

The ash pit memorial

This was the old clock bell tower across the street from our hotel.

Beautiful but very loud early in the morning.

This is a stork that walks around the campground where Hansjoerg and Silke stayed.

The stork did eat the bread.....Unik (Han's dog) did not like this.

A monument outside our hotel in Ostheim with a stork's nest on top.

This was a stork's nest on top of a monument outside our hotel in France.

Storks are all around this area.

The first records of a castle built by the Hohenstaufens date back to 1147. Staufenberg, as it was called at the time, sat high above the Alsace plain at an altitude of more than 700 metres. This rocky, promontory site was ideal for observing the main routes in the region, and provided a strategic fall-back point. The fortress changed its name to Koenigsbourg (royal castle) in around 1192.

The castle was handed over to the Tiersteins by the Habsburgs following its destruction in 1462. They rebuilt and enlarged it, installing a defensive system designed to withstand artillery fire. This was the golden period for the Hohkoenigsbourg ("Hoh" meaning… "High"!)

La Voleria des Aigles

The “Volerie des Aigles” in Kintzheim (the Eagle Park) offers a thrilling and impressive experience: see the world's largest birds of prey flying freely at the ruins of the castle of Kintzheim. This visit offers a unique occasion to get a first-hand look at these majestic birds, which are normally impossible to approach out in the wild. In this mediaeval setting, some of the world's finest birds of prey fly just a few centimetres away from the general public. A visit guaranteed to delight children and parents alike! The visit includes a captivating aerial show as you watch the acrobatic stunts performed by the black kites, the soaring flight of the buzzards and vultures, not to mention a chance to meet the Andean condor. This is also an educational experience, accompanied by narration to help the visitor to better understand the behaviour of these majestic birds.

One of the birds in the show.

Our Road Trip Continues

Eagle's Nest in Berchtegaden, Germany

Hitler's "Eagle's Nest" was designed and built for Adolf Hilter's 50th Birthday by his personal secretary and Head of the Nazi Party Chancellery Martin Bormann. The monument is called "Kehlsteinhaus" in German because of it was originally intended to be a "Teahouse" for the head of the Third Reich. This mountain-top hideaway played a prominent role as the main unit objective in HBO's critically acclaimed mini-series "Band of Brothers."



The allied bombing and battles of World War II left the building intact and today the Eagle's Nest remains in its original state. In the years after the war, the Eagle's Nest and the surrounding area of Berchtesgaden remained a part of US Armed Forces property in southeastern Germany.

Invited to another Silke and Hansjorg's BBQ at their camp site.

After our tour of Eagle's Nest, we head toward our next destination, Switzerland.

This was just a stop over, at a Bed and Breakfast called Gaftehaus Inn Gries in Griesweg, Germany. We stayed here only one night as we make our way to Switzerland. It was here we learned how to use the ATM and get some extra Euros.

It's hard to see the beautiful view we had as the rain was coming.

The Switzerland Border

Fluelapass (el. 2383 m.) is a high mountain pass in the Swiss Alps in the canton of Graubünden. The pass road connects Davos and Susch in the lower Engadin valley.

Gary buying some cheese to snack on at the pass.

Hansjorg and Eunic with their snack.

Top of the pass

It had snowed here last night.

Hotel Albula is set in the Albula Valley in Bergün, Swtizerland 5 km away from the Albula Pass.

It is very expensive here.....lodging and dinner! We decided to stay here one night and move on...but first a train ride.

The town of Bergun

Bergün is the start/end of the Abula railway history trail up to Preda. The Abula line was declared a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site in 2008. The trail has panels describing how the Abula rail line was built. It is a fun, although fairly strenuous, hike. The best idea is to start in Preda - then it's downhill to Bergün. (We did not hike)

We all took the train in Bergun and got off at the first stop. Hansjorg had a surprise for us once we reached the top. He assured us we wouldn't walk down or ride the train back.

After our train ride, we stopped at this hotel to have a drink (non alcoholic) and found out how we were getting back to town.

They can't wait to show us our coasters.

No we weren't walking down, but coasting. Our coasters: no seat or pedals.

Good front and rear breaks and away we went.

The wild ones!

We stopped for a photo...Silke got in this one.

France

After a long drive from Switzerland, we arrived in Ostheim, France.

While looking for our next bed and breakfast, this beautiful rainbow appeared.

We are now in Ostheim, France at Au Nid de Cigognes. We will be here for four days looking at

war memorials, cemeteries, some villages and the wine country in the area.

This is the bell tower across from our hotel....rings very loudly early in the morning.

I think I will close the window tonight so it's not quite so loud.

French Memorial

Kayserberg, France

Time for a little shopping in the quaint village of Kaysersberg, France.

A little wine and thin crust like pizza....forgot the name!

Back to the wars.......

German war bunkers