Switzerland Day 1

Us!

This is Neuschwanstein, not Cinderalla's Castle at Disney World. Duh! It doesn't snow in Orlando!

Shooooooooooooweeeeeeeeeeeeee!

This is Hohenschwangau Castle where King Ludwig II spent his childhood. It was built by his father, Maximilian.

Our hotel room in Luzern, Switzerland.

Our bathroom.

Outside view of the hotel.

View from the room.

The Dying Lion of Luzern is actually a very famous monument. It was carved out of the rock in memory of the heroic Swiss soldiers killed at Tuileries in 1792.

We ate dinner at the Old Swiss House.

March 15, 2009 (p.m.)

We are now in Luzern, Switzerland. From what I’ve seen so far, this is probably the most expensive city I’ve ever stayed in. Well I guess I’m getting ahead of myself. I’ll get back to that later.

Today started with the biggest and best breakfast spread I’ve seen since we were at the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou, China. Too bad I couldn’t eat much of it. I ate my instant oatmeal and enjoyed watching others pig out (not Sonya, of course). Don’t feel sorry for me though. These severe food allergies help me keep my girlish figure.

After we checked out of the hotel, we headed just down the road and bought our tickets for an English tour of Neuschwanstein Castle. No cars are allowed to travel up the mountain to the castle. We had a choice, either walk up the steep grade (40 minutes) or ride in a horse-and-buggy for 6 euros ($8) each. It was an easy choice – we rode up the mountain with another American couple who are currently stationed in Heidelberg with the U.S. Army and a family from China who seemed to enjoy hearing our story of adopting Katie Lin.

The castle was amazing. It was built in the late 19th century which means it’s very new for most Castles in Europe. The tour was only about 45 minutes long, but very informative. We learned that, sadly, King Ludwig II died at the young age of forty-years-old before his magnificent home was ever finished. We were only able to tour the finished portion of the castle (the 2nd, 4th and 5th floors), but it was enough to blow our minds. Talk about living like a king – literally! For example, the artwork (wall paintings) in one hallway alone took ten painters, seven years to complete. The wood carvings rivaled what we saw at St. Jakob’s Church in Rothenburg and the floor in his chapel contained over 2 million tiny pieces of tile. Besides all that, the view was breathtaking.

It took about three-and-a-half hours to get to Luzern, but the drive was very pleasant. I especially enjoyed several detours along the way as we traveled some of the smaller back roads of Bavaria, Austria and Switzerland. Most of our trip was on four-lane highways, but even then the traffic was fairly light and the mountains that towered each side of us kept our attention much of the time.

We finally arrived at our hotel, the Grand Hotel National, in Luzern at 5:00 p.m. This is definitely the finest hotel we’ve stayed in on our trip. As a matter of fact, it’s one of the best we’ve ever stayed in. Sonya was thrilled when I asked the receptionist to upgrade our room to a Lake View from a City View which I had previously reserved. She gave us a great rate for the upgrade and even put us in a Deluxe room since they’re not very busy this time of year.

We took a short walk around town, mainly looking for a place to eat dinner. After reading several menus posted at the doors of each restaurant we passed, it didn’t take us long to figure out that we were in a city with a very high cost of living. Most of the main dishes, whether fish, pork, chicken, pasta, steak or vegetables, started at $40 each! I kept walking, hoping to find a Burger King or McDonald’s, but I finally gave up and we ate at a local restaurant called, The Old Swiss House. I have to admit the food and atmosphere were fantastic, but not as great as the company ;-)

Tomorrow we’ll head for the mountains. We will probably take the train up to a ski resort called Engleberg/Titlis about an hour away. Pray that we don’t kill ourselves on the slopes. Good night.

Day 4 Germany

The following pictures are a little out of order!!!! Sorry, it would take me hours to get them "right" The first ones are the END of our day and then the beginning......





Us in the mirror again! HEY, how else will we get a pic together...No one understands us! LOL!

Jeff's favorite drink! Orange Fanta with lemon flavor ("orangenlemonade")!!!

This sweeeet old man was playing while we had dinner! I begged Jeff to go get the video camera but he didn't!!! :( So, just imagine the beautiful Bavarian music! Our dinner was wonderful!

This is the famous monument that was funded by former prisoners of Dachau.

Looking back at the main building from the "Roll Call" yard.

17 rows of barracks once lined each side of these trees.

We stared at the Bavarian Alps all the way to Fussen.

I guess our mountains in Alabama are really hills.

View from our Room

This cool painting is on our bathroom ceiling.

Our Room for One Night

Cute Little Welcome

Our Hotel above and the pic below is for Debra Hewitt - look Remax Germany!

March 14, 2009 (5:30 p.m.)

We made it to Fussen, Germany – a small town/village at the foot of the Bavarian Alps – just a few miles away from tomorrow’s destination, Schloss (Castle) Neuschwanstein. The weather is unbelievably beautiful for this time of year (54 degF and Sunny), which means the roads are dry, but snow still blankets the ground and the mountains that serve as a gorgeous backdrop to Lake Forggensee below. The view from our hotel room is breathtaking (see pics).

Most of our day was spent traveling. We left Rothenburg around 8:30 a.m. and arrived at the Dachau Concentration camp by 10:30 a.m. I’m not sure what I could write that would adequately describe our experience at this horrible place. Instead of trying to paint a picture of what we saw, let me just say that it’s hard to believe that humans could do such awful things to other humans. Sonya was really impacted by the history, the photos and the vivid descriptions that were written by many past prisoners and/or soldiers that experienced the atrocities of Dachau many years ago. We strolled around the grounds of the concentration camp somberly and didn’t speak much as we visited the barracks of the prisoners, the gas chamber (disguised as a shower to the unfortunate ones who “passed” through it), and the cremation ovens. As we left Sonya said what we were both thinking, “I’m glad we came, but I am ready to leave.”

After lunch at a nearby Burger King (safe food), we hit the road for the Bavarian Alps. It was a somewhat short (hour-and-a-half), but beautiful drive. We became more and more excited as the mountains in front of us grew larger and larger. This is what we came here for. How can you not think of the majesty and glory of a sovereign God as you stand in awe of His indescribable creation? It’s a good reminder of just how small, frail and needy we are and how magnificent and awesome He is. I can’t help but think of what Mr. Cook would say with his fist raised high in the air, “To God be the glory!”

The Night Watchman

March 13, 2009 (9:30 p.m.)

We just finished our night time tour of Rothenburg with the Night Watchman. It definitely lived up to its billing. We spent an hour walking around the town with our bearded guide, dressed in a black cloak and hat, and brandishing a long staff/weapon that looked like it could do damage to a human being and/or beast in many kinds of ways.

In his heavy German accent, Hans Georg Baumgartner captivated us all with his humor and his extensive knowledge of the history of this ancient medieval city. It was definitely eerie, almost spooky, listening to his stories as we walked together in the darkness, our steps lit only by his lantern and the dim light from a few streetlamps and windows along the way.

We learned about the duties of a night watchman; the history of some of the buildings that have been around for hundreds of years; the purpose of the wall and gates; the details of the great plague that killed one-third of Europe; the story of how Rothenburg was once conquered by General Tilly and the Imperial Catholic Army; and much more. As a matter of fact, there is so much we’d like to share with you about the history of this city that we bought a DVD narrated by the Night Watchman that we will gladly share with anyone who is interested.

Please pray for us as tomorrow morning we leave to visit a very tragic site – the Dachau Concentration Camp. I visited this place once before when I was 15-years-old and I will never forget what I saw there. I am blessed to have never lived through such tragedy and I hope by the grace of God that nothing like it ever happens again.

Good night…

Germany Day 3

No, that's not Jeff!

Town Square

Too Bad we left my camera at the hotel room! Google like Jeff said in the journal below to see some great pics of this!!!

In this stained glass window are images of reformers, Hess and Calvin. Click on the image and see if you can find them.

This is the entrance of the Medieval Crime and Punishment Museum.

Mask no. 1 (far left) had to be worn by sexual offenders, mask no. 2 (middle) was for acting like a pig, and mask no. 3 (far right) was for gossipers.

A letter from the Pope about buying indulgences. See explanation in photo below.

See Jeff's journal below for an explanation of this T-shirt.

Candy store where I bought a schneeball.

Owners of the store that Rick Steves highly recommends in his 2009 Europe Guidebook.

March 13, 2009 (4:00 p.m.)

Today has been a very relaxing day in Rothernburg ob der Tauber. We slept in a little and ate a wonderful breakfast prepared by our hosts. Then we headed for the streets to do a little shopping. We absolutely loved walking up and down the cobblestone streets and taking our time in each of the little shops that specialize in authentic German products – beer steins, ceramic figures (Hummels), cuckoo clocks, beautifully inlayed jewelry boxes, music boxes, nutcrackers, Christmas ornaments, swords, armored knights, etc. One of our favorite discoveries was schneeballs which are a famous product of Rothenburg. They are huge balls of a type of shortbread covered with a layer of chocolate and other varieties of things such as nuts or powered sugar. I didn’t eat any since dairy is my enemy, but it sure looked good.

The highlight of our morning was a visit to St. Jakob’s Church. This former catholic church has been Lutheran since 1544, just after the birth of the protestant reformation. The highlight of this great cathedral is in the back of the building, upstairs behind the choir loft and pipe organ. What is considered by many to be the greatest wood carving in all of Germany, Tilman Riemenschneider’s 500-year-old, 35-foot-high “Altar of the Holy Blood” is stunning. I took pictures, but unfortunately they could not capture the intricate detail that was carved into this masterpiece during a period of five years from 1499 to 1504. Google it. You won’t be disappointed.

After another fine German lunch (salad and schnitzel), we took a short walk around part of the wall of the city and then visited the Medieval Crime and Punishment Museum. It was very educational but I think we’ve had our fill of stories of torture and execution for one trip. We decided to wrap the afternoon up by shopping a little more which ended up costing us quite a bit of money, but I will have to say that we racked up, at one shop in particular.

We are now relaxing in the hotel until dinner. Afterwards we will meet the Night Watchman in the town square for a late night stroll around the city. Rick Steves refers to this guy as the Jerry Seinfeld of medieval history in Germany. Strange combination, but we’re really looking forward to it. I will probably blog about it tomorrow since it will be very late tonight when we finish the tour.

Misc. notes for today…

· Did you know that Rothenburg is the town where the Vulgarian scenes were filmed from the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang? It was also the inspiration for the village of the Disney animated classic, Pinocchio.
· The past two days I have enjoyed drinking Fanta Orangenlemonade, a soft drink I used to absolutely love while living in Germany as a kid. It’s not as orange and syrupy as the orange soda in the States. It is light and has more of a lemon flavor mixed in. Delicious! I’m sure they’ll have this drink in Heaven.
· I was also able to find another of my favorite childhood sweets – saure gurken. They are basically sour gummies in the shape of pickles/cucumbers sliced long ways. Jacqueline, I bought extras for you. I hope they make it home ;-)
· Sonya’s sister and her family, the Sowells, and our friends, the Gladishes, would absolutely love this town. They all share a love of medieval times and stories like I do, particularly their sons.
· You know, just when you think you know your spouse you need to take a two week trip with them alone. One thing I never knew about Sonya is how much water she drinks. Good grief! I guarantee you she drinks at least a gallon per day. Don’t get me wrong, that’s a good thing, but what goes in must come out, right?
· OK, OK, I keep forgetting to write this. The German word for “Exit” is “Ausfahrt” which I personally think is very humorous sounding. What is even funnier though is I thought Sonya knew what it meant since there is a prominent blue sign with the word, “Ausfahrt”, stamped in big white letters at every exit of the autobahn. Yesterday, however, after seeing this word every few miles from Franfurt to St. Goar (about 60 miles), she said, “Hey, that word must mean exit. I thought it was a town!” But wait, I’m not done yet… While shopping today, we ran across a T-shirt that said, “Where the @#$& is Ausfahrt, Germany”. I thought we were going to fall down laughing. They also sold a magnet, so we had to buy it! LOL!!!

The next time I write will be from a small hotel in Fussen, Germany at the base of the famous “Cinderella Castle”, Neuschwanstein, in Bavaria. Cant’ wait!

Germany Day 2

Saying Bye to the Hotel Owners

Castle Closed!

McDonald's for Lunch

St. Peters

That's a stained glass of Luther in St. Peters Church!!!

Second from Top and in the Middle. Click on photo to make it larger so you can see it better.

Click on this one too!

It was a lovely day for travel!!!

Our Hotel for the next Two Nights

Hey Kids, here is the bathroom!

The View from Our Window

The Room

Me taking a pic of us!! Below is a pic of Jeff journaling.

March 12, 2009 (p.m.)

When Sonya and I went downstairs to eat breakfast this morning Frau Velich already had the table set – three kinds of brotchen (bread), smoked salmon, ham, smoked mystery meat, cheese, strawberry jam, two kinds of yogurt, granola, cereal, fresh orange juice, coffee, milk… Whew! I think that’s all. Oh yeah, and I also ate my traditional two packs of instant oatmeal. Yum, yum, yum! Sonya was like a kid in a candy store. She usually doesn’t eat that much for breakfast, but today was an exception. Please note, however, that she is not fat and this did not affect her gorgeous figure in a negative way whatsoever.

As we checked out, Sonya and I took a couple of pictures of the Velich family, including their son. Oh, and by the way, he was not the chef last night as we originally thought. It was another friend of the family. Before we left, we chatted a while about the shootings in South Alabama. A similar incident happened the same day (I believe) in Stuttgart, Germany. The world seems so small now. Folks in Europe are talking about the shooting spree in Alabama and folks in the U.S. are talking about the shooting spree in Germany. It’s all very disturbing news wherever you are.

Back to our day… We absolutely loved being pampered by this very friendly family in St. Goar. This is definitely not the busy holiday season on the Rhine so we had the place and the hosts all to ourselves. Our attempt to visit two more castles which were open only on the weekends this time of year was more proof that tourism is not booming on the Rhine in March. We were disappointed again, but one thing you have to be while traveling abroad is flexible. Sonya and I also happen to believe that all things happen for a reason, directed by the hand of a sovereign God. The rest of our day was proof of that.

Since we had extra time on our hands, we decided to leave the area earlier than we had planned and travel to Heidelberg, another lovely, but larger, traditional German city on the Rhine. It was also home to a grand old castle which is supposed to be open all year. On the way, however, we noticed an autobahn exit to the city of Worms. For those of you who love church history and/or who regularly sit under the teaching of Pastor Steve Bateman at First Bible Church, you know that there is no way we could can pass up the opportunity to visit this city. This is where, in 1521, Martin Luther stood before Emperor Charles V and the Diet of Worms and refused to recant the things that he had written in his books and his 95 Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences against the Roman Catholic church (which he had previously nailed to the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany). This was a monumental moment in the history of the church. It was the birth of the protestant reformation.

After stopping by a local city museum, a young lady with very good English directed us to the cathedral just up the street – The Cathedral of St. Peter. In 1521 this huge catholic church was surrounded by many buildings which made up the campus of the diocese of Worms, most of which have since fallen down or been destroyed. We toured the church and walked the grounds and found several references to Luther, but nothing seemed significant. And then we found it – a brass plaque in the ground which read, “HIER STAND VOR KAISER UND REICH – MARTIN LUTHER – 1521.” The best we can translate, it means, “Here before Emperor and Empire Stood Martin Luther in 1521.” Wow! We just stood there in silence soaking up the significance of that spot. I don’t want to make too much of a single man or event, but I really felt as though we were standing on hallowed ground. It was a power moment. To think that not too far from that spot, maybe even exactly where we were standing, Martin Luther declared:

"Unless I am convinced by the testimonies of the Holy Scriptures or evident reason (for I believe neither in the Pope nor councils alone, since it has been established that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures adduced by me, and my conscience has been taken captive by the Word of God, and I am neither able nor willing to recant, since it is neither safe nor right to act against conscience. (Here I stand.) God help me. Amen"

Needless to say, we didn’t make to it to Heidelberg. I’m not sure anything else we saw after our visit to Worms we have impacted us much anyway, so we headed to our next destination – Rothenberg ob der Tauber – which will be our home for the next two nights. It’s the best preserved medieval walled town in Germany. Amazingly beautiful!

After unpacking, we ate dinner at the hotel. It was without a doubt the best meal of our trip. Sonya had a delicious German garden salad with greens, tomatoes, eggs, kraut, cheese and potatoes then a couple of bratwurst for her main course. I had schnitzel and fries with a small salad and about half of Sonya’s meal. We didn’t talk much except for a bunch of strange noises and grunts like, “mmmm-mmmm” and “maaaaaan” and “oh my goooooodness” and “dad-gum”. We decided to eat there again tomorrow night. I know that will drive a lot of you crazy who love variety when you travel, but I’m not sure we could find anything better anywhere.

Misc. notes for the day…

· Driving on the autobahn can be nerve-wracking! You have to pay attention at all times since there is no speed limit, only suggestions. There can be no texting or dialing the radio or reading a map or driving with your knees. Things happen quickly on the autobahn and can lead to disaster if your attention is diverted for a second. With that said though, I am impressed with how considerate German drivers are. Trucks and slower traffic ALWAYS stay in the right lane (with me) and those wish to take their lives in their own hands drive in the left lane, but there is no confusing the two. Everyone seems to know what they’re doing on the autobahn.
· Sonya actually admitted yesterday that my beard is cute. She hates facial hair, so that was mighty big of her.
· We’ve managed to have internet service everywhere we’ve stayed so far. We hope that continues. I will say, however, that last night our kids looked liked robots moving around in a strobe light as we talked to them via video on Skype. According to their grandmother we didn’t look so well ourselves.
· Speaking of our kids, they are really doing well. Thanks to all of you who have helped out and prayed for them while we’ve been gone.

Tomorrow we will walk to streets of Rothenberg. We hope to visit the Museum of Crime and Punishment, St. Jakob’s Chruch and many local shops. Tomorrow night we will enjoy the Night Watchman’s Tour of the town which we’ve heard from several sources may end up being the highlight of our trip.

Until then, in the tradition of early church reformers… Soli Deo Gloria! To the glory of God alone!