2018-10-03 Niederdingen

OK, one more small post.

We are in Niederdingen, near the Munich airport. Funny thing as we drove the Autobahn today: no trucks on the road. They all seemed to be parked at rest stops. Going through villages, nothing seemed to be open. Indeed – Nothing Was Open! Finally, when we arrived here we went to a larger, neighboring town and found a McD that was open. Nothing else! So we finally asked at the small family hotel where we are staying, Brandmayerhof. Michael could not think of the English word to explain it but we finally managed to communicate: “Tag der Deutschen Einheit” or German Unity Day!! One might think this would merely reference the re-unification of East and West Germany in 1990 but Wikipedia explains that it is much more than that.

All packed up and ready to fly home tomorrow.

2018-10-02 Rothenburg

Monday we left Gmunden after a costly visit to a pottery shop seconds store. We were then on our way to Regensburg, Germany.

 

The Old Town Hall

The courtyard of the Bischofshof (Bishop’s Palace) which is now a hotel and also sits above an underground parking ramp where left our car.

View across the Danube taken from the fourth floor terrace across from our hotel room.

The 900 year old Stone Bridge over the Danube. And no, that is not a bag of dog poop; just some of Margaret’s stuff.

Gate at the end of the Stone Bridge

Wall mural of David and Goliath dating from 1539.

Another view of the Old Town Hall.

Tomorrow we will drive to a town near the Munich Airport and fly home the next day. This is the final blog post for this trip but we do have a few random memories from this trip that we want to remember.

One day last week we walked up the stairs at Hackescher Markt in Berlin to catch a train to Potsdam. Margaret was in the lead, Dick following. As Dick reached the top step, one man among the crowd going down apparently noticed a piece of paper flutter to the ground and somehow observed that it was not mere Abfall (trash) but rather a ticket. He picked it up and called out for the owner. Dick claimed it though Margaret had dropped it. Losing it would have been a problem!

But earlier, in a beach town near Riga, Dick felt something touch his leg as he came out of a store. Looking down he discovered that he had dropped his money pouch containing more than 50 euros. And he had another near disaster as well: getting out of a taxi he found his prescription eyeglasses (supposedly in a shirt pocket) lying on the ground.

Interesting piece of information from a tour guide in Berlin: anyone from anywhere can attend university in Germany at a cost of 700 euros per year. Yes, he insists, it really is available without any problem. All the way through a PhD. We met a nice young woman from Saudi Arabia who is taking advantage of this: she is a gynecologist in her final year of pelvic floor sub-specialty training.

Certainly the KGB museums of torture and the massacres of the Paneraia Forest were moving, difficult and important. Taking a gondola up the Dachstein was great fun. Seeing the building of the Berlin Philharmonic (and hearing a concert) was a nice experience. A fun evening at the “Blue Danube” ballet in Riga. And telling an obnoxious member of the German Parliament to “Be quiet” (in the presence of a bunch of journalists) was a unique moment.

Some guides were great; some not so good. Santa Ogrina in Riga was fantastic; and Arunas Borisas in Vilnius as well. And I should not forget Kristan Smith, our guide in Berlin.

God willing we will be home Thursday evening.