After flying for nine hours on a packed 777 plane, logging over 7,000 sky kilometers, watching four movies and one documentary, we landed on American soil–Chicago to be exact. The global entry kiosks really shortened the customs entry time, and we found our transfer gate to Denver fairly quickly. 

I had not been at O’Hare Airport in decades. The arched terminal ceilings looked vaguely familiar, but I don’t remember the huge dinosaur statue. It’s surprising that we avoided O’Hare for many years, even though I flew into there many times during Emmaus years. When we lived in Iowa, John and I would most often fly into Moline/Quad Cities. It used to be much cheaper and less car travel than either Des Moines or Kansas City.

The last leg of the journey was uneventful. When we arrived in Denver, though, it was pouring rain, which is unusual. If I recall correctly, every place we went on this trip was rainy upon arrival.

Before leaving, I was told by someone in my quilting group that I should pack a roll of toilet paper and a cloth bag for shopping. She was right about the cloth bag, but we never needed TP! I did require facial tissues, but then I always pack those.

What do we need to bring the next time we travel to Europe? Here’s two “W” items and two “S” things to remember:

1. Washcloth (two accommodations had hand towels and bath towels, but neither place had face cloths)

2. Walking sticks (especially if we hike long distances again!)

3. Slippers (placing your shoes outside the door and wearing slippers to breakfast is commonplace)

4. Soap (several places we stayed had no body wash or soap; we did end up buying it)

Other than washing clothes and catching up on sleep, we’re glad tomorrow is a day of rest.

Many memories now fill our hearts and minds. Thanks for following our journey. Who knows when another will begin and which paths we will walk down next?

On this last morning in Europe at the busy airport, I’m reminded of the ways people attempt to fill their lives with happiness. The lobby of the Hilton has rows of huge, stacked cubicles with fake geraniums. There’s also a bar area with a big pretzel sign on top. This area is surrounded by fake palm trees. (Reminds me of some teacher I know who made her classroom posts into palm trees…:) In the corner of the lobby by an elevator stands a cigarette machine. I’ve seen so many in Europe, but it’s a blast from the past in America. And this weekend in Munich is the height of Oktoberfest, the annual beer-drinking festival so popular that in some places, if you don’t have a reservation from months ago, you’re out of luck. I see couples passing by with their traditional German outfits–women in dirndl skirts and shirred blouses that show lots of cleavage, and men in their boyish lederhosen and felt hats with feathers sticking out. People are ready to party.

On the other hand, we’re ready to leave. At the breakfast bar this morning, with the most elaborate spread I have ever seen at any breakfast ever, the one food item that caught my eye was the honeycomb tray. Surrounded by other condiments that may have been highly processed and perhaps even chemically “fake” food, the honeycomb in its natural state drew me in. It made me think of what in my life is real and what is polished up and presented as real but is actually not. I know. Deeply philosophical….

Within a few minutes before leaving our four-night-stay gasthof this morning, a technician finally arrived to fix the hot water heater. Ironic, because for three mornings we’ve had tepid water at best. I suppose we enjoyed camping at its finest!

We walked down the mountainside for the last time (3/4 of a mile) and met the gasthof owner who had our luggage in his vehicle to transfer into Tom and Petra’s van.

Before leaving Austria we stopped at a beautiful lake: Haldensee in Tannheimer Tal. It is overlooked by the Hahnenkamm mountain that, from a distance, looks like a camel or a creature with a saddle.

Also before leaving Austria we bought fuel–less than 1,10/liter Euros for diesel. Fuel is cheaper in Austria than in Germany. According to my sister-in-law Petra, it’s because of the German taxes being higher and not having toll roads in Germany, while surrounding countries all have toll roads and lower taxes associated with fuel.

Something that is cheaper in Germany than in the U.S. is Birkenstock sandals. We stopped at Fuessen, just inside the German border and walked around the old town area. Petra pointed out a shoe store where I paid only 65 Euros for a nice pair of Birkenstock with three straps! We couldn’t talk John into buying lederhosen, but Tom modeled a pair for my camera. I have already owned a dirndl; in fact, a kilt and a dirndl were the first two pieces of clothing I sewed as a teenager. I learned from Petra that a janker (jacket) can be worn by both men and women.

Near Fuessen stand two world-famous castles, Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau. We drove by and snapped some photos, but too many tourists were around and our time was limited, so we didn’t stop for a tour. I understand that Neuschwanstein is so popular that advance tickets must be ordered online. It’s the castle that inspired the Disney castles.

A few kilometers north of the castles, we stopped and went into Weiskirche, a church from the Baroque era. It’s by far the most elaborate church interior I’ve seen to date. It’s a world heritage site, with many people stopping by daily for free admission. They do ask for donations, though, to help defray maintenance expenses.

We took a scenic route north to Munich and avoided much of the Friday rush hour traffic. Tom and Petra dropped us off at the Munich Airport Hilton where we will catch our plane back to the States tomorrow.

After wandering around the airport, we ate in the huge cafe court between the two terminals. In the night lights, the colors and overall architecture are stunning.

We must return again to see more of Europe. 

I discovered that my brother has a formerly unknown-to-me talent–killing flies with his bare hands. Our gasthof seems to have many flies, especially at breakfast time because the owner opens the main door for fresh air. Today the flies are frenetic. They know their life span is short with the below-freezing temps this morning. Tom has further shortened almost a dozen flies’ life spans during the three days we’ve been here.

The best views were today. With crisp, morning air and no rain clouds for the first time since we’ve been in Austria, the day has been bright! Brother Tom says it’s the clearest skies he’s ever seen here, and he’s been in this valley at least three times.

Today was our last full day in the Austrian Alps, so of course, we had more hiking. The only form of transportation we had other than our legs was going up a cable car near the summit of the Walmendingerhorn Mountain (6,368 ft. above sea level) for a spectacular view. We did have to walk up about 15 more minutes to reach the summit after disembarking from the cable car. It was literally all downhill from there. We hiked all the way back to our gasthof.

John figures that with the step count of both yesterday and today, we’ve walked almost 22 kilometers. Today’s hike was fairly level and downhill; yesterday’s was more uphill. I’m not sure which is harder on the feet. They both come with unique problems. All I can say is I’m glad that I don’t have an ingrown toenail–going downhill puts a lot of pressure on the toes!

Enjoy our scenic photos!

To say I’m sore and tired would be an understatement. We walked 15,266 steps or close to 10 kilometers. In the past seven days of sightseeing, we’ve walked about two dozen miles, so today was a bit more than usual. 

The exercise today, though, was not just leisurely strolling. It was hiking up and down Alpine paths–sometimes grueling in its steepness. If the scenery weren’t so extraordinary, I would not have gone as far so willingly. All the photos I will be posting are from that hike.

The comic relief for today was me stepping in a big, mushy cow pie. (Don’t worry, I’ll spare the photo….) I had some scrubbing to do when we arrived back at the gasthof!

Despite a gray and rainy day, we walked back down the mountain from the gasthof to the village of Baad. I felt like Heidi in the book of the same name. We paused to step into the highly embellished St. Martin’s Church before going a brief distance to the town’s only traffic circle where we caught a bus to Riezlern. We mingled with festival-goers celebrating cows going down to winter pastures. Different groups of decorated cows came into town at various times during the morning and early afternoon. A large beer tent provided live music and refreshment, and other tents sold wares ranging from honey to sausage to hats to wood carvings.

I was amused at the many mirrored street signs which assist drivers in seeing past thick hedges and blind corners. Also, I took a photo of one sign reminding drivers that school has started again and brakes need to be used.

After shopping at a couple of stores and eating pea soup in a local cafe, we jumped onto a very crowded bus (filled with both tourists and school children) which happened to thin out considerably by the time we reached the last stop at Baad. It had stopped raining by this time, so we walked back up the mountain path to our gasthof. 

A few hours of relaxation and a traditional Austrian/German meal ended our day of exercise and rest.

Today we drove through southern Germany and ended up just over the border into the Austrian Alps. On the way, we stopped at Breitachklamm, a beautiful river gorge in southern Germany. (The river is named Breitach, and the German name for gorge is klamm.) Even though it rained, the scenery was splendid.

We stopped for hot chocolate in the first Austrian village we came to, Riezlern. I was fascinated with seeing a shop and a street name, Kessler, which may be the original spelling of my maternal ancestral surname. The Pennsylvania Kistlers came from the Alps region west of here.

We came into the small town of Baad, which literally dead ends into the northern side of the Austrian Alps. From there, we parked our car, and the son of the Alpinewald Gasthof (guest house we are staying in for four nights) came to pick up our luggage. We then had to walk up a mountain path for almost a half hour to the lodge. It was still raining, so the Zurich umbrella purchases continue to be appreciated. Even though it is cloudy and cool this evening, we can tell that our views the next few days will be spectacular.

After a hot meal of chicken, baked potato, and spinach, we played a German board game called “International Cafe” before retiring for the night. We understand that we will be awakened tomorrow morning by many cows coming down the mountainside from their summer pasture to winter meadows.

After a late night (or early morning) of celebration, we drove nephew David to the Nuremberg Fluhagen (Airport). He’s wandering to other European locales, and he seems to have amassed enough buddies in these other places to garner free lodging. That’s an example in both friendship and frugality! I’m still grateful for David helping me decorate the wedding vehicle yesterday. It would have taken three hours without his help. We took a selfie to remember the experience, and the entire heart wreath never fell off the car when it transported the bride and father to the wedding. Yay!

We then drove to the Nuremberg Hbf (main train station) where we returned our rental vehicle. Taking a local train back to the airport (only seven stops away), we met Tom and Petra, who will drive their van for the four of us to spend a few days’ vacation in the Austrian Alps. They were dropping off Daniel and Damaris for their honeymoon flight to the Canary Islands. These islands are under Spain’s jurisdiction but lie closer to Africa in the Atlantic Ocean. I thought how appropriate it was to go there, as D & D’s marriage symbolizes an African-European union. So we had a chance to hug them good-bye before they flew off into the sunset….

After saying good-bye to a nephew, a niece and her new husband, and another niece who had to return to her medical internship in a nearby town, we are spending the afternoon resting and reflecting. Part of that reflection is pointing out some interesting social constructs while here.

If you throw away a drink bottle or can in public places in Germany, a “gleaner” will come by the trash can and almost immediately snatch it out. We saw five different gleaners within an hour while sitting at both the airport and train station.

In Switzerland, people openly and randomly smoked cigarettes. Marijuana is also legal there. But in Germany, smoking in public places is usually in designated areas. Both countries have special cigarette disposal bins so that you don’t cause a trash bin fire. Heaven forbid you throw a cigarette butt on the ground!

And I have to talk about the bathrooms. “WC” (water closet) is the designation throughout Europe. The signs that say “WC” are often next to another sign of a running figure with an arrow marking which direction to exit in case of emergency. At first, I thought this sign meant “here’s where you head if you need to run to the WC,” but my brother laughed at me and set me straight. In trains and airports you can find free WC’s, but most public spaces have Euro-operated toilet stations that ensure they’re fairly clean. It costs between one-half Euro to two Euros to do your business. Some are marked “McClean,” which really tickled me for some odd reason.

Speaking of “McClean,” that reminds me of McDonalds. We see many fast food chains, including the aforementioned, as well as Burger King and Subway, but we’ve tried more local fast food chains–buying a Turkish/German taste blend of gyro, red cabbage, and cucumber at one place. Today we had a pretzel sandwich, with ham, mayo, and lettuce on it.

I must say that some of the shops and restaurants in the airports and train stations are unusual. I saw a wig shop next to the WC in the train station today. Never have I seen so many head mannequins in one place!

Everywhere we go, I continue to see people from many cultures and hear a wealth of languages. It’s still comforting to be connected with our friends back in the U.S., and we’re connecting right now by tuning in to Redeemer OPC’s live stream back in Atlanta. It’s 17:00 in Germany (5 p.m.) and 11:00 a.m. in Georgia.   

The wedding day has been a joyful blur. 

In the morning I helped my sister-in-law decorate the hood of a borrowed, bright-red Volkswagen that would carry Damaris and her father to the church. All the flowers we used came from her garden. Nephew David assisted in attaching the heart-shaped bouquet to the hood.

Other than the bride being slightly late to the ceremony and some audio-visual glitches, the wedding went well. While German was the main language spoken, two women served as English translators. The bride’s three younger sisters performed a recessional on the same piano. I captured the last fifteen seconds of it on a video.

After the ceremony, we went directly to an adjoining reception hall for donated cakes and champagne. We endured family photos, then drove in a convoy over to a hotel restaurant for an elegant meal and entertainment. The party lasted past midnight, but John and I left around 11:30. We used the excuse that we needed to help carry all the gifts back to my brother’s house so they would be available for the couple to open on Sunday before leaving on their honeymoon. 

Weary feet but happy hearts.

My brother Tom spent the morning merging errand-running for wedding preparations and sightseeing for us. We walked the cobbled main street of Ebermannstadt, learning that the first public documents of the town were recorded in the 1100’s. It probably existed well before that time. The River Wisent flows through the village.

Tom took us (John, nephew David, and me) to Castle Greifenstein in nearby Heilegenstadt. In the words of our guide, it was built circa 1160 as “a fortress for defense and later converted into a castle for display.”

The exterior didn’t seem too spectacular, but the interior was amazing. An inner courtyard has been used as a movie set, and the weapons collection, torture instruments, antique furniture, old books, and archaic paintings took me right back to the Middle Ages. The water well is quite deep–almost 90 meters until the water level begins!

We spent a bit of time in the afternoon assisting with church set-up and flower decorations.

On the way back to the house, John drove while Tom directed us through his memory lane of various houses and work places of his past. One of his former homes was just around the bend from Castle Egloffstein, perched on a mountaintop with many restored, Elizabethan-era homes in the Egloffstein village below the castle.

All four of my nieces finally arrived, and we were able to enjoy one of my sister-in-law’s specialties, onion pie, served with a light, white wine.

We ended the evening with me putting on the wrong left shoe and not realizing it until I walked out the door, having to sheepishly return when I noticed my two feet felt vastly different. I’m glad I can provide some comic relief during busy times.

The wedding is tomorrow!