October weekend

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Dock Out

Another chapter in "cabin life" closed today. We have taken the dock out of the water, stacked the firewood, and put away the pontoon, boat, kayaks, lawn chairs and lawn mower. This is always a bittersweet weekend. It's sad to pull the dock out and know that the next fishing will be through the ice!
We spent the past 6 days up there getting things ready - we owe a big Thank You to Sarah, Pete and Al for helping with the dock and lift. Now we get ready for the colder season, including a couple of deer hunting weekends, some ice fishing and then maybe some other winter activities - cross country skiing, sledding and maybe snowmobiling.
The critters were busy getting ready for winter too - the birds, squirrels, chipmunks and deer all seemed to be really, really hungry. We put the "Trail Camera" on a tree out by the driveway and got pictures of deer feeding out there every night.
Once again we are reminded how lucky we are, not only to have the cabin, but to be able to stay up there for several days at a time and enjoy the peace and quite of the north country!

Colors of Fall

After a couple of very quick days at home, we headed up to Hackensack to spend 5 days at the cabin with our good friends Karen and Doug.
October in the north country is absolutely awesome! The colors of the leaves actually changed while we were there - to a brilliant riot of yellows, reds and golds all around us. The temperatures were cool but we still were able to have coffee on the deck most mornings. Doug and Lowell did a little fishing, we took a boat ride, played cards, and took several long walks. We even met up with a grouchy porcupine on the Hiram Hiking Trail!
We are so lucky to be able to enjoy this beautiful time of the year at the cabin. The next trip will be to take the dock out and get ready for deer hunting.

Planes, trains and automobiles

One of the many highlights of this journey was using different kinds of public transportation and mass transit in Europe. That, and the "interesting" roads, should one choose to drive a car!
Airplanes - This was pretty easy - planes are the same the world over. Airports, however, are another story. We flew from MSP to Heathrow in London. Heathrow has few, if any, signs to direct us to the bus stops, thank goodness Dan knew the we, or we'd probably still be looking for a bus! The Amsterdam airport is HUGE. Once our plane landed, it taxied for 15 to 20 minutes - over freeways and rivers - and finally dropped us off at a bus outside the cargo terminal. Then we took the bus for another 10 minutes to get to the passenger terminal.
Trains - The Eurail Pass is a great way to travel. Trains vary in age and amenities, but we were comfortable and got to see lots of the countryside. The overnight train between Florence and Munich was a new train. We had sleeping cabins with bunk beds and even had a small toilet and shower in ours. Obviously you didn't see much and sleeping was a little rough going through the mountains. The train from Luxembourg to Paris was a "fast" train, the kind you see in the movies. After a couple of stops at the beginning of the trip it started really moving - Lowell figured it was probably going 160 mph or more. Didn't gaze out the window much with that one!
Subways/Underground trains - every city we were in had them and they were great. You just need to be sure that you get on the train traveling in the right direction! Some trains were really crowded - like going to Oktoberfest! But it was an easy and efficient way to get places.
Streets in the cities are narrow!! I mean really, really narrow! I couldn't believe that you could drive 2 cars on some of these streets - but they do. And usually there are pedestrians, bikes and motorcycles on the street too! I really didn't get very many pictures of traffic - I guess when we were walking we had to pay attention to staying out of the way! The autobahns are busy and much like our freeways, except faster. Thanks to Dan, Tom and Laura for their wonderful driving skills.
Buses are usually crowded but another pretty quick way to get through the traffic and to your destination.
Everyone - young and old - rides bikes! We saw 70 or 80 year old men & women, young kids, women in business suits, pedaling down the streets with a basket of groceries, wine, books, etc. In France (and Italy and Germany too, I think) there are bike stands on every other block where you check out a bike and return it to another bike rack somewhere else in the city. The only problem is, you have to have the courage to share the narrow streets with French drivers!
We never got into a boat or used horse carts - both were options at one point or another.
Driving was truly an adventure. Both Dan and Tom had Garmin navigators which we used when while driving and sometimes walking. If you've followed Luara's blog, you'll know her as Miss B. We usually listened to her directions and always ended up where we wanted to be. Do you know that Miss B can find a Pizza Hut in Luxembourg? And if you follow her directions for pedestrians, well, we found a really cute little area with no street lights! She also guided us through some wonderful French vineyard areas, there we shared the roads with the tractors.

We used all kinds of transportation, but our most frequent and most reliable was walking! It was a great way to see and feel the cities. We walked and climbed to the top of domes, mountains, castles, & hills. We used a pedometer for a couple of days (until we lost it on a bus!). One day we clocked over 27,000 steps - that was not our biggest day of walking either. Figuring about 2000 steps per mile......

Home, Safe and Sound!

After 3 weeks on the road, Lowell, Mickey and I got home this evening. Dan is in Singapore for a couple more days and of course Laura and Tom are in Toulouse for a few more months!

This was our last European sunset - from the deck at Tom and Laura's flat.
We got up about 8 this morning, packed and walked to the bakery down the street for croissants. Then Laura gave us a ride to the airport. We left Toulouse at noon, flew to Amsterdam and caught a 3:20 PM flight to MSP. All of our connections went very well - including negotiating the huge Amsterdam airport. The plane taxied for 20 minutes before letting us off - at the cargo terminal! Then we took a bus to the main terminal, went through a passport check and another security check, and onto the plane. We landed in Minneapolis at 5:30 MN time (12:30 AM Toulouse time!) It's now about 4 AM in Touloluse - time for us to crash. Can't wait to look at pictures and share a few more adventures with you - but not tonight!!!

It's been a crazy week - we left Garmisch last Tuesday, spent 2 days in Munich, one day traveling to Luxembourg via Primstal, and one day traveling to Toulouse by train via Paris! Check Laura's blog for our Oktoberfest pictures.
Since we've been to Toulouse we have been walking around the city quite a lot - great open air markets and lots to see here. We also spent an afternoon in Lourdes. The churches and monuments there are wonderful - the town is another story! Yesterday we drove to the Mediterranian - Tom, Lowell and I braved the chilly water. After lunch at a little seaside cafe, we drove to the city of Carcassone - a fascinating medival castle.

I'll try to post more about those places after we get home - we are heading out to walk to Laura's favorite park in Toulouse and then this afternoon we'll drive somewhere. Tom went back to work today, so we'll meet him for Happy Hour this evening. Tomorrow we leave - first a flight from Toulouse to Amsterdam - then Amsterdam to MSP. We have so many great stories and memories, I could probably blog everyday for the next month! I won't do that, but I will try to fill in some of the pieces - food, transportation, etc.
It's been a wonderful 3 weeks - I can't thank Dan & Mickey and Laura & Tom enough for all their guiding and hospitality. See you all stateside soon!

Home Sweet Apartments!

Guten Tag! Well, get yourself a cup of coffee or a glass of wine or a bottle of beer - I'm thinking this blog might be a long one! The slide show is a loooong one - I think 70+ pictures range!

The last couple of days here in Garmisch-Partenkirchen have been wonderful - we got here on Friday morning and Laura talked about our trips that day. On Saturday we headed to Bercthesgaden and the Eagle's Nest - check Laura's blog for a few more details about that day. On Sunday morning, we we headed to Schloss Neuschawnstein - a beautiful castle built by that Crazy Kind Ludwig II! (Before we got to the castle, we stopped at a beautiful lake called Plansee). The castle was only partially completed at the time of Ludwig's mysterious drowning in Lake Starnberg. This castle was Walt Disney's inspiration for the Disneyland castles. We walked up to the castle - despite the option of taking a horse cart or bus - and then walked to a bridge behind the castle to get a great view of the castle and a waterfall behind it. Dan, Lowell, Tom and Mickey hiked a little farther up the hill - Laura and I waited at the bridge and took pictures - the bridge was a little shakey!! The castle was beautiful - you can just imagine Cinderella dancing through the hallways. After the castle we went to see Weiskirche - a really beautiful little spot right in the middle of a farmer's field - another very beautiful church with wonderful pictures and big windows so that it was bright and beautiful inside! For dinner we headed out to a little restaurant here in Garmisch - Dan and Lowell feasted on Leberknoedelsuppe (liver ball soup!!!!) All of us had great German entree's and finished off the meal with apple strudel, vanilla ice cream & whipped cream - aahhhhhhhh!
Today is Monday - we went to the Zugsptize, the tallest mountain peak in Germany at 2962 meters. We took the gondola up and the cogwheel train back down. It was darn chilly up there at 19 degrees!!!! But the view was absolutely spectacular! Even with a bit of cloud cover you could see for miles and miles. We will all have many, many pictures to share when we get home. It was hard to choose just a few pictures to share with you.
This afternoon Laura and I walked in through Garmisch, window shopping and taking in the "local" culture. The rest of the crew headed out to Ettal for a "hike" into the mountains. Their afternoon was cut short by a rain/hail storm! After they all got back and warmed up, we went to the grocery store and bought some wine, chicken, bread and salad for dinner.

That brings us to the apartments!!! We have had 3 wonderful apartments to call "home" while we have been on this trip. In Rome, we had a nice 2 bedroom place in a courtyard. The kitchen was very small, but the living room/dining room area was spacious and the neighborhood was lovely! It was a tree lined street lined with little sidewalk cafes. We were able to make a few meals, wash clothes and still walk to Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps and the subway station! Rome has a very urban, busy feel to it and the apartment felt quite sophisticated.

When we got to Florence, Elise met us at the apartment and we walked into an Ikea advertisement! Everything from the refrigerator to the stove to the cabinets to the dishes, pots and pans and beds were from Ikea. The most unique part of that apartment was the second bathroom. There was a shower curtain just inside the door - when you need to use the shower in that room, a lever diverted the water from the sink to the shower head and the room turned into a shower stall - with a toilet and sink in it. Forence was more of an artsy town - much more relaxed than Rome and easy to get around. There was a cute little bar/deli across the street from us - it only got obnoxiously noisy one night!

Here in Garmisch we have 2 apartments that have a door between them. This is a relaxed little farm community. In fact they walk the cows through the city streets every morning and evening!! Seriously - and the cows all wear those big ol' cow bells!! The town is relaxed and VERY Bavarian. Our apartments are comfortable and spacious - from the deck we see the mountains and the cows walking through the streets! Two other bits of local information - homes and businesses often have beautiful paintings on the outside walls and in the country the barns are connected right to the houses! It's all very quaint! We have all decided that we love Bavaria!!
So, get yourself another beverage and watch this very long slide show - we have enjoyed seeing and doing so much and we want to share all the beautiful sites with all of you!!!