Yesterday's picnic turned out to be much more than what we were expecting.
The day started with a 30-minute drive into the countryside where we parked near a small village and then began a trek through the village streets, and the surrounding forests and farmlands. Eventually we came over a rise and Leo pointed out the steeple of a church and the tower battlements of a very large castle in the distance. He explained that the castle was our destination and there another of my cousins (Anya) and her family, who live in Berlin, were going to meet us and join us for the castle tour and picnic.
The weather was bright and sunny, the best we've seen on our whole vacation. The Gnandstein Castle
provided an awesome view from the tower, a reward for climbing a seemingly endless spiral staircase. Also, we went through the museum part of the castle and the many rooms that were furnished with exhibits of paintings, needlework, pottery, furniture, clothing, etc.
The hike and castle tour had awakened our appetites. Another trek through the farm fields led us to our picnic spot. We spread out cloths and contents of picnic baskets on a grassy embankment overlooking the village. Our feast gave us fuel for the hike back to where we had parked the car. The summerlike weather called for a stop in a small village on the drive home to treat ourselves to "Eis" (ice cream).
After resting at home and feasting on another of Gabriele's delicious home-cooked meals, the evening plans led us back into the city for a music concert. Two very talented pianists performed "jazz" music, which could be described as experimental--many sounds I never would have imagined that could come from a piano. But, it's a type of music that Leo and Gabriele enjoy, and as Leo explains, it is the best form of art because it makes you use your own imagination.
The rainy weather has returned for today. That does not prevent the planned outdoor activities. The usual Sunday activity for the family here is to ride bikes if the weather is good, but, if not, then umbrellas are called for and the activity will be walking somewhere to enjoy the outdoors.
Umbrellas are ready and we are heading out to enjoy another day in Leipzig.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Saturday, May 29, 2010
A Rare Sunny Day
Today appears ready to provide us with a rare day of sunshine. A picnic lunch has been planned as the activity of the day.
Yesterday afternoon, after arriving in Leipzig and enjoying a delicious lunch cooked by Gabriele, we got back in the car for the drive into the downtown area of Leipzig. Leo and Gabriele live in a suburb of Leipzig that is about a 20-minute drive from the city. My Aunt Helga and Uncle Ulli live in a flat that is very close to the city center, near a nice park. We drove to their flat where they met us and the 6 of us then spent the afternoon walking through the city. We did some shopping and some sightseeing, including a panoramic view from the top of a tall building. Much of the landscape was obscured by the mist and low clouds but we could see the major buildings and got the basic idea of the size and layout of the city.
Helga then prepared a wonderful meal for us and we spent the evening hours doing our best to catch up with family news of all that has transpired in the many years since we have been together. I am constantly reminding myself that I should have spent more time relearning what little of the German language that I used to know. Our hosts are very patient with our stumbling attempts to communicate and we somehow get the main ideas across to each other.
Too much to see, do and learn and too little time to do it all. But we are doing our best to appreciate and enjoy every minute that we have in this beautiful country.
Yesterday afternoon, after arriving in Leipzig and enjoying a delicious lunch cooked by Gabriele, we got back in the car for the drive into the downtown area of Leipzig. Leo and Gabriele live in a suburb of Leipzig that is about a 20-minute drive from the city. My Aunt Helga and Uncle Ulli live in a flat that is very close to the city center, near a nice park. We drove to their flat where they met us and the 6 of us then spent the afternoon walking through the city. We did some shopping and some sightseeing, including a panoramic view from the top of a tall building. Much of the landscape was obscured by the mist and low clouds but we could see the major buildings and got the basic idea of the size and layout of the city.
Helga then prepared a wonderful meal for us and we spent the evening hours doing our best to catch up with family news of all that has transpired in the many years since we have been together. I am constantly reminding myself that I should have spent more time relearning what little of the German language that I used to know. Our hosts are very patient with our stumbling attempts to communicate and we somehow get the main ideas across to each other.
Too much to see, do and learn and too little time to do it all. But we are doing our best to appreciate and enjoy every minute that we have in this beautiful country.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
We made it
Here we are at our bicycle tour destination in the "Luther City" of Wittenburg. For those of you not familiar with church history this is where Martin Luther in the early 15th century took a stand against the practices of the Catholic Church that required money to be paid in order to get forgiveness of sins. He nailed 95 statements of faith to a church door here and challenged anyone who desired to present arguments against the statements (theses). It is historically known as the beginnings of the Protestant faith. In the short time we´ve been here we`ve realized how much history and beauty there is for us yet to see. We decided that we would spend the night here and have my uncle, Leo, pick us up tomorrow.
The last 3 days of bike riding have been wonderful as we continue to be amazed at the German countryside, farms, gardens, and villages with quaint, neat houses clustered everywhere. We learned why the common way to do this bike ride along the Elbe is to start in the north (down river) and ride to the south (up river). In one word the reason is "WIND". The winds here tend to blow from the north to the south. And this spring they did what they tend to do. We did a great deal of hard pedaling against the headwinds, especially Tuesday and today. Temperatures have been quite cool--mostly overcast and gray, but no rain! We kept telling ourselves that the headwinds were good training for RAGBRAI.
When we were in Dresden on Monday evening with the Tyler´s a bad thunderstorm passed through. We learned yesterday from someone who had a local newspaper that a German word that has carried over from English is the word "tornado". It was in the headline of the newspaper and as we were riding yesterday we passed through a couple of towns that had suffered much wind damage. There were people out everywhere cleaning up downed branches and debris and heavy equipment making repairs and hauling off large broken trees.
Tuesday night we stayed in the fairly large town of Reisa and had time to stroll around in the evening and look at the sights. Last night was the total opposite--a very small village called Dommitzsch. But the accomodations were equally wonderful. We have not had one bad meal since we´ve been here and nothing but clean comfortable rooms for the night. On today´s ride a lot of the trail went around a large nature park. We saw deer, herons and storks and many other birds, some of which are familiar to us but others we´ve not seen before in the States. A lot of people ride on this "Elbe Radweg" bike path, some of them just locals making their way somewhere to do errands, but, others like us, obviously out for a multi-day excursion. A distinction, though, is that the vast majority of those who use the trail are Germans. We´ve learned to call out our "Guten Morgen" and "Hallo" greetings and hope to find someone who understands enough of our stumbling "Americaneze" to get us a restroom or other needs.
Next post will be from Leipzig where we will spend the weekend with Schwesinger family.
The last 3 days of bike riding have been wonderful as we continue to be amazed at the German countryside, farms, gardens, and villages with quaint, neat houses clustered everywhere. We learned why the common way to do this bike ride along the Elbe is to start in the north (down river) and ride to the south (up river). In one word the reason is "WIND". The winds here tend to blow from the north to the south. And this spring they did what they tend to do. We did a great deal of hard pedaling against the headwinds, especially Tuesday and today. Temperatures have been quite cool--mostly overcast and gray, but no rain! We kept telling ourselves that the headwinds were good training for RAGBRAI.
When we were in Dresden on Monday evening with the Tyler´s a bad thunderstorm passed through. We learned yesterday from someone who had a local newspaper that a German word that has carried over from English is the word "tornado". It was in the headline of the newspaper and as we were riding yesterday we passed through a couple of towns that had suffered much wind damage. There were people out everywhere cleaning up downed branches and debris and heavy equipment making repairs and hauling off large broken trees.
Tuesday night we stayed in the fairly large town of Reisa and had time to stroll around in the evening and look at the sights. Last night was the total opposite--a very small village called Dommitzsch. But the accomodations were equally wonderful. We have not had one bad meal since we´ve been here and nothing but clean comfortable rooms for the night. On today´s ride a lot of the trail went around a large nature park. We saw deer, herons and storks and many other birds, some of which are familiar to us but others we´ve not seen before in the States. A lot of people ride on this "Elbe Radweg" bike path, some of them just locals making their way somewhere to do errands, but, others like us, obviously out for a multi-day excursion. A distinction, though, is that the vast majority of those who use the trail are Germans. We´ve learned to call out our "Guten Morgen" and "Hallo" greetings and hope to find someone who understands enough of our stumbling "Americaneze" to get us a restroom or other needs.
Next post will be from Leipzig where we will spend the weekend with Schwesinger family.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Bewolkt, etwas Regen im vormittag
We did learn some German during our ride yesterday morning. At our breakfast table place setting the hotel had provided a nice (in German) brochure that gave the day's weather forecast: "Bewolkt, etwas Regen im vormittag". A couple of hours into our ride we saw the "partly cloudy" disappear and then we got to experience the "etwas Regen" which we had guessed was probably something to do with rain. It was quite a downpour but our years of riding in RAGBRAI has taught us to be prepared with our rain jackets at hand. It didn't rain for too long and, as I told Lee, it definitely was a nice thought that even if it rained all day at the end of the day we would have a hotel room waiting for us instead of having to set up a tent in the rain.
Shortly before we reached our destination the rain stopped and we saw a cafe by the bike trail that looked promising. It was a wonderful find. The waitress spoke English, she seated us in a cozy corner table, the room was quite warm and we had hot soup and a cup of tea--exactly what we needed after our wet, cold ride.
We got back on the bike trail and were surprised at how close we were to Dresden. As we came into town we looked at each other and realized that neither of us had the phone number that Mike Tyler had given us. Mike and Cara are the missionaries who came to Dresden a couple of years ago to work with the church planting ministry here. They had reserved a hotel ahead of time for us. We did have the address of the hotel and found our way to the hotel. But we didn't have the Tyler's phone number or address to let them know we were here. Lee thought I had printed the information from their email and I thought he had it. And we were told by the hotel clerk that Internet cafes are hard to find and would be further away in the main part of the city. But she did have their house number so we made our way to the address, which was not far, and were able to determine which apartment was theirs.
It has been wonderful to have the Tyler's here to translate and explain all that they have learned about Dresden and the German people and the work that God is doing in this area. We spent the evening downtown and Cara explained some of the history and architecture behind the beautiful buildings. Our hotel was, once again, great accomadations with a delicious breakfast.
It looks like we will have another cloudy day, but, hopefully, not the rain showers. Mike has let us use his home office to do our time on the Internet. Cara goes to classes at the language school in the mornings and the 2 boys are at school this morning, as well.
We aren't sure which town is our destination for tonight but we look forward to another day riding along the beautiful Elbe River.
Shortly before we reached our destination the rain stopped and we saw a cafe by the bike trail that looked promising. It was a wonderful find. The waitress spoke English, she seated us in a cozy corner table, the room was quite warm and we had hot soup and a cup of tea--exactly what we needed after our wet, cold ride.
We got back on the bike trail and were surprised at how close we were to Dresden. As we came into town we looked at each other and realized that neither of us had the phone number that Mike Tyler had given us. Mike and Cara are the missionaries who came to Dresden a couple of years ago to work with the church planting ministry here. They had reserved a hotel ahead of time for us. We did have the address of the hotel and found our way to the hotel. But we didn't have the Tyler's phone number or address to let them know we were here. Lee thought I had printed the information from their email and I thought he had it. And we were told by the hotel clerk that Internet cafes are hard to find and would be further away in the main part of the city. But she did have their house number so we made our way to the address, which was not far, and were able to determine which apartment was theirs.
It has been wonderful to have the Tyler's here to translate and explain all that they have learned about Dresden and the German people and the work that God is doing in this area. We spent the evening downtown and Cara explained some of the history and architecture behind the beautiful buildings. Our hotel was, once again, great accomadations with a delicious breakfast.
It looks like we will have another cloudy day, but, hopefully, not the rain showers. Mike has let us use his home office to do our time on the Internet. Cara goes to classes at the language school in the mornings and the 2 boys are at school this morning, as well.
We aren't sure which town is our destination for tonight but we look forward to another day riding along the beautiful Elbe River.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Train from Prague to Germany
The gray and cloudy day improved as the afternoon progressed. We were scheduled to take the 12:30 train from Prague to Bad Schandau, on the German border. Leo had some ideas for sights in Prague that we hadn't yet seen so after breakfast we headed to the Metro and began another morning of walking and gawking. The main attraction was a tower, park and cloister at the top of a very high ridge above the city. It took some walking to get there but we did get to take a tram up the steepest part of the hill. The park at the top was very beautiful.
We did some huffing and puffing to get back into the main part of town and then took a taxi to make it to the train station in time. It felt good to sit down for a couple of hours on the train as the Czech countryside rolled by.
Bad Schandau is a tourist attraction of the sort that brings many visitors on a 3-day spring holiday weekend. That explains a lot of the traffic we have seen. Tomorrow is a German holiday and many have taken the time off. As Lee has said while we have been walking around town: "Remind me that I will NEVER drive a car in this town!" There are just a couple of very narrow streets for all the traffic to drive through. As a pedestrian you take your life in your hands everytime it's necessary to cross the street.
Our hotel is very nice. When we checked in the desk clerk took us out and showed us the two bicycles that have already been delivered for our beginning trek tomorrow. We look forward to a hearty breakfast in the hotel restaurant and then we pack our bags and begin pedaling the 30 miles to Dresden. We have no idea what to expect in the way of weather since there are no English newspapers. But we have been seeing the bike trail the whole way here along the river from the train and we will certainly not have to worry about pedaling uphill.
Off to enjoy some more sunshine.
We did some huffing and puffing to get back into the main part of town and then took a taxi to make it to the train station in time. It felt good to sit down for a couple of hours on the train as the Czech countryside rolled by.
Bad Schandau is a tourist attraction of the sort that brings many visitors on a 3-day spring holiday weekend. That explains a lot of the traffic we have seen. Tomorrow is a German holiday and many have taken the time off. As Lee has said while we have been walking around town: "Remind me that I will NEVER drive a car in this town!" There are just a couple of very narrow streets for all the traffic to drive through. As a pedestrian you take your life in your hands everytime it's necessary to cross the street.
Our hotel is very nice. When we checked in the desk clerk took us out and showed us the two bicycles that have already been delivered for our beginning trek tomorrow. We look forward to a hearty breakfast in the hotel restaurant and then we pack our bags and begin pedaling the 30 miles to Dresden. We have no idea what to expect in the way of weather since there are no English newspapers. But we have been seeing the bike trail the whole way here along the river from the train and we will certainly not have to worry about pedaling uphill.
Off to enjoy some more sunshine.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
We're here
All went well on our flight across the Atlantic Ocean and we have been enjoying the last 24 hours or so in the beautiful city of Prague. There are many incredible sights and we won't be able to see them all in our short time here.
Next for this afternoon will be the famous Prague Castle. That should take most of the afternoon and then I'm sure there will be some of it that we won't get to. The sun finally seems to be out for good. Europe has had a long spell of cool and rainy weather but the forecast is that the weather will be changing. Hopefully, it will be nice for when we start the bike ride on Monday.
One of the most enjoyable things we did today was to join one of the FREE 3-hour walking tours that are here everywhere. An interesting concept for people who want to earn money (donations accepted) and like to talk and like history. We had a great expatriot American guide and I was amazed at how much I learned in those 3 hours. A lot of it I've heard about in news and school over the years but there's nothing like seeing it firsthand and hearing from someone who has good stories behind all of what you read in the history books.
Later this evening we will go back to the hotel and at 7:00 pm is the agreed upon time that we will meet up with Leo and Gabriele. They are driving in from Leipzig today, staying in the same hotel where we were last night. It will be a short visit with them here. Our train for Bad Schandau leaves at noon tomorrow. But later in the week we will see Leo again, as we are staying with them in Leipzig after the bike ride.
Don't know when I'll get online again but at least you know we made it here and all is going according to plan. Lots of photos to share and will try to get them online soon.
Next for this afternoon will be the famous Prague Castle. That should take most of the afternoon and then I'm sure there will be some of it that we won't get to. The sun finally seems to be out for good. Europe has had a long spell of cool and rainy weather but the forecast is that the weather will be changing. Hopefully, it will be nice for when we start the bike ride on Monday.
One of the most enjoyable things we did today was to join one of the FREE 3-hour walking tours that are here everywhere. An interesting concept for people who want to earn money (donations accepted) and like to talk and like history. We had a great expatriot American guide and I was amazed at how much I learned in those 3 hours. A lot of it I've heard about in news and school over the years but there's nothing like seeing it firsthand and hearing from someone who has good stories behind all of what you read in the history books.
Later this evening we will go back to the hotel and at 7:00 pm is the agreed upon time that we will meet up with Leo and Gabriele. They are driving in from Leipzig today, staying in the same hotel where we were last night. It will be a short visit with them here. Our train for Bad Schandau leaves at noon tomorrow. But later in the week we will see Leo again, as we are staying with them in Leipzig after the bike ride.
Don't know when I'll get online again but at least you know we made it here and all is going according to plan. Lots of photos to share and will try to get them online soon.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
First One
We are going to try to keep a journal of our fun adventures, the first of which is today's planned departure to Prague, Czech Republic. We will spend the next 2 weeks in Germany and Czech Republic, most of the time in Germany.
We aren't sure how often we will be able to get online and add news of our progress, but we will do our best.
Our flight this evening on Lufthansa takes us overnight to Frankfurt, where we have an hour or so to get on the flight to Prague. If all goes well, we should be in Prague Friday morning. We will have Friday and Saturday to get ourselves oriented. Then on Saturday evening we will be meeting my uncle, Leo Schwesinger and his wife, who will be coming from Leipzig, Germany.
The remainder of the weekend in Prague we will look forward to sightseeing with Leo and Gabriele. Sunday evening Lee and I will depart for Bad Schandau, a small town on the Czech/German border. That is where, on Monday morning, we will start our 4-day bike trip along the Elbe River.
I am in no way ready to head off on this adventure. It's time now to concentrate on what I will need to pack and what details need to be taken care of before our departure to the airport.
More to follow.
We aren't sure how often we will be able to get online and add news of our progress, but we will do our best.
Our flight this evening on Lufthansa takes us overnight to Frankfurt, where we have an hour or so to get on the flight to Prague. If all goes well, we should be in Prague Friday morning. We will have Friday and Saturday to get ourselves oriented. Then on Saturday evening we will be meeting my uncle, Leo Schwesinger and his wife, who will be coming from Leipzig, Germany.
The remainder of the weekend in Prague we will look forward to sightseeing with Leo and Gabriele. Sunday evening Lee and I will depart for Bad Schandau, a small town on the Czech/German border. That is where, on Monday morning, we will start our 4-day bike trip along the Elbe River.
I am in no way ready to head off on this adventure. It's time now to concentrate on what I will need to pack and what details need to be taken care of before our departure to the airport.
More to follow.
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