Switzerland

We arrived in Fluelen, Switzerland late in the afternoon and the views from this quaint town were as spectacular as we had seen driving through Austria and Liechtenstein! It was a small town on the tip of Lake Lucerne. The pictures do not do justice to the beauty of the scenery. I fell in love with this place, and being my father's daughter I said, "I think I will retire here!"

Believe it or not, most of our kids got in the lake and all the hardy kids from Illinois jumped in, too. We overheard someone say the lake temperature was 60 degrees! BRR RR! And this was on July 29th! The next day brought more beautiful sights from the city of Lucerne.

Pictures from Fluelen, Switzerland

Pictures of our hotel and scenes right around it. The pictures don't do justice to the colors there!

Just a quick stop in Liechenstein, on the way to Switzerland. It is a Principality and only 60 miles long. Valduz, the capitol, was clean, pretty and very tiny. It was a beautiful place to rest our legs!

So we stopped in Innsbruck, Austria for lunch...

Images of Innsbruck

Majestic mountains
Brightly colored Swarovski crystals
Sparklingly jewels and gems
Begging to be bought
Mountains breathtakingly beautiful
Next to narrow streets
Outdoor cafes with
Clouds Hovering over
The blue green hued mountains
Longing for more time there!

Innsbruck

Munich

The beautiful city of Munich was our next stop. Did you know Munich's name comes from the German word, Munchen, which means "little monk". There was a monastery bordering the orginal settlement.

We squeezed so much in the day and a half we were there. We stayed in a nice motel on the outskirts of town and walked to an Italian Gelato place for dessert the first night. The area around the town reminded us of the Grandin Village in Roanoke. The next morning, we were able to take a bus trip through downtown Munich and to see Ludwig II's famous Summer Palace as well as many other famous structures such as the Opera House and the copper domes of Frauenkirche. We ended up in the Marienplatz, which is a city square dating back to Medieval times and saw the Glockenspiel chime 11 am! Pictures of various places we visited are below! Munich, like Prague and Berlin, probably warrants a 10-14 day trip of its own!

Pictures from Munich

Here are pictures of most of our gang the first evening in Munich.

Ludwig II's Summer Palace!

Of course, we went to the Marienplatz to see the famous Glockenspiel. We saw it strike 11 am and it was a sight to behold with the figures spinning all around!

We had lunch at the Hofbrauhaus, one of Munich's most famous beer halls. 30,000 litres of beer have been known to be sold herei a day! The drinking age is 16 in most European countries, so Reid tried a beer. Sorry for the repeat photo of Neal and me, I got confused in my posting!

Munich hosted the infamous 1972 Olympics, so we visited the Olympic Village and went up in the tower for a view of the city. We could barely see the Alps in the distance, but it was so hazy, the Alps don't show up well in the photo.

As one might have imagined, all the guys went "wild" over BMW Welt (World). Todd took over 50 pictures alone in the exhibit. I went along for the ride, so to speak!

A street actor in a table and musicians. Street actors and musicians were seen in all the cites we visited.

There is a large Muslim population in Munich; mainly Turkish people brought in for cheap labor.

Nuremberg

I got a little ahead of myself in my last post. We stopped in Nuremberg for lunch and a quick visit before going onto to Dachau. Nuremberg was beautiful and I would have loved to have seen where the Nuremberg trials were held. Oh well, maybe next trip??

Nuremberg Castle (Above and below)
The guys in Nuremberg

Barb in Nuremberg

Dachau

After stopping in Nuremberg for lunch, we drove on towards Munich. On the way, we stopped in Dachau, which is a quaint town that also houses the famous Nazi concentration camp that was built in 1935 to send political prisoners to and later included people of whose only crime was being a gypsy, a Jew or gay. The town is very close to the camp, which surprised me and saddened me. That meant the average German had to have some inkling of what was happening. I only included several pictures from the trip there because I don't feel the pictures do justice to the horrors that occurred there; the torture of prisoners, the burning of their bodies... And it was a bright, warm, sunny day when we were there, making it a stark contrast to what happened there in the 30's and 40's. But the saddest thing of all, is the "Never Again" sign is not accurate. Genocide continues in the world today.

Scenes from Dachau

The entrance gate says "Work sets you free'

"Never Again" in several different languages.

Trees planted by prisoners belie the hell of the concentration camp.

A guard house

Prague

Prague was our next major city to visit and it was a gorgeous one! It is a very old city and untouched by bombings during WWII. We visited Prague Castle. In it is St.Vitus Cathedral, which is a beautiful old church that took 600 years to complete! It was started in 925! I loved the stained glass by Alphonse Mucha! We saw the Astronomical Clock in the Old Town Square, which tells everything but the time. It is absolutely worth goggling to learn how it works! We took a luncheon cruise on the Charles River, saw all the artisans on the Charles Bridge and a Folk Dance Festival in the Old Town Square. The Pinkas Synagogue was closed because it was Saturday. I was disappointed because several friends had told me it was a "must see". Oh well. Prague is a city to spend more time in if you have it!!!!

Pictures from Prague

Prague Castle

Inside Vitus Cathedral in Prague Castle. Stained Glass is done by Alphonse Mucha.



A family portrait!

Colorful scenes from around Prague!

To Above is the astrononmical clock. Bruce took some excellent pictures from going up into its' tower!

This shop was across the street from our hotel!
















Our hotel left a little to be desired in Prague (Below) Otherwise, our accommodations were good to great everywhere else.

Images of our hotel and a "charming" store nearby!