At long last, here are some photos from our trip. I tried not to put up too many, but I won't blame you if you don't want to see them all - you may want to just pick a couple from each section to look at. I've divided them into folders and will give a little description of each so you'll know what you want to see.
On our way from Zurich to Chur, Switzerland, we took the long, scenic route over Klausen Pass, since it was raining so much we thought we might as well be on the road looking at scenery. Photos from this batch include the hotel with a view on the "Rose Hill," the town of Chur, the tram ride to the mountainside above, and the boys' discovery of snails in the garden.
A side trip from Chur took us to the small skiing town of Arosa. The boys enjoyed watching the swans, but the highlight was a tram ride to the top of nearby Weisshorn summit. Halfway back down, we stopped for a look around that included a playground and goats to visit for the boys and an old stone observatory that Bill hiked over to for a closer look. Again, the weather didn't cooperate, but it was still obvious we were seeing spectacular scenery. I especially liked one little Swiss village on the way.
Driving through Austria, our next stop was the town of Hallein, near Salzburg. Photos from here are mainly Eisriesenwelt ("Giant Ice World", the "world's largest ice cave") and a nearby castle. In Salzburg, we visited the fortress on the top of the hill and the Mirabell Gardens, including a stone dwarf picked out by each member of the family for a photo. We spent the afternoon experiencing the water tricks of Hellbrunn Palace.
A day spent in Dachau at the concentration camp made us all a little more thoughtful about the recent history of the area. We saw a film on the camp's history, but many of the more gruesome displays I remembered from a previous visit were temporarily removed for a refurbishing of the public exhibits.
We zigzagged back almost to the Austrian border to join hordes of other tourists visiting the palaces of crazy King Ludwig, Hohenschwanngau and Neuschwannstein. Sorry, but the best photos I have of this are on postcards!
The Wasserspiel ("water play") in Kassel was something I knew the boys would enjoy as much as I had as a student. The water comes rushing down from a reservoir at the top of the hill over steps and waterfalls until it fountains up at the bottom, a good show from another of those rich and slightly crazy rulers. The castle on the hill was built as ruins, since every good palace should have one!
The few hours spent in Marburg will probably be of more interest to me than to you. This is where I spent a year at the university, so I've included photos of Forsthof (where I lived that year) and the castle (Schloss) mainly for the couple of you who were there too. Do you remember the Kuchen from Cafe Vetter?
We spent the last few days in the town of Andernach, a great central spot for visiting the central Rhein region. Andernach has a very old central town area, an old mill and crane on the river, and, to come right up to date, a bunch of neighbor kids wanting to trade Pokemon cards. We took a couple of day trips out to see Marialaach (a volcanic lake with an abbey), medieval Marksburg Castle, the confluence of the Rhein and Mosel, and the view from the Lorelei.
Hope you enjoyed our travel photos and that your Internet connection is fast enough to make it more fun than headache. I know I'll come back and look at them often to relive a great trip. And... if you come to visit, I'll be happy to show you the rest!
Nancy
