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We took a very cold walk near the Eibsee (lake) and then shivered while we posed for this picture.

We spent some time at the train station arranging a route that would take us through the Alps in Switzerland and avoiding Austria on our way to Garmisch. It was a waste of time as neither of these happened. First, contradicting the description from Martial and the train station attendent, our route did not take us over mountains. Second, we did go into Austria, which meant two things. First, Lyn's Shengen Visa which covered several European countries, but not Austria. The train conductor however, was less interested in visas than he was in collecting the extra 24 Swiss francs it cost us to go through this miniscule portion of Austria. Our rail passes were good in German, France, Italy, and Switzerland, but not Austria.

Our arrival in Garmisch was pure chaos. Andy was supposed to pick us up, but disappeared. His ex-girlfriend Cathrine was in class, which left Steve who was also expecting some guests to arrive sometime from Russia. Steve drove by Cathrine's flat, but there was no answer. Then we made a trip to McDonald's (which Steve's parent own) to think of what to do next. Then we went over to Cathrine's parents house. Finally, Cathrine arrived and we spent the night over at her flat. The next night we had a virtually German language only dinner at an Italian restaurant. Cathrine and Andy had split up since our last trip to Germany and when Cathrine dropped us off at Andy's flat to spend a few nights, she didn't go past the front door.

In Europe, apartment hunting is a very serious business. Much of the time the apartment, or flat, as they call it is without carpeting, kitchen cabinets, and major appliances. A few days before our arrival, Andy moved into his new apartment with his new girlfriend who came all the way from Berlin. They spent a few thousand on the installation of a new kitchen. That included new floor tile, new cabinets, and new appliances. The refrigerator looks just like another cabinet. The dish washer, clothes washer (often located in the kitchen), stove and oven also blend in with the cabinets. The clothes washer and dryer are generally one unit, but dryer portion doesn't seem to work adequately as most people use drying racks. Of course, in Italy, they just hang the laundry outside the window. Seriously, you see this everywhere in Italy. Closets are generally not built in as well. When you move you take everything with you, including carpet and cabinets.

Additionally, Cathrine's flat had been completely refurbished and she and her grandmother (Oma in German) were just moving back in. Cathrine has a new boyfriend in addition to taking extra training classes for her job. Add in that it was the Christmas season and this became a situation where Lyn and I felt we were only adding to the havoc. We decided it would be best for everyone concerned if we just continued on in our trip. Our goodbyes went okay for awhile. First Andy and his girlriend, the Andy's Parents, but the problems came with Cathrine and Oma. First, Oma started crying, then Cathrine and Lyn. We were just not destined to leave there yet.

My favorite museum in the world is the Deutsches! This is the music room where we listened to some people perform on some of the scores of instruments. The computer area was awesome!

The next few days did improve considerably as things slowed down. One day we journeyed to Munich. The Deutches Museum was incredible. We made a beeline for the computer section and saw such antiques as a Cray, IBM-370, and even a UNIVAC-1, the grand-daddy of them all. There was even a tourist there who told me about he had programmed the UNIVAC-1. In the musical instrument area, there was someone playing a pipe organ. There were large displays and models of all types of industries. There were all types of ships for both water and air. I have never seen anything that started to compare with it. The Smithsonian has so many treasures of our history, but the Deutches shows you everything about technology. We also visited Schloss Linderhof. Unfortunately, all the outdoor statues of the splendid residence were encased in their winter protection which looked very much like outhouses. We also took somewalks in the winter wonderland of Garmish.

Hamburg - Friday, December 27

We tried to contact our friends, Frank and Sabina, in our next intended stop, Hersching, but there was no answer, so we took the ICE train to Hamburg. Sylvia had said that they would provide us with a most memorable New Year and she was true to her word. When we were met at the train station, Lutz was carrying Martin (the youngest son) on his shoulders and Martin was waving an American flag. Sylvia and Lutz were wonderful hosts and we were especially appreciative that they and their other friends tried to speak English as much as possible.

Lutz and I strolled the red light district. Sylvia and Lyn were not permitted there - only working girls!

The first night Sylvia and Lutz took us to the most famous and/or infamous part of Hamburg: the Reeperbahn, or red light district. Actually, the famous part is a little side street where all the ladies of the evening hang out. Average women are not allowed as the working women keep guard. Lutz and I walked through while Lyn and Sylvia drank hot chocolates at Burger King. Girls would jump in front of us as we were walking along and offer their services. Unlike Amsterdam, I think about all of these girls were home grown. Like Amsterdam there were scantily clad girls displaying themselves in windows. At the end of the street, at the urging of Lutz, I snapped a picture and we ducked around the corner.

A condom store in Hamburg.

Sylvia was trying very hard to learn english, but there were some mistakes. She referred to Lutz's handicapped sister as being confined to an "armchair". And when we gave them a calendar as a Christmas present, she said she was so excited she was going to display it on the floor. She meant fleur (which is hallway in german). I asked her "you're going to put it on the floor so we can walk all over it?". She did do well when she was trying to explain what kind of chees we were eating. She went "baaa baaa baaa", you know, cheese from sheep.

The one time on the whole trip that we got a chance to skate was in Hamburg. Lyn, Mathew, (the oldest son of Sylvia and Lutz) and I went out on a tour of the neighborhood. Mathew was an amazing kid. Usually, children are the center of their universe, but Mathew was always looking out for us. He would try to help us out even when we didn't ask for it. Apparently, they did some things right in East Germany.

Sylvia had said that life was easier, not necessarily better, in East Germany. She and Lutz were married there. Kindergarten was about three years there and Sylvia would drop Mathew off at school early in the morning, go to work, and then pick him up again in the evening. Additionally, Mathew was fed at school. In other words, the government did a large part in raising the children. With Martin the younger child, she and Lutz have a lot more responsibility. The difference in the children is remarkable. Martin orders his mother to do everything for him. Sylkie, Sylvia's friend says this is all because of the difference in the way the children were raised.

On Sunday we took the train down to Cochem, again in search of the family castle. From reading our family genealogy, I knew that we had a castle in a region known as Alsace, but I wasn't sure of the name, whether it was Bilstein or Beilstein. I knew that it was close to the Mosel River. Chateau de Bilstein in France was near the Mosel, but it was closer to the Rhine. On the other hand Schloss Beilstein in Germany was right along the Mosel. This was a better candidate to locate the family roots and even if it wasn't the right one we would have covered both of them before leaving Europe. We spent the night in Cochem and ate in a German restaurant. The food was tasty, but the English menu that Lyn asked for appeared to have higher prices than the German menu.

The next morning we took the short bus ride from Cochem to Beilstein. Beilstein is a very small but very picturesque town squeezed in along the steep canyon walls along the Mosel. However, it seemed to have gone into hibernation as most of the businesses were closed. With the snow falling, it was quite a beautiful scene in Beilstein. We could see the castle way up on the hill, but we learned that it would be foolish to try and make it up there walking through a few inches of snow with more falling. If we got snow in our tennis shoes, our cold feet would be frozen. (For stome photos of the castle, see Beilstein castle - Photo Catalog or German Castle Beilstein.) After taking some pictures and shooting some video tape we hitch-hiked our way back to Cochem. We stayed the night in Koblenz, a city on the confluence of the Mosel and Rhine. On our way back to Hamburg we went through Cologne and caught another glimpse of its famous cathedral.

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