Salzburg, Romantic Road and Black Forest

November 21-24 2007
Salzburg, Fussen, Baden-Baden & Titisee.




Salzburg:
We took lots of Video footage as its really a buzzy place, and picturesque, so we had two days here. There are pictures of the Abbey and the gates where the Von- Trapp's held up when the Nazis were after them in "The Sound of Music". We spent lots of time in the old town in the squares and market areas, where Christmas was about to get into full swing. Our hotels were great, and we had a great time. We met some Aussies on the first night on the street when that were asking passers by if the spoke english, we said yes, you guys sound Aussie. So we stood there for 45 minutes talking to some english speaking people. it was great to hold a conversation. Like good Aussies, they swore like troopers,(made me feel like swearing too) we laughed heaps.
Pictures don't do this place justice, magical at night. It was really cold, so we did as the locals do, (you know the old sayng...when in Rome....) so we went to the square, drank some hot wine and stood around the open braziers, warming our cold little butts, watching the open air ice skaters, and listening to the band do their Christmas music.

Fussen (Romantic Road)
This area is known as the Romantic Road area which is south east of Munich, and goes up towards Stuttgart. THis was great scenery, with lots of snow,(see pics) and little towns dotted all the way along the way. This is Castle area of Germany, and we have a shot of one of King Ludwig's castles, which, if it looks familiar to you, is what Walt Disney modeled Disneyland's castle from.
We stayed overnight in Stuttgart, we were about half a km away from the Porsche Factory, its more like a city, amazing.

Baden-Baden, Titisee (The Black Forest)
Next Day down the Black Forest area. The start of this is Baden-Baden, and we stumbled on this place, but what a find. Its an up market town with natural thermal springs, with Ritzy hotels, and wonderful cobblestone pedestrian streets, in a very old traditional style. You could just tell there was money dripping off nearly everyone walking by.
They too were getting into Christmas (a decked out hotel courtyard with Nativity scene see Pic), its a wonderful experience as they really get into Christmas in Europe. At the end of the pedestrian area is the stream to the park and one of the buildings that one of the Kaisers had built, beautiful columns, and frescos, and ornate ceiling work as the photo shows. This places is nestled in the hillside, one of the worlds best kept secrets.
Towards the Swiss border, up in the alpine area, (found this by accident, as we went to Freizberg, but it was boring), so we decided to go Titisee, and started winding up through hills and through valley's, up up and up to Titisee. Ski resort on a highland lake, what more can you say.
Off to Switzerland.... bye

Denmark Cont, Berlin, Prague & Munich

Leaving Denmark, Berlin, Prague and Dachau (Munich).
Denmark:
We were there a few extra days due to my back, which is getting better slowly, but some days are better than others.
There is a photo of the Jorgensens who we stayed with in Denmark, who are ex LIFE (CLCA'ers really) family. They were so good to us and when we showed them some of the WR DVD's we did, and the RAK day DVD, they were in tears they really miss our church, and seeing faces they knew, but they are doing a great job up here.

Berlin:
We only went out the night we arrived, but it was worth it. You will see 2 photos, one of the Brandenberg Gate, ad the other is the Reich-stag (Parliament).

Prague:
Hmmmm, a little disappointed after all that we had heard about this place. It was pretty dirty, all the shops the same stuff in them, very "Touristy", and outside of Prague Castle, they re not really kept in great condition. Our hotel room rocked and it was cheap, and food was great.

Dachau (Munich):
This is the first and was the "model" of all Nazi concentration camps. The SS training camp was directly opposite, and as they developed their Death squads, and torture techniques, they tried them out there first. They also did all they "scientific" experiments and so called medical research on the sick and weak who could no longer work, most of whom died from the horrific things done to them.

As we walked through the main building where areas of torture, the instruments they used were on display, the photos, footage ad testimony of the atrocities done there, it is beyond words, it is just something that moves your soul, and turns your stomach. Standing in the main yard where the roll calls took place you can still sense the hell that they went through. I took the photos there, in 0 degrees and a heavy fog, which is what they lived in for so may days of the year.

Now in Salzburg, photos to come. The hills are alive..............with the sound of music!

Denmark Cont

Denmark Continued
Tonder, Meldetonder, and Ribe.
Had a day or two of Just driving around. Unfortunately I didn't have the camera on our first visit to Tonder, which was on dusk when the lights went on in the square, and they had the full Christmas lights on it was amazing.
The next town is the old town where it was thatched roofs and old buildings, an amazing main street, freezing cold though the streams and ponds frozen over to a lesser or greater extent. Then we drove along the dykes, heading north up the west coast, and ended up in Ribe pronounced (Rebay). It was the capital of Denmark before Copenhagen. I have a photo of the old church, and the streams trough the township, it's sort of in the middle of nowhere but lots of tourists there with beautiful little shops.

Unfortunately that was it for sightseeing, I have done something a while ago to my back, and its been getting steadily getting worse, but two days ago it flared up that i could not sit down lie down stand walk, with the spasms. So the last two days I'm on painkillers, and anti inflammatory pills. I have never been in so much pain for so long. Popped a sleeping pill last night and I am still really taking it easy, and have had to stay on here in Denmark, we are so blessed we are at Gert and Sabines, as they have been really helpful, and keep opening up there home to us till I am better. Thank you Jesus.

Hamburg and Denmark

Hamburg and Denmark.








Hamburg:
Outside for the big storm in the North Sea that caused sea surges, that flooded the lower parts of the city in Hamburg. This put us in a Traffic am that took us 3 hours to go 3 km's. Hmmm.... anyway we were only there for the old sites where the Beatles started their careers. So here it is, A photo of the Indra Club, outside then the stage inside, it was a great moment ,......for me anyway. They had lots of stuff from the Beatles there, but they weren't open for business, so I had to do some sweet talking to the cleaners to get in.

Denmark:
We are here for 6 days, with Gert and Sabine Jorgensen, who were apart of our church for 3 years before they went back to Denmark. They have just started a church here and I preached for them. We have done nothing but eat since being here. Today we went to a Castle about a hour and a half away, what a beautiful place as the pictures show. Then we went to Odense the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen (the yellow house).

The photo of the car is there to show that its really really cold here. That was taken at 10 am and it was still covered in ice..... Bye for now.

Hamburg and Denmark pics

Brugge and Amsterdam

Brugge (Belgium) and Amsterdam.

Instead of Brussells we decided on Brugge which we saw on a program like Getaway. just before we left. It was an amazing place 11th Century buildings and a romantic place to be, so we stayed an extra day to take it all in. Wonderful people, places and food. Lots of pics, but we have put 7 on here. It really is hard to describe just how beautiful it really is. Two days was great and enough, and we were off to Amsterdam.Traffic into Antwerp was terrible so stopped for breakfast to let it subside, then got on the road again( Car Photo is enclosed). It is a great car and we have worked out GPS and how to drive a manual where everything including you are on the wrong side of the road.

We only had from Lunchtime till the morning here, so we got into our hotel and hopped on a tram and went into town. Everywhere we went there was the smell of dope, and lots of Coffee houses (which is their name for tinny houses). So we had a coffee in a cafe, not a coffee house.... but I was tempted.... nah.. not really. This is a city where it is nearly all 20 year olds, there are so many young people here, we felt really old. Its an exciting place with lots of energy, unfortunately its all funnelled into te wrong things, but what a great place to start a church, lots of young people who could change a city... A couple of photos here.

Kusadasi & Santorini photos

Kusadasi, Patmos & Santorini Cruise Days 9,10 & 11










Kusadasi: Was a sleepy fishing village, and trading place for camels, (unfortunately, I couldn't get a good trade for Sharon, so I kept her), but has now become a great place to shop because it's where the cruises come in, a real tourist mecca. Turkey is a beautiful place, with very friendly people. We spent a few hours in a cafe doing internet, and chatting with the owner He was a great source of info and a quick cultural lesson. In the Bazaar we picked up some nice things, but boy do they hound you, every step of the way, and at each store..

Patmos:
We didn't do a tour here, just wandered around the streets, a few arty shops
doing jewelery, other than that it was only going up the mountain to the Grotto where John was "supposedly" exiled to... who knows.... , a pretty boring place, but different.

Santorini (Fina)
This really is as amazing as the postcards show, even though we didn't get the clearest of days (as you can see by the pics). The labyrinth of streets and lanes held lots of exciting cafe's , artisans displaying their amazing wares. The glass products, the enameled jewelery, the silver, gold, and crystal was bedazzling. Soaking up the atmosphere, and the architecture and scenery was just great, we had a awesome day. As we were leaving, we overheard one of the business owners of a cafe say that his property, which is on the cliff face was worth 2 million euro (4 million NZD) not bad...