The Trip is Over

The journey ended last night when I arrived back in Florida.  What a great time, but glad to be back and see Tulsa and friends. 

Back in Dresden

After coming back to Dresden I actually ran into the same journeymen that I met in Quedlinburg.  Small World!  I am back at the Sunshine Hostel where there are two dogs to play with in my spare time.  They make me miss Tulsa.

The Return to Dresden

This morning I got up and decided to go on to Alternburg.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altenburg
I really wanted to see it but when I got there, there were no baggage lockers in the station, and I had to walk 2 km from the Train Station, with all my baggage to the tourist information center.  I don't know why, but Info centers are not located in the stations, but usually in the center of town.   When I got there I found that there was only one hostel in the area and it was actually in a town about 5km in the other direction from the station, and the least expensive hotel room was 68 Euros, which is definitely not in my budget.  Totally annoying!  So when I came  back to the station I decided to get the next train home.  Although I will probably want to go back there sometime I just wasn't in the mood.  It is good to be back home.

Weimar

Goethe's House

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimar

Weimar was the home to Goethe, Schiller, Listz, Beethoven, Hans Christian  Anderson, Walter Gropius, Etc.  It was one of the most important centers of the enlightenment in the 18th and Early 19th Centuries.  While I was there I made a new friend at the Hostel, and we went to a political comedy at a small cabaret the first night I was there.  It was a little difficult to get.  I probably only understood about 60%, but it was fun.  Then next morning we bought city tickets and set out to see the sights of Weimar, covering about 10 km, and 10 or 11 of the more than 30 museums there.  Kind of an exhausting day.  The next morning I walked out to Belvedere Palace and Gardens, which was really one of the nicest I have visited, but forgot to put the disk in my camera, so no photos there.

Quedlinburg

Quedlinburg was truly and amazing city.  There are so many fachwerk (half-timbered)  houses some that are over 500 years old, it was unbelieveable.  I think that the oldest house in Germany is here.  While I was there I ran into a couple of Journeyman Chimneysweeps at the Ritterfest. (Medieval Faire)  It is supposed to be really good luck to talk to them, so I said  hi.  Fest was actually in an old Noble's House and  courtyard.  I spent two days there and really saw a great deal of the city.  The castle and castle church were really interesting. Next stop Weimar

Hannover

After visiting Tim I went to Hannover, the capital of Lower Saxony.  It was a really beautiful and peaceful city.  I stayed there for three days, seeing all the sights.  It was also the Maschseefest while I was there, so of course I visited and had a few beers.  I was trying to upload a photo, but the connection here is so slow i almost fell asleep!  From Hannover I went to Quedlinburg, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It is known for its half timbered buildings.  There are over 1400 of them ranging from the 1400's to the Today.  I stayed there for two days and saw as much as I could, then moved on to Weimar.  Weimar was the first home of the Bauhaus school, and the first bauhaus building is here.  Today I will go to see some museums and do a little more sightseeing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanover
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quedlinburg

Koeln

Koeln from the top of the Dom (Cathedral)

Since Friday evening I have been in Koeln visiting my friend Tim Berkenhoff.  Tim has come to Tampa a few times to visit Horst, who's father was a prisoner with Tim's grandfather during WWII.  He really spent some time and effort treating me like a King!  On Saturday we went to the House of German History in Bonn, where we saw exhibits on the History of Germany from World War II until today.  It was really very interesting.  Saturday night we went to a dance party and on Sunday stayed in, it was raining and we were tired.  On Monday we went to Schloss Burg which is an enchanting fairy-tale sort of castle begun in the 13th century.  We also went to see the tallest Iron Work Bridge at 107meters high.  Tuesday we spent at the Dom and German Roman History Museum, and walked around the city center where we met Tim's cousin.  We really had a great time. Photos on Picasa.  Unfortunately Tim had to leave today to go for training for his new job, so I took the train to Hannover.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanover 

Last Day of Class A2

Today we finished level A2!  It was a really fun day, all the students in my class and the other A2 class mad a brunch item that is typical for their homeland.  Katje (Russia) made Crepes with Marmelade, Ely and Giselle (Mexico) made Guacamole with Pita, Ka Lee and Koon Yin (Hong Kong) Made Pot Stickers, Federico (Italy) Homemade Bread with Butter and Nutella, and I (USA) made Deviled Eggs.  Our teacher Nisreen (Jordan) made Hummus and Beans with Cheese and Olive Oil.
I'm not sure who made what from the other class, but everything was good and we had a great time!  Really an international Meal.  It was really sad to see everyone planning to go home to continue their studies.  Tomorrow I am going to Cologne to visit Horst's cousin Tim.  I will be there for a week, until he has to end his vacation and go to training for his new job.

Dresdens Hot Air Baloons

Every morning and evening there are Baloons hanging over Dresden.  This was the first time I was able to get a good picture of them.  My Gasthaus is the building in the lower left corner.

Sunshine Hostel

Since the beginning of this school session I have been staying at the Sunshine Hostel.  It is a nice place on the west side of town.   But you would think that in a country that brought us the Mercedes and BMW airconditioning or at least window screens, would be available in its buildings.  We have been in a heatwave for the last two weeks, and every place is boiling.  I have to have my windows wide open all the time.  My room is the one on the top floor in the corner with the bay. 

The first course is finished!

I should have posted this a week ago, but I finished my first course in school and got a certificate for German Level A2.  Not that that means much, but I start the next course today and will have a B1 when I finish it.
I am also moving from the university guesthouse tomorrow.  They had reservations for this term before I came here, so there is no room at the inn.  I will be moving to the Sunshine Hostel Dresden which is closer to the school.  I will stay there until the 23rd of July, then go to Cologne to visit Horst's cousin Tim.

Blasewitz II

I went back to Blasewitz where the Elbhangfest was yesterday and took a few photos which I have posted on Picasa.  Its a really beautiful area.  Afterwards I went to Radebeul for dinner with my friends.
Today I went to an exhibit in Friedrichstadt of three short films about Russia.  Very interesting.  Saw a little gallery exhibit afterwards.

Elbhangfest

This weekend I went with the gang to the Elbhangfest in Blasewitz.  The Elbhangfest (Elbe Bank Fest) is a wine festival in its 20th year.  I forgot to take my camera with me, but the photo is of Blasewitz, which is one of the most prestigious suburbs of Dresden.  All around on the hillsides are Villas and Luxury Estates, even a couple of palaces.  Naturally we all drank some wine and just generally had a great time.
I am off school for the week, and practicing my grammer lessons.  There are still a lot of things that just don't make any sense to me.  I'll keep trying though.  :)

Bunten Republik Neustadt

The Colorful Republic of the New City. This weekend was one of the biggest street festivals in Germany, and it was right here in Dresden! The whole area of the city was closed to vehicular traffic.  I would say its about a square mile.  Every street has multiple music venues, from DJ's to Bands, all competing for your attention.  The crowd is so thick you can barely walk, and this goes on for two days, then on Sunday it becomes the children's festival, and all the booths and music become family oriented.  I went with my regular bunch on Friday and Saturday nights.  It was very difficult to stay together, but we all had a great time!

Trabis, Wartburgs, and other old cars

The cars of the former eastern block are now really popular collectors items.  Although I think they were hated back in the old days because they were notoriously unreliable, I see them everywhere I go.  I have decided to start a photo collection of the ones I run across.

Pirna

Today I took the Schenllbahn (fast train) from Dresden to the neighboring city of Pirna.  Pirna is considered to be the gateway to Sachsen Switzerland, an area of mountains very popular with rock climbers and backpackers.  I went there to see the officers casino at the old soviet military barracks, which was originally built for the Royal Sachsen Field Artillery Engineers from 1901-1906.  It was a really nice looking group of brick buildings on the edge of town, heading into the mountains.
The old city was almost completely under renovation, including the castle Sonnenstein which was basically being gut renovated.  Napolean stayed in a house on the market square in the old town while he was besieging Dresden.  Today was the Stadtfest in Pirna, so photographs in the old town were a bit hard to take because of all the stages and booths being set up there.  If it weren't for having plans to go to the Buntes Republik Neustadt festival in Dresden tonight I would have probably stayed in Pirna for their festival which is also beginning tonight.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirna

My first post in German, English translation below

Hallo , ich kann nicht glauben, es ist fast zwei Wochen. Ich bin gut und eine tolle Zeit hier in Dresden. Ich habe viele neue Freunde aus der Klasse gemacht und auch in der City. Meine Klasse ist eine Menge Spaß, und ich habe große Klassenkameraden. Es gibt nur 5 in meiner Klasse jetzt. Zwei Mädchen aus Mexiko, einer aus Russland, und ein Mann aus Neuseeland, und mir. Unser Lehrer ist aus Jordanien. Nächste Woche hat sie jordanischen Für ein Abendessen für uns alle ist. Morgen abend werde ich Salsa tanzen bin mit den Mädchen aus Mexiko. Dieses Wochenende ist der Buntes Republik Neustadt Partei. sie schließen Sie den ganzen Neustadt, haben alle Autos zu gehen, keine Busse und keine Straßenbahn. die Leute bringen ihre Sofas und Stühle auf die Straße und es ist eine Band am evey Straßenecke. Es dauert von Freitag Abend bis Montag Morgen ohne zu stoppen. Ich glaube, ich am Montag wird müde sein. . Achten Sie darauf, mit Liebe, Walter
Hello, I can't belive it's almost two weeks. I am doing well and having a great time here in Dresden. I have made many new friends from class and also in the City. My class is a lot of fun, and I have great class mates. There are only 5 in my class now. Two girls from Mexico, one from Russia, and a guy from New Zealand, and me. Our teacher is from Jordan. Next week she is making an Jordanian dinner for us all. Tomorrow night I am going Salsa dancing with the girls from Mexico. This weekend is the Buntes Republik Neustadt party. they close off the whole Neustadt, all the cars have to go out, no busses, and no trams. the people bring their sofas and chairs into the street and there is a band on evey street corner. It lasts from Friday evening until Monday morning with no stop. I think I will be tired on monday. Take care, with love, Walter

First Day of Class

 I woke up at 5 this morning and took this picture from the top floor of the guest house.  I did a little better than I thought on my test and am in the second level group.  There are seven students in my class.  Two are from Mexico, one from New Zeland by way of Finnland, one from Russia, one from Hong Kong, and one from Taiwan, and of course me.  Our teacher is from Jordan.  The first day was fairly simple with an overview of the nominative and accusative cases.  All but one of the students are staying at the guest house.  I think I will do pretty well.

TUDIAS

I started school today with a placement exam this morning.  Not sure how I did, but I don't think it was too good.  It started with knowing the definite articles, proper adjectives, pronouns, etc.  Then I had to write a paragraph.  I think my broken spoken German translated into really bad written German.  We will see tomorrow.  I also got settled into the International Student Guesthouse today.  There was a last minute cancellation and I got the room.  Hurray!  I was getting a little nervous, and was tired of moving around.
I will also get my laptop tomorrow, and will be able to upload photos.  Bis später.
Walter

The Sun is Shining!

I guess its been a few days since my last post, and this is going to be a short one.  The sun is finally shining here, and I have made some new friends.  This evening I will go to a garden party at their garden in Radabeul.  Can't wait!  Hope all of you are having a great summer!

Tuesday in Leipzig

So I got up this morning and its raining again. But I spent the day walking in the rain and taking pics of Leipzig.  I saw two of the best Art Deco buildings, and one of the most beautiful churces I have ever seen.  I tried to figure out the computer situation yesterday, but its still an issue.  I did get a prepaid phone though.  My new number is 0160 99891176  You have to dial in the international code 011 and country code 49 first Drop the 0 from my number 160, then dial the rest of the digits.  So it should look something like this  011 49 160 99891176.  If it doesn't work look up the instructions in google.  It is free for me to recieve calls, but costs 2€ per minute to dial out international.  I'm looking forward to hearing from you.
Walter

Leipzig

I came to Leipzig last night, but haven't taken any photos yet, because all of my SD cards are full.  Mom looked at shipping my computer to me, but it cost $250 to send it!  So I have been looking at netbooks today.  They cost about the same as the shipping, so I think I will do that.  I also looked at getting a phone.  I can get a prpaid sim card that will work in my phone.  Incoming calls are free, so once I have it, feel free to call.  I will post my new number.  Outgoing international calls are expensive so don't expect me to call you unless I can get to a call center.   Of course it is raining again!  This is getting a little depressing.  I will make another post after I have taken some pics.  Leipzig is almost as nice as Dresden.

Meissen and Lommatsch

I forgot, but I also went to Meissen and Lommatsch on Friday.  Both of these cities are in the Dresden area and I was able to go by tram and bus to see them.  The tram card for the whole region for the day was €12 so that wasn't so bad.  Of course, just like everywhere else, it was raining.  While I was in Meissen, it rained so hard and the cobblestones were so slippery, and the terrain so hilly that I thought I would take a really bad spill.  Luckily I didn't, just slipped down a stairway, but my backpack took the hit.  In Lommatsch the rain had ended for a while, so I walked around looking for one of the buildings that I saw on the auction.  It was an old butchershop that was built in 1802.  The place was huge, and the minimum bid is €500!  All over Europe and Especially in the former communist countries, the small towns are losing people, some by as much as 20 to 30% in the last 10 years.  This is a problem that is recognized by the European Union, and they are trying to do something about it.  Unfortunately their best answer is to tear down most of the unused buildings.  This of course does nothing to make small towns a better place to live.  Some countries, like Spain are assisting young people to return to small villages with financial assistance to make it possible to afford to live in them, since there is not any work in most of these places. 

Dessau and the Bauhaus

Went to Dessau Saturday night and Sunday, and looked around the city and especially at the Bauhaus sights.  It was really an amaying and insightful visit.  Saturday night there was a concert in the basement of the Bauhaus school.  It was the 15th anniversary of a local Rock Band from Dessau.  The whole place was packed.  I think it was a really good place to celebrate the arts.  I spent some time talking with the director of the Klum am Bauhaus.  He was a really nice man and very helpful.  On Sunday morning I met a woman from Nurnberg who was there to see her voice instructor who was perforning in Candide at the State Theatre.  Whe was also really helpful and assists tour groups of highschool bands, etc. as well as having a traditional toy and woodcutting booth at the Nurnberg Christkindl Markt.  I got her card as she is in Dresden for work some times.  Great!  In the evening I came to Leipzig by train.  Typically I can't access my photos from this computer, and I also have all of my SD cards used up. Damn!

Just so you can see me

I took this pic the other day, but when the bus driver asked if I qualified for the senior pass (over 60 ) I decided to get a razor and shaved this morning.

Dresden-The most beautiful city in the world

So I arrived Friday afternoon in Dresden and started sightseeing with my pack on.  I was amazed!  I think it is easily the most beautiful city I have ever been to, and replaces Chicago as my favorite city in the world!  I have spent the last three days walking around and taking the street cars and buses taking pictures all the way.  I am staying in a camping place on the outskirts of the city and really am getting to know my way around.  Yesterday I went to the Grosser Garten, a city park which has an old palace at its center, and used to be the hunting ground for the King.  Then I went to the area called the Wilder Mann this is on a hilltop overlooking the city.  The view was amazing! 
I have decided I like it here so much that I am going to check into the summer language school program at the University.
Last night and today it has been raining really hard so I found this net cafe and started uploading photos to the desktop so I could transfer them to my Picassa album, but couldn't use picassa because I don't have the authority to install it and neither does the guy working here.  So I can only put up my main photo here today and have wasted the last hour of transferring photos!  Whatever.
Well my mom wants to know how my knee is and what I have been eating.  The knee is feeling much better, and is about the normal size.  I have been eating rolls with butter or cheese for breakfast and lunch since I got to europe, and having a dinner of whatever the local specialy is.  This has worked out pretty well except that I have noticed that I had to move by belt one hole over from its usual place.  That probably makes some of you jealous, but I think its just that I have tomned up a little.
I'm going to end this post here today and look for someplace where I can upload my picassa albums to.
Auf Wiedersehen!

Vienna to Prague

I wrote a whole post here the other day, but for some reason its not here , so I will try to recreate it.

I went back toVienna from Oberwart and thought I would make one more try at the State Archives, but when I got there they were already closed.  They have different hours every day of the week, so if you don't know that you're just out of luck.  It was another cold wet day in Vienna and my knee was still bothering me so I took the overnight train to Prague.  It was cheaper than a hotel and I have always wanted to go to Prague anyway.  But just one more stab from Austria, the ticket agent didn't reserve my seat aand I spent the next 6 hours sitting in the corridor of the train. 

When I arrived in Prague it was 3 in the morning and I couldn't even use the toilet without a Czech crown!  So I looked around for someone to change a euro to a crown because I had to go pretty bad.  Then after a shop opened I got a few more crowns and went for a walking tour of the city.  My knee was still hurting but It was to early to do anything else.  I walked around until about 1 in the afternoon.  Prague is a really beatuiful old city but the late 19th century areas look like Liberace threw up!  everything is over decorated.  There are a lot of cool art deco and art nouveau buildings, but I think the best part of the city is the old city and Prague castle.  You can really feel the history there.  The Charles Bridge is one of the most beautiful bridges in the world.  About every fifty feet there are sculptures on either side of the bridge.   

After seeing the old city I took the train to Dresden because I didn't want to change euros to crowns and then back to euros later.

Burgenland

Well things just aren't going very well.  I have been here for two days, and can't camp because there isn#t a campground, and I haven't met anyone. so I have had to stay in a Pension, which I can't afford right now.  I waited all day yesterday for the parish priest so I could look at the old church records, but he was a no show, and noone knows where he is today either.  I guess he will have to be here Sunday, but I think by then I will be gone.  Not sure what I will be doing next, maybe heading to Croatia and Adriatic Sea.  At least its warm there and maybe I can camp on the beach.  The weather here has been awful, one sunny day, yesterday, but its rainy again today.  No pics today sorry.

The Donautal, Vienna, Bad Tatzmannsdorf

The Donautal is the Danube Valley where it goes through the Schwabian Alps.  It is really beautiful here.  Really high mountains with castles an monasteries everywhere you look.  I wish I had the energy to climb up and look at some of them, but by this time my knee was starting to bother me.  I kept on walking though until I came to Beuron.  In Beuron is a very large Benedictine monastary.  It was nic to see, so I had a lite dinner here and then kept going until I reache Siegamaringen.  By this time I couldn't go down stairs, so I went to the doctor.  He said I needed to take a break gave me some cortizone and a prescription for 400mg ibuprofen.  I took his advice and decided to take a train to Vienna and visit the Kaisers archives to check on my great grandfathers military record.  However I just realized that I gave them the wrong birth year and although I found a lot of relatives records I didn't find his.  I guess I will have to go back.  I have to anyway because it was another cold and rainy day.  I decided to do some laundry, which was really a debacle.  The maschine didn't work and I couldn't gt my clothes back out.  I was freezing in a pair of shorts and a tshirt, until a chinese girl came in and helped me out.  She called the owner who came an retrieved my clothes and paid for the dryer.  Then I got warmly dressed and headed to Bad Tatzmannsdorf, my grandfathers hoem town.  By the time I got here the camping platz was closed, but the police, who had seen me on the road earlier told me to go ahead and stay and talk to the owners in the morning.  So I did.  I never saw the owners though.  When I got up there was nobody around so I hung out for a while, but when noone came I went into town to the Catholic Church to look at their birth records, etc.  The priest told me that sine it was such a small village back then I would have to go to the county seat, Oberwart, where I am writing from now.  While I was waiting for the bus I had a look around an came to the war memorial, where there was a list of Fiedlers and other relatives who had died in WWI, and WWII.  I took the bus to Oberwart and am waiting to meet with the prist here.

Until the next tim Auf Wiedesehen

Gutmadingen to Niederdingen

After breakfast I took off  back to the road.  From here the route went through a lot of small towns until I came to the town of Immadingen.  If it seems like all the towns end in ingen, in Schwabia I think they do.  After Immadingen the Danube sinks into the ground and disappears for about 155 days of the year, and goes through the very porous limestone until it comes out about 200m lower downstream.  Because of all the rain there has been in the last month I did not get to witness this phenomena, so I kept trekking on.  At Niederdingen I was tired, it was getting dark so I made my camp alonside the river and went to sleep.  When I woke up Sunday morning I could hear church bells ringing all around the valley.  I got cleaned up and dressed and headed of through the Schwabisch Alps.

Gutmadingen

Gutmadingen was the town that I was sent to.  When I got there it was about 8 oclock and I walked into the first Gasthaus that I saw, the Gasthaus Ochsen (oxen).  When I came in there was a small group of people at the table, I asked them if I could gt something to eat here, and they looked at me and said I could eat wine there, then the owner came out and said of course I could and brought me a menu.  He sked if I could read German and I said yes.  I ordered and got the best Jagrschnitzel I have ever had.  While I wa eating I could tell the people were talking about me.  The owner came back to my table and asked about where I was from, etc.  H invitd me to put up my tent in his garden  We talked for a few minutes and he invted me to come to the Stammtisch, the table everyone else was at, I said thank you and did.  This is rare to be invited to the Stammtisch so I was impressed.  So I had a beer with everyone and then as a treat one of the other men who was there and is a magician put on a show for the group.  We all had a great time and then I was invited by one of the other men, Rudi, to stay at his house instead of camping.  I thought this was a great idea so we went back to his house and talked about all kinds of things until 2 in the morning then I got to sleep on the sofa bed.  Next morning we got up and had breakfast, which one of the others had brought over for us.  Gutmadingen is the home of a tractor manufacturer and they will have a big antique tractor fest this weekend, to which I was invited back.  Unfortunately because of the knee problem and being in Austria now I will not be able to go.

Donaueschingen to Gutmadingen

Friday afternoon I got off the train in Donaueschingen and headed to the Donauquelle.  This is the original source of the Danube.  A small spring next to the Furstenberg palace, surrounded by a colonade with sculptures and tablets on the wall from all the countries the Danube goes through.   I started from this point and headed to the Donaususammenfluss.  This is the point where two small rivers come togther and the Danube really begins.  From this point I headed downriver through rolling countryside until I came to the first village the river runs through.   The village had a small hunting castle called schloss Entenberg.  from here I went on to the next village which was a little smaller, but very nice looking.  By this time it was late and I was starving, however there was no place open to eat.  The only Gasthaus only sered drinks.  They told me I could get something at the next town, so I went on, tired and hungry.

Aschaffenburg to Donaueschingen

Last Friday I lft my friends in Aschaffenburg and took the train to meet a friend in Mainz, but when I got to Darmstadt I mad a call to him and he was unable to meet me there.  Since it was a cloudy and rainy day I decided not to stop in Mainz and upgraded my ticket to Donaueschingen.  The weather has been really cold and cloudy since I got here.  This brought me down the Rhein valley  and through the Black Forest.  The Black forest is the home of all the Grimm Fairy tails and was really beautiful from the train.  Really perfect little farms with lots of cows and sheep.  Unfortunately the photos from the train are all reflections and useless.  This is an area I will have to visit again on its own.

The first few days

I started at Donaueschingen, the home of the Furstenbergs, where two rivers come together to make the Donau (Danube)  and have gone about 90 miles so far.  Sorry there is no picture today, but I am doing this quickly.  Yesterday I started to have water on my knee and today it is about 3x normal size.  I am on the way to a doctor and will see if I can keep walking.  I will update later with the whole story and some photos.

Days 4 and 5

I have spent the last two days visiting Aschaffenburg and nearby areas with my friend Chris and her son Linus.  We have had a really great time and seen a lot of sights.  Chris and I went to the castle park Schönbusch, then I visited the Pompeianum and Schloss Johannisburg.  The three of us went to the Schloss Mespelbrunn, and Kloster Engelsberg, and Miltenberg together.  We had some really good food and wine on the way. [ http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mespelbrunn , http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schloss_Johannisburg , http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aschaffenburg , http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miltenberg ] Check the wikis, I think theses are in German, but you can find it in the english wikipedia also.  Chris and I also visited some friends, Martina and Helmut at his new pub the Goldfisch in the old city in Aschaffenburg.  I think I know why I still like it here, the friends are great!

Be sure to check out my picassa albums too to see all the photos.

Days 1 ,2 , and 3

The first 2 days I spent in the airport or in the air.  Continental lost my bags in Washington D.C. and made me late for my flight to Germany, so I spent the night in Newark, then spent the next day in the airport waiting to find out if I would be flying that day because of the volcano in Iceland.  I did leave on Sunday night at 7:30 and arrived in Frankfurt at 10:30 mondy morning.  I took the train to Aschaffenburg where I was stationed in the Army.  I met a nce older couple and had a gloss of my favorite wine at the Schloss Weinstube. They insisted on giving me 20 euros to help on my trip.  Then I met my friend Christine Hytha-Schmitt at the Bahnhof.  Although I hadn`t seen her in 23 years it was like we had seen each other yesterday.  She was working so I went to the Cafe Würst Bindel where I met a man who was clelbratinng his 81st birthday.  We had a beer and Dopplekorn (schnapps), and talked a while.  Then I went to meet Chris again at her work and came to her house where I met her children and had a great dinner.
On Tuesday Chris and I went to the schlosspark Schönbusch where we had a great walk around the park and a coffee.  We went shopping after then she went to work.  I spent the rest of the day visiting tzhe city and took a lot of photos.  Unfortunately her computer didn.t recogniz my disk so I will have to post them on the nex post.  We came back to her house where I met another old friend. Frank, and his wife.  I made spaghetti for the family and then posted this.  Until the next time Auf Weidersehn.

Leaving In An Hour

Going to the airport in an hour to start the days travel.

Before I Go

Thought I would set up the tent once just to make sure It was livable.  This is everything I am carrying with me.  Hope its not too much.

Leaving May 8th

Booked my ticket to Frankfurt today and will be leaving on May 8th.

The Beginning

Beginning in May 2010 I will be backpacking the length of the Danube from its source in Donauschingen, Germany to its mouth in the Black Sea, solo.  This will be my first backpacking expedition, and my first Blog.   I will be traveling lite.  I plan to carry my backpack, sleepingbag, tent and a few clothes. 
The Danube is one of the oldest routes of human migration and has been so for around 50,000 years.  See its wiki at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danube  Along its banks are European Capitals, small villages, natural wonders, and millions of people. I hope to at least meet a few of them, and to learn about their history and culture. During 2010 the Danube Tourist Commision has chosen "Romans on the Danube" as its theme. Expect to find out a little about the River being the northern border of their empire. There are also many festivals and events taking place along the Danube, and I plan to enjoy as many of them as possible. To get a head start you can check this link:  http://www.danubesalesmanual.com/  and the Commissions website at   http://www.danube-river.org/
I will be posting to this blog as often as possible, although I won't be carrying my laptop because of weight, I will stop at internet cafes as often as possible to update this page.  I hope you will enjoy reading what I have to say, and will share my blog with your friends.
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