Tuesday, July 31, 2012

The End of the Road. Back to Amsterdam via Slovakia & Linz, Austria & Cologne, Germany

5100 Kilometers on our little Peugot in 21 days.  Amsterdam to Germany.  Germany to Prague.  Prague to Budapest.  Budapest to Pecs, then on to Sarajevo & Mostar.  Hvar for a week.  Then back to Amsterdam in four days: from Zagreb, to Linz, Austria, to Frankfurt, then finally Amsterdam again.  We thought it would be more painful, but in fact I think it was pretty darn wonderful.  The kids ended the trip even closer than when they started.  We all listened to some wonderful books on some of the longer drives.  We got some great family time, ate some wonderful food and saw many friends.  We were honestly SAD to come home.  And that was a first for us, which I gueaa is a sign of a great trip.  All I know is that we wanted to keep on going.  We knew that as soon as we got home life would start moving ahead at top speed and we just wanted to stop time and be together a bit longer.  Ah, well.  Some parting shots:

Thank you Germans for having such amazing playgrounds and playground equipment. 










A stop in Cologne, Germany (where Cologne was first invented. Duh!  That didn't hit me until we were leaving town and I kept wondering why they were selling perfume everywhere).  The HUGE gothic cathedral in Cologne was a pleasure to see...







Let us out of here!























Sunday, July 29, 2012

A stop in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany



The drive from Zagreb to Amsterdam could have been pretty uneventful and unexciting, as we had three days to do it and between 4-6 hours of driving per day.  The hotels we chose had swimming pools so we anticipated giving the kids lots of play time to end the trip with.  But Tom had suggested we make a stop in Rothenburg ob der Tauber before we headed to our hotel in Frankfurt, and I'm so glad he did!  The town was amazing.  A medieval walled town.  Filled to the brim with tourists, but for good reason.  You can walk around the town on the walls of the original fortress, looking down into the moat or onto the little winding streets.  The kids absolutely loved it...  A few strange facts about Rothenburg, however:

Rothenburg held a special significance for Nazi ideologists. For them, it was the epitome of the German 'Home Town', representing all that was quintessentially German. Throughout the 1930s the Nazi organisation "KDF" ("Kraft durch Freude") Strength through Joy organized regular day trips to Rothenburg from all across the Reich. This initiative was staunchly supported by Rothenburg's citizenry – many of whom were sympathetic to National Socialism – both for its economic benefits and because Rothenburg was hailed as "the most German of German towns".
In March 1945 in World War II, German soldiers were stationed in Rothenburg to defend it. On March 31, bombs were dropped over Rothenburg by 16 planes, killing 39 people and destroying 306 houses, six public buildings, nine watchtowers, and over 2,000 feet (610 m) of the wall. The U.S Assistant Secretary of War John J. McCloy knew about the historic importance and beauty of Rothenburg, so he ordered US Army General not use artillery in taking Rothenburg. The local military commander Major Thömmes ignored the order of Adolf Hitler for all towns to fight to the end and gave up the town, thereby saving it from total destruction by artillery.






On the wall...













Bella's chicken that she bought at a little gardening shop...
















Steps to the city walls.