Joanne Kuzma trip to Vietnam 2011

On Friday I flew to Frankfurt where we had group dinner in the hotel. Saturday we had a cruise along the Rhine for about 2.5 hours where we saw many forests,castles and small towns. We stopped to see the Lorelei Rock, which is said to have been home to sirens who lured sailors to their demise. In the afternoon we drove to Cologne for a visit to the impressive Gothic cathedral (started in 1248) which suffered several hits in WWII, but has been restored. Sunday morning we first drove to Hamelin (a town made famous by the Brothers Grimm Pied Piper fairy tale). Since it was Sunday, there was not much open in the town, but there was an interesting parade of children dresses in costume for a play about the Pied Piper. Later we drove to Hamburg, where I spend time in a candy shop and bought some maripan (very tasty treat).. Monday morning was an orientation drive around Hamburg and then continued on to Lubeck and then to Berlin.

Inside of Cologne cathedral

Outside of cathedral

Pied Piper parade

Fellow tourist sitting with devil in front of Hamburg church

Gates in front of Hamburg

One interesting point on our drive throughout the countryside was the number of windmill farms. It is nice seeing alternate forms of energy being used. On Tuesday morning our group drove around Berlin and saw sites such as the Reichstag, Brandenberg gate and the Berlin Wall. Berlin is a very large city with many things to do. If I had a choice, I would have skipped the past several cities and towns and spent more time in Berlin. We had a free afternoon and I took the underground to the Museum Island where I spent about 5 hours. The greatest thrill was the bust of Nefertiti in the Neu Museum, along with many other ancient antiquities. I then spent a few hours in the Pergamon Museum building as well. One could spend days in these. I also went to see Checkpoint Charlie - and that was a bit of a disappointment, but since I was there, I had to see it.

On Wednesday we had a tour of Dresden, and then drove to Leipzig, with very interesting architecture. Thursday morning we had a short stop in Weimar (town where the Weimar Republic was based). The city was not that interesting, but the area is famous for it sausages and wonderful smells of cooking. We then continued onto Coburg where we walked inside and outside the Veste Coburg Castle (very interesting with old suits of armor and other treasures).We continued onto Nuremberg where we saw the building where the WWII trials were held and went on a short tour.

Windmill farm

Berlin - Brandenberg gate

Berlin Wall

Joanne in front of wall

Joanne at Holocaust menorial

Berlin - Pergamon museum

Ishtar gate - Pergamon museum

Ancient wall tile

Performer in Leipzig

Beautiful tiled wall in Leipzig

Interesting sausage kiosk in Weimar

Coburg Castle

Outsideof Coburg Castle

Nuremberg - entrance to courthouse of WWII trials

Nuremberg

On Friday we visited the site of the Nazi party rally grounds - very sobering. It is actually disintegrating and the city of Nuremberg would have to spend millions to preserve it. We then drove to Rothenburg and onto Munich. Saturday morning we had a drive to see some major sites of Munich, then we had free time at lunch. I walked around the city center, and there were s few interesting market areas selling fruits and vegetables. The prices in Munich were very high - about $20 for a kilo of cherries and about $1.75 for a single scoop of ice cream. In the afternoon there was a visit to Dachau Concentration Camp - very sad. We only had 2 hours, and visiting the whole thing could easily take a day. On Sunday, it rained on our visit to Neuschwanstein Castle, so few of the outside pictures turned out. We were all very wet, during the visit. The inside tour was only 25 minutes, so it felt rather rushed and we did not really have time to enjoy things as much as just walking through on our own.

Nuremberg - Nazi party rally grounds

Interesting statue outside shop in Rothenburg

Palace outside Munich

Mushroom stall in center of Munich

Fruit vendor in Munich

Dachau Concentration Camp

barracks in camp

prisoners toilet

gas chamber building

ovens

entrance to 'showers' - gas chamber

entrance to camp

Neuschwanstein Castle

model of castle

view of castle

On Monday we visited Heidelberg, which was a very pleasant surprise. There was a very large castle at the top of a steep hill, so I spent several hours walking around the grounds and taking great pictures. This was an interesting city, and worth a visit. Monday we drove back to Frankfurt and took a short drive around the city. It is very modern with all glass and skyscrapers.

Joanne on bridge in Heidelberg looking up to castle	Joanne on bridge	View of Heidelberg	Heidelberg castle	castle	castle
View of Frankfurt