Friday, our final full day. And just a week ago we were diving into Vienna...

Anyway, wsking up to the clear cool mountain air we head to some of the more industrialized areas of Germany.

After breakfast and loading we head north past Lucerne again, towards northern Switzerland and into the Schwartzwald, or Black Forest area of southwestern Germany. We stopped at a Roadside shop, hotel, and eating place. Of course many had to have the Schwartzwaldtorte, or Black Forest Cake.

Some pieces were small, some medium,
 and like this one, rather large (check the full sized table knife beside it.) Regardless of size they all were excellent.

This building has a life-sized Cuckoo clock affixed. It hoots and plays a.music and dancing theme on the hours.

Back on the bus and more driving North. Tons of traffic heading south for another vacation? weekend (Pentecost Sunday). It was a good thing we were going North. Hours of southbound backups...

We finally got to Heidelberg to see the huge old schloss, or castle. It was left to rot over 350 years ago so it's not in the best of shape.

Heidelberg is also home to a world famous university, one of the earliest in Europe.

A little free time to buy Gummi candy and try the Flower Eis. 

It's chocolate ice cream scooped like big petals, then vanilla eis petals, with a chocolate cookie on top... guess who ordered this? Why our resident chocoholic I believe....

Anyway, back on the bus to our hotel. Check in and head to dinner. Very nice dinner. For me, the best part was having real ice water!!! Was especially important because we discovered our hotel room air conditioners only blow hot Air! And it got to about 85 today... looking forward to a miserable night. Then the Nebraska group is at breakfast at 6.30, on the bus at 7.15, and heading to Frankfurt airport. We expect to be back on Omaha about 8.40 pm Saturday if all goes well.

See you soon!

Had another busy day.

We (most of the Nebraska contingent) met our contract driver to take us to the Girl Guides and Girl Scouts World Center "Our Chalet" located in Adelboden, Switzerland. Got there about 9.30 for a flag raising ceremony, the pinning ceremony, and a tour of the facility.

After taking a nice walk in the hills we went into Adelboden for lunch. Selections for lunch places was slim as Thursdays are the "rest" day and most are closed. Our driver, while waiting, had driven into town, found a good and open restaurant, and made reservations! Had a really good lunch with a very good view.
Here is Maria's lunch plate...

The driver did some scrambling but got us to the meet up point at the base of theach Mt Pilatus gondola station with 15 minutes to spare.

We all boarded the bus and headed for a live Swiss Folklore show about 30 minutes north of Lucerne ( which made the drive home 30 minutes longer since the event was North of town and our hotel is an hour South of town. A discussion for another day...).

We just got back at 9.45. We leave tomorrow to head to the Black Forest and Heidelberg.

Wednesday in Europe...

Left the hotel and drove down the mountain to Innsbruck. Started our tour by seeing a presentation on King Maximilian, then the Golden Roof, then a quick visit, not so quick for some, to the Swarovski crystal office. Spectacular  workmanship.

Then some personal sight seeing and lunch, then on the road to Switzerland. Had a detour through some very winding country roads but the scenery was fantastic. Had a rest stop for lunch then heading for the tiny principality of Liechtenstein.

Left there and entered Switzerland. More winding roads and scenery. 

Ran into a tremendous storm - high winds, heavy rain, temperature drop of 10 degrees C, and even some small hail.  Got to the hotel safely, unloaded the bus and got our rooms  then dinner. Another evening of being too hungry to stop for pictures; the food was excellent. Mac and cheese with fried onions and applesauce (right, sounds weird but it works), some barley soup with bread, and fresh fruit dessert.

We are ready for a good night in this cool mountain air and more adventures on the morrow...

Made it to the kronen hotel in the Alps above Innsbruck. Seems like an older hotel but rooms are more spacious and we can open the balcony door and leg the cool mountain air flow in.

Spent the day looking at mad king Ludwig's creations, neuschwanstein and LinderHof. Spectacular... a must see in everyone's lifetime.

Also got a special stop in one of my favorite towns Oberammergau...

Two of the specialties we had yesterday..

The ice cafe is what I call a coffee float.

The second is the spaghetti eis... a layer of cream, the ice cream is squeezed thru a ricer to look like spaghetti, then covered with a strawberry jam and chunk white chocolate for the parses an cheese. Delicioud

Had a very nice breakfast at the Ibis hotel in Munich's west end. Included scrambled eggs and bacon!

Headed to the NazI concentration camp of Dachau. Was very sobering. Especially since today is Memorial Day. We remember all who sacrificed. Two US Army units helped liberate the camp on April 29, 1945, just days before the war in Europe ended - the 42nd infantry Division and the 2nd Armored Division.

We headed into Munich for a walking tour. Arrived at the Marienplatz just in time to see the Glockenspiel play. Still cute.

Lunch was at the biggest beer hall in the world, the Hofbreu House. Adult beverages were sampled by only us 2 adults who like beer.

A little free time then we joined the group for a bus tour of other parts of Munich. Dinner was at another beer hall where we had a pork ragout I guess with steamed vegetables. Dessert was a cherry compote with Bavarian cream swirled in the center.   Many went back to the hotel to pack for our departure tomorrow to see two of Mad King Ludwig's marvelous castles then into Innsbruck.

Today was really warm, about 85, with some light wind and very dry.

Not as many tourists so I presume the locals went back to work....

Up early on a Sunday morning, finished packing, had breakfast, and departed the hotel in the Vienna area heading for Munich, (It's very difficult useing a German-based keyboard...) with a stopover in Salzburg. Took about 3.5 hours including one rest stop break. Got to Salzburg and started touring with the Mirabel gardens, then crossing the Salzach River into the old city area.  Saw Mozart's birthhouse then on to the area of the Dom (cathedral) and the University. Stopped for lunch in a nice restaurant that was not closed (after all, it's Sunday and most businesses, including restaurants in tourist areas, do close.)  We had a spargl (white and green asparagus, in season now) risotto.  Quite good.  Then on to see the Dom, but there was a church service happening so entry was restricted.


Departed Salzburg to Munich.Traffic was very bad since most long weekend vacationers were reurning home. So a two hour trip took about 3.5 hours.  The restaurant did keep dinner for us - chicken with a great spaetzl (small potato dumplings) and a good salad.


Then off to the hotel Ibis, the same chain we used in London 4 years ago.  A long, very warm day so I think everyone headed to their rooms to sack out. Lots of locals in their tradtitional Bavarian attire for men - lederhosen - leather shorts with suspenders.  Must be the holiday of there's a convention in town.


Munich tomorrow starting at 8am....

Up for breakfast before heading into Vienna. Several other travel groups ate before we did. They emptied the coffee! Almost caused an incident but the hotel was able recover quickly. Nice breakfast of yogurt, rolls, cereal, 2 types of lunch meat and cheese, as well as hard boiled eggs and several types of liquids.

Everyone made the bus departure on time, which doesn't always happen and angers the other travelers.

Seven of the Nebraska group headed to throw "Prater" which is a huge amusement park. We were almost the first group on the huge ferris wheel. Kinda based on the London Eye which many of us did 4 years ago, but this one started over 100 years ago! The girls also did a roller coaster which looked fun.

We then hiked over to the U-Bahn, or underground train which we took to the Naschmarket which is 3 to 4 blocks of dual food and drink stalls and dining - anything from North Sea fish to more modern fare such as pretzels to pasta. Numerous types and quantities of drinks.

After lunching we met the rest of our big group and headed for a tour of Schonbrunn palace (stands for pretty spring) which was the home of the Hapsburg rulers until 1918. Beautiful palace and grounds but right away closely resembled Versailles, apparently from which the Austrians copied. We then had more free time before boarding the bus to see something called Hunnert Wasser, which is a strange apartment complex very  strangely done (hopefully some pictures tomorrow or Monday).

Dinner was schnitzel with fixings and apfel strudel for dessert.

Up early for a 4 hour bus ride to Salzburg and more excitement....

Took off from Eppley on time, hit all our connections (though we really had to scramble at Amsterdam), and arrived in Vienna at 8.20am, tired but excited. Seems several of us could not sleep...

From the cabin as we transited over the UK about 4am..

The group we are joining, a school group from Alaska, gets in at 3pm. In the meantime we are off and running. Heading into Vienna center for a mini-guided tour by our tour director Silke, who met us at the airport.

We saw many of the main sites in Vienna center then strolled over to view the massive St. Stephen's Dom, or cathedral. Spectacular!

The weather was warm and windy. Haven't seen so many tourists in a long Time! Today was a state holiday, and for most of Europe, as Thursday was the Feast of the Assumption and the day after is a bank holiday so Europe starts their summer.

We met the Alaska group and walked over to our restaurant for the evening where we had traditional chicken goulash along with a dessert of Kaiser Mann, a special dessert made for the Kaiser many years ago, consisting of fried dough covered with powdered sugar and served with a plum compote. Very good and palate cleansing.  After dinner about half of the Alaska group did a quick wardrobe change and headed to the opera.  Did I mention the Alaska group is music students, teachers, and a few parents? Then the rest of us headed off in the bus for a half hour bus drive out to our hotel in the outskirts on the East side of Vienna.  We will try to get some sleep then up for breakfast at 7.30 and head off for more excitement at 8.15...

Travel Mtg Completed

Travel meeting on May 6th completed.   Several travelers watched optional country videos shown prior to mtg.  Next deadline is May 12th to get #'s interested for three Tour Director Optionals - Sound of Music; Dachau guided tour; and Ski Jump at Innsbruck. 

Eppley Airfield Delta Counter show time will be at 0500 hrs on May 25th.   

Final Planning Meeting

It's May 6 and time for our final planning meeting!!!  Getting really excited about going!