The Tirol

To All

Well, we have discovered more places that we need to go back to - hopefully some of you all will come to visit us and give us an excuse to do that!

Columbus Day weekend we took my dad and brother and headed for the Tirol - hopefully I am using that term correctly - southern Germany and Austria. The day before we left Dad and Curt and I did a daytrip to Rothenburg (long O and silent H), which is about 2 1/2 hours from us, and we were so intrigued that we went back there the next night on our way to the Tirol. Rothenburg is a well-preserved medieval walled city - lots of interesting stories / legends about how it came to survive the 30 years war between the Catholics and Protestants as well as WWII. If someone were tell me that it was the location of the filming of the 1971? version of Romeo and Juliet I would have no trouble believing them. It was a really fascinating place - touristy but very authentic and tastefully done. Apparently it was discovered by Romantic painters and writers toward the end of the 19th century and has been a tourist attraction ever since. On Thursday evening when we went back there to spend the night, we took the "Night Watchmen Tour" which was really well done (Amy, the guy doing it reminded us alot of Greg). Very educational and humorous also. Basically we all (probably 50 of us) followed the night watchman (dressed appropriately) around as he did his duties and he filled us in (in English) on life in Rothenburg during it's heyday.

Once again we stayed in a pension in Rothenburg and it was wonderful. The next 2 nights in Reutte, Austria we stayed in a hostel which was also very nice. If there is any lodging in Europe that isn't immaculately clean and well-maintained, we haven't seen it yet. And Rick Steve's books are getting close to having the same status as the Bible in our minds - he seems to have it right every time. (thank-you Ch Frederich for recommending his books!)

Anyway the next day we drove to Reutte, Austria, checked into our hostel, ate Big Macs and McFlurries at McDonalds and then went into Innsbruck for the afternoon. The weather was fairly foggy the whole weekend but somewhere along the line, we got a brief glimpse of the Zugspitz (a very high mountain) and were appropriately awed.

The next day, Saturday, we toured 2 of Mad King Ludwig's castles - the one he grew up in (Hohenschwangau) and the one he built (Neuschwanstein). "Schwan" in both of the names means "swan." Mad King Ludwig probably wasn't really mad but he was a little strange and reclusive - Rick Steves calls him the 19th century version of Michael Jackson and suggests that he might have had a gay relationship with the composer Richard Wagner. Anyway Neuschwanstein is the castle after which Disney designed the Magic Kingdom castle and it is truly spectacular as well as being in a spectacular location. King Ludwig died a mysterious death at age 41 and supposedly within 6 weeks of his death people were paying to tour his castle. The tours of it and Hohenschwangau were really informative although the tour guides' English was NOT good and that detracted significantly from that part of the experience. Their (both of them) English wasn't British English - it was just plain bad English.

That evening before it got dark, we went back north a little ways to the Weisskirche - a classic example of Baroque rococo architecture ("weiss" means white and "kirche" means church). My handy-dandy PDA dictionary says that rococo means "having excessive, asymmetrical ornamental" and I would say that's pretty accurate - with the emphasis on "excessive." There are churches everywhere in Europe and to our American eyes they are all interesting and unique, But this was something else - very high ceilings, very ornate woodwork everywhere possible and elaborate paintings over every square inch of everything.

Speaking of my PDA: life revolves around it now more than ever. I have a English-German-English dictionary on it and it is sooooo handy. One of you asked me before we left Washington if I was going to learn German while we were here and I said "Not if I can help it." I have repented of that statement. I am still terrified by the idea that I might ever be in a situation where my life depended on being able to communicate in a different language, (The beauty of learning NT Greek was that I didn't have speak it or understand it or even write it - only read it!) But here speaking Germany is encouraged but fairly optional so the pressure is off and I sort of enjoying trying to use it as far as I can make it go. I've noticed that when we go to McDonalds for example, Mike and Deanna tend to tell me what they want and let me do the ordering! And it thrills me to no end when I manage to get through all or most of the process without resorting to English (of course lots of words like "cheeseburger" are the same in German as in English so ordering at McDonalds isn't exactly tricky.)

Back to our trip. On Sunday we drove to Berchtesgaten which is near Salzberg. It is actually a national park, but Hitler's famous retreat "Eagles Nest" was also there. Apparently the American's owned it for a long time after WWII and there was a military R & R facility there but it has now been turned over to the Germans again. It was too foggy the day we were there to be worth the cost of going up to the Eagles Nest (it involves a bus ride and then a gondola) but we did do a 2 hour boat ride across the Konigsee (King's Sea/Lake) and it was really pretty. We definitely have to go back sometime when it is sunny.

On our way home on Monday we stopped in Dachau (just north of Munchen - once again we Americans for some reason have transformed this name into Munich - the "u" should have two dots over it but my computer won't do that in compuserve). We walked around the former concentration camp. The museum wasn't open - most museums in Europe are closed on Monday - but just walking around the grounds and reading the signs was pretty stirring. I was particularly intrigued by a sign I saw outside the museum that said "It is not advisable for children under 12 to tour the museum.) I guess that I've read enough WWII books (plus seen the movie "Life is Beautiful") that everything was pretty much as I would have envisioned it, but nonetheless actually being there adds a new dimension to one's understanding.

The east-west autobahn that is just south of Heidelberg, which we have been on many times already, is apparently a major trade route between Prague and Paris (and you thought trade route was a word used only in history books!). It is really intriguing driving on it - you pass trucks from a scad of different countries. Most of you know about my propensity for taking pictures of signs. Well, I'm threatening to start a new collage. Some day when I am really bored - if that ever happens - I going to drive to a rest stop on that east-west autobahn and starting taking pictures of trucks from all the different countries - France, Portugal, England, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovak, Hungary, Italy, Greece, Turkey, etc. Hopefully I will get to many of those countries and come home with "welcome to . . . . signs" to add to my collection. But probably not to all them - Turkey for example.

Well, my dad and Curt are now back safely in Estes Park and we have returned to the settling in process. Mike is resisting unpacking all his dozens of "professional" boxes. Deanna is just getting started on decorating her room (we are allowed to paint walls here as long as we return them to the original color when we leave, so Deanna is reveling in that new opportunity). I'm pretty much done with my "stuff" so I'm in a position to catch up on reading and just generally goof off and I am thoroughly enjoying it.

Deanna seems a little happier with school. Her AP Literature teacher is back on board and Deanna is one of 2 students getting "B's" in a class with no "A's" so far, so I think she is encouraged and challenged by that. There are lots of chapel youth things going on but they are all pretty fluffy for someone whose mom teaches Precept. She goes to some things just to meet kids, but is hoping something better will show up eventually. She still hangs around alot with Kelly, the chaplain's daughter who lives in the next building.

This weekend, Mike is involved in some kind of a Family Life Training event in Willigen, Germany (about 3 hours from here). Some people he knows from Ft. Benning will be there teaching/training. It is in a really nice hotel and spouses are allowed to come along for the cost of their meals only, so Deanna and I are planning to go. There are several swimming pools in the hotel but supposedly this is "Sin Weekend" - a weekend where anything goes - and all the pools are "sans textiles" - someone's euphemism for nude bathing. Sooooo I guess Deanna and I won't be doing much swimming. We may have to stay locked up in our room! Fortunately, the Family Life Training event is on PTSD - post traumatized stress syndrome - so if anything really bad happens there will be plenty of trained counselors around to get us through the after-effects - that was really bad, sorry!

Our next major excursion will be Italy (Thanksgiving weekend). We plan to see Pisa (as in the Leaning Tower of Pisa) and Cinque Terre (a coastal area with 5 sleepy towns that are supposed to be really neat and spectacular). I'm working on getting some really cheap plane tickets from Ryanair - the Alaska Airlines of Europe but twice as cheap. Amy and Alan will both be here at the same time for 1 week between Christmas and New Years and we are thinking of going to England - also via Ryanair.

By now those of you who have told me you like my detailed letters are probably sorry you said that -- so I must quit.

We miss you all. Please come see us!!!!

Love,

Nancy