.

Frankfurt… “Don’t go there” they had said….

Most anyone we asked along the way had questioned WHY we would want to stop in Frankfurt, Germany…. We were pleasantly surprised when we disregarded these naysayers …. First thing of interest was a museum for “SHOCK HEADED PETER” (Struwwelpeter in German.)  This is a classic children’s storybook by German author Heinrich Hoffman with tales that warn young kids of the dangers of certain activities.  EXAMPLES: If you fail to groom yourself, your hair will look like you got electrocuted, birds and other critters will nest within it, and fingernails left unclipped will accumulate horrible debris;  another one of the stories warns not to play with matches or you will burn and turn into a pile of ashes that your pet cats will cry over; another is about how if you kept sucking your thumb, then this guy would show up and CUT YOUR THUMBS OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!;  This guy Hoffman also was a Psychologist who was one of the first to recognize MENTAL illnesses could have a PHYSICAL cause …. He hired, and worked with some fellow named Alzheimer (should ring a bell…) we later stumbled upon a restaurant that celebrated this Peter guy, which happened to be right next door to a restaurant we did eat in named SCHNEIDER’s;  also ate at an AFRICAN RESTAURANT which was fantastic!  No utensils, you ate with your hands!  Nice shot of a foot bridge and some of the Frankfurt skyline...... Lastly in Frankfurt, we visited their Palmgartens (Botanical Gardens)…. WOW!!! This is the best Botanical Garden we have ever seen anywhere!! Pictured is Ilea in a humungous greenhouse room that had like a thousand different types of cactus.  Very impressive place.  Ironic, as everyone we spoke with wondered why anyone would want to stop in Frankfurt…….

.

Munich

So the first thing we see as we walk is a poster for Oktoberfest;  then we walk into an inviting, very dark store (later find out it is Aberchrombie & Fitch) where Bill got to admire the painted wall murals….Then there were the numerous “Schmuck Stores…”; beautiful old building in the center plaza; an interesting men’s room that had lit up red hearts above the urinal, with a tweeting bird / mooing cows soundtrack playing in the background…(it really did seem to soothe the prostrate for the processes at hand);  Nasty sculpture of a guy getting a foot to his groin; an elaborate GOLD HORSE DRAWN SLED (naked woman front) used by royalty back in the day; Oktoberfest with shots of inside and outside the Beer Tents (occupancy…. 10,000 people!!!!!! ONE TENT, of 14 total);  a typical server carrying 8 HUGE Beers; a delicacy of BBQ Rainbow Trout Fish on a stick (YUM!!!) ;  one of the popular amusement park rides at the fest featured this large mural of a scruffy looking guy brandishing double guns of middle fingers;  a VERY common site of “Heart Cookies” with German sayings (some people were walking around with cookies nearly 2 feet across in size, hanging from their necks!); a pic of the site of the 1972 Munich Olympics with the futuristic canopies….. Ilea gets greeted by a German garden Elf;  AND LASTLY… along the Romantic Road trip on the drive to Frankfurt, we stopped to see the city of Rothenburg.  This is said to be the Quaintest town in all of Germany.  In the picture, you can see a WALL …… one that actually surrounds the entire town of Rothenburg (for protection in the “old days”.)

.

German Castle… Disney inspiration….. Neuschwanstein !

On the way to Munich, stopped to see the famous Neuschwanstein Castle (the inspiration for the familiar Disneyland Castle.)  You are given a choice of HOW to get to the castle: a bus, a horse drawn carriage or by foot….. We, being the athletically inclined, decided to walk that incline.  At the top of the hill (at the very foot of the castle) is a DEFIB MACHINE for those who probably should have chosen the bus or carriage!  We were huffing a little but fine…. Upon arrival.

.

Switzerland…. Lake Lucerne

Took a train from Zurich over to check out Lake Lucerne, Switzerland… can see in the distance of one picture, the snow on top of the Swiss Alps; there also is a famous wooden foot bridge covered in flowers pictured; another common site in all of Europe are the Parking Garage’s empty sites signs that indicates how many parking spaces are available in a given parking area.

.

Laminated Asparagus? Meeting a “Dirty Girl” in France…. A Dead guy in Dijon…. Coolest cars & A day at a Swiss Cottage by Lake Walensee….

At a very French Restaurant called the Cheval Blanc (White Horse) in a quaint town called Vezelay, they had no English Menu… so it was time to utilize our special electronic translator.  It seems that there was “Laminated Asparagus” as part of an entrée!   Thankfully they really were NOT coated in plastic…. (Actually quite delicious as can be seen in one of the pixs.)   There is one photo of an interesting building that contained a history of the evolution of communication basically- First it was used for POST (regular mail), then TELEGRAPHS and finally it was used for TELEPHONES; We visited a winery that was accessed by driving a car DEEP into a mountain.  The limestone from which had been utilized hundreds of years in the past to form buildings in Paris such as Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Arc de Triumph and Pantheon.  Then it had been used as a place to grow mushrooms prior to being used to produce WINE (8 million bottles at a time!)  Down below there, what could be seen to be growing REALLY well was lots of mold and mildew- as is evident on several of the “Dirty Girl” sculptures faces and bodies.  Also pictured is a quaint old town in France, Vezelay (On the worlds UNESCO list.)  Another awesome old town was Autun also shown.  Ilea can be seen rubbing something on the wall outside yet ANOTHER church called Notre Dame (This one in the town of Dijon France.)  What is noteworthy is that she rubbed it immediately we were approached by a dead guy (rolling down the alley way in a hearse!)  In Mulhouse, France, there was an extraordinary Car Museum with many cars as far as you could see stored INDOORS… (one pictured.)   Lastly are some beautiful photos of a trip we took in Switzerland to an incredible old restored lakehouse.  It belongs to the family of Philine- who, for any who did not know, was an exchange student from Germany who lived with us way back in the 90’s in Cortland, NY.  To get to this place from Zurich, one needs to take a tram, two trains and then a boat (no cars can get to it….)  One of the shots shows Philine and her family waving to relatives on shore as we depart by boat for the lakehouse; another shows Ilea & Bill near their vineyards (we enjoyed several bottles of THEIR OWN WINE!); another shows a view of the pathway we had to walk along for 30 minutes to get to their place; and another shows the bunch of a neighbor’s sheep that are permitted to graze on their property.  

...