Lucerne 12-18-11

Famous Swiss monument to fallen soldiers

George, the driver

Swiss alps

Swiss highway

Marta, our host

Sue & Curtis Smith



Alps

A busload of world- wide travelers

Today is the final day of our European adventure.  My hat's off to the staff of the Auburn Alumni Travel Group and Collette Tours....  a very enjoyable and informative trip.  A good overview of Europe at Christmas time....  Germany, France, Austria and Swittzerland...  4 countries in 8 days. ... All about the Alps,  the medieval villages, the Christmas market and just having the opportunity to meet people from all over the United States.  We met some fine folks from Vermont.  A question I posed was,  why would you leave Vermont in the middle of winter and travel to the Alps?  Marta, our Collette host, did a marvelous job and George , the bus driver, well what can I say, traveling through the Alps in winter.  Good job, George.  This will be my last blog entry.  We leave the hotel at 5:00 am for the airport in Zurich and head for Alabama.  I will post some more pictures from Lucerne.  I hope you have enjoyed this blog.

Paul Klee, Swiss Artist 12-18-11

When you are traveling, you are always trying to broaden your knowledge.  Bern is or was the home of a renowned artist, Paul Klee.  While I never felt I had the skills to be an artist, after looking at some of the drawings of Mr. Klee, maybe I underestimated my talents.

Paul Klee was really too original to be associated with any artistic movement. He created thousands of exquisite drawings and prints, and delicate paintings of mixed media. His work was characterized by (deceptively) simple looking use of line and color, wit and an often child-like view of subjects.

Early child hood Klee drawing.

Bern 12-17-11

View from our hotel room and street scenes in Bern.  Two more inches of snow fell in the night.  I know everyone is tired of me telling you how pretty it is here, just look at the pictures and make up your own mind.

Auburn Tigers, World Wide 12-18-11

Jack & Marta, Colette Host

AU Grad from South Carolina



Curtis & Sue Smith, Auburn

Linda & Jerry, Captured by Alabama Fan, Ellen

More Fans

All In

Last day in Switzerland, headed home tomorrow....

Singing our way through Europe 12-17-11



Jamie Anton, Rock & Roller

Allow me to introduce you to Auburn fan,(my friend, too) Jamie Anton.  Future Grammy award nominee.  Jamie, wrote, produced, played the music and sang the lyrics to "706 Union Street".  Go to the web site, view the video, play the songs.  For autographs, see me.
http://netfrets.com/

Snow scenes 12-17-11

Linda & Jerry, Our hotel

Scene from bus

View from porch

Train tressle

View from hotel

Babbling brook

Rest stop on interstate

Black Forest Blizzard 12-17-11

Ellen, A true Auburn Fan

Aubie playing in the snow

We woke up to a winter wonderland this morning.  3 or 4 inches of snow fell in the night.  Everyone enjoyed the snow.  Aubie had a great time.  We left the Black Forest later in the morning, drove down through the Swiss Alps to the city of Bern.  I have a better connection now.  Enjoy the pictures.

Strasburg 12-16-11

Lunch at Cafe Legruber, Strasbourg

 We drove to Strasbourg, France today.  Beautiful trip.  Great drive through the Black Forest.  If you have never been to Strasbourg, go there.  Before you go, learn some French.  Especially if you want to stand a chance in getting what you want to eat....just saying...I was able to buy a couple of bottles of a French Bordeau wine for 2 euro's.  Can't wait to get home and let Jerry Hankins enjoy my expensive French wine.

Strasbourg  Ill River Canal

Strasbourg Official Christmas Tree

Jean, Jamie & Ellen, Group dinner

Neuschwanstein-Bavaria's most famous castle

War Eagle Travelers, Lindau, Lake Constance

Mountain view from Weis Church

Weis Church

Just driving along

Black Forest 12-15-11

We left  Oberammagau this morning and headed for the Black Forest, passing by Neuschwanstein Castle and having hot chocolate in Fussen.  After a lunch and sight seeing stop at Lindau, located on an island in Lake Constance, we proceeded to Brietnau to our hotel.  We received a very informative talk on cuckoo clocks.  If you have any questions about them, please ask.  I am a fountain of knowledge.  I would love to share with you.  After that, we had dinner at the hotel.  A new experience in the way it was prepared.  They brought out a hot rock (600 degrees) and you cooked your own meat entree.  Afterwards we had a very enjoyable evening listening to a local  choir sing Christmas carols for about an hour in an 800 year old church. For the last song, the choir sang "Silent Night" in German as we all sang along with them in English....another trip highlight. The scenery is stunning, the accommodations are wonderfu,l and the internet connection is slower than Christmas.  I gave up putting pictures on tonight.  I must get some sleep, we are off to France tomorrow.  Wine, escargot, cheese and assorted breads.....can't wait....
It is hard to explain how neat it is to be in a medieval city, with cobblestone streets, quaint shops , foreign restaurants and churches centuries old.

Zauberstubn Cafe 12-14-11

Broadway Actor Miller Libe

Munich

War Eagle Travelers

Our new friends from Vermont
We had a good meal and are looking forward to tomorrow. We leave inthe morning, traveling through southern Germany, along Lake Constance, into the mysterious Black Forest.  Can you say cuckoo clocks?  Tomorrows activies include Hummels, wood carvings and a to die for briefing on the history og cuckoo clocks.  I will send out a detailed report on this subject.  See you at the next post.                                                                                                             

Hof Brau House 12-14-11

Harry, Amanda & Ellen

Jamie & Jean

Jerry, Aubie & Linda

Aubie

A good time was had by all.  I do recommend the "Knuckle of Boar" as an entre should you frequent this establishment.


Munich 12-14-11

Aubie at the Hof Brau House

Today was a very interesting day.  We traveled to Munich by motor coach.  Upon our arrival, 7 members of the War Eagle Travelers broke off from the tour group and proceeded to Dachau, to tour the infamous WWII concentration camp.  We took a train from Munich to Dachau and then a bus to the camp.  After a 2 hour tour, we retraced our steps to Munich, had a late lunch at the Hof Brau House and rejoined our group.  We saw the Glockenspiel and other items of local interest.  After returning to Oberammergau, we had a group dinner.  We sat at the table with a group of people from Vermont.  Most of their knowledge about the South came from watching the "Swamp People" on TV.  We assured them this was not a good representation of the South and invited them to come down and visit.  One person with their group was a Broadway actor, Miller Lide.  We really enjoyed meeting this group of people.
MILLER LIDE made his Broadway debut with Sir John Gielgud and Vivien Leigh in Chekhov’s Ivanov. Other Broadway appearances include two Peter Ustinov comedies and Ellis Rabb’s highly acclaimed 1975 revival of George S. Kaufman’s The Royal Family. He toured the United States with Katharine Hepburn in Enid Bagnold’s A Matter of Gravity and played two seasons with the American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Connecticut. Featured roles in regional theater have taken him to the four corners of the United States — from Alaska to Florida, from Maine to California. Mr. Lide lives in Manhattan, where he does voice over work in addition to stage performances.

Lunch in Innsbruck 12-13-11

The men are waiting on their pizza.

 These pictures were taken yesterday.  We are leaving in about one hour for Munich.  Today we shall see the Glockenspiel, Dachau, the Marienplatz and will eat at the Hof Brau House.

Ellen, on the train to Seefeld

Jean and jamie on the train to Seefeld