I’m not exactly sure where we left off. Suffice it to say it has been a while since we posted and we’ve seen and done a lot. I resolved after my first and only post thus far to write less and just post pictures. I’m sure most people don’t read my long posts anyways and would probably like seeing some pictures as much as anything.

So, I’ll try to just get caught up and post a bunch of pictures.

While in Strasbourg we took a day trip a little further south to Colmar. Colmar is a town with a great historic district full of churches and lots of half timbered houses. I found out while there that half timbered houses were considered more like furniture than permanent dwellings. If one had a job transfer in the 1500’s one simply knocked the plaster out of timbered areas of the house, took it apart, packed it, moved and built it back again. Interestingly you can see numbers and letters and other markings made on the ends of the timbers of some houses insinuating that perhaps that house had been moved.











We spent the day in Colmar and then returned to Strasbourg. It rained on us a bit but all in all the weather was quite nice. The next day we got up and hopped on the freeway heading east in Germany to an amazing little place called Rothenburg.

I love the Autobahn.

I think my right foot is German and felt very at home depressing the accelerator with nary a speed limit sign in sight. We didn’t drive at any excessive speed by any means but it was oddly comforting knowing there aren’t any troopers with radar guns pointed at you or any photo-cops lurking around a bend. We got to Rothenburg in the early afternoon around 2pm. It was an easy trip except for the 45 minutes we spent crawling at a snail’s pace due to construction. Our hotel was a groovy place that was several hundred years old attached to another place that was several hundred years older. The rooms are totally comfortable with all the amenities but still shows its age. One corner of the room was about 6 inches above the opposite corner owing to settling over the centuries. I put my chapstick on the floor at the high end and it rolled quickly down to the other.













Rothenburg is likely one of the best examples of walled medieval town anywhere in Europe. Its walls are completely intact and you can climb to the top and walk the mile and a half perimeter in about 30 minutes. So, we did that and just dinked around for the most part then had dinner in a quaint restaurant in the mayor’s house from around 1450. Sophie made some friends while she was there and generated some laughs as well. Sadly they were because she farted really loud while we were eating.

The next day we went to the crime and punishment museum. I’ve been there three times now and the exhibit hasn’t changed a bit. But it’s equally interesting each time. I never ceased to be amazed at the cruelty and injustice that existed for centuries in Europe and wonder how our ancestors stayed alive. I mean, bakers would be punished if they made their bread too big or too small. If you drank too much you were physically punished. If you didn’t go to church you were physically punished. If you were a woman and you wore pants the penalty was death. Crazy stuff! And the things they did to you – crush your thumbs, make you sit on a spiked chair, stretch you till your arms and legs pop off! It’s gruesome, but amazing.


Rothenburg has a rather well known Christmas store and ’d always thought one of those little nativity scene/helicopter thingies would be cool to have. The ones where you light candles around the perimeter of the little scene and the rising heat spins a set of helicopter blades at the top of the scene and makes the whole gadget spin around. They were several hundred bucks though and I couldn’t justify the cost for something we’d have out for about two weeks a year. So we left with some pictures and fond memories instead. Rothenburg never ceases to amaze me.

From Rothenburg we drove about an hour east to Nurnburg. Got there in the afternoon. Checked in at an NH hotel. They’re a really nice chain of hotels from Spain. The rooms are really contemporary and the bed was uber comfortable. Sophie took a little nap, so did Anneka and dad went exploring. Eventually we all left and went to the German National Museum there. It’s a sprawling complex of buildings that includes an old church that has been converted to house antiquities. It had an amazing assortment of items from Bronze Age cultures up to royal pots and pans from the last century. They had a nifty collection of armor and guns and stuff. The armor always amazes me. I think I would have made a crappy knight. I’m not strong enough to wear one of those suits. Knock me over and I’d just lay there unable to get back up. No need to kill me. I’d be like a tinfoil dinner, just roasting inside. And the jousting suits are even more bulky. Put me in one of those and sit me on a horse and I’d just slide off on the heavy side.

The next day we went to whats called the Documentation Museum. It is housed in a building that was built to be Hitler’s Nazi party conference building. It was never fully completed. Inside is a mind-blowing museum documenting the rise of the Nazi party and its ties to the city of Nurnburg. In essence Nurnburg was sold as the most German of all German cities back in the day and was a natural gathering place for Hitler’s political party rallies each year. They were a gathering of soldiers, sympathizers and party officials. Hitler played masterfully off people’s emotions until he got a foot in the door politically. Then through further sensationalism and legal and illegal means he slowly took over every power. It was a fascinating explanation of his rise. It was also a fascinating look at the rallies themselves – gatherings of hundreds of thousands of people. He began building parade grounds and facilities for these huge rallies in the mid 30’s and most were not completed due to the outbreak of war in ’39. The conference center was partially complete and is the museum now. It is huge. The stadium was somewhat complete and was used for Hitler youth rallies. It has morphed and been built up and was host to World Cup soccer matches a decade ago. But the one that stands out is the “Zeppelin field” named that for the fact that a Zeppelin airship landed there and the locals started calling it that. It is the parade ground that all would recognize when they see the old footage of the large Nazi rallies with Hitler standing at elevated podium with thousands of officials flanking him and throngs of the populace spread before him.


The Zeppelin field

The field is ten times the size of a soccer field and then has the stands beyond that. I was completely in awe of seeing that. Like seeing Nazi concentration camps you never feel good afterwards but they are humbling to take in. The event, regardless of how tragic, feels like it is happening before you. You get the sense that you are in history rather than learning about it. Another thing that compounded the entire experience was to stroll through the historic section of Nurnburg and then see pictures in the museum that had been taken of Hitler in the same location. You can see fountains behind him and have been to the same fountain. I was struck by the fact that in one picture Hitler is reviewing the troops in a plaza in the center of the city and he’s facing what would today be the McDonalds I had lunch at.

It’s chilling.

And, Nurnburg was second only to Dresden in its level of destruction from Allied bombs. I mean that place was devastated. We went into one church that had a comprehensive display of pictures of the destruction of the church itself and the 15 to 20 year post war timeframe it took to rebuild it. Everything in central Nurnburg is a re-creation. Think about that. Everything is a re-creation.

All that we did that day was fascinating, humbling and moving all at the same time.
In the early evening we took off for Prague. It was a 3 hour drive to get there.

Did I mention I love the autobahn?

We did have to change cars in Nurnburg before leaving though as Hertz wont’ let a Mercedes into the Czech Republic. So we got an Opel Zafira. It’s a lot like out Toyota Rav4. It has a lot more room than the Mercedes but didn’t handle as well. It also is a 5 speed manual on the highway it revs to the point that you’re constantly wondering if you’re in the top gear. It took some time to get used to that. Anneka kept asking me if I was in 4th gear. I kept checking and sure enough we were in 5th the whole time. At times I thought the engine was going to give. I’d think I was going fast till someone would zip by at 130 and make me feel like I was in reverse.

We got into Prague around 10pm and spent an hour just trying to find our hotel. They checked us in and we get to the room and it was a very smoking room. Totally stinky. I said no way back at the front desk and they come back and say they have a non-smoking room but it’s noisy since it is right next to the HVAC system. I said give me a break. In the end they bumped someone without a baby to the noisy room so we could have a nice room.

The Sophie effect. Gotta love it.

Today we got up a bit later and I headed out with a suitcase full of dirty laundry. Neither Anneka nor I wanted to spend three hours in a Laundromat as we’ve done in the past so we dropped the stuff off and paid to have it done for us. It always feels weird knowing someone is laundering your underwear. Anyways I navigated Prague’s crazy streets in the car to drop the stuff off while Anneka got ready and got Sophie feed and watered. We think she’s off oatmeal. She must want more sophisticated stuff like Muesli or Eggs Benedict or something. We can’t coax her into eating oatmeal anymore. I got back at 11am and we took off to explore.
Prague does not disappoint. I can’t think of a more architecturally relevant European city. Since it escaped the bombs of WWII its architectural record is incredibly intact. It has everything from medieval castles to art nouveau buildings. Street after street of beautiful building façades. We wandered till Sophie got a little cranky and Anneka took her back to the hotel for a nap. She took one too. I went wandering as I’m known to do. The goal was to go back and pick up the laundry and bring it back to the hotel and we’d go out again. We met back up at 5pm and left. We wandered somewhat aimlessly through the maze of streets in the old town. Eventually we made it to Prague’s landmark Charles Bridge for a “where’s Sophie?” picture. We’re here for two more days and we’ll fill those up easily with Prague’s many sites.











The weather has been a bit iffy lately. It started in Colmar basically. Temperatures have been cooler than normal – like in the low 70’s and even upper 60’s which would normally seem great. But it has been accompanies by off and on rain. When I say off and on I mean very off and very on. It’s nice and sunny one minute then raining cats and dogs the next. One of the cats that landed next to me looked just like Harry. Kind of freaked me out. Today was no exception. It would be great one minute then we’d be whipping out the umbrella the next. We have a nifty difty plastic cover that we attach to Sophie’s stroller that keeps her totally dry. I’d use it all the time as it is a great shield to keep her from tossing teddy lion on the ground. That still grosses me out. She’ll toss it on the ground and I’ll shake it off the best I can and give it back to her and she’ll bear hug it with her mouth wide open. Yuck. I don’t know, they say it helps build their immune system up. I guess that means she’ll be immune to grimy gutter filth as an adult…
It’s now almost 1am and I need to go to bed. I’ll post this in the morning.
Adios for now.
Chris

OK, I meant to post that this morning but just didn't. I wanted to get out and explore. We toured around Prague castle today among a couple of other places. But the most significant thing was Sophie took her first steps tonight. She learned to walk at the Marriott hotel in Prague on Sunday the 11th of July.

Anneka and I are thrilled. We wish she'd learned to a bit ago because when let her crawl around in the grass she gets completely dirty. Today she crawled in some grass beneath what could best be described as a blueberry tree. The fallen berries turned her knees and the tops of her socks totally blue.

Anyways, its late again so I'll just post this and hope to add more later.

Chris