Sud du France

We had one final weekend away and I had been looking forward to it for weeks. Not that Berchtesgaden wasn't appealing, but this trip promised memorable sites and much less driving (although travel would still take its toll). The plan was to fly RyanAir (yes, the same people trying to figure out how to charge for using the in-flight lavatories) to Marseille, then rent a car (prepaid Alfa-Romeo!) and drive west from Provence to Nîmes. The first destination was Pont du Gard, the ancient Roman aqueduct situated a few minutes north of Nîmes.


When we arrived in Marseille, Europecar laid an egg and we ended up with a Renault Modus which is a far cry from the Alfa 147 I had reserved. The reservation said "Alfa 147 or similar": the 147 is a sleek Italian hatchback and the Modus is a boxy French 5-door (they both have four wheels and an engine so that was "similar" enough). Undaunted, we set out with the GPS guiding us northwest toward Nîmes. Driving past fields of blooming sunflowers with the cool, dry Mediterranean air, we arrived at Nîmes intending it to be simply a waypoint on the way to other sights, but we were pleasantly surprised by the Roman buildings passed during our drive through the city center.


After a lovely dinner and a walk around the Roman Arena, it was early to bed and early to rise. Breakfast was followed by a quick daylight tour of the Arena, a preserved section of the ancient Roman city gate, the Temple, and the pool where the water delivered via Pont du Gard ultimately entered Nîmes. Then, it was a short drive to Pont du Gard where we hiked the hills to take photos from numerous angles on a beautiful day and splashed in the river below to keep cool.


After visiting a marvelous example of ancient engineering we continued driving northwest up to the modern engineering marvel of the Millau Viaduct, the tallest bridge in the world. The French take pride in their engineering and the Viaduct is a stunning example (the headquarters of Airbus is nearby and the Viaduct giftshop sold photos of the new Airbus A380 flying over the Viaduct). The project was started in the 1970's when the French government decided to build a new motorway through the south of France and after years of planning and a design competition, construction began in 2001 and was completed in 2004. The Viaduct spans the valley near the town of Milleau and connects the center of France with the southern Mediterranean coastline.


Next the Modus was pointed southwest toward Barcelona and the French medieval city of Carcassonne. We had seen Carcassonne in a tour book and it had the double attraction of a walled fortress surrounding the old city and airport service from RyanAir. I had booked a hotel on the Internet (sight unseen, but it was rated well) and we were both surprised when we arrived and found that our hotel was actually inside the walls of the old city. Lugging a bag through cobblestone streets is a small price to pay for a great rate on a room with this kind of view:


We enjoyed a leisurely dinner and walked the streets before falling asleep to the accordion duet floating up from the restaurant outside our room. In the morning we prowled the empty streets for fresh pastries, then queued for the fortress tour. The city of Carcassonne is ringed by not one but two walls with turrets, and within the walls is a castle/fortress built by the Counts of Carcassonne. During the Middle Ages, Carcassonne was on the border of France and Spain and was always a point of contention until the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659 between France and Spain moved the border further south towards the modern border shared by the two countries.


The best part of the tour was walking the battlements with commanding views of the surrounding countryside. As we left, we stopped for a view from the other side of the river which flows past the city, in an attempt to capture Carcassonne's imposing presence at the top of the hill.


The end of the weekend turned a bit sour as RyanAir had apparently filled our return flight with members of the Extremely Unhappy French Children's Association, but overall the trip was a fantastic adventure under the beautiful blue skies of le sud du France.

The Eagle's Nest

Built by the Nazis as a 50th birthday present for Hitler in 1939, the Kehlsteinhaus or "Eagle's Nest" is constructed at the summit of the mountain Kehlstein and offers commanding views of the Bavarian Alps with views into southern Germany and toward Salzburg, Austria. The building sits at the top of a shaft bored into the mountain where an elevator whisks visitors up over 400 feet into the center of the structure.


Visitors walk down a long tunnel to the elevator entrance (which felt errily similar to Disney's Haunted Mansion amusement park ride).

We had risen early and were among the first visitors to the Eagle's Nest. Once at the top of the mountain, we had the run of the top of the mountain and were blessed with clear weather and fantastic views of the surrounding mountains and valleys.

The Eagle's Nest is not exactly at the summit, and we walked up the ridge to look down on the building, surrounded by the lush valleys below. Obersalzburg is the mountain community literally on the border between Germany and Austria. It is incredibly picturesque. It is one of the few communities in which the locals continue to wear the traditional dress - dirdl (female dresses, think Oktoberfest), tracht (embroidered linen and felt clothing, depicting a "Country Estate" style) , and lederhosen (leather, knee-length pants). You feel like you have been transported back to a simpler time. The beauty of the mountains and the deep commitment to tradition of the locals made us feel priviledged to visit.

Natural beauty surrounded us everywhere. We were blessed with incredible weather. When the clouds roll in, you can't see anything. Given that we only had a few hours in our time window before we had to start driving home, we couldn't have been more pleased. Thank you Lord.

Look at this view. Possibly one of my favorite pictures of us. Another thing I love about Europe - so few handrails. Can you imagine this in the US? We had an opportunity to go to the edge of the mountain and look (very carefully) over. Wow.



Here are the clouds rolling in, as I mentioned. It went from sunny and bright to overcast in 1 minutes. It was amazing to experience. Complaining about weather is a human pastime, but you don't realize true volatility until you visit a mountain top.

Another gorgeous sky - piercingly blue with fluffy, cotton-ball clouds. The sunrays filtering through made it seem almost surreal.

With the change of weather came our chance to visit the house. It is in virutally prestine shape. It has been well maintained, and given that it wasn't destroyed, again we felt like we were walking through history. The fireplace in this room is very cool (and sadly, I didn't get a good picture). Originally a gift from Mussolini, the beautiful red marble has taken a beating. Apparently, when the American forces liberated this facility, some soldiers wanted to take home a souvenir with them and chipped off bits of the marble mantle.

This is the impressive elevator. The objective was to overwhelm visiting dignitaries and the grandeur was indeed impressive. I couldn't get a good picture of it on the way up, but as we toured around, I got a chance to snap this picture.

If you have seen "Band of Brothers", this next picture will look familiar. Easy Company of the 2nd Battalion 506th Regiment, US 101st Airbourne Division claims to have been first to capture the Eagle's Nest. (Side Note: Several others have claimed to be first as well, but Kehlsteinhaus's museum states that it was captured by a member unit of the US 101st Airborne Division, so that gives legitimacy to their claim. Chalk up a victory for accurate historical reporting from Hollywood.) Photographs and newsreel footage show 3rd Infantry soldiers relaxing on the Eagle's Nest patio, "drinking Hitler's wine". This scene was captured in Band of Brothers on this patio.

Instead of taking the elevator back down again, we decided to walk the path down to meet our bus. It is only a 30 minute walk, and we were excited to see more of the mountain. Clouds, however, enveloped us again just after we had started down. We had a little fog, rain and sunshine. What a fantastic trip. D's co-worker was right. This was a "must-see."

Berchtesgaden, Germany

Ahh, the soul crushing traffic that is Europe in July. We had good music, food and water and good attitudes, which made all the difference. Unfortunately, we did have to stop to go to the bathroom and refuel the car once, which was an experience. The line to the womens' toilets was out the room, down the stairs and out the building. Naturally, there was no line for the mens' room. I would have bailed when I saw the line, but I REALLY had to go, and the way traffic was going, we weren't going to get there soon, no matter what our friend the Garmin was telling us.


But have no fear, we did finally arrive, and what a sight awaited us. We were privileged to be able to stay at the Hotel zum Tuerken, which not only survived the Allied bombing in 1945 but was also the only property successfully regained by the original owner. The hotel was confiscated during WWII by the Nazi's because of location - it was right next door to Hitler's mountain home called the Berghof (translated to the Mountain Farm). Hitler's security force was housed here and they successfully closed off the community to anyone but the SS elite. The current owner is the daughter of the woman who reclaimed the hotel after the war. She is a fantastic, energetic, hospitable woman. This is the first time I have really felt like I was staying in someone's home while in a hotel - in a good way. We stayed in the room on the right in the middle section that has a balcony.


This was the view from our balcony. We splurged to get the "Room with a View" and it was worth it; we spent as much time out there as we could. The mountain air was lovely.


This guard-post, surviving from WWII, stands at the front of the property. It suggests the architecture that lies beneath. Martin Bormann, Hitler's personal secretary and leader of the Party Chancellery, had bunkers built beneath the homes in the area to protect their high profile owners.


The great thing about where we were staying is that Frau Schaufenberg let us not only go down into the bunkers below the property, but also gave us permission to take as many pictures (for personal use) as we wanted. I included only this one picture out of respect for her (even though this blog is personal for us, we didn't want pictures to get out on the Internet that then we couldn't control.) We had the bunkers to ourselves and were amazed by how eery it felt being there. It was quiet and damp and remarkably well fortified. There were machine gun nests at every staircase, well enclosed with 3 machine guns per nest. There was one hole in the walls that was labeled as being made by a tank. It gave us a glimpse of the amount of rebar and cement used, and it is a serious structure. The most interesting sign was next to one bricked up doorway that led to the entrance of what was once Hitler's house. It was wet and cold and fascinating. Being able to walk in the footsteps of history adds a dimension of understanding impossible through just reading. We felt really privileged to get this chance.

As soon as we exited the bunkers, we saw this door across the street. This was one of the exits of said bunkers, either from the Hotel zum Tuerken or from one of the surrounding buildings that were destroyed.


We decided to take a hike on one of the many trails around our hotel next - after 5+ hours in the car it felt good to stretch our legs. (And the scenery was just fantastic.)


More bunker doors. We discovered later that once the buildings were destroyed, the Bavarian government leveled the area and quickly planted fast growing trees in order to avoid "Brown tourism," which is defined as people coming to glorify the Nazi officials and government previously based here. It was a little disconcerting just "stumbling" upon these, and I can appreciate the locals not wanting to encourage the wrong kind of site seeing.


I really love this pic of D. My mountain man.


We hiked up the mountain to the peak, where the Intercontinental Hotel currently resides, and soaked in the beautiful sky. Peaceful, relaxing, gorgeous, just what we needed. I could have just looked around for hours, everywhere you turned, it was another glorious village, farm or field. We even heard the cows - yes, heard, didn't see, they were wearing their cow bells, so fantastic.


And this is the view from the Intercontinental peak of Kehlsteinhaus, otherwise known as "The Eagle's Nest." (You can just make it out up at the top.) The building blends in exceptionally well with the terrain, which turns out to be a great advantage to the survival of the site. In 1945, the Royal Air Force (RAF - the British) bombed the SS community of Obersalzburg and intended to hit the Eagle's Nest as well. There are 2 theories why Kehlsteinhaus survived, one, that it blended into the terrain so well that the pilots couldn't see it in order to bomb it or, two, that the RAF was skilled at large target bombing and since the US Air Force were the small target specialists, they just missed. Option one is kinder. Either way, I am grateful that it remains.


The Eagle's Nest was a gift to Adolf Hitler from Martin Bormann and the Nazi party on his 50th birthday. It isn't a house, it doesn't have bedrooms. The intention of the building was to entertain and impress foreign dignitaries. The construction was a remarkable feat accomplished in only 13 months. There were considerable obstacles involved - the remote location, transportation needs to Obersalzburg (then, not to mention, up the mountain!), challenges regarding water and electricity, combating the weather, and so on. We enjoyed the our view until it became clear that we needed to hurry back to our hotel - once the sun goes down here, there are no street lamps and it gets dark, dark, dark. So, off to dinner and a good night's sleep and tomorrow, first thing, off to visit the top of the mountain and this remarkable feat of building.

The Romantic Road

One of D's coworkers had suggested going down to southern Germany and visit Berchtesgaden, and specifically, Hitler's mountain hideaway in that area. He said that it was a "must do" and since we were already predisposed to see it, we decided to go. The only problem was that we had only one available weekend left and not enough time to book a flight or train ticket that could be defined in any way as "reasonably priced." Therefore, not wanting to give up the prize, it became road-trip time. In order to break up the 9+ hours of driving (at least on the way down) we decided to find a half-point location to stay overnight. Würzburg fit the bill because it was 5 hours from BE and was described as "the pearl of the Romantic Road."


The Romantic Road (RR) is a stretch of highway between Würzburg and Füssen, Germany. The term was coined by travel agents sometime in the 1950's because it was thought by many international travelers to possess "quintessentially" German scenery and culture - meaning fabulous castles, medieval architecture, as well as traditional clothes, food, and fests. I had known about the RR but had never had the chance to visit it, so I was excited to check out the town.


We only had a short time in town so I picked a hotel in the center of the sites (well worth the extra money - big time and stress saver!) The Backoefele was the restaurant that we had dinner in - a fantastic, traditional meal, thankfully served late (traffic was a bit brutal, getting us there 1-2 hours later than anticipated.) [Side note: We are convinced that the entire country of The Netherlands empties out in July and everyone heads south. Although I am clearly exaggerating, the truth is that many Dutch companies close their doors in the month of July for holiday. Vacations are serious business here and people don't do weekenders - they pack-out their cars, attach a camper on the back and travel for a month.] The restaurant was highly rated in my guidebook and by the hotel, and it didn't disappoint. German food is not light, but it is delicious for those that like slowly cooked meat with dark gravies and lots of starch side dishes for which to clean your plate.

This poem was on the tile next to our table and I was excited because I understood it and thought that it helped convey the homey feeling of the restaurant. It says (roughly), "A cake with new wine you will find here fresh and fine."


We walked around after dinner and given that it was July 3rd, we were surprised and thrilled to stumble across a fireworks display. We watched on the bridge overlooking the castle (last pic) and river and felt like we were getting our own special Independence Day display. It was nice. We then headed home and fell into bed, exhausted.


The next morning, knowing that we only had a short time to enjoy the town before we had to hit the road, we mapped out a 1 hour walking tour to see the highlights of the town. This is the "Residence" which was the palace that the prince-bishops lived in until secularization abolished the episcopal principality of Würzburg in early 1800's. (Napolean had called this building the "nicest parsonage in Europe." Funny!) No fear, though, it didn't go uninhabited - the prince of Bavaria took up residence. It suffered tremendous damage in WWII but has been lovingly restore and was UNESCO World Heritage listed in 1981. We had no time to check out the inner beauty, we just reveled at her sexy exterior and moved on.


Nothing like a castle on a hill to give a town majestic beauty. The Marienberg Fortress had been built in the 13th century, but recent excavations suggest that there was a settlement here in the Iron Age, 3,000 years ago. Although we are almost always up for a good climb (and getting to the top to explore this castle counts as a solid one) we had no time so instead, we basked in the glow of the early sun on her walls and bid adieu, it was time to hit the road.

Gorgeous Ghent

Before we leave Belgium for good, I wanted to visit a little more of the country, particularly the Flanders area, in the north. We had one more weekend day available and chose to check out Ghent. Ghent is often compared to Brugges, and since we love Brugges, we thought it would be a good bet.


The city started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Schelde and Leie and became in the Middle Ages one of the largest and richest cities of northern Europe. Ghent was a seat of the counts of Flanders, who build a castle here in the 12th century, but local fortifications predate their reign, back to the 900's.


Het Gravensteen (Castle of the counts) is a stern looking castle built to discourage local merchants from uprising against the counts. It was built by Count Philip of Alsace, count of Flanders, soon after he returned from the Crusades in 1180 with images of similar castles from the Holy Land.

Unlike the other castles we have visited, the structure wasn't built on a hill and doesn't dominate the scenery. However, the view from the top of the ramparts was lovely. The city was currently undergoing a major construction project that had ripped up most of the Grand Place and there were a dotting of cranes throughout the city scape, but the beauty of the canals and old style charm still shined through.

The views within the castle were equally lovely. I love the lines and architecture, the organic next to the contrived.

I have come to love taking pictures out of windows - a snapshot of what the city offers from the perspective of the historic site. I like limited views because I struggle at times when looking over the entire skyline, to take in the essence of the site - and this has really helped me remember the feeling.

I liked being able to see the canal and boats in this one. The canals are such a huge part of the history of the city.

This beautiful room was the chapel originally, but then later became the torture chamber. That seems like a pretty dramatic switch to me. Who came up with that idea? And more importantly, who thought that was a good idea?! Craziness. The room is lovely. I prefer to think of it as a chapel.


The other item we came to see in Ghent was the fantastic 24-panel altarpiece The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, completed by the master Jan van Eyck in 1432. Commissioned by the wealthy merchant and financier Joost Vijdt for his and his wife's private chapel, it was begun by Hubert van Eyck, who died in 1426 whilst work was underway, and completed by his younger brother Jan van Eyck. The altarpiece represented a "new conception of art," in which the idealization of the Classical tradition gave way to an exacting observation of nature.


The altarpiece consists of a total of 24 compartmented scenes, which make up two views, open and closed, which are changed by moving the hinged outer wings. The upper register (row) of the opened view shows Christ the King (but some argue that it is God the Father, and a third view is that it is a combination of both) between the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist. The insides of the wings represent angels singing and making music, and on the outside Adam and Eve. The lower register of the central panel shows the adoration of the Lamb of God, with several groups in attendance and streaming in to worship, overseen by the dove representing the Holy Spirit. On weekdays the wings were closed, showing the Annunciation of Mary and donor portraits of Joost Vijdt and his wife Lysbette Borluut. It was displayed in St. Bavo's Cathedral in a special room, and a special case, that allowed us to see all of the panels.

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, so thankfully these great pictures were available on-line. The piece was truly remarkable and worth the crowd to enjoy. The fine detail that has gone into the face, clothing, attributes associated with each of the characters, the scenery (towers of Ghent in the background of the city scene), was remarkable to witness.


A lovely city. I would have loved to see the city at its best, but maintenance must take place when it is needed. I am glad we went.

Wind Mills, Cheese and Wooden Shoes

I really wanted to make it back up to The Netherlands in order to experience more than just Amsterdam. It is a lovely city, but I wanted to see more of the countryside and, ideally, the windmills that made this country rich and famous. We found a great tour that took us to Zaanse Schans and Vollendam.


Zaanse Schans is located in North Holland, about 45 minutes north of Amsterdam. It is actually a recreation of what a traditional Dutch village would have been like in the 1600's. The land has been reclaimed (similar to Venice - they drive wooden pylons into the sandy, peaty soil to create stability for the foundation of buildings. Then, in order to keep the water out of the buildings, canals are created to provide a place for the water to go.) The guide taking us around even had a show-and-tell moment when she had a fellow tourist jump up and down with her so that the rest of us could feel the ground move under us to illustrate the saturation of the ground. Cool and a little unsettling.


Timber was the foundation of wealth along the Zaan River in the 16th and 17th centuries. A burgeoning Dutch merchant marine and navy needed the wood and the innovation of applying the crankshaft to windmills, therefore creating floating sawmills, powered production - an increased production of 3000 percent. This rural area became a hotbed of wood-product production: timber for homes, timber for ships and paper products. One of the first printings (200 copies were made in 1776) of the Declaration of Independence was watermarked with the Zaanse region stamp. There were over 1300 windmills in an 11 mile region on this river in the 16th and 17th centuries.


Windmills and historically significant buildings (houses, workshops) had been moved to this site when industrialization leveled their original locations. All the windmills are working windmills, providing products ranging from wood (sawmill) to oil (nut and seed oils) to paint (dye mill). The paint mill, which makes the pigments for the paint, was called De Kat and we visited it on our tour.


The miller was on hand to talk us through his profession. He was wonderfully dressed in traditional costume - blue hat, blue and white striped shirt, blue pants, wooden shoes (with leather liners) and pipe. He had great personality. The windmill "cap" weighs around 15 tons and needs around 40-45 mile an hour winds to work at capacity. De Kat produce paint dyes with the same formula used to provide paint to the Dutch Master (Ruben, Rembrandt and Vermeer to name a few.) [The linseed oil used for the base was available at the next mill over.] It was somewhat shocking to hear that. This is why I love visiting historical places. You begin to feel connected to the past (and more importantly the people) like you can in no other way. By walking the same paths, visiting the same shops, witnessing the same processes as these great painters is moving.


We moved from artistry to gastronomy. We got a short demonstration of how the cheese is made at the Henri Willig farm (live chickens and everything - we have a sign aimed at the tourists asking us not to let the chickens into the showroom.) It is aged anywhere from 3 months to a couple of years. After our short education, we moved on to the tasting. They gave generous portions and didn't mind 2nds (and 3rds). We, naturally, bought some cheese. We controlled ourselves and only bought the smoked gouda (cow, although goat was available and good) which is just YUMMY. If our tour group is any example, Henri Willig's cheese shop cleans up at this location (I don't know if there was one out of the 20 in our group that didn't buy something). I was glad to see that they ship internationally and have fair prices. (I will definitely be taking advantage of that later.) If you are interested, here is their website: www.henriwillig.com


Yes, wooden shoe making was next on the agenda. D really enjoyed the large tourist shoe out front - he said that he was channeling Slim Pickens from Dr. Strangelove. He was very pleased with the way this pic turned out.


We had another short demonstration of how shoes were made by hand, and how they are made today, by machine. The shoes were originally made from willow wood - an indigenous tree to Holland and a hard-wearing wood. They are currently made from poplar from Portugal - the wood is lighter but still very durable. We resisted the temptation to buy a pair - really, where would I wear them?! They are cool looking and very unique, but I think admiring them for the day was enough.


I did, however, want this picture. If I couldn't own a pair, I at least wanted a picture of me in a ridiculously large pair. No goofy pose with this one, but D did discover that they are not tied down in any way so one could, if one was so inclined, just walk off in them.

We finished off our visit in Zaanse Schans by taking a river boat trip. The views were lovely and so much easier to appreciate (and get pictures of) from a distance.

This was the best picture I had of the historic houses on the canal. The homes are all painted green (never did get an explanation for that) and were very well cared for. They are all inhabited by private individuals (similar to Colonial Williamsburg, for those that are familiar with this VA gem) but are required to keep them in the historic shape and style that they represent.

On to Vollendam, which is a fishing village that has become a hot tourist location. D and I didn't care much for it - there wasn't really anything to do there other than shop in tschotsky (e.g. junk) shops. We did, however, find a lovely park just out of the city center to sit and read and enjoy the breeze. The homes along the way were very nice and we enjoyed seeing all the different ships in the harbor.

They had these beautiful life-sized bronzes of villagers in traditional dress. I found them poignant. I wish I could have seen the city when the fishing ruled the economy instead of tourism.

As we walked around that day, it made sense that The Netherlands became a merchant marine powerhouse in the 16th - 17th century given the glut of finished timber available. I had been curious why Holland, of all countries, would be such a leader in trade. Along that same line, it also made sense that there was an art explosion given the newly industrialized production of oils and pigments. An educational day.