auntjuju

What a trip it's been. A trip of a life time actually. I've been blessed to experience so many things, so many places and so many people. One of the greatest things was that I was able to experience all this with my mother, aunt and cousin. Three weeks together and we all still get along and have fun together!! We started in Vienna with our flight at 11:05am (that's 3:05am Colorado time) to Frankfurt, Germany, about an hour flight. We landed at the exact time our connecting flight was scheduled to load so in order to make our connection, my mom ordered a wheelchair. The man that wheeled my mom to the next gate was awesome. He was about 6'8" and his gait/stride was about 5' long. I had to run through the airport with ... read more

We went to the Saturday market down near the ringstrasse. There was everything from fresh produce, fresh fish, meat, Turkish food, Italian food, Viennese food, candy, pastries, beer, wine, olive oil, clothes, toys, etc. It went on for several blocks. We picked up a couple of things, but mostly it was fun watching everyone. We bought some scarves and then our friend bought a jacket. Mom was pretty good at haggling the price down and Helen (friend from the cruise) and I were pretty impressed. We then made our way to the Opera house via bus this time since we were visiting places quite far from one and other. The Opera house interior was gorgeous! Very baroque. Once we were finished with that tour we hopped on the bus to see the Hundertwasser apartments. The artist, ... read more

Today in Vienna, we toured around the Ringstrasse. The Ringstrasse is a ring around the city that used to be the fortification wall but was ordered to be torn down by Emperor Franz Joseph in 1857. The walls were no longer needed and were impeding the growth of the city. The boulevard is 2.5 miles long and circles around Vienna's old town called Innere Stadt. We walked by the Imperial Palace where the Habsburg family resided and where the Spanish riding school and Lipizzaner horses reside. There was so much to see, it's hard to remember it all. We had dinner on the ship and the crew did a Going Away Show for us. I think their talent is in running the ship and not performing but it was fun. Sadly, it was the last day ... read more

Passau is situated where the Danube, Ilze, and Inn Rivers join together. It is called the Dreifluessestadt (City on Three Rivers) and pronounced "dafjkdfjenfniudndiekj"!(Just Kidding). It's actually quite easy: Drei=three, flues=river, stadt=city. It's a very charming city and one of my favorite although I think they all are! We spent the first part of the day looking around the city. We then went to one of the churches (can't remember the name, it's the one in the pictures with the black decorated altar) to listen to a woman speak about her family history with WWII and post war activity. Her family was forced to move several times even after the war and they lost their farm and home. They had to attend work camps and were shipped on trains all over to different countries. The story ... read more

Today was a little more solemn. We docked in Nuremberg along the Main-Danube Canal. We took buses in to the heart of the city and received a brief synopsis of modern Nuremberg. We then went to see the Zeppelin Field where the Nazi party lead rallies for up to 100,000 spectators. WE then went to visit the building and courtroom where the Nuremberg trials took place in room 600. This morning was the first time my heart felt heavy this whole trip. There was also another beautiful church. I just had to go in and as we got there the bells started ringing and ringing to signal to people for the 12:00pm mass. After that, we ended up in a market square where the Sunday market was going on along with an Umpapa band and some ... read more