Geo: 49.7537, 6.64625 We arrived in Trier mid morning to a 34 degree sunny day. We were too early to check in to our hotel, so we took a walk around the city. Trier is a city in Germany located on the banks of the Moselle River. It is the oldest city in Germany, founded around 16 BC. First stop on our walk around the city was Porta Nigra, which is the best-preserved Roman City Gate north of the Alps. We then visited the site of the largest Roman Baths north of the Alps. We were a little underwhelmed when looking at the above ground Roman Bath ruins, until we located the stairs to the subterranean passages containing the many rooms used for the baths. We then visited the massive Constantine Basilica, a basilica in the ... read more

Geo: 50.3567, 7.59948 First stop this morning was to visit Ehrenbreitstein Fortress which overlooks Koblenz. Access to the fortress is via cable car from the Koblenz side of the Rhine River. After walking around the fortress, we caught the cable car back across the river. After lunch we drove to Burg Eltz, which is a medieval castle nestled in the hills above the Moselle River between Koblenz and and Trier. It is still owned by a branch of the same family that lived there in the 12th century, 33 generations ago. Burg Eltz is the best known ancient castle in Germany. The castle was never conquered. We had a tour of the castle in english which was great. The stairways that link the various levels of the castle were designed to assist in defending the castle. ... read more

Geo: 49.7878, 9.93611 A long drive from Innsbruck to Wurzburg yesterday, delayed by an hour and a half by a bad truck and bus accident on the autobahn. Arrived at Wurzburg late in the day. The city of Wurzburg is mentioned in a donation by Hedan II to Bishop Willibrord, dated 1 May 704. On 16 March 1945, about 90% of the city was destroyed in 17 minutes by 225 British Lancaster bombers during a World War II air raid. All of the city's churches, cathedrals, and other monuments were either heavily damaged or destroyed during the air raid. We caught the bus into the old city of Wurzburg this morning, and walked around the old city, including the local produce markets. We then headed for Fortress Marienberg which is on the highest point overlooking the ... read more

Geo: 47.2627, 11.3947 We left Melk today bound for Innsbruck (Austria), roughly a four and a half hour drive. On the way we called in to see Mauthausen Concentration Camp, just outside of Linz. Mauthausen was classified as a so-called "category three camp". This was the fiercest category of concentration camp, and for the prisoners it meant "Rûckkehr unerwünscht" (return not desired) and "Vernichtung durch arbeit" (extermination by work). Mauthausen was chosen as a site for a slave labour camp because of the nearby granite quarry, and due to its proximity to Linz. The granite mined in the quarries had previously been used to pave the streets of Vienna, but the Nazi authorities envisioned a complete reconstruction of major German towns in accordance with the plans of Albert Speer and other architects of Nazi architecture, for ... read more

Geo: 48.2271, 15.3296We are staying in the small town of Emmersdorf, which is directly opposite the town of Melk, which has the world famous Melk Abbey as it's key attraction. From our balcony, we have a clear view of the Abbey. Melk Abbey financed it's complete renovation in 1997 through sale of it's original Gutenburg Bible to Harvard University.Last night we drove to a small Austrian town in the hills and had authentic Austrian cuisine. We were literally the only people in the restaurant who could speak any English. Today we caught the Schiff (Ship) from Emmersdorf to Krems down the Danube River, a distance of some forty kilometres down the Wachau Valley. The Wachau is the section of the river where all of the River Cruise scenes of lofty disused castles are taken. We passed ... read more