Car rental companies do now allow you to rent an automobile in Italy and take it into the former Eastern Bloc countries, such as the countries that formerly formed Yugoslavia. Therefore, we had to take a bus from Trieste to Rijeka in Croatia and pick up the rental cars there, which turned out to be somewhat of an adventure. We got off the bus in town, and took taxis out to the airport, about 30 minutes away. When we got there, the rental office was closed, and while we were working through options the only person in the airport came over and told us we would have to leave since he was closing the airport. We managed to get through to the rental company and after some delay of a little over half an hour were ... read more

Today was a last look at Paris. WE tried to hook up with Marianne and Dean, but communications difficulties interfered, so the four of us were on our own. We started with coffee and a continental breakfast near Notre Dame, then went to Place de la Bastille. The police presence there was unbelievable as the result of yesterday's labor law protests and riots at that square. A short walk took us to Place des Vosges, and a visit to the Victor Hugo House Museum, of moderate interest. A snack and bottle of provencal rose wine on the Champs-Elysee and we were on our way back to our airport hotel. Tomorrow, back to USA. Will be glad to get back home, but THOROUGHLY enjoyed this trip and look forward to our next one.... read more

Mostly, this was a day of getting from one place to another. It was prolonged because a major highway was closed, we think due to flooding or flood damage. This caused us to take another route that added 100 km to our trip. But we try to never have a day without doing something of interest, so today we stopped by the little town of Annecy, France. It has canals and a river runs through it, and is picturesque enough that it has been said to be one of the prettiest small towns in France. We wandered the streets, looked into the old chateau, and then Dean and Chuck and I stopped at a local brasserie and had cappuccino and waffles, while the ladies went shopping. We then drove on into Bourges, which we did not ... read more

Our Munich adventure came to and end with a phenomenal dinner Saturday night. It was at a restaurant where the chef-owner is the brother of Chuck's next door neighbor. I may do a separate entry on that. Today, we headed out Germany by way of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, drove almost the length of Austria, crossed Liechtenstein, and went on to Zurich. Along the way, we had two objectives: finding sapsago cheese in the beautiful Swiss canton of Glarus, and seeing the Glares thrust fault in the same area. Skunked on both. As we later learned, the local name for sapsago is schabziger,and although we did not see any in the store it may have been available if we had known what to call it. We grew up eating sapsago grated onto pumpernickel bread with butter. As for the ... read more

We started our day at the Documentation Center and Congress Hall in Nuremberg. Hitler planned several massive structures that were designed further the fuhrer myth and to force people to feel insignificant except as part of a larger whole. Most were not built. The current exhibition is in the old Kongresshalle. It is a first-class explanation of events. The Germans, more than most, have been willing to take a sober look at themselves, report history and the interpretation of that history honestly, and vow "never again". Our visit was somewhat prolonged because of the extent of the material, but it is beyond the scope of this blog to try to explain it all. In a nutshell, Hitler preyed on the fact that Germany had been ill-treated after World War I, and promised people he could make ... read more