Day 6 - Berlin to Marburg After a couple of days of walking and heat we were ready to sit in the car awhile. Today's trip was a little less scenic but we had some destinations in mind so we took the autobahn rather than driving through the back roads. First we headed back to the Harz mountains to see the Rubeland Caves near Elbingerode. We passed by on our way to Berlin but didn't have time to stop. The cave we toured was called Baumannhohle, or Bauman's cave. It was discovered in the 1600s and has been toured and excavated since then. The tour was in German but one of the guests helped us out by translating some of the bits. While we were in Rubeland we had lunch at a cafe inside a ... read more

Day 4 - Zipping around Berlin Our fourth day dawned bright and early... but we didn't see it. The curtains in the Ritz are very heavy, and we face west.. so we slept in till 10:30. We met up with Chris and Kathy for breakfast at a lovely cafe in the Sony center, and went out walking. It was hot, probably 95F, and near 100% humidity. We passed by several embassies, took pictures inside a McDonalds (for Kathy, and for the A/C), and stopped for water at a little pub by the river. We saw one of the many performing groups. This one had 5 or so people controlling a large puppet with sticks. He gave me a high-five. Then we made our way over to the Holocaust memorial (not the museum), which consisted of ... read more

We woke up early... the sun comes up way to early in this country (4am). While waiting for breakfast, we explored the castle some more, and snapped some photos. After a nice breakfast on the patio of the castle, we did a little more exploring, and found a door that led out onto the original castle ramparts. Anne was scared by a small german child who thought we were her friends. The Castle had a summer language camp with a dozen or so children. They were very energetic.. how fun!! We left the castle late morning, and stopped by a grocery store in Oberwesel. It was an interesting mix of familiar products (coke, evian and harblo), and lots of unfamiliar products. We were able to check out of the store without having to ask anyone if ... read more

SNOW SNOW... lots of SNOW... and lots of water from all that melting SNOW. We started off at the Sandy Meadow trailhead a few miles east of Lake Alpine on Hwy 4. The first stretch of approx 1/3 a mile was clear, and beautiful. It was an uphill climb, which helped warm up our legs and our lungs. At about 1/3 mile in, we encountered our first snow drift.... certainly nor our last, or the largest, but it was a flavor of what was to come. We made a few discoveries in that first drift. First, it is difficult to find the trail on the other side, especially when the trees with the trail markers have fallen, or when the trail on the other side is covered by a small pond. Second, where the melting snow ... read more

Today we left Waitomo Caves for the Northland. We originally wanted to spend more time in this area since it's supposed to have the best beaches in all of New Zealand. Unfortunately the weather has not cooperated with us, it's been cloudy with periods of rain for the last few days and looks like it will continue. We'll visit the beaches tommorow but I don't think we'll be laying out in the sun. Our first stop today through is Sheep World. This visit has been high on Anne's list since we started looking into the trip. Where else in New Zealand can you see sheep sheared, see sheep dog demonstrations, feed numerous barnyard animals, including lambs, horses, pigs, ducks, chickens, deer, alpacas and eels (ok eels are not barnyard animals), and buy lots of souvieners. Apparently ... read more