SWITZERLAND, FRANCE, GERMANY, BELGIUM

July 30-31:  VEVEY, SWITZERLAND.  We walked to the city market.  They had vendors selling fruits, sausages, cheeses, and local art.  They had an orchestra playing, and three men played the Swiss wooden horns.  Local wineries were there and you could purchase a glass and drink all the wine you wanted from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.  We sampled all morning, so needed a nap by early afternoon!  The following day, our campground had a Sangria party at 5, dinner and music at 8, and then followed by dancing.  This was to celebrate Liberte de Patriet (Aug 1), Switzerland was founded in 1271.  We could see fireworks from Montreux, other areas around the lake, as well as our own local fireworks display.   When we left our camp, the owner stated it was the first time in 15 years that an American stayed three nights.  He said “Savoir voyager, c’est savior s’arreyter”, which means “to know how to travel, means to know how to stop”.

Aug 1:  PONTE-DE-POITTE, FRANCE.  We drove into France.  It was a nice drive with forests and hills.

Aug 2:  CERCY-LA-TOUR, FRANCE.  We met John and Karen Siscoe on their boat, Chateaux Deux.  They have been traveling the rivers and canals of Western Europe for four summers, with most of their summers being spent in France.  They winter in FL south of Tampa, and are old boater friends that we first met doing the Great Loop and also spent time with them in the Bahamas.

Aug 3-4:  DECIZE, FRANCE.  John and Jim moved the van (Karl) to Decize, took the train back, and then we went on their canal boat to Decize.  It was an enjoyable trips traveling down the narrow canals, seeing farms, fields, chateaus, and going through some real narrow locks and low bridges.  When we went under some bridges we took the top canvas down and you duck your heads as you go under the bridge!  The evening was filled with good company along with beer, wine, and food.  We extended our stay by one more day in order to spend time with John and Karen.

Aug 5:  AUXERRE, FRANCE.  We stopped in Clamecy before moving to Auxerre.  We parked right along the waterway and free camped with 40+ other campers right in the city center.  The old town was very nice to walk around as it had several churches, restaurants, and shops.  The Cathedral had a sound and light show at 10 p.m.  The church was originally built in 500 AD and Joan of Arc and Napoleon both visited this church.

Aug 6:  NANCY, FRANCE.  We drove through one of the Champagne regions and went to a regional festival.  We purchased a bottle for our 25^th anniversary, which is August 9. 

Aug 7:  METZ, FRANCE.  We went to the Sunday market and drove through Nancy city center.  We stayed in Metz and walked around the quaint city.  We went to a museum, saw churches, and walked along the Mossell River (Mosel River in Germany).  Cathedral St. Etienne has the third highest nave and the largest surface area of stained glass in France.  This was a pearl of a city which John and Karen had suggested we visit.

Aug 8:  TRIER, GERMANY.  Jim treated Danette to a hotel for our anniversary.  Our room overlooked with city center of Roman ruins, churches, shops, and restaurants.  After 2 ½ months, it was great to sleep in a real bed and no sleeping bag!  The city was nice, but the volume of tourists was not to our liking. 

Aug 9:  ZELL, GERMANY.   25 years ago today Jim and Danette were married in Dallas, Texas.  We spent the day driving along the Mosel River, stopping in villages, and buying the local wine.  The hills were covered with vineyards the entire route we were today.  If anyone wants to come to this area, August 12-15 are the days which every little village has a festival.   Our stop was in Zell, which Jim had visited over 20 years ago with Jenny and Dan Zuehlke and his daughter (after the ladies graduated from high school).  It is known for their black cat wine.  We celebrated with our good Champagne and went out for a nice dinner.

Aug 10:  LA ROCHE-EN-ARDENNE, BELGIUM.  We drove into LUXEMBOURG and stopped in Vianden, which was described as a “fairy tale” city and it was with a castle on a hill.  From there we drove through a mountainous area to a high plains agricultural area.  Once inside Belgium, we stopped at Bastogne and saw the MEMORIAL MARDASSON.  This is where a memorial for the WWI Battle of the Bulge was fought.  During the battle, 76,890 US troops were either killed, missing in action, or wounded.  For Tom, Jim’s brother, the 101^st US Airborne Division, “The Screaming Eagles”, were instrumental in turning the tide on The Battle of the Bulge.  We camped in the ARDENNES region of Belgium which has rivers and forests. 

Aug 11:  GHENT, BELGIUM.  Our friend, Jackie, suggested some places to stop as she used to live in Belgium.  We drove along the River Meuse and stopped in Dinant as it has a Citadelle, and old church, the river, and some nice side streets.  We went to a brewery called Brasserie Caracole and purchased some locally made beer.  We then moved to the Gardens at Annevoie Chateau, known for their water gardens.  We camped in Ghent so that we could enjoy tomorrow day and evening in the city (Friday).

Aug 12, Friday:  GENT/GHENT/GAND/GANTE, BELGIUM.              We loved walking around this gorgeous city with the canals and the fabulous architecture of the buildings.  We drank our way around the city sampling various beers!  We even found a bar where we stopped 13-14 years ago with Jenny and Scott (Jim's daughter and son-in-law).

SWITZERLAND

July 25:  BRIENZ.  We stopped at Jackie Hamilton's cousin's place in Flums, but he was not at home.  We drove by ZUG.  Question, what's Zug famous for?  Camped right along the Brienzer See.  The view was fabulous with the mountains and the lake.  The is the area of Jungfrau, the "Top of Europe" and of the famous James Bond movie (on the Schilthorn), On Her Majesty's Secret Service, was filmed. 

July 26:  INTERLAKEN.  We found a campsite in the morning and then took the bus into Interlaken.  Great views of the Alps.  There were many watch stores and swiss army knives for sale!  It is very expensive in Switzerland.  Example, $45 for perch and fries, $35 per person for cheese and bread fondue.  Within a day of coming here the dollar versus the Franc hit an all time low so it was more expensive.  It was over $8 a gallon for diesel.
The villages are neat to go through with their wooden homes and window boxes filled with flowers....yes, just like little Swiss villages!

July 27:  SORENS.  We drove over the Juanpass, which was about 4500' high.  We stopped in GRUYERE and saw the old castle (occupied from 11th-16th century) and the small village surrounding it.

July 28:  CULLY.  We spent today walking around MONTREUX which just ended their 45th Jazz Festival.  The city buildings have great architecture, with multiple high end hotels, restaurants, and shops.  We walked the "Swiss Riviera" along Lac LeMar.  We camped right next to the water.  The hills surrounding us were filled with vineyards terraced along the hillside.

July 29:  VEVEY.  We moved four miles up the road and stayed along the lake.  Walked about the town and enjoyed some local wine in the evening.

Germany into Switzerland

July 18.  BAUTZEN, GERMANY.  Before we left Poland, we met with city officials in Wagrowiec, from the area we believe my great grandparents were from.  They gave us a gift of a book from the area and gave us information on how to contact the archive location where all church records area kept.  As of today, we believe the original spelling for Wahowske is Wachowski. It was nice to have been in Norway and Germany/Poland....where the roots of Danette's family are from.  We are in areas of Jim's family origin but do not have actual city names.

July 19.  DRESDEN, GERMANY.  Dresden is over 800 years old.  During February 1945 the city was demolished by an allied air attack.  Some of the buildings are still left with the blackened exterior from fires and bombings.  Most buildings have been restored, and there is still rebuilding in the Old Town.  This city was one of the top on our list so far.  10 million visitors come here each year and most of them are from Germany.

July 20-21.  PRAHA/PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC.  We drove to the Czech Republic.  Rained all day for the first time on our trip, and drizzed rain when we went to Prague.  We were here 12 years ago at Christmas and loved it.  It is now a heavy tourist area, especially in the summer months.  It is still a beautiful city to visit and walk around.  We enjoyed the side streets and ate great food and drank great beer!

July 22-23.  FURTH IM WALD, GERMANY.  We stopped in PLZEN/PILSEN, Czech Republic, and went to the Pilsner Urquell Brewery.  This company is now owned by SAB/Miller.  The tour was great in that we saw the new production lines as well as the old beer cellars from 1842. 

We drove into Germany and stayed at a nice campground, walking distance to the village.  We spent Saturday walking around the village and stopped for bratwurst and Weissen Beer.  We saw the mascot of the city, which was a dragon from the 1400's and now is a mechanical dragon and is used in festivals in the area.

July 24.  BUCHS, SWITZERLAND.  We drove across southern Germany, a small section of Austria, and landed in Buchs.  It is located adjacent to the small country of Liechtenstein.  Werdenberg is a small area next to Buchs from the 1200-1400's to today which has an old castle and 37 homes. 

Central Poland

July 13:  ILAWA, POLAND.  Jim bought a replacement computer for the one stolen in Tallinn.  We drove to another campsite on a lake. 

July 14:  KATY RYBACKIE, POLAND.  We stopped in MALBORK and toured the castle.  It is the largest Gothic castle in Europe and was once the headquarts of the Teautonic Knights.  It was built in about 1276.  We stayed at a resort town on the Baltic Sea which may have not been the best thing to do since we were there at the beginning of the vacation period for Poland.  Wow, there were a lot of people.

July 15-17: ZNIN and WAGROWIEC, POLAND.  The WAHOWSKE family search started.  We first stopped in Wagrowiec to determine if we could find information about my great grand parents who were born in this area.  We were able to gather some information from each city.  We stayed in Znin one night and spent the day searching graveyards and walking the village.  The second night we drove to Wagrowiec and went to a church festival which had crafts, activities, and bands.  Free camped in the parking lot near the festival.  Sunday we walked grave yards again and then moved to a wonderful campsite on a lake and enjoyed swimming and people watching.

Finland, Baltic States, and now in Poland

We took the ferry to Helsinki, Finland, at 7:30 a.m.  The architecture is Art Nouveau and Jurgen style in the neighborhoods.  We went to the seaport fortress and enjoyed the vibrant city. 

We landed back into Estonia at 11:30 p.m. (still light out) expecting to sleep. 

We arrived to a van which looked as we left it until we unlocked and opened the door.  Then we noticed some changes in the van and immediately recognized that we had been vandalized.  The night was long in meeting the police, making phone calls (a hotel let us use their computer and phone).  We were informed by the police that this happens "all the time" near the ferry terminal.  When you park and buy a ticket, you leave it on the dash to it states when you will return.  Electronics, clothing, cosmetics, cell, computer, sunglasses, were gone.  Jim was upset that his Mickey Mouse hat was stolen!  We left the city at 4:30 a.m. and drove until 6:30 a.m. to sleep for a couple hours.

July 6 we were in OTEPAA, ESTONIA.  After our night last night, we decided to move to a small village which was near the largest lake in this area.  July 7&8.  CESIS, LATVIA.  Stayed at a campground next to a river in the forest.  July 9 in PALANGA, LITHUANIA.  We stayed on the west coast of Lituania.  With summers so short it seems as though the population of Lithuania heads to the small shoreline that exists along the Baltic Sea.  We saw two cities where we saw a massive influx of people who were strolling the streets, the beaches, and the bars!

Our impression as we left the Baltic States is that it was interesting but probably will not return.  The origin of the Baltic States are of Russian origin, meaning concrete blocks.

There are storks in this area during the summer and move to Africa during the winter.  We also saw bridge and grooms walking over bridges.  We asked someone about this and they said after you get married you are to go over 7 bridges for good luck.

July 10&11, GOLDAP, POLAND.  We stopped at the Russian border again just to say hi!  We drove around the piece of Russia that borders the Baltic (Kaliningrad) and drove into northern Poland.  There are beautiful lakes, hills and fields in this area.

July 12 GIZYCKO, POLAND.  We drove into the Great Masurian Lakes area which has over 2000 lakes surrounded by hilly landscape. 

We went to Wolfs Lair (Wilczy Szaniec) where Hitler headquartered from 1941 to 1944.  There were multiple bunkers made up of concrete up to 8 meters thick. 

Stayed in the city of Gizycko, the larges lakeside center in the region.  This area is known for its chain of lakes.  The weather was perfect with people sun bathing along the shore of the lake and a multitude of sailboats on the lake.

MAY BE OUT FOR A BIT

We went to Helsinki, Finland today.  Left our van in a parking lot in Tallin.  Came back and found our van broken into and computer and other electronics stolen.  Right now using a computer at a hotel.  We may be out of touch for awhile.  Good thing we have the blog, as it is the only pictures we have left!