Oct. 21 – Nov. 3 Egypt and Mediterranean Cruise

Oct. 21 – Nov. 3    Egypt and Mediterranean Cruise (Our first two days at sea)

My parents arrived a few days before we left on our cruise.  When they arrived in Munich my dad had a bad cold, which we were hoping we wouldn’t catch.  When we first told Kevin that we were going on a cruise and we told him which countries we were visiting, he said “great you’re going to all the countries that are having problems”.  We arrived in Rome on Oct 21 to begin our 13 day cruise.  The trains were not running that day due to a strike, which we were already aware that that might be happening, so I arranged for our transfer to the boat through Princess.  I think my parents were happy for that.  We got my parents settled in their room and we had time for lunch and went to explore the ship.  Jay found the ship's library and an English/German dictionary.  I had to take a picture so  he could show his German teacher he was studying, even on vacation.  The Star Princess was the same ship we were on for our Alaskan cruise about 10 years ago.  Our cabin on this cruise was upgraded to a room with a balcony.  I told Jay that now I won’t go back to a room with just a window.  It’s like camping and going from a tent to a camper, once you have a taste of a better way you don’t go back.  As we left the port in Civitavecchia, Italy you could just see the sun starting to set.

We spent the next two days at sea on our way to Egypt.   Our first day at sea we passed Stromboli Island where we could see the volcano smoldering.  Later that day we passed through the Messina Strait, which separates the mainland of Italy from the island of Sicily. 

Messina Strait

We spent our sea time wisely, going to the casino, playing ping pong, joining trivia contests, relaxing and watching food demonstrations.  It was amazing to see what they can make with different fruits and vegetables and how quickly they make them.   Jay and I signed up for an egg drop contest.  For the egg drop contest you were to build something out of things that you could find on the ship that would hold an egg which would be dropped three floors and hopefully your egg wouldn’t break.  Results later on. 

We also met some people from Cruise Critics, which we signed up for just before this cruise.  (Travel Tip) Cruise Critics is where you can email people that are on the same cruise as you.   I had made arrangements for us to take a private tour in Egypt, but after meeting some people from Cruise Critics on the ship we decided to go on the tour with them.  We thought touring with 18 other people would be better than just four, not to mention it would be a little safer. 

Jay also entered a slot tournament and made it to the finals with 5 other women.  Unfortunately he didn’t finish on top, but he did receive a baseball cap.   Jay and my dad entered a golf chipping contest.  You had to chip across the pool into a shower located on the other side.  Jay didn’t do too well, but my dad made one shot in the shower and received a gold medal, which he was very proud of. 

Cuckoo Clock Hunt and Last Night at Oktoberfest

Oct. 1 - 3  Cuckoo Clock Hunt and Last Night at Oktoberfest

This weekend we went to the Black Forest or Schwarzwald, which is about 4 hours west of Munich.  The Black Forest is where the cuckoo clocks are made.  So we knew we would have a few to choose from.  We stayed at a small hotel in Triberg, which was OK.  Our room faced the main street and there was a church right across the street.  The bells rang every 15 minutes starting from 7:30am until 9:00 pm.  Finally on our last night they changed our room to the other side where all you could hear was the water running from the creek behind the hotel. 

The Triberg area also home to the World’s Biggest Cuckoo Clock, which we visited.  Inside the house you can see the clock’s internal mechanism, which are all made of wood. 

Saturday morning there was a small band (9 men) parading down the street past our hotel.  As we were watching them, they turned around and marched back to a restaurant on the corner, where they must have spent the entire day there, since we saw them later in the day eating and drinking their beer.   They would play a few songs then back to their beer. 

Later that day we visited several gifts shops in our search for the perfect clock and also drove to several small towns in the area.   After walking in a few shops, we knew that this wasn’t going to be an easy task.  There were cuckoo clocks on every wall in every shop we walked in.  Luckily the shops in that part of Germany were open on Sundays and holidays. 

The weather was great – clear blue skies and highs in the low 70’s.  We drove part of the German high road where the roads were narrow and windy with great views and the leaves on the trees were just starting to change.  We really wished we had our Triumph TR6. 

We rented a Volkswagen for the weekend; we should have had a convertible instead.  In the car’s center console cup holder there was a removable bottle opener.  Those Germans think of all the necessities.   Jay had a few of the local beers from that area and we also had Black Forest Cake, which was OK.

Sunday morning we went for a hike to Germany’s highest waterfalls.  The falls are over 160 meters high.  It was a cool morning and an easy hike.  

 

After our hike we continued the hunt for our clock.  It seemed like every place we went into, we liked at least 1 or 2 clocks.   At one of the last places we looked on Sunday we found a clock that almost had everything we wanted.  While we were there, a worker from the clock factory was there and heard us asking if they could make changes to the display clock.  He told the salesman that he would make us a new clock with all the changes and would be ready the next day. 

We went to the clock shop at 9:00 and our one of kind cuckoo clock was ready.  We left Triberg around noon on Monday, October 3, so we could make it back to Munich to go to Oktoberfest for the last day and our last time during our stay in Germany.  We took a different route back, which started on a narrow road through the countryside.  The road was so narrow I didn’t think it was a two way road, but it was.  Luckily we did not meet anyone going the other way. 

The weather once again was great and there were a lot of people at Oktoberfest.  We were able to get into our favorite tent and had a great time again.  We will miss all the fun of Oktoberfest once we move back to the states.

This year Oktoberfest had about 6.9 million visitors, half a million more than last year, who drank an all-time record of 7.5 million liters of beer.  Each year they keep a log of the strange things that are turned into the lost and found.  This year they reported receiving a live, eight-centimeter long grasshopper, a Viking helmet, a pair of crutches, an electric wheelchair, a rucksack containing two foldable camping chairs, a case full of musical notes, 1,300 items of clothing, 520 wallets, over 1,000 identity cards, 390 mobile phones, 370 pairs of eyeglasses, 90 cameras, 80 items of jewelry and watches and 425 keys.

Chester, England

Sept 27 – 28 – England

Jay had 2 days of site surveys in England at the plant that makes the wings for the Airbus airplanes.  He stayed in Chester.  This was another opportunity to drive on the wrong side of the road as he had a 1 hour drive from Manchester.  The driving was a success.  Chester was a nice small town with a nice city center. Some of the older buildings are a distinctive black and white.  Chester was founded in the year 79, almost 2000 years ago.  It was easy to walk around. The town still has a wall around the city center.  A river runs close to the city center.  It also has the remains of a roman amphitheatre from the 3^rd century.   

Portion of the city wall

He had a very good steak dinner at The Grill, which is located in an old church near the city center.   He also went to Manchester one evening, which is a bigger city that was crowded and had a dirty downtown.  One of the things he noticed is that the trains in England do not leave on time like they do in Germany.  Jay had fish and chips at the B Lounge in Manchester. The fish and chips were very greasy and not very good.  The ones we had in Ireland were much better.  He also had a Bomber beer, which was OK, not much flavor.

The Grill Restaurant

Neuhaus

Sept. 23 - 25   Neuhaus

Jay and I went to Neuhaus, which is about an hour southeast of Munich, very near to the Alps.  Munich Re has their own property there with five buildings with rooms that employees can rent.  When you check in, they ask you what kind of breads you want in the morning and they are delivered outside your building the next morning and you go and pick up your bag of fresh breads. 

Fresh Breads

We had a relaxing weekend, where we did a little hiking and enjoyed time on the small lake.  There are row boats that you can borrow, so we rowed to a small island on the lake and had lunch at the restaurant there.   Of course we took turns rowing.  We also took a chair lift to the top of one of the mountains we skied at earlier this year and had a picnic lunch overlooking the Alps.  We played ping pong in the evening in a small recreation area at Neuhaus.  They also  have pool tables, racquetball courts and a sauna. 

On our way to the top of the mountain

On our way to town one day, traffic on the road was stopped because one of the local farmers was moving his cows from one field to the next, using the main road.  We had great weekend and the weather was great.   

Oktoberfest 2011 - Sept. 2011

Sept.  17 – Oktoberfest 2011

You can always tell that Oktoberfest is near as you see an increase of lederhosen and dirndls as you walk around Munich.  Today Oktoberfest started and we went to the parade.  The parade on the first day is all the local breweries.  The last wagon arrives at the Oktoberfest grounds just before 12:00.  At 12:00 the mayor of Munich taps the first beer keg indicating the start of all the Oktoberfest festivities.  This is the mayor’s most important task of the year.  We attempted to walk through the grounds but there were way too many people on the first day, which one could expect.  

On Sunday there is another parade that is more of the traditional dress from various areas around Bavaria.  Today was cold and rainy, so we didn’t watch too much of the parade. 

We went with the ski club to Oktoberfest as they have a box reserved.  This box area has seating for about 100 of your closest friends and I think we had about 125 or so in our area.   I guess they were trying to squeeze as many people inside since the weather was so bad outside.  

Since our box area had a floor above us you could hardly hear the band, so Jay and I went to another tent which had more “American” music and we had a great time.  We were able to squeeze in at a table that was close to the band.

Monday night Jay had someone from the states here, so back to Oktoberfest we went.  Jay's friend was amazed at the size of the tents and how many people were inside.  This time we were able to get into one of the tents known for the younger crowd.  Way too many drunk people, but they were very funny to watch. 

Tuesday Jay went to Oktoberfest with a group for lunch.  Can you imagine this happening in the US?  Leaving the office for several hours and having a few liters of beer and then going back to work.    I am sure some of them didn’t make it back to work.

We met some friends on Thursday night at Oktoberfest and of course had another good time.  It is really funny just watching all the drunks.  In the tents later in the evening, nobody is sitting at the tables; everyone is standing on the benches.  It still amazes me that we have only seen a few people fall off the benches.