Our Grand Tour of Europe

By this point it was 6:30… time to wake Kelly and Charley, take showers, strip our beds, start laundry, and finish packing. For the last few days we’ve been working on disengaging ourselves from La Bastide Vieille. After 28 weeks, our possessions were integrated throughout the house—books on the bookshelves, dishes on the shelves, spices on the spice rack, even pictures on the walls. We had truly made this our home. How did we ever accumulate so many additional things? We’ve shipped about ten boxes home to America, spending about 500 euros—not something I had in my original budget. We’ve sent home books, pottery, fabrics, Christmas decorations, winter clothes, ski clothes, new hedgehogs, piano music, soaps, lavender sachets, herbes de Provence, photos. Our home in America will definitely be enhanced by the colors and scents of Provence. We gave Kevin a big box of books and also gave him a few bags of things to sell at a “vide grenier” or give to the Red Cross. We left one of our big duffle bags with the Thompsons, filled mainly with books—we’re confident we’re coming back to retrieve this. Kelly gave Alayna some books, a pretty purse, a journal, and some art supplies. We left a variety of things—books, kitchen items, a tablecloth, our clothes drying rack, good hangers, food—at La Bastide Vieille. We even threw some clothes away—my raggy jeans and worn-out Clark shoes, Kelly’s holey pants, Charley’s sweatshirt jacket from London, and his sad-looking soggy hiking hat.

Despite all the shipping, giving-away and trashing, we still have way too much luggage. We have summer clothes, but we still need clothes for colder weather over the next few weeks. We also have all our serious hiking gear, which we need for our two-week walking trip in the Swiss Alps at the very end. We have guidebooks and maps for the rest of our trip. We packed up the food we thought we could use in the next two weeks…. but how will Kelly possibly eat 22 packets of Ramen noodle soup? Will Charley and I be able to drink five bottles of wine… plus part of a box of red wine from the co-op? We have our car for just two more weeks—in Oberammergau and then at Lake Como. But then we need to consolidate down into just a few bags we can manage on a train. As I looked at everything we were loading into the car, I wondered if this was ever possible.

When the sun came up over the Grand Luberon in the east, the day was overcast and cloudy… gloomy. I told Kelly that Provence was crying because we are leaving. Leaving this house—now our home—was difficult on any day, but would have been even harder on a gorgeous day. All three of us were tense this morning—partly tired but also very emotional. Kelly was especially sad about saying goodbye to Chico, our black cat. She didn’t like cats before we came here and had Chico, and now she really likes them. She may even get a kitten when we get home. We tried to take one last family photo in the living room using the little tripod, but Charley couldn’t remember how to set the camera to operate on a timer, then Chico got antsy and bit at Kelly.

In our happy yellow kitchen we gathered for a family hug, and I cried. I wasn’t ready to leave our kitchen, our house, this place… wasn’t ready for this time of my life to be over. At least now we have a plan to come back.

Finally at 10:30—30 minutes later than we planned—we finished loading the car and checked the house one last time. Kelly left a surprise for Cynthia and Ian—a beautifully laid table, with the napkins folded into special designs using instructions from a book Mariette gave her as a going-away present. I went out to the car while Kelly said her final goodbye to Chico. Charley locked the back door, and we drove very slowly down the gravel road in a light drizzle… one last journey through the cherry trees and grapevines.

Charley turned left up toward the mountain and the D3, then stopped at the trash dumpsters to leave one last load. He got out to put the bags in the dumpster, and all of a sudden I heard him talking to someone—Ian!—who had apparently come driving down another small road. I didn’t get out of the car—I had already said goodbye to Ian twice, and knew I would be too emotional. I think Ian was probably waiting down the other road where he could see us leave the house, not realizing we would stop at the dumpster. He wasn’t going to come until 11… and we had said we’d leave about 10. I know he was anxious to get back to the home he loves so much, and I wonder how he felt these last three weeks coming by to visit or do work in the yard while we were living there. He and Cynthia are special people, and I know we’ll be connected to them for a long time. Yesterday when we all had breakfast together, we talked with them about renting La Bastide Vieille next March over Kelly’s spring break.

We drove down the D3 slowly, looking back down at the house and the beautiful countryside we know so well. Then we drove on into the village for a few final errands. It was Friday—market day—and busy despite the bit of rain. Kelly asked if she could get a piece of pizza from the pizza truck, and as we drove by, we saw our neighbors the Allemands at the pizza truck. They are a nice retired couple (former postmasters from Avignon) who have taken care of Chico when we’ve been gone. Kelly hopped out to get her pizza and tell them we were leaving. Charley and I drove down to the post office so I could mail a few letters. As we stopped back near the church to pick up Kelly, the Allemands walked by and we chatted briefly. They don’t speak any English and our communication is interesting, but they have always been so nice. We told them we were on our way out—to go to Germany, Italy, Austria and Switzerland… then finally home to America in August—but that we hoped to be back next spring. They asked about Ian and Cynthia. “Ian est à la maison maintenant,” we said. Ian is at the house now. We drove on down the narrow little main street and parked on the side so Charley could go to boulangerie on one last bread run. Kelly and I watched people with their market baskets, going about their business to the market, the butcher, the pharmacy and the boulangerie. We wished we were one of them, headed up to the market and then to lunch at Le Terrail.

Just as Charley came back, a mother we know from the village school walked by. Rachel is British, but is married to a Frenchman and lives in Bonnieux, right on the little main street. For a long time I thought she was French. We talk to her often at the school gate, and she’s been a good resource when we have questions about something happening at school or in the village. We told her we were leaving at this very minute… she was shocked. I think she thought we were here to stay. “Will Kelly be coming back next year for school?” she asked. She kissed Charley and I goodbye. I was glad we had friends to say goodbye to this morning… better than just driving away with no goodbyes.

And then we were gone, winding around through the village one last time. Charley took the scenic mountain road over to Apt, driving slowly this one last time. We followed the N100 through Apt, passing by the Café du Louvre on the square, then heading east toward Céreste. It was the same route we’ve taken several times, including on our ski trip in February. We drove along the Grand Luberon, into Les Alpes de Haute-Provence, through Forcalquier where we had lunch outside on our way to go skiing, up the motorway past Sisteron with its castle high on the hill. The scenery changed before us… no more grapevines, then no more olive trees. We saw some sheep and then lots of fruit trees. Everything was very green. We had packed sandwiches and snacks to eat in the car and just pulled into a rest area to eat a quick lunch.

Finally our route took us into new territory—Les Hautes-Alpes—and the busy mountain town of Gap. We had decided to take this route—including a much slower mountain route (the Route Napoleon)—instead of driving north to Lyon as the ViaMichelin internet directions had suggested. We drove up into the mountains on a twisty, windy road. It was absolutely beautiful, even on a day like this. We could see snow in the mountains and several cars had skis on the top. Finally we hit the motorway at the busy city of Grenoble, which we followed north to the Swiss border. The important international city of Geneva is right on the border, at the southwest corner of Lake Geneva. This is the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and here the lake is called Lac Léman.

We had some confusion when we crossed into Switzerland. Instead of charging motorists a toll on the major highways, Switzerland assesses an annual tax. To drive on the Swiss motorway, we would have to buy a sticker—30 euro for a year, even though we would only be driving through this afternoon and tomorrow. The woman guard at border suggested we take an alternate route along the lake to avoid the tax. When we tried to do this, we got lost and ended up wandering around this corner of France and then into busy Geneva. Finally we arrived at another border crossing and motorway entrance. We decided just to go ahead and buy the sticker since ideally we need to use the motorway tomorrow too. We realized that if they charged tolls, of course we would have paid. We probably paid close to 30 euros in tolls on our trip to Barcelona in February. Somehow, though, it seemed more expensive—more optional—charged as an annual tax, especially when we were only there for two days. We lost about an hour reaching this conclusion and reached our hotel about 7:00 pm.

I had found a hotel near Lausanne in the village of Cully, right on Lake Geneva. I wanted an interesting, unique place—not too expensive—that didn’t require us driving into one of the bigger cities or towns to spend the night. I also knew Charley was interested in the lakes—he has a videotape series he watches at home called “The Great Lakes of Europe.” He loves these tapes. Our little hotel for the night was the Hôtel Au Major Davel. The hotel is in a small village, just 20 minutes from Lausanne in the Lavaux wine region, right on the lake in a beautiful, peaceful setting… at the ferry dock, by a little park… a beautiful view of the lake with mountains rising above. The vineyards here are very different than what we have become accustomed to in France—here they rise very steeply up from the lake… small walled plots built into stone terraces, incredibly steep. The grapes must definitely be picked by hand. A train track winds through the vineyard, midway up the hillside.

The hotel has 12 rooms, and we had a nice big room with a view of the lake. We left most of our luggage in the car and just carried our backpacks and computer bag into our room. I had booked a package deal that included a five-course dinner for Charley and me—I paid 260 Swiss francs ($220) for the room, dinner and breakfast for two. Kelly’s breakfast and dinner were extra.

Our dinner was absolutely wonderful. Charley ordered us a bottle of the local wine. We started with melon and parma ham, then two big shrimp with bits of asparagus, a delicious veal mignon with vegetables, an assortment of cheeses, and crème caramel. Kelly had great piece of beef in a sauce with pasta and vegetables and then ice cream for dessert. We all loved our meals. This is our last dinner in the French language until we arrive back in the French-speaking part of Switzerland at the end of our walking tour, the end of our trip. We will fly home out of Geneva—the airport is actually over the border in France—and will spend our last night of the trip in Geneva.

We are trying to get excited about the rest of our trip, talking about what we want to do in Oberammergau. But every time I think about Provence, I feel sad…actually on the verge of tears. I need to hit my refresh button so I can bring a sense of excitement to the rest of our trip… not just mourn for the end of Provence. We have an incredible journey still ahead of us.

Saturday, April 16

I should be tired, but I woke up during night and couldn’t get back to sleep… still thinking about Provence and trying to focus positively on the rest of the trip.

We had a simple breakfast at the hotel—breads, jam, juice, coffee—and talked with the nice woman owner. Why is it that when Charley and I say “Bonjour,” people talk back to us in English? But when Kelly orders “chocolat chaud, s’il vous plait,” the woman says “ah, tu parles français” and immediately starts talking to her in French. Kelly obviously has something we don’t have—the right accent. We’re so proud of her language skills, and she is determined to continue her work in French. At her age she really could become fluent…perhaps too late for Charley and me, but we will continue to try.

It was very foggy outside this morning. We couldn’t see mountains around the lake and just a bit of the steep Lavaux vineyards. We watched a group in the park outside the hotel, warming up to take a hike. Since most of them were wearing sneakers, we decided they weren’t real hikers. Kelly and I took a few photos. I think this would be an interesting place to spend more time. I’d love to hike in those vineyards and take a ferry ride around the lake.

We left about 9:30 am. Today’s route took us across the northern part of Switzerland—almost from one side to the other. We passed by some of the largest cities in Switzerland—Bern (the capital), Zurich, Winterthur, St. Gallen. Despite all our European travels, we’ve spent very little time in Switzerland… just three days in Lucerne in 1997. It seems a country of amazing contrasts—extremely green… beautiful mountains, forests, cows, pastoral land… on the one hand, beautiful and seemingly simple. But then it’s also very modern with lots of industry, great highways, and clean-looking towns. We saw many buildings utilizing solar power, including several large barns. As we drove, I read aloud from the overview sections of our Michelin Green Guide for Switzerland. We learned that Switzerland has one of the highest standards of living in the world. It’s a major center for banking and insurance—40% of the world’s personal savings are concentrated in Switzerland.

The mountains were absolutely spectacular, covered with snow… really wonderful scenery on today’s drive. We will learn much more about these mountains when we return in late July to begin our two-week, 100-mile walk in the Swiss Alps.

Somewhere before Bern, we moved from the French-speaking region of Switzerland to the German-speaking region. There’s also an Italian-speaking region we will likely visit next week while we just over the border in Italy at Lake Como. The change seemed quite dramatic—suddenly the road signs were all in German. We stopped three times for bathroom breaks, snacks and gas—no lunch break again today. I couldn’t even remember enough German to ask where bathrooms are. Somehow I recalled the word “toiletten” and that was the extent of my inquiry. “Toiletten??” It feels so strange—awkward—to be operating in another language. Despite our limitations, we knew a decent amount of French. We felt so comfortable.

During our drive we talked about the rest of the trip. I’ve taken most of the responsibility for planning and research. Now we’re heading totally into new territory, and we decided to share these responsibilities. Kelly will be the researcher/planner for Rome, and Charley will handle Venice. They can study the guidebooks, understand what we should see and do, and lay out our daily itinerary.

By the edge of Lake Constance (the Bodensee), we passed briefly through a corner of Austria and then into Germany. In just 30 minutes we were in three different countries! The landscape changed again… so incredibly green. We came into the snow-covered Alps, the countryside dotted with red-roofed wooden buildings, all very quaint and picturesque. Soon we entered familiar country… we passed by Fussen and drove along the shores of a large lake. We spotted Neuschwanstein Castle on the hillside in the distance, then drove through Steingaden, and finally reached Oberammergau. This is our fourth family visit here—my fifth. I came here for just one night with two friends on my first European trip in November 1991. We were here as a family in October 1997, then just before Christmas in both 1999 and 2003. On our other visits we only were able to stay a few days, but we were always interested in staying longer and coming at a warmer time of year. We like it here.

Oberammergau is nestled in a pretty valley, between two mountains long the River Ammer. Its famous mountain is the Kofel, a sharp peak that towers over the village at 4403 feet. We’d like to hike to the top of the Kofel while we are here. The village has a population of about 5300 people and is located on a high plateau—2746 feet above sea level. Oberammergau is best known for an event that happens only every ten years—the Passion Play, the story of the death of Christ. This is a tradition that started almost 400 years ago, a commitment made by the village during a serious epidemic of the plague. Thousands of people now come from around the world every ten years (next in 2010) to see this famous play—it’s eight hours long. There’s even a long intermission for lunch. Only residents of the village can be in the play.

We love this pretty Alpine village, with its beautifully painted houses, many with elaborate paintings… some which even tell stories. I especially like two houses on the edge of the village—one painted with the story of Hansel and Gretel and the other with the story of Little Red Riding Hood. Oberammergau is also famous for its woodcarvers (called “Holzschnitzerei”)—there must be at least 20 shops selling handmade religious figures, toys and other items. The carvings are very beautiful—and very expensive.

I found our “ferienwohnung” (rental apartment) on the internet… one of the least expensive of our trip and no deposit even required! I had corresponded with Frau Schuster on the internet, but she is away for the weekend and her teenage son Martin checked us in. We’re on the edge of the village, surrounded by beautiful green meadows and mountains, but just a 10 minutes walk to center of Oberammergau. Our apartment is quite large—the entire second floor of a large Bavarian chalet-style house. There are beautiful views from the windows and big balcony—we can even see the distinctive peak of the Kofel. We have a large living/dining/kitchen, three bedrooms, one bathroom and an extra WC. The apartment is furnished in a traditional Bavarian style— lots of wood with simple, muted colors… very different from the bright colors of Provence. The bedrooms are simple with sturdy wooden beds and cupboards, the beds topped with plump folded duvets. We even have crucifixes over the beds. Our place is extremely well equipped—no microwave, but everything else we will need for our week, including a dishwasher. Frau Schuster seems to have thought of everything we could possibly need in the kitchen. (We even have big beer glasses and a set of little shot glasses!) We have plenty of room and will be very comfortable.

I unpacked our kitchen supplies and did an inventory, putting together a short grocery list to supplement some of the food we brought with us. We had stopped by the grocery store (Tenglemann) on our way into the village and knew it was closed Sunday and closed this evening at 7:00 pm, so we headed on out to do our grocery shopping. As usual, we always have fun in a foreign grocery store. We’re just at a loss with the language—we don’t know the names for things anymore!

We had dinner tonight at La Montanara, a nice Italian place where we’ve eaten on our last two visits. Our meal was great—we just ordered too much food! The owner spoke English and was very friendly. Kelly and I are really struggling with not speaking French. We somehow now automatically say “oui” and “merci.” Charley had studied German a few years ago and always liked the language—he is remembering more.

This is our second night away from La Bastide Vieille… here in Bavaria we’re suddenly in a totally different world. No rocks, no stone buildings, no olive trees or cherry trees or grapevines. No boulangerie. It feels familiar here and is so very beautiful, but not the same. Every time Charley or I try to make a comparison, Kelly gets upset if we seem to favor Bavaria at all. She is so protective of Provence. I miss it too.

Sunday, April 17

We decided to sleep in and didn’t set the alarm… but I was still up early. I worked on organizing our digital photos while Charley and Kelly slept.

Charley went out to get breakfast breads—the woman at Tenglemann yesterday told him to go to the gas station since the bakeries are all closed on Sunday. Kelly set the table and organized our breakfast today– strawberries from Provence, breads, cheese and meats, jam, strawberry yogurt. We’ve always enjoyed breakfast in Bavaria—good rolls, meats and cheese.

We took showers and moved slowly this morning. We left the house a bit before noon and drove first to the village. Kelly wanted to do a little shopping—especially to replace a necklace she had bought here in 2002 and then broken. After our shopping we drove over to Linderhof castle– about 12 km from Oberammergau. Linderhof is one of King Ludwig II’s three famous castles, built in just six years (beginning in1868) and the smallest of the castles. It was built as a retreat for the King. We visited this castle just one time before, in 1997 when Kelly was just four. The little castle is absolutely beautiful—almost delicate—hidden away in the Graswang valley.

The story of Ludwig is extremely interesting and is extensively marketed today. He became King of Bavaria in 1864 when he was just 18 years old. Handsome and charming, he was caught up in a world of fantasies that he was able to bring to reality because of his power and wealth. Ludwig especially loved the music of Richard Wagner, the famous German composer; another of his heroes was King Louis XIV of France, the Sun King. Ludwig began to build unique castles and residences that played on his fantasies, his obsession with Louis XIV and his love of Wagner’s music.

There are three “King Ludwig” castles in southern Bavaria: Linderhof, Neuschwanstein and Herrenchiemsee. Most people are familiar with the fairytale castle of Neuschwanstein, so often photographed… and featured on jigsaw puzzles. This castle became the inspiration for Cinderella’s castle at DisneyWorld and was also one of the settings for the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Neuschwanstein and Herrenchiemsee castles were never finished. Ultimately, the King’s obsession with castle-building almost bankrupted Bavaria and he was declared mentally insane at the age of 40. A few days after he was taken away from Neuschwanstein Castle, he drowned in the Starnsbergsee, along with his psychiatrist, in very mysterious circumstances. Today his famous castles are the biggest tourist attractions in Bavaria—a tremendous impact on the economy. We want to visit Neuschwanstein this week and hope to visit Herrenchiemsee again when we stay near Salzburg in July.

The weather today was strange. It started a bit sunny but then clouds rolled in and it got colder. We thought it was probably snowing on top of the mountains. We hadn’t expected it to still be so wintery here in mid-April, though in Oberammergau it seems that spring and warmer weather have already been here—daffodils, tulips and other spring flowers are in full bloom. Linderhof was still very much in a “winter” state though. The big garden with fountains in front of the castle wasn’t even really open—most of the fountains were still covered for winter. We did see lots of pretty wildflowers growing in the woods and meadows.

We were able to go on an English-language tour almost immediately. The tour took about 30 minutes and covered the entire second floor where the king lived. Our guide was a young woman who spoke excellent English. Although they are really quite small, the rooms are very opulent, dripping with gold and elaborate paintings. The King rarely had visitors, so even the dining room was just equipped for one person. The dining room table was placed on a lift to travel up and down to the kitchen below—that way the servants could set and clear the table without having to go upstairs… and the king could have his solitude and not have to interact with servants. Kelly was very intrigued by the castle. They didn’t allow the use of a flash camera here, but Kelly’s digital camera takes great interior shots without a flash and so she took lots of pictures. Another woman on the tour was using her cell phone to take pictures—her camera/phone made sounds and then played computer music every time she took a picture. Did she not know how horribly irritating this was to others??

King Ludwig had built a couple of other structures on the property that are quite unique—all tied in with his various fairytale fantasies. We walked up to Venus grotto, an artificial grotto and underground lake that Ludwig built to stage elaborate Richard Wagner operas; he was the only member of the audience. Bavaria’s first electric power station was installed here to provide lighting for the grotto. We liked the incredible little seashell boat (topped by a cherub) that Ludwig used to ride around the lake. From the grotto it was another short walk to the Moorish Kiosk, where Ludwig lived out fantasies of yet another world. The little Moroccan House was covered up—some type of restoration project. The entire environment is so unique—a real live DisneyWorld set. I hope we can visit sometime in summer when gardens are flourishing and fountains are all operating.

The clouds were more ominous when we left—it was clearly snowing on some of the mountains. We drove back to Oberammergau… I was very cold (especially my ears) and wanted something hot to eat or drink. We stopped at the Alte Post, a big Bavarian hotel/restaurant right in center of village. Charley and I had beer and goulash soup, then shared an apple strudel. Kelly had carried a sandwich with her earlier and just had dessert. There is a little internet café at this hotel, in a separate room just off the street. We didn’t have enough time to use it very long today, but we know it’s convenient. It hailed very heavily while we were in the internet café. We went on back to the house… took naps and read.

For our second dinner in Germany, we fixed Mexican food we had carried from Provence (the last of a care package someone had sent us from home). After dinner Kelly and Charley went for a walk in the rain.

Monday, April 18

Today was another rainy, chilly day—another disappointing day. It snowed up on the mountain behind our house during the night. I know the rain is important to make everything so beautiful and green—which it truly is—but we wish it wasn’t happening during our week!

Charley drove down into the village for breakfast breads. He really likes it here… enjoys the mountains, the air, the breakfast food. He prefers a breakfast that involves meat and cheese instead of just a French croissant. The German he learned a few years ago is coming back to him too. We had breakfast at the house and then a slow start to the day. After breakfast Charley walked back down to the village to the grocery store while Kelly and I stayed home and read. Kelly fixed herself Ramen noodle soup for lunch. About 1 pm, we all walked down to the village together—an easy ten-minute walk. We found a bookstore with newspapers and a few English-language books.

We decided to have lunch at the Wolf Hotel, where we have stayed on all our previous visits to Oberammergau—I’ve stayed there all four times I’ve been here. This is a big, quaint, traditional hotel in a prominent place in the village. In October 1997 it was bedecked with red geraniums and in our two December visits was just beautiful in the snow. On our last visit we noticed a distinct difference in the Wolf Hotel—it had become a “dog” hotel! The hotel owners also operate a big dog-training center featuring a program called “Agility”. They offer classes all through the year, and people come with their dogs to these week-long classes and stay at the hotel. The hotel is really largely set up now for people with dogs. When we were here in December 2003, we felt a bit strange because we were one of the few people without a dog! The lobby is also a shop for various dog paraphernalia. The Wolf Hotel manages a few self-catering apartments in the village. When we were here the last time, I asked about the apartments and was told that only one of them was for people without a dog! They try to give preference to dog-people since many other places don’t want dogs in their rentals. So, we have concluded that we won’t ever stay at the Wolf Hotel again, but we do still feel an affection for it and like the restaurant very much.

We had a good simple lunch of goulash soup (better soup than Alte Post yesterday) and dessert. Kelly tried some of our goulash soup—she thinks she’ll order her own next time. I had apple strudel, also better than Alte Post. Kelly visited with the two dogs in the lobby—Olga and Quickie. She first saw these dogs when she was four years old. At the time it was quite a treat to see dogs in a hotel, but it’s not so unusual for us now.

We looked around a bit in Oberammergau, then went back to internet café for major catch-up. There has been a major downturn in the US stock market, which I’m trying not to be too concerned about. Since we are living off our investments, I find myself taking much more of a short-term view than I do with our IRA money. Charley ran some errands while Kelly and I worked on the computers, and then he and Kelly went to check on possible bike rentals later in the week. I’m not too sure about bikes though—I checked the weather forecast on the internet and it doesn’t look report too good for next couple of days.

We walked back to the house, read, and watched CNN to find out about the Pope conclave. I used more food we had brought from Provence—Chinese for dinner tonight. We have decided to do something major tomorrow, even if it’s rainy again.

Tuesday, April 19

We awoke to another rainy, overcast day. Charley and Kelly went down to the village to get breads and place an order for a few English-language books. The nice man at the bookshop we’d visited yesterday had a catalog of books he can order from Frankfurt—and supposedly can get them delivered before we leave. Kelly poured through the catalog, and we let her pick a few books. We got a later start than planned…left the house about 10 am.

The drive toward Fussen is so beautiful—we’ve now made it so many times. In December 2003 we had a scary drive back to Oberammergau in the snow. Today we passed through lush green farmlands dotted with the pretty chalets. Many of the big chalet-style barns have living quarters on one end. The countryside is surrounded by mountains and is heavily forested—quite different from the rocky scrubland we’re used to in Provence. Wood is plentiful here—and seems to be a big business. There are many beautiful lakes (called “sees”) in this part of Bavaria. We crossed the famous Echelsbacher Brücke over the River Ammer, where we parked and got out to look at the bridge spanning the deep, narrow gorge. When you drive across it, you have no idea that you’re on anything so high. Our route now followed the famous “Romantic Road.” A few miles along the road, we turned left to visit the Wieskirche. This is an absolutely beautiful little church—built between 1746 and 1754—out in the middle of farmland. The interior is an incredible surprise—done in the rococo style with beautiful statuary and lovely paintings—even a painted ceiling. As at Linderhof on Sunday, Kelly was quite interested and took a lot of photos.

There was one group of schoolchildren about Kelly’s age, touring the church with their teachers. The majority of the other people were senior citizens.

“Why is everyone here so old?” Kelly asked.

We reminded her that it was a Tuesday in April and most people have jobs. Only schoolchildren on field trips and retired people are normally out touring during the week when it’s not vacation time. She had forgotten about this!

We headed onward through Steingaden to Hohenschwangau, a small village that’s the launching-off spot for tours of two castles—Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau. Hohenschwangau Castle also has ties to King Ludwig—it was built by his father and is the castle where he grew up. As a boy living at Hohenschwangau Castle he saw the ruins of an ancient castle up on the hilltop and dreamed of building his own castle there one day. That spot later became his site for Neuschwanstein, and the two castles are now situated in sight of one another. We stopped outside of Hohenschwangau to take photos of Neuschwanstein perched on its mountainside, almost eerie today in the clouds. We also took pictures of a pretty little onion-domed church that sits on the small road leading to the castles. It’s so serene, and I always take a picture. I call it “my” church. This time Kelly took a picture too.

The village beneath the two castles is an extremely busy place, perhaps one of the major tourist destinations in Europe, even on this rainy day. There were lots of tour buses and tourists from every country…all there to see the castles. I can’t imagine what it must be like at the height of summer. Since my first visit in 1991, the village has ramped up to deal with large numbers of tourists—a central ticket office for the two castles, computerized ticket systems, automated access to the castles when your designated time arrives. It’s not a cheap visit either, but fortunately Kelly was free.

We arrived just after noon and had lunch at the Café Muller in the village, the third time we have eaten there. Kelly ordered her own goulash soup and liked it. Charley and I had sausages with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut. We had a friendly blond waiter who spoke very good English.

We decided to wait to visit Neuschwanstein, hoping for a better weather-day later in the week. Instead we walked about 10 minutes up the steep hill behind the village to the mustard-colored Hohenschwangau castle. It’s a small intimate castle that feels very old—although it was only built in the early 1800’s, it was designed in a much older style. The interior is very colorful… lots of wall paintings and many interesting things. The first room we visited was a billiards room. The tour guide chastised a teenage boy for leaning on the pool table and reminded everyone that we were not to touch anything. As we moved into the next room, we saw a cleaning woman climb up on the pool table and walk on it to clean a big chandelier. Charley pointed this out to the tour guide, who got quite flustered. I think this explanation wasn’t in her memorized script.

We drove back a long way through Austria to Garmisch… along the back of the big Zugspitze mountain. It was very cloudy and misty, and we couldn’t see much. We decided just to go on back to the apartment where we read and worked on various projects. Tonight we “foraged” in the kitchen for dinner and each had something different. I had my last box of “chou-fleur” (cauliflower) soup from France. After dinner Charley went for a walk. We watched CNN and learned a new pope has already been selected—he is from Bavaria. We’re hoping for better weather tomorrow so we can see the beautiful countryside and hopefully do some hiking or biking.

Wednesday, April 20

It snowed up on the mountains again during the night—we could see fresh snow in the trees and on the fields not too far above us. We were facing another cold, rainy day in Oberammergau. This has been the worst stretch of weather of our entire trip so far. We decided it was good we’ve been here before… fortunately we’ve seen most of the sights and do like it here… it’s not like we’re missing something we’ve never experienced.

Charley and Kelly went down to the village to get bread and a newspaper. The books had already arrived from Frankfurt, though the man was only able to get two of the four that we ordered—one for Kelly and one for Charley and me. Our book is Peter Mayle’s latest book—“A Good Year,” a novel set in Provence. We have a serious problem with books—we have very few left and we’re all such big readers. Since we’re spending so much time at the apartment this week, we’re all reading way too much. I’m even back to playing Spider Solitaire on the computer again. We hope we can find a bookstore in Rome or Venice that sells used books in English. This apartment had one paperback book in English, a James Patterson thriller that I finished this morning.

We watched CNN for a while and saw the new Pope’s first mass. We had a late breakfast, and then walked down to the village about noon. I spent a few hours at the internet café: e-mail, Slow Travel, and finances. I did check the weather—with luck it seems that Friday will be partly sunny, though Lake Como next week doesn’t look much better than we’re having now. I’m making plans to meet several other Slow Travel people in Italy, which should make that part of the trip interesting. Otherwise, we will miss being around friends… something that made our time in Provence very special. I posted my Slow Travel review of La Bastide Vieille. I had a message from Cynthia that Chico has been hiding under Kelly’s bed at the house… they think he really misses Kelly.

While I worked at the internet café, Charley and Kelly were out-and-about around the village. They had ice cream (gelato) at a place on the main street. Kelly is getting excited about the prospects of gelato in Italy. Kelly’s sneakers (which she has worn since last June) are starting to fall apart, and we’ve known for a while that she desperately needs new shoes. After we all met up again, we did a little shopping and browsing around the village, including spending at least 45 minutes at the shoe store across from the Wolf Hotel. Kelly finally decided on a pair of shoes that weren’t too expensive. I also got her a hiking shirt. I bought a gift and a little soft snowman ornament at the Käthe Wohlfahrt Christmas shop, one of my favorite stores in the entire world. Too bad I can’t buy any of the beautiful glass bird ornaments this time. We stopped at a nice café/konditorei—the Café Markmiller—for a late lunch. Kelly and I had goulash soup, and we all had dessert. Then we went by the Tourist Office to pick up some Oberammergau literature. As we started home, we realized that we had left the Käthe Wohlfahrt bag back at the shoe store, so Charley went back to retrieve it while Kelly and I walked on home.

Kelly and I stopped to chat with Frau Schuster, the first time I had met her. She’s probably about my age and speaks some English that she said she learned in school. I could have had a decent conversation with her in French, but am at a total loss in German. We talked about the new pope from Bavaria. We also found out that her whole family is in the Passion Play. Her husband was in the Last Supper scene in 2000. We’ve decided we’re interested in coming back to Oberammergau and going to the Passion Play in 2010.

I asked Frau Schuster about laundry. We had found out at the Tourist Office that there wasn’t a laundromat in the village—the only one closed just ten days before. She said she would be happy to do some laundry for us and wouldn’t charge much. It is going to be interesting during the rest of our trip figuring out the logistics of laundry each week.

For dinner we drove back down into the village to a Mexican restaurant (El Puente) we had spotted earlier in the week. We love Mexican food and have only found two Mexican restaurants since we’ve been gone: in Edinburgh and in Barcelona. We did not expect to find Mexican in this Bavarian village! This was a real Mexican place—good! We ordered way too much food and couldn’t eat it all. We’ve learned that there is a big NATO school here in Oberammergau (something else we never knew before), so there are lots of foreigners that come here to participate in various programs. We met our upstairs neighbor earlier this week—a military man of some sort from Canada who comes here a few times each year to teach a class. I spoke to a young American man today at the Tourist Office. And we spotted a couple of people in the Mexican restaurant that were clearly Americans. Perhaps that is why a Mexican restaurant has popped up in Oberammergau. In addition to Italian and Mexican in this small village, we’ve also seen a Chinese restaurant called Hong Phuc. We’re not quite sure how to pronounce that name!

Thursday, April 21

We woke to a day that began even more disappointing than the day before. Today there was even a dusting of snow on the grass around our house. We decided to start the day slowly again, in hopes that the weather would improve and we could make our planned trip to Neuschwanstein.

Charley drove down into the village to pick up breakfast things and a paper. He is really enjoying life in a German village, especially his morning trip to the bakery. He has found several different bakeries, and some mornings visits more than one to get exactly what he’s looking for. Although the French bread and certainly the croissants are better, the Germans seem to do more with pastries. Today Charley brought back a big cherry pastry that I enjoyed for my breakfast. We decided to have a big late breakfast and skip lunch.

I finished the Peter Mayle book this morning. I absolutely loved it. Although it’s mainly set on the south side of the Luberon, it brought back so many images of Provence. I’ve never really been homesick for Knoxville, Tennessee, but I find myself now homesick for Provence.

About 11 am I decided to walk to the village and visit the internet café again. I had a fun hour mainly on Slow Travel, thinking about France and England. A woman recently posted that she was planning a two-month stay in Provence—largely a result of reading my blog. I definitely feel a responsibility for giving her some input about her trip! Now another woman has posted that she wants to spend a year in Europe with her children. Several people have already pointed her to my blog. I was excited to get an e-mail from a Slow Travel friend with an update on yesterday’s episode of The Apprentice (the BBC version with Sr. Alan Sugar), which Kelly and I had followed with interest on our satellite television in Provence.

Charley and Kelly met me at the café a little after noon and checked their e-mail too. Kelly has just signed herself up on Slow Travel. Her user name is “LePetitBois” (The Little Wood). It will be interesting to see what Kelly posts and how people respond to her. On our way to the car, we passed one of Charley’s bakeries. So much for skipping lunch…

We drove once again over to Hohenschwangau, this time to visit Neuschwanstein, the most famous of King Ludwig’s castles. We arrived about 3 pm and purchased tickets at the ticket center for a 4:15 pm tour at the castle high above the village. We had promised Kelly we would take a horse carriage up the hill. She liked the idea of the horses, but mainly didn’t like the idea of walking up the steep path. We sat in the front next to the driver. One of our two horses had a real problem with gas, and everyone in our carriage was snickering.

We had about 30 minutes before our tour—just time for coffee and hot chocolate at a hotel/café near the castle. Fortunately the weather had cleared a bit for our visit to the castle.

We waited in the vast courtyard for our tour number to come up on the board. Our tour guide today was a bit unusual—a young man who looked about 15 years old and was very androgynous. Charley actually thought he was a girl. I described him as a “wind up boy.” He had memorized his script in singsong English, which he delivered with hands clasped in front of him, looking off into space—really a very strange young man to have ended up in a people-job like a tour guide. This was my third visit to Neuschwanstein, and I enjoyed being there and seeing this castle, each room so elaborate… wood, gold, paintings, tapestries, bright colors. Many of the rooms have paintings that tell the stories on which the operas of Richard Wagner are based. And the motif of the swan is everywhere—one room had over 100 swans included in its décor. This castle even has a miniature grotto built in between a couple of rooms—a setting for the Wagner opera Lohengrin.

I love the beautiful views out the windows—the setting up on the hilltop is really incredible. Compared to so many other things we’ve seen in Europe, this castle is really not that old—construction started only in 1868. The construction was completed in 1892, a few years after the King’s death. Some of the rooms were never finished.

At one point—while we were in the big “singers hall”—we heard and then saw a helicopter circling in the gorge just beyond the castle…. by the waterfall and the Marienbrücke. I thought perhaps it was some kind of helicopter tour, like the kind we see in the Smokies at home—or maybe a postcard photographer. Just as we were ending the tour and heading down the spiral stairs, we passed by another set of windows and saw and heard the helicopter again. It was a police helicopter, circling up and around the gorge, very close to the cliffs and the bridge. Everyone in our group clustered around the windows to see what was going on. Some of us took photos. We wondered if someone was trying to jump off the bridge. That didn’t seem to be the case, but we never found out what the police were doing. Our poor little tour guide didn’t quite know what to do with us.

We decided to walk further up the hill to one of the most fantastic views I’ve ever seen—the view of Neuschwanstein Castle from the tiny Marienbrücke… a narrow bridge stretched across a deep, deep gorge with a perfect end-to-end view of the castle. It’s about a 15-minute walk from the castle, but up a steep hill.

At one point in the hike up to the Marienbrücke, there’s an overlook looking down on Hohenschwangau, with the small lake (the Alpsee) behind it. An American girl (looked like a college student) was trying to get a German couple to take her photo with what must have been a complicated camera. We struck up a conversation with her—she took our photo and then we walked the rest of the way to the bridge together where we took more photos. She was from Texas, going to school in Rome for a semester, and traveling extensively around Europe during a 10-day break. Her 10-day trip must have involved ten different cities, mostly traveling on overnight trains—definitely not Slow Travel! She wasn’t very feminine, and Charley seriously thought she was a boy. Kelly and I teased him about this since he also was confused about our tour guide at the castle.

We had dinner tonight at Hotel Wolf. We were seated in the little room where we always had breakfast when we stayed at the hotel—they seemed to seat their “non-dog” guests in a different room from the dog people. It was a wonderful meal. Kelly and I both started with goulash soup. They had a special asparagus menu featuring green and white asparagus, which is a very popular delicacy in Europe and now in season. I ordered the asparagus classic—steamed green and white asparagus with hollandaise sauce—and pork medallions. I also had roasted potatoes. It was the best pork I had ever tasted, much thicker than any cut of pork tenderloin I’ve ever had. Charley was sure that I had gotten beef instead. When we asked the waiter, it turned out that I did have the beef. My ordering in German—combined with my pointing on the menu—must have been confusing. But my meal was just absolutely wonderful. Charley loved his wiener schnitzel, and Kelly was delighted with her barbeque chicken breast with fries. We had so much good food that we skipped dessert.

We had left Frau Schuster a basket of dirty clothes this morning, and when we arrived home, the basket was sitting in front of our door with our laundry perfectly folded. I suspect that she may have even ironed some of the clothes. I’ve never seen such beautiful looking laundry before!

Friday, April 22

Finally—our long-awaited beautiful day in Bavaria! We awoke to a day full of sunshine… much warmer and simply beautiful. We do love the location here surrounded by mountains.

We saw Frau Schuster when we were going out. We complimented her on the wonderful laundry and asked how much we owed her—she only charged us five euro for two loads of wash. What a great deal!

We had promised Kelly she could ride bikes. I decided not to rent a bike… it’s just really not my thing. We walked together down to the village and I worked a while in the internet café while Charley and Kelly got their bikes and rode around the village. We met back at home. Then they rode four kilometers to the big cloister (monastery) at the nearby village of Ettal. I sat out on the balcony in the sunshine and read for a while—enjoying the great view of the snow-topped mountains and lovely green meadows—and then drove to Ettal to meet them. They were both excited about their bike ride and the beautiful scenery along the river. We looked in a gift shop, then walked across to the beautiful church at Ettal. Even though we’d been here before, I still marvel at how wonderful it is. The Benedictine monastery was founded in 1330 became a very important pilgrimage church. The original church was destroyed by fire and this church—in the baroque style with a huge dome—dates back to 1720. The interior is baroque and rococo…very extravagant inside and I think even more dazzling than the Wieskirche. Kelly took lots of photos. Charley and Kelly came back by bike. I ignored Charley’s suggestion that I could ride his bike back and he could drive, drove back to the house, and then walked down to the village again. I sat on a bench out in front of the Alte Post and enjoyed one of Charley’s favorite pastimes of our European travels: “watching the world go by.” With the return of spring weather, many people were out on the streets, drinking beer and eating hearty food at the sidewalk tables of the Alte Post.

I took this time contemplate the differences between Provence and Bavaria… I think the differences are more jarring than usual since we had been so long in Provence and become so acclimated to the culture and lifestyle there.

- The cars in Bavaria are bigger, newer, cleaner, and mostly dark colors. (In Provence it seemed most people had a small, old car… usually white or silver and quite dusty.) I saw several SUVs and lots of BMWs, Audis, Mercedes, and Lexus. I didn’t see any of the white utility vans that were so plentiful in Provence.

- The people at the sidewalk café were drinking big glasses of beer—not wine.

- I have seen a surprising number of people wearing the local dress—alpine hats with feathers, loden jackets, even some men in the knee-length lederhosen. These haven’t been just shop/restaurant people but real people going about their daily business… mostly older people. We never saw any local dress in Provence—just regular clothes not too different than what we would wear. I think the local dress there is only worn on special feast days.

- I saw many more blond people with blue eyes, rosy cheeks, and freckles. I also saw many more tall people. Our family is physically more compatible with the people of Bavaria—in fact, in France sometimes people took us for German.

- Everyone working in the shops and restaurants speaks very good English.

- I saw lots of people riding bicycles for transportation—men and women of all ages (sometimes with a bag or box of the day’s groceries strapped on the back) and also children. Parking is limited and expensive in the village—I think a lot of locals use bikes to get around. Because the valley is flat, this is much more practical than in Provence, where the biking is more strenuous and athletic.

- We have seen lots of serious cyclists (usually in distinctive spandex), motorcyclists and hikers. This is serious hiking country. Europeans definitely walk more as a leisure activity than Americans do.

- The architecture is totally different than what we’ve been used to the past six months. Almost all the houses are in the chalet style—large, mostly white stucco and lots of beautiful wood. Many houses (including the one where we’re living) are decorated with elaborate crucifixes or other woodcarvings. In Oberammergau and some of the neighboring villages and towns, many houses and commercial buildings are also decorated with beautiful paintings, painted right on the stucco—each one unique. Most of the churches are simple, topped with an onion-domed steeple.

- The houses and yards are very, very tidy… neat, organized. The flower gardens are perfectly planted. Most houses have big stacks of wood—perfectly stacked in the yard and often tucked up under the eaves along a wall of the house, almost like insulation. Everything here is very clean and orderly. Care of the environment seems to be very important. (In our house we have an elaborate system of sorting trash for recycling—I think the village must require this.)

- The colors of Bavaria are much more muted—soft browns, blues, mauves, olive greens… not the bright happy colors of Provence.

- The people here are more stoic, serious, efficient. They are friendly, but not necessarily warm.

About 3:45 I met Charley and Kelly by the Café Markmiller, where we had enjoyed a snack earlier this week. Kelly wanted to show me a nearby goat farm they had discovered on their bike trip, so she and I rode bikes a short way to a farm by the river. There were lots of goats (including some very cute little kids), ducks, and big geese. Some people were feeding the animals, and the animals were everywhere… a few even found their way outside the fence. Part of our ride was right down the main street of Oberammergau along with the other traffic—very strange and a bit scary! We met Charley back at the Café Markmiller and had drinks and goulash soup. Charley and Kelly returned their bikes and then met me over at the Alte Post internet café again. We all worked on the computers one last time. We have no idea how we will access the internet at Lake Como. The café in Oberammergau has been extremely handy, but we’ve spent too much time there due to bad weather.

It was still just a beautiful day when we got back to our house. Charley sat on the balcony and enjoyed the mountains while I fixed spaghetti for dinner. Over dinner we started talking about the next 11 weeks in Italy. Our week in Germany has been a short interlude between France and Italy… a transition place. The rhythm of our trip is definitely changing. This week has gone by too fast—we would have liked another week here, especially with this good weather. We didn’t get to do any of the hiking we had hoped to do—a reason to come back to Oberammergau again. Next time we'll come in the summertime.