Day 62. On the way home (even though we are actually home now)

Andy dropped us off at the Geneva airport and we waited over an hour for clearance to land in foggy London town. The flight to Dulles was comfortable and not crowded. We really appreciated Peggy picking us up there - what a friend! And we were SO glad to see Shelly and be home!!

Day 61 Geneva (a bit out of order)

After breakfast we all went to a huge street market that is open on Saturdays: over 8 city blocks full of fresh produce, meat, fish , cheese, bread, wines, clothes, books, you name it! Chantel does weekly shopping and Andy buys whatever strikes his fancy. It reminded us of Eastern Market on Capitol Hill. Later we went to a flea market that was also large but more like a rummage sale.
 
We went to mass Saturday night at St. Francis de Sales near Andy's daughter's apartment. The mass was in French, adding to the list of non-English services we attended. Then we walked to Fanny's to celebrate her birthday and meet her friends. We stayed longer than planned, but Chantel wasn't at all mad about holding dinner. She's a living saint.

Home sweet home!

There's no place like home!!!

Day 60 Geneva and lunch with Andy's pals

We took a tram down to the old city and walked thru streets that once had Roman soldiers walking on them. History seeping out of every crack in the paving stones.

We joined 4 friends that lunch most every Friday at a Cuban place in the downtown financial district. What an eclectic assembly, Brits and Americans, who have lived in Switzerland for many years, and each has a fascinating story.

After a 2 & 1/2 hour lunch we had mint tea at a Russian tea shop with most of the lunch group, interesting perspective on life and times, never a shortage of opinion or stories.  We went to a museum that had been the home Voltaire lived in in Geneva and saw other landmarks before returning to Andy's.

Day 59 Lake Lemon from all sides

After a leisurely breakfast with Andy and Chantel, that included a stop at a coffee shop with WIFI, we took a drive around the lake. Andy found the small lakefront house where Mary Shelly wrote some pages of Frankenstein (as the sign proclaims); Lord Byron and his entourage stayed nearby where he wrote The Prisoner of Challon after seeing the medieval fortress.

Mary Shelly house on the lake front:

Andy and Chantel:

Yvoire, a town founded in Roman times, was the next stop, a very picturesque town with a large marina and many shops. We had lunch overlooking the lake and wandered around the town.

Hotel duPort – great lunch!

Fall festival mascot:

It's no wonder artists were inspired by its blue water reflecting the Alps.

Andy and the mime:

Looking down the lake:

We continued around the lake to Montreux at the far end and stopped for a coffee. It's a historic town that has added modern hotels and shops.

Voltaire castle:

On the ride back to Geneva we went past CERN, the atomic lab that just measured the speed of a particle faster than the speed of light. Wonder where that knowledge will take us?
 
When we got back home, a neighbor from NZ came over. He's an interesting guy who works for an oil company and has been in Geneva for the last 30 years.

Day 58 Train to Geneva

We had a lazy morning at the hotel, checked out and walked to the train station. We bought lunch and took it on the train.

The scenery was beautiful: rolling hills, farm land and a huge mountain lake all passed by as we climbed into Zurich. We both liked the relaxed train travel and loved the Hogwarts’ Express food cart that comes to your seat to bring you food and drink.

The crabs like train travel too:

At Zurich, we changed Euros for Swiss Francs, bought dinner, and boarded the train to Geneva.

Church in Zurich:

As the sun set over the Alps, the sky turned into a canvas of blues, pinks, and orange before it faded into night and a moon riser out the other window But it was eclipsed by Andy's smile welcoming us at the train station. It's great to have extended family!

Day 57 Salzburg and The Sound of Music

We got up to the best day yet in Munich, breakfast and off to the bus for a 2 hour ride thru the Bavarian countryside, past Bad Aibling (Bob Holland's German assignment) and onto Salzburg, a very small town tucked in next to shear rock cliffs with a castle on top, lots of churches, a few monasteries and convents, and a catacomb.

On the way to Salzburg:

City and castle:

Mozart was born here in 1756 and there are a plethora of places bearing his name - kind of a where's Waldo feeling. Beautiful gardens, gracious courtyards, churches, market stands selling everything a tourist could want at 4X the price. It was all enjoyable.

Mozart in city center:

 Graveyard inside city still in use today:

The crabs liked the city too:

Then we went to the lake country.

Lake on way up the mountain:

Wow, several mountain lakes that are post-card quality. We stopped at Lake Wolfgang where Mozart's mother was born. The town of St. Wolfgang is named for an 11th century hermit monk who fought the devil and built a small church; people used to make pilgrimages there but now they take summer vacations.

Wolfgang city on the lake:

Several scenes from The Sound of Music were shot around here; some were made up and some were in the real family history. The funny thing is that the movie was big in the US for years before the locals here "discovered" the film and used it to promote the area.

Sound of Music was filmed at this fountain:

We got back to Munich after 11 hours and went to dinner in a German restaurant. Tomorrow we take the train to Geneva.

We loved the ride:

Day 56. Munich.

We woke up to a rainy day so we got a hop-on hop-off city tour in an enclosed double-decker bus with a helpful guide. Munich is the 3rd largest city in Germany with 1.3 million of which 30% are immigrants. It was founded about 1150 as a walled city, some of which can still be seen. When WWII ended, 88% of the city was destroyed; most of the city has been rebuilt as it was before the bombing. The rubble was moved to an old airport and became the hills where the Olympic Park was built in the 1970's.

Olympic park:

 
We saw the Summer Palace outside the city which was built the same time as Versailles,

Summer Palace:

the Winter Palace in the city that was started in the Middle Ages, the BMW complex, the English Garden which is the largest city park in the world, many government buildings, many churches, and much more. So many buildings had ornate decorations like gargoyles and frescoes that they made walking slower and more interesting.
 
We revisited many areas that John showed us yesterday. We had lunch in the Hofbrauhaus, a famous tourist beer hall.

Crabs and beer, is that safe for us?

Band at beer hall:

We again discovered how small the world is: we sat with some German tourists with family in the US and Chris offered an English menu to a group from Potomac MD. We walked through the city food market and its famous Maypole and visited a couple churches on the way to the hotel. We had time for a rest before dinner with a friend of Andy Sundberg.

Maypole:

Bicycles are everywhere:

Dinner was a trip, Susan picked us up in her Mini Cooper and it was a challenge to get in and out. We had a lovely dinner and good conversation and a likely meeting in DC in January 2012.

Day 55 Sunday in Munich

We got up, had a leisurely morning and headed to mass at the main cathedral dedicated to Our Lady - another St. Mary's ? We arrived a few minutes early to find the previous mass packed and ran another 20 minutes late. The Bishop elevated 7 deacons on their way to becoming priests and he was helped by 200 clergy on the altar; they all processed out with great flourish with the Bishop blessing people as he left- he could have been an elected official working the crowd.

Cathedral after our mass:

Our noon mass was a simple one in German. Outside the church we were reading menus when an American offered his advice on where to eat. We learned he's a US businessman from Delaware who often comes here; he spoke great German and invited us to join him. We spent the next 3 hours talking over lunch and then he took us to other restaurants he likes and places to tour. As we headed back toward the hotel, the Glockenspiel on city hall went into full show, which it only does a couple times a day so we were very lucky.

Glockenspiel tower:

Video of tower (hopefully this will work):

We exchanged contact information and came back to the hotel. It wasn't what we thought we would do today but really enjoyed it. Maybe John and his wife will come to Annapolis.

The crabs aren’t a fan of the cold water!

Despite the fact we did so little, we came back to the hotel tired out. It's a good thing we're towards the end of our trip.

Day 54 Dachau

We have a lovely corner room with 4 large windows and a huge bathroom. The Malta bedroom could fit in this room 3 times and the bathroom twice. Not that we spend lots of time in the hotel but it sure is a pleasant room, except the wifi signal is almost nonexistent.
 
We got up to a rainy cool day (40F) and walked back to the train station to the Gray Line tour office to go to Dachau. We thought a bus trip would be better than a city walking tour, but instead took the subway and city bus; we were still outside good deal - luckily it wasn't steady rain. We were also surprised by not having a native English-speaking guide but Kai, a young man from China who has been in Munich for 3 years and speaks exceptional English. Dachau is and was actually a comfortable suburb with neat homes, flowers and lawns.

Arrival at Dachau:

Main gate, “work will set you free”:

The concentration camp was established in 1933 to house political leaders the Nazis arrested to insure Hitler a 2/3 majority in the parliament to be voted in as Supreme Leader; those leaders were never released. Kai pointed out the difference between a jail and concentration camp was not torture but legality - people in jails were accused of specific things and found guilty in court but people in camps were never charged of anything and had no rights. The camp was called Dachau Academy because it was a very large training facility for the SS troops; all the highest SS officers were here sometime. They learned "the spirit of Dachau", which meant they learned to be sadistic instruments of inhuman cruelty. This was the first concentration camp and model for all others. Until WWII began, the population of prisoners was relatively small with 200 men in each of 32 barracks; by the end of the war, some buildings housed 2000!

Entire camp in dots; concentration camp in corner A & B:

Sculpture:

The first cremation building was built by the prisoners in 1940; 2 years later they built a bigger one with a gas chamber. Two months before the American Troops liberated Dachau, the camp had run out of coal so the Americans found mounds of skeleton remains all over the camp and in the woods. The records kept by the SS troops leave a gruesome record of the systematic horrors inflicted on every one who entered Dachau. The biggest surprise to us was how much Germans who weren't Jews suffered under the Nazis.

One of 4 religious memorials:

Catholic memorial:

All of this from a well trained Chinese guide who identified because of the horrors the Japanese inflicted on the Chinese in WWII; he preached that we as individuals should work to remember the genocide that has occurred in all cultures and is still occurring. This became a memorial in 1965 with the saying in German "Remember the past and Warn the future".

Unknown prisoners memorial:

We took the same public transportation back to Munich and joined Kai for a late lunch/ early dinner in a local Bavarian restaurant with LOTS of good food. We enjoyed hearing about his story, philosophy and politics. We walked home thru an 8 block pedestrian street filled with shoppers and tourists, fountains and flowers. Chris got a hot bath and went to bed, with Bill not too far behind her.

Munich City Hall:

Fountain in pedestrian mall:

Day 53 Goodbye Valletta, off to Munich

We packed up our stuff this morning so we could see a few more places before checking out.

What a great trip for our crabby honeymoon!

We went for mass at St. Paul's Shipwreck Church but it was ending so we were directed to St. Augustine's Church 4 blocks away. I think you can find a mass all day long and the two we attended each had over 100.

Everywhere in Valletta this applies:

Unfortunately, our next destination, the Palace State Rooms, was closed, so we went down the street to a private home. Casa Rocca Piccola was built by a Knight when Valletta was built in 1530. When Napoleon kicked them out in 1800, he sold their property to pay the Maltese who enlisted in his army and the house still is occupied by the family who bought it. It is so full of antiques and heirloom treasures that you have to see it to believe it. Our pictures just scratch the surface.

Slippers from three Popes, gifts to the Knights:

This reminded us of our back house furnishings:

The basement of the house was opened to an underground cavern that was hewed from solid rock and utilizes an old cistern connected to 15th century tunnels to make a very secure bomb shelter. Almost 40% of the city's buildings were destroyed in the 157 day saturation bombing by the Axis when as many as 8 waves of aircraft a day made the run from Sicily only 60 miles away. It's a miracle they held on! It was a good summary of Malta - people who survive despite multiple invasions (or attempts) and who thrive.

Don’t worry, we were in no danger:

It was time to leave, but we decided to adapt like the Maltese to circumstances. During the last 2 weeks the Greek government and the EU have been trying to work out a second payment to forestall Greek default. The public sector employees are not happy with the measures the government has taken to reduce the deficit and have been demonstrating. So Wednesday and Thursday they went on strike, public transportation was shut down including the airport, and tourist sites were even closed. The protests turned violent- stones and street pavers vs tear gas and water cannons. The BBC showed all that in Athens, so we decided to change plans - why walk into problems. So we switched to Munich, Germany, because there was a direct flight, we've never been there, their government is stable, and it is relatively close to our last stop, Geneva.
 
We arrived in a cool rainy Munich but the warmth of the people made up for that. The airport info desk told us the train was much cheaper, a transit employee showed us how to buy ticket and put us on the right train, a young couple on the train made sure we knew where to get off, a man exiting with us took us to the correct street and so we got to the Regent Hotel. Tomorrow we see Munich.

Day 52 Mdina and more Valletta

We got up and went to Mass at St. John's and then took a city bus to the original capital city of Mdina.

Mdina square:

When Valletta was completed after the siege of Suleiman, the capital was moved and this old fortress city went to ruin. Today it is home to 300 people who live in the old buildings and a convent of nuns; it has loads of restored churches and buildings, some that date back to 1300s. The Cathedral of St. Paul was built in 1090 by Count Roger the Norman but later rebuilt in 1700 after an earthquake.

St. Paul’s church in the old city of Mdina:

The Annunciation of Mary:

It was on the site of a small church from 300s which was the site where Paul converted the Roman Governor Publius. Its Museum has MANY ornate silver pieces and a large collection of coins that date back to the Phoenicians in 400 BC. Our old pastor Father Kingsbury would have been in awe of this collection.

Back in Valletta we walked thru a series of tableaux that depicted the Great Siege of 1565-what a brutal event for both sides. The Knights were outnumbered badly: 40,000 Turks to 600 knights and 7000 untrained Maltese who were heroic in the face of slaughter. One fortress was taken at a HUGE cost to the Turks; in the end, 30,000 invaders died from battle or sickness while the locals lost about 1500. The other fortifications, while damaged, held and the defenders had good recovery rates because the Knights knew the importance of hygiene. After all, they were originally founded to care for the wounded in the crusades.

First century Roman statute in a house near Mdina:

Looking up a typical local street in Valletta:

We visited St. Paul's Shipwreck Church, but there was a large funeral so we did not intrude. We found a nice little cafe, had a drink and went back to the hotel by 3:00. We notice our walking tours are ending earlier. Tomorrow we leave Malta.

Day 51 Valletta

After the overview yesterday, we set out to see this fantastic old city that was designed in a grid, so it is pretty easy to find things. However, it's on hills like San Francisco which makes walking more challenging.

The main cathedral is named after the Knights' patron, John the Baptist. It is a real contradiction with the outside looking like a military fortress and the inside redone so now it's very opulent baroque.

Outside St. Johns:

No flash allowed inside the cathedral:

Maybe it symbolizes how the Knights started simple and pure but over time became materialized and power hungry. Successive Grand Masters decorated this church to rival the best in Europe and succeeded. A massive painting of the beheading of John the Baptist hangs in the church done by Caravaggio. He had escaped from Rome for killing a nobleman to here and spent a year in training to become a Knight. After passing the first hurdle, he was allowed out of the convent, but he couldn't handle the freedom and got defrocked and thrown in jail for wounding another knight. He escaped the prison and went back to Italy.
 
Almost next door was the National Archeological Museum, where we learned about the 8000 year history of the islands. Until 9000BC they were connected to Europe; then when the glaciers melted, they were separated from Sicily by 60 miles of sea. So much history, but the time line tells some of the story!

We had lunch in the square near St. Johns and then to the WW II bunker where the war to save Malta was directed. The Lascaris War Rooms are a fascinating restoration of a structure that saved Malta from falling to the axis, helped in defeating Rommel, and directed the invasion of Italy. Malta was continuously bombed for 157 days, 3 times longer than the London bombing. It defended itself with very few aircraft, skillful strategy, and the use of a new device that the Germans did not know they had -radar.

War room showing radar:

They did this while nearly starving because of the difficulty of getting supplies into the island. This is the only group -The people of Malta - ever awarded the British Order of St. George because the whole population suffered and fought so bravely.