Normandy Beaches to Berlin

Wow, Europe is great it seems like a month has gone by in the last week or so. Before we jump into what we have been up to we would like to share some of the great advances we have made in our planning for the rest of our trip.

1. We were able to secure accomodations and transportation to see the first mainland european leg of the tour de france. We will be watching the finish of the leg in Gent, Belgium. We are very excited to get the chance to see such a great international event.

2. Aubree was able to make contact with her grandmother's cousin in Finland. It appears that we will be visiting them towards the end of July. It sounds like there is alot of extended family in the area. It will be a trek to get there though as they live near where finland and sweden connect at the top of the Gulf of Bothnia. Should be crazy being in the arctic circle.

3. We purchased tickets to fly from Cairo to Munich on September 22nd. This means we are pretty confident we will have enough time to cover most of Eastern Europe, Greece, Turkey and Egypt in August and September. We are pumped as we were not sure if our budget would hold out until then and it still might not be we are committed now! As of right now we are planning on flying to London after Oktoberfest (Sep. 27) and hanging out there for a couple days before we head home (Oct. 1st?)

So with the rest of our trip coming together here is what we have been up to lately.

On the 26th we took an early train from Paris to Caen, France in the Normandy region with the hopes of visiting the American Cemetery. We were promptly told by the bus company it was "not possible", luckily we have been traveling enough to know that when the French say "not possible" there are probably many ways to get there. We headed off to the tourist information office to find out where to rent a moped, bicycle, unicycle?? anything to accomplish what we had set out. They promptly told us "why don't you just take a bus" and they gave us a pamphlet with the information detailing how to get there. Hazen asked for two pamphlets to politely give one to the person at the bus company for her FILES. All the stress and walking was worth it as the place was breathtaking. The Cemetery grounds were immaculate and captured a beautiful view of Omaha beach. The Visitor's center was very well done and we left feeling very good about the respect the fallen were given. However, we were quite disappointed with the lack of information and ease of use for those wanting to reach the beaches without a car. I would hope in the future a efficient route will be installed to make this sight available to all those who need to see it.

We spent that night being all romantic at the eiffel tower. Hiked the stairs to the second level (669 stairs). What an amazing view! Plenty of pics, don't worry. Speaking of pics this internet cafe doesn't have a USB port so no pics this time.

The next day was spent traveling to Munich. We had another morning of dealing with stress travel situations and the French. Not going to get into it as we are trying to keep Hazen's blood pressure down.

Arrival in Munich was brilliant. Everywhere you go the smell of beer and brats wafts by and smacks you in the face. Pretty much the best smack in the face we have ever had. We were WAY overdue for some hearty meals. Aubree particularly enjoyed the giant pretzels. Spent some time with a crazy Swiss couple on holiday. They had been taking english lessons for five years and we were the first native english speaking people they ran into. Needless to say our voices were fairly hoarse from carrying out such a conversation in the middle of a huge beer hall. Also able to meet up with our friend, Katrina from Bellingham. So great to see a familiar face.

The next morning we headed to the Dachau concentration camp and you can imagine our feelings. It was a somber four hours touring the prisoners section of the camp. This was the first concentration camp of its kind opening in 1933 and operating for TWELVE years until its liberation. What an unbelievable time in history.

The next day was filled with a little more of a lighthearted affair. We took a train to Fussen which is in southern bavaria on the border of Austria. The most notorious king of Bavaria, "Mad" King Ludwig built an amazing castle here. This is the castel Walt Disney got his inspiration for the Disney castel. We actually chose to tour the nearby castle, Hohenschwangau, which is where Ludwig was raised. It was used as a summer retreat and hunting lodge. These guys had some cash back in the day. Fun visit. Somehow we snuck away from the tourist crowds and found a luge course sleeping at the bottom of some great mountains. We shared six rides and damn that was fun. Aub was quite the rebel whipping down the course at break-neck speeds. Lots of fun to watch. Took a long train ride back into Munich and had a last beer (of course before we come back in September)

This morning we were awakened by two of our "adult" hostel mates arguing over the bathroom. Would have been more entertaining if it wasn't six in the morning. Jumped a train to Berlin and arrived about 16:00. Great another metro to figure out. This one has been pretty confusing and expensive but a must as the city is not walkable. We are in a dodgy part of East Berlin (Yep, they still call it that). However we are just happy to have our own room for the first time in a week. Unfortunately Aub has come down with a nasty cold. By the time we got into town all the apothekes (pharmacy) were closed so no medicine tonight. Bummer. Had a good Sushi dinner to celebrate Hazen's birthday. We are just planning on stumbling around the town for the next couple days doing some of the usual and unusual sights. After we leave Berlin, we will have another 5 nights to scatter around Germany but not quite sure where yet. We will post some pics when we find a decent computer. Take care