Belgium - Liege & Brugges

You travel to different corners of the world for different reasons. Sometimes its in search of history or beauty. Sometimes it's family or friends. Sometimes it's just for yummy food!

A few months back we caught an episode of Throwdown with Bobby Fly on The Food Network. Bobby challenged a NY food trucking making waffles. As we would learn not just any waffle, but Liege waffles. They are like a dessert pastry. Crunchy with caramelized sugar on the outside, doughy and dense on the inside. They looked amazing. We search in vain to find some place in Dallas that made them. (There is a place now, Fruitelicious in Carrollton). So, you think maybe we'd go to NYC...nah, we were already planning out trip to Europe, so why not put Liege on our map.


We were on our way to a campground that was on the grounds of a 16th century chateau, Domaine du Château de Dieupart. We decided we needed to locate a supermarket to pick up food for a few more dinners. The GPS said there was a Lidl Market about mile away from our campsite. Unfortunately, one wrong turn had us driving our camper up ridiculous narrow hill. We did find a place to turn around and prayed we would not meet any large vehicle on the way up. We survived and found the supermarket. So incredibly Spartan, but we found the things we needed. We headed back and found the campground, by the side of a brook...hidden behind what....a huge Supermarket! We didn't recognize the name and missed it on the way by. Ah well, we stopped there in the AM on the way out and picked up the few things we were missing. (I needed sewing things to fix a suitcase that broke and Alex was in desperate need of chocolate syrup for his ice cream). The campsite was lovely.





There was only internet at the bar inside the Chateau. We headed up there after dinner and overheard one of the most hysterical exchanges of the trip. A bunch of drunken Irish were outside indulging in the beauty of Belgian ale. One friend spend a good 20 minutes telling the other how he was now dead to him and F U. Literally hundreds of f bombs. Alex, Frederick and I could not stop laughing. Eventually the drunk guy made his way inside and proceeded to ask Frederick why we American's had not cleaned up the mess we made in the Gulf. We decided it was best not to tackle that subject and made our way back to our site. We cooked some dinner and feasted on the ice cream we bought at the supermarket. The next day we were in search on waffles and were on our way to Brugges. The owners of the campsite said we'd have to make our way into Liege to get the waffles. I guess we figured they'd just be hanging from trees. We drove to Liege center, but after several circles around, we determined, there was just no place to park our beast and no sign screamed, WAFFLES HERE!

Thwarted, we drove off to Brugges. Frederick, Alex and I went to Brugges on our first Europe trip in 2005. It was our first stop on the continent, our first exploration of a non English speaking country (well really everyone is Belgium speaks English, but it's not the primary language). Our first train navigation. We we so impressed with the medieval city.




2010



Same spot....2005


To see the city and be entertained, I recommend a Collin Farrell movie, In Brugges. Very, very funny in a very twisted way and a beautiful love letter to the city. We made a point to come here so Frederick's parents could see the city...and Frederick's Dad could see one of the places of his heritage. Yes, perhaps it's just a story, but there is a genealogical reference book on the history of the Fosters/Foresters family that traces their linage to the town of Brugges in the 900's. Anacher the Great had several successors, through to Baldwin the IV. He had a daughter, Matilda of Flanders who was kidnapped by William the Conqueror on his way to England and taken as his bride. Matilda's brother, Richard, came with her to England and fought beside Williams in the Battle of Hastings and crusades to Palestine. William took over England and gave lands on the Scotland border to Richard the “Forester” of Flanders to build Bamborough Castle. The Foresters lived there for many generations. One of the descendents decided to move to the new world. He settled in Ipswich, MA, in a house that still stands today. Frederick's Dad's great grandmother was a Forester, descended from this line. Frederick's great grandfather went to the Philippines in 1901, married and had 2 children. The oldest of these 2 children is Frederick's paternal grandmother.

We did not know this the first time we visited, but now 3 generations of Dorados would soon be standing in front of their ancestral home.


We stayed at another rowdy camp. This one had a “Hard Rock Casino” and all the other craziness of the last campground. I can't believe that can rip off the whole logo, guitar and all and no one seems to care.



We had to walk a mile plus to get to the bus stop to take us into the city of Brugges. Once there, the GPS directed us through the winding streets to the city center. It was acutually chilly, what a nice change. Alex has to have some chicken nuggets from Quick..the Belgian version of Mc Donalds. He ate there on our last trip 5 years ago and was no longer apprehensive about eating in Europe. Since then, we have pics of him in front of McDonald's and the like all over the world. Now, we bring our own ketchup, as you have pay for each pack on this side of the Atlantic.

We went in search of the Belgian delicacy Moulles and Frites. Mussels and French Fries. On the way, we smell it.....smells like yummy...smells like waffles! We found a little shop selling Liege waffles out the window of their store front. Yes, they are as good as promised. I now am on a quest to figure out how to make them at home. We found a small restaurant in 600 year old building. It looked good. We didn't have a reservation, but they told us if we could eat in less than 2 hours, we could have a table, as someone had reserved that table at 8:30PM. Piece of cake!


After dinner we strolled around the streets then made our way to the bus station for the bus back home. We got there just after the bus left, so we had to wait an hour till we could get the next bus. If we had a car, we'd be there in 10 minutes. I just can't love public transportation for this reason. You waste a lot of time! Once we got back to our stop, we still had the mile plus walk back to the camp. Exhausted, we attempted to do some laundry. It was 1 in the morning and the first load wasn't dry and the 2nd load wasn't in the dryer (2 washers, 1 dryer). We decided to bring them back and hang them overnight. No luck with this...as everything was just as wet in the AM. We would just have to dry them at the next spot.

Next up...Amsterdam.

Diekirch, Luxembourg - National Military Museum & Bastogne, Belgium - Bastogne Historical Museum

After a night at the craziest campground in Europe.


This is an actual picture from their website. If this is how they advertise their campground restaurant you can imagine how full throttle this campground was...I only wish we could have spend a few more nights.


http://nommerlayen-ec.lu/upload/cms/image/luukvangerwen.jpg

The next morning we drove down to the the city of Diekirch. The town is home to the National Museum of Military History, reflecting Diekirch's pivotal role in the Battle of the Bulge, a major battle of World War II. It was here that the river Sauer was crossed on the night of January 18, 1945, by the US 5th Infantry division.




This stop wasn't always on the itinerary, but it got great reviews from a book we had been following closely. The 25 Essential World War II Sites: European Theater: The Ultimate Traveler's Guide to Battlefields, Monuments, and Museums. The beauty of the RV trip is that you can divert at just about anytime. There are so many campgrounds, that a quick consult to our DVD directory, followed by a phone call, gets you set in a new direction. We also wanted to see Patton's grave site at the American cemetery. My grandfather served under Patton and a good friend of my Mom's is a Patton devotee (even naming his dog Patton). It came highly recommended. Unfortunately, we'd have to choose between the cemetery and the Bastogne museum. We'd been to the American cemetery in Normandy, its a very humbling experience. Sixty years later is so hard to imagine the scope of the American sacrifice. 406,000 Americans lost their lives to WWII. The number is 58,000 for Vietnam and 5,500 for the current war on terror (Iraq and Afghanistan). All those lives in WWII happened over just a 4 year span. The fact my family wasn't touched by death in the war is a miracle, given the my uncles and grandfather all served.


We find our way to the tiny town of Diekirch, winding our way through tiny mountain roads. A few laps round the town center and we locate the museum. Then we keep our eyes pealed for bus parking. Near the river we find a lot that will accommodate us, but we'll have to walk a few miles to get back to the museum. No mind, it was a beautiful little town. Once we arrive at the museum we learn of the Luxembourg Card....for 20 Euros for a family (all 5 of us) we can have access to this museum as well as Bastogne. Deal. Outside the museum are a few planes and tanks that Alex proceeds to grill me on the names.



Of course I'm clueless and he's incorrigible. His teenage boy mind can't believe his Mom could not have a detailed grasp of WWII vehicle names. A the sport of making fun of your Mom. It's universal. Inside they ask us if we need an audio guide. Ha...no I don't think so, we brought or own. The kid is amazing. If it happened in WWII, was flown, driven or sailed in WWII, he knows about it.

It was Christmas morning for Alex Dorado.

This place looked like Alex's game room, covered with GIJoes, tanks and such, expept it was all life size. Inside this tiny museum were treasures he'd only seen in a books and videos. Literally, anything that was left over after the war was scooped up and put in this museum. Most museums have clear organized displays. This museum was organized, but it was crammed full like your grandmother's attic. One display box was nothing but medical supplies, another was nothing but food supplies. They had life size dioramas that displayed the weapons and uniforms in context. There was a large hall with 20+ vehicles, with uniformed dressed mannequins setting the mood. Alex spammed over 300 pictures in 2 hours. He's always Mr. Reserved, but he couldn't help smile here. It's not pretty, but it was detailed. Alex says this was his favorite stop.

After a few hours here, needed to press on to Bastogne, just up the road in Belgium, if we were going to get there in time to see the museum before it closed at 5PM. Unfortunately, this meant we'd have to skip the hunt for remaining foxholes. The book said a few were still in place, but the directions to find them left us skeptical, given we had to take the RV there.




The drive to Bastogne was relatively uneventful, we are getting good. The parking lot was large and parking was a breeze. NICE! As we make our way up to the museum, we see a small parade and see a reviewing stand near the monument across the way. We didn't know why, but just as we walked up to the entrance a band starts playing the Star Spangled Banner. We stopped, took off our hats and sang along. When you've been away from home for even just a few weeks, it's nice to hear. Especially when you are in a corner of Europe that still appreciates America. Outside the museum is a massive monument dedicated to America for liberating this area and winning the Battle of the Bulge. All the individual divisions are honored as well as every state.




Once inside, we learned a Belgian prince was visiting. I'm not sure what for, but we moved on. We only had an hour to see the museum. Turns out that was plenty. A beautifully curated museum, it told the story of the Bulge in words, pictures and objects. We were almost surrounded and down for the count. The German's asked for our surrender and our famous response was “Nuts”. Patton hauled butt from France and kept open the one clear lane to the area. We dug in, in horrible winter conditions and prevailed. This was the turning point in the war. Germans were pushed back from this point forward.

We lingered a few more minutes outside at the memorial and the smaller memorial to the 101st Airborne and then headed off to our next stop.










Liege, Belgium....in search of the elusive Liege Waffle!

Stuttgart

Mario, Maria and Michael


Feast!


This was a odd stop on the trip. A very long day of travel with a 30 minute each way detour to deliver some Excedrin and Hot Sauce. There is a website for English speaking Expats in Germany called ToyTown. I spent quite a bit of time on it in preparation for the trip. I learned all about the Sunday closures, lack of credit cards, short shopping hours and where to find grocery stores and Wal-Mart type stores. On a whim I posted if anyone needed me to bring them something from Dallas. I know there are still things I can only get back in my old home area of New England, (diamond crystal salt, correct hot dog rolls,



etc..so I was sure there might be things people missed) One guy, Mario asked for some Excedrin Migraine, Imodium and a specific Tapatio sauce. I didn't expect someone to respond, but hey why not. Let's meet some locals. We made our way to Mario's house. We had to park the camper at local park as it wouldn't fit in Mario's driveway. He had to meet us and shuttle us up the hill in a couple of trips in his tiny car. There we met Mario, his wife Maria and their adorable 2 year old son Michael. We were expecting a quick hi perhaps a piece of cake. Nope, Maria had a spread to die for. Homemade bread, sausages, pasta, salad, cheesecake...the works. We were so grateful. Such a nice couple. Mario was born in Mexico City and moved to the US when he was 16. In Miami he met Maria, who was on vacation from Germany. She had moved Germany from Poland when she was a teenager. The met, fell in love and moved back to Germany. We learned all about the true life of an expat. The challenges of becoming fluent in German so you can get a job. Learning the quirks of your new country. Like having to sweep your sidewalk on a certain day. Having your neighbors monitor you trash to make sure you are recycling properly. They'll turn you in for a fine if they find an error. Everything is silent after 10PM. German's are very direct and don't hesitate to tell you what they think. Mario said they went to a local festival and got chewed by a random German woman because their sun didn't have a hat on . She was worried he's get burned. Michael was fine, he was blessed with melanin.

We stayed for 2 hours chatting and eating, it was such a nice stop. This meant we had to skip Stuttgart and hustle to the next site. This part of the trip wasn't nearly as scripted. Originally I had wanted to head over the French border to do some genealogy research on my great great grandfather from Alsace. However in the year preceding I could never pin down the right town. Without this info we had to skip it. We read about a small museum in Luxembourg that was supposed to be a treasure trove of WWII memorabilia. It's in a small city of Diekirch. We found a campground nearby and headed that way. We were traversing the Mosel river valley and fighting the pending darkness. Luckily sunset wasn't till after 9PM this far north. The hills and valleys were awe inspiring. Our WWII troops really had their hands full making their way through this terrain. The tiny road up many switchbacks and harrowing cliffs to the campsite was a white knuckle ride. We were all very quiet as I guided Frederick along with the GPS, pointing out every bend in the road before he hit it. Remember the camper is a 6 speed manual transmission. Uphill, downhill, around the corner. But our excellent driver never panicked and we made it safely. The campground at Diekirch was a hoot. We got there kind of late and reception was in a bar. There were loads of rowdy Dutch playing bingo and doing the chicken dance in Dutch. We opted for the restaurant for dinner. Our waiter from Poland was so engaging, it made up for the very poor bisteak we ate that night. This was a campground with an indoor pool and a whole resort. It was really overkill for the night. These people were there for the duration.

We were too late to get the wifi code, but they had a computer you could use with one of their money loaded keys. The only hitch...a German keyboard. Where the hell is the @. I had to google email, search for that symbol and copy and pasted it to log into a website with my email address. Some of the letters are in in the wrong place...if you are touch typist, you will be cursing soon.

Next stop Luxembourg National Military Museum and Bastogne History Museum

Oberamergau, Nieuwenstein Castle, Munich

Niewswanstein Castle - Mad King Ludwig

Scenic Bavaria

Another Hansel and Gretel town..Oberammergau

Story of the Passion Play

From Salzburg we headed straight into the heart of Bavaria. We took the safe route from the northern freeway into a small town called Oberammergau. It looks like Hansel and Gretel lived in every house. The attraction here was the Passion Play the town performs every 10 years since the 1600's. It's one of those things you wouldn't know about unless you watch too much Rick Steves or Samantha Brown on the travel channel. Hundreds of years ago the town swore it would do a Passion Play every 10 years if the town was spared further deaths from the Plague. The story says that happened, so the play is on. 2010 is a play year. Our intention was to attend the play, until we learned it's 8 hours long and in German. So we visited the town, toured the theater and had some lunch. Luckily we found the bus parking. After taking the "big" roads up here in the Alps, we were pleased with our decision not to come up the southern mountain route from Innsbruck. The 2nd stop of the day is Nieuwenstein Castle. This is a story book castle from every one's child hood. It was build in the 1800's by the Bavarian King Ludwig. He basically drained the national treasury building castles all around. This one was never completed. He was removed from power and mysteriously was found dead in a local lake. Getting to the castle once you park your camper is a royal pain. It's nice mile walk uphill to the ticket center. From there you can take a smelly horse cart to the castle or take a bus about half way up the hill. We waited about 20 minutes in the heat for a bus and decided the hike to the castle wasn't worth it. We admired the castle from the stop and at scenic bridges a few hundred feet away. Cinderella would be happy here. From here we drove a decent distance to Munich. We made a stop at the local "Frys Electronics" to consider buying charger for Frederick's Dad's camera, since he forgot the charger, and a new camera for us. Yes, I killed 2 cameras on this trip. The first was from a spill on the Segway. The camera took pictures, but we couldn't get the view finder to work. The second was in Mauthausen. I fell in a hole with our other camera in hand. It was a grand spill. This time, this camera won't even turn on. I found a great camera, at a great price, but again they didn't take credit cards, so we decided to conserve our cash on hand. No sale for you Germany!

Eventually we were able to rig up a way to charge Frederick's Dad's 2nd camera with a universal battery charger I had brought with me. They let us use that one for the rest of the trip.

We arrived at the Munich campsite at 8PM. We intended to hit the local, famous main Biergarten, but the last bus returned at 9PM. No way we'd make it. We stayed at the campground and ate in their take away restaurant. I had a surprisingly yummy cheeseburger! One shower token here gave you a ton of hot water with great water pressure (hey, I've come to appreciate these things), however the campground required you bring our own toilet paper.

Germans seem to have an obsession with recycling and green. The only toilet paper we could find was very spartan, single ply brown paper towel material. Each German campsite had an elaborate system for recycling each color of glass, plastic, paper products, food waste and then everything else. We would learn just how far this obsession went on our next stop.

We spent the night and headed for Stuttgart the next morning, with our ultimate destination Diekirch, Luxembourg.

Special Edition - Camp Life

Alex having PB & J in the camper

Texas on the move in Europe
Alex's normal traveling position

Campground Restaurant
Hanging the Laundry

Had to represent!
Let me share with you the typical day in the campground. We had 5 in our traveling party. Frederick and I were in the back in a permanent bed, Frederick's parents used the convertible dining booth bed in the center and Alex took the bunk the pulled down over the drivers and passengers seat. The camper had a bathroom with a sink and shower, a 3 burner gas stove, a kitchen sink, freezer and refrigerator. There were plenty cabinets and cubbies, that locked for travel, to stash all our stuff. We also brought our over the door shoe holder. This is a lifesaver in small spaces. You can stash all those little things that never seem to have a place, like brushes, lotion, jewelry etc. We learned this from our cruise cabin days. We also went to Wal-Mart the night before we left and purchased 3 small plastic caddies. They were about 12 inches long and 6 inches wide, open at the top with smaller holes on the side. Mini versions of the ones they use on Clean House when they load out all the junk the hoarders keep in their houses. These were great to carry our toiletries back and forth to the showers. European campsites have many amenities. We stayed at 15 or so different sites. They break down into a few categories, smaller run family camps and mega resort camps. The camps can be out in the country or they can be in the heart of the city. In Prague.Budapest, Vienna. Salzburg, Munich and Frankfurt, we were within the city limits. As we wandered out to Belgium, Luxembourg and Holland we were more in the wilderness. The smaller camps will have 3-5 shower stalls per gender, washing up sinks, dishwashing sinks and laundry washing sinks. Larger camps may have 30 showers per gender in each of 3-5 locations across the camp. They will also have a washer and dryer. We had fun figuring out how to use the washer and dryer as the instructions were not in English. Frederick had the bright idea to copy the settings of the user next door. Turns out that was the "Bill O'Reilly" setting...No Spin Zone. In most places everything from hot water in the showers to the laundry operates with tokens you purchase at reception...except when reception isn't open. So we had a load of very wet laundry that we tried unsuccessfully to dry and then hang. We couldn't buy more tokens, reception was closed. We ended up taking the wet laundry with us on the next site to be dried.

The camper has a shower, but it's small and you then have to empty and refill your water, so we decided not to use it. Every day Frederick's mother would be the first up and come back with the shower report. They all had their own quirks. Some tokens were 6 minutes of stop time hot water, some were 4 minutes of run time. Some had no tokens, but required you to keep pushing a button every seconds. Some gave you 4 free minutes, then you had to wait, dripping wet for 3 minutes for the shower to reset. Some had key sensors that had purchased time loaded on the actual key. Some had a nice changing area before the actual shower, some did not and forced you to look at naked Europeans as they exited the shower and changed. Some had separate rooms to sit down and do your hair and makeup. My terry robe and turbie hair towel was a huge asset. The boys just put their stinky clothes back on for the trip back to the camper. For some reason, Alex always seemed to miss the morning shower report (still sleeping) and managed to fail on shower operations and was punished with cold showers. A 14 year old boy is not happy after a failed shower!

Your shower shoes were your best friends. I have always hated crocs until this trip. Most locations had very clean facilities and did their best to make you comfortable. For the price, about 35 to 40 Euros a night for 5 people, one cannot complain. We would have only been able to stay week if we needed a hotel room each night, plus we never had to pack and unpack while in the camper. The beds were moderately comfortable, I've slept on worse.

The kitchen was serviceable. Frederick's parents were in London the week before and made a large batch of spaghetti sauce and adobo (it's a Filipino pork dish) and rice. Many nights we just heated these up and ate in. We also managed to cook sausages and onions, potatoes, grilled cheese, ramen noodles, scrambled eggs and French toast. We survived with no microwave or oven. Most campsites had freshly baked bread you could purchase right on site. The smaller campsites had strict rules about silence after 10PM. In Prague, we were asked to shut off our air conditioner at midnight as it's reassuring hum was breaking the silence.

Some of the larger campsites had communal kitchens, pools, and restaurants. The sites near the Netherlands had karaoke, bingo, gambling and entertainment. Others had large playground for the kids. There were entertainers that were on the campground circuit. I imagine this is what upstate New York was like in the early 20th century. The Catskills, the borscht belt.

Each morning we'd all get up, and one by one or two by two head to the showers. Then I precede to find the coolest (not hip, cold) location to get ready. Sometimes this was outside. I'd set up the table, chairs and powerstrip and do my hair and makeup. At night when we returned, we might cook, but mostly we took out the 4 laptops we brought and searched for the wifi. Wifi was so frustrating! Sometimes it worked if you were close enough to reception. On 2 occasions we moved our campsite location to be closer to wifi. Sometimes in worked outside, but not inside. Sometimes it worked on one computer but not the other. In Munich they had no wifi, but they had a hard wired connection for 1 Euro an hour in a room next to the front office. We brought along our small portable router and made our own hotspot. Alex and I were inside the space next to the office, with our laptops, trying to conceal the router. Frederick and his parents were outside trying to look inconspicuous as they pulled down their email over the pirate wifi. For those you used the free, unsecured, Go Stars network that night....you are welcome.

Other sites required you purchase wifi time and receive a code on a slip of paper. You had to do this at reception and reception was often closed when we arrived. Sometimes we'd log out and lose the paper. Basically just a pain! Most of the larger sites expected you to stay for a week or more. Some have people who keep their pitch all year round. So, missing one night of wifi, doesn't seem like a big deal if they think you are staying longer.

The pitches are very close together. This isn't like you get your plot of woods and your neighbor is unseen. Most times the next campsite was 20ft away from you. Like houses close together, you can maneuver the awning side of the camper so you have maximum privacy. It really wasn't a problem.

As I said some people stay for a month or more. They really go all out to deck out their space, especially in near Holland. They bring landscaping, flowers, paving stones, outdoor carpet, fences and real furniture from home. It's like they create a 2nd country home. We thought we brought creature comforts...we were amateurs.

We had to learn to dance in smaller spaces, say excuse me a lot, but we learned. We'd have our panic moments as we couldn't find this phone charger or that brush. With all the cubbies you'd forget where you put stuff. Sometimes we'd roll out in a hurry and things would get stuffed in odd spaces. Over time we developed a rhythm. All the powerstrips (4 of them and an extension cord...we had full electricity when we were parked at camp) eventually all went back into one Costco bag each night, the same with my blow dryer, hot rollers, curling iron and make up. Laptops found a regular home.

When we'd stop for a time, not a campsite, to see a site, Frederick would switch the refrigerator to gas power to keep things cold. We had an enormous storage area in the back. I'd say 5ft by 5ft by 8ft. All the extra water and drinks, stand fan, table and chairs would stow there along with our suitcases. Plenty of room!

Would I travel like this again? Absolutely! We'd get a smaller camper to save the hairaising driving on some of the tiny roads, but camping was not a problem. Take this from a creature loving Taurus. There's no way we would have seen as much or stayed for so long without an expensive tour or be forced to drag our luggage off each connecting train. It only rained a few nights and we stayed dry under the awning or inside.

It was a great way to travel.

Salzburg Day 3

This is where the Gondola took us...all the way to the top
Gondola
Mozart House
Salzburg Cathedral



This was the day we were going to ascend the Alps to Innsbruck (former location of the Winter Olympics), camp in Innsbruck and take the back roads to Oberammergau and Mad King Ludwig's Nieuwenstein Castle. After some harrowing roads traversed already in the giant camper (28ft long) we felt it was best not to test our luck. Plus, the Alps here were perfectly beautiful and we were enjoying our campground. It was nice to stay put for a few days. This meant I missed my trip down a real Alpine Slide. Ah well. I can do that in the US.

Our third day was spent strolling the streets of Salzburg during a weekday when all the shops were open. Picture a giant Disney World Main Street. Every shop, down every street feels like that. We had 2 objectives, first visit the birthplace of Mozart. It's an interesting little museum with lots of Mozart artifacts. You can stand in the room where he was born. A few streets over is the apartment his family moved to when he was a boy. His father rented this apartment for 60+ years. How many rent increases is that? The jewel of this museum is Mozart's piano. This is where much magic happened, I wasn't allowed to take a photo of it, because of the Nazi in the room, but here is a pick from Google.




We didn't stay as long as I would have lingered had I not been melting. A few days earlier I lost my portable battery operated fan down the quarry in Mauthausen. Pissed as a I was, I couldn't lament long, given humans were tossed to their death from the same spot. It was just a fan. In the giftshop I was able to purchase a manual fan. So now I could spend the rest of my time looking like a throw back, save the petticoats. Surprising effective was the fan...for as long as your arm could keep it moving.

We walked through the Roman styled squares and made our way to the Cathedral. Such a huge church for what is now a relatively tiny town. We toured the museums inside and wandered up to the massive 5 station pipe organ. Mozart was the organist at this church for several years. As we peered down to the alter from the organ perch the loudspeakers began a mass in English. This was Monday afternoon in Austria and we heard a mass in English. Very, Very Odd.

It seemed like a sign that we should attend the mass. As we made our way downstairs, there was what appeared to be a Irish tour group situated on pews on either side of the alter. (Members of the group did the readings and it appears they brought their own priest to co officiate the mass..lovely accent the Irish). We sat in the first pew in the congregation. People milled about touring the cathedral and we proceeded to recite the Profession of Faith. When it came time to take communion we were hesitant. What if they only brought enough hosts for the tour group? Father motioned us forward and we completed the mass contract.

We had purchased the Salzburg Card as it gave us unlimited access to their train system and free entrance to all the museums. It also included a ride in a gondola up to the top of the highest local peek. Highest, they weren't kidding. Poor Alex was petrified of the height and is scared of large rooms suspended from cables ascending 6000+ ft at a steep angle. Hum...perhaps we are the crazy ones.

Once at the top of the peak, we had more indescribable views of the city of Salzburg. We had a nice lunch at the top and made our way down to the final stop. The fortress. As I mentioned before the fortress is fully intact and dominates over the city. You take a funicular up to the top. This little shuttle is hell. They cram 20 people into the little cab and leave you there while wait for more passengers. I was drenched by the time they let us out at the top.

Once I reached the top, I really could have cared less about the castle. One more castle in Europe. I just wanted to be cool. We walked around the grounds and called it a day.

We took the local bus to the main station. There we found a supermarket that was open. Inside we took our time, search for goodies to eat the following week. Alex was beside himself when we found Dr Pepper stocked on the shelves. He bought 3 12 oz bottles and savored them over the next few days like Willy Wonka and his final chocolate bar. As we wandered around the store (me in search of maple syrup for French toast) several employees came up to us and spoke to us in German. We didn't understand what they said and just nodded as we always did. Soon they became more persistent. Alex finally heard them and translated that the store was already closed. We looked at our watch and it was 7:15PM....turns out the store closes at 7PM. Yikes, sorry about that. We didn't intend to be rude. We hurried to the cash register. Just as we were checking out I located the maple syrup and tossed it in our basket. Success! It was only after checking out did we notice that the 8oz bottle of syrup was 8 Euros! It was grade A Maple Syrup imported from Canada. It was in the specialty foods section. Ah well, it sure tasted good the next morning!

German grocery stores are a bit different. The cashier sits down on high raised comfy chair with a back and moves each item across the scanner onto a tiny platform next to her. You better be quick to grab the item and put it in your self provided bags or you will anger Hilda. Again as I mentioned, forget credit cards.....cash!

Back at the campsite we ate in. It was really a money saver not to have to eat every meal out.