This morning we had a walking tour of Bamberg. What a charming German town! Everything was so pretty and picturesque. Allen found the beer store where you can just walk in, buy it, open it and drink it. $2.50 Euro a beer. The beer I enjoyed in Berlin is a Berlin thing where the different syrups flavour it. The beer store had one they had tried making and bottling – Weiser or baby beer🥴.

One sad thing from the morning was a lady in our tour group fell in a flat surface in a church and they think she broke her wrist or arm. She is currently in the medical clinic with a doctor. They are guessing she will stay overnight. The only positive was that our group has a nurse, doctor and a fireman. They had it all under control. ❤️ Nite: broken arm, but she will wait for surgery back in Canada and not go home early.

Christ angel or Jesus has become a girl in Germany. She opens the Christmas market and is responsible for bringing Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve. Father Christmas or Santa isn’t a thing here.

We visited the Palace of Justice and the 600 Courtroom where the Nazis were prosecuted in a trial after WW2 for warm crimes against humanity and the Jewish people in particular. We visited the exhibit and watched the media show in the courtroom. This was a very moving experience and one could feel the solemnity of the incident as soon as one entered the vicinity of the buildings.

Then we had a tour of the city of Nuremberg which was good, but we are close to entering the realm of information overload.

Then we went to a traditional German restaurant in the square that was loud and delicious! Sausages, sauerkraut, potato salad, potato soup, pretzels, strudel and chocolate cake were shared at our table.

The food has been very good on this trip, but I honestly don’t feel like I’m having new food. My mom raised her family with good solid German food, which is what we have had on this trip! The meat. The potatoes. The dumplings. The gravy. The sausage. The sauerkraut. ❤️. Thanks mom!

We left Dresden with a minor driving altercation with a grouchy man blocking the bus trying to get out of the parking lot. Our tour director, Baete, took upon herself to inform him how he disappointed an entire bus load of Americans and Canadians. His reply was that he did not care. 🥴. It made for some entertainment!

Interesting facts from the bus today:

Trains do not run from Germany to Switzerland anymore because the Germans were not adhering to time schedules. Their times are now approximate. Swiss trains run on the second with accuracy.

Ways to distinguish cars and where they are from. There is a little picture and letter at the far left side of license plates

How many counties in EU? Idea was install peace. 27. Used to 28 with UK, but they left. It started with France and Germany. Not all EU countries use the EU as a country has to work their way into using the euro. Slovakia has the euro by Czech Republic doesn’t. They used to make Czechoslovakia. Human rights are a component of it as well.

Ausfahrt: Aus=out, fahrt=drive so drive out or exit.

Latte macchiato: almost the same as cappuccino but more milk.

Weimar:

Ginkgo trees. Bach. The writers of the German democracy lived here. Cute little town.

A long bus day today. Dresden to Weimar then onto Bamberg. Miles and miles of solar panels. The rule is that they can only go on non-productive land. Our director says that farmers plant those as the government subsidy is substantial for the power.

Bamberg: whenever you have a river and a hill in a town, you will have beauty. Bamberg is also known for its smoky beer.

Brunhelda. A not so nice woman.

Meal in hotel tonight. Big driving day. Tomorrow will be long as we go to Nuremberg.

Sauerbraten – sour beef. In Saxony without raisins. the sauce is the sweet and sour sauce with wine, vinegar. In the Rhein area they put raisins in it.

There are little garden plots here with tiny shacks on them. You can’t live there all the time but can stay there for the weekend.

Today we travelled to Gorlitz which is on the border with Poland. We are close to the area, Czepow, which the Altwassers originated from. The story the tour director had was that when the Russians took over what is Poland is that if you were half German half Czech, you could stay, but if you were full German who had to leave and were invited to live in Russia. Later they said that to live in Russia, you had to do military service. This may be the reason that the Altwassers left as it seems that many left during that time.

The motherland of Birkenstock!! The factory is situated here in Gorlitz!

German words and our tour directors take on things: Zitzennliebden. To remain seated in school if you don’t advance a grade.

Bikes with basket for kids to sit in while on parents backfiet. $3000euros. she thinks it is ridiculous that kids don’t move themselves.

Today we drove to Gorlitz which is in Germany. Then we walked across the bridge to Poland and had lunch of meat and cheese for an appetizer and then perogies for main course. Very delicious, but honestly, my Ukrainian family and friends have spoiled me. We were the experts in explaining to our table mates what they were. I kept hearing Kathy Hill’s voice in my head telling me how to make them perfect – gentle Pam, gentle Pam!

In our tour of the town, we learned that Gorlitz was never damaged in the wars as they paid off the aggressors to leave them alone. We were allowed to tour traditional homes. In the only here homes, things cannot be structurally altered. They were built in the 1300-1500 hundreds. Very interesting!

We also went to a Christmas store that had the most intricate wooden carvings. So beautiful! It makes one think one should return for the Christmas markets.

After lunch, we had time to shop for mustard which is made in Gorlitz and the area and for Allen to find more beer. I found a cappuccino and a cream puff. It was good, but I think my mom makes them better. ❤️

The drive to Dresden. We have been in three states/provinces so far. Berlin. Brandenberg (capital Potsdam) Saxony (capital Dresden)

Very “bluffy” landscape. Some open areas but lots of trees with a few lakes. Alfalfa plants with some sunflowers with maybe canola.

We left Berlin in rain, but the drive has given us clear sunny skies. We have been blessed with good weather so far.

When the director, Baete, asks us ya, we are to answer with a soft yaya in return for a yes ; if we put an emphasis on the second ya, it means up yours. 🥴. Inflection is important in German.

Dresden. A lot of it was decimated in 1945 by incendiary bombs. Most of it has been reconstructed. The soviets wanted some done immediately after the war and some didn’t happen until after the wall came down.

The wine in this area was so sour it was called 3 Men Wine as it took 1 to drink a glass and 2 to hold him down to finish it. Global warming has fixed the problem as more sun is occurring now.

There was a major bridge in Dresden that just fell down on Sept 11 of this year. The police heard a noise and watched it literally fall down at 3 in the morning. It makes for terrible traffic jams and terrible tourism.

Supper tonight was a German buffet. So good!

Off to Potsdam!

Notes from the bus:

Oktoberfest was originally to celebrate the wedding of Ludwig (the creator of the castles). Timing was changed to September due to inclement weather.

Badenhoser is swimming trunks.

Potsdam!! So beautiful! The Beverly Hills of German. Celebrities live here like Katarina Witt

Church tax. 8-10% of income goes to the state so people can declare themselves atheists, but privately believe in god.

The city of Potsdam has incredible history as it is where Churchill, Stalin and Truman brokered the final deal after World War 2 in Europe. The palace is quite incredible as well. The soviets had “The Forbidden City” that was behind the wall. When they left in 1989, they took everything – windows, doors, any fixture of any kind even street lights. All those items would be very valuable in Russia.

Lunch was a little later than scheduled at 330, but there was a food truck fair in Potsdam. When in Germany, one should have Jamaican jerk chicken!

Upon arriving back in Berlin, we enjoyed some refreshments in the lobby and then returned to the German restaurant from last night – pumpkin soup and green beer! Sour wheat beer with woodruff added to give it a sweet minty vanilla flavour. Just as good as the raspberry last night.

Bus tour of Berlin. Kevin Kennedy was tour guide.

Reich means empire.

German humor. How many Germans does it take to change a lightbulb? One. They are efficient and have no sense of humor. German humor is similar to American healthcare. Not everyone gets it.

We had our tour and then went on a walking tour of World War II Berlin. We stopped for lunch first and had curry wurst which is basically a sausage with ketchup sprinkled with curry. Not our favourite meal.

The walking tour just emphasized what an ass Adolf Hitler was and the people that enabled him. It also emphasized the importance of education for everyone to realize the errors that were made.

We also found the giant version of the Ample man who is the crosswalk guy in Berlin from communist days.

Our guide asked us to join him at a traditional German restaurant where Allen had spaetzle and I had roast beef with creamy cucumber salad. Sooo goood!!!! Our table mates had meatballs which looked good and a lot of them ordered liver which they seemed to really enjoy. I asked for fruity beer. It was a wheat beer with raspberry juice. Wow. I could become a beer drinker if I drank that.

We spent the day learning the area around our hotel as we will be here for a few days. We went and saw a beautiful church with blue glass that had been bombed in the terrible war that was the cause of insane politics. (Quote from the church museum). We finished up with sampling some beer that even I liked.

Joined our travel group tonight. Some quotes the leader, Beate, shared with us:

To travel is to prove that everyone is wrong about other countries.

Once you have travelled the voyage never ends as the journey continues in your mind

There are no foreign lands, only foreign people

Tips: Bolt. Less expensive than Uber.

Our group is quite the conglomeration of people. A few younger girls and quite a few people older than us. Should be an interesting week. Tomorrow we tour Berlin and take a historic walking tour.

Flights were awesome. Regina to Calgary to Paris to Berlin. No delays. Luggage all good.

Some amazement in my part as I couldn’t believe I was going in the trip. On our longest flight, the man across the aisle from me had a boot on. I asked why and he said he had ruptured his Achilles. Why are the chances???

Seinfeld flashbacks using the shower in Berlin. The water pressure is so strong, the shower head pops off the shower holder. It makes for an interesting shower. Hahahah!

Had supper at an Italian restaurant close to hotel. Incredible steak from New Zealand. Who knew??