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Final Tallies and Thoughts

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We were up and at’em bright and early this morning. Schiphol Airport has been having staffing issues coupled with high volumes of flights (says the news). United Airlines told us to get to the airport four hours before our departure. So we did … Now, we’re not complaining, because we are extremely grateful that we get to travel at all, and, we don’t have to take a ship across the Atlantic and then a steam train across the US to get home.  After a short line to check our bags we hopped in the line for security. After meandering for about an hour (think Disneyland line for a newly opened attraction, without any of the fun other than the people watching) we came to the sign that said 40-50 minutes from this point. Surprisingly, most, not all, but most people were civil through the whole process.  Let us return to our statement about being grateful … while it seemed irritating at the moment, we are still going to comfortably fly through the air in a metal tube, while being served ...
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All Good Things Must End

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We’ve settled into our airport hotel for the night in Amsterdam. We drove a lot today, traversed parts of five countries, two of which we’ve never been to before today. We fly back tomorrow:  11am flight, not too early. We will be making a two-night stop in LA to visit a dear friend who happens to be visiting from New Orleans before we head home. 🤗 Today was another high mileage day. We left Baden Baden, Germany this morning after a nice breakfast at our hotel. The fastest drive to Amsterdam is about 7 hours, but we had the opportunity to visit, albeit briefly, two countries we’ve never been before. So … it took us a little longer, but it was worth it! Not long after leaving Baden Baden we entered France.  We were in the far north east corner of the country for about 100 miles. There wasn’t much to see except rolling farmland (which was actually beautiful!!) on that part of the drive. We were headed for the small country of Luxembourg. After some quick research, we decided to...
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The Black Forest Proper

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Yesterday’s last minute, late hotel change after such a long day of driving couldn't have turned out better.  We ended up staying in a Rick Steves recommended sleepy, but quaint village in the heart of the Black Forest. The “gasthaus” (guest house) was in a small canyon surrounded by stunning scenery. In addition, it even turned out to be close to everything we wanted to do!  This morning we left our hotel and parked in the center of town. It was market day so we looked around and bought some cheese and bread. We then went to the bakery and shared a quiche and cherry pastry, and had coffee.  We headed over to the next town where the outdoor Black Forest history museum is located. It was a great stop. This large, park-like setting was set up like a little old village. Several of the buildings were moved in from other parts of the Black Forest. A few had neat displays set up inside about the area’s history and culture.  As we pulled out of town Kristi happened to spot ...
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The Grand Tour

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Well, today was the day. Nothing went terribly wrong… But we may have chosen unwisely… nonetheless we survived and saw some beautiful places along the way. Today was probably the longest driving day that we have had or will have for the rest of the trip. Today’s journey included four separate countries, a castle, three crossings of the River Rhine, and a small issue that required an adjustment in our accommodations for the night.  The day began with a rather delightful breakfast at our hotel in Munich. We had been told that the Germans pride themselves on the breakfast that they serve, and this hotel proved that that was true. All of you who were part of the longtime Softball family will understand when I say… If we could’ve only had breakfasts on the road like that all those years!  We hopped in our car and happily left Munich behind today. Even though it had slightly redeemed itself last night, we were both hankering for some countryside and mountain views. We decided to dri...
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Zugspitze

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We are so glad that we changed our plans and decided to drive to the Bavarian alps instead of staying in Munich today. We had a nice leisurely drive south of Munich up into the foothills of the German Alps. Our destination was a gondola to take us up to the highest point in Germany. It is a mountain peak called Zugspitze. The gondola ride only takes about 10 minutes and goes from 2500 ft to 9900 ft. Wikipedia says: “ It currently  holds the world record for the longest freespan in a cable car at 3,213 metres (10,541 ft)  as well as the tallest lattice steel aerial tramway support tower in the world at 127 metres (417 ft).”   Once at the top is was cloudy, but we enjoyed a beer and brat. The clouds never fully cleared, but we did have some amazing views of the ledges and peak in between gusts of wind and cloud movement.  While at the top we were also able to visit a very remote part of Austria. The complex was built to span the border of Austria and Germany....
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