120 days without an address: deutschland and on to amsterdam

We spent one night in Salzburg, Austria before heading into Germany. Mozart was born in Salzburg and through the drizzle we saw the house he was born in and the town he grew up in...for a little while anyway. By the time he was about 6 years old he was touring Europe and

impressing royalty with his piano prowess. After our rainy day tour of Salzburg we met up with Helga, Sepperl, and Helga's sister Gerta for a nice dinner just outside of town. They were all extremely hospitable and overly generous to us during our time in Austria...we can't thank them enough for all they did. We were sad to leave Austria, but that's exactly what we did the next day when Sepp dropped us off at the Freilassing train station. We were on our way towards Munich and the infamous beer gardens!

We were actually staying with a friend in Rosenheim, about 45 minutes southeast of Munich by train. We arrived in the early afternoon and did a quick tour of the quaint town of Rosenheim...quite nice. After lunch we went for a nice hike into the hills nearby with Kirsten and Tom...our gracious hosts.

The next day we went to Munich to explore the city. It was Father's Day in Germany and instead of father's spending quality family time as is tradition in the US...most fathers in Germany head for the beer gardens with their buddies! And that's where we went too! I think I enjoyed it more than CJ did, but visiting the beer gardens of Munich is a must.

After Munich and Rosenheim we continued north toward Mainz and Frankfurt where we met up with our German dentist friends that we met a couple years ago in American Samoa. I lived just outside of Frankfurt from 1983-85 and had not been back to my old neighborhood since then so I was quite excited to revisit my German past. The dentists were wonderful hosts as well and picked us up at the train station and showed us around Mainz and fed us wonderful german food and good beers.

The next day we explored a local market in Mainz before heading to my old town of Oberursel and Frankfurt. The Frankfurt International School where I attended 4th and 5th grades has gone through quite a renovation since I was last there. Just down the road from the school I saw the old apartment building I used to live in and we drove through the town of Oberursel which also brought back memories. It was a nice trip down memory lane. We then headed to Frankfurt and walked around the city, which also brought back fond memories. That night we had a grand feast with all the german dentists, it was great to see all of them again. The next day, we took the train to Dusseldorf to see my step-brother Ben and his family.

It had been several years since I had seen Ben and I had never met his wife and 2 kids...I couldn't believe he has 2 kids!! Two beautiful boys! We spent a few days with Ben and his family and visited Dusseldorf and Cologne which isn't far away. It was a nice relaxing visit before we headed to Amsterdam!