Europe trip - Berlin, Prague, Salzburg, Zurich, and Paris

After 3,000 miles driven and 76 hours spent in the car our whirlwind Europe trip is over. It's good to be home. Where the road signs are in English. People aren't passing us on the Autoban going 100 miles an hour (at least). Having to pay for toll coupons to stick in the window to drive through the country. Oh and the language barrier. What an experience!
We really did have a fantastic time seeing all those places you grow up learning about in history books. We spent a day sightseeing in Berlin.

This is the Brandenburg gate and the Reichstag (Parliament)

Here is what remains of the Berlin Wall, and Checkpoint Charlie.


We took a quick drive through Prague. We didn't get there until 5pm and it was heavy with traffic so we didn't get any pictures in the city center. We were more worried about getting out of the country to find somewhere to camp back in Germany! We stopped in Salzburg and got some pictures though.


From there we went to Garmisch, Germany right in the heart of the Bavarian Alps. It was beautiful! We stayed in a cabin at the Edelweiss Resort, a military recreation area. We drove through the Alps and into Lietchenstein and then Zurich. This castle is Neuschwanstein which was the inspiration for the Disney castle.

We stayed a night at Ramstein Air Base in Germany and then drove to Paris. We saw the Eiffel Tower that evening. We didn't go up it because of the lines but we waited around until it was all lit up when it got dark.
We didn't realize how much of a tourist trap Versailles is but it was on the top of our list of things to see. We waited in line (outside in sunny 78 degrees) 2 hours and 45 minutes to buy tickets and get in to the palace. It was packed with people but this was fulfilling my childhood dream so we had to see it! This place is huge and very ornate and the gardens are spectacular! Since this was our last day we didn't have time to see any other sites in Paris. We had to get to the ferry.

Road Trip, Europe

Well, we finally made it to Berlin after 3 days of driving and camping, seeing the sights along the way.

Thursday evening we took a ferry to Calais, France and spent the night in a hotel. What a shock to go from driving on the left side (in England) to immediately driving on the right side in a right hand drive car! We soon got adjusted and were on our way up the coast through Belgium and into Amsterdam. We didn't spend much time there but drove through the city and got out to

let the kids play in a park along the river.

We then headed southeast towards Germany and found a campground in the little town of Kleve. With our German phrase book in hand we were able to reserve a site for the night.

The next day we drove to Koblenz, Germany and traveled the scenic route along the Rhein down to Mainz. The walls or hills of the valley were dotted with castles surrounded by vineyards. We stopped at a park again to let the kids play.

In Mainz we toured the Gutenberg museum and saw the Gutenberg Bibles and the press with a demonstration on how it was used. From Mainz we drove to Eisenach and found another campground where no one spoke any English but again with our little book and a lot of pointing we could set up camp for the night. Located in Eisenach is Wartburg Castle where Martin Luther was exiled. We climbed the vey long steep hill to the castle and took the tour. It was in German but we could pick up a few words and got to see Luther's room and desk where he translated the Bible. From there we drove to Wittenberg to see the famous church doors where Luther posted the 95 Theses. There was a Luther festival going on we didn't know about so there were many booths selling items or food from the medieval era. Many people were in costumes from the time.

We will now be in Berlin for a few days while Devin attends the ASME Turbo Expo. I'll post more when we've done some sightseeing!