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!