Our first week back in Canada was at the KOA in Owen Sound, about 20 miles west of Meaford, also on the Georgian Bay. While the place was rural and very picturesque on the little pond it was too far from Jo-Anne’s parents to be practical. In addition, while it had the basic essentials like water, electric, and a place to DUMP, it had none of today’s “essentials” like wi-fi, cable TV, good cell location etcetera.

So we popped in the slides and headed back to Meaford. The city campground we had stayed in a couple of months ago was pretty booked … read “what a mass of humanity.” So we looked for options and found that the local marina had a few RV slots in the parking lot. We negotiated a price and backed the beast into its new home; and a home with a super view. Again the picture window front windows have a super view of what’s outside; this time the marina with its boats and the beautiful Georgian Bay out to the horizon.

We're BAAACK!

At least in North America, eh.

We had a good flight back from Europe on Air France and it got us to Toronto right on time last Wednesday. Then we went up to Meaford and got the RV out of bondage at the apple orchard and it was in perfect shape. The dog is happy to see us, the cat could care less, and the pet sitters are really glad not to see another hair ball!

We set up camp in a KOA in Owen Sound which is at the lower end of the Georgian Bay off Lake Huron. The camp and site is good, but the internet connection isn't. Unfortunately I've paid until August 18, so we'll work on alternatives. The park has a weak wifi transmitter which you have to be almost on top of to use and then at a snail's pace. After some really super connections in Europe this one is a dissapointment and we'll have to do something else to transmit pics to the blog.

When I find out how to do this faster, there will be more pics of the continuing adventure.

Wow!

It is hard to believe that it has been two months since we arrived in Europe; what a great experience. Last night was the capstone and it went well in spite of some on and off showers. We had dinner at eight at the Altitude 95 restaurant (95 meters up) in the Eiffel tower, which was very good.

Then we were to go on the illumination boat ride down the Seine, but because of the rain that was cancelled. So then we went to the Moulin Rouge show which started at 11 and for these old geezers, that was a challenge. Even more so as the show ran for over two hours without intermission ... but what an extravagana of naked women and millions of dollars in costumes and production! By the time we got home it was almost 3am and for those of you who know us, that's only a couple hours shy of when we normally get up. Fabulous ending for our adventure here though.

So beginning on Wednesday we will be in Meaford, Ontario for the next month or so and the blog entries will slow a bit until we start the next phase of the adventure which will be westward trek across Canada.

Cafe where we had a last dinner on the street on Tuesday evening. It doesn't get any better than this for us as this is why we come to Paris. Wine, food , and watching the flow of Paris go by your table ...

One part of the European experience I won't miss is the snake farm that lives on the floor of the hotel for the various stuff we need to power in a 1800s hotel with two 220 volt outlets.

On Friday after selling the car back to Peugeot we got a van into town and checked into our hotel in Paris which is the Best Western Au Manoir Saint Germain in the middle of the Left Bank across from the famous Deux Magots café of Hemmingway fame. Tonight maybe we'll stroll down to the Notre Dame and dinner on the Ille St. Louis and the restaurant call the Recruiting Seargeant. Our hotel here is just to the right of the red awning which is the Cafe Lipp one of the more famous on this well known street.

Upon arrival in Paris we were, of course, met with an air show in our honor. Actually this was Saturday the 14th of July or Bastille Day, very similar to our 4th of July. And no air show is good without helicopters, eh?

Then off to Paris on the 13th and to Charles De Gaulle airport to sell back the Peugeot. All in all a fast process and other than the flat tire and no support from them, it wasn’t too bad a deal. I wouldn’t do that again though and would just rent from one of the major rental companies and shop for a bargain; you’ll get more dependable support and all the little things are taken care of.

Absolutely picture perfect village of Mercurey France about 30 miles south of Dijon, the mustard folks. This is a huge wine growing region and the vinyards are visible here. From here we were off to Paris to turn in the car and spend our last few days in Europe.

The next night, we randomly picked a small town south of Dijon called Mercurey and it had what appeared to be a three star hotel; again picked off the internet. This time the village was what we thought and was quaint and ancient, however the hotel would be pushing it to be a two star. The room was old and tired and breakfast was a burned bun. If you look really close, that's Jo waving from our balcony.

Room in the Prussien Hotel complete with king sized bed and atrium windows overlooking the patio and roaring waterfall.

The master blogger at his station.

The view out one of our several windows to the roaring current below was awesome.

The Prussien Hotel which was an old brewery dating from the 1500s.

We assumed that Neuchatel would be a quaint little village on the shore of the lake. Wrong. Neither quaint, nor little (100,000 or so) and the hotel was nowhere near the lake. However! The hotel was up in the middle of the industrial section, but was in a heavily treed oasis on a river with a thundering waterfall; and absolutely serene. The hotel, the staff, and the breakfast the next morning were absolutely five star.

We said goodbye to our German host and the apartment in Garmisch on the 11th of July. From Garmisch to Paris is about 600 miles, so we planned an average of 200 miles for three days of driving and two overnights. The first night we threw the dart at the map and it hit a place called Neuchatel Switzerland, over to the west side near France and booked a three star hotel, The Prussien, via the internet.

Sunday we went up the Zugspitze. There’s a couple of ways to get to the top of the rock. One is by a cog railway to within a couple thousand feet of the summit and short cable car to the summit; the other way is by cable car directly to the summit from the Eibsee starting point.

We took the cog train up from the parking lot/train station pictured below. In that pic you can see the summit house and antenna ... way up there! We found that for most of the 40 minute train trip you are in a tunnel and don’t come out until you are at about the 6-7000 foot point where there is the main restaurant and chapel and the glacier begins. Then we took a cable car up to the top at about 10000 feet, but by the time we got there the weather had closed in and it was pouring pretty heavily. The way down was via cable car all the way back to that parking lot for about a 10 minute descent; it was spectacular as we came out of the cloud and could see the valley below!

Just a further note on expenses here. We find that the restaurant fare is extremely reasonable. An example was Sunday night when we went to the Greek place next door to our apartment. We both had the senior (we’ve found a lot of savings all over Europe with the senior claim) plate. This was a 10 inch plate divided into thirds with one third having two burger patties covered with mushroom sauce, one third fries, and the balance a salad. We each had a drink and there was also the complementary ouzo shooter … and the bill was about $22.

Just trying to catch up here. Today the computer connection in the apartment crumped so I'm now at the library on the Artillery Kaserne in Garmish. After arriving in Garmisch the next day, Thursday, we went to Mittenwald, about 20 klicks east of Garmisch. It is reputedly the most painted village in all of Germany and we won’t disagree. The weather was a bit cloudy and rainy so the brilliance of the buildings is kindof lost here but still spectacular nonetheless. In another bit of computer brilliance, I nuked about 20 pictures of Mittenwald so you'll have to take my word for the beauty of the buildings.

On Friday, we went to one of King Ludwig II castles on Lake Chiemsee. We’ve been to one of his in Neuschwanstein, the one Disney used for his Fantasy Land, and this one is a bit different. It was supposed to be an exact copy of Versailles in Paris, and then made a bit larger and more opulent because ol Ludwig had a pretty big ego. Impressive place in spite of some crappy weather and the fact that I couldn’t take pics inside of the place.

Sunday later we are off to the top of the Zugspitze via cog train and then the very scary cable car (Bruce speaking) ... more to follow

The eagle's nest house and surrounding scenery.

On Saturday we went to the Eagle's nest which was Hitlers tea house in very southern Bavaria. About a 3 hour bus ride over there and then the bus up the mountain ... and then an elevator to the 6,000 foot house on the top which was a present for Hitler's 50th birthday circa 1938.

A little about our place here in Garmisch. I got the place off the web from http://www.vacation-apartments.com/ and they are good folks. It’s about $100 a day but the facility is really good. It is an 800 square foot apartment complete with wi-fi, clothes washer and dryer and full kitchen. There’s two twin beds in the bedroom and a sofa sleeper in the living room. The living room, dining area, and kitchen have access to the 30 foot porch which faces the mountain range. We’re on the 4th floor and serviced by an elevator which goes down to the parking garage … cool. The landlord, who is fluent in English, is letting us use the computer hookup for $10 extra for the week and the phone is 1.4 cents a minute to the US. Really good place to base out of if you are going to do Bavaria and Austria … in the summer or winter.

Weather’s been cool and rainy but is supposed to warm up a bit in the next few days.

The pic below is of the AFRC services resort in Garmish; really nice hotel and restaurant facility and the view is awesome.

Hey it doesn't get any better than this ... Wednesday evening off the balcony of our apartment ... awesome panarama! The central peak is the Zugspitz which is the tallest mountain in Germany. Actually the back side of the mountain is in Austria which we had to pass through to get to Garmisch.

Well we are in Garmisch in Bavaria right near the Austrian border and the scenery is breathtaking. Obviously the computer hookup is super right in our apartment so here is more of our life on the road as I can pound a bunch of stuff into the blog while looking at it snow on the mountains about 5 miles away ... wow!

In Meersburg on the Bodensee or Lake Constance (Konstanz) we stayed at the Baeren Hotel right on the market place. The Bodensee is a magical beautiful place. We’ve stayed on the southern coast on previous trips and this time chose midway down the north coast.

Our hotel is in one of the pics below as the lighter colored tower to the left and behind the reddish Lion hotel.

Getting our pile of junk into and out of the car was fun. The hotel which has been there since the 1200s obviously could service carriages and coaches but a car was special. The hotel clerk had to remove posts allowing entry to the pedestrian zone through the 1200ad tower in the center of the village so we could get the car near the hotel for both coming and going. It is hard to realize that a hotel and restaurant has been on this spot for about 900 years ... the schnitzle didn't really taste that old, eh. Actually highly recommend the hotel and restaurant and staff ... cute and perfect cannot describe the place adequately.

The pics below are still of Lindau which was where we wanted to stay initially but the place was fully booked. So we moved our reservation up the coast to Meersburg.

After stopping at the Mummelsee we went on down to Meersburg to stay for two days. Enroute there we just put the Tom Tom navigator on "avoid freeways" and wandered through the spectacular German forests and farmlands.

The picture below is of the old Rathaus or government building in Lindau about 20 miles south of where we stayed for two days in Meersburg. They were doing government business here almost 500 years ago ... doesn't mean it was any more efficient ... but men were sitting around a table in this building deciding their future.

The next morning we were off to the south and made our favorite stop on the Black Forest Road called Mummelsee. It’s the highest and deepest lake in Germany. There is a small hotel and restaurant right on the lake. The lake has such a high mineral content that no fish can live making for many legends that the place is inhabited by fairies and trolls.

OK ... so Baden-Baden is a pretty place ... we just got a bad choice for the hotel ...

Here's Jo-Anne after she parked her new car in Baden-Baden where she was spending her recent casino winnings ... streached that $20 really far ... oh well nice car anyhow. She looks the part but I can't afford the lifestyle to which we have become accostomed ... rember retirement, eh?

Well, it was great living in Kindsbach and we had a super time on the Baerenloch. We couldn’t have had better hosts and the setting was Walden Pond to the nth degree. Loved it! If anyone out there wants a central place in Germany to work out of for $1200 a month utilities included (including phone) this was it.

Threw the growing pile of crap in the Peugeot (1800 miles so far) and headed off for Baden-Baden. Hey I don’t know why either, but it sounded like a good idea. Baden-Baden is known for its old casino and the baths and is situated at the start of the Black Forest Road. In Baden we stayed at the Richert hotel which is right on the central market place. I’m not sure where we got the hotel recommendation but it was kinda crappy. Central location and quiet, but right up there with Motel 6; very plain and stark; not sure if they were renovating to tear it apart or were starting to make it better.