Germany and home October 2010

We took the train from Frankfurt at the end of our overland tour of Germany and headed to Garmisch in Bavaria Germany.  We spent 6 days there and was able to take two bus tours through the Armed Forces Recreation Center located in Garmisch.  We stayed in a small apartment that was cheaper than staying at the recreation center facilities.


We were able to take a three country tour that included Austria, Switzerland and Lichtenstein.  On our way we passed multiple fortresses in Austria, took in the landscape of the Swiss Alps and perused the shops of Liechtenstein. 
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 This is the pass between Germany and Switzerland.

 Love these little villages.

 This is picture in Lichtenstein where the prince lives.  Here's a closer view of his castle.

We also took a tour to Bolzano and Vipitino Italy.  Located in the foothills of the Italian Dolomites, rests the famous remains of the 5,300 year old Iceman at the South Tyrol Museum of Archeology named Ötzi.  The tour also stoped in the small medieval town known as Vipitino, known for its Italian wine and leather goods in South Tirol.

This is a picture of Bolzano

Here is a picture of the Franciscon Monestary located there.  They made some good wine in the day.

And then we returned to Garmisch and found this picture.

The following day after the tours we found the day to be absolutely gorgeous so we decided to take a trip to the Zugspitze.  We took the train up and the gondola down.  You feel like you are on top of the world.

This is the cable car on our way down.

The next day we went on a trip to Salzburg.  We walked through the palace grounds that were opened to the public so they too could enjoy the gardens.  We also visited the house where Mozart lived when he was young.  Saw a side street with alot of wrought iron signs out their door and finally headed to Venice the next day to our ship.

Our train ride wasn't exactly without excitement.  Seems they run on a tight schedule and you really don't have too much time to make the right choices.  On one transfer the station in Italy didn't really say where the first class car would be located.  Our luck I picked the wrong end and we both had to run with suit cases in tow to the other end of the train.  Now that wasn't the most exciting thing we did though.  We missed the station we were suppose to get off and June gave me responsibility for the backpack and as we jumped off the train and headed away to catch one back to the station we were suppose to get off, she asked if I had the backpack to which I panicked and said "oh sh...t".  I ran back down and got on the train, retrieved the backpack and held it up for her to see and the doors closed.  It can sure be a long ride to the next station sometimes.  Seemed like I rode it for 10 minutes before it stopped and I was able to get off.  Waited another 20 minutes for the train going the opposite direction and then once I got back to the station where June was I had to yell at her to come a running with both bags to get back on the train for our one stop in the other direction.  Of course she had to wait at the station with very little around hoping I would come back for her as I had all the tickets and passports.

Any way, we fianlly arrived late in Venice and only had part of the next day to visit it again.  The water level was pretty high so there were spots that water came up into the plaza.  Finallay we go on our ship to head back home with a few stops.  We visited Pompeii and the Azores where we took a trip in land.  The other days we enjoyed just relaxing after such a hectic journey.

St. Marks Square

Flooding in the square from the drains.

Once we finished walking around Venice it was off to the ship for our departure to Naples for us to visit Pompeii.

In Pompeii we walked through the ruins after taking a train there ourselves.  I did this along time ago and the ruins have been excavated alot more.  When I was there the walls were only three feet high and now some of them are two stories high.  Here are some of the pictures we took.  Hope you enjoy them.

We then went back to the ship and had stops in Cannes and Barcelona before our last stop on the way at Ponta Delgada, Azores.  We took the island circle tour and was shown the two lakes that are connected by a bridge and the water color is different in each of the lakes.  The scenery was great and I'll show you the picture of the lakes.

The tour was to circle these two lakes as shown on the following map.

Well, that ended our European trip.  We departed the US on September 15 and returned Oct 24, 2010.