2013 Wrap-up: 94 Nights on the Road, 15 Countries, Countless Memories

We are busy planning our adventures for 2014 and wanted to re-cap 2013.  It was a busy year and our goal is to experience even more in the coming year.  Here's a summary of where we were throughout this past year:
January/February:  Berlin, Vienna, Trier and Palermo, Sicily were our destinations during these first two cold winter months.

March:  Ulm, Brugge and Oostende, Belgium

April:  Jay was in Phoenix to finish his MBA studies at Thunderbird.

May:  Indian Wells (California), Lisbon, A Coruna, Gijon, Santander, Bilbao (Spain), Bayonne, Bordeaux, Belle-Ile-en-Mer, St. Malo, LeHavre (France), Antwerp

June:  We concentrated on German cities this month--Eltville, Bad Homburg, Aschaffenburg, Worms, Marburg, Limburg, Mannheim, Augsburg, Koblenz Speyer Freiburg and Kassel.

July:  More of Germany--Königstein, Hochheim, Ludwigslust, Schwerin, Wismar, Rostock, Warnemünde and Göttingen.  Then to France to visit Nancy, Baccarat and the WW I battlefields at Verdun.

August:  Kronberg, Karlsruhe, Liechtenstein, Lake Constance, Switzerland, Austria, Rothenburg and Paris.  Another highlight was attending a political rally featuring Chancellor Angela Merkel.

September:  Reno, Tahoe, Portland, Monterey

October:  Rome, Sorrento, Messina, Santorini, Crete, Marmaris, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Palestine, Galilee, Cyprus, Antalya, Rhodes, Kusadasi, Ephesus and Patmos

November: Dijon (France), Würzburg, Hameln, Bremen, Bodenwerder, Lauterbach

December:  Leipzig

Our first trip of the year is this weekend to Regensburg, Germany.  Stay tuned.

Cyprus

Aphrodite's Rock:  Where the goddess, Aphrodite, was born from the foam of the sea

One of the places we visited in October was the divided island of Cyprus.  Unfortunately, we didn't have time to visit the Turkish portion of the island but our short visit on the Greek side was enjoyable, albeit touristy.  We were never able to actually talk with any Cypriots, other than our tour guide, and so weren't able to hear about their recent economic woes and bank bailout.  However, while driving through the urban areas of the island, the empty buildings and lack of vibrant commercial activity was clearly evident.  Cyprus is dry, rocky and beautiful.  It's economic future is uncertain but, as a member of the EU, its long-term prospects remain hopeful.  For the vacationer, it can be a pleasant place to hang out but I wouldn't anticipate a wild time.

Visiting ancient tombs in Paphos

Paphos

More Paphos

Famous mosaics at House of Dionyssos

Cyprus landscape

Happy tourist

Our guide, whose dream is to move to Las Vegas

Antalya, Turkey

Antalya is one of those beautiful Turkish Mediterranean cities that one must really spend some time in to savor and enjoy.  Once a gem of the Byzantine Empire, the city now has over 1 million people but its old town core retains a charm that beckons Tanya and me to return.  The weather on this particular fall day was perfect and it made us very happy to be alive.

Hidirlik Tower, a 2nd century fortress

Tanya can't resist the urge to check out a shop

Kusadasi, Turkey & Evening at Ephesus

One of the places we re-visited in October was Kusadasi, Turkey.  We had been here once before, about 15 years ago, when we took our 4-week Turkey trip.  As is usually the case, much of what we remembered had changed.  More buildings, more crowds, more retail but the flavor of Kusadasi remains the same.  We even visited the hotel, the Caravanserai, where we had stayed on that first visit. Very little had changed there.

 In the evening, we attended a reception and concert at the historical site of Ephesus.  Gone were the crowds and we enjoyed a wonderful evening with about 150 other guests.  The setting and evening were truly magical as we looked up at the full moon over the old amphitheater of Ephesus.

As we returned to our ship, Tanya was still ready to party!

Wedding Anniversary in Leipzig

We celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary on December 21st in Leipzig.  We enjoyed a great German meal and wine in the historic Auerbach's Keller in downtown Leipzig.  This was our third visit to Leipzig at Christmas time and we enjoy this city so much that we have to keep coming back.

Here are some shots to give you a bit of the flavor of Leipzig:

Along the Fairy Tale Road: Hameln & Bremen

While on our late November trip along the Fairy Tale Road, we stopped in Hameln and Bremen to visit the Christmas markets and refresh the memories of our last trip here 15 years ago.

 Hameln, of course, is where the legendary Middle Ages figure, the "Rattenfänger of Hameln", lured all the children of the town away after the townspeople refused to pay for his previous service in leading all the rats out of town.  Regardless of whether this ever really happened, the town has made the most of the story and thousands of people visit each year, mostly to look at the Rattenfänger's statue and imagine the legend.  Just another example of how never to let the facts get in the way of a good story and then milk that story for all it's worth.

Bremen, of course, is that wonderful Hanseatic city in the North that is also the ancestral home of our branch of the zur Jacobsmühlen family.  The 1404 AD statue of Roland, nephew of Charles the Great, watches over the city center and has withstood all the centuries of war and misfortune that is German history.  The legend is that so long as Roland stands, so shall Bremen survive as a free city. 

From a Grimm's fairy tale perspective, the Bremen Town Musicians occupy a prominent place downtown and their statue is an obligatory tourist posing opportunity.

 Bremen is a very romantic city!

The center area gets so crowded during Christmas Market time that bell-ringing Santa's helpers walk in front of the street cars to warn pedestrians of the oncoming train.  Very civilized.

Along the Fairy Tale Road: Bodenwerder & Lauterbach

The Brothers Grimm hold a very strong place in German culture.  While they didn't actually write the fairy tales many of us grew up with, Hansel & Gretel, Snow White, Rapunzel and so on, they did compile these folk tales into collections that became accessible to the rest of the world.  In 1998, we took our first trip along the Fairy Tale Road, re-tracing the steps of the Grimm brothers.  At that time we visited Hanau, where the brothers were born, Steinau, where they once lived, and several of the places which inspired the tales in the first place.  In late November, we re-visited some of the places along the Fairy Tale Road.

Two places along the route, which really don't relate to fairy tales but are noteworthy nevertheless, are Lauterbach and Bodenwerder.

 Lauterbach is famous for two things:  First, it's where the famous German gnomes are manufactured.  Secondly, it's the home of the tale of the "Scalawag who lost his sock".  One of the most popular versions of this story is that a young man got a job in Lauterbach working at a factory.  The young man however began having an illicit relationship with the factory manager's wife.  The manager ran him out of town so fast that the young man, this "scalawag", lost his sock and didn't dare go back to retrieve it.  The message on the statue commemorating this scoundrel: "In Lauterbach hab' ich mein strumpf verlor'n" translates as, "I lost my sock in Lauterbach."  There's also a tune:

"I lost my sock in Lauterbach, without it I don't go home.
That's why I return to Lauterbach, to get back that sock of my own."

While didn't sample any of their beer on this trip, Lauterbach also is home to Lauterbacher Bier.  The brewery is in town and apparently has been operating since 1889.










Further north, along the Weser River, is the small town of Bodenwerder.  This city is noteworthy for essentially one thing:  it was the home of the the famous blowhard, Baron Hieronymous Carl Friederich von Münchhausen.

 The Baron was famous for his fantastic tales of heroic exploits in battle.  I may not be getting this all correctly, but one of his stories concerns him riding so fast on his horse, Bucephalus, that he doesn't realize until later that the Turks had blown his horse in two.  This even is memorialized by the statue here, located in town.  Meanwhile, down by the river, someone is retrieving the back half of the horse.

 Other stories include the Baron riding a cannonball over the Turkish ramparts to deliver a lethal blow personally.

 And, in this story, the Baron hitches a ride with a flock of geese who rescue him from a sinking ship.

The townspeople of Bodenwerder have made the most out of their favorite son's legacy and hold a Münchhausen festival every summer.  What a guy!