Fun on DuLac's

It seems like every place we've been has been on water....the last week was no exception. We traveled south to Lugano which is on Luganosee and took a day trip by boat from one small village to another, stopping for lunch in Marcote which was lovely....then the next day we had the Como Lugano experience....which was much like the "Great Race". We left Lugano by boat and travelled up the lake to Porlezza. We then had about 1/2 hour to waste before catching a bus to Menaggio. So we had coffee which also helped to warm up, as it was a rainy day. The bus was an experience all in itself. The hairpin turns down the side of a mountain while passing other busses and trucks on a narrow road was scarry....and it wasn't just one hairpin turn but one after another all the way down. The view of the lake and the villages across the way was incredible as well. When we got off the bus....we had a 5 minute walk to the dock where the ferry left from....so we hustled over and just got there in time to debark for Bellagio...but that was not the first stop....so we had to get back on and wait till we finally landed in Bellagio where we were supposed to have 1 hour and 20 minutes to see the sites....but by the time we found out where the next leg of the trip started, and we had lunch we only had about 15 minutes to shop, which meant I only purchased a couple of postcards and headed for the dock and hastily took pictures. The next mode of transportation was a hydrofoil down to Como with only a couple of stops along the way. By the time we got to Como....the rain had stopped. But because of the rain, all the waterfalls along the lake were spectacular and the low hanging clouds gave the mountains a new beauty. In Como we quickly found the bus stop and our bus to Ponto Chiassa arrived before I could run to the Mac Donalds to use the bathroom....so no time to dilly dally there. When we got to Chiassa, we had to walk across the border of Italy back into Switzerland and find the bahnhof (train station) back to Lugano, and walked a few blocks in the wrong direction and stopped to ask directions and ended up walking back to the border crossing and asking one of the guards where the train station was....and he pointed and said it was about 30 meters up the road....the opposite direction we had walked in the first place. Anyway we then took a train back to Lugano and then a funicular down the hill into the middle of town....and then walked to a bus stop and took a city bus back to our hotel.....now all of this was done in a span of 7 hours or less. The Amazing Race!!!! From Lugano we headed back north to Lucerne and stayed a long the lake in a Swiss Chalet with a beautiful view of the lake. Breakfast each morning was served outside on a patio overlooking the lake and it was beautiful. Life on DuLac's is wonderful. m

Only One More Week

Last week we traveled to Titisea in the Black Forest and Basil in Switzerland. Today we will drive to Appenzell and tomorrow we will head south to Logano and points beyond. I can't wait to get home and upload more pictures for all of you to see. In Basil we went to six museums and saw some amazing works of art. We dined in great restuarants as well. Yesterday we got to go with Reudi and Karen to Geoffrey's band competition marching portion. On Saturday they finished 2nd in the music portion....and yesterday they had to march about 6 blocks playing and got judged on that and finished 6th out of 17 band in that category. I don't know what place they were overall. It was fun anyway and then we went to a big tent where an old time band was playing and we had wurst and beer (I had wine) and listened to the music. Gary's friends also joined us for the day. I believe a good time was had by all.

Another Beautiful Day in Paradise

Today we are in Tittisee in southern Germany in the Black Forest. It is a beautiful resort town on a beautiful lake. Tomorrow we will head back into Switzerland and the citz of Basil. We plan on Spending two days there and will probably head back to Marbach on Saturday as Geoffrey will be playing in a band competition. On Monday, we plan on taking a train trip frist down to Lake Como and then Lucerne, Zermatt, Interlaken and Bern and then back to Marbach and on the following Wednesday we head home. I can´t believe how fast the time is flying. m

God's Counry

After spending 2 days in Vienna including a tour of the schoenbrun Palace and attending the opera "The Magic Flute". We headed towards Marbach....but got side-tracked by this little very old town of Hallstadt. It is on a ledge at the foot of a mountain that has been mined for salt since 800 BC and on a beautful Lake called the Hallstadtersee. We fell in love and found an apartment on the lake and decided to stay the nite.....but by morning, we wanted to stay another....so we did. Breakfast on the edge of the lake in our backyard was cold cuts and bread that we had bought fresh was one of the highlights. We wandered the area on foot and did some shopping and found a little resturant a half a block from our apartment and had dinner again on the lake....but this time we had sauerkraut and potatoe duplings....makes you really feel like you are in Austria!!! By Saturday nite we were back in Marbach after touring several more lakes and quaint towns. Sunday Mother's Day Reudi and Karen took us to the Rhine Falls about a two hour drive on the German border....and then to Stein a Rhine another quaint town with beautiful paintings decorating the buildings and the town band playing in the market square for all the mothers.
Yesterday we drove back to Zurich and visited a friend of Gary's who took us by train up a mountain and on a 4.9 kilometer hike back down along a stream and into the town of Küsnacht and by boat back to Zurich and then by train back to his home in the suburbs. So it has been one beautiful day after another....I truely think this is God's Country!!!

Tale of Two Towns

We spent the better part of two days trying to find some clues to our heritage, but had no luck. We did meet the only remaining Hirt family, but the husband had rescently passed away at 76....and his wife knew of no other Hirt families....cept one her husbands Uncle that had moved to the US in the 30´s but she didn´t even know where in the U.S. that was. But she was a charming women, and took us to two other homes of people who may have known something of the Hirts or Scheiber´s....but one women was at the hospital visiting her partner...and the other really didn´t know anything. But Reudi bought me the book of the history of Lockenhaus...which has many pictures, only it is written in German....Karen will interpret or translate interesting portions for us. In Deutchgerisdorf where the Sherman´s are from we went to the cemetary and took many pictures of headstones. So evidence of Hirt, Sherman and Scheiber´s is still very much here...but nothing of a Stefan ever. We did dispell the myth that grandma was impregnated by the prince at the castle....as it was in ruins for the last 200 years until in 1979 someone bought it and restored it to it´s present day site. He may have been a soldier, but we don´t know of any wars that were taking place at that time....or he may be a Hungarian as Hungary is only a few kilometers away. Or maybe grandma just made the name up....we can´t figure it out. But it is a beautiful area and will send pictures when I am able.
We are now in Vienna and Karen and Reudi have left us and gone back to Marbach...we will do somemore touring and return to Marbach on Saturday, before we take off on another adventure. Loving the country and have tasted many great pastries, but there Krupfins are not Grupfins and the poppystrudel isn´t as good as mine or moms. We´ll have to try a few more bakeries to test them all. Love, m

Tales of the WC

My first day on vacation was spent mostly on airplanes....but it was very short as on the airplane we boarded in NY we set our watches to Swiss time, so my birthday May 2 was celebrated for about 30 hours. Most of the plane ride was uneventful cept the take off in Newark.....we boarded at 6 p.m. and didnt leave the ground till 8:15 p.m. but once in the air things went fine....just a bit of a backup on the takeoff and landing strip.
So once in Switzerland...9:30 a.m. on May 2 my story begins....we landed and got the rental car a Renault stationwagon and headed for Zeruck to see the city. Once finding a parking ramp, we couldn't get the car to lock....some nice people who parked next to us tryed to help, and even called Hertz and followed all the instructions in german but it still would't lock....so they sent out a service man to fix it for us....well in the mean time I had to find a bathroom and was sent across the street to a WC (a large cylander shaped thing, that cost 1 franc to enter, only I only had 2 franc coins....so I paid 2 francs to get into this thing. The door automoatically open once the coin is inplace and then you step in and the door closes and everything seems wet...well it is! You do your thing...but cannot find a handle to flush the toilet, so I touch the handle and the door opens and you step out and the door closes behind you and then you hear it flushes and totally washes down the whole inside (Karen suggests if I stayed longer i might have gotten a shower for the same price!
Back to the car....a man finally arrives and somehow fixes the problem, but we had to pull out of the parking ramp for him to do so, and then he wanted to charge us 170 francs. We refused and said we wanted to talk to Hertz....and the man angry got in his truck and left. So we were off to see Zurich.
As in the last months bathrooms have become my friend....I decided I would write on all the interesting things i found. At the airport the bathrooms were very clean....but i had a little problem trying to find the button to flush as it was a metal plate on the wall, that didnt look at all like it would be it....but it was. At one of our first stops (Starbucks) we needed a code to type on a keypad to get in....but free to the costomers. Later as I needed to find one again....we walked by a McDonalds so I walked in and down one flight of stairs to find the restuarant counter and looked left and saw a sign pointing up another set of stairs to the toilets....So I raced another young women up 2 flights of stairs and was happy to find 3 stalls there. Once to Karens (which is a lovely old 1700's home, but has interesting plumbing) I needed instructions on how to flush as one toilet had a no tank, but a pipe with a knob above the seat which needs to be turned on as you would a faucet....and off again to stop the water....and then another toilet on the main floor that has an oblong metal piece cut into the traditional ceramic cover of the tank that you press to make it flush. All this and the wonderful bathrooms on the airplane....and it has been an intersting and informing trip so far.
Karen and Reudi served us a wonderful dinner and gave us a tour of their business and then after dinner took us to their tasting room which had a surprise cake and balloons with cows on them and swiss ribbons and then served us our choice of several brandies....It was a wonderful and long birthday....Love you all, more soon. m