Well...I'm tired from walking and shopping all day in Munich. What a wonderful city for pedestrians! However, you must watch out for bicycles! Really! Munich is a city that greatly promotes bicycle use
- so much so that there are designated bicycle lanes right beside the sidewalks. And don't get in the way!


I finally got on the Internet but we had to slip across the street to another hotel and sit in their bar and drink. Fair is fair! I will try to put a couple of things together for you. This will be of our time in Strasbourg, France.



This pic is of Dudley and a dog on a pillar in the cathedral in Strasbourg. As the story goes, the dog is asleep because the priest's sermon was too long! So, if you rub its nose three times, you will have luck. Dang! I only rubbed it once. Aww...

You know when you find the perfect gift for a friend? Well, Ruth has two red VW Beetles and I bought her a special glass (wine anyone?). Dudley loves it, too!

Now, my whole blog really isn't just about Dudley, but I must admit that I get caught up in photo ops! Here is Dudley posing with another moose he saw in a souvenir shop near the Neuschwanstein castle. 

And here's a pic of the castle, too! This is the inspiration for Walt Disney's Cinderella castle.

And...the band is notorious for playing tricks on our conductors. We will sometimes play a completely different piece (ask George Holmes about that one!) and for Merry, we all put on these noses before playing one of our pieces. THAT was funny!

At the back of the bus we have had a Canadian flag in the window. This got changed recently to a huge decorative bunch of grapes. Hmm...wonder what that means?

I will leave you with a pic of Dudley and our tour guide, Dagmar. She's a lot of fun!

Hello! I'm sorry for the delay with my updates. There have been numerous internet access problems - and there still are. I'm going to be short and sweet for now and hopefully will be able to give a fuller account, with pictures, very soon.

Our time in Strasbourg, France, was great - except for the rain. It's a medieval city with all the usual picturesque sites. More later.

We had a LONG day driving to Munich - rain all the way, but that doesn't matter so much on a travel day. On the way, we stopped at Neuschwanstein castle. This is the castle that was the inspiration for Walt Disney's Cinderella castle. More later.

Munich is a busy city - lots and lots of shopping and walking. We also saw the famous chimes at the
Marienplatz. More later.

Dudley has had a grand time, seeing the sites and meeting people. More later.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Bonjour!

We are still in France and have found our way, via a rather lengthy bus ride, to Nancy. Actually, it was another wine tour that helped make for a longer day. We stopped in Beaune for the wine and while we were there, I took a detour to the town centre. It's Saturday and the market was well underway. While checking out the fresh produce, I heard an English-speaking voice. I turned to the woman beside me and asked where she was from and she said Las Vegas! Their family was here on vacation. So...guess who had to get his photo with his new friends?

How Many Roads...?

To help pass the time on the bus, Steve pulled out his guitar and we sang for two hours. We sang all sorts of songs - classics, oldies, folk, pop, etc. Music, always music....we can't help ourselves.


What Mess is This?

As you can see above, Dudley got himself into a bit of a mess. Irene tried very hard to teach him how to knit and all he could do was tangle himself up and call out for help!

Cobblestones, Anyone?

I think we've had just about enough of cobblestones! And there's more to come, I'm sure. They add to the charm of an old medieval town or village, but they do nothing for your balance. Speaking of cobblestones, the rather large stones in this pic are MAJOR! This is part of the actual Roman road that remains in Lyon! There are ruins on the hillside that were unearthed in the 1960's (if I paid enough attention to the tour guide to remember, that is).

I'll leave you with Dudley at breakfast in Bern. Hard-boiled eggs come from Switzerland, don't you know?

Au revoir!

Switzerland!

Hello!

We are in the land of ups and downs. Bern is a great city for walking - especially if you want exercise! We played our first official concert today in the Meunsterplatz and we were very well received!

One of the interesting sites in Bern is the bear park. As you can see, Dudley photo-bombed this picture of one of the bears!

A Walk Through History!

My sister, Sandi, and I spent the day at our ancestral home, Sumiswald. We are 9th generation Sherks, descended from Ulrich Schurch. From here, the persecuted mennonites went to Pennsylvania and on to Waterloo County. Sandi and I walked up and down and all around the small town, checking out graveyards and churches. We ended up at the Landgasthof Baren Inn, where we found our Schurch coat of arms - not sure what the rooster means!

The numbers you see in the photos are a reference number exact to that person. A distant cousin in the States took great lengths to research the Sherk ancestors and organized them according to the original family member (Ulrich being ours) and the names and birth orders of the descendants. I am the third child in my family (3). My father was also the third child (33). His father was the second child (233) and so on (backward!). Sandi is the first born, so our last digits are different.

Here's my number: N13138233 and Sandi's N13138231. Our sister, Jan is the second-born: N13138232.

One Happy Moose!

Dudley thought he'd died and gone to heaven! He found not one, but two Swiss Chalets to live in! He's sitting on the bench (in the bottom picture).

We travel to Lyon tomorrow, stopping at Lake Geneva along the way. I believe there is a wine-tasting opportunity.....

I'll leave you with a Where's Waldo pic. In this case, it's Where's Dudley?

Auf Wiedersehen!

Bern, Switzerland

 Our Hotel, The Kreuzbern.

Some graffiti art found around Bern. 

Something about a 'cure' was found commonly throughout the city.

The architecture around Bern is incredible, both large feats and smaller statues.

We went to the Bear pit, and saw the city-centric creatures eat the meat thrown with them

And finally, a scenic view of the City. Breathtaking.

Ok...I've been seriously delinquent in sharing the finer details of my experiences. First, I want to go back to our night with the Tyrolean entertainers. We had a superb server during our supper. Her name is Manuella and she was amazing to watch! She served a room of around 70 people with speed and accuracy. This is the type of stuff you would see in a movie! I got a picture of her with Dudley. She's the one who put Dudley there!

Our concert got rained out, but we put on an impromptu one in our hotel courtyard after dinner. We all wore our Nessum Dorma shirts and sat under the awning. The rain stopped and we had a bit of an audience (besides the obligatory one, consisting of our group members). A small group from India, who were staying at our hotel, joined us and videotaped everything! A few even stayed later into the night to enjoy a few rounds of singing and drinking (not necessarily in that order!) These fellows are holding Dudley and small Canadian pins.

Earlier, some of us made our way to the Swarovski crystal museum. This lovely chap welcomed us at the enntrance! Needless to say, we spent a lot of money there!

Gotta go, bus is leaving!!

None Shall Sleep. Really!

Our first evening was great, with a super dinner of schnitzel followed by strudel. The evening was topped off with traditional Tyrolean entertainment. We travelled for a few hours from the airport to Innsbruck through the gorgeous Alps. Half the bus was sleeping and the other half were trying not to! Mountains all around - looking out this window, then that. "The hills are alive..."

We are rested (sort of) and ready for our first day of touring. Walking tour (What?! You want us to walk?) of Innsbruck followed by our first concert! Castle touring and the Swarovski crystal factory are other destinations.

Goodness, I'm lacking in the quality of my blogs. I warned you!
Later,
Barb