Bad Munstereifel near Koln

Annette is inducing me to more German food and Beer, the small cafe on the river specialised in mustard's, every kind you think off, bread, cheeses, beer and mustard's not bad, you can expect a lot of people on sunny days there are German tourist everywhere.

the main street of Bad Munstereifel, these small villages are great but they do not cater for English speaking people, so ordering food is a challenge if you do not have a Annette with you, things that you take for granted are way different, a cup of coffee is peculated or latte mostly froth, for about 4-5$ so best get a phrase book for simple things such as tiolette are you a heron or damen.

the pretty little town of Bad Munstereifel. this is the gate in to the town built in the 15 century fortification around the town most of it still stands.

Behind the Old Iron Curtain,

The Harz region behind the old iron curtain is amazing place to visit Annette and i went for 4 days saw amazing buildings old mines chemist shops that had been a chemist for 1500, very old churches, old pubs, we did not book any hotels and had no trouble but you need to find one by mid afternoon. there is just to many photos to put here. so just a few,

a view of a castle in Wernigerode from the Harzquerbahn (steam train) , we stayed in a hotel right opposite the station (above the bedroom window pic)

a steam train to Brocken from Wernigerode there 27 steam engines all working here its slow and packed with German tourists. but we were lucky and went early and came back at lunch time it was 6 deg at brocken the highest part of the Harz mountains in the north.

this is the very very old town of Quedlinburg and most of the town streets here were never meant for cars, horse and wagon yes . but they do drive them around the cobbles, which have been there for ?? so don't bring stilettos you don't see girls in them, there is a shortage of made footpaths in any of the streets in most towns outside of the major cites. sign is cheesecakes and were they good. yes.

Quedlinburg this is the Romenesque structure Collegiate church of the Servatius built between 1017 and 1129, The pic below is inside a small string band was playing the beatles song and some classical, A bit of Culture in such a old church. its very hard to photo the age or size of this church.

the Rauthaus (Rart-hoose) in Quedlinburg behind the iron curtain it is the town house, city centre, it all is a UNECO hertaige site. his Rathaus was built in 1400 .

Hamburg in Lower Saxony

this is a typical farm building around lower saxony, great brickwork, on the top of the roof is a V it 2 horses heads backwards. its the age this is at Visselhovede (vissel-hove-e-dan)(Annette's mum) these the town was first settled around 1148 and some of these building were built 1600s people up stairs animals down it get real cold here.

and all of the people where in the street as well. we are trying for the train station.

The Majectic Atlantis hotel in Hamburg,

Hamburg is called Germany,s Vience it is right on the water/ port which is in the middle of town did not see to much here it is 2nd largest city in germany with great churches and abbys.

at this stage of a trip i had seen castles, roman ruins and more Abby's or Church's it was good to see some thing different. they unloaded this car in 5 mins then drove of and the boat left.

across from the hotel is the Moselle river, this barge did a u-turn just fitted and then unloaded a car on the side of the road, the barge was from Holland, on the far bank is Luxembourg, it was quite late at night when the did this.

enough old things time for the hotel, the yellowy building very nice, on the Moselle river.

Vast complex Kaisertherman (imperial Baths) built early 4th Centry. the small arches on the ground at right lead to underground chambers for fires that heated the water.

Porta Nigra (black gates) erected 2nd century entry in to the city of Trier one of Germanys oldest towns founded 16BC.

small winerys with there vines out back, very tasty great food as well, most of the winerys are a bit like a bed and breakfast not a bad price around $75 up. great views of the river behind.

every village has a church of different ages, spires loom out of the tree tops.

Well finally got to add some text to this, we had a 4 day trip to the Mosel valley not far from Koln (Cologne), you follow the river along thru small villages every 10ks or so that once you are of the autobhn. it is a slow trip, and lots to see. the pic is the start with villages both sides of the river. Barges run cargo up and down from Holland, We are on the way to Trier one of the oldest citys in Germany. with large Roman ruins to vistit , but firs lots of small winery's to sample some great Rieslings.