John is a huge History person. He loves going to the battlefields, and through him, and the books he reads, he really makes it come alive for me. I really enjoyed going back and “digging in” this time. Thanks, John.

Ardennais Horses we saw on the way to another site – Heavy Drafts, my favorites – Bee YOO ti FULL!

John and Spectre at the GI memorial in Clervaux, Luxembourg – built in gratitude by the Clervaux citizens.

I love this shot of John and Spectre. We were trying to find a Bunker and hiked about 2 miles … Spectre was loving every minute of it. I was just glad we had warm coats on…

This next shot is of John and Spectre looking out over the confluence of the Our and Sauer Rivers into Luxembourg from Germany. Interesting deal here: Hitler was pictured atop the same bunker, same pose (sans dog…) in 1938 while he was inspecting the fortifications of the West Wall/Siegfried Line.

Here’s where it got creepy. You know how animals “just know”? Well, when we opened this creaky old bunker door, Spectre went crazy. He didn’t want to be anywhere near the opening. Here I am trying to get him to pose with me and he was having nothing of it. I was kind of creeped out by the whole thing…here’s a shot of the inside, as well. I kept thinking we were disturbing ghosts.

These next shots are of us on the SIEGFRIED LINE! Unbelievable, but true. I’m on the bridge linking Luxembourg and Germany. That’s Lux behind me and “Rusty”, our trusty car, peeking over the bridge.The next shot is what I’m looking at. See the opening in the “garden wall” directly to the front? That’s a PILLBOX, cleverly disguised. You can see the closeup of it with John and Spectre, here:

Here are the boys in front of the Patton Memorial just outside of Bastogne.

This is inside the sanctuary at the German cemetery in Belgium. There is also a guest book; I read several pages of entries before I happened upon one written by a WWII veteran from Philadelphia. His entry (August 2005): “Such a waste. All these German boys died because of a Madman.”

How True.

We actually visited two German cemeteries – one near Bastogne (which you see here) where nearly 7,000 German dead are memorialized. The other was on the border with Luxembourg, which is depicted in the last shot in this entry, taken by John.

John also took this picture, which I find particularly moving. Sadly, it was not the only grave where all three interred were unknown.

Spectre and I in a Foxhole outside of Bastogne…

Here’s John in another of the foxholes that Easy Company (of Band of Brothers fame) dug. Unbelievable. If it had been snowy, we wouldn’t have found these…

Here are some pictures of our trip with my folks and Armour last Christmas. Mom and I are merely ornaments: Arms and Dad are the 101st Veterans! BASTOGNE!

Dad & Arms in front of Patton’s gravesite. It’s cool. His cross faces the crosses of all the soldiers he lost. Very poignant.

Here are the Screaming Eagle Vets. Very proud daughter/sister am I.

Here’s a shot of the memorial to the soldiers who lost their lives at The Bulge. Last year, it was covered in snow. Now the only white things are sheep…

This is a shot of the farmhouse (brown building on the left) where Gen McAuliffe famously replied to the Germans demand for U.S. surrender: “NUTS!” American Gravitas. Love it!

Sad picture of a grave. Obviously someone still mourns.

“

Two weekends ago, we went to Rothenburg and Ulm to see the Christmas markets and to get some last minute Christmas shopping done. Rothenburg is one of everyone’s favorite cities, having been spared the bombing during WWII. It still has the city wall around it, and the buildings are just beautiful. The shopping is great too. We got some goodies for my three favorite little boys – The Bartolero Bandits…

Here’s the obligatory Holly & Horses photo…I can’t resist these big Coldbloods. I’ll have a whole bunch some day – just to look at. These are Percherons, I think. Love their “hairnets.”

John and I ate the Christmas Market crepes…filled with sugar and butter and other low-fat things…what you don’t see in this picture is Spectre’s drool pool on the steps.

Here’s the FurChild on one of the medieval walls on the south side. John took this while I was in the Kaethe Wolfart line (90 minutes-worth) to buy ornaments, etc. After that experience, we went straight to the gluhwein line. Ugh. Rothenburg is one of the only cities that serves weiss gluhwein, made with white wine. We personally don’t like the red (normal) gluhwein – it tastes too much like Nyquil.

In Ulm, we stayed at a vine-covered little Gasthaus that had a cute little kid running around (see picture) and amazing food. The portions were teeny-tiny but there were a lot of courses and we really enjoyed it. It’s a place we’ll take future houseguests just for dinner. Obviously, Spectre was more interested in the little girl than posing for the picture.

The only bad part of the Ulm Gasthaus was their horrid choice of curtains for the washroom.

“How Now, Brown Towel?”

On our way home, we stopped at the Blautopf in Blaubeuren (this cool town cut out of the “Blue” rocks.) It was so clear and deep – really gorgeous. You couldn’t see all the way to the bottom, but that’s just because the light wouldn’t reach that far – the water was crystal clear. Here are the boys in front of it…

The next Monday night, we got NOTHING done, as we were exhausted and had housecleaning to do that we didn’t do over the weekend (note the state of the kitchen counter behind me…) I was standing in the kitchen after work, wondering which can of soup to heat up (wife of the year, huh?), and Spectre came up behind me and sat down on my feet. He’s always good for a laugh…

So…apparently you can only upload so many photos per post. Here’s some more from the Eastern Europe trip:

Here we are at the Zwinger in Dresden, our first stop. A self-timer photo…

The Dom at night…we were on our way to the car to drive to Prague (what a trip…) and I hd to stop to snap this one.

Inside the Porcelain Museum. This is St. Hubertus…Europe’s Patron Saint of Hunters. John discovered this guy and now I see him all over the place. The Red Deer (Hirsch) in this scene is the same one that’s on the Jaegermeister bottle.

This picture with the elephant was especially for our dear friend Paulette, who collects Ellies.

Yep, that’s a MOUSE dangling from his mouth. Strange – but there was no
X-Box back then.

And last – the beautiful Fall view from our Dresden hotel room. Great trip!

Mom and I had a wonderful time these last three weeks. It was hard to see her go last Monday. The best week was a trip we took, just the two of us, to Dresden, Prague, and Nürnberg. Photos follow:

St. Vitus’ Cathedral – the Pulpit and the Rose Window:

Prague at night from the St. Charles Bridge:

Astronomical Clock in Downtown Prague:
Extremely handsome Czech soldiers during the Changing of the Guard (most of the Czechs we saw were beautiful people):

See the puppy? Balcony up the street from our hotel:

Mom at Golden Lane. These places were teeny-tiny homes the castle guards built into the castle walls. Kafka stayed in one of them with his sister for a mere 5 months, and it’s the lane’s claim to fame.

Whatever. I read The Metamorphosis and all I can say is: Kafka was different.
St. Wenceslas’ chapel – it was truly beautiful. And Mom and I outside the castle at Nürnberg…with our purchases!

Inside and outside the cathedral on the square in Nürnberg:

Magazinstrasse – where Mom and Aunt Nan used to live …

Mom outside what used to be “Nürnberg American High School.”

Here we are, right before we boarded the train into the saltmines. They’ve been in operation in Berchtesgaden since 1573.

Notice the little figure poking out of John’s miner’s jacket (they make you wear these clothes, people…) It’s “Flat Stanley.” A good friend’s daughter’s class is doing a project, and part of it is to take this figure around to cool places. The Saltmines fit the bill.

That thing around my waist? An Apron. You slide down a wooden rail system twice. Without the apron, the friction makes it unbearably hot. In fact, if this place were in the States, the lawyers would be gainfully employed in the waiver process…

I woke up at 0400 to a wet nose on my forehead, and a low growl in my ear. Spectre had to go out. I stumbled down the dark hallway of the Gmachl Hotel (check out the view from our window…incredible…) and let Spectre out in their back acreage.

My buddy Max and I kid each other about “anthropomorphizing” our animals, but Spectre’s innate Labrador reaction when he saw the pool (bottom right corner of pic) was Pure, Unadulterated Glee. He stopped, looked at me, and before the horrified reaction registered on my face, he had run full-speed ahead and launched himself into a Peter-Pan…

…and landed on the pool cover.

It made a terrible noise; John even woke up, wondering what all the commotion was about – not realizing our dog was the culprit. I was feverishly “whispering” commands under the window: “Hierhen Spectre!!!” “Spectre, kommst Du Hier!!!”

Picture a confused canine scrabbling on wet, corrugated plastic, trying to get to me, and sinking all the while. Ridiculous.

And then we got back to the room, and he started chewing on his bone.

Which he put in John’s boot.

I’m getting the hang of this; you have to post your last stuff first – that way, folks who actually want to look at your life do so in chronological order.

However, until I figure this out, please just look at the date stamps.

This is Spectre trying to get away from the brush the morning we left the hotel for The Eagle’s Nest. I was exasperated; John thought it was hilarious.

For Dad and Arms, my two 101st Vets:
Berchtesgaden was a magnet for the troops of all the armies in southern Germany, Austria, and northern Italy. South of Salzburg, the Bavarian mountain town of Berchtesgaden was Valhalla for the Nazi gods, lords, and masters. Hitler had a home there and a mountain-top stone retreat called the Aldershorst (Eagle’s Nest) 8,000 ft. high.
…
Berchtesgaden was really two magnets: the symbolic home of Hitler’s mad lust for power and the best looting possibilities in Europe.

Easy Company got there first.

— Stephen E. Ambrose, Band of Brothers
We had another great weekend – we had to go pick up a dresser we bought two weeks ago, so we explored around the region again…Berchtesgaden, Germany and Salzburg, Austria.

These are some pictures of the amazing views from “ein Teehaus für der Führer,” or Hitler’s Tea House, or as the Americans call it, “The Eagle’s Nest.”)

The “self-timer” picture was shot from the outcropping farthest from the Eagle’s Nest before it drops off at about a 90-degree slope to the Konigsee below. I didn’t lean on the railing, let’s put it that way.

This is us at Palace Linderhof, one of Crazy King Ludwig’s palaces. While not as famous as “Neueschwanstein” it is probably our favorite. It’s isolated, and has a beautiful horse fountain (which is why it’s Holly’s favorite, anyway…)