Venice

We are in Venice. Getting ready to leave today. We will blog some pics, etc over the next days. Internet is real iffy here, so blogging and trying to upload pics was tough. It is good right now and everyone else just left for awhile for a gondola ride so nobody is competing for the wifi. Venice is a very interesting city. Antiquity everywhere blended with contemporary. It is amazing that once you reach the city, there are no "streets" as we know them. Only walking thoroughfares. The vast majority of movement in the city is on foot or by water. The public transportation here is by boat. No streets or buses, no subways, etc. Catching one of the numerous boats (vaporettos) here is like hopping the bus in most places. Everywhere you go there are interesting things to see. Whether it is antiquities, art, architecture, or the markets, shops, cafes and pastry shops, it is nonstop items of interest. We have seen several cool places and experienced some cool stuff that we will catch you up on. For now here are some general photos of what you experience moving around the city of canals and waterways.


These two pics are from the Rialto Bridge, a famous landmark. Early in the morning you can take pics with no problem. Denise and I and a couple of other people were the only ones on the bridge. In a couple of hours it will be like a swarm over the whole bridge.





There are multitudes of restaurants and cafes, many of which have sidewalk (outdoor) seating on the water. Around the main tourists attractions prices are very high for everything. Get a few blocks away from the attractions and things are more reasonable but still pretty pricey. It is an expensive place to visit, but if you are watchful you can survive without breaking the bank. All for now.

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Munich Olympic Park

Seeing the site of the 1972 Summer Olympics was very interesting. To get to the Olympiad we walked through the high-rise apartments which were the living quarters for the athletes. It was like a flashback to the TV scenes of the Israeli hostages and the terrorists. Being at some of the sites was a Deja Vu moment. I inserted the basics of the Olympics in Munich below. They were trying so hard to put on a positive face to the world and then tragedy struck.

The 1972 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad held in Munich, West Germany was largely overshadowed by the Munich massacre in which eleven Israeli athletes and coaches, a West German police officer, and five Black September terrorists were killed.

The 1972 Summer Olympics were the second Summer Olympics to be held in Germany, after the 1936 Games in Berlin, which had taken place under the Nazi regime. Mindful of the connection, the West German Government was eager to take the opportunity of the Munich Olympics to present a new, democratic and optimistic Germany to the world, as shown by the Games' official motto, "Die Heiteren Spiele", or "the Happy Games." The logo of the Games was a blue solar logo (the "Bright Sun") by Otl Aicher, the designer and director of the visual conception commission. The Olympic mascot, the dachshund "Waldi", was the first officially named Olympic mascot. The Olympic Fanfare was composed by Herbert Rehbein, a companion of Bert Kaempfert.

The Olympic Park (Olympiapark) is based on Frei Otto's plans and after the Games became a Munich landmark. The competition sites, designed by architect Günther Behnisch, included the Olympic swimming hall, the Olympics Hall (Olympiahalle, a multipurpose facility) and the Olympic Stadium (Olympiastadion), and an Olympic village very close to the park. The design of the stadium was considered revolutionary, with sweeping canopies of acrylic glass stabilized by metal ropes, used on such a large scale for the first time.




In the Olympic Park. Practice fields all over. In the background are the apartments of Olympic village (where the hostages were taken and the deaths occured,)


The Olympic symbol "growing" on the side of the stadium.


The Olympiad was pretty cool. Very futuristic by 1972 standards. All the major events were under these structures.


Distant view of the Olympiad from in the Olympic Park.


Our family leaving the Olympiad and heading for the metro station.

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Lichtenberg Castle 2

Having trouble with pics. they do not want to upload. Will try again.


A young Rapunzel being freed from the tower by Sir Rueben


Some things never change. Our "kids" still have the propensity to climb.





A good looker I got a few pics of at the castle.

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Lichtenberg Castle

This is a really neat castle ruin that is about 15 minutes from Zeb's house. It is the largest castle ruin in Germany. Built around 1200, it was owned by the counts of Veldenz until 1444. It then came under the new dukedom of Palatinate-Zweibrucken and became the administrative seat to Kusel until 1758. The town of Kusel was burned down by French revolutionary troops in 1794 and the castle was plundered. Then in 1799 a fire destroyed much of the castle. After Napoleon's defeat and withdrawal of French troops from Germany it came under the Princedom of Lichtenberg. The princedom was short lived and was sold to Prussia in 1834. It fell into disrepair and ruin until 1895 when the castle complex was placed under historical monument protection. In 1971 the castle was turned over from the Rhineland-Palatinate to the district of Kusel and restoration began.
Today's history lesson was brought to you by the letter K.



One of the great things about this ruin is that it is simply open to the public and you are free to roam around as you please. (Read - Kids can run and have a blast while adults check it all out. ) It is a large complex with some buildings intact and others skeletons of their past grandeur. You can go up several flights of stairs to the top of the tower which gives you a panoramic view of miles of the surrounding countryside.




This building houses a fine dining restaurant that is open year-round. Denise and I drove back and had dinner here. Very good dinner. Good place for a quiet, romantic dinner. Champagne with blueberries, good Germany Reisling, Beef fillet, and pork tenderloins. Topped off with apple struedel, irish coffee, etc. A 2 1/2 hour european dinner. They do know how to relax and enjoy a meal. Dining is not just eating - it is a social event.

Location:Kusel, Germany

Dachau

Well, I figured I better start blogging our trip before it's over. Things were fast and furious for a few days and I lost my momentum to blog things before I got started. But things have slowed down temporarily and I have compiled pictures, etc. so I am ready to go now. I will start with a rather somber part of the trip. Interesting, but sad. It is one of those experiences that you have read about and contemplated but actually being at the location and seeing it (along with a great deal of documentation, photos, etc in the museum area) really brings it to a much clearer, deeper meaning. I am talking about our visit to Dachau concentration camp.
Seeing the conditions that existed, photos of a large number of the detainees, and documentation of the multitude of atrocities that took place is very sobering. It really makes you think about man's inhumanity toward his fellow man.




Sleeping decks for detainees. Often 2 or 3 to a space. Dachau was originally built to house 6000 and at its peak housed 60000. In the beginning there were people who were periodically released. Then when the detainees started to be viewed as slave labor all releases ended. Those who became unable to work were of no further value...


The crematorium. In nearby areas there are marked "ash graves." Nearby is the "firing wall" where prisoners (for one reason or another) were executed by firing squad. Then the bodies were brought to the furnaces. Many more simply died of starvation and neglect when they became too weak to perform forced labor or take care of themselves.


A sculpture that represents the suffering and inhumanity. There were rows of "dormitories" all jammed with people. Some were chosen as human guinea pigs in "scientific experiments" pertaining to things like high altitude effects on the body, underwater effects on the body, etc. For most of these "experiments" people were subjected to extreme g-forces, extreme oxygen deprevation, etc. Many did not survive the experiments.


- a monument near the crematorium that says it all - translation is " the dead to the honest living as a reminder.

This is one of those places that is not a pleasant place to visit, but reminds us how important it is not to forget. One of those places that begs us to not let history repeat itself of such atrocities.

Location:Germany

Ice Cave

Hello from the Alps of Switzerland,

We are socked in with rain and clouds so it is a good time to do a short blog about our trip to an ice cave today. It is man made tunnel carved into one of the oldest glaciers in the Alps, the Rhone Galcier. The tunnel was made for research but they allow visitors to walk through it. The drive up was through the mountain passes on a winding switchback road that gave views of the entire valley with the lake below. We got to see huge waterfalls coming off the mountains, little Swiss chalets, and drop offs that kept me praying all the way up and down. We are staying in a little Swiss village called Lauterbrunnen and our hotel looks out on one of the longest waterfalls in all the region, Staubbach Falls.
We will be backing up some blogs to catch up!














- The Swiss cover the edge of the Glacier in the summer to protect it, hence the white material that looks like a scene from a Star Wars movie.

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Location:Lauterbrunnen,Switzerland

Have bags, will travel

Family and Friends,
Denise and I are getting ready to embark on a new journey. First to Germany with Ivy and family to Zeb's house. We will be doing a lot of German traveling including Munich and Auswitch. An overnight to Paris with Nick and Ivy.
Then a trip to Venice with Zeb's clan.
Denise and I are treating ourselves to a Scotland trip to celebrate our 40th anniversary.
SO- lots of activity in the plans. Hope you can share our trip via this blog.

We will probably begin posting by Friday or Saturday, the 20th or 21st of June.

Dick and Denise



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Location:The Woodlands, Texas