LOOK OUT, JEFF GORDON!

Woo Hoo!!!!  NASCAR here I come!

Many of you know that both my mother and my grandmother were diagnosed with breast cancer at age 60. For years I’ve said that when I make it to 61 without breast cancer, I’m going to reward myself by doing one of these “Drive a NASCAR Car” experiences.

Well, I just got the news that I made it! But it wasn’t without a few tense moments. In a nutshell…..at my annual physical last week my doctor felt what she thought was a cyst on my left side. The yearly mammogram was already scheduled for this morning.

The first group of “pictures” showed nothing on the left but found a “spot” on the right. They did another set of xrays on the right side which showed nothing (apparently a “tissue fold”?), followed by an ultrasound on the left. After 2-1/2 hours, about 2 of which were spent waiting in my lovely blue gown and reading ancient magazines, I was told that nothing showed up and all is fine! Hooray!

Lou had given me the NASCAR Experience as a birthday gift before he knew my criteria for going ahead with it. He graciously said whenever I was ready the trip was “on the books”.  I’m officially ready and we are looking to schedule it for August at the California Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. Zoom! Zoom!

Check it out: http://www.drivepetty.com/race-tracks/california-auto-club-speedway

GERMANY, ETC - PART ZWEI (TWO) - Part One Below

From Oberammergau we continued north along Germany’s Romantic Road. Our first stop along the route was the old town of Augsburg. It was only the beginning of our journey into the past over the next four days. This part of Germany really is like stepping back in time.

One of the main streets in the city of Augsburg.

I'm not sure why these colorful rhinos were all over the town, but I liked them!

We continued through several picturesque villages to our destination for the day, Rothenburg  ob der Tauber. Our room for the night in the Hotel Spitzweg was located inside the walled, medieval city in a building that dates back to the 1500s. Our innkeeper was an old man who liked to talk and did everything himself – including carrying my suitcase up the narrow, twisting stairway saying he was “old school” concerning women carrying heavy things.



The front of the 500 year old Hotel Spitzweg in Rothenburg. The car is a little newer.



Fortunately, the inside was updated!

We immediately headed out to explore Rothenburg and climbed the Rathaus (Town Hall) tower, our third one of this trip. The wall surrounding the city is covered and can be walked in its entirety but we chose to just do a little of it.

A view from the top of the Rathaus in the city of Rothenburg.

One of the more famous scenes in Rothenburg showing two city gates & a half-timbered house.

Lou rested his camera on one of the beams to get this shot of us on the wall.

After breakfast, we made the short drive to Nuremberg to the Nazi Parade Grounds and Documentation Center. This was Lou’s World War II day. I took my book and found a table at the café while he visited the museum. I have never felt the need or desire to see all the incredible horrors that took place at the hands of Hitler. But for Lou, a big part of this trip was seeing the tunnels, historical places and architecture of that era. Unfortunately, parts of the grounds were closed due to a huge three day rock festival starting the following day.

The Parade Grounds. Apparently Hitler stood on the platform with the railing.

That afternoon we headed to Old Town Nuremberg where we toured Albrecht Durer’s home, Lou’s favorite artist. He pointed out that we have both seen the homes of our favorite artist now (last year I visited Claude Monet’s home outside of Paris).

One of the rooms in Albrecht Durer's house in Nuremberg.

A current day artist demonstrates the process for making engravings.

From there we continued along the Romantic Road to yet another, picturesque town, Bamberg. In many ways, I think Bamberg was my favorite destination. It has some unique sights, including a “Little Venice” area along the river & a unique old Rathaus that is built over the river. Our hotel was in the center of town again & only a couple blocks from the main square. After breakfast we did our own walking tour before packing up & hitting the road.



The view from our hotel window in Bamberg. We had a flower box!



Some gardens we discovered on our walking tour.

Fishermen's homes in the "Little Venice" area of Bamberg.

The former Rathaus built on a bridge across the river.

The town of Weimar was our next destination. Just outside of town was another of Lou’s WWII sights, Buchenwald Concentration Camp. I discovered that the Old Town was the sight of Johann Wolfgang Goethe’s home & garden which sounded like a fun tour. Goethe (pronounced Gerta) was a poet & artist who wrote Faust.

After careful planning and time coordinating, Lou dropped me off a couple blocks from the Old Town and headed to his concentration camp. There is something a little exhilarating about being on your own in a foreign country – not sure why but it feels a bit decadent. The tour was actually quite interesting with details in English on a headset.

The garden was beautiful and reminded me a little of Monet’s garden in Giverny although this was no where near as large. Photos were only allowed in the garden.

The home of Johan Goethe in Weimar.

Some of Goethe's gardens. The flowers in Germany were amazing!

After wandering around the Old Town, I returned to our meeting place where Lou arrived right on schedule. We took a walk through the old streets & plazas before enjoying pizza & beer for dinner at a sidewalk café.

Enjoying pizza & beer at a sidewalk cafe in Weimar.

All in all, I enjoyed the German food. The schnitzel was good but I’m not a huge meat eater. Potato salad & bratwurst (plus many other “wursts”) can be found everywhere. One evening I tried their version of macaroni & cheese called “spatzel” which was really tasty. The beer & wine flow freely which was all great. And, we managed to avoid the e-coli poisoning that was plaguing Berlin.

On the negative side, I’ve got to say that barely cool coke with no ice & sparkling water aren’t my favorites. And what’s up with having lunch for breakfast? Every place serves bread, lunchmeat & cheese for breakfast!

Our last destination before arriving in Berlin was a day in Dresden. The city was destroyed by bombs during the war & completely rebuilt in recent years. It looks just as old as everything else we saw. It really is an amazingly beautiful city.

Part of the Zwinger Palace in Dresden. The weather was perfect.

The Sempre Opera House, a Dresden landmark.

One of my other highlights of this trip was the view from the top of our fourth tower of the trip. This one had an elevator part way up followed by a ramp that circled the inside of the dome of the Frauenkircke (a famous church in Dresden). These are my favorite photos of the trip.

The Elbe River snaking through Dresden.

I took three photos, turning slightly each time, from the top of the Frauenkircke.

It was a breathtaking view, for sure!

We stopped in Potsdam (a suburb of Berlin) to see the Cecilienhof Palace which is a gorgeous English manor house, now a hotel. It was the meeting place for the Potsdam Conference after the war.

The Cecilienhof Palace, sight of the Potsdam Conference.

Don't know what building this is, I just liked it with the lake.

I'm sure this duck knew he was creating a great photo op!

After going out of our way to stop at the Olympic Stadium where Jesse Owens won gold medals to spoil Hitler’s domination of the 1936 Summer Games, it was closed due to a concert that evening. We could only see it from the outside. Oh, well, can’t win ‘em all.

That afternoon we returned our rental car & Anke picked us up at the airport to take us to their home. It was so nice to just ride in a car & not have to figure out where we were going! 

The whole family was waiting to greet us – Lou’s sister, Biggi, her husband, Peter; Anke, Biggi & Peter’s daughter, her husband, Florian and their two boys, Luca (5 years) & Joshua (8 months); and Florian’s mother, Mony. Or as they introduced her, Oma Mony – she speaks no English & has some health issues. I learned that Oma is grandma in German – hmmm, maybe that can be my grandma name? After all, I am about half German.

All the rest of them speak English well – except Joshua, of course, although he certainly has no problem getting what he wants. His name is pronounced Yosh-wa in German. It was such fun to practice my grandma skills with a baby!

Me with Joshua and Luca.

Lou and Biggi.

Florian holding Joshua who appears to be a future gymnast.

Lou enjoying a moment with Anke & the kids.

Biggi & Peter in Berlin.

The following day everyone except Biggi spent the day at Berlin’s Technology Museum. It is huge with hundreds of trains, boats & airplanes among other displays. Biggi has difficulty walking due to hip problems so she cooked us a great dinner of traditional goulash with all the fixings while we were out sightseeing. It was absolutely delicious!

One of the many unusual airplanes in the museum.

Peter & Luca checking out an exhibit at the Technology Museum.

Our last full day was spent exploring Berlin. Lou & Florian took off in the car to explore a bunch of locations on Lou’s list – yep, you guessed it – of World War II sights. J Peter, Biggi & I did one of the City Tours on a hop on/hop off bus so I could see all the traditional sights – the Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, the Holocaust Memorial, remnants of the Wall, etc. Anke and the kids stayed home so she could pack for their vacation which started the next day.

The view from my fifth vantage point high above Potsdamer Platz in downtown Berlin.

All that remains of Checkpoint Charlie, a shack in the middle of the road.

The East Side Gallery - murals on parts of the original Berlin Wall.

The Brandenburg Gate.

A piece of modern folklore - the hotel where Michael Jackson dangled his baby from a balcony.

The Holocaust Memorial in Berlin.

That evening we took everyone to dinner. I had some wonderful carbonara at their favorite Italian restaurant. It was another great trip – I added five countries to my list, Lou added one. And, hopefully, my new “family” will come visit us sometime so we can return the hospitality!

Left to right - Oma Mony, Joshua, Florian, Lou, Kathy, Luca, Anke, Peter & Biggi.

Auf wiedersehen!

GERMANY, ETC. - PART EINS (ONE)

The Iceland volcano only delayed us about an hour on our flight from San Francisco to Dusseldorf, but that was enough to miss our connection to Munich. Fortunately, we were able to catch the next flight that arrived two hours later.

Being really hungry we stopped at a Burger King in Munich for our first “German meal” – a Whopper! I had my initial experience with the autobahns as we cruised along in the “slow” lane doing 75 miles an hour and were passed like we were literally standing still! I swear they looked like Indy 500 cars whizzing by.

Having arrived after dark the first night, I was amazed to see bright sunshine & beautiful mountains the next morning outside our family run hotel in Garmisch, among the breathtaking Bavarian Alps of southern Germany. We planned to take several day trips from our Garmisch “base camp” during the first week.

The view from the front of our hotel, Rheinischer Hof.

With a gorgeous day looming, we hit the road early for a cog wheel train trip to the “Top of Germany”, the Zugspitz, Germany’s highest mountain. Once you reach the end of the train ride, a cable car takes you the rest of the way to the top of the peak. There aren’t words to describe the view – awesome, breathtaking, incredible, don’t come close to depicting it. Maybe some photos will help.

The old cable cars which now mark the entrance to the cog wheel train.

The cog wheel train that takes you to the top of the Zugspitz.

The "Top of Germany", the Zugspitz, in the Bavarian Alps.

It was bit chilly at the top but truly amazing!

An ascending cable car taken from our descending cable car ride.

The visitor center where the cable car takes you the last leg of the journey.

From the exhilaration of the “Top of Germany”, we headed to a couple of castles built by Mad King Ludwig II. (Our hotel clerk said that was too much for one day – but, hey, he doesn’t know how Lou & Kathy travel.) Apparently, Ludwig pretty much bankrupted Bavaria in the process of building his castles and I can certainly see how. They are like seeing a bigger than life fairy tale right in front of your eyes!

Hohenschwangau Castle - another of King Ludwig's residences.

King Ludwig's masterpiece - Neuschwanstein Castle, Disney's inspiration for Sleeping Beauty's Castle.

Another view of Neuschwanstein Castle.

Our weather decided to change dramatically overnight. We had our worst rain & gloom the next day as we headed to Berchtesgaden, the Eagle’s Nest & Salzburg, Austria. Unfortunately, the beautiful views from the Eagle’s Nest were totally obliterated. But we did have a traditional German lunch of bockwurst & potato salad in front of the fireplace Hitler received for a birthday present. I guess you have to be creative with gifts for a dictator who has everything – but a fireplace just seems like a weird present to me.

The tunnel, shrouded in fog & clouds, that leads to the Eagle's Nest.

Beer, bockwurst and potato salad - all German staples!

We drove through Salzburg at rush hour (quite stressful!) and the rain was still coming down hard. Given the time constraints and bad weather, we decided to skip the sightseeing and drove back to Garmisch.

The following day, the weather was better but still raining off and on. We drove into Munich and explored the famous Marienplatz with its glockenspiel among other sights. Lou likes to go up in any tower or available high vantage point so we took the first of four journeys to the top of something for amazing views. We shared a full litre of beer and lunch at the infamous Hofbrauhaus in the heart of Munich.



The glockenspiel in the Marienplatz.



Us at the top of the rathaus (town hall) in Munich - good thing Lou has long arms.

Nymphenburg Palace in Munich.

Now here is the way to sightsee in Munich - bier bike!

Lou enjoying a litre of beer at the Hofbrauhaus.

Me enjoying a litre of beer at the Hofbrauhaus.

The weather decided to cooperate for our next two day trips & we had spectacular weather. Lou’s comment that the whole countries looked like picture postcards was completely accurate. The scenery was once again, awe-inspiring to say the least. I’ll let my photos do the talking since there aren’t enough adjectives to adequately paint a picture of the gorgeous countryside in Switzerland, Austria & Liechtenstein.

Some of the amazing Austrian countryside.

The Swiss Alps on our journey through three countries.

Us at the Fluela Pass summit in Switzerland.

A church & castle (every town has one) in Vaduz, Liechtenstein.

Most of the country of Liechtenstein spread out in the 39-mile long valley.

Our last full day in southern Germany was another bright, clear day as we headed south through Innsbruck, Austria, to Bolzano & Vipiteno, Italy over the Brenner Pass. Our claim to fame for that day was that we had breakfast in Germany, lunch in Austria & dinner in Italy! How cool is that?

The first stop was just a few miles away from Garmisch at the 1936 Olympic ski jump stadium in Partenkirchen.



The modernized ski jump (with the old one to the left of it) at Partenkirchen's Olympic Stadium.



Innsbruck was much bigger than I realized. I was hoping for more of a village feel but it was a pretty big city. It was really fun to just be in a place that I have vivid memories of seeing on TV back in the 1976 Winter Olympics.

Some colorful buildings in one of Innsbruck's town squares.

A view from the top yet another tower - the places I go with this man!

My kind of lunch - Coke & apple strudel.

By this time we were getting much better at driving in bigger cities although it was still a challenge. We had a German GPS, but she was quite finicky at times, taking forever to find the satellites or simply spinning in circles with all the crazy streets – "turn left in 300 feet, recalculating, turn right in point one miles, recalculating, when possible make a u-turn, recalculating, recalculating, recalculating, lost satellite reception" – that was a real “conversation” we had with her at one point. J When she worked correctly, she was invaluable, but at times it was really frustrating when no one (me, Lou or the GPS) knew exactly where we were or where we needed to be. But somehow we managed okay.

There is something different about Italy that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. It just seems more relaxed or laid back than Germany or Austria. Something “feels” different in Italy. I can’t wait to visit much more of the country on a future trip.

One of the colorful main plazas in Bolzano, Italy.

A scenic street in the village of Vipiteno, Italy.

Our only mishap with autobahns & highways came when we were returning from Vipiteno.  I was driving. In Italy & Austria they have toll roads.  Upon entering the highway, you take a ticket which you then put in the machine when you exit and pay the toll.

I took the ticket and made the cloverleaf onto the highway where we immediately found a line of exit toll booths. None of them are manned so I picked one and pulled to the gate. I put the ticket in and nothing happened. Of course, we can’t read the instructions and it seemed strange that we had literally gotten on a couple hundred yards before and now had to pay. By now there is a line of cars behind me who I’m sure were quite irate at the stupid tourists.

Lou said push the button for help which I did. We couldn’t understand the man talking Italian. I’m saying, “I don’t understand. I’m American, no Italian.” I didn’t look in my rear view mirror but I’m sure there were lots of traditional “Italian salutes” going on behind me.

Finally, we thought we made out “take receipt” from the speaker-man and noticed a receipt which I pulled out. That opened the gate and we continued on. It said 3.80 euros which I’m sure they thought was a bargain to get rid of us!

We checked out of our Garmisch hotel the next morning and began our trip north to Berlin. Just a few miles away we stopped for a short visit to Oberammergau, the picturesque village which is the sight of the famous Passion Play every ten years.

One of the numerous picturesque buildings in Oberammergau.

A small street in Oberammergau in the early morning.

I couldn't possibly do this post without including some of the spectacular floral displays that we encountered - both cultivated and wildflowers. I love taking photos of unusal flowers.

There were fields & fields of yellow, purple & white wildflowers.

Every yard & every window has bright, beautiful flowers - we need to do that here.

I loved this large unique flower & its honeybee.

These deep orange red wildflowers looked like some sort of poppy.

This is the end of Part Eins. My report is much too long and unwieldy to do all at one time. Our journey through medieval towns and beautiful old cities will continue in a couple days in Part Zwei concluding with three days in Berlin spent with members of Lou’s family.