After Italy, we spent a few days in Germany visiting the towns where we lived and some of the towns along the Mosel river.

Germany couldn't be more much different from Italy than it is. While the little towns are extremely neat and well kept, there were very few people even out, and there were reserved to say the least. Most of my interactions with the Germans were very short. They tended not to want to have anything to do with us. I walked into one little shop because something caught my eye and the shop keeper scurried into the back not to be seen again. Weird. I guess they figured the war in Iraq was my fault.

Hahn Air Force Base where we were stationed, was closed down some years back. The runway is now used as a commercial airport. It didn't appear much was left standing except some maintenance buildings (admittedly I didn't get to look much), but the old control tower is still there.

The German village Oberkirn.

Riechsburg Castle in Cochem, or Elsinore Castle as I liked to call it.

I was a little leary of going to Germany because there isn't any German food around here I like. In fact just the smell of sour kraut turns my stomach these days (how did we eat that stuff as kids). The best German food I had in Germany ended up being Italian. Although the meal with the crawdad on top did get an award for most intersting meal of the trip.

Another view of Cochem and Reichsburg Castle. One evening we went to the biggest grocery store in town (by the way everything locks up tight as a drum at 6PM). It was about as big as two 7-11's and had about as much in it. No wonder the tourists always go to Walmart when they come to the U.S. It's probably the same reason we go to the Grand Canyon.

Bernkastel

Riechsburg Castle. The castle was left in ruins for centuries. I guess some time in the 1800's a private party purchased it and he restored it. Unfortunately he died shortly afterwards. There must be some lesson to be learned there although I'm not quite sure what. Don't count your castles before they hatch, or maybe a castle in the hand is worth two in the bush. Something like that.

Zell. Home of Schwartz Katz (Black Cat) wine. I learned one new and important word in German here: Weinprobe - wine tasting.

I purchased a case of wine and had it shipped back. I've known others to do the same thing so I didn't expect there to be any problems. Several months went by and I didn't see the wine. Finally I received an letter from the Treasury Department (yeah, I thought I was going to get audited at first).

Turns out a bottle broke and the wine was confiscated and "destroyed" because it's illegal to import. Yeah, right. I hope you treasury agents enjoyed "destroying it". Yummy, huh?

A picture of Cochem from Elsinore, er, I mean Riechsburg Castle.

Court yard of Reichsburg Castle. When we started the tour the tour guide asked what languages every one knew and she would do the tour in the various languages. Mainly there were Germans with a few Americans and English. We came into one room and the guide talked and talked in German. Then in English said "only this window survived a bombing raid during World War II" then switched back to German. See, they had an attitude!

Well, I took this picture thru one of the blasted out windows. Right back at Sie, fraulien tour guide.