Among the seemingly endless amazing sights in Germany is the Geyser Andernach, the highest cold-water geyser in the world. I didn’t even realize that there are both hot-water and cold-water geysers until I found out that Andernach is only about an hour away from us in Germany and read up […]
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On the last full day of our four-night trip to Leiden in the Netherlands over the Memorial Day weekend, we actually explored the city of Leiden instead of doing a side trip as we had the previous two days. I’ll just go ahead and start this post off with a […]
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As I mentioned in the Alkmaar post , we spent 4 nights in Leiden over the Memorial Day weekend. Our second full day there was spent making another side trip, this time to three UNESCO World Heritage Site locations. Although there are 10 UNESCO sites listed for the Netherlands as […]
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One of the biggest beer festivals in Germany is the Bergkirchweih in the Bavarian town of Erlangen. The Bergkirchweih is an open-air festival that takes place for 12 days every year and attracts about a million visitors a year. It started way back in 1755. We spent two nights in […]
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A Hidden Gem Did you know that the Oxo company, of bouillon cube fame, was founded by a man who was an apprentice in Heppenheim, Germany? That of course was not the main reason for our visit to that town. It was just a fun fact that we learned while […]
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There is a famous epic German poem called The Nibelungenlied (say that three times quickly!) or The Song of the Nibelungs. I’ve actually read most of the poem – as an English translation – but for some reason have yet to finish it. Anyway, one of the main characters in […]
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The first German building placed on the UNESCO World Heritage site was the Aachen Cathedral in, of course, the city of Aachen. Aachen is about a 2.5 hour drive from us, so rather than get up at the crack of dawn for a day trip that would involve a 5-hour […]
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Have I mentioned that the Netherlands is one of my favorite countries in Europe? I like it more and more every time we go there. After visiting 36 European countries, I think I’d still choose the Netherlands as the country I’d live in if I was going to live in […]
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Albania & Macedonia, Part Two When last we left our intrepid travelers they were stuck in the mud in the middle of Albanian farmland. I know you’ve all been biting your nails and wringing your hands and wondering whether we ever got out. Oddly enough, I didn’t get upset at […]
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Albania & Macedonia, Part One I have sort of wanted to visit Albania ever since I saw the “Teachers Pet” episode of the TV show Cheers way back in 1985. You’ll see why after looking at this short clip from that episode. For some reason that little ditty stuck in […]
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