10/21 – 10/25 Garmisch, Germany

We spent 5 days in Garmisch, Germany.  This is the view from the living room in the apartment we are renting.

  

 And this is the apartment we are staying.  We are on the far side with the balcony.

To get from St. Goar to Garmisch we had to take 4 different trains.  This time it was not as scary.  I can navigate my way on German trains and we were getting into Garmisch before sundown.  Having the sun out makes me feel more comfortable.  We arrived in Garmisch around 5 pm.  It was about a 15 minute walk from the train station or we could have gotten a taxi for about 10 euros.  Of course we walked.  It was an easy walk.  The owner met us at the apartment and showed us around.  This place has 2 bedrooms, living room, kitchen and bath.  No washer or dryer so I will have to wait until we get to Munich to clean our clothes.  I love having the balcony.  I sat out there many mornings having a cup of coffee.  This place had a coffee maker.  A few of them did not.

At the grocery store there was a small area that had American food.  I was able to get mac & cheese, not Kraft but Katie liked it.  And they had Campbell’s tomato soup.  Holly was excited about having this.  We haven’t been able to find ranch dressing since England.  And there I only found it in the Sainsbury’s and it was Paul Newman’s.  But they do have Heinz ketchup.

The town of Garmisch is a combined town with Partenkirchen.  Here is a history of the town found on Wikipedia.

Garmisch and Partenkirchen remained separate until their respective mayors were forced by Adolf Hitler to combine the two market towns in 1935 in anticipation of the 1936 Winter Olympic games. Today, the united town is casually (but incorrectly) referred to as Garmisch, much to the dismay of Partenkirchen’s residents. Most visitors will notice the slightly more modern feel of Garmisch while the fresco-filled, cobblestoned streets of Partenkirchen offer a glimpse into times past. Early mornings and late afternoons in pleasant weather often find local traffic stopped while the dairy cows are herded to and from the nearby mountain meadows.

I enjoyed walking around in the town and window shopping.  We did buy some chocolate at a store.  It was good.  Quite a few of the buildings have pictures painted on them.  I thought I had taken more pictures but I only have 1.  Here it is.

Thursday was a beautiful day.  It was in the 60s and it was going to be a clear day.  We decided to take a trip to the Alpspix.  There are two options of mountains to explore.  Mount Zugspitze which is close to 10,000 feet.  Or the Alpspix.  We chose the second option.  It is part of the Garmisch Classic ascent.  We took the local bus to the Alpspitzbahn cable car.  This was the way we were to get up to the Osterfelderkopf, the first station of the round trip.  It is 6,725 feet up the mountain.  Standing at the bottom waiting to buy our tickets it didn’t look too bad.  Yeah it was above the pine trees.  But it didn’t seem much higher than a ski lift.  We could do this.  The London Eye looked like it was higher.

The cable car is enclosed and there were about 20 people on it.  There were a few seats around the edge but most of the people had to stand.  Everything was going fine until we got to the top of the mountain.  This was not the tall mountain.  It was the shorter one in front.  The cable car did not follow it down but continued up to the higher mountain.  So we were above the valley between the two.  Yeah we were really high off the ground.  Much higher than the London Eye.  Sorry but I did not get any pictures.  I didn’t look out the window very much.

We made it safely to the Osterfelderkopf station.  At this station is the Alpspix viewing platform.  It is in the shape of an “X” and protrudes out over the gorge.  This was worse than the cable car ride.  Of course fearless Holly went right out.  Katie was a little hesitant but she went out with Holly.  I went part of the way out then went back.  Then holding on to the rail I went out saying “Facing Fear, Trusting God.”  Yeah for VBS!  I touched the glass on the end then went right back to having solid earth under my feet.  I was not afraid of heights as a kid.  I’m not sure what has happened but me and high places do not do well together anymore.

 This shows the cable going up the mountain.  See it doesn’t look too bad.

 Then here is the view from the top!

 Holly & Katie out on the Alpspix.  Someone had to stay back and take their picture.

   A couple of pictures of the view down from the platform.

After I trusted God and faced my fear we took the Pleasure Adventure trail down to the Kreuzeckbahn cable car station.  This took about 1 hour and was steep in some places.  The views were absolutely breath taking.  The ride down in this cable car was not as scary after what I had been through.  This day has been one of my favorites of our trip.  I am glad the weather was nice.  We had a great time.

Here are a few pictures from the walk between the cable car stations.

The girls had fun throwing snowballs and they wanted to climb up on some rocks.

On Friday our last full day in Garmisch we went to visit Neuschwanstein Castle.  We caught a local bus out of Garmisch and went on a 2 hour ride to get to the village of Hohenschwangau below the castle.  I could have rented a car and driven there quicker but this way I was able to enjoy the sights of the country rather than concentrating on the road.  It was a nice trip just a little long.  We arrived at the village around lunch time so we decided to eat at a restaurant in the village.  I had spatzle (germany noodle) with cheese and fried onions – it was kind of like macaroni & cheese.  Katie had spatzle with chicken and a cream sauce.  Holly had breaded pork and fries.  The meal was OK but not for the 50 euros I paid for it.  Holly & I should have just gotten a hot dog and Katie fries.  We haven’t eaten out too much on this trip so it was nice to try some Bavarian food.

After lunch we bought our tickets for the castle.  There are 2 castles to tour through, Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau.  We only went on the tour of the Neuschwanstein Castle.  From the village it is about a 30 minute walk to the castle and adding an extra 30 minutes to go to Mary’s bridge and back.  After all the walking yesterday we decided to take the bus to Mary’s bridge. t

 A picture of the castle from the bridge.

 Looking down from the bridge I was standing on.  I am going to be thankful that when I get back to Maryland the highest thing will be South Mountain.

 This is a view of Hohenschwangau Castle from Neuschwanstein.

Another view of Neuschwanstein.

Sorry Addy but we were not able to take pictures inside the castle.  I hope you liked the ones of the outside.

You can not enter the castle without being part of a tour.  They offer both German and English tours.  Our guide was hard to hear unless you were standing right next to her.  She spoke softly making it seem like we were in a library.  Only a few rooms were available to tour.  King Ludwig’s bedroom, his dressing room, his dining room.  We were  also able to go into the ballroom.  I think this was my favorite room.

We enjoyed our time in Garmisch and we’re looking forward to Munich.

 

 

 

10/16 – 10/21 St. Goar, Germany

Wednesday was a long day of travel.  Fabrice & Marie-Line dropped us off at Marne la Vallee station around 9 am.  This is the train station closest to their house.  Our train was to leave at 10:52.  We found some food for breakfast and a table to wait.  Katie had 2 chocolate doughnuts, Holly a blueberry muffin and I had a latte and a raspberry muffin.  Our table was across from the doors leading outside so it was pretty drafty.  When our train arrived we got our bags on to the train and found our seats.  This train had reserved seats and we had 3 of 4 seats around a table.  The 4th seat was empty.  That was nice after our last trip on the Eurostar.  We also had 3 of 4 seats around a table but the 4th seat was taken by a man who tried to sleep on the train and got into my space.

After a 2 hour trip we arrived in Brussels, Belgium.  We had a 1 1/2 hour layover before catching our next train to Germany.  We didn’t make it out of the train station.  Too much luggage to try to explore Belgium.  Instead it was lunch time so we got a bite to eat.  Here are pictures of Belgium from the train.

  

We got on a German train leaving Brussels and were headed to Koln, Germany.  There we were to have a 40 minute layover before changing trains once more and arriving in St. Goar at 7:19 pm.  I guess German trains are not as reliable.  We got part way into Germany and there was an announcement saying that everyone had to get off the train at the next stop.  They may have said why in German but they did not explain in English.  We had not gotten to Koln.  After getting our bags we followed everyone else off the train and went to a different track to wait for the next train headed to Koln.  At least I didn’t have to pay any more money.

The bad news was that we missed our connection in Koln for our train to St. Goar.  At the Koln station we found the Bahn information/ticket room and got tickets for the later train to St. Goar.  Our new train was getting us into St. Goar at 8:19 an hour later.  I called Walter, the owner of the apartment we were renting and told him our new arrival time.  He was going to meet us at the train station to show us to the apartment.  We went to the track for our train and waited until the new departure time.  There was a train leaving at the right time as our ticket but it didn’t have the right train number listed on the train.  The departure sign did show this train going to St. Goar so I guessed it would get us there.  We were to take the train heading to Mainz.  After we got on the train it showed the last stop being Koblenz, which was north of where we were going.  Uh-ho.  By this time it was getting dark and I was getting worried.  What if we had to get off at Koblenz and couldn’t get another train to take us to St. Goar.  I just hoped the town had some hotels.  I knew it was time to start praying.

Before the last stop in Koblenz I asked a lady if she spoke English (she did!) and if she knew if this train would go to St. Goar.  She thought I would have to get off at Koblenz and take another train to St. Goar.  But she asked someone else and they said no the train continued on to Mainz.  So after the stop at Koblenz which was longer than the other stops the sign on the train showed it going to Mainz.  Thank God we were on the right train!

Walter and his wife met us at the train station with a cart for our bags (and they were heavy) and showed us to our apartment.  I’m glad he met us there because I’m not sure if I would have found it in the dark.  It was after 8:00 at night and most of the stores and restaurants were closed.  I guess in off season they close earlier.  Walter explained how things worked in the apartment.  He also showed me the basement area to put the trash and showed me where I could get water, sodas and beer!  I just had to mark on a sheet what I used and pay it at the end of our stay.  It was late and we were ready to settle down for  bed.  Unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to have dinner so we ate baguettes on the train and Katie had some Nutella.

In the morning I found a bakery to get some breakfast and stopped in the tourist information spot.  There is one small family grocery store in St. Goar.  We would need to take the train to Oberwesel to go to a larger store.  So we got our Sainsbury bags and headed to the train station.  The ride was only about 10 mintues and cost just over 2 euros.  In Germany Holly & Katie get to ride the trains free with me.  We had to wait about 20 minutes for the next train.  After getting to Oberwesel and finding the store we got our groceries and headed back to the train station.  I should have looked at the times the trains return to St. Goar and plan our shopping accordingly.  We arrived 10 minutes after the train left and would have to wait 1 hour before the next train!  And Holly got ice cream.  Our place in St. Goar does not have a freezer – only a refrigerator.  So I knew she would need to eat it when we got back to our place.  We didn’t have a spoon so she had to wait.   When we did finally arrive it was a lot softer then she would have liked but it was still good.  Great lunch!

The town of St. Goar is small but so cute.  It was a great place to just walk around and see the sights of the town.  Here are a few pictures of the town.

 At the train stop

   Looking out the living room window.

 A few steps to the end of the street and this is the view of the Rhine River

 A castle in St. Goarshausen – across the River Rhine   A restaurant in St. Goar  Metzger in German means butcher  This is the worlds largest hand carved free hanging cuckoo clock (or so says the internet)

    They actually drive cars down these streets.

 A restaurant in St. Goar

On Saturday we took a cruise on the Rhine River towards Bacharach.  There are steep hills on both sides of the river with castles at every new town.  There are also vineyards on the hills.  The leaves are just starting to turn colors.  Within a week or two it is going to be beautiful.  It was a clear day but windy on the top deck of the boat.  We managed on top for a while but then had to move down and inside.  But every time we went around a bend I would go upstairs and take more pictures.  Here are some pictures of the sights from the river.  Sorry I don’t have the name of the castles.

     I saw many places along the river for RVs.  The famous Lorelei Rock.

In 1801 German author Clemens Brentano composed his ballad Zu Bacharach am Rheine as part of a fragmentary continuation of his novel Godwi oder Das steinerne Bild der Mutter. It first told the story of an enchanting female associated with the rock. In the poem, the beautiful Lore Lay, betrayed by her sweetheart, is accused of bewitching men and causing their death. Rather than sentence her to death, the bishop consigns her to a nunnery. On the way thereto, accompanied by three knights, she comes to the Lorelei rock. She asks permission to climb it and view the Rhine once again. She does so and falls to her death; the rock still retained an echo of her name afterwards. Brentano had taken inspiration from Ovidand the Echo myth. (source Wikipedia)

 One of many vineyards along the Rhine      Oberwesel has 16 defensive towers still standing.  The announcer on the boat said some are used as apartments today.  It would be neat to live in one of these.      This castle was built on a small island in the middle of the Rhine.  From this side it looks similar to a ship.

The one thing we did not get to do that was on my list was go to the Rheinfels Castle in St. Goar.  Katie got a soar throat and we needed to spend a day at home.  Mine started to feel soar too but luckily we are better now.  Please pray for no illness for us while we are on this trip.

Next stop Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

 

Cornwall, our last week in England

We stayed at another Holiday Park again this week.  It’s the same company and the name of this park is Perran Sands.  It is near the small town of Perranporth and 7 miles south of the larger town of Newquay.  This park is right at the beach.  Though I can’t hear the waves crashing because it is on top of cliffs.  I walked down to the beach on Sunday.  It was a long walk down but an even longer walk back.  The time that I went was during low tide.  The beach seemed to go on forever.  It was amazing to look back at the cliffs while standing at the waters edge.  There were cliffs all around.  This section of the coast has no land that goes directly to the water.  No I did not go swimming in the water but I did put my feet in.  This water is the Celtic Sea.  Here are some pictures of the beach at our park.

          

We had to go to the town of Newquay to get groceries.  It was about 15 minutes away.  This town was a surfer town.  There were so many people with surf boards.  I think the town is newer – at least the part we saw.  The colors of the buildings were more beachey colors.  There were not cliffs here to get to the water just a gradual slope.  This must be why more people surfed here than at our beach.  Sorry I didn’t get any pictures of this town.

On Monday we drove to Land’s End.  It’s a place not just a store!  It is called the first and last place in England.  It was only 30 miles from where we were staying but took an hour to drive there.  I am getting really good at the circles in the roads of England.  At Land’s End Katie wanted to do the  Arthur’s Quest exhibit.  It is a walk through exhibit with hologram figures telling the story of King Arthur.  I didn’t quite get how this related to Land’s End.  The holograms may have told us but they were a little hard to understand with the British accent.  Katie & Holly really enjoyed the first part.  It was maze but instead of walls there were mirrors.  You couldn’t really tell which way to go.

There is also an exhibit showing articles of people who have traveled from John O’Grady (northern Scotland) to Land’s End.  It is 774 miles.  There are lots of ways people have done this trip – mostly to raise money for charities.  One man rode a unicycle.  One man did it carrying a door – he wanted to do something no one else had done.  One man even did it naked except for his boots.  He was arrested a few times.  The youngest was 10 – he did the trip with his dad.  There was also a short video of a team traveling the 774 miles by car.  The camera was pointing out the window and it was sped up.  You could see the route by car without having to actually drive it.  I can’t believe how blue the water is here.  Kind of makes you feel like you are in the tropics.  Except for the temperature and no palm trees.

  

 

On Saturday we left early for the drive back to London.  We stopped at Stonehenge on the way.  But before we got there I had a little scare.  I purchased the pre-paid gas plan for the rental car so I didn’t have to fill up before returning it.  I had about 1/4 of a tank before we left.  On the way to Stonehenge the gas light came on and I wasn’t sure how far I could go before I ran out of gas.  We weren’t on a motorway so there were not service stations very often.  I got off at an exit that had local services.  There was no sign at the end of the exit pointing which way to get fuel.  At first I went the wrong way.  There were no close towns this way.  Then when I turned around and went through a town we could not find a gas station.  I was really getting worried.  I did not want to run out of gas.  I couldn’t call my dad to come get me.  So we got back on the road we were traveling and I told the girls to pray for a gas station.  God provided there was one in less than 5 minutes.  So I put 25 pounds of gas into the car and it made it the rest of the trip.

As we got closer to Stonehenge I told the girls the first person to see it from the car would get a candy bar.  Katie tried to cover Holly’s eyes but I told her that wasn’t fair.  And I told her she couldn’t do the same to me and I was playing too.  I was the first to see it.  We could not walk around inside of the stones but there was a path going around it to look and take pictures.  It’s pretty impressive to think of people putting these stones together like this without modern equipment.  I’m glad we got to see Stonehenge.  Here are some pictures.

    

Saturday night we stayed at a Premier Inn near Heathrow airport.  I was to drop the rental car off here.  We checked into the room and unloaded the car.  We will really need to pack well from now on.  We won’t have a car to put our stuff in to go from one place to another.  Only our suitcases.  The girls stayed at the hotel while I ventured out to return the car.  I plugged into Google Maps on my phone the location while I was at the hotel.  I lost the connection while driving but figured I had to go towards the airport.  I knew the direction to go.  Once at the airport there were signs directing to rental car returns.  I’m glad I rented a car in an English speaking country so that I could read the signs.  I don’t know what I would have done in France or Germany.  I guess get lost.  I found the right place and returned the keys.  It was not hard driving in England but I was glad to be done.

Sunday we took the hotel bus to Heathrow so we could catch the underground to St. Pancras Station.  We were taking the Eurostar back to Paris.  Everything went fine and we made it back to Paris.  Fabrice and Marie-line picked us up at Gare du Nord train station.  There was a marathon in Paris that day so traffic was very heavy.  We found each other (pretty good for not having a specific place to meet other than where we dropped you off on the street in front of the station) and then drove Manon back to her apartment in Paris.  She is going to the university in Paris studying to become a doctor.  She comes home on the weekends but is busy learning and studying during the week.

On Monday Fabrice dropped us off at the train station closer to their house (not in the city) so we could take the train into Paris.  I really wanted to go to the Louvre and see the Mona Lisa.  We did not have advance tickets so we had to stand in line to get into the museum.  The line looked really long and I thought it was going to take hours.  It took about 1 hour.  The weather was not too bad while we were waiting outside.  It was calling for rain but lucky for us it did not rain.  Once you get into the museum there are signs pointing the way to the Mona Lisa.  I guess it is the biggest attraction here at the Louvre.  The paintings are in a long gallery with smaller rooms leading off.  The Mona Lisa is in room 6.  It is quite comical because there are so many people crowded around this small painting and yet there are large pictures all around it in the room.  The Mona Lisa is roped off and has glass in front of it.  And they let you take pictures of the paintings in this museum.

 The Mona Lisa.  I wanted to point it out in case you weren’t sure.

  Here is another painting in the same room as the Mona Lisa.  Kind of makes you think the Mona Lisa is not so impressive compared to others.

    The Louvre from the outside

Tomorrow we are headed to Germany.  Our bags are repacked and we are ready to go.

 

 

 

Peak District, United Kingdom

Driving in the United Kingdom

I was worried about driving on the left while in England.  But it hasn’t been bad.  I haven’t made any mistakes yet driving on the right.  The hardest thing to get use to is the driver’s side is on the left rather than the right.  Back home Holly sits in the front most of the time.  Here she goes to the left a lot to get into the car.  Katie is quick to tell her she is wrong.  The mistake I’m making is reaching with my right hand to change gears.  It is on the left.  And I try to reach over my left shoulder to put on the seat belt but it is on my right.

Here is a picture I posted on Facebook last week.

 I wondered why there was a coffee cup on the speedometer.  I haven’t figured it out yet.

My problem with the English is that they don’t always have speed limit signs on the roads.  The major highways don’t have signs unless you have to slow down for construction.  So I finally remember to look it up on google.  The national speed limit depends on the type of the road.  If it is a single carriageway (2 way traffic) the maximum 60 MPH.  If it is a dual carriageway or motorway the maximum speed is 70 MPH.  Built up areas is 30 MPH.  It sure would be nice if they post these on the roads like we do in the US.  They do have signs saying speed cameras are in use.  I’m really hoping I don’t get a ticket in the mail.  Hey Dad, if you get it just go ahead and pay it for me.  They do have a cool system for their stop lights.  When the light is about to turn green it turns yellow for 1 second before.  That way you have an idea when you will get to go.

Here is another quirky sign I saw.

  So do they not have enough money to have full time signals.

Up to last Saturday driving in England was easy.  Well then I got close to our new place in the Peak District.  I drove the worst 10 miles I have ever driven in my life!  It was horrible.  It was a 2 lane road but really it was barely 1 1/2 lanes.  The speed limit was 30.  Yeah right!  There may have been times I got up to 30 but I slowed way down when a car was coming toward me.  I think the line of cars behind me were not so happy with me.  There were lots of curves and even a hill with a 25% incline.  Ughh!  But I haven’t had an accident yet.  Please continue to pray for me.  Here is the google map of the road.  http://goo.gl/maps/Mui7f

Even though the driving here is a little scary the Peak District of England is beautiful.  This is my favorite place so far.  It is not like any where I have ever been.  Absolutely beautiful.  I have some pictures that I took but unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate with us this week.  It was overcast and rained a good bit.  I think in 2 weeks the leaves will have changed and it will be even better.  If you ever get the chance to come to England I would recommend this area.

This week we stayed at Litton Mill.  It was built in 1782.  The mill owner Ellis Needham was one of the worst in child labor with his apprentices.  It is modern inside.  There is 3 bedrooms.  The bed in the master bedroom is so comfortable.  It will be so long before I sleep in my own bed again so getting a good bed every so often makes me happy.  Here is the link to the place.  http://litton.peakdistrictholidayhomes.com/.  It is down a 1 mile lane that is 2 way but really only wide enough for 1 car.  There are passing areas on it to pull over if something is coming.  About half way there is an area to rock climb.  The River Wye runs right along the building.  You can hear the river and the views out the windows are amazing.  We had a nice walk down this road on Sunday.  The weather was great.

Here are pictures of the place we stayed and the area around it.

 This is the road leading into the mill.  It is a little over 1 mile long and it is not wide enough for 2 cars.  They have passing areas for when 2 cars are coming at the same time.

 This is a picture of the mill.  This is the River Wye that runs along side the mill.  Here is another picture of the mill.  Along that 1 mile of road there is an area for rock climbing. Jackson would love this.

 Here is another picture of the River Wye   The most comfortable bed!

On Tuesday we drove to the town of Buxton.  I chose this area of England because of a book.  Buxton was listed as one of the most beautiful towns of England.  The architecture is wonderful.  Tyra would love this area.  We walked around the town and did a little shopping.

    

After Buxton we went to the town of Tideswell to eat at a real English Pub.  We had a late lunch at the Red Lion Pub.

Katie had fish and chips.  She said the fish was too greasy and it gave the greasy taste to the fries so she did not enjoy her lunch.  And it came with a bowl of mashed mint peas.  They serve that a lot as a side in England.  I tried them – yuck.  Holly had the Red Lion Burger.  It had bacon on it.  She also got fries, salad, and coleslaw with her meal.  Neither Holly or I enjoyed the coleslaw.  I got steak and kidney pie.  I don’t know why I thought it would be kidney beans.  No it was the organ kidney.  It was rather dry but did come with gravy.  I didn’t realize this until I ate about 1/3 of it and Holly had a bite too.  After we figured this out she lost her appetite and I didn’t eat any more of the pie.  I liked the cabbage that came with it.  I also got fries and boiled new potatoes which were served plain.  I guess the English put malt vinegar on them.  I did.  I have always been a fan of malt vinegar.  My kids not so much.  Here are pictures of our meal.

    

Another day we went to the town of Bakewell.  I think I enjoyed this town even more than Buxton.  I loved the buildings here.  We walked around a bit then headed to the Bakewell Pudding Factory Pudding Parlour and Shop.  This is where they serve the world famous Bakewell Pudding.  What you have never heard of this?  Well neither had I until I did some reading about Bakewell in the brochures at the apartment.  Since it was world famous I had to buy one.  I liked it.  It was like a custard but with cinnamon.  Holly tried it too but didn’t like it.  Katie didn’t give it a try.

 Jane Austen finished writing Pride and Prejudice at this hotel in 1813  It is the 200 year anniversary.

 Pictures of Bakewell   Pictures of Bakewell  This is where we bought the Bakewell Pudding   Bakewell Pudding

On Thursday we decided to ride the Monsal Trail.  It use to be a trail for Midland Railway.  It is now a path for walkers and bikers.  It is about 8.5 miles of mostly flat riding.  It goes through 3 tunnels that have recently been opened up for use.  (I’m not sure what they did before they were opened.)  The tunnels are fairly long and curved so they are lighted.  The lights do go out at dusk so they warn about being in there at that time without a torch (British word for flashlight).  We made it about 1/4 of the way and it started to rain.  It was not a nice day for riding bikes but it was the toward the end of our week and it was going to be just as bad on Friday.  We should have gone on Sunday on the nice day we had.  I would have loved to bike the whole trail.  I would have gotten some great photos.  But here are a few I did get.

 Along the Monsal Trail  Out of focus shot of a tunnel along the trail.  Another picture along the trail

The Peak District is absolutely beautiful.  I really enjoyed being here even with that terrifying drive.  I wish the weather would have been better.  The scenery was amazing.  If you ever get to England I would recommend this area.  My pictures can’t do it justice.  And the apartment we stayed was great.  Here are a couple of more pictures.

    

As we were leaving on Saturday morning we were stopped by cows.  A farmer was moving his cows from one field to another.  They use the roads to do this.  Some of the cows kept stopping to sniff the cars.