Today the Texas Kobs arrived in Amsterdam from Dallas. This is our fourth meeting overseas with brother Joe, his wife Janet and on this trip their youngest son Kevin.After the Texas Kobs took a much needed rest we walked around our neighborhood for a while and saw some of the great Amsterdam canals with houseboats.This building caught our interest because it was leaning to the right quite a bit. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a building that was tilted as much as this one.
We started our first full day in Amsterdam with a bus ride to the train station. The station is gorgeous. Notice all the bicycles, there are hundreds of thousands of bicycles in Amsterdam and I have not seen anyone wearing a helmet.Our first stop was the Amsterdam Dungeon which was a cheesy but fun look at Amsterdam in the 1500s during their witchcraft trials. We then went to the Amsterdam Museum which provided a history of the city and it was excellent. We were on the way to another museum when it started to POUR and we got soaked. The clothes weren’t the problem, but the shoes were as Alex and I only have one pair of shoes. So unfortunately we had to call it an early day.
A mostly travel day today as we boarded our train in Frankfurt and journeyed to Amsterdam and we didn’t have to change trains which was great. Just packed some sandwiches and away we went. I think the boys like train travel, too.We arrived in Amsterdam right on time and checked into our hotel and relaxed for an hour before taking the bus (a ten minute ride) back into the city center where we walked around for a while and had a tasty dinner at a Dutch restaurant. We also planned out our itinerary for tomorrow.
Back together for traveling. This photo is outside of our hotel and the woman on the right owns/runs it along with her husband. They run a terrific hotel and were very kind to us.At the train station with a great example of brotherly love, Alex with the hug and David rolling his eyes. It was about a four hour train trip including the three train changes so we relaxed at the hotel for the evening. Tomorrow is a five hour train ride, no train changes thankfully, to Amsterdam. I haven’t visited the city since 1981.
Alex and I started the day by walking around the city walls, all of them which was great. Rothenburg is an ancient city that is amazingly well preserved. I love walking on city walls.This photo of Alex tries to show how small and narrow the walkways of the city walls are. I had to walk a bit stooped the entire time.A view from the city walls.Here is a photo showing one of the many towers throughout the city. While walking on the city walls was great, walking throughout the city center was also fun.A nice view of the city from just outside the city walls.We visited the Crime History museum and it was a good time. Some gruesome torture instruments were on display with relatively graphic detail about the use of each. Quite a bit of history on witchcraft trials which I though only occurred in the USA plus quite a bit of information about medieval justice. Alex is very fortunate not to have been born in the Middle Ages.The high school group David traveled was so large that they split into two bands, each performing separately. There was also a jazz band and a choir. Both the main bands were excellent and the jazz band was top notch as well. The choir, I thought, stole the show as they performed in a church that dated back to 1291 and the acoustics were amazing. They performed for about 50 minutes and were superb. Unfortunately my two photos from inside the church did not turn out.David preparing to perform.The highlight of the day and one of the highlights of the entire trip thus far was the Night Watchman’s Tour. It lasted one hour and was simply excellent. One nitpick I had with Rothenburg was the lack of displaying or presenting its history. The Night Watchman more than made up for this by conducting a terrific tour of the city, mixing history and humor. Alex loved it as well.A solo shot of the Night Watchman. I gave him a tip and bought the DVD. A perfect way to end the day!
We departed France and took a six hour train journey to Rothenburg, Germany. All five transfers went without a hitch and we arrived in the city exactly on time. We hunted down David and found him on the streets of the city hanging out with friends. It was great to see him again!
Our last day in Toulon and we see say “à bientôt!” to our lovely French friends. They were, as always, gracious and fun hosts. Alex and I drive about six hours to Besançon but we arrive too late to see La Citadel which is unfortunate but that’s the way it goes. I didn’t want to rush the morning with our French friends. Tomorrow it is off to Rothenburg, Germany to see David and his high school band.
We headed to Aix en Provance today and I was in for a surprise in that I always thought of Provence as a rural area, which it is, though the city Aix en Provence is an ancient city with a long history in the arts. Our first stop was the Musee Granet which had a great collection of art work.This church dates back to 500 AD which continues to amaze me.More interesting architecture in Aix en Provence.We visited this museum as well. We returned to Toulon and had a wonderful dinner with Patrick and Marlene along with two of their friends named Norbert and Isabelle. We’ve met them on all four of our trips. Another great day in France and tomorrow we begin to wind down our stay in the country as we drive to Besançon and from there we head to Rothenburg to meet David.
A change in plans as we moved from Menton to Toulon where Patrick and Marlène live. M. Rizo and Arlette came along as well. No photos today because I just didn’t get around to it. We arrived in Menton and spend the afternoon talking (in French!) and then Patrick, Alex and I swam in the Mediterranean. Patrick and Marlène’s neighbors came over for dinner and it was a terrific time. We ate, drank cognac, a bit of rum and of course wine and talked well into early morning. Simply a wonderful evening!
The view we have at each every breakfast. We went on another climbing expedition today and it was a great time. An easier course than the one we did a few days ago but it was still challenging. I’m very slow but Alex moves along very quickly.After the climb we relaxed for a couple of hours at chez Rizo and then we went to an international track and field event in Monaco. World class athletes from around the world competed.Women’s pole vault event.Women’s 110m run. There were several events going on at the same time and we also saw the men’s 110m run, men’s high jump, men and women’s hurdles plus many other competitions.
