Cuckoo Cuckoo Cuckoo Cuckoo Cuckoo

Reg had one major goal in Germany--to buy a cuckoo clock. We visited the Black Forest, where they're made, and toured the cool German Clock Museum in Furtwangen. Then headed to the small town of Triberg, where we found the House of 1,000 Clocks. The deed was done.

It arrived Friday afternoon. Reg used my small digital camera to make a video of it. (Francis Ford Coppola--you have nothing to worry about!) See what you think. Reg thinks everyone is as enamored of cuckoo clocks as he is!

Hair trends

Red hair is common in Europe. In the states many women want blond hair. In Europe it seems they all want red hair. But what we saw in Germany went far beyond the red-heads we see in the states. These are bright red reds that don't come from Mother Nature. On young and old alike.

This woman (about 60 years old) was one of the less flamboyant reds.

Another trend was the two-tone look. In the U.S. this is usually blond highlights in dark blond or brown hair. In Germany it was red highlights or red blocks of color in dark hair.

Coming soon to a salon near you.

European beds

Most European hotels offer, at best, a queen size bed. That's the size of our bed at home, so . . . no problem. They call it a double, since it sleeps two. In some places this double is actually two narrow twins pushed together, and that actually works well--I wasn't bothered when Reg came to bed late and he wasn't bothered when I got up early.

Instead of a top sheet, blanket, and bedspread or other top layer, each person gets his or her own duvet. Each duvet is folded in thirds and placed on the bed when housekeeping cleans the room.

For cold blooded people like me, it was terrific. My own cozy cover! No struggle finding a compromise. For warm blooded people like Reg and in hotels with little or no air-conditioning, it wasn't so great. With the duvet on, it was too warm. With the duvet off, it was too cold. I spent many nights in an endless cycle of pulling on and pushing off the duvet.

And don't let the pillows fool you. European hotels offer feather pillows. Now you might like that, but we don't. They look nice and fluffy, but when you put your head on them, it sinks like a rock right down to the mattress. Ugh. And it makes it almost impossible to find a comfortable position to read in bed.

Last night I got to sleep in my very own bed with my very own pillow!! I missed my very own duvet, but it really was heaven to be home!

Roadblocks on the Information Superhighway

European hotels have a stranglehold on access to the Internet. They were routinely charging 24.99 euros per day for wireless access. Internet Superhighway Robbery.

At hotels here in the states it's usually free or at most $9.95 per day.

Why the huge difference?

Anyway, our hopes of frequent blog postings didn't work out. Instead we'll be posting recollections now that we are home.

Sun!

After four days of rain and cool weather the sun has returned! It was a particularly beautiful day in Nuremberg today--blue skies and a high around 73. Perfect weather for being a tourist.

We climbed the hill to the castle just inside the walls of the old city; wandered around the plazas, small streets, and bridges of the city; watched/listened to the noontime gig of the town glockenspiel; and strolled through the open-air market.

The find of the day was gingerbread bought at a stand in the market--it's one thing Nuremberg is known for. It was less cake-like and more cookie-like than the Dromedary gingerbread cake mix we grew up with. Delicious.

Restore A9

Those of you in Louisville have just survived Restore 64 (during which entire portions of a major interstate through the city were closed down for weekends and then for weeks at a time).

We just survived Restore A9. A large section of this autobahn was closed Saturday morning as we tried to travel from Leipzig to Berlin. Signage was almost non-existent as three full lanes of travel converged SLOWLY into one and then exited the autobahn onto a surface road detour. (In Louisville there were other interstate options during the shutdown.) We saw a German television station that evening covering the event, and though we don't speak the language, it was clear that other motorists were just as confused and unhappy as we were.

And traveling from Berlin to Nuremberg yesterday we faced several spots where the autobahn was restricted to one lane of traffic.

The only thing missing was the orange barrels used in road construction zones in the U.S.!