October 9 and 10  BRUSSELS

Our flight was without any glitches and the taxi Jorg reserved showed up, quite late but nevertheless, he showed up.

We had had a very good lunch in Zagreb and almost no one wanted dinner except Bernie and I, who wanted maybe a bowl of cereal before bedtime.  As it turned out, Jorg went to the local Friterie and got a truck load of stuff.  All the not hungry people sat down at the table and we all had dinner.  Nothing like having the food in front of you to make you change your mind.

The evening is bittersweet knowing that our time together is coming to an end.  We will have to say goodbye to people we don't get to see often.  One couple lives in Brussels, the other one in California and we, in Ottawa.  Will we ever travel with Jorg, Maria and Valerie?   Jorg is back at work on Monday for two weeks and then the little family leaves for Australia where they will spend two months traveling with another couple who also have a baby.  They will each have their own rental R.V.  It is nice to be young and energetic. They will be back in December for 2 days before flying to Columbia to spend the holidays with Maria's family who will be so elated to see their new granddaughter or niece or cousin.  I wish I could be there to witness this.

Tonight, everyone retires early so they can enjoy their last day together in Brussels.

Today, Saturday, we take it rather easy.  Jorg makes us delicious Dutch pancakes to add to our already substantial breakfast.  This afternoon, Bernie, Lynanne and Lloyd will attend Jorg's soccer game.  There is only one car and we cannot all fit so Maria, Valerie and I stay behind.  Maria has been wanting what she calls a "plain cake" which she has been unable to have throughout this holiday so we set out to make one and also, Maria is a potato freak so I will show her how to make "potato baji" an Indian potato dish with lots of fresh coriander.  The dish and the cake are a hit with Maria and I know for sure she will make them again.  When everyone comes back from the game, they polish off most of the cake with a nice cup of warm tea.  From what I gather, they have been quite cold all afternoon.

Our last evening was a really good one.  We first walked into town to a sushi restaurant Jorg and Maria love.  They have been wanting us to have a meal there from before we left on this trip and, by the end of the evening, we all know why.  The food was excellent, absolutely well presented, in an extremely large quantity.  It was hard slogging at the end, but we managed to finish the Titanic- a large sushi presentation for 5 people- and also my very large Teriyaki sizzling plate.  Once we got home, Jorg had a nice surprise for all of us.  He had been downloading all of Bernie and Lloyd's pictures all through the trip and had prepared a overview slideshow for us.  It was nice to relive this happy time with them.  But now it is late, we need to get up around 5 a.m. tomorrow.  This departure will be a hard one.

As I thought, it was hard to say goodbye to this beautiful and loving little family.  We will definitely miss them a lot, we will miss not seeing Valerie grow up but we will keep hoping that our paths will cross again soon.

Jorg and Maria, Lynanne and Lloyd, thank you for a great holiday and a beautiful and rich friendship

We are home safe and sound and Bernie is already planning our Winter holiday and our next Fall holiday.  He is asking me my opinion and my reply is, "let me unpack before planning anything else."

OCTOBER 4,5,6,7,8,9   LJUBLJANA

Here we are in Ljubljana and our house is superb.  It is large, modern, with a nice front garden behind an electric gate.  In the front yard, there is a very deep well which I presume is a leftover from the past.  There is also a nice back garden.  The view into the neighbour's yard is fabulous because they have a beautiful flower garden that is still blooming even on October 4th.  Our host Marja is very pleasant.  She knew all the stores would be closed today since it is Sunday, so she bought us bread, milk, tea and coffee so we could have something to eat should we be hungry on our arrival.

Everyone is tired after the rather difficult journey and decide to rest.  Bernie and I take off for a tour of our neighbourhood to see if there is a restaurant nearby so we can all have dinner.  We find we are in a very family oriented neighbourhood.  There are many families in the park, the children are having a good time.  Right across from that park is a restaurant serving many families their Sunday dinner.  They greet us with nice smiles and, after talking to the young waitress, we decide that we will all be coming here for our evening meal. It was absolutely delicious.  To end this very eventful day, when we got ready for our short walk back home.  The skies opened and it started pouring heavily with no sign that it was going to stop anytime soon.  The decision is made to make a run for it except for Maria who is pushing the baby carriage.  I decide to stay with her and walk at her pace, rain or not.  We are chatting when we both step into a deep puddle and, after such a day, we both burst out laughing and squishing all the way home.  Murphy's law - the rain stop the minute we get in.  Everyone is soaked but still laughing.  Life is good and we decide that it is time to call it a day.  Let's see what tomorrow will bring us.

Today, Monday the 5th, Lynanne, Jorg and I got up early so we could be at the grocery store when it opens.  After a good breakfast, the seniors take off for a tour of the town while the young couple stays behind to bathe the baby and relax.  They will meet us later on.  We opt for a walk through the park in the direction of the town.  We are told it is a longer walk but a more beautiful one.  This park has a pond, a zoo and the path we are on is really very nice with lots of trees and large empty fields.  As we walk, we asked for directions several times.  Along the path, there are several concrete posts to commemorate the location of the barbed wire fence that once was there, put in by the Nazis and surrounding the whole town. We obviously overshot our exit because this one hour walk ended up being more like a 3 hour walk.  Luckily, we all like walking and exploring the different neighbourhoods we are passing.  We finally reach the town.  It is a welcome sight.  There are a lot students milling about and all along the narrow river, there are outdoor cafes, full of people having lunch.  They day is sunny and everyone seems happy.  We are looking for the outdoor market which brought us here.  Alleluia, we have found it but first thing first, we need to do is have something to drink.  As we sit down, Maria, Jorg and the baby show up so we are a full group again.  Some are having beer and wine but Maria and I opt for a hot chocolate.  It arrives, piping hot but so thick, we eat it.  It has the texture of a hot chocolate pudding.  It is so good, we would love to lick our cup. Unfortunately, by the time we are finished resting, the outdoor market is closing and Lynanne has missed it.

Enough sitting and relaxing, there are things to see.  There is a cable car in this town and we all head for it.  The view from the top is amazing.   Once this ride over, we start walking again while Jorg and Bernie pick up the rental van.  We were to leave for Zagreb in a few days but we have decided to stay on in Ljubljana since the weather in  Zagreb will be rather rainy.  The fact that we love this house a lot is a very important factor in this decision.  That evening, we have dinner in an Italian restaurant and the food is nothing to write home about.

Today, October 6th, we all pile into the very large 8 seater van which Jorg seems to be very good at manoeuvering.  Obviously, he has done this before.  We are heading for Lake Bohinj and Savica Falls.  The drive there is beautiful.  We are surrounded by green mountains peppered with small old world villages.  The place is really very picturesque. We opt to not stop at Lake Bled because it is raining and there is absolutely no place to park.  The views around the lake are beautiful and Jorg stops very quickly behind a bus so that Bernie can take a few pictures.  Lake Bohinj is a large lake, with beautiful views also. There is a beautiful little church, many varieties of ducks floating by so quickly because of the strong current.  They all make a bee-line for the shore where a young woman is feeding them popcorn.  The whole scene is quite commical.  We are now heading for Savica Falls.  The walk up hundred of steps, in a light drizzle is worth it.  Reaching the top, we witness an amazing fall, where the water passes through a tunnel on its way down. There it forms sort of a dam which seems to divert the water.  Again here, the views are breathtaking.  Now, we must get back down which should be easier than up.  Once down, we stop for lunch and then head back home.  Along the way, Bernie spots a beautiful opportunity for more picture taking.  Wow!  We are all standing in front of the calmest and clearest lake ever.  All the nature surrounding this lake is reflected in the water.  The lighting is just perfect and all three guys have their cameras on hand to record this beauty. Once back at the house, I make a bread pudding with all the bread Marja had bought for us.  With our leftover pizzas from lunch and this pudding, dinner is complete.  We play a few rounds of Taboo, which the girl team wins this time.  We call it a day and all retire to our rooms.

October 7th is a rainy day, but we will not complain since we have only had rain in Slovenia.  It is a very beautiful country with very friendly people.  I am pleasantly surprised to find out that most speak English.  They are taught English starting in third grade.  Jorg and Maria decide to stay home with Valerie who probably should get a quiet day after all this traveling and we old unstopables, decide to go visit a Museum. Jorg very nicely offers to drive us there and pick us up when we are ready.  What a nice guy he is!

We spent a big part of that day at the Slovene Ethnographic museum. Its mission is to give present and future generations an insight into the development of traditional and contemporary culture of Slovenes in comparison to the development of other ethnic groups in nearby countries such as Italy, Austria and Hungary.  It was quite unlike any other museum we have visited. It was also the only museum we visited this holiday. By the way, the museum was located in an area of the city called Metelkova which consists of several blocks of a squatter community that has taken over the buildings. They have covered the whole area with garish graffiti railing against Capitalism and Fascism. It was quite interesting and could become a tourist attraction though I don't think that is what they intended.  On weekend, they host concerts of alternative music.  The place looks really rundown but we read that it is safe even at night as is this whole city.

 For dinner, we returned to our same neighbourhood restaurant.  We were pleasantly surprised to see Petra, our very nice waitress.  She is really cute, really petite and very pregnant.  She is expecting her first child in January.

No playing Taboo tonight.  We plan a day trip to the coast tomorrow so we are hoping for a break in the weather.  Goodnight.

Today, October 8th, Valerie wakes up smiling again.  She has grown a lot during this trip and thankfully, the holiday is almost over because her clothes may not fit her much longer.  Already, Maria has to leave some of the snaps undone on her onesies.
After breakfast, everyone is ready and organized for a trip to Piran, a seaside town on the very short Slovenian Coast.  Once again, it is a beautiful drive.  This country is really beautiful and I hope to come back one day and drive leisurely through it.  The highways are great.

We arrive in Piran to a nice, warm sunny day, just like what you hope for when coming to the sea.  Standing on the tip of the peninsula, we could see Trieste, Italy and Croatia.  This little town is so different from any other town so far.  It has so many little streets, all uphill, all chriscrossing one and other.  Once up the hill, we come across the remnants of their walled city and of course, there is a church at the very top.  From high up, we spot the town square where we ended up later, sitting outdoor on a beautiful summer day, at a nice outdoor cafe.  We sit there for a long while, realizing how lucky we are to finish our Slovenian holiday in such a beautiful place and on such a beautiful day.  There is actually a Symposium of Walled Towns in Europe, the next lecture being held this month.  We walked some more before stopping for dinner, outside by the water's edge.  The view is beautiful but the food is rather ordinary.  The great day we have just had will remain with us for a long time.   We got home late and everyone went to bed happy but also a bit sad to have to leave in the morning.

October 9th, we leave Slovenia to get ourselves to Zagreb where we will fly back to Brussels.  Once again, the scenery is very beautiful.  We stop for lunch in Zagreb at a fantastic restaurant.  The food is out of this world, from the soups especially the mushroom one made of over 20 different wild mushrooms to the main meal.  We are all too full for desert except Maria who orders a chocolate cake.  Of course, once it is there in front of us, poor Maria now has to share it with 5 other people. Luck has it, Valerie cannot eat cake yet or else it would have been 6 other people.

We now board our flight to Brussels.  We are all a bit sad knowing that we will part very soon.  We must put it out of our mind until the last minute.  There is still tonight and tomorrow.  Being sad will have to be pushed back to early Sunday morning.

OCTOBER 3. Pörtschach

Another uneventful 4 hour train ride to Portschach.  What  scenery,  a real feast for the eye.  As we zoom through, we are often nestled between the greenest of mountains and we can see small villages in the valley below.  The Tyrolean architecture  with the balconies adorned with flower boxes generously filled with blooms of all colours. My vocabulary cannot do justice to the beauty of this place.  Upon our arrival, we walked to our little pension.  It is called Pension Kitty and inside, there are Hello Kitty decorations.  There is a nice large yard with apple trees and flower beds where we will surely sit today.  Too bad that we are only here for less than 24 hours.  We will therefore make the best of it and go explore it immediately after checking in.  

After a long walk, on this beautiful sunny afternoon, we picked up some  afternoon snacks and shared them sitting in the beautiful yard.  Later on, we walked into the town, meandering through a beautiful park, along Lake Wörthersee.  This town is a summer resort so it is quite deserted and most businesses are now closed until next Spring.  Jörg has found us a really good restaurant where we all shared very delicious tapas.  We all return to our B&B, quite exhausted but very satisfied with our day.

This morning, after breakfast and before leaving on the train, destination Ljubljana, we went on another hike.  As we were passing the church, Bernie noticed that the priest was Indian.  We went and introduced ourselves.  He is originally from Andrapradesh, has been in Austria for 3 years and appears to speak fluent  German.  We took pictures with him and some parishioners told Bernie that they really liked him.    Walking through this picturesque place, we crossed so many babbling brooks, their bancs  overloaded with all kinds of wild flowers.
We returned to pick up our luggage. Just picture this, we are so loaded up -  six suitcases, a pram, numerous backpacks, at least 3 bags of various grocery items.  It is quite difficult to manoeuvre the narrow but fairly high steps of these old trains. We all know that we need to board this train very quickly, stay close to the doors with all this gear because in 15 minutes, we will have to disembark and rush onto another train and this, in seven minutes.  OMG our train arrives there one minute late, we have now only six minutes.   We need to get down to another level, always with all this gear, make our way back up to reach the next platform.   As unbelievable as it seems, we make it with seconds to spare.  We settle in for a two hour ride, in a very tiny six seater compartment.  Jörg using all his muscle power, lifts our luggage up on some shelves. Maria and I have a huge suitcase under our feet, I am totally covered with bags and Maria has a baby who wants to be fed.  This is when we find out that there are some repair work on the tracks and we will all have to exit the train in 30 minutes and be reloaded on a bus for a 90+ minute trip.  It is absolute chaos.  We managed to fit all our stuff in the luggage hold of the bus only to find out there are no more seats available.  We are told we will have to board the next bus.  We explain that our luggage is on this bus and  they open the hold.  We repeat this whole operation again, this time successfully.   As incredible as it may seem, we are all still in a good mood and laughing.  This trip was meant to be a new experience to be added to our bucket list and it definitely is.  We are probably the only happy people at this moment on this old rickety bus.  I forgot to mention that as crowded as we were in the compartment, I managed to dig out buns, cheese and salani and, during what was left of  the 30 minutes,  everyone ate including Valerie.  
Let's see what our next destination will be like.

September 29, 30 and October 1 and 2, 2015. Vienna

VIENNA. September 29, 30 and October 1 and 2, 2015

This morning, no one could waste time.  We are leaving our -2 star apartment and we are heading to the train station.  The procedure has not changed but this time there is no one in our seats.   As a matter of fact, we ended up with an extra seat which allowed us to put Valerie's little bed on two seats so she slept like an angel.  The 4 hour trip to Vienna flew by quickly.  The scenery along the way was often really nice with never ending fields of corn and other crops but what I enjoyed the most, were all the picturesque little villages.  Again, the architecture in this part of the world is so different.

We arrived in Vienna in good time and easily made it to our apartment where the agent was waiting for us.  The apartment is beautiful and spacious with one fairly large master and two small bedrooms. Our's is really a small office.  No matter, it is only to sleep.  The bathrooms are nice and we'll appointed.  We have a small washing machine.  It is heaven.  This bright and modern apartment is ours for the next four days.  Yeah!  The task at hand now is grocery shopping.  The business of food being taken care off, we take off to explore the place.  The song "these feet were made for walking" has never been so true.  On this first late afternoon and evening,  we mostly get our bearings and look for a nice restaurant.  After a great meal, mine being a delicious roasted vegetable plate, we undertake the walk back home.  We are all full and very satisfied with our first day in Vienna and this bright and modern apartment.

Today, we, the older couples, are off on our own.  The young couple has business to take care off with their employer and, when they have settled that and bathed the baby, they will catch up with us.  We walked all morning, taking in the sites such as Saint Stephen's.  It is a very old cathedral that has obviously seen a lot of historic events take place. Instead of visiting the historic Schönbrunn Palace we opted to visit only the gardens which were extensive though not as well manicured as say the Butchart Gardens in Victoria. On a hill facing the palace we walked to a beautiful gallery structure which commanded an good view of the city. Vienna is a wonderful walking city and so we walked through the massive and beautiful Public Library. The following day we took a bus to Kalenburg, located high on the outskirts of the city and walked down to the city from there. Of course one need not mention that the restaurants are some of the best in the world with very reasonable prices to boot.  All-in-all our stay in Vienna was most enjoyable.  On our last evening, we went to Café Central, a famous posh restaurant, complete with a pianist at the Grand piano. We all chose absolutely decadent desserts so we decided to walk home instead of taking public transport.  That walk probably took care of 50 of the 1200 calories we took in, individually.  Tomorrow, every one has to be ready to leave by 7 am.

September 25, 26, 27, 28 2015. PRAGUE

Today, Friday the 25th,  we packed up our stuff and wheeled our suitcases to the bus stop taking us to the Hauptbanhof or main train station of Dresden.  Thankfully Jorg had booked reserved seats that identify carriage and seats as the train was quite full. Once again, our seats were occupied by others including one who " no damned way was going to be kicked off the train".   He was quite irate and was upset with his wife telling her "why do you believe everybody?  What proof do you have  that these people should have these seats"?  Jorg came along, trying to make a friend of his enemy. He had purchased an extra seat in case we needed it for the baby which was never the case so he offered the seat to this angry guy.    We noticed a change in his demeanour.  The rest of the voyage was good and very relaxing.  At the train station in Prague, we were met by Miroslav who walked with us to the apartment.  It is a large and well located flat with large windows but it is really grubby, with sort of dilapidated furniture and a really really dirty kitchen.  It can sleep 11 people, 4 in what we will call the master, 3 in another bedroom, 2 in sort of a bedroom and 2 more in the dining room/living room.  The bed are clean without bedbugs, comfortable enough except Jorg and Maria's who have to try their best to sleep between the springs that stick out.  We all decide to make the best of our time here by accepting our surroundings.

For our first afternoon here, it was decided that we would relax a bit since we had been quite busy in Berlin and Dresden.  We, the girls, gathered all the laundry and dropped them off at laundromat.  We then went grocery shopping for mostly breakfast food because there is no way I was going to cook in this filthy kitchen.  After all our chores were completed, we all set out to explore our neighbourhood.  We ended up stopping for dinner in a very nice restaurant serving really delicious local dishes.  The meat in Prague seems to be very well prepared and really tender. Lynanne and I had a very good pork tenderloin.  How they could BBQ this meat without drying it up, leaving a little pink hue and still have it so tender baffles me. We also shared a plate of roasted vegetables that was very tasty.  I am sorry to say that after such a succulent meal, we still all shared a desert.  I have mentioned it before, this is not a slimming holiday even though we walk for hours every day.   One thing for sure, Valery is gaining weight rapidly but, of course, she never walks.

We all managed to sleep even if I slept fully dressed.  The sheets on our bed are made of a sort of very rough terrycloth, they are orange and I could not bare it.  Covering myself from head to toe seem to work.

We all woke up happy and in a good mood and after breakfast, we headed to town. Another rather big mishap  befell us.  When the last person left the apartment, it was impossible to lock the door.  The second door locks automatically.  We were all downstairs waiting to leave when Jorg and Maria annouced that we had a serious problem.  To make this very long story short, a key was left in the deadlock inside and, unlike in Canada, in Europe,  if you do that, you are in big trouble.  No key can be inserted in the lock.  It is a security measure.  After a lot of calls, the problem was solved but not without costing us about 25 euros and a lot of aggravation.  This whole thing started in the morning and was finally resolved around 3pm.

Public transportation in Prague is very good and we are all careful having heard that it is the capital of pick pockets.  This is one beautiful European town.  The architecture is Eastern European and really very beautiful.  On Saturday, we went in the more known area of town and the place was alive, not only with local people and tourists but with musicians of all kinds, entertaining us, with dancers and acrobats, all delivering very good quality entertainment.  The square has all kinds of small markets were one can over indulge, from delicious and well spiced grilled meats and sausages to Trdelnik a very different sweet pastry which is a large hollow roll of sweet dough, baked over charcoal, on a constantly rolling metal skewer and then rolled in  cinnamon sugar and cut into rings. Not only is it delicious but it is most interesting to watch them prepare it.  There are outdoor cafes everywhere and we frequent them daily.  Some of us enjoy their beer and wine, their tea and coffee but, best of all for Maria and I, is their rich hot chocolate.   That night Jorg and Maria took us to a restaurant they knew, having been here before.  We enter at ground level and start going down into a quite dark dungeon like basement, we pass a sort of chamber with prison bars where we see a skeleton, of course it is very dimlt lit to make it more eery.  Having reached the bowels of the earth, we are seated at a long table.  No other customewon.are there until a very large group arrives.  Thankfully, our orders have already been taken.  The food is authentic such as goulash, and assorted grilled meats.  The meal is enjoyable and, as usual, Valerie is no problem.  She feeds every couple of hours and we are witnessing her growth on a daily basis.  She is an amazing little person.

 The day was filled with pleasure, art, good food, great walking and probably too many calories.  Life is good.  In the evening, we play a game called Taboo and we all have a great time.

Sunday and Monday are spent pretty much the same way, eat, play and be merry. There is a more quiet and beautiful neighbourhood to explore and as we walk in that direction, we pass a university, where there are greenhouses that pique our curiosity.  We decide to enter by a large open gate and we discover beautiful gardens and a very large park where we could probably spent the whole day.  There is also an exhibition of, believe or not, budgies.  There must be over 100 birds, all so beautiful and colourful but, for a bird lover like me, seeing then in such tiny cages, is heartbreaking.  I hope it is only for one day.   It would have  been nice to spend more time exploring this really beautiful park but our aim today is the fortress.   And here we are passing through the large gates. Once inside, we all meandered through a very old but very well kept cemetery before going to a outdoor cafe for refreshment.  We were quite high above the city, so the scenery was beautiful.  After walking through the park, stopping to enjoy a drumming circle, we stopped for lunch before undertaking our long walk back.  Later that evening, we were back on the road for a quick meal.  We have been having a lot of fun playing Taboo especially since tonight, the women's team won.

Tomorrow morning, we will leave the apartment much cleaner than we found it.  We are pretty certain that the one in Vienna will be better.  We have a four hour train ride to look forward to.  It will be relaxing.

September 24, Dresden

September 24,  DRESDEN

This morning, we left Berlin.  Four days in such a large and historic city does not begin to scracth the surface.  There is so much to see, we would have needed another few weeks.  The two hour train ride to Dresden took quite the planning.  We are six adults and one baby that needs a lot of clothes and diapers  and we also have a fair size carriage.  Jorg, our chief organizer, organized our entrance.  First, he goes in as quickly as possible and we pass him all the luggage which he promptly hikes up on the baggage shelf.  Then we all get in  and we start looking for our reserved seats.  All this time, Maria is outside with the baby and stroller.  Jorg then goes back out and gets them in, once all the passengers have boarded so he can leave the baby carriage in the entrance.  Only then, do we reunite.  To his surprise, we are still in the isle when he arrives, making his way as best as he can since the isle is packed with people looking for a seat.  We don't speak German and our seats are occupied.  Again, our chief organizer comes to the rescue.  A lot of people board the trains with a valid ticket but not with reserved seating.

In Dresden, our accommodations are different.  We could not find an apartment so we are in a hotel.  The walk from the train is an eventful one, on cobble stones with rolling luggage.  Let's see what our wheels are like after this trip.  It was the same situation in Berlin and so far, they are holding up.

We had a quick bite and got ready to go exploring.  Jorg, it turns out has a cousin in town Zaida, who came to meet us.  She is delightful, very pretty and a student in Dresden.  If I remember correctly, she is working on her doctorate in International Relations.  She volunteered at the university to help the refugees settle in.  The person in charge was so impressed with her, he hired her as an organizer.  This talent is genetic, it seems.  She has worked all night, managed a three hour nap before coming to meet us.  She was with us until 11 o'clock that night.

DRESDEN:  To say Dresden is a beautiful city is like saying the Taj Mahal is a nice monument.  This city is fabulous and so very impressive.  It does not matter which way you look, the beauty is breathtaking.    The buildings all around, on both side of the river, are immense, with all kinds of carvings, be it flowers, animals, vegetation, people.  I really am in awe surrounded by so much beautiful architecture.  We are meandering through an outdoor market/fair with many rows of little shops, many of them offering delicious things to eat.  Of course, true to our generous nature, we feel the need to boost the local economy and many different snacks are purchased and shared among all 7 of us.  Valerie stares at us probably wishing she could also taste this authentic and delicious food.  Keep in mind that we are still planning to go to dinner.

After walking for over 5 hours and taking in the sights, darkness descends on us.  It is time to call it quits and go to a restaurant.  Here the beer and wine are cheaper than the water or the juice.  The restaurant is full of very happy people, drinking beer by the litre.  The food is delicious and everyone is enjoying the rest with large beers and noisy conversation.  Our little angel is still happy, feeding every couple of hours, always in a different place, with different noises and smells.  Nothing seems to distract her from the task at hand. - feeding.  As we only have one night in Dresden we have checked into a small hotel the Ibis, instead of our preferred airbnb. The advantage is that as soon as we have done dinner all we have to do is check into our respective rooms and fall asleep. Tomorrow we leave for Prague.

September 20, 21,22 and 23. BERLIN

We had a good time in Leuven and our flight to Berlin was uneventful.

We have been coming home so late, there has been no time to blog.  So many mishaps have happened.  We are sure that Jorg and Maria will never forget their travels with the geriatrics.

So far,  the Californians lost their umbrella, then a jacket.  On another day, I put my backpack down, propped against a wall on a sidewalk because I could not lean.  Once whomever came back from a bathroom break, we all walked away.  A couple of blocks later, I realized I had left my bag on the ground.  In a panic, I ran back with Bernie on my tail, but not before alarming everyone especially our den mother Maria who screamed for Jorg to come to our rescue.  He, of course made it there before us and the backpack was right where I left it.  Maria now doubled her watch, always checking and making sure we all had our belongings, that they were properly zipped up, that all jackets were accounted for....  The next day, as we were all getting out of a train, Bernie's wallet was lifted from his back pocket.  Of course, Maria had been telling the 3 guys to not keep their wallet in their back pockets something Bernie now abides to but not Jorg.  That night, Jorg had to advise the police because all of Bernie's card, his driving permit, his OHIP card and more were now missing.  Bernie called the credit card companies, the bank etc.  The very next day, it was now Lloyd's turn to forget his backpack on the train.  Unfortunately, the train had left when he realized it.  There went his other jacket and all sorts of other things.  

That said, we are having a good time but I am not sure Maria is completely relaxed watching us all the time.  We are all having a good laugh at each other's expense.

Our apartment here is quite large and very comfortable.  Baby Valerie is sooooo good, we barely know she is there.  We have all fallen in love with her and we can't imagine having to say goodbye to her when the time comes.  I now will let Bernie tell you about this beautiful city.

We saw so much that I don't know where to begin so I will talk about those things that impressed me most. Firstu the pool of tears.This memorial is to remember the large number of Roma people that were sent to the concentration camps and eventually killed by the Nazis. It is a simple shallow circular pool with a small triangular platform at its centre on which rests a single fresh flower. Along the circumference, just below the surface of the water a simple moving poem speaks to the lives cut short. At eight PM every day, the centre platform is lowered and the flower replaced with another fresh one. Also very prominent in Berlin is the holocaust memorial. It consists of more than 2000 large concrete blocks buried at various depths and inclinations, in straight lines over a large area. Walking along the narrow corridors can be an unsettling experience as one sometimes dips below the height of the blocks and other times above them. There is no single explanation for the design. It is whatever one interprets it to be. One of the more interesting sites was located in a nondescript parking lot. It was a parking spot that was directly over Hitler's concrete bunker.   He committed suicide there with his mistress, Eva Braun. The bunker has been filled with concrete. Across from the Public Library is the square in which the book-burning took place on the 29 November 1933.  All books at odds with Nazism were destroyed. Further down the road we saw the memorial to the gay men, many of whom were killed. An interesting building is the present Ministry of Finance which is one of the few Nazi era buildings still standing. At that time it was the Ministry of Aviation and is frequently depicted in movies draped in swastikas.  I could go on and on, but then we will never publish.

This will definitely not be a losing weight holiday as there are bakeries on every corner and the restaurants are quite good.  To my surprise, Berlin is a really inexpensive city.  We have had delicious Vietnamese food,  authentic German food, Thai food and Italian food.   Tomorrow, we leave for Dresden. I hope the food is not as good...