Well, this time the excuse was a meeting in Munich. Even managed to get Dawna's ticket at a good price by using one of my "frequent flyer" bonus deals to get her a TWA ticket at half price. Didn't do much other preplanning but did have a car reserved at the airport (really a bargain when reserved from the states), and a hotel in Munich. The rest was free form. Oh, yes since we were using the half-priced deal we had certain travel restrictions, which meant we had to leave on Wednesday (rather than the weekend). This meant we had time to play both before and after the meeting .... such a hardship!

WEDNESDAY (11th) and THURSDAY: Our flight was shortly after noon and I didn't go to work in the morning so got a bit bored, but finally it was on the plane at San Jose, fly to St. Louis, change planes, and then non-stop to Frankfurt. Our plane left St. Louis an hour and a half late but arrived Frankfurt almost on time; which was a bit after lunch. We had a 3 seat row for the two of us so could spread out a bit and managed to get a fair amount of rest, but of course were a bit spaced out by arrival time. Walked up to Mr. Hertz and he didn't have our car yet, but in about a half hour we got it (a small Fiat; i.e., the cheapest possible). Very efficient operation with even a do-it-yourself HP computer to print out the driving route between cities you entered. Rolled out onto the highway, signs were quite adequate (as was the case throughout our trip), and headed towards the Rhine .... only about an hour away. Drove up the right hand side of the Rhine and weather was quite reasonable so could see the castles, etc. Rudesheim so full of tourist busses we drove on to the next town (Assmannhausen) and stopped, walked around a bit (needed that stretch), and had a beer and orange juice. Continued along slowly for an hour or so, crossed the river on a small ferry, tried for accommodations at a castle but it was full so went to our planned village (Bacharach) which our books said was the nicest on the Rhine and stayed in a small Inn. The first Inn we tried was nice but the available room was noisy, so walked around the corner and stayed at a quieter one. Ate dinner (pork cutlet & a rolled beef mit spices and gravy & a nice Riesling wine), walked a bit, and to bed. Quite reasonable sleep for we Jet setters. As before we find that if we behave on the plane (i.e., try to sleep and not drink much) we do best by staying up the day we arrive but going to bed earl that night (again after a modest meal and not much alcohol).

FRIDAY: Breakfast at like 8:30 (with the room always and always hard rolls and jam and coffee and sometimes a soft-boiled egg and occasionally some ham). Then went for a walk up the hillside exploring, and found a castle that is now a school. Into the car and onward up the Rhine. At the Loreleli, we stopped and did a short but steep hike up the hill. Super view up and down the river from the hilltop. Bit further along played tourist at a castle at Marksburg ("the only undestroyed Rhine castle"). Quite a spot although the tour was in German. In the town we picked up some wine and cheese. Then, crossed the river and crossed a bit of land and got to the Mosel River; our second wine-river valley for touring. Doesn't have the castles of the Rhine but has neater villages with every other place being a wine store or restaurant. Hills very steep up from the river but somehow covered with vineyards. Super pretty. Stopped and had a picnic. Wind was coming up and by the time we got to Eitze Castle and had walked about a mile to it, it began to rain. Toured this castle. Drove on to our chosen Mosel village (Beilstein). Really great! Stayed at the Inn the book suggested and cute. Also ate there. Wanted to have Mosel eel but they said the cook wasn't doing it. Did have some smoked eel for appetizer and also had some game soup. Then, we each had venison (one cooked in a cranberry sauce and one cooked in a mushroom sauce) with fun noodles. Wine, of course! Good meal. Bit of walking around town and then to sleep.

SATURDAY: Breakfast, walk around the village and up above it where we again found a castle with a view; this time it was a partially destroyed and not repaired castle. Bought some wine at a store (for the road) and then drove onward along the river. Super scenery and fun villages. Stopped at Zeil, which is larger and fine but many tourists by now. Tasted and bought some wine in a somewhat famous "black cat" cellar. Drove on to Bernkestel (where we actually had a hard time finding the right part of town due to some lousy signs). Again a neat town but really overfilled with people. However, went to a quite nice restaurant and had eel with dill sauce for lunch (basically a dinner); just like the book said you should. Excellent. And that was it for the wine-river valley part of the trip. Too short, but sure fun. Rolled across country (farm) on some back roads and then onto the Autobahn and basically headed east, back past Frankfurt and further East to intersect with what is called the Romantic Road. Not the normal romantic but romantic meaning adventurous; the purpose being to see some very well preserved medieval cities Arrived at the one which is supposed to be the best in Europe (Rothenburg ob der Tauber) a bit later than we wanted and tried for accommodations at a couple of places just outside the old city walls but they were full and the one guy said everything in town was full and told us about a place about 5 miles out into the country so we headed for it. Dark by now and hard to find but did and it was nothing special, but a place to sleep (mighty cheap too) so we did.

SUNDAY: Up at a decent time and into the town. Very neat. Sure do wonder if all the places inside the wall had been full (it would have been nice to have stayed inside and walked around at night) but too late for that; so walked a bunch and soaked it up, including a walk around on the wall with its tile roof and also a walk up into the town hall tower (very neat interior) to a super view of the city and the valleys beyond. Tile roofs made you think of Italy. Looked into a couple churches as always. Also a famous Christmas Shop with a huge amount of stuff (and a huge amount of tourists) and Dawna got a modes amount unique items. Watched the fancy city hall clock do its thing at 11 AM and then rolled down the road toward Munich, stopping at two more of the major medieval cities. Next one was Dinkelsbuhl and it too was neat (and different). Turned out they were having a faire type deal in town so the place was full of locals out for fun, dressed in costumes, etc. Various people exhibiting medieval type games and activities. Had some worst and beer; walked around; neat place. Then, continue on to the third place (Nordlingen) and it was fine but we were running out of time. Onward to Munich, partially on the Autobahn. Began raining which added to the fun of pulling into a major city without a good map and trying to drive to our Hotel. Did very well all the way across town but the last few blocks were a mess with one-way streets, etc. But got there and checked in and quickly changed clothes and off to the welcoming party. It was about 6 PM and the party had started at 5 PM, but was really just in full swing. Socialized and nibbled and drank beer and wine. Eventually a group of about 10 of us headed to a restaurant in the middle of town. So, there I was driving to midtown Munich in the dark in the rain; but worked out fine. Went to a super restaurant. I had something like roast pig and can't remember what Dawna had, but all things were good and so was the atmosphere. Finally .... bed. Hotel was oldish but nice and had various antique furniture around and nice people with a low-key attitude. Excellent. It was close to the major park (Englisher Garden) and to the subway and right on the edge of the Schwab area which is basically like Greenwich Village or Haight Ashbury; i.e., where all the young action is.

MONDAY:

I went to meetings (via the subway) and Dawna and some of the other wives did their things, which she'll write about. The meeting was fairly small (like 100 people) and quite international (more than 2/3rd from Europe) and quite good. That night several of us went to the Ratskeller for dinner. Use the subway to go down town. Meal wasn't great at all. Now for Dawna's day ....... One of the German scientists' wives (Brigetta Schmidt) had organized a "get to know downtown Munich" tour, we went to various areas: Odienplatz, Frankenkirsche, and various cathedrals. Lunch was overlooking the main cathedral. Went to various shops, also. The Residenztheater was baroque and super.

TUESDAY: Meetings for me and play for Dawna. We had initially planned to turn the car back in after we got to Munich but turned out was convenient for the ladies to have it so we kept it. Weather was absolutely beautiful and we walked through the garden to about halfway downtown and then subwayed the rest and had dinner with others at a famous and rather nice restaurant. I had hare and Dawna had a fancy type chicken or capon or something with truffles in it. Was all very good and we were ready for a slightly less German meal by now. Walked all the way home because it was so nice out and as we got to Schwabbing things were really hopping; as they always were. Again, I'll let Dawna report on her day .... Brigetta had wanted us to all go to Nymphemburg castle but felt it would be best if we went by car; and since we had a car I (and she) drove. The grounds were beautiful. I especially liked the Hunting Lodge (very Baroque and Rococo [pardon the spellings]). Well done. We walked a large portion of the grounds, had lunch there, and came home at a reasonable time.

WEDNESDAY: Last day of the meeting that was a few miles north of town; the next two days will be about 10 miles north of town and I'd decided to keep the car to make going there convenient. At the end of this meeting day they had a press conference and then showed some films and slides from the recent Spacelab Shuttle flight. Three of the 4 Payload Specialists were at the meeting. Dawna and the other wives came over for the shows. Oh, yes. Loren and Evelyn Acton were staying at the same hotel as us so we were always doing things with them and Dawna and Evelyn had a great time running around together during the day. Dinner that night was a party sponsored by the German hosts. Good food and drink and talk and socializing ........... And what did Dawna do during the day; read on ............ Much the same routine with Dawna and Birgetta doing the driving .... this time to Schloss Schleissheim, the highlights being very good Dutch and Flemish art plus superb general interior decoration.

THURSDAY: I took the car and several participants to the meeting that was now further out of town. Dawna's activities will be described below. Dinner that night at a beer garden place that we could walk to. Took a long time to get service but the food was prepared very well. I had some excellent pike-like fish. Dawna's activities for the day were ...... Evelyn and I went to the Folkart Gallery via a walk through the Englisher Garden. Doing everything with Evelyn is great because she notices everything around (like all the different birds) in the Garden. Anyway, her choice of galleries was a real winner, and something I never would have chosen, but so distinctly regional that we loved it. We also went to a Kondederi (spelling??) which is a place that serves all kinds pastry and coffee and relaxed a few moments. Oh, yes, on our way to the Kondederi we bumped onto an Antique Shop and a few items were purchased ... basically the only reasonably priced antiques I found on the trip. We took a bus to try and get to a particular poster shop, got a bit lost but a fellow offered help and he turned out to be an American singer who was with the opera in Munich and he was headed that way too. So, got there fine and after little hunting around found a super poster gallery and made a few purchases.

FRIDAY: Last day of the meeting and was fine. Also took a long lunch walk and eat outing with Loren to chat about many things. That evening we went to a nearby restaurant where Dawna had learned she could get sweetbreads; but they weren't on the menu for that night. It was a French type place and I had calves live and Dawna had lamb and Evelyn had salmon and I forget what Loren had but all it was absolutely excellent. Both that night and the night before we walked around Schwabing a bit after dinner and had an ice cream. Dawn's activities on this last day without me were.... Went to the New Pinakothek Art Gallery 18th and 19th century art with a couple of the wives who are very art knowledgeable and they talked about various pictures and what they meant, etc Evelyn and I had walked to the Gallery and had noticed several interesting looking antique shops, so after the "tour" and a lunch with the others we split and I wandered through lots of antique shops that were interesting but too pricey for purchases. Also wandered through the University grounds and then back home.

SATURDAY: We had deliberately scheduled the meeting week to match up to Octoberfest, which began on this Saturday. So, up for breakfast and then subway to the area where the opening days parade was forming (the Acton's and us). Wandered around seeing the costumed people and beautiful horses pulling nice beer wagons and all the bands, etc. Since they were mustering to form for the parade start a 11 AM, it was easy to get near them and since we all had on T-shirts that were very distinctive and said Spacelab-2 on them. Also Dawna would tell people that Loren was an astronaut and we got lots of special privileges. Once the parade actually started we watched a bit (but hard to see amongst the mob) and then walked ahead of it to reach the Oktoberfest grounds. Got there by 11:45 and went to one of the major beer tents. Was quite crowded but ended up realizing that some of the reserved seats were really reserved for 4 PM so we took them and had a great balcony view. Band rolls in playing and then at noon they start distributing the beer. About 8 thousand people in one tent (there are 10 tents) and it's full and everyone wants a beer .... the ladies carry 10 at a time (each is a liter of beer in a heavy glass mug so the whole load must weigh more than 50 lbs). It takes a while to serve everyone and we were wondering if we should leave (had been waiting about 1/2 hour) but then go served. Excellent. We also had the traditional roasted chicken, which was excellent as well. One more of our meeting group found the 4 of us and we 5 enjoyed the loud scene awhile and then wandered into a few of the other tents to check them out and sample their beer. What a party/mob! And the weather was excellent. We even rode on the roller coaster. By about 5 PM we left and went back to the hotel for a bit of clean up before heading out for theater type place that was doing a "Folklore International" performance. Quite good, but must admit we were bushed. Then home and to bed. All in all I'd say opening an Oktoberfest is a great things to do once!

SUNDAY: Breakfast, finished packing up and checked out. Our packup concept was to put things that we'd want for one-night stops in a blue duffel and our flight carry on bags and not plan on getting into our major suitcases very often. The concept worked quite well. Left hotel and went to Dachau (Nazi concentration of historical fame). I'm glad we went but, of course, it's not fun. They have a good museum and movie and then you can walk around the grounds. Some of the original buildings are still there, some have been restored, and many have been removed but the foundations are still there so you can have a good feel for what is was like. There are also several postwar monuments. From there we went to the Nymphenburg Castle (Dawna thought there were several parts of it that I'd really like and she was right) which we did rather rapidly since I had Dawna as a guide. From there back to Oktoberfest for just long enough to buy a souvenir mug (that I wanted) and a herring sandwich. We did this quick stop by parking nearby and walking over, so on the way back to the car we had beer and glass of wine at a sidewalk cafe .... which ended our Munich visit. I don't have too much of an impression of Munich since I never really got a day of sightseeing, but the impressions I do have make me want to return. Dawna is the local expert and she liked it a lot. Drove south out of town and it only takes about an hour to get into the Alps and a whole new world. Stopped at a town called Ettal to see a monastery in a beautiful mountain setting and then went down the road another 5 miles to Oberammergau (home of the passion play every 10 years). It was more peaceful than I expected; found a room to stay in in a person's house (B & B is common); walked around the town doing window shopping (carved wood items are their specialty); and ate at the hotel which our tour book said would be the most authentic. Had a game/deer stew type thing and a good beer; in fact the beer was so good even Dawna had one. Also fun noodles.

MONDAY: Weather continued to be beautiful. Shopped around the town and bought a few things and then hit the road to see Ludwig's castles and the overall scenery. Basically did a circle tour. First castle was Linderhof. It is in a beautiful mountain setting and is the castle he lived in. Gaudy, Gaudy, but fun and got some exercise walking to some of the items on the grounds. Driving to the next castle goes through beautiful countryside and also into and out of Austria once or twice. Picked up some cheese and bread at Fussen and then to the fairy-book castle called Neuschwanstein. It looks like a Disneyland item and is up on the side of a mountain with an unbelievable setting. Quite a hike to it also. Ate our "lunch" up there and did some more walking for an even more spectacular view. Back to the car and onward ..... next stop being a church at Wies, which is simply out in the country but spectacular (said a local friend and one of the books). Turned out it is being heavily repaired so couldn't really see much except scaffolding. Finished the loop by going back through Oberammergau, through Garmisch-Partenkirchen, which is sorta the main city in the area (has past Olympic fame) and onto our goal which was Mittenwald. I had picked this town by some descriptions and because it is where they've been making violins for centuries and every kid learns to play the violin and it is supposed to be an excellent hiking center. Well, it is truly in a beautiful setting and the hiking is excellent, but we were disappointed in the town in that it was full of traffic. Then we had a heck of a time finding a place to sleep because everyone wanted you to sign up for more than one night. Eventually stayed at an Inn rather than a house. By then it was rather late and we'd lost our enthusiasm for walking the town so had a small dinner at the Inn and went to bed. Actually the dinner was a large order of Goulash Soup and it was quite good. The Acton's had been having it often and we hadn't gotten around to it so finally did.

TUESDAY: Walked around town and found the tourist bureau for hiking literature and also went to the violin museum (which was small but quite nice). Then went for about a 3-4 hour round trip hike. Off into the mountains, from city to Lake to another Lake. It is called a wandering walk because it is the simplest they list but it is actually a fairly reasonable hike. Amazing all the elderly people that are doing it. Again an absolutely beautiful day and mountains. We had a little lunch (via our backpack) at the second/furthest lake. Back to town and then into the car and hit the road. Almost immediately into Austria. Stopped by the Innsbruck Airport to try and reconfirm our return reservations (did, but it took a call to Vienna). Rolled along to a place called Rattenburg where our Cupertino neighbor had said we should buy crystal. Good Lord, ever tour bus in the world knew it also ..... so mobbed .... but did buy a few things. Then onward and stopped for the night at Kufstein. Our tour book talked about an outdoor organ concert at 6 PM and it was 5:45 so we tried for it but turns out they stop having them on 1 September. Looked for a bed and turned down a couple that didn't look nice. Finally ended up on a narrow road just outside of town and it dead ended at an Inn and we stayed there. Very nice owners and super view from the terrace and we had a quite authentic and relaxed meal there and got to bed earlish for a change.

WEDNESDAY: Up and into car and head to Berchtesgarden, famous recently as Hitler's retreat but famous long before that as a beautiful area in the German-Austria Alps where various Kings would spend parts of the summer. Drive was quite pretty and went through some fun towns. Arrived B-garden and went right to where you take the tour to the Eagle's Nest (i.e.. Hitler's mountain top spot). An unbelievable winding road up to the Eagle's Nest (only the tour busses can go on it) followed by walking into the mountain through an extremely well made tunnel and then a fancy elevator ride to the summit (where his old house is now a restaurant). At the summit you can walk even higher, and we did. View is spectacular although it was rather misty so nothing like what it must be on a clear day (and I doubt there are very many clear days). All, in all, worth visiting for history and for amazement at what they built and for the view. Into Berchtesgaden to see the sights and churches and shopping. Rather a nice village to wonder around in and Dawna actually found some items she wanted to buy so we waited for the stores to open after their noon to 2 PM break and then made our purchases. Then to see the nearby Konigssee, which is so, named because all the Kings liked its beauty so much. You can only drive to one end and after that it means taking an electric boat on the lake; which we didn't have time to do. The end you can drive to is a Coney Island; so ugg....... but you can believe that without that it would be beautiful and if you got out on the water it would be also. Anyway, decided we'd done Germany ...... for this time ..... so headed down the road to Salzburg, Austria ... Mozart's town.

Stopped at a tourist info place on the edge of town and learned there were a couple concerts (not big but Chamber Music) that evening so went into the center of town and with Dawna double parking (the police made her move) I went into a ticket place and got tickets for one of them. Then we headed to B&B places that were in our book. The first-choice lady was booked up and she called a couple others who were also and did say the one a few blocks away she hadn't been able to raise. We went over there and the Granny wasn't very interested in having someone for only one night but then gave in. So, relaxed a few minutes and the walked back into town. Stopped for a sorta dinner at a beer garden that was in back of an old monastery and a real college type place where you bought food at stands and sorta had a picnic with your beer. Ate outside and weather was nice and whole thing was fun, but certainly not elegant. Walked on and took a tramcar up the hillside to the very impressive Fort which overlooks the city and where the concert was. Fine concert in a spectacular setting in this fort/castle; and we did get some Mozart, along with other fine items. Walked home through the interesting looking town and also along the river that runs through the town and got rained on a bit, but not badly.

THURSDAY: Spent the morning seeing and shopping in Salzburg. Our kind of city! Also did the appropriate tourist bit of the fort/castle and of several churches. Had a rather fancy lunch in a wine cellar type place. Then it was on the road again .... this time a fairly long drive to Vienna. When we initially got our tickets there were no seats available on the flight home from Munich and after looking at the map I said, what the heck ..... let's see a bit of Vienna. So here we were on the motorway again. Not much to see except farmland; but also not really very far to drive. And we got off the motorway to wander along the Danube a bit as we got near Vienna and that is a nice river valley with modest vineyards and villages that would be fun to explore some day. Then into Vienna, which is a major city. Stopped at a tourist info spot on the edge of town and had to wait a very long time for "service". Finally, said how about a place on the edge of town towards the airport so that we can get to the airport easily early Saturday morning, but somewhere that will enable us to go into the city with public transportation. She called and got us a place and we headed for it (with as usual Dawna driving and me reading the map). Found it and certainly nothing fancy, but was friendly and did fit our requirements By now it was after dark and we spent the evening packing (things were pretty randomly distributed between our suitcases and the car by this time). We had checked at the tourist place concerning possible concerts and decided there just wasn't anything, unfortunately.

FRIDAY: After breakfast we took the bus to the edge of the old city and a subway to the preferred entry point; all of which was very efficient. Then we played tourist. Walked the town a whole bunch sharing our time between shopping and looking at tourist things (churches, statues, etc.) and generally soaking up this neat city. Went to an absolutely fantastic museum and spent more time there than had planned because it was so good. Also saw a very neat porcelain and silver collection. This is all Hapsburg Dynasty country and quite impressive. Took the tour of the State Opera House and was disappointed because had expected something really fantastic and it was just good (problem is there has been too much remodeling after the destruction of the war and it is new looking rather than traditional). Anyway, as always the weather was nice and we had a fine time. Went back to the hotel so we could relax a bit and then into town to dinner. Went to a nice Hungarian restaurant (figured we were as close to Hungry as we'd be) that had gypsy music and all the trimmings. A quiet enjoyable meal. Walked the town some more for the after dark impressions. Then back to bed.

SATURDAY: Up at 5 AM and off to the airport, which went smooth. No one at the Hertz checkin counter so simply left the car and a note. Left Vienna at 7:15 AM, which was basically on time. Flight goes to Frankfurt and then you change planes even though the flight number doesn't change. Spent 2 1/2 hours in Frankfurt because the plane wasn't ready ..... boring, but Dawna did make a couple purchases. Then across the ocean to NYC. Flight was full but reasonable, although we decided to watch the movie to kill time and the one screen was so close we could only see it at a real angle and the other was so far away Dawna watched it with binoculars. Anyway arrived NYC a couple hours late and it took forever for our bags to show up so ended up running with the bags from TWA International to TWA domestic and pushing our way onto the plane before departure time .... and then it sat on the runway for more than an hour. So, got to St Louis quite late and literally ran across half the airport only to arrive at our gate as the plane was pulling away. Painful, but they had it planned for us to take another plane to Dallas and then switch planes and finally arrive San Jose. This all worked but did get us in 3 hours later than we planned and meant we'd been on the travel-home routine for 27 hours .... we were tired, but not really too bad off. The bed did feel good, however.

SUMMARY

Fine time and we sure lucked out on the weather. Perhaps did too much running around (we so often spend all our time in only a couple cities) but this was an easy trap to fall into once we had a car at our disposal. A few not great experiences finding accommodations but nothing earth shaking and was nice to have infinite flexibility. Amazingly inexpensive eating. And yes, the children survived staying home by themselves quite nicely and the house was picked up, although not cleaned. Next trip????? Unknown, but they seem to develop for us. We'll just see. .