Where to begin? Oh, at the beginning...

Disclaimer:  

We have just returned from a visit to MC. He lives in one of those areas of Europe known for tourism...and many other things. (MC has a BA in History - this is not foreshadowing. It is warning/explanation/"heads up.")

Computer issues prevented me from working on posts, so my mind has shuffled and reshuffled our experiences. Forgive me if the following few (maybe 4 or 5 or 6) walks are comprehensible only to me. I hope there will be something new for you, dear friends - a sight or thought or story that is different.*

Flashback: 

In 1997, DH and I traveled in Germany with the children. I planned the trip for us and for another family. While I had been to Europe before I traveled alone (1977) or with one companion (DH in 1981). This was the first trip I planned by computer and, because there were two families (our 5 and their 4) traveling, accommodations were a nightmare.

We discovered a few of our rooms were upstairs - sometimes many flights of stairs. In Munich, I achieved true award-winning status - and not in a good way. We drove down the street looking for the number of our guesthouse and I spotted a four story building on one corner. "It's probably that one. And we will be on the top floor."

It was and we were. 

But that wasn't all. We were all in one big room up four flights of unheated stairwell. The bathrooms were down the hall (and also unheated). AND the place was having difficulty with the hot water. We had to go to another floor for hot showers...then run up the freezing stairwell to jump into our beds.**

2013:

For this trip, our dear boy arranged for us to stay in a friend's apartment - (yes, you guessed it) up four flights of stairs (59 steps according to DH). Now, I walk up and down stairs every day, at work and at home, but I was not ready for this. It was a wonderful place - huge and very nice. And by the end of the trip, I had adjusted to the four flights.

During this trip we walked down "narrow streets of cobblestone"*** through historic walled cities (Nuremberg, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, and Amberg), and in country towns with other history (Flossenburg and Pottenstein). Cobblestone streets are hard on the feet....just saying.

So, here are some selections from the trip...stairs and climbs, cobblestones and such.

Stairwell at the apartment

Stairs at Flossenburg concentration camp

Walking down the steps into the Valley of Death, the memorial at Flossenburg Camp.

Steps on the way up from the memorial at Flossenburg next to part of original electrified fence post.

Steps to the back of the crematorium, Flossenburg Concentration Camp

Walking up towards the burg ruins at Flossenburg  (Yes, that is MC on the wall - waiting for DH who was waiting for me)

Stairs - Flossenburg

Railings show the steps to the top of the burg at Flossenburg.

Proof I climbed - ruins at Flossenburg

Steps at Flossenburg

Steps/seating at the Zeppelinfeld, Nuremberg

Stairs at the Palace of Justice, Nuremberg

DH and LD leaving the exhibit in the Palace of Justice, Nuremberg

Some of steps to the tower of the Rathaus, Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Still in the Rathaus in Rothenburg

Climbing in Rothenburg - Rathaus basement? tower? old city walls?

Let's walk around the city on the walls - Rothenburg

Same stairs, different view.

Short cut to MC's house - notice the even and measured steps, unlike almost every other set of stairs you see here!

Climbing uphill in Pottenstein.

Roots of a pine tree breaking up the path in Pottenstein.

Climb to top of hill near Pottenstein.

Cobbles in Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Uneven walkway on the walls in Rothenburg - some stones, some bricks, some cement repairs.

Cobbles in walkways at burg, Flossenburg.a

YES! I did walk around on the walls in Rothenburg. I did get to the top of the Rathaus. I also climbed to the top of the hills in Pottenstein and Flossenburg...and here is the proof****:

PROOF:

Sunset at the top of the Burgruine, Flossenburg

More, Flossenburg

Looking down on the city of Flossenburg

Another view off the burg hill, Flossenburg

Look closely. See the tiny mountain on the left just above the horizon? That is allegedly a sleeping volcano. I always eavesdrop on tour guides and heard one explaining that mountain as we stood atop the hill. She also explained the shiny flecks in the local granite were referred to as "glimmer." 

Atop the Rathaus, Rothenburg ob der Tauber.

In the city walls, Rothenburg.

Another view from the walls, Rothenburg.

Top of the castle hill, Pottenstein

Another view in Pottenstein

NOTES:

* I find myself typing German city names multiple ways. "Berg" and "burg" can throw me. It makes sense to apply the rule that "burg" refers to a "castle" while "berg" means "hill" (but some "bergs" have castles too and most "burgs" are built atop hills or mountains). Interestingly, while pronounced the same in English, I understand they are pronounced differently in German. Anyway, if I mess one up every now and again, I am blaming it on my fast typing and not my poor spelling and/or confusion/bad attitude.

**The saving grace for this place was a wonderful breakfast in the first floor restaurant/bar where we feasted in a room with a stunning beveled glass room divider and where we learned that people in Europe can bring their well behaved dogs inside. The children were fascinated.

***Paul Simon, The Sounds of Silence. More on that later too.

**** I am afraid of heights. If you know me, you know I don't like to stand on a chair - or climb a ladder. My children can tell stories of towers I climbed, but never exited atop - balconies I climbed to, but never stood on - handing my camera out to the children to take a photo. They (and DH) are all "devil dares," but I am not. Still, now that I am no longer gripping the back of an all too adventurous child's waistband (now I merely avert my eyes or turn away when they are walking too close to the edge), I seem to be a little braver about high places.

Final note here --- OK. I know I posted the train ride first, but I was trying to get it "out there" for my dear youngest nephew (and collaborator in railroad adventures).