April 24th - One day, three countries

We headed off in the early afternoon for a quick stop in Seltisberg, near Basel, to see family friends of Leah's: Hedy Wehrli, and her partner Tiger. So nice to see Hedy after more than 10 years and get a chance to catch up over a coffee at their lovely home!


As we headed back to Frankfurt, Donald suggested that we have a real Alsatian chou croute - so off we went for a drive into France, through the Alsace region. We stopped for dinner in Strasbourg - beautiful light on the cathedral as we walked through the streets. I had the classic chou croute pictured below, and Donald had a smoked goose breast in a cream sauce... yummy!



We have a bit of confusion getting from France into Germany (it seems that if you join the EU, they allow you to take down your "Welcome to Germany" signs from the highway...). Add to that the huge amount of road construction going on in Germany for the upcoming World Cup . We get back to Fritz and Lydia's very late.... Thanks again for all your hospitality!

April 20th to 24 - Hockey in Engelberg, Switzerland

Team Northmen 2006

Donald and I drove from Frankfurt to Switzerland in our rental Mercedes wagon... we have come to the conclusion that the reason there are so many cool wagon models here is that minivans (and their bad gas mileage) have never caught on in Europe... wouldn't handle well on the Autobahn either!

Why Engelberg? Donald and his 3 brothers (David, John and Thane) have played "oldtimers hockey" with a team of Canadians, Swedes, Germans and Americans called "The Northmen" since the mid-80's, in Engelberg, the Czech Republic, and beyond. The boys hadn't played for over 8 years, but last year they decided on a reunion in 2006. Engelberg is a lovely little town in the mountains near Zurich, with spectacular views as you hike or take the gondola to the top of Mt. Titlus. We stayed in the Hotel Europe, an Art Nouveau hotel with great views of the mountains



The guys had tons of fun - played really hard, and stood their own, against teams a lot younger than the Northmen!



We had a fun banquet evening - who would have expected a contortionist as entertainment (note accordian player in the background...)?!?! Everyone had a chat with Kippy, back in BC, who wasn't able to make it... we're all thinking about you!



If you'd like to see all our photos from Engelberg, see our other website http://spaces.msn.com/leahanddonald/

First days - April 19th & 20th in Germany
Leah and Donald's trip to Europe 2006

After a long flight, we were greeted at the Frankfurt airport by Leah's relatives - Fritz Wolf, and his daughter Christiane! We picked up Fritz's wife, Lydia, and off we drove along the Rhine in the early spring sunshine! Donald was happy to see the vineyards of Germany.

We had a lovely drive, with castles on every prominent outcropping along the river. Stopped for a wine tasting - wonderfully trocken (dry) Reislings... what better way to start our trip!

On April 20th, we went to Hessenpark, an interesting historical open-air museum/park where they had had taken very old buildings from across Germany and reconstructed them on this site - board for board! Some went back to the 13th century and each region of Germany was represented. Sort of a magnum Upper Canada Village! Leah loved the use of slate for roofs and walls.