Ron and I leave for the train station in a few hours, where we will take a high speed train to Frankfurt. Our three fifty-pound bags...

The last ride had to happen, and what a ride it was. We took a train to Naumburg, about an hour from Erfurt. The train stopped briefly...

It is the Monday of our last week in Germany. I am trying hard not to be sad. It was not easy to make this trip happen. We encountered...

We each have unique ways of coping with the unfamiliar. The German language is somewhat familiar to me; that is to say that when I see...

Lost (def:) unable to find one's way; not knowing one's whereabouts. Reading about being lost is one thing, the experience itself is...

On the far eastern edge of Germany, almost in the Czech Republic, lies the tiny town of Herrnhut. Herrnhut came into existence in the...

Many years ago, Ron and I were travelling through Austria, and found ourselves in a tiny village with a few hours until our next train. ...

For Martin's birthday, his parents treated us all to a live performance of the musical Cabaret at the National Theatre of Germany in...

On one of our first bike rides, we noticed a sign out in the countryside advertising the upcoming Oktoberfest in Erfurt. We dutifully...

Our little group of two became four as Kathryn and Andreas joined the party. We met in Erfurt, took the train to Stadtilm, and set out...

We suspect Summer has finally surrendered to Autumn. The days are getting colder and shorter. The last two days were rainy and windy,...

Unity Day is a National holiday in Germany, commemorating the unification of East and West Germany in 1990. This year, Unity Day fell...

There are many very good reasons to go to Vienna. The primary purpose of our visit wasn't art, or music, or culture or even another...

Museums are not really my thing. Traditional, three-hour classical music concerts are not really my thing either. I do not know why...

We woke to warm and brilliant sunshine. Ah, Vienna. We started our Saturday with a traditional German breakfast at the Hotel Austria, an...

We arrived in Vienna on a Friday evening after sunset. It was a long train ride from Erfurt, almost six hours. The high speed ICE train...

The Ilm River doesn't flow through Erfurt, but we had caught glimpses of it on several rides. The Ilm starts in the same mountains as...

For years, Ron and I kept a "Wish List" of things we would like to do if we ever made it to Germany for an extended stay. The list...

Always looking for the next great bike ride, Ron spotted a group of five little lakes on Google Maps, just a bit north of us. This...

"Would you like to go on a mushroom harvest?" It was a perfect sentence, and I could tell Birgit had practiced it. Birgit has been...