Traditional Muzzleloading Association
The Center of Camp => The Campfire => Topic started by: RonC on August 05, 2017, 12:25:54 AM
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Just stole away for a few moments to send this email. Heading off to Bamberg, Germany today.
I managed to get an invitation to give a research presentation in Germany and it permitted me to piggy back a vacation trip on the professional activities.
I have been practicing my German language skills, but my spoken German still is primitive and stale from lack of use. I can read German, but speaking and hearing it is a different story.
It has been quite a trip.
First, there is no way I can keep my girlish figure, what with the food that is served.
We have visited the picturesque German towns along the Rhine River. The external timbers and medieval towers and castles are the real images of the Grimm Brothers fairy tales.
Stay Well and Shoot Straight,
Ron
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My wife has been learnin' the German language this summer,....she uses Duolingo. :bl th up
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Good on you, Ron C.!
:hairy
I am green with envy! :bow
I would like nothing better than to go back and retrace my old tracks from years gone by.
My first trip to Germany was back in September 1957, immediately after AIT at Ft. Benning GA.
At that time, only 13 years after the war, there was still a lot of destruction openly visible, the entire country was under construction, and the damage was literally everywhere...in fact, to see that much damage was totally overwhelming for a young 18 year old.
At the time I was stationed in Ludwigsberg and Ulm / Neu Ulm.....the huge Cathedral in Ulm, the tallest in the world, was undamaged while the city around it was practically destroyed.
However, come Spring in 1958, following the worst winter I had ever seen in my young life, and 90 days of Operation Winter-Shield..... I got the opportunity to visit Munich, with a train ride and many stops, through all, or most all of Bavaria for 4 days & nights...all of this was sponsored and paid for by the USO....it was then that I fell in love with that country!
The most breathtaking scenery in the whole world! The Bavarian countryside appeared to be unaffected by the war. (Of course that is / was the farming, agriculture section of Germany).
Later on, while on Active Duty there was two more tours back to Germany, but nothing was ever more impressive than my many visits back to Bavaria, ie, Garmisch, Partenkirchen, Chiemsee, Bodensee, Munich, Bad Tolz, Neuschwanstein, Oberammergau...and on, and on...(please excuse the spelling, it has been a while.)
Stay safe Ron, it's a whole new world in that country at the moment...unfortunately.
Check in with us when you get back, take a lot of pictures.
Most of all be careful....
Uncle Russ...
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It has been a grand tour of discovery for my wife and I. It helps that others on the tour are a fine and pleasant group. And, we all are of the old geezer status. ;D
Bamberg has been unusual in that it escaped destruction during WWII. The old buildings, some dating back to the 1300's, are still standing. Other cities have been extensively rebuilt after the war.
Back in Colorado, old is a house built in 1888. In Virginia, old is a Williamsburg building constructed in 1680. In Germany, old is a castle still standing since 1200.
ron
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We began the trip near Amsterdam.
(http://imageshack.com/a/img924/312/BYT9V3.jpg)
Then to Cologne:
(http://imageshack.com/a/img923/5269/StJSeg.jpg)
We spent considerable time in the Middle Rhine valley:
(http://imageshack.com/a/img924/6310/INJ762.jpg)
(http://imageshack.com/a/img924/4909/NaaJCh.jpg)
Miltenburg:
(http://imageshack.com/a/img922/4693/sI5ZsU.jpg)
The Nuremberg trial Room where the Nazi leadership was tried:
(http://imageshack.com/a/img923/9303/giYMOG.jpg)
Ron
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:hairy
Very nice pictures!
Uncle Russ...
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I wouldn't mined going back to Germany some day for a visit. Great pictures, Ron. :hairy
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Very nice pictures. Thanks for sharing!
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Ron, those photos are beautiful. I'd love to go tour Germany and Italy and drink some great wine. My wife did spend a little time in Germany many year ago; she would so love for us to go there.
I'm still studying and trying to learn conversational English; haven't tried German before. ::)
Seriously, I did use to speak a little Japanese but it has been so long I remember little. What fun you are having.
Girlish figure, eh? Back when I was a little girl I had no trouble with that. ;)
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Thank you for your well wishes and comments on the photos!
We are in Passau, now, and have to carry our passports to enter Austria.
We have visited Regensburg, Wurzburg and Bamburg, recently.
This is the ralley area used by Hitler, a photo of it now and back in the 1930s.
(http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1024x768q90/924/aIY0bx.jpg)
(http://imageshack.com/a/img923/2491/Ee6ixS.jpg)
St. Peters Cathedral:
(http://imageshack.com/a/img924/8463/Lqca2R.jpg)
Ron