Europe Germany	Spain Mar 2 - Mar 25 Germany Mar 26 - Apr 4 Netherlands Apr 5 - Apr 8 Germany Apr 9 - Apr 14 Czech Republic Apr 15 - Apr 21

We drove from Amsterdam to Munich ...with a stop in the small town of Boppard (along the Rhine river). There are many castles and castle ruins along the Rhine (and of course, Lon checked out a few). Lon celebrated another birthday on the road (his last birthday was in New Zealand, now this one in Germany). Can you believe we've been on the road for over 1 year now???!!! We celebrated his birthday in Munich with our friend Marion. It was a such a nice surprise to have a cake, candles, and champagne for his birthday!!!

This was my second time in Munich (Lon's been here several times). It's a very cosmopolitan city...there seems to be a good mix of people from all over. Even though it's a large city, it still retains a small town feel. Munich is very well laid out with many parks, beer gardens, and bicycle paths. We walked around the Marienplatz (where the famous Glockenspiel clock is) and had a beer at the Hofbrauhaus. We chose to take it easy and enjoy our short time together with Marion (she's a full time doctor now!). Thanks, Marion ...we really enjoyed our time with you!

It was about a 4.5 hour drive from Munich to Heidelburg, where we met up with our Italian friends - Carla and Fabio. They had a much longer drive (about 8 hours from Milan to Heidelburg). They were in Germany for business reasons, so we decided to meet up that weekend. The first thing that struck both Lon and I was how many Americans there were in Heidelburg. Turns out, there's a fairly large American army base here. It's a very charming city ...old world architecture (Heidelburg was one of the few cities in Germany that didn't get destroyed during the war). The Hauptstrasse pedestrian street was lined with shops and restaurants ...it's actually pretty romantic (even with a little rain).

Heidelburg was a charming city. It was great to catch up with Carla and Fabio too! Once again, we were "on the road". Destination ... Prague!

region	lodging	$US / night	rating	notes
Boppard	Royal Hotel	$38.27		Quaint place on the Rhime
Munich	Marion's Place	$0.0		Cozy, homey atomsphere
Heidelburg	Hotel Zeiglerbrau	$48.95		clean and comfortable
Hirschau	Lodge Weich Gasthof	$37.38		basic room in a small town