Bonn Aachen

     After leaving  Köln I took the train to Bonn.  I had never been there.  The Bonn Hilton is beautiful and more than reasonable.  It has a beautiful terrace but I did not get to use it because the weather was not good.  There is not to much to see here in the way of sightseeing.  I did got to the Egyptian Museum.  The collection is small but it only costs 2€.

Bonn Hilton Terrase

Bonn Beethoven Fest

Bonn Rathaus

     This is more a walking- around- and- enjoying- a -leisurely- time city.  And I did enjoy walking around.  I ate some good food at a steak restaurant near to the hotel.  It is not in the center and I found it on TripAdvisor.  It is called Anno Tubac and is located in the Kolnstrasse.  It was like a lokal and I felt welcomed and really enjoyed being there.   I also had a few drinks at a place in the center called Sofia's.  Again, very welcoming and nice.
      From Bonn I went to Aachen.  In Aachen I stayed at the Mercure an Dom.  It is well located and the price was right but it was no Hilton.  There was not to much service and there was something weird about the mattress and the pillows.  But I had a good time anyway.  The main site is of course the Cathedral.  This was built by Charlemagne and has his throne in it.  A combination ticket for a cathedral tour and the cathedral treasure museum was only 10€.

Aachen Cathedral

Throne of Charlemagne

      My first night here I ate in a little Greek place called Büchel on the street of the same name.  Very good!  I sat and drank my wine and enjoyed.  The next night I ate at a Mediterranean place called Aix Mediterrane in the Rommelsgasse.  I loved it!  I ate a Dorade Royal which was the special.  This was a grilled whole fish and very delicious.  It came with a good sized salad and potatos.  I also drank a 0.5 l red wine.  They could not have been nicer to me.  and they gave me a Grappa at the end.  >I love places like this.
      I enjoyed my days in Aachen and would say to go there but there really is not much after the cathedral to see. so if you do not like simple walking around and eating and drinking this place is probably a day trip or a one-nighter.

Trier, Köln 2019

     After Straßburg I went to Trier Germany for two nights.  I stayed at the Mecure Porta Nigri which, remarkably, is across the street from the Porto Nigri.  That is the ancient Roman gate of the city.  Needless to say it is perfectly located.  I had a nice room with AC and the hotel has a nice bar.  I got to go into the Porta Nigri, which is interesting and offers a nice view.  I went to the Roman museum which has an interesting collection and presents it well.  It has the largest horde of Roman coins ever found!  We went to the cathedral and saw the chapel of the coat.  A coat allegedly from the 1st century so naturally they claim it belonged to Jesus.  We also saw the Basilica which originally was the throne room of the emperor.

Porto Nigri

Trier

Mercure Trier

     On day two we went on a one hour river cruise.  It was a sunny day and the short cruise was quiet and peaceful.  It is a small and quiet city.  Not so much to do but worth a stop.  The food and beer were typical German.

     Next it was on to Köln.  This was my third time here and I really like this city.  I also stayed for the third time at the Köln Hilton and I really like that hotel.  It is up the street and around the corner from the train station, which is in the middle of the city, so you can easily walk there.  We went to the Art museum, which has a good collection and we went to the Modern Art museum which was not good.  I am sorry but a canvas painted solid blue is not art.
      I got to eat at Toro Negro restaurant again and of course at the Hard Rock!  If you are there definitely eat at  Toro Negro in Salzgasse.  It is a Spanish steak restaurant and the food is excellent!  The Hard Rock is just fun.  Drinking the Kölsch beer at Früh is also something to do while you are there.  From Köln I went alone to Bonn, where I am now.

Straßburg, 2019

    On 29 August I left Weimar and took the train to Frankfurt to meet a friend for 7 nights of travel. 4 cities in. 7 nights!  Normally I don't do that but....  So in Frankfurt I stayed at the Steigenburger Frankfurter Hof Hotel and my friend stayed down the street at the Motel One Hotel (?).  My hotel is a beautiful, grand hotel.  I had a deluxe room and it was spectacular!  I was sorry to stay in that room for only one night.  Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture.  We only went out to eat that night and then a few drinks at my hotel because the next morning we were off with the train to Straßburg, France.
     Straßburg is a beautiful city and the capitol of the Alsace region of France.  In German it is Elsass.  We stayed at the Mecure City center and it was nice.  The rooms were not spectacular but nice and it had AC.  It was also perfectly located.  I went to the Bishop's Palace, Palais Rohan, and went through the 3 museums there.  They have a nice collection of Old Masters.  A semi-interesting Pre-historic-Roman collection and other Archeological things.  Interesting and certainly worth a look.  It is also very nice just to walk around the city because it is very beautiful.

Palais Rohan

Straßburg

                                           

I got to eat 2 dinners there and they were both great!  The first night was Aux Armes de Strasbourg in the Gutenburg Place.  It was French, very hearty and very good for a more than reasonable price.  Night 2 we had reserved at Le Gruber and a good thing it was packed. We both had escargot in garlic oil and then I had a terrine with meat and potato and carrots and a side salad.  I really enjoyed it all.

Weimar 3

     Having returned from Dresden, not too much has been happening here.  We did have the first installation of  "Weimar Kunst"  for the summer.  It was a display at various buildings throughout the city called "If Walls Could Talk".  I saw 2 of them.  One on the National Theatre in Theatre Platz and one on the building at Göthe Platz.  What they did was project onto the facade of the building and make it look completely different and the projections changed from one to the other and gave a sense of motion.  Music played.  Each lasted about 15 minutes and I thought was very clever.
    I have also spent some time the last few days booking hotel rooms for September.  A friend is arriving 29 August and we will be meeting in Frankfurt.  Then 2 nights in Straßburg, 2 nights in Trier and 2 nights in Köln.  Then I go to 3 nights in Bonn and 3 nights in Aachen before I go to Brussels to meet my brother and his wife.  The hotels with my brother in Brussels, London and Amsterdam were booked before I left.  The rest I had to do.  I have one stop left to do.  I am just waiting for the price to, hopefully, come down at the hotel where I want to stay.

Dresden 3

     I did get to the Alte Meister Gemälde Galerie on Friday.  It was in one way a disappointment.  I mean, seeing the paintings is always a treat not to be missed.  But, due to the renovations that had it closed completely, only 55 works were on display in 3 rooms.  It was very crowded.  It will be this way until December.  I also got to the sculpture collection and new masters collection at the Albertinium.

Antious-Albertinium

 Very much worth a visit.
     I ate at la Osteria again.  It is in Kreuzstraße and once again I could not have been more satisfied.  I had tortelini with Bolognese sauce that was delicious!  I also walked over the bridge and up to Albert Platz.  The Augustus Bridge is being renovated and it makes that whole area look awful.  The beautiful view of the Altstadt from the other side of the river is ruined.  But...   Anyway I ate right on the Platz at the Augustinier Beer restaurant.  I don't remember the actual name.  It was for lunch and I had a schnitzl and pommes but I did get to have 2 delicious dark beers!

  My return trip was uneventful.  Dresden is great.  I would go again and I would recommend it to anyone.  Stay at the Dresden Hilton - it rules.

Dresden Semper
 Opera

Dresden Day 2

     Today started out with a disappointment.  I went to the Älte Meister  Galerie and it was closed!

It will be open on Friday.  So I went to the Residenz instead.  I went through the whole thing - the Historisches Grünes Gewolbe, the Grünes Gewolbe, and the rest.  My lunch was at a burger place and then I had to come back and sleep because of the beer and wine I drank last night.

Dresden Beer

Dresden Residenz

Dresden Lunch

     I am staying at the Dresden Hilton for the second time and I have to say it is wonderful!  My room is exactly what you would expect and the location can not be beat.  Also the price is great!

Dresden Hilton

Dresden 1

     I   arrived today in Dresden!  It is as wonderful as ever!  The train ride was from Weimar to Erfurt to Dresden war ganz einfach.  The Hilton, in the middle of the city, is great!  This is the second time I am here, ( at the Hilton, not in Dresden).  I just love it here.  It may be the east german Disney World but it is very beautiful and peaceful, in some way.
     I ate at Maredo.  Here it seems to be more expensive than other cities.  >But it is good.  Then I went up to the Bruhlische Terrasse and had a few. What a beautiful view.  There is construction on the Augustas Brucke.  Now I am in the HIlton bar.  A nice waiter helped me with my new German computer.

Görlitz 2019

     For 3 nights, from 16 July to 19 July, I was in Görlitz, Germany.  Görlitz is the eastern most city in Germany.  It is in the region known as Silesia and across the Neisse river is, what is today, called Poland.  It was an interesting trip.  There are 2 things definitely worth going to there.  One is the Kaisertrutz.  This is an old fortification building that now houses a museum about the history of the region from the pre-historic times on to today.  The other is the schlesisches museum which is in the schonehof and is the history of the city and Silesia.  I enjoyed both.  It is also interesting to walk over the bridge to Poland, although once you are there there is nothing to do.    Görlitz  was not destroyed during WWII so everything is original and you can enjoy many different types of architecture.

Schonhof

Kaisetrutz

     There are places to eat and "hang-out" at on the Untere Markt, the ObereMarkt and the Bruder Strasse.  I ate German food at Arcanthus,  which has a very pleasant terrace over looking the river, Gambrinus Bierstuble, which is down a little side street off the Bruder Strasse, and Destille, which is not in the "center" but right there.  All were very good and exactly what you would expect in  terms of selection and price.  I also did some drinking at the places around the Untere and Obere Markts.  All nice with the same selections and prices.

Obere Markt

     My hotel was the Romantik Tuchmacher Hotel.  It is very centrally located.  It is billed as the "best" hotel in the city.  I had a superior double which was bog and nice.  I was in the annex building next door to the regular, which had its pluses and minuses.  Plus was I could come and go as I wish3ed and the room was made-up immediately when I left.  A Minus was no hotel bar to finish the evening in and then get in the elevator.  The people there were great and the price was wonderful.  I would definitely recommend it.

     All in all my Görlitz trip was a success!  It is worth a visit.  I always think that you need at least 3 nights to see somewhere but I guess 2 nights would serve here.

Bridge to Poland

Weimar 2

       Well I have been here in Weimar for 2 weeks now.  After having a heat wave while I was in Berlin,  we had maybe two good days here and then the weather turned.  It has been cold and dank and rainy.   So of course that puts a damper on things since you really can't sit outside to eat and it's no fun being out in the evening and being cold.  It is especially disappointing because the annual Wine Fest began Thursday night.  I was there but in the rain, not as much fun.  I have not been back.  Tomorrow is the last day so maybe I will go again.
      I have eaten in my favorite restaurants.  I have been to India twice, (tonight!), Sachsische Hof, Texas, Bim Bim and of course Pomodoro multiple times.  They make the best Saltimbucca I have ever had.  I have only been to Schwarzburger Hof once!  Again, who wants to sit out on the terrace on a cold, rainy night?
     Anyway,  tonight I booked my hotel for my first short trip.  I will be in Gorlitz, Germany for 3 nights.  Gorlitz is on the border with Poland and is the furthest east in Germany one can go.  I have never been there and have read interesting things about it.  Everything I have read says it is beautiful and worth a visit.  I will be staying at the Romantik Hotel Tuchmacher.  I can write more about it once I am there.   Here's hoping for some sunny summer weather.

Weimar I 2019

     I arrived in Weimar on July 1.  The trip here was, of course, easy.  Herr M-L was waiting for me and we had our usual encounter.  Since then the most exciting thing I have done is go to the theater.  The Deutsche National Theatre had "Drei Tage auf  dem Lande" - eine Komodie.  So I bought a ticket for the 4th row middle for 30 euro and went on Thursday night.  I enjoyed it.  It is always an enjoyable evening there.
     Other than that, I have been running in the park and going to my favorite restaurants for dinner.  So far, I have been to Texas (steaks), India, Pomodoro, Sachsisches Hof , and a new restaurant named al Dente.  I have been to Roxanne bar in the afternoon and in the evening and I have been to Schwartzburger Hof.  That of course is my "lokal" and I am concerned.  They took away the umbrellas and none of the usual people were there!  I hope it was just an odd night.  Next week is the Wine Fest and I have to decide if I want to go away that week or not.  I also got my hair cut.  Syriana is not there any more so I went to Akbar in the Graben.

Berlin II 2019

     The rest of my week in Berlin was spent rather quietly.  After all, this was the 15th time I have been there.   There is nothing "new" for me to see, so I can take it easy - which I like.  It was my 5th week long stay at the Eurostars Hotel in Berlin.  I really like/recommend this hotel.  The location is great.  Down the block from Freidrichtrasse station and minutes from Museum Insel and Unter den Linden.  The rooms are exactly what you would get in any 5-star chain hotel.  The service is very friendly, if not so efficient, and the breakfast lacks for nothing.

     I did go to the Pergamon Museum.  It is the first time I have gone in a few years.  The main building is getting an addition and renovation so you enter from the side and you can not see the actual Pegamon Alter.  You can see the Babylon Walls and the Islamic collection - all good.

I also got to see the progress on the Berliner Schloss.  I have watched this from the beginning!  The first time I went to Berlin in 2002 the old Palais der Republik was still standing.  This was the East German building for culture put up during communist days on the spot where the Hohenzollern Stadt Schloss stood for centuries.  On my many returns to Berlin I have seen the Palais der Republik turn down and the area turned into a green space where people laid in the sun and played volleyball and frisbee.  Then they began excavating to begin the redconstruction of the Berliner Schloss.  The exterior is basically done but for the dome entrance and the landscaping.

     I also did a lot of walking around and some shopping and possibly drank some beer.  I really enjoy Berlin, its walk-ability and they places to stop and while-away an hour.

Berlin 26 June 2019

     Berlin is having a wild heat wave.  Today the temperature was 35 C which is 95 F.  I walked over to the Gemalde Gallerie and by the time I got there I was a giant sweatball.  They are currently having a special exhibit called "Mantagne and Bellini" .  They were both not only Italian renaissance painters but Mantagne was married to Bellini's sister.  So the exhibit does a remarkable job of showing the influence of one on the other with side-by-side comparisons - so interesting.
     After I went, naturally, to the outdoor cafe and had a beer and a water.

Then I walked down to the sony center and ate at a place called Corroboree.  I had a burger and fries and 2 hefeweissen beers and water.  Then I walked down the street whose name I can never remember, past the Holocost Memorial and the Brandenburger Tor and along the river to the hotel.  I had to shower and sleep.
     Tonight I went down by the river to Vaporetto on Shiffbauerdamm.  I sat along the river and had a diavolo pizza, a large water and a 1/2 liter of Chianti.  I ended up paying 40 euro.  But I was there a long time and I always enjoy it.  Now I am having a beer in the hotel bar but I am really tired and need to sleep.

     This morning I was sitting in the breakfast room quietly reading my paper when I was surrounded by a group of Jewish-American seniors who were talking really loud and standing and all of this while hovering over me.  On of them spoke to me because she thought she knew me?  So I moved because it was too obnoxious.  Now they are in the bar!  One of the men came up to the bar and was already speaking in a very loud voice to the bartender, of course all of this is in American, when he turns and starts yelling across the room to the others about the type of vodka they wanted?  Don't people from America respect anyone?  I am sure they are all very nice people but really?  Do you have to yell? And what about the rest of the guests who may not want to participate?  This is why Europeans have such a bad impression of Americans. 

Berlin Day 1 2019

     My flight over, from Newark to Munchen and then to Berlin was as good as it gets.  Flying "barcalounger" class is the only way to go!  I did not sleep to much over to Munchen so I am still tired.  But, the transfer in Munchen airport was easy and the flight to Berlin from there was fast.  Unfortunately,  my room was not ready and I had to wait almost 2 hours.  However I did sleep a little.  Then I showered and dressed and went up the street to Blockhouse for dinner.  I had a rib-eye steak which came with a salad and a baked potato.  I drank to Erdinger Hefeweissen beers and a large bottle of water.  All great.
     After I walked down past all the places on the river.  I did not stop because the Standige Vertreter where I normally go was packed.  The weather is beautiful.  So I walked over to Oasis and had a dark Erdinger.  Now I am in the hotel bar.
     So, so far so good.  More tomorrow.

Summer 2019 Airport

     Well the journey has officially begun!  My car arrived at 12:50 and we made it to Newark, no problem.  Check in and security were a breeze.  Now I am in the Polaris Lounge enjoying some very nice Stella's.  It is only 2:30 and I do not board till 4:30 for my 5 o'clock flight.  So plenty of time.  I originally went to the United club by my gate, but the woman at the desk looked at my ticket and said I should come here.  This is where I was last year too.  It is very nice and quiet and not crowded.  You can have whatever you want.

     I hope the rest of the trip over is this easy.  I am excited but not like in the past.  I am much calmer these days.  Still I am looking forward to being at the Eurostars in Berlin.

Summer 2019

   In a few short weeks I will be on my way back to Deutschland!   I will be flying in to Berlin and staying for a week and then on to Beloved Weimar for the months of July and August.  I have been renting my apartment in Weimar since 2010 and this will be the third summer that I am there for all of July and August.  Of course I will be flying over to Berlin in my bar-ka-lounger in first class.  Everything is arranged and I am starting to get excited.
     I have also finalized my plans for September but I can write about that over the summer.  I will be staying in Berlin at the Eurostars.  This will be the fifth time that I am staying for a week in this hotel before going to Weimar.  It is a great location, the rooms are exactly what you would expect and the breakfast will satisfy everyone.  I also enjoy after dinner drinks in the bar.  So I am looking forward to EVERYTHING!  It is amazing that the summer is here again and that after all these years I am still so excited to go.

September 2019

     My plans for Spring 2019 may be a bust but I have finalized part of my plans for September 2019.  I am not going on a cruise in the Mediterranean but I will be meeting my brother and his wife for a vacation in Brussels, London and Amsterdam.  As we know, I was in Brussels and London last summer but I have not been in Amsterdam in a few years.  I booked my airfare and the hotels for the three of us for this trip yesterday.
     I am excited for this because I have not traveled with my brother in a while, ( not counting the Punta Cana trip last year).  I went with him on my first trip to Europe when we were in High School.  His school had a Spring Break trip to Switzerland/Germany/Paris and they let me go.  He has not been since.  So it will be fun!

Spring 2019 revisited

   I have planned out a spring trip but I have done no thing about it yet!!   I don't know why either.  There is no reason under the sun not to go on this trip.  What is the problem?

     I do have some news, however.  I was supposed to meet my brother and his wife in Barcelona at the end of September to go on a cruise over to the Italian coast and then fly home from Rome.  That would have meant that I would have had 3 weeks between leaving Weimar and meeting them in Barcelona.  But, we can not find an appropriate cruise, so now they will just meet me somewhere.  This gives us endless possibilities so we will need to decide. But this will fit in more with what I would do anyway.

Spring 2019

     Well it has been a little over three months since I have been back in the US and I am planning to leave again.  I have secured my apartment in Weimar for July and August and now I am working on a trip in April.  I am thinking that I will fly to Turin Italy.  Then go to Lyon, France, Avignon, France and then finally fly home from Marsailles, France.  It sounds good and the best part is that I have never been to any of those places.  So I am in the process of looking at hotels and sites I want to see to get this going.  I am thinking it will be an 18 night trip.
     Anyway, as I work on this and make decisions I will continue to write about what I am doing.