GERMANY 

APRIL 2006

April 2nd - Coburg

Day trip to Coburg about 90 minutes away.  Overlooking the town is the Fortress which is very impressive.  Inside is a museum showing paintings, statues and armour from hundreds of years ago.  One of the rooms had carved wood panelling all over it.  Martin Luther stayed here in hiding for many months.  The last 2 photos are taking in the old town of Coburg.

April 9th - Wartburg Castle

Wartburg castle is overlooking the town of Eisenach in the state of Thüringen, about 2 or so hours north of home.  Amazing castle built right up on top of the mountain.  The gold mosaic room is St. Elisabeth of Hungary's room, next is the banquet hall and then the room where Martin Luther hit out and translated the New Testament into German.

Johannes Sebastian Bach Museum

Eisenach is the town where Bach was born and there is a small museum in the house.  This was a MAJOR and very exciting experience for Aidan, especially since he has several Bach pieces to work on in his current Suzuki piano repertoire.

Castle Gleichen

This is one of 3 castles that are atop 3 hills all within a kilometre or so of each other not too far from Eisenach.  One of the other two is now a hotel.  Quality is a bit poorer on these photos as they were taken with the video camera.  Castle was built in the 11th century and has been in ruin since 1842.

April 12th - Swiss Alps 

Heading to Turin in Italy we had to pass through a tiny corner of Austria and then through Switzerland.  Still lots of snow around, but spectacular views of the mountains.

April 13th to 17th - World Suzuki Method Convention, Turin, Italy  

In Turin for the World Suzuki Convention.  This is where Aidan had his Piano and group music lessons each day.

Solo performance.

This was the children's party and Aidan with his 'special' girl friend, Chloe, from France.  They couldn't talk to each other but had the most amazing time together!

Final concert for the convention.  They only had a few of the piano students playing so the rest did the singing and dance in the stands.  Saying good-bye to Chloe at the end was a sad moment.

April 13th to 17th - Turin, Italy  

Not a huge amount of touristy things to do in Turin.  The Winter Olympics had only finished 1 month previous.  The second photo shows the main street of Turin, which has the footpath all under porticos which is different.  This is also where the Shroud of Turin is, this is a copy of it in the Cathedral.  The tall building is the Mole Antoinella, which we went up, it is the symbol of Turin.

Palace complex and some old Roman ruins of a theatre.

Egyptian Museum

Turin has the 3rd best Egyptian museum in the world, after Cairo and London.  These were real statues from Egypt and real mummies, yes Aidan, real dead people.  Of course Aidan has the obligatory audio tour.

April 22nd - Zurich, Switzerland   

Aidan doing what he loves, at Starbucks with a Mango frappucino and reading a book.  Feeding the swans and walking around the old town of Zurich.

April 22nd - Lucerne   

Lucerne is only 45 minutes from Zurich.  A very pretty city on the edge of the lake with the Alps surrounding it.  The covered bridge is the Chapel bridge which was very famous for the paintings on it but it burned down in 1993.  We went to the old town wall and climbed one of the towers for a great view.

April 22nd - Swiss Alps (again)  

Back through the Swiss Alps again, via a different route.  Aidan needed a toilet stop so it gave us a chance to get a couple of good photos.

April 29th - Strasbourg, France  

Only 3 hours drive away and you are in France.  Strasbourg is dominated by the old cathedral which is pretty spectacular.  Of course Aidan had to go up to the top of it!  And, light a candle for Little Nic!

Old town is very nice, lots of narrow streets, and interesting buildings.  Took a boat cruise around the old town.  Aidan had to get another look at how the boats go through the lock.  Last photo is the palace, Marie Antoinette stayed here on her way to marry King Louis 14th, I think 14 is right.

April 30th - Erlangen

Aidan on his bike in the park.  You can see the cherry blossoms in the background - no competition whatsoever for the magical cherry blossoms in Japan, however, nice just the same.