Thank you to a lot of wonderful people

It's Sunday evening 18 July in Sydney, Australia and Sunday morning in Europe.

Our last night in Europe was at a hotel in Frankfurt on Friday 16 July.  I intended to make the final posting a thank-you to all of the kind people who opened their homes and hearts (and boat and aeroplane) to us.

As is the way with technology, the internet was not working. Nor could I connect at Frankfurt airport on Saturday. So here it is, a bit late but heartfelt just the same.

The hospitality started in Alsace & Lorraine, France

Marguerite, wife of Cap'n Freddie and mother of Nathalie

Cap'n Freddie, husband of Marguerite and father of Nathalie

Nathalie

Denis, Nathalie's husband and Nicolas' father

We will always remember our special surprise at the

St Louis Arzviller inclined plane on the Strasbourg-Paris canal

Michele, one of the cheeriest people we know

and organiser of numerous surprises

Alex, Chantal's husband. We're looking forward to

seeing you and Chantal  in Sydney next week

Chantal, Nicolas' mother

Marcelle, Louise's mother.

Louise & Nicolas are two young French people currently doing an

around-Australia road trip.  We helped LouNco get started on their

Australian adventure and their families wanted to meet us and vice versa.

Chantal and Marcelle

Dinner at Denis and Nathalie's home with our great friend Michele

We then travel to Bavaria, Germany

We first met Daniela Barrett's parents, Rolf and Maria, in 2006

Rolf and I have similar intertests: motorcycles, machinery and beauty

Rolf and Maria

Rolf and Maria's daughter Sabine and her partner Timo.

We did not catch up with Brigitte, Rolf & Maria's other daughter.

Brigitte and her husband Martin helped us with my medical issues.

At Rolf and Maria's home

A couple of larrikins

Doctor Hoffman in Bad Tölz twice attended

to my left eye but never charged me.

At this point in the trip I was seriously worried.

Back to Strasbourg to catch a train to Paris

Michele's parents, Rene and Paulette,

indulged us with the best Alsacian foods.

After Paris, returning to Germany

Alex and Chantal had us stay with them on our return to Strasbourg.

We met Grandson Ivan, a very happy 2 year old.

The Franconian region of Germany

Back in Germany, we meet old friend Claus Maikis

Claus introduces us to fellow aeromodeller Wolfram and

his wife Gisela who live near Nürnberg ...

. . . who also invite us into their home and

overwhelm us with hospitality

We had the great fortune to meet Wolfram and Gisela's

daughter Kerstin and her partner Lukas. 

Lukas piloted one aeroplane with me in it while

Wolfram piloted the other for Jenni

Back to Ulm in the Swabian Region

We spent two of the last three days as Claus' guest. 

We know Claus through our mutual passion for model aircraft .

Thanks to you all for sharing your lives with us. You helped make this trip to Europe a wonderful experience that we'll never forget.

Jeff & Jenni

THE END

Our last day of Claus' Germany

We started today's sight-seeing from Claus' home in Ulm where we stayed last night.  Our first stop was a fossil museum in Holzmaden, 60 km to the north.

The museum has a collection of fossils found

in the shale quarries in this part of Germany

The shale quarries are located in the Swabian Alps,

 hundreds of metres above sea level

The Holzmaden area was once a sea bed with a muddy

bottom that solidified into shale over millions of years

Claus showing Jenni how to tell the difference

One of the quarries is right opposite the museum.  School chilren,

with hammers and chisels, chipped away

 at the shale to find small fossils

Our next stop was a long uphill walk to the ruins of the

Hohenneuffen castle in Württemberg

The castle was added to over the centuries dating

 from the 11th century but it fell into disrepair in the 18th century

We stopped for lunch in the restaurant at the top

Claus & Jenni pondering the view

We were lucky to have a clear, cool day and we could

see the small villages dotted across the landscape for many kms

Wine grapes are grown in this area

The castle is located in the Swabian Alps, 

750 metres above sea level

Just down the hill from the castle is a village

 reconstructed from buildings around Swabia.

It functions as a museum to show people what

life was like centuries ago (terrible).

This is the last day of doing fun fun things.  Tomorrow, we drive to Franfurt, return the rubber-band car, stay overnight and then begin the long journey home. Tomorrow's blog from Frankfurt will be the last.

Claus' Germany 2

We left our country pub at Neckarvischofsheim and drove for 10 minutes to Sinsheim where there was a technical museum.

The museum collects cars, areoplanes and all things

mechanical; the sort of things that Jenni really enjoys

One of my very favourite cars, a 1958 Cadillac Convertible

This 55 Thunderbird uses 26 litres/100 km.

There was quite a range of 1950's American Cars

One of the early Paris-Peking racers. It had gears on

the outside and the steering wheel properly located on the right.

A Russian 42 cylinder radial deisel engine. Each row has three cylinders.

It was used to power naval ships.

The soviet version of the Concorde, the Tupolev TU-144

The Concorde supersonic passenger jet. You get into

the aircraft by climbing the spiral staircase

A 1938 Cord - a classic motor car

What I would own if they didn't cost hundreds of thousands:

a Manx Norton of the type that dominated the Isle of Mann TT in the fifties

The classic, and very expensive, gull-wing Mercedes 230

One of Hitler's 1938 state cars. It was heavily reinforced

 underneath against mines, had triple reinforced

 glass and steel-lined doors 

This is Grandma Duck's car from 1902

There was quite a display of Formula 1 cars

We drove to another classic village called Dinkelsbühl, 1½ hrs drive to the east.

The temperature here was a hot 35 ° as the heat wave continued

We cool off with an ice cream. Other customers who came in after

we did were told that the restaurant had run

out of food and were turned away.

Claus had a Schnapps with his ice cream to make it taste better

Dinkelsbühl caters for Japanese tourists and many of

the stores had dual German/Japanese signs in their windows

Claus giving Jenni some German lessons

The half-timbered buildings and the flower boxes are very attractive