Two weeks in a nutshell

Looking back on the last few weeks I´m trying to remember where we have been what we have done and why we didn't post sooner. We didn't post because we spent our Internet time checking on the Fires that threatened our Families' homes. As far as we know we don't know anyone that directly that lost their home. The tragic fires made the front page of the French newspapers. Now that's big news! Some how they blamed G.W. for the fires. Maybe we should have negotiated more before we sent in firefighters...
Since our last post we have successfully navigated the roads of Germany,Belgium,France,Spain, back to France and again are driving in Switzerland. We drove the 'romantic road' in Germany from Fussen to Wurzburg. We stopped at romantic castles and walled cities. Jessica proved her hardiness once again. She walked with me, in the snow and while it was snowing upwards of an hour from King Ludwick's parents castle to his own castle. Jessica complained less than five times that her feet were cold. My cold conscience ignored her until we got in the car and she asked me to feel her feet. I touched her toes. They were like ice. I was afraid they would break off and I would have to give her one of mine in some sort of toe transplant surgery.
In Germany we worked on the drive into a town and find a Zimmer (bed in German) routine. It is a strategic game where we try to determine what time we are going to stop for the night and then be sure we are driving at that time. The other person has to go from B&B to B&B trying to find an available room using the words, good day (gutan tag), thank you (danke), bed (zimmer), and please(bitte), along with a smattering of hand gestures. Jessica makes the clam that I can speak more of the language than her, I can count to three in German, and I claim that we get a better deal because she is better looking than me.
We drove the autobahn, which just means freeway in German. Sometimes there is a speed limit, most of the time there is not. The semi trucks average about 80 miles per hour. When there is no speed limit the BMW's and Audi's, they are as prevalent and Chevys and Fords are in America, like to go around 110 miles per hour some times faster. Jess topped out the Corolla at about 100 just because we could. But, it started to shake so we slowed down and averaged 85 so we wouldn't get ran over by a truck.
From Germany we went to Belgium. Specifically Brugges. It was picked by Jessica as a must see city for it's chocolate. Upon hearing that the chocolate tour was a flop Jessica insisted on spending our admission money on more chocolate. We bought several hundred grams of chocolate. Jessica made the mistake, so she says, of trying to order 5 kilograms ($100 worth, over 10 pounds) of chocolate which she adamantly says was a mistake and that she meant 5 pieces. She received a gasp from both the lady helping us and me. After loading up on chocolate we headed for France.
I had heard rumor that the French refuse to speak any other language than French even if they can. I found that statement to be mostly true. We went to Paris and did our ''Big city walk.'' This is were we stay somewhere outside the city, Versailles in this case, train in and walk to everything we want to see in a systematic manner. We walked from the Louve to the Arc de Triumph to the Eiffel tower to Notre Dame and back to the train station. At the Louve we saw some art. Of which I found the Mona Lisa to be over rated and Leonardo Da Vinci's St. John the Baptist with the almost invisible cross to be the most interesting. Apparently you have to check your personal space at the door because we were bumped into endlessly. Fortunately Jessica and I are on average six inches taller than Europeans and other tourists. It makes it easy to find each other in a crowded room and the people bumping into us tend to bounce off rather than move us. I still enjoyed people watching more than the art at the Louve. This has convinced me there is no hope of me ever being an art lover.
From Paris we headed to the beaches of Normandy for a somber reminder of WW II. We visited the American cemetery, it is the largest American military cemetery in Europe with over 10,000 solders. We walked the beaches that eventually led to the liberation of France and we stayed the night in a guesthouse. The guest house owner was a kind old man. He is apart of a group that live near Normandy that regularly place flowers on the graves of the American GI's for the families back in America. They email pictures of the headstones with fresh flowers to the families. Military cemeteries with endless rows of graves are an excellent reminder that war is sometimes necessary, but never good or glorious.
We worked our way down the Atlantic cost to Spain; a country where we could speak a little more of the language. We enjoyed the warmer weather and wearing sandals. Spain reminds me of Mexico, except not impoverished. Things are cheaper, there is no social expectation to be wearing the current fashion trends, like in France, and drivers are much more predictable. Speaking of driving, I now consider myself a competent European driver for the following reasons:

1. To park for less than a half an hour I pull halfway out of traffic, put on my hazards and leave the car. It is OK to create a traffic jam as long as you turn on your hazard lights.
2. To park for over an hour I pull completely on the sidewalk. No hazard lights are necessary for pedestrians trying to use the sidewalk.
3. You don't ever stop for pedestrians even if they are in a cross walk. If you do the entire city will cross in front of you delaying you for up to an hour. (I actually bumped, I prefer not to say hit, a man in France who crossed in front of me outside of a cross walk. He didn't fall over or get hurt and no one was concerned. This was a very European thing to do.
4. If you have to go number one, specifically in France, you just stop on the side of the road in plan view of traffic. Even if there is a more discrete area near you. You also don't have to turn your hazards on for this.
5. Tailgating does not exist as an unsafe act. The closer you are to the car in front of you the better driver you are.
6. Lanes are much smaller in Europe. Often an oncoming truck will take up three quarters of the road. Pull of the road or be squashed.
7. Jessica likes to tell me how to drive; where I should have turned, that I just went the wrong way down a one way street, the light is green, the light is red, When I get fed up with it I ask her to drive but she refused and says it is too stressful for her. As if telling driving with her telling me what to do is a stress free experience (in her defense she is usually right). This happens in the states too.
   

The rest of the story will be from Jessica, probably a bit more accurate and with a little more love...

Also, If you would like to see where we have been and where we think we will be headed I am keeping the itinerary link on the right up-to-date.