In Spring 2002, two different sets of friends
sent us notes, asking about coming to visit. Since I knew I would be
staying for an extra year, we decided that summer was not a good time (due to
high airline costs) and that fall would be better. Thinking that I would
be gone during September we set tentative plans for Oct. As it
turned out, Dennis Sherman and Laurie Erickson were going to Gloucester, England
for a "Pipe and Tabor Festival" 27-29 September, and then planned to
come visit us, and our other friends, David and Nadine Kuijt, were coming 2
October. It was great! I took a week of vacation, and Debbie
worked her vacation to also have several days with us. Dennis and Laurie arrived on 30 September, and we went to Heidelberg to
visit the Heidelberg Castle and see the "Codex Manesse" on display at
Heidelberg University. 1 October: Dennis, Laurie, and I went on a Rhine River
Cruise. It
was great and there are about 70 pictures. 2 October: After a brief visit to the Rittersport chocolate factory
store, Dennis, Laurie, Debbie and I went to Frankfurt Airport to pick up David
and Nadine. The plan was to go Bamberg in the afternoon to see a Henry II
exhibit and visit the Franconian Brewing Museum. Well, traffic was real
snarled, and we were stuck in a traffic jam for several hours, which meant that
Bamberg was out of the picture. After clearing the jam, we headed
straight to Nürnberg, to check into our hotel and go visit the Germanisches
National Museum. (It was great because it is open late on Wednesday
evenings, and free after 18:00). 3 October: We toured the medieval part of Nürnberg with a local SCA
friend as a guide. We visited the Imperial Palace, toured the Museum, saw
the Albrecht Durer house, and walked part of the medieval walls. We
departed that evening for Rothenburg, where we arrived in time to check in and
than catch the "Night Watchman Tour". 4 October: We spent the day touring Rothenburg, walking the medieval
walls all the way around the city, touring the Imperial Museum, the Kriminal
Museum, and the Toy Museum. In the evening, after dinner, we saw two
Hans Sachs plays, in the "Rittersaal" (Knights Hall) of the Town
Hall. 5 October: I dropped Dennis and Laurie off at the airport and then
took David and Nadine to Basel, Switzerland. 6 Oct: David, Nadine, and I went to the Bavarian Army museum in
Ingolstadt,
and then down to Munich to see the Bayerisches National Museum. 7 Oct: I had to work, but Debbie, David, and Nadine went to Heidelberg. 8 Oct: Debbie, David, and Nadine went to Augsburg, Ulm, and Neu Ulm.
It was really cool because Debbie had been wanting to go to Augsburg and Ulm for
a long time. 9 Oct: David and Nadine were on their own, and we sent them
Strasbourg, France. 10 Oct: David and Nadine toured Stuttgart before I took them to the
Frankfurt airport.