The Turner Family

Our last afternoon and evening in Germany was spent in Friesen , a medium sized town north of Munich and near the Munich airport. We had a fine time strolling the cobblestoned alleys that led from one street to the next. The highlight of the day (at least for me) was the evening meal at the beirstube of the Weihenstephan Brewery. A monastery was established in Friesen about the year 1000 AD. The monks started brewing beer about 1040, giving the brewery a creditable claim to being the oldest continuing brewery in the world. I've had the beer b efore , purchased in Lansing, but now I have a clear picture of where it starts its journey. Some time ago an agricultural and technical college started around the monastery . All of these: monastery , brewery and college are stretched along the top of a long narrow hill. The buildings gardens and walls are all arranged handsomely . The photos are: the vaulted cellar room where we ate, Meg in a small formal garden, and the restau...

The backdrop for this photo is the Grote Kerk , or Great Church, in Haarlem. Our hotel was across the street from this nice old church. We walked over the tombs of the hundreds of people who were buried in the floors as we toured the building. This one-hour boat cruise through the canals in Haarlem was a great way to see the city. We had time to have a beer and some apple tart just prior in an old weighing station that still had three heavy balances that were used to weigh goods as they were taken out of the cargo boats in the canal. As you can tell it was a rainy day as exited the cafe for the boat ride. The draw bridge in the background was bridge number five. It was tended by a woman who had been doing the job for years. She cruised around on her moto to the four or five bridges she was responsible for as the larger boats made their way up and down the canals. A better view of the Grote Kerk, but with a crazy teenager in the foreground.

Here's a few photos from Amsterdam. Meg is standing in front of one of Sarah's favorite lunch places. It was great - and we arrived just before the crowd. They make both sweet and savory pancakes - very thin. I had a huge thin pancake with onions and tomatoes. Wonderful place, Sarah ! This is a typical medium sized canal scene. The boats are mostly old canal cargo boats converted into living quarters - and they are everywhere along the medium sized canals. Most of the larger boats looked like they never moved, folks just lived in them. A few of the smaller ones appeared as if they could move under their own power. There are shops on the ground floor of many of the buildings, with apartments above. This is the Anne Franke house - just a couple blocks from Pancake place. The line to go in was more than a block long and it was raining, so we chose not to wait. The entrance to the tour was a few doors to the right. Everyone is pointing at the sign because I hadn't unde...