Part 3
~ Europe ~

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Well, by now you have guessed that these photos are a lot like home movies, only not as fast. Gene and I had hoped to give you some impressions of our adventure of a lifetime, although between unpredictable weather, equipment problems, and the nuts behind the camera "wheel," these are the best we culled to let you in (a little) on such a wondrous place... next time we'll take the videocam.

This page begins with our hotel in Munich, where the rooms were spacious and Alpine in theme, and the back of the hotel perched over a little stream which used to turn the mill wheel in the gristmill (now a smoking bar where the floor had been glassed so you could see the water and fishes passing right below).

Romantik Hotel in Munich Romantik backyard view

on the way to eat...

Although the sky was overcast and full of snowflakes, we took a short walk into town and had an unforgettable dinner with the band at a totally authentic German restaurant, where I took a photo of our three smiling waitresses.

Danke... a lot!

Our next stop was Zurich, Switzerland where we found our hotel room overlooked the entire cityscape which included a breathtaking view of Lake Zurich. But we only had the moments right before soundcheck there to be tourists - and we did our best!

hotel in Zurich from the bridge at the lake hello to everyone back home

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Our next favorite city to visit was Ghent, Belgium. It just awed us. The weather was cold and kinda foggy, but it left the city looking hazy and ethereal; it hardly seemed real - it looked so old and beautiful, right out of a fairy tale. These pictures hardly do it justice. You may be able to see the ghostly spire of a distant cathedral in one of these pictures... that cathedral rivaled any we saw anywhere else on our journey.

into the streets...

downtown on the bridge
On the steps of the cathedral sat a carousel and bumper cars with hotdog vendors and other carnival attractions interspersed about the square. The circus atmosphere was pretty incongruous with the quiet beauty of the cathedral, but we arrived on All Saints Day (Oct. 30) and this was how the town celebrated. We must really recommend Ghent. You can cover most of the central city on foot, and there are no limits to the sights - even a castle to visit downtown. There are all kinds of cozy taverns, restaurants, shops, and bridges, bridges, bridges. We had coffee and croissants in one tavern which looked like it had been there since the 12th century. We stopped in to get warm; my nose was so red from walking in the cold that I covered my face when Gene took my picture (see Home Page photo)!

from our Hotel Softel... just another castle...

We found grocery stores open late into the night and colorful in contrast to the hazy greys and blues of the daylight vistas:

Atmospheric night-time street scene:

Warming up (literally) with "Crack In The Mirror..."

And our parting shots for Part 3 are from Reims, France.

Rue Templiers

The street our hotel was on, once again, wasn't wide enough for our tour bus, as you can tell in the above photo. So we walked with all of our luggage and musical equipment, down the uneven cobblestone block. This was sometimes a daunting prospect, having had but just a couple of hours' sleep on the bus, then to arrive at our destination at two, three, or four o'clock in the morning, only to (occasionally) discover that our hotel didn't have an elevator... Fortunately, our hotel here had one elevator - about three feet wide and deep, so we all took turns using it until the last man was loaded in!

I took this cheery photo of Gene and Adam Kirk in the courtyard of the hotel. They were so glad to be on such an amazing adventure as this...

Gene and Adam welcome you to Reims