Sauntering Up the Edge of New York
Monday, February 18th, 2013
The second half of the New England road trip began on Wednesday, July 11, 2012. Bob and I had seen and experienced a great deal and it seemed like it had been forever since we began the road trip. But even though there was as much time on the road ahead of us as there was behind it, I could feel the pressure that time was pushing on us, knowing how much we still had left to see as we began the descent toward the end. Nevertheless, it was nothing worth stewing about so we pressed on as best as we could, beginning with the sights in Hyde Park, where we had just spent the night. Read the rest of this entry »
It was my 41st birthday on October 2, 2012, but so far the morning had been spent in the rather bleak location of the concentration camp of Dachau, Germany. Things began to look up a bit as we left there around noon and headed north along the so-called Romantic Road that weaves through 220 miles of the Bavarian region of southern Germany. We picked up the road near its most southern point and followed in nearly 3/4 of the way, stopping about two and a half hour later, arriving in Rothenburg ob der Tauber (which translates as “red fortress above the Tauber”). Bryan & Erine had been here before so staying in this cool Medieval city for the evening had been their recommendation. 
Whatever your opinion of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, I think we can all agree that his presidency was unlike any other. Logistically setting it far apart from any President before or since his administration was the simple fact that he was elected to four terms, which is two more than any other President ever would be. His role as our nation’s 32nd leader from 1933-1945 came during some of the most trying times in our country’s history. Through his Fireside Chats, he offered hope to the American people through his direction and intense social reform, many programs of which still resonate today. Then he saw the Allied Powers through nearly all of World War 2, before dying in office and passing the torch to his Vice-President Harry S. Truman. It is little wonder that the public loved him so dearly to elect him even in the gravest of health, having never publically seen the man walk on his two polio-stricken legs. 
The family continued our tour of Munich on Monday, October 1, 2012, by stumbling out of the Oktoberfest, heading back to the train station, and catching a ride to the Marienplatz stop. We began our trek through the city center by stopping first to gawk at the Neues Rathaus, better known as the big glockenspiel. Unfortunately, the giant clock only does its jig during the fall at 11am and noon, so we had missed it by about two hours. I had seen the little dance when I had been in