Schloß Moyland -

About 12 kilometers away from our spot in Kleve, one finds Schloß (Castle) Moyland. They allow one-night free parking for motorhomes. After my whining that we had been in Germany close to a month and had not yet stopped at a castle, it was a required side-trip. We hadn't done any research on the castle and were expecting a tour of a castle... instead, we found a marvelous art exhibit (several actually). We wound up spending about four hours touring the art exhibit inside the castle – it was amazing! Surprisingly, the kids were pretty patient throughout the visit – though Dan and I could easily have spent another full day enjoying the exhibits.

The theme during our exhibit was "Im Auge des Klangs I - The Eye of Sound I" and to summarize from the brochure, "The exhibit showcases 12 international positions of contemporary sound and light art."

I was surprised at the sheer amount of artwork on display -we're talking full walls covered in artist's work, from the basement, to the top of the towers - in addition to the light and sound exhibitions. It was overwhelming and fantastic all at the same time. Makes me wish I had studied art history.

The light and sound artists included: Maria de Alvear, Henning Chistiansen, Ronald Kuiila, Erwin Stache, Marianne Greve, Tony Oursler, Stefan Scneider, Ralf Schreiber, Christina Kubisch, Andreas Oldorp, Alvin Curran, Benoit Maubrey and Miki Yui. The primary artist on display was Joseph Beuys, who, according to the museum's brochure, "...redefined the concept of sculpture, opened it into acoustic and non-materialised spheres and related it to all the human senses."

The kids loved the sound and light exibits. One was an array of drawers laid out on the floor, each with piano wire stretched across and a needle resting against the piano wire. Everything was wired up to a central point and made the most haunting of noises, seeming to respond to sound and/or vibrations of the room.

Living Particles by Ralf Schreiber was ... "a light sledge moves over solar controlled modules and stimulates an almost silent sound of a chaotic nature." In my words: A set of tracks conveyed a box left to right in the room. Between the tracks were photo cell sensors and as the box passed over them, the light inside the box activated the sensors which resulted in varying sounds as the box moved along the tracks. Very cool. Sophia couldn’t resist the urge to lay on the floor and watch under the box!

The only exhibit we didn’t get to appreciate fully was two swings, suspended from the ceiling with violin bows sitting on them I think this was the Saitenschaukeln by Erwin Stache). Guests are invited to sit on the swings and stroke the support wires with the bows… sadly, I just didn’t understand the signs well enough to be certain of what to do. Not used to having exhibits that invite you to interact.

Outside were huge gardens on either side of the castle, complete with sculptures which were very beautiful and fun to explore. The gardens contained a variety of historical plants as well as gifted plants.

The castle was in ruins after WWII and sat until the 1990’s. The building was renovated and opened as an art museum in 1997, and as you can see in the picture above, one tower is still being renovated. Well worth the visit - could have used an extra day.

Happy Birthday Kid!

Megan’s 6th birthday! We kicked off the day with one of her favorite breakfasts, french toast. Then headed out for the long walk to Kleve Zoo, about 2km from our campground. Enroute we were able to view the Roman Ampitheater, the center gardens and old land house.

It is a fairly small zoo – mostly German and Hungarian farming animals, but they also had 3 seals, a mini-panda, camels, and even a wallaby. Lots of goats – which were very interested in the boxes of food the girls had and made no apologies for head butting each other out of the way to get a tasty morsel.

We ended the day with cake before dinner at a traditional sidewalk café. The wind picked up just as we tried to light candles on Megan's piece of cake - but with cupped hands, we managed to keep a few lit for her to blow out. We seemed to be the main attraction for the other guests that day. I was surprised no one stopped and offered to take a picture of the family – people just kind of gawked. And we were being quiet, I promise. This is the first time I can remember Megan turning down sweets- she almost finished her cake and hot chocolate but finally had to admit it got the best of her and she couldn't eat anymore!

Kleve, Germany - 51.79167°N 6.14222°E

We've spent the last several days in Kleve, Germany, enjoying this beautiful town and its Swan Tower. Lots to do here and the weather has mostly cooperated, though autumn is fast approaching. There's one bookstore in town with a small English selection. We've been devouring books like crazy!

We are staying at a very popular motorhome spot that is basically at the end of a parking lot. It's quiet and free - who can beat that? There are 18 power hookups for 40+ spots - we felt fortunate to secure a spot on the power pole on our 2nd day! By the weekend, motorhome traffic was overflowing into the parking lot - there were probably an additional 12 vehicles parked outside the designated camping area.

The Swan Tower (see above) is the tallest building in town and can be seen from virtually every spot we've visited. The short version of the story - The Swan Tower and the town of Nijmegen were left to a young woman by her father. She had to defend the towns and one day, a swan arrived, pulling a boat which carried a young man. They agreed to marry under the condition that she must never ask his name. After having 3 sons and winning many battles, curiosity got the best of her and she asked him to reveal his family heritage for the sake of the children. He vanished, never to be seen again. The tower is still protected by a swan at the top and another in the central courtyard. Encyclopedic references point to Richard Wagner's opera Lohengrin as having popularized the tale.

During the course of its history, the Swan Tower has been used as a prison and today, is where the court offices reside. Much of the tower was rebuilt after WWII though there is an excavated section of one of the original turrets that can be viewed. We climbed to the top of the tower and enjoyed the views - visitors aren't allowed on the exterior. Each floor of the tower held exhibits, probably the favorite of the girl's was the wooly mammoth exhibit, followed by the rock and stone exhibits.

On another outing, we visited the B.C. Koekkoek-Haus Museum which in addition to Koekkoek's work (and that of his family, along with some personal belongings from the house) was running a Willy Maywald exhibit. Megan and Sophia had flowers in their hand (it's an ongoing game with every outing, to pick flowers). One of the curators offered the girls a free postcard, to which, Sophia offered a flower in return. The woman was quite taken aback - she had never received a gift of flowers from a child in the museum before!

Of Maywald's work (Gelatin Silver Print), I was caught a little off guard at the contrast of subject matter. The first room I viewed was modern photography of models in designer clothing from the early 50's. Next, a hallway containing photos from Kleve - including a few pre-war, post-war and rebuilding ('40's). Another room was dedicated to profiling famous artists, including Picasso. The contrast between documenting the destruction of war and modern day fashion struck me in a way I can't concisely explain.

There's a culture of doting on the kids here with little gifts. Most folks we've talked to have offered a little something for the girls, whether it's candy or colored pencils. At the "Trödel Markt" (think flea market), a vendor gave both girls items from their booth and wouldn't accept payment - of course, it was the very end of the day and everyone was getting ready to go home. One woman at the parking spot called us over to show us her "parakeets" - they were pods from a tree in the area. She returned a few hours later with two, just for the girls to enjoy. See picture - they feel kind of creepy, but if you draw eyes on them, the look just like little birds, sipping water. The girls and I met another woman with her German Shephard on the path near our camping spot. She recommended we park in a nearby camping ground - but we chose to stay where we were - just moved a few spots. She tracked us down two days later and then visited again a third time with colored pencils for the girls and home baked treats for tea! It was a very sweet gesture and made us feel welcomed.

Dorsten - 51.66611°N 6.96833°E

(Acutally posting on 8/20 - but back dating to keep the timeline).

Found a really inexpensive spot to camp in Dorsten, Germany which offered easy access to the town center for only 3 Euro per night. Still no consistent Internet (the posts are a little backwards - I made a long post on the 18th and explained the situation).

The campground was nearly full when we first arrived and continued to fill up by about 4pm each day. We were either the eyesore or the wonder of the day for folks we're camping with. Unlike the last camping spot, folks largely ignored us. This seems to be more of a transitional stop with very high turnover each day. Met several folks from The Netherlands - some of whom had done the reverse of our trip, and one of whome is headed to the States at the end of September for their 3rd trip. We were happy to see a 30' Winnebago arrive at this spot. The couple was kind enough to refer us to the shop where we could obtain the power conversion.

To the left, you see one of the many churches in Dorsten. Very beautiful. Lots of competing bells at each quarter hour, not to mention the call for worship. Regretfully, I didn't write down the name of each church - and we only briefly stepped inside this particular one.

To the right, a fountain documenting a visit by Johann Wolfgang van Goethe - who visited Dorsten on Dec. 6, 1792, returning from France.

Saturday and Sunday brought the "Canal fest" along with a fantastic outdoor market on Saturay. Later that night were the competing parties - we had music coming from the ice-hockey rink near the campground along with music coming from across the canal until around 1am. All English music from the 80's - Stix, Eagles... you get the picture.

Picture of Megan and Sophia watching the Koi in one of the town's ponds - along with a nice street-scape.

Probably the most important outings of this stay were:

1) Satuday at the Olymp Kids Park - an huge indoor playground for kids and

2) Sunday at Atlantis - 3 hours of swimming and waterslides. When's the last time you went down a water slide? You should try it - it'll bring a smile to your face.

Updates - 17.Aug

My host family's neighbor owns an RV and brought over their edition of the Reise Mobil Bode Atlas. It contains thousands of motorhome camping locations that are either free or low cost. We decided to head to Münster, the bicycle capital of Germany. Maybe there we could find the bicycle rack and outfit the family with bikes.

Monday afternoon, we headed out - and ... missed a turn... wound up in the WORST situation possible, near the Munster city center, where bicycles apparently have the right of way. There was no where to turn; no where to stop... skinny streets. I finally got the map rerouted to the campground and us on a normal road when Dan abruptly yells "nein!" and turns right. The bridge ahead was only 3.5 meters... we need 4.

What was supposed to be a 100km drive wound up taking us 7 hours. We were back on country roads and wandering. Solution is to use the GPS coordinates for the campgrounds along with editing our road choice to delimit small roads whenever possible. Hence, we finally found a free camping stop near Lüne - it was in the parking lot of a sports center. Needless to say, we left early the next morning.

We found a spot at Marine Rünthe and it was only about 15km away. It had water and a dump station, both required. The cost only 5 Euro per night.

To our surprise, we were the interest of the reporters the next day - we had three sets of reporters through. Wednesday morning, a few folks swung by - one was very excited because there is a Frau Scherer in town; the other, because he had seen us in the newspaper (http://www.westfaelische-rundschau.de/bergkamen)! He kindly went out and bought us a copy; then returned for conversation and was helpful at getting us to a bike shop near town.
We found our way to the bike shop - but they don't have the carrier solution; they referred us to an RV shop - but that shop only has the kind that mount to the back of the motorhome; not the kind that mount to the hitch. So we kept driving, in pursuit of the hitch mount.

Found our next stop in a town called Dorsten. The self-serve camp parking lot is 3 Euro/night; water and the dump station are about 2 blocks away but the town is walking distance. Makes it easy to finish stocking up on supplies and such.

We're staying here through Sunday at least - it appears there is a city festival tomorrow. There are several churches that we can explore and tons of history that we don't yet understand! =) Biggest issue has been that of connectivity - the T-mobile shop in town is a "hot spot" but we couldn't access or send email from it. I finally asked, in broken German and was referred to McDonald's -- and voila! Internet connection works beautifully.

Last night a German couple pulled in driving a 12-year old Winnebago. They were a great source for us and have referred us to our next destination - which is the parking lot of an RV service center (I forgot the town name). Apparently, it's one of the largest and one of the employees is well-schooled in US conversions. We hope to make great progress on the electricity issue early next week. It has been enlightening to be in conservation mode - has made us realize how much we take water and electricity for granted at home.

All is going really well. We hope to post more pictures to Blogger soon.

Marina Rünthe - Pics from camping

Catching up on some posts - folks are asking for more pics. If you are browsing international sites, you can use Babel Fish from Altavista to translate the web sites: http://babelfish.altavista.com/ - works like a charm.

Our first pay self-serve spot was at Marina Rünthe (where the press loved us) - in the shadow of a nuclear power plant... but inexpensive and pleasant. The area is being built up with new apartment homes and a new hotel. The town was too far for us to stay long and to access the Internet connection, we had to be directly outside the hotel.

Self serve station - one side contains the payment slot and the water spout (add'l); the side you see in the picture is where you pull around to empty the grey and black water.

The view!

We were published in the local newspaper on Wednesday, 15.August! Here's a standalone image.

Reunion Weekend

Based on information from a friend of mine, we made a bee-line for Lübbecke for the bier brunnen fest on 11.Aug. What I didn't anticipate is that he had also been in contact with my host family and made arrangements for us to stay with them! Our limited access to email meant I missed about 4 emails with the details, so it was to our surprise on Friday, to learn that we should NOT camp at Osnabrück, but should proceed directly to Lübbecke.

It was my host-father's 70th birthday celebration and the entire family was in town. We were invited to join them - with us staying in the house, in my old room (thanks, Susanne!).


My navigation skills led us out on some tiny country roads. Dan's well versed (again) at driving in awkward situations. We arrived in one piece and the family had added the American flag to the flag pole out front to welcome us. By the end of the weekend, they simply hung the "UNO" flag - because there were so many different nationalities staying for the festivities.





We enjoyed a very warm welcome and it made quite the impression on Dan and the girls. Lots of excellent food and friends by which to enjoy our first week in Germany.







Flags outside the house - thank you for the warm welcome!





Megan's view of the bierbrunnen fest in Lübbecke. 3Euro for two drinks and you keep the awesome stein! Nice!

Shopping in a Foreign Land

Doing our part to support the local economy we spent the entire day shopping at a “Real Markt” which also had a consumer electronics store and hardware store in the plaza. A little bit of a trying day as our poor kids are not only tired, but are extremely bored with all the shopping. We mostly accomplished our mission of further outfitting the RV with plates, glasses, a skillet, a pot, food and finally, a cell phone that works.

Dan is happy – 20 bottles of beer for about 5 Euro! =)

Got back to the RV park around 17:00 and made our way down to the water. The kids had a blast jumping and splashing around. We were a bit of an oddity at the beach as we are the only English speaking guests. We also made the mistake of visiting the beach to see what it was like – both kids got drenched in attempting to wade with their pants rolled up. Sophia got the worst of it – she did a face plant in the water and was completely drenched. We wandered back to the RV and changed into more appropriate swimming gear. As Dan pointed out, German men sure like their speedos!

Camping neighbors from Norway arrived that night. The gentleman had spent his career as a ships captain for a cruise ship that operated from Seattle to Alaska. He spoke very good English and probably knows Seattle better than we do! It was a very informative evening – He and his wife, Siri (don’t know that I have the spelling correct) invited us over to sit with them. They talked quite a bit about their old Winnebago and their travels around Europe and America. They were extremely helpful with route planning and in all, it was a very enjoyable evening.

Which Way Through Customs?

Largely an uneventful day. After a quick breakfast, we grabbed a large taxi – basically a minivan – and loaded up for the drive to Bremerhaven to retrieve our RV. We were tempted to take the train…. But… that would require more manhandling of our luggage and we were tired of it!

We arrived around 11:30 and were on our way around 1:30 – not too bad as it can take half a day or more, especially when you arrive at lunch time. No damage to the unit. Biggest issues are propane (it’s all but empty) and learning to drive over here.

We did mis-read the signage at customs and had to stop outside the customs checkpoint and walk back in to the office. They were very nice about it – followed me out to the vehicle to check the VIN and then stamping our paperwork and sending us along on our way with a chortle. They didn’t check what was inside the unit and they didn’t try to assess more taxes – to our surprise, it was a very simple, 5-minute transaction. Made us wonder why we didn’t ship the darn thing loaded to the gills. =)

We found our way fairly easily to the camp ground, Ehrlongspark Spaedner See. They have a Gasthouse on site, but don’t serve food until 17:00. We were all starving and it was 2 hours before food would be available. After a phone call for the taxi to take us to the bus (those were the directions), we learned we were maybe 1km from shopping. So – tired and hungry, we set out for a much needed walk. One problem – neither of us had a 1Euro coin for the shopping basket. We purchased whatever we could carry, having also to account for the fact that we needed to eat dinner and breakfast, but had no plates or cookware. =) Bread, cheese, eggs, bananas, wine – all set, right? How are you gonna cook eggs with no skillets? We made out just fine - new found requirement to get a lot of shopping done tomorrow (Thursday).

Quick! Off to Bremen!

Our luggage is here! It had arrived about 30-minutes before we went down for breakfast and the desk clerk was kind enough to not call us, knowing we were probably asleep.


Jet lagged breakfasts are not the best – the kids were loud and not really seeming all that hungry. Megan went cuckoo00 for cocoa puffs and Sophia inhaled the yogurt.

Now the reality of 4 oversized bags, 4 carry-ons and 2 children sinks in. How do we do this? Courtesy of the hotel, we were able to get a ride back to the airport where we could take the train to Bremen. Once at the airport, we managed to make it all fit on a luggage cart and headed down to level -1 for the trains.


The cashier indicated I should get on the train that leaves in 5 minutes. To Dan’s displeasure (he who is managing the luggage), I acquiesced. We made it (barely) and settled in for the ride to Brussels-Midi. At Midi, we were able to purchase tickets to Bremen but it was about 20 Euro more since we didn't pre-book. The train left shortly and we were off and running again to find the platform. We found a porter, who didn’t speak English or German, but with the ticket and lots of gesturing, we were able to communicate that we didn’t know what we were doing or where to go. He kindly led us in the right direction, and when the train arrived, helped us to find the right car. The path was a little circular – we basically went straight back the way we came, but there was no stop at the airport.

We changed trains in Cologne (Köln) and were the annoyance of the day to the impatient passengers trying to board while we were trying to exit with bags almost as wide as the door openings. Loaded up another luggage cart (having 50 cent and 1 Euro coins on hand is required to ‘rent’ the carts; you get them back when you return the cart to its station) and were grateful that our next train didn't require a massive platform change.

Got some food for the girls (Megan loved the mini brötchen) and sandwiches and coffee for Dan and myself. Had just enough time to fumble through some poor attempts at phone calls to the shipping agent in Bremerhaven and our hotel in Bremen – these two brief calls took me probably 30-minutes to make to figure out how to dial out. Success, finally. By the time I went back to the platform, it was time to load up into the next train.


In Bremen, we were able to load up a luggage cart, exit the train station and walk just under 1-block to our hotel, InterCityHotel Bremen. I'm sure to the amusment of all, we took the overloaded luggage cart straight up to the room and left it for the night. This hotel doesn’t have connecting rooms – so we had a double bed and a baby bed (portable crib). The hotel was kind enough to leave 3 bed covers on the bed – which we folded one over and had Megan sleep on the floor. We fumbled through a quick dinner of pizza and salad in town with broken German. The other German family in the bistro couldn’t help but stare at us – we did our best to blend in and speak German but it’s slow to come back for me. All is good so far - we're on the path to retrieving the RV on schedule.

The big trip

(note: this post was actually written & published on 10.Aug - but I back-dated for timeline consistency)

Without much more hassle than the typical airport departure (and excess baggage fees), we arrived in Brussels largely without incident. After enduring a 6-hour layover in London-Heathrow, the entire family fell asleep before the plane to Brussels had even left the gate.

Baggage claim in Brussels gave us a brief start - our 4 checked bags were no where to be found! Huh. How does an airline lose the bags of a customer who paid a premium? Nothing to do but find the hotel and get some sleep.

We stayed at Thon Hotel Brussels Airport. A little expensive, but we had connecting rooms and the staff were quite gracious and accomodating. Baths and dinner for all and we were off to bed. I woke with a start at midnight, thinking I should be somewhere else. The kids were up from 1-3 am, both needing bathroom breaks, water, and really important whispering sessions.

Internet connection was hugely expensive – so we skipped it. Too expensive and we were sure we’d find connectivity somewhere else along the way.

And We're Off....

In typical fashion, we have been moving non-stop for the past 4-days, wishing we could pay to have "just one more day."

The house is empty (not sold).
The cars are sold or at consignment.
Luggage packed.
Stuff stowed.

Time to wake the kids and head out... next post will be from Europe - likely detailing the reason why our Seattle departure appears to be 1.5 hours late, but the connection to London is still leaving Chicago on time... =)