Travel Tales: Germany 2004, Part Five

Our last travel tales installment for Germany... now I have to figure out the rest of the trips! I suppose France 2005 could be next...

We're planning a nice dinner tonight so we actually went to Wal-Mart again. That was after we went to the town of Maulbronn, which was one of my favorite towns so far, I think.

Maulbronn kind of centers around a monastery, and it really reminded me of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter movies. It's an old cloister from the 1100's. In fact, the whole village had a Harry Potter feel to it. Being near the shops felt like being in Hogsmeade Village. In fact, there was even a witchcraft shop, but we didn't really know what to do with any of the stuff in there. There were herbs, but no directions and all the books were in German so it wasn't as if we could read them without a translator.

The hall at the monastery - it looked like Hogwarts!
Lindsay sitting outside the town.
A view of all the little "Hogsmeade Village"-like houses.

Apparantly my journaling stopped there. We stayed in the town for a while, toured the monastery and then looked in all the little shops. After that we had a nice lunch and then headed to the Wal-Mart to pick up the dinner items. I was making brownies and lemon-garlic chicken. Our "innkeepers" were coming for dinner as were a whole slew of others that mom had met before but not me and Lindsay.

We headed back to the house to cook - Lindsay and I proceeded to eat our way through a jar of Nutella at some point. It's kind of silly how we always buy Nutella in Europe even though we can get it here just as easily.

After dinner, Lindsay and I walked around Evelyn's little village because I needed to finish a roll of film. While she was posing by a streetlight, two boys in a pizza place started making fun of it - it's kind of interesting to have people pointing and laughing at you in other languages!

The church on Evelyn's corner.
Lindsay posing by the streetlamp.

We headed back to the house for dessert and just enjoyed our last night in Germany!

The group at Evelyn's.

Quote of the Week

"You can't text shotgun." - Unknown Character Name (My Boys)

I see this commercial all the time for the show my boys. It makes me think of Lindsay and Katherine every time!

Cooking with Jack

Today Jack and I made ice cream and red velvet cake. We started with the ice cream - chocolate! - and then moved on to the cake. Both seemed to have come out well, but as they were both for events tomorrow (the ice cream for a bbq at Willa's and the cake for mom to take to church), I don't know exactly how they turned out!

Jack puts the chocolate in the pot to melt.
Jack sports a sticker Lindsay and I found while cleaning.
Taking self-portraits.





Stirring the chocolate and cream mixture.
Trying to taste the ice cream mixture.
For the cake, Jack decided he would mix the cocoa with the food coloring by hand. As a result, the cake was a lovely red. Unfortunately, so were Jack's hands!

Travel Tales: Germany 2004, Part Four

It was up and at 'em early to head to the city of Konstanz, nearly three hours away, and just near the border of Switzerland. The town was beautiful, as all these small towns seem to be - and it was nice to experience even though we saw it mostly from the car. At this point, it was already almost 1:30, so we were hungry and looking for something to do. We took the ferry over to the town of Meersburg (I think!) and I felt like we were in Greece or something when we were on the ferry and then docked at th epier with all the sailboats around.

The lake views were looking at the mountains. We could eve see the grayish outlines of the Alps. From Meersberg we made our way to the small island of Mainau, a privately-owned place. Apparantly, it is the warmest spot in Germany and all kinds of plants grow there that down grow anywhere else in the country. We didn't see much of this, however, because the price was rather hefty and so we just looked out on the water and watched the sailboats.

Boats that made me think of Greece.
A view of the Bodensee.
Me on the ferry.
Lindsay on the ferry.
Lin and Mom on the ferry.

We took the ferry back to Konstanz, and then we got back into the car and made our way into Switzerland. As we got further and further in, I noticed the very subtle differences the country had - even in the architecture. Evelyn and Gunter said that many of the people spoke in a strange Swiss/German dialect.

Anyway, we went further into Switzerland, stopping in a small city to buy chocolate and have dinner. The restaurant was good. I finally had chocolate mousse!

A small view of the Rhine Falls.
Lin in front of the falls.
Me at the top of the falls.
Lindsay and me at the top of the falls.
The Rhine Falls.

After dinner we went to the Rhine Falls, the place in Switzerland where the Rhine River either ends or begins. The falls are comparable to Niagara Falls, though not as large. You wouldn't want to go down them in a barrel or anything! Lindsay declared it the greatest date spot in the world.

Once we were done gazing at the falls, we headed to Stuttgart, which is the town where dad was born. We took pictures by the sign - it was too late and we were too tired to get out and enjoy the city.

By the Stuttgart sign.

After all this we pretty much collapsed into bed!

Useless Quiz of the Day

Which CareBears Bear Are You?
	You are part Tenderheart Bear. Your charisma and confidence makes you a natural leader. People look to you for guidance and your problem-solving skills are amazing. You are fun and fiercely loyal to the people you care about. Everyone trusts you, and you deserve it!
	You are part Wish Bear. You are a dreamer and a believer; a great combination because you can set AND achieve goals. You are a creative soul and see things most people are too busy to notice. A true optimist, you only see the good in people and this makes you an excellent friend!
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

Summer Vacation

Summer vacation has officially begun. This summer brings:

-a trip to Puerto Rico
-productions of Othello and All's Well That Ends Well
-a weekend in Montauk, belatedly celebrating Father's Day
-a trip to Medieval Times for Frances' and Lindsay's birthdays

And all kinds of little weekend and day trips and birthday celebrations! As is usually the case, I'm sure I'll walk back into work in August feeling like I had never left!

Picture of the Week

Carol and the boys had this horrible puzzle at their house in January 2007. You had to put the bugs together, front end to back end, which was really hard with the four bugs on each square. After TWO DAYS of trying, I finally figured out the pattern - by actually trying to see just how many bug butts to bug heads there were - and I FINALLY GOT IT!

Travel Tales: Germany 2004, Part Three

Journal Entries in italics.

We headed to the city of Heidelberg, where we saw the castle. There were wonderful views of the entire city from there, and it was really, really beautiful. The castle itself was really cool, some of it being in ruin. They also had the SECOND largest drum of win that you can climb stairs and stand upon. I don't know if there was actually any wine in there - I would highly doubt it. No one actually uses the barrel, to the best of my knowledge anyway.

A view of the castle from below.
The giant wine barrel.
Ruins of the castle.
Lindsay and the poseidon statue.
Me by the giant wine barrel.
The view of Heidelberg from the castle.

I really liked the views best. I love scenery. From the castle we made our way down into the city and saw the big famous church that the whole town seems to be built around. It's huge, and it has all these little shops all around it. It's a pedestrian area, which is nice. No noisy cars to be a distraction!

We looked at the church and then headed to the bridge. The names of all these places are in my travel book, which unfortunately I left in the car so I'll have to get those names down tomorrow or something when I can use the book as a reference. Anyway though, the bridge offered some very nice views of the castle and of the city.

Lindsay and I with Evelyn and Gunter on the bridge.

Then we made our way to another town - the name begins with an 's' but again I don't remember. I can't recall the German words that well. They just don't come to my memory. Anyway, we viewed the palace briefly before heading to the town of Speyer to see the church.

When we were finished in Speyer, it was back to the other town to look at the palace and then have dinner. We were met by Linda and James, and we ate typical German food. Then we walked a little bit to get ice cream before heading back to go to bed and getting ready for tomorrow - Switzerland!

The Terror of Tiny Town

When Kate and I were little, we used to watch this ALL THE TIME. From the giant drink one of the guys drinks to the chef chasing Fritz the Duck ("Look Fritz, it's gettin' late for the boss' dinner, and I'm gettin' tired!"), we laughed until we cried! (Come to think of it, this movie is probably the reason why I think the name Fritz is so funny.)

Parts 1-7, courtesy of YouTube!

A Little Education for Your Sunday Afternoon...

I have always been fascinated by whales - and one day I WILL see one in person! (As in, NOT in the aquarium!)

Quote of the Week

You gotta love how Lemony Snicket (A Series of Unfortunate Events), describes the world like it is!

"A passport, as I'm sure you know, is a document that one shows to government officials whenever one reaches a border between countries, so the officials can learn who you are, where you were born, and how you look when photographed unflatteringly." ~Lemony Snicket

Picture of the Week

Since the last Germany Travel Tales post was without images, here is a picture from the day described in the tale. Here's me, Lindsay, Linda (Evelyn's sister), mom and Evelyn on the road leading up the Black Forest.

Travel Tales: Germany 2004, Part Two

(Actual journal excerpts in italics.)

Today was a fabulous day, despite the less-than-fabulous weather we experienced. It all began with a trip to Wal-Mart. It was basically the same as Wal-Marts in the states, but with German products (and American) and signs. Better produce too, but I imagine Europe to have better produce in general.

From Wal-Mart we headed to the Black Forest region, where we stopped at a beautiful lake and sampled black forest cake (really good with cherries and whipped cream). This is also where the rain began, and so we didn't stay very long. However, the views were absolutely beautiful and we got to see where both France and Germany are separated by the Rhine River, and a lot of large hills, though not Alp-like mountain or anything.

We also saw what the Black Forest is famous for - Cuckoo Clocks! They were selling them in the little shop where we bought the cake. They also had wonderful looking breads but we did not sample them. We did watch a guy take them out of the oven though. We decided to leave and head into Baden-Baden.

The city of Baden-Baden would probably be really nice - except for the fact that we couldn't get out of the car due to the horrid rain.... But it's a very pretty city - very ritzy - and I would have liked to have had more pictures of it. At this point, I was a little antsy from being in the car the whole time - I was itching to walk.

We got to walk when we got to France, to the city of Strasbourg. It was certainly no Paris but it was nice just the same. I love the French architecture! And Gunter pointed out some very old houses and buildings. It was really cool.

After a brief snack stop (pain au chocolat!), we went to an old church - of course I can't remember the name but it was HUGE. The inside was nice. They had an astronomy clock and it was actually undergoing some renovation but it was pretty all the same. We lit candles for Grammy Russell and Great Grandma.

Once we saw the church, we wandered around Strasbourg for quite some time, walking by the river and just enjoying the sites despite the rain.

From Strasbourg, mom wanted to go to Soufflenheim, an old pottery town. We bought a serving platter. It was a really cute little place. Again, I had some pictures of it, but mostly from the car.

Then it was dinnertime and so we headed to another small town just on the border of France and Germany. We had a really great dinner that included Flammkuchen, a creamy pizza-like concoction that was really good.

Well, this post would have had more pictures except blogger seems to be having an internal error. I'll have to add them on later!

This is Awesome!

Quote of the Week

I couldn't find ANY good father's day quotes that weren't "Hallmark-card-sappy" so I found a quote about children instead!

"Children seldom misquote. In fact, they usually repeat word for word what you shouldn't have said." ~Author Unknown

Happy Father's Day!

To my dad, and all the other dads in the family!

Dad and Lindsay.
Dad and I.

And to some of the other dads I know:

Popops, lost in the middle of the grandkids.
Kevin with Kara.
Paul, with Jack.
James, with Carol and the boys.
Ted, with Grandma.
Chris, with Pam, Joe and Katherine (in '92; I couldn't find a good recent picture).

Travel Tales: Germany 2004, Part One

Well, since things have been so dead around here and I have time to sit and just type something up, I thought I would continue the tradition of Travel Tales - both to further the tradition and to get everyone excited for the Puerto Rico version that will be coming your way in August.

THIS version, however, tells the story of the trip Lindsay, mom and I took to visit family friends Evelyn and Gunter in Germany during the summer of 2004. It was the first time all three of us had left the country together, and the first time any of us had been to Germany. Now is also as good a time as any to put a disclaimer on my horrible spelling of the German names for things!

Day one brought us to Frankfurt, Germany, which is about two hours away from Evelyn and Gunter's town (I don't remember the name of it, but it is just near Karlsruhe). After being on a plane for eight hours and then driving, it was quite a relief to reach the house of Evelyn's sister, Linda, where she lives with her husband and two daughters, Annalaina (I have never actually found out if that's how you spell her name but I spelled it exactly as it was pronounced for me) and Marie. They fed us a nice lunch, and then we watched the girls - and Gunter - play Mario Kart on the GameCube which, in German, is pretty funny!

Gunter wasn't quite sure how the game was played, but he was a good sport and tried it out anyway!



The group playing the GameCube.

Also while we were visiting, mom got scratched by the rabbit in the backyard, also named Wendy.

From there, it was off to Evelyn's house to get mom settled in. Lindsay and I stayed a few blocks away with a neighbor who had a large spare room. We headed off to meet her and drop off all our things after a quick tour of Evelyn's house. After a light dinner, we all headed to bed to get ready for our first day of sightseeing!

In the morning, Lindsay and I met mom, Evelyn and Gunter, and here I will let my journal from the trip take over (all journal entries in italics):

Today was a wonderful day. I had breakfast at Evelyn's, followed by a lovely picnic next to a lake (name unknown).... We met Evelyn's mother and her sister's family was there as well - they are all really, really nice, so it's been fun to do various things with them.


Evelyn's niece, Marie, up a tree.
The whole group next to the lake.
Annalaina and Marie.

Following the picnic, we headed to a lovely castle way up on a hill. The name I can't remember but Evelyn said she would write it down for me. The castle was nestled in the rocks, and when it was actually in use it was highly security conscious. There were all of these strange entrances carved into the rocks, and looking posts on other mountains that the men could crawl to - sometimes taking two days to get from place to place... The region we were in today is called the Deutsche Weinstrass, the German wine country. We did indeed see the vineyards, but only from the car.

(Note: There are no pictures of the castle as my camera decided to act up and be annoying at this point in the trip!)

Once we completed our time at the castle we headed to Evelyn's mother's house - and also the site of Evelyn's hometown (thought she lived in a different house than her mother's current one). The small town was called... well, unfortunately I can't remember the exact name, but it started with an "o." We took a nice walk around there, and even met some cousins of Evelyn's.

The walk through the farm town was really beautiful. They had pretty views of other small towns in the distance, all with those classic thatched roofs, all pointy and in hues of red and brown. It was all surrounded by rolling hills and fields of yellow hay and green grass. Charming would be the only word to describe it. It's really nice just walking around the looking at various things.

I could hardly believe that it was nearly six o'clock when we headed out of there! We went back to Evelyn's, crossing over the Rhine - I love big river expanses, though I could have done without the factory buildings in the distance. They're ugly everywhere, but especially when surrounded by pretty scenery.

When Gunter returned (he had been working), we went into Karlsruhe, the large town near their house. We saw the castle, where the Dukes of Baden lived. It was a really nice site, especially all lit up in the dark. The tower of the castle is at the "base" of the city - all the streets "stem" from it, like a fan. It's very interesting. I wonder what an aerial view would look like.

The castle, lit up at night - my crappy flash does not do it justice!

We simply walked about the town, seeing it. We saw the town center, with a large pyramid tomb containing Wilhelm von Baden-Durlach, according to my guide book, though Gunter it just as informative as a tour guide as we make our way through these new places.

In the next installment: Our day in the Black Forest and heading into France!