France - Thursday, July 7th, 2011

What a fantastic day!  Becky and Travis were gracious enough to allow us to use Travis' car.  We dropped Travis off at work at 6:15am and headed to Strasbourg, France.  We arrived in Strasbourg as the city was waking up.  Parked downtown and started walking.  Strasbourg has a river running through the city and a huge cathedral as the focal point.  As we walked, everywhere we looked  people were riding their bicycles to work: older women in dresses, young women in dresses, men in suits... very charming... very foux da fa, fa, fa, fa.  We stopped at a small cafe for a pastry and coffee.  All of the locals knew each other and it felt like we were truly on holiday.  We walked to the cathedral and paid to walk the 66meter spiral staircase up the cathedral tower.  Well worth the money.  We then walked through the cathedral which was huge, beautiful and free.  I appreciate that they didn't charge and, in addition to no charge, they had encouraging words throughout the cathedral about God and Jesus.  The cathedral was started in the 1100's and wasn't completed until the 1400's.  Amazingly intricate detail on the pulpit and there was a beautiful, huge sculpture of the Mount of Olives scene.  After the cathedral we walked around Petite France and then decided to drive out into the country to small French towns.  We took back roads and it was magical.  It felt like we were in a movie.  The roads had gentle curves.  We could see for miles all around us.  The sun was shining.  The music was up loud.  The windows and skylight were all open and Christopher was driving at a fast clip.  The fields were golden and various shades of green with trees mixed in between all surrounded by mountains in the distance.  We first went to Saverne, France, walked the streets and had lunch at a streetside cafe.  I had pate meatballs and thoroughly enjoyed them.  We then got back into the car and headed to Bouxville, France.  As we drove we went through several small villages that were completely charming.  Very old.  Very French.  Bouxville was a sweet, small town.  We walked off of the main street and saw an old, French woman leaning out her first floor window that had flowers in a flower box and shutters on the side.  She was just observing the world as it passed by.  Loved the day!

Prague to Germany - July 5th, 2011

We stopped at a grocery store as we were driving out of Prague and purchased our lunch there.  It was very, very cheap and very delicious and we all wished that we had eaten all of our lunches there.  We said we would do that on the next trip.  Christopher drove most of the way home and we stopped at Rothenberg which is a walled city from the 1400's (?).  We ate dinner at a streetside restaurant and had a fun, friendly Italian waiter.  Wandered around and drove on home.

Prague - Monday, July 4th, 2011

A day enjoying the sights and sounds of Prague.  That evening Christopher and I went to a performance of Mozart and Dvorjak.  It was beautiful although Christopher thought that they were a little loose.  The theatre was beautiful.  Not incredibly elaborate but very elegant with great acoustics, a large pipe organ and a beautiful choir loft.  We really enjoyed the concert. 

Prague - Sunday, July 3, 2011

It was nice most of the day.  We went back to the palace area to look at the cathedral and it was beautiful.  The rest of the day, we basically just wandered around.  The kids, Travis and Christopher did paddle boat on the river while Becky and I relaxed on the dock with a beer.  They were only out for about 40 minutes but they seemed to have fun.  Finding a restaurant for dinner was our usual wandering of the streets and discussing all of the potential places for a meal.  We decided on a restaurant that none of us really thought looked spectacular but we were hungry and tired of wandering.  We sat down and there were two little bowls of potato chips on the table with 5Krone as the price.  We didn't eat them.  I pointed out that the menu didn't have prices so Travis asked for a menu.  The prices were a little bit high but not completely outrageous.  There was a young boy at the back of the restaurant who was on a laptop computer and was obviously the child of the owner or one of the waitresses.  While we were waiting for our food the kid picked up his computer and started toward the front of the restaurant.  Directly behind the table that was beside us, the kid dropped the computer and there was some commotion as he picked it up.  Also at that table, when they received the check I noticed that they were displeased and puzzled about the amount but the father went ahead and paid.  I mentioned that we should really look our check over.  We received our food and Becky's meat wasn't meat at all but pure fat.  The rest of the food was below average but not completely horrible.  We received our check and there was a 15Krone surcharge plus an additional charge that I can't remember.  We asked the waitress and she pointed it out in small print on the menu that we had to request.  We were all thoroughly disgusted.  After we left, I thought about the kid dropping the computer incident and it made me wonder if it was actually a pickpocket issue.  I forgot to mention that the big biker type, tattooed dad of the kid yelled at him and called him into the back room.  They were back there for a short minute and no raised voices came out of the back room.  The kid and dad then came back out and the dad was smiling and patting the kid on the shoulder.  That is what made me wonder if there had been a pickpocketing situation.

Saturday, July 2, 2011 - Czech Repulib, Prague (Praha)

We got up fairly early and left on a 4.5 hour drive to Prague.  Becky's family dressed for summer but it felt like very early spring.  We bought bread and meat at the local bakery for lunch and stopped at a rest stop to eat.  Lunch was good but everyone was freezing.  Actually the road trip went fairly fast and we all enjoyed each other's company a great deal.  We arrived in Prague in the early afternoon and met our "landlord" who let us in to our apartment. 

Prague is beautiful.  When you drive into town it looks ghetto like... run down, graffiti and you get a little bit worried.  Once you arrive at the city center it is beautiful.  Last night was a magical night.  I had a traditional Czech dinner of dumplings, roast beef with cranberries and sauce but no vegetables and, of course, beer (Czechs drink an average of 160 liters of beer per year and that includes every man, woman and child).  I taught Brady the Austrian Yodeling song and then we started to walk around again.  We ended up at a plaza with incredible buildings surrounding it and a street festival.  The band was really great and they played salsa, Brazilian, etc.  Really fun.  Becky, Travis, the kids and I went on a carriage ride that was very cheap and really fun.  At one point Brady excitedly exclaimed "this is beautiful!" and then later he said " I love you mom" which had everyone following up with a love fest.  We hung around and danced for awhile and then walked home.  The kids and I watched a movie while the other 3 went out to have fun.  While we were watching the movie we heard some loud booms.  We are in a strange building (I'll explain later) so Taylor and I were a little nervous.  The booming kept going on and we realized it was fireworks so we ran upstairs to peek out the window at the fireworks.  We could see them out of one of the bedroom windows if we stood on the bed.  So there all 4 of us were, standing on the bed, peeking out the window at the fireworks which were exploding over the terra cotta rooftops.  After the fireworks were over they collapsed on the bed and I just let all 3 of them fall asleep there.  

To explain the building we are in...it is very, very old and looks very, very abandoned.  We have to unlock a worn, brown wooden door and then walk through a nasty hallway with side doors that open to empty barnlike rooms.  This hallway opens into a nastier courtyard with a board laying on the ground, lots of weeds and a couple of terra cotta planters with sorry look plants in them.   Then it is up a unfinished wooden spiral staircase to a door (I don't think anyone else lives in the buildings).  When we open the door though it is beautiful... very modern, very clean and uncluttered lines with 2 bedrooms upstairs and a living room, kitchen, and bed area on the main floor.  When the "landlord" first took us in she said, "Do not be scared by the first part.  The apartment is very nice.  We do not own the other."  I'm glad that she warned us!

Friday, July 1st, 2011 - Stuttgart

I'm posting this a few days late so it will be brief.

We puttered the morning away and then Becky took us to the train station so that we could go to Stuttgart.  CB tried to get us a "group" ticket because they are cheaper but he couldn't figure out the system so we just purchased single tickets.  As he was messing around trying to get the tickets our train arrived and left so we had to wait an additional 1/2 hour.  It was rainy, chilly and he was hungry so he was a bit grumpy.  While we were waiting, I puttered around with the ticket machine and figured out how to purchase the cheaper tickets.  The train itself is clean, quiet and fairly quick.  We had around 10 stops before we hit downtown Stuttgart.  Downtown Stuttgart reminded me of Denver's 16th Street Mall, only larger by quite a bit.  If you can believe it, Chinese sounded good to us so we ate fast food Chinese which was OK.  We looked around for 2-3 hours and then trained back to the station where Becky picked us up.  

The adults went out to dinner at a local Italian restaurant.  We walked there and back and had a nice, relaxing time.

June 30, 2011 - Hohenzollern Castle & Tubbingen

We puttered around in the morning and left late morning for the castle.  Becky was a sweetheart and loaded the kids up, yet again, to take us on an adventure.  CB drove so that he could get used to the signs and such with Becky in the car and he did a great job.  He said it felt good to be driving again.  Got to the castle and everyone hiked us up the hill to the castle.  It was a very steep incline at first.  We looked back and there was Brady with a little smile on his face, huffing and puffing, picking his feet up high and hiking up the hill.  It made us all laugh.  They left us at the gate and went back down to watch a movie in the van while they waited for us... I told you that she was sweet.  The tour of the castle was in German but we had English guidebooks plus there was a man touring with his American friends and he was translating.  His sister said that we could tag along and listen.  I didn't listen too intently because I didn't want to be rude but I caught some of it.  We only toured about 1/4 of the castle because the rest is administration and the prince's private quarters.  He stays at that castle 5-6 times per year for 2-3 days at a time.  Everyone knows when he is in residence because his flag is flown on the days he is there.  He was just there last weekend.  We ate lunch in the castle and then hiked down.  I have only been in one castle but I think I might like them all more from a distance.  We enjoyed the tour and I'm glad that I got to do it but they are so very impressive from a distance... so high on a hill with all of the turrets.  

CB drove back while Becky finished watching her movie in the back with the kids.  We stopped at Tubbingen which is a large college town.  The German instructor where I worked suggested that town.  Probably 20-30 years ago it was a fantastic town with a quaint shopping district but now it is kind of dirty with graffiti and some trash around.  We just bought the kids and Becky an ice cream there and left. 


Taylor and Becky cooked tortellini for dinner.  We had to go to the small local bakery for bread and then to the local grocery store for the tortellini ingredients.  CB and I walked with Taylor to the stores.  She looked so European with her beautiful red hair and her shopping basket swinging from her hand.  Very sweet.  Again we had a fantastic family meal which CB and I thoroughly enjoyed.  Then the chaos began.  Somehow (Becky?:) Brady got on a website that had Star Wars toys for sale.  He and Jordan are huge Star Wars fans.  They watch the movies over and over and over.  Play with Star Wars action figures and have Star Wars fights.  George Lucas should be proud that 32 years after the first movie kids are still into his Empires.  Anyway, Brady was a maniac!  He kept loudly running into the room telling us what toys he had found.  This lasted for at least 1/2 an hour.  At first it was really cute but it did wear thin after a while.  At one point, he came up to me and asked me if I had $50.  He actually only wanted $15 but it was pretty funny.  Becky had one heck of a time settling the kids down for bed since they were so hyped up from online shopping.  I think that is the last time that Becky will ever let them online shop.