Getting ready to go home...

Wow! Time really flies!!! We can't believe that we are going home tomorrow!
Yesterday we went to the lake one last time and ate one last ice cream. Afterward we met the family at the Biergarten for one last pretzel. Today Lena had one last ice cream with pretzel...
Our bags are packed and we are sad and excited at the same time. We are looking forward to seeing our family and friends and to getting back to our house. But we are really sad to leave so many wonderful people. Hopefully, we'll be back soon and maybe that time it won't rain 48 days straight...
We'll see/talk to you all very soon!
Until then...Auf Wiedersehen, Servus and Tschuess!

Back from Berlin!

Berlin was unreal! We left last Thursday night and got in to Berlin around 2 am. It was a lot of fun driving 170 kph (105 mph) on the highway. The only scary thing being the Porsches, Audis and Benzs that were passing me like I was standing still. They must have been doing at least 120 mph or more to pass me that quickly.

We stayed at Rebekka's aunt and uncle's place in Potsdam. On Friday they took us shopping in Potsdam and on Saturday we picked up a piano that Rebekka's mom bought for her sister. After we unloaded the tremedously heavy piano (thanks Ricky!!!) we went in to downtown Berlin and checked out the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag and the East Side Gallery. The East Side Gallery is a 100 meter section of The Wall that is being erected and repainted to its original state before it was torn down. It's under critisim because it is in a very posh area of Berlin and is taking up a lot of valuble real estate. "Tough," I say, but I'm a history teacher. We also sampled some Turkish Doener (pron: Duer-Nah). This is slice of toasted Turkish bread split open like a pita and filled with tiny pieces of crispy chicken, tomato, lettuce, yogut sauce, garlic and cucumber. HELLO! It's good, and Berlin has the best Doener aside from Turkey--so they say.

Saturday night we took in the U2 concert. That was a blast. I complained about how expensive the ticket were, how hard they were to get, then I saw the show and it was well worth it. U2 are the greatest show around. (see photos)

On Sunday we hung around the house relaxing and took off for Munich at around 5 pm.

Lena enjoyed the entire trip. Ya-Ya watched her a lot as mom and dad took in the sites and the concert. She was completely content with hanging out in the backyard garden watching the bees collect pollen, the neighbor make abstract art by pinning plums to the trees (seriously, Europeans are weird) and playing in the sand box. She is so easy going about picking up and going some place new. We're amazed by it. In the 18 months she's been alive she's been to Germany, Greece, Spain, Jamaica, Austria, Italy, and has travelled around all of these...not to mention the travel she's done in the States. What a little brat ;)

We've only got a few more days here and Munich. We'll probably post one more time and then it's the end. We'll see some of you in a few days, some on Facebook, and others...soon I hope!

Auf Wiedersehen!

P, R & L

We took Lena to the fair for some ice cream and a carousel ride. She loved it! You wouldn't be able to tell from the serious expression on her face (see video/picture)... but she threw a fit when we made her get off. She's having so much fun here with her Ya-ya (Rebekka's mom), her uncles, her cousin, and everybody else. It will be sad when we have to say 'good-bye' to all of them next week.
Last night, Peter and I went on a little date. We went to dinner at a wonderful Italian restaurant. We sat outside under beautiful, old oak trees (no rain for once!) and enjoyed some wonderful pasta and pizza and a couple of cocktails. It was just a perfect evening!
Today we are getting ready to go to Berlin to see U2. We are super excited! Hopefully the weather will be a little bit better up there. It's a 6 hour drive and we'll do most of the driving at night so Lena can sleep. We'll do the tourist program tomorrow: Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, etc. and the concert on Saturday.
We'll be back Sunday night, so until then... Auf Wiedersehen!

We've had a busy last couple of days. It is STILL raining here but we're making the best of it.

On Thursday we went to the Munich Zoo. Lena enjoyed all the animals, but mostly she liked the dogs people were walking...and the ducks. She could care less about a 1,200 lbs Orangutan, she just wanted to feed the ducks!

On Friday we went to Seefeld castle and had kaffee und kuchen (coffee and cake). There they had a bunch of tiny merchant shops and the like. It was nice to get out in the country and not hear the ever-present sounds of the city.

On Satuday we went to downtown Muncih to go shopping and do a Third Reich tour. It was a little hectic because the Christopher Street Day parade (gay parade) was going on. It was interesting (?) to contrast a tour of Nazi Munich with a guy walking by in ass-less chaps (Ha! You think I'm kidding!). And I do have the photo, I just decided not to share it ;) The tour was really interesting. A lot of the artifacts are in plain site, there just isn't any plaque or sign to tell you what this or that is--the Germans remember the era, most definitely, they just prefer not to broadcast "Hey! This is where Hitler used to secretly meet with NSDAP members! And, hey, this is where the SS was formed!" So it was nice to have a guide. That night we went to Schwizer Hof restaurant and had Schwinebraten and Schnitzel and really good beer. It was so "gemuetlich." This is a word Germans use that has no translation. The closest translation is comfy, but that doesn't really do it. It's something you say when you are in a place, the mood is just right, the lighting is mellow, you kind of shiver at how perfect the atmosphere is and everything just fits...make since.

Ahhhh!!! The sun is coming out. No time to blog...must...get...to...sun.

Ciao!

P, R & L

We've now moved from "cats 'n dogs' to large farm animals

It's been raining ever since we got here! We accept it, and know in the near future we will be back in the land that knows no clouds. So for now we'll embrace this rain and have fun anyway we can :)

If the picture of Lena and me proves anything, it's that we haven't really done much the last few days. We went to the mall... Cool huh? Rebekka and Lena got some nice Euro clothes; I got a nice pair of work slacks and some "man-pris" as opposed to capris. Cut me some slack, they're cool over here!

Today we are going to the zoo. We hope Lena likes all the animals; she has enough fun with the ones on her PJs, so we think she'll enjoy the real thing.

Last week we went to an awesome concert at the Nymphenburg castle. It was a French string quartet (a quintet if you add the drummer). They played classical music and jazz--they were outstanding. They're called Quartuor Ebene. They were so inspiring that I decided to pick up cello again (they had a really cool cello player). It's been about 18 years (!), but I hope some of it will come back.

Yesterday we went to Immenstadt. It's a small Bavarian community about 2 hours south of Munich. It started out as a beautiful day with some clouds and a warm sun welcoming us.

We climbed up a small mountain (name?) and went Kletterwalding (that's the thing we did a few weeks ago where you climb around in the trees and complete an obstacle course). This was a different mountain and a different course....it was really, really difficult. We had a blast. Rebekka's cousin, Alex, flew in for the weekend and we had a nice time visiting with him--too bad it was such a short time.

We took the Rodlebahn (Alpine slide/coaster) to get down the mountain. This was a rodelbahn like no other. Seeing that it was on tracks, you were allowed to propel yourself down the mountain as fast as your heart desired. The only problem was the torrential downpour that started minutes before we started our rodelbahn experience (See video: No our reaction was not unwarranted, it was raining and hailing pretty hard. Plus it's pretty funny).

On our way home to Munich we stopped at a small cheese maker's store (Rebekka's family goes to this place a lot when they're near) and bought some of the best cheese I have ever tasted. We also tasted the fresh buttermilk. I've only had buttermilk a few times and each time it tasted *blech!* but this stuff was delicious. Lena could have cared less about the cheese and milk, she was in love with the cow out front (see photo).

Ciao!

P, R & L

Ciao!

We're back from Italy--What a blast! First, let me tell you where we went and how long we stayed:
Bardolino and Verona (2 days)
Florence (1 day)
La Isola dell'Elba (4 days)

We left early on a Thursday and drove about 5 hours to Bardolino, Italy. This is a small town outside of Verona on the Lago (lake) di Garda. We camped there in the VW bus for a couple of days. We both found Verona (the city for lovers--this was the setting for Shakespeare's famous play Romeo and Juliet) to be the best stop. The city was founded in 50 B.C., and looks it! It had so much old-world charm it gave you goose bumps every time you turned a corner. Of course we saw the famous Juliet balcony and watched a bunch of old men place their hand on the right breast of a bronze statue of Juliet (?). I'm sure it's one of those quirky good luck rituals, but inside I was cursing the men putting their hands on a pre-pubescent girl's breast. I wanted to scream 'You do know she was only 13?!?!' Although, I must say she looked closer to 15 in the statue, so I'll give them that ;) We dined on pizza and cappuccinos (as we did the entire trip) and camped in a 5 star camping platz. Lena had a great time. Although we are so disappointed that she'll never remember any of it...what a pity.

On Saturday we drove 2 hours south to the city of Florence. This is the famous site of Il Duomo (Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore). Rebekka and Lena went to get ice cream while I climbed the 650 + steps to the top of Il Duomo (The Dome). Inside the dome are paintings (see photos) of the ubiquitous praise-God-or-a-half-fish-half-man-creature-will-impale-you-on-a-stick-and-drag-you-to-Hell. I don't mean to sound blasé, I'm being sincere--the artwork was truly horrific. There is a beautiful image of Christ and all the angles ascending to heaven, but your eyes, as if they have a mind of their own, keep gravitating to the frightening depictions of demons feasting on human flesh! I'll admit, the Catholics know how to keep their flock in check. We only stayed in the center of town for a few hours, and then it was off to the camp site to get Lena in bed. Mom and dad sat under the stars, drank some local Chianti, and soothed our sore feet.

On Sunday we headed out of Florence and made our way the tiny island of Elba. We hopped a ferry (which took an hour) and fed the seagulls. When we got to Elba we stayed at Rebekka's grandparent’s house. What a pad! It's situated on the side of a small mountain overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Not bad... I'll sum up what we did for the 3 full days we were there: Wake up, eat breakfast, go to beach, eat lunch, go back to beach, eat dinner, sleep, repeat. It was really nice to have good, hot weather. On Wednesday we packed up the VW bus and headed back to Munich. We left in the late afternoon and got in to Munich at about 1 in the morning. I was very pleased with myself because I drove the VW bus through the Alps...at night! (Unless you don't know me this is very exciting news b/c, one: I hate to drive, two: I really hate to drive at night! And I got to go 120 mph on the Autobahn; albeit it was in a VW bus, and at night.

There are too many photos to upload here but here is the link to Snapfish so you can take a gander:
http://www1.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=866116017/a=4466322_4466322

Bis Bald,
P, R, and L