Travel Pics!

Here are a few shots from our flight over (I was too lazy to get the camera out on the way back).

A shot of our fellow passengers, enjoying the campsite on the floor (note the guy in the hammock on the back left)!.

Hannah & I in our "seats" (literally, a little canvas square that folded down from the wall with a bit of padding on the wall for your back and head). Really, though, I'd fly this way again.

Our trip back!

Oh yeah, and I never posted about our return trip!

We ended up sitting around Ramstein most of Saturday, but got on the 2nd flight out of the day (in the afternoon). This time we were loaded with a bunch of humvees and, believe it or not, a canine unit. I could hear the dogs barking (until the engines were fired up), but they were on the other side of the humvees, so we really didn't' see much of them. We skipped the Ambien this time, trying to get ourselves back on EST -- that was a mistake. I should have taken the Ambien and worried about the jet lag later -- it was a long flight!

We got in to Dover around 9:00, I believe, and then drove a few hours to a hotel. That was another mistake. We had to stop twice to switch drivers because we were both just shot. We met my parents at 70 & 77 on Sunday and swapped Hannah for Ross. It wasn't a good trade (though I was glad to see him). Ross was a grumpy little monster the rest of the way home.

We rolled in around 10:00 and I was really glad to be home. Traveling is nice, but being home is even better!

Hair!!!

So, I've been cutting the boys hair myself for a long while now -- at least a year, if not year and a half. I started doing so because no matter where I took them, they ended up with bad cuts. I just trim them up to one nice short length using the guide combs on the trimmer (and usually trim around there ears and neck again about 6 weeks later, so I only cut it all off once every three months or so). Until yesterday, I'd never really had a problem. Can you guess which one caused the ruckus? Yep, of course, it was Ross.

I was going to do Reid first, but Ross insisted that he wanted to go. I took one good swipe (which means that I was committed to finishing the project), when he started throwing the fit. He changed his mind -- he didn't want a haircut anymore. Great! Next he was mad because he had hair in his mouth (which I --not so politely -- reminded him wouldn't be a problem if he'd just shut his mouth and stop screaming at me). Then he started trying to spit the hair out, which means I had spit all over my floor and the hair was sticking to it. Did you know dry hair is a heck of a lot easier to sweep up? When I was trying to finish around his ears and his neck, he was literally shaking his head back and forth. I finished the job (after an HOUR), but it doesn't look that great and I ended up extremely grumpy. Luckily, Reid was a saint for his trim! Of course, he had to ask me about 3 dozen times yesterday afternoon if he was the bestest at haircuts (and then rub it in to Ross that he behaved better).

The next haircut is all Daddy!

We're home!!!

We rolled in last night around 10:00 after a long couple of days of travel and now we're enjoying an absolutely beautiful day at home with our babies!

Day 9!

Day nine has turned out to be (hopefully) our last full day here in Europe!

We started off by (somewhat reluctantly) heading out of Rothenburg, towards Wurzburg. Wurzburg was another city I wished we had allotted more time for. We spent a couple of hours touring the Residenz and its gardens. The Residenz was the palace for the Wurzburg bishops and was absolutely breathtaking. I liked it much better than Versailles (though, admittedly, that could have something to do with the fact that there were only a handful of other people in the massive building when we toured it). As usual, though, my favorite part of the palace was the gardens. These gardens were very very formal and manicured, outlined with precisely trimmed rows of square topped hedges. There were some sort of pine trees meticulously trimmed to look like a cone -- the sort of thing you see in abstract Christmas decorations and not real life. I could have sat in the gardens all day, if Jeremy would have let me.

After Wurzburg, we started heading towards the Ramstein area. We didn't have a hotel reservation (which is not to my liking), so we needed to get here and find one and also check the flight information. On the way, we stopped in Speyer, simply because we were going by it and I needed one more gift (for Lucy) and the guidebook said it had a nice shopping area. Speyer wasn't on our itinerary and I'd never heard of it before I started thumbing through the guidebook looking for a town to stop in yesterday morning. It turned out to be a very nice stop. There was a massive cathedral called the Kaiserdom there, which was made of a pink colored stone. It seemed like the size of it had to rival with Notre Dame in Paris. The interior was amazing, because the combination of the stained glass windows and the pink stone made for a very bright interior. The shopping was good there, too, and we even found something for our sweet tooth. It turned out to be an unexpected delight to stop in Speyer!

We rolled into Ramstein around 5:00 and headed straight for the airport (and yes, there is really an airport -- one much nicer than most of the commercial airports I've flown through) and then headed across the street to see if they had a room at the lodging facility there. Of course they didn't, because that would have been too easy. Then we went looking for Avis (with only 20 minutes to spare until closing), to make sure we understand how to return the car after hours (and a day early). We got to the car return location and there was a sign on the door that they had moved. Seriously -- wouldn't you give the person who has your car the correct stinking address for where they should return it?!?! I was totally ticked off, because while they had left a crude map on the door, they didn't provide the address, so the GPS was of no help in finding the new location. The good news is, though, that Hertz & another car company had combined -- the car company that already has a location right across the street from the airport. So, this means that we can drop the car there, which is much easier than Jeremy dropping the car off in town and getting a taxi. So, I suppose Avis is forgiven!

Then we started our odyssey of finding lodging. The Ramstein lodging didn't have rooms, but told us US Army installation nearby might. So, off we went looking for this place with our crude instructions. It took forever and when we finally found it, they didn't have anything, but sent us off to another AF installation with the hopes of maybe getting a barrack (not the best sleeping accommodation, but we wanted to be somewhere with a DSN line so we could call the airport). I was thoroughly ticked as we were driving around (because I would have rather had made a reservation before we started the day out), but my mood improved considerably when we ate. We let Hannah choose last night -- McDonald's, of course, was her choice! So goes our last dinner in Germany, I guess! We got lucky, though -- the AF lodging found us a room in the temporary family quarters (where families are housed when they arrive at the installation until they can find a permanent home). The room is fabulous -- bedroom, kitchen and living and probably as big as all our other hotel rooms here combined (or at least it feels that way)! So, now here we sit, waiting for our flight home!

Day 8!

On day eight, we headed up the Romantic Road, out of Augusburg with an ending point of Rothenburg. We had a hard time finding the Romantic Road at first, because you really can't find a map (well, unless you want to shell out the money for a book, which we didn't) -- you just have to follow the road signs. We wove around a bit looking for it, which was okay because we got to explore the area a bit.

Our first stop was Nordlingen, which was really really cool. The entirety of the city's ancient walls are still standing, so you can actually walk around the entire old city on the wall. We didn't go all the way around, which had more to do with the fact that a bird flew out from under the roof and hit me in the head, than that we didn't want to do it. The city walls were really neat. We didn't really check out much of the town other than what we drove through (which looked pretty cool, too), but it was worth stopping just to see the city walls.

We did have an interesting moment, though. The city has installed public restrooms inside the walls at the entrance. We stopped on the way out of the city to use the facilities. When I went in, the door lock stuck a bit, but engaged with a little wiggling. When I went to leave, though, it WOULD NOT open. Okay, I tell myself, I don't need to panic. So, I wiggle the lock a little more. then I wiggle it a lot more. Then I start banging on the door yelling for Jeremy to help. You know what, though? When you are in a bathroom that is between the thick stone walls of a city wall, NO ONE can hear you!!! Well, actually there was a window (covered with bars, at that), but it opened to the inside of the city and Jeremy was way on the outside. Not GOOD! Eventually I got out (wondering why Jeremy had not come in looking for me yet) -- I about ripped the nail off my thumb in the process. Lesson learned: when the lock doesn't want to lock on the stall, it is better to risk loosing some privacy than to be stuck in it!

After Nordlingen, we headed on, stopping for another picnic lunch. Picnicking has been one of our favorite things about this trip. There was only one problem with it on this day: the farmers were all spreading manure on the fields, so the entire area stank of it, creating a less than ideal setting for a meal! Oh yeah, we also learned that we don't like camembert -- my first mouthful was promptly spit out. Yuck!

We pretty much headed straight to Rothenburg from there. I really wish we had allowed two nights at Rothenburg, because it was fabulous. We got a room at one of the local guesthouses right on the main drag. This was the first truly local/European hotel we stayed at and it was really nice. The building was constructed in the 16th century, though it had been thoroughly modernized and renovated recently.

Rothenburg itself is idyllic and romantic. The cobbled streets are lined with cafes, bakeries, shops (and more shops) and restaurants. We walked around a bit, before heading to dinner. We tried to go to the Medieval Punishment Museum (I wanted to see the cage for errant bakers), but we got there a bit too late. We hit the local Christmas shop, which put Bronner's to shame.

I learned something at dinner that night: I don't like German sauerkraut! I thought I would (since I like American sauerkraut), but this stuff was DISGUSTING! First off, it came in huge round balls (perfectly shaped 3" round ones), so I knew it wasn't what I was expecting. It's texture made me think of jello. It was just NASTY!

We ended the day with "The Night Watchman's Tour". It was very well done -- the gentleman who ran it was very funny and engaging. He told a lot about the history of the ancient city and included plenty of details of medieval living. All in all, it was a fabulous day!

Day 7!

I can't believe yesterday was only day 7 of this trip -- it feels like we've been here a month! Of course, Jeremy & I started our travels on Monday (early Monday, at that), so we've been away from home for longer than 7 days. I'm a home-body by nature and I'm starting to get homesick. And I really miss my babies. I've had fun, but I'm about ready to go home. I though for sure our trip wouldn't be long enough, but I think -- for us -- this will be just right. I could never happily do a month long tour of Europe.

Yesterday we left Garmisch and headed north to the Dachau concentration camp. We meant to take the Romantic Road on the way there, but couldn't find how to get on it (there are roadsigns marking the way) and the tourist office we stopped at couldn't help us (they could help us catch it back farther going the wrong way). So, instead, we barreled down the Autobahn going 100 miles per hour (and getting passed frequently by the rocketing Germans).

Dachau was the best done museum that we've seen so far. Of course, it was pretty depressing, but the museum was thorough in its coverage of information -- from discussing the conditions that lead to the Nazi reign to what happened after liberation. It wasn't an uplifting tour, but it was definitely worth seeing. It left me pondering how so many people could just ignore what was happening and wondering if the attitude of "its none of my business" or "its not my problem", that is so prevalent in our society, is just the type that allows this stuff to go on.

After Dachau, we headed to Augsburg. We checked into our hotel and then headed downtown for the evening via the local tram. What a trip! The woman at the hotel told us that it was 1.20 euros per person and that we could pay the driver. Okay, so we get to the tram stop and there is a ticket machine, which made no sense to us. The machine could speak English, but none of the maps or guides around it were in English and we don't understand a LICK of German. This is what I don't like about Europe -- sometimes, you just can't understand anything or anyone. So, we wait for the tram and head to the front where the driver is, only to have it pull away before we can move 10 feet. Well, okay then. We wait for the next tram, all the while I am lobbying on just crashing for the night at the hotel (because these things irritate the crap out of me). So we got on, without ticket, and the driver doesn't want to talk to us, though doesn't seem to be concerned about our lack of ticket. So we watch everyone else -- no one is either paying the driver or using tickets (in the ticket boxes that are located throughout the tram), but are just freely getting on and off. Okay, well that makes no sense!

We walked around the downtown area, which was much like a shopping mall, with large department stores dotted with smaller shops (though not the small local type places I like to frequent). It was interesting to go in and look around, but we didn't buy anything. I was frustrated to find that most of the stuff had English on it (I was looking for t-shirts for the kids with German on them). And then we ate dinner, where we asked the waiter how the tram worked. He gave us exactly the same information that the hotel had.

After dinner we headed back to repeat the tram incident, which I was dreading. At first, we couldn't figure out what tram to get on. Really, the signs made absolutely no sense in connection with the system map the hotel had given us. It took Jeremy having a very disjointed conversation with someone and a thorough review of the posted maps, to realize they gave us a map from 2004, which was very very out of date. This time, the tram wasn't as full and people were actually using tickets. The driver couldn't speak English (of course), but we managed to get the ticket thing figured out.

Augsburg wasn't exactly to my liking, but only because of its size. I've found I've liked the smaller cities much better. And today and tomorrow will be mostly that -- small towns along the Romantic Road, though we may squeeze in Heidelberg if we have the time.