The Kids - 10/8

It was good to have Julia home for the weekend. The kids went out and took some pictures.

German Trip - Day 10

We drove to Mannheim to attend church http://www.fbg-mannheim.de/ with two families who we got to meet in Dallas - their sons were exchange students last year. It was good to see Manuel and Moritz. The service was great and the people were very friendly. We spent the afternoon with the Frankes who graciously took care of us during the afternoon - lunch and a tour of Schloss Mannheim. http://www.schloss-mannheim.de/en/palace-mannheim/Home/268156.html

We made it back to Kiki's house to watch Bayern lose to Dortmund. We then had one final excellent meal at Wagners http://www.apfelwein-wagner.com/htdocs/english/index_d.htm before our departure on Monday morning.

German Trip - Day 9

We got up early and took the local train into downtown Frankfurt. The hardest part of that journey was trying to figure out how the self-service ticket machine worked. We spent the morning shopping and visiting the old historic part of the city. There was some type of festival going on so there were many people and much action.

We had another wonderful dinner - we ate with Kiki and Aunt Doris.

German Trip - Day 8

As we made our way up to Frankfurt for the weekend, we stopped at the former concentration camp in Dachau. http://www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de/index-e.html

We made it to Frankfurt in time to have a wonderful dinner (lamb) with cousin Chris (Kiki) and his wife Mai.

German Trip - Day 7

We took the train from Garmisch to Munich. We spent the whole day there - although we did not make it to the area where Oktoberfest was being held.

German Trip - Day 6

We spent the day in GAP and then headed over to Mittenwald for a few hours. We attended Garmisch Baptist Church http://www.garmischbaptistchurch.org/ and spent the night at the Alpenhof in Kruen. http://www.alpenhof-kruen.de/index-en.html

German Trip - Bavarian Alps

The clouds lifted for a few minutes providing us with a glimpse of the beautiful Bavarian Alps!

German Trip - Day 5

We used the morning to travel from Rastatt down to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Once we got to GAP, we spent a few hours in Garmisch shopping before we met up with Uncle Lo and Aunt Lee. They provided us with a little tour of the village - Ski Stadium http://www.skisprungschanzen.com/e_index.htm?/ger/gere_garmisch.htm, previous residences, and the Partenkirchen cemetery. GAP is hosting the 2011 Ski World Championship in February http://www.zugspitze.de/en/winter/skigebiet/garmisch-classic/ski-wm.htm and also would host the ski events of the Winter Olympics should Munich be successful in winning that bid. We had a very nice dinner in Partenkirchen at the Drei Mohren. http://www.dreimohren.de/e_index.htm

German Trip - Day 4

Today, we traveled south from the Cologne area down to the Black Forest. Once we got to Bonn, we drove along the Rhein River. We continued down the autobahn until Baden-Baden. We then drove on the Schwarzwald-Hoch-Strasse http://www.schwarzwald.com/hochstrasse/ Although the skies were not clear, the drive within the mountains of the northern part of the Black Forest was beautiful.

Before we stopped in Rastatt for the evening, we spent some time driving into and through Strasbourg, France. We had another wonderful meal at the Park Restaurant in Rastatt - http://www.park-restaurant-rastatt.de/index.html

German Trip - Day 3

Today, we visited an outdoor museum where old historical houses were displayed http://www.freilichtmuseum-rlp.de/Default.aspx?tabid=892. This gave us a good sense of how people lived several hundred years earlier in the Rheinland area. We ended the evening eating another wonderful meal at a restaurant in Erftstadt with some Croatian specialties (Germania).

German Trip - Day 2b

We also spent a few hours in Aachen, Germany. This is another very old city with lots of great history. In the cathedral (built in the 9th century) is a throne of Charlemagne - http://www.sacred-destinations.com/germany/aachen-cathedral

The famous city hall also has tremendous history about it - http://www.citymayors.com/cityhalls/aachen_cityhall.html

I also had my first schnitzel of the trip!

German Trip - Day 2a

We spent the morning in Maastricht, Holland. This is the home city of Andre Rieu - http://www.andrerieu.com/

German Trip - Day 1

After arriving at Frankfurt airport on the morning of 9/24, we headed up to the Cologne area to spend a few days with Chris and Helga. We rested a few hours and then headed to downtown Cologne to see the famous cathedral which began construction in 1170 -http://www.koelner-dom.de/geschichte.html?&L=1

There is a Roman-German museum near the cathedral. One of the famous articles in this museum is a tapestry/mosaic dating back to the 3rd century - http://www.sacred-destinations.com/germany/cologne-roman-museum-photos/slides/dionysus-mosaic

We finished the night at a wonderful Italian restaurant (Fioretto).