Another Summer Adventure

Tomorrow I’m heading out to Montauk to spend some time with Dad and Kathi. Then I’m going to Pam’s overnight so Katherine and I can see “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2″ so it’s a slightly busy two days – and there are likely to be very little posts from me in that time. Will have the laptop with me, but I don’t know about internet… I’m really only bringing it for writing purposes anyway!

Don’t know if this is the kind of trip I’ll be taking lots of pictures on, but we’ll see!

The Return!

I’m back from Puerto Rico – had a GREAT time! Right now I’m tired from the trip and need to find my camera cord so I can upload all the pictures. I MAY have packed it, but I didn’t see it ON the trip and I haven’t seen it anywhere in the apartment yet so I hope that it turns up soon. I’ll hold off on pic of the week until I find it, and if I don’t, I’ll do a different picture of the week!

Until Next Wednesday…

…posts may be few and far between. I am heading down to Puerto Rico tomorrow and while I WILL have the laptop and I WILL have internet at the hotel, I highly doubt that I will use it to post here that much. So it’s off for a week and I’ll be back next Wednesday just in time to post next week’s picture of the week (which I am CERTAIN will be from the trip!).

If I get a spare moment in the evenings, I will try and post some pictures and thoughts and whatnot from the trip, but we’ll see how that goes – I’ll strive for the first ever LIVE edition of Travel Tales but I know I won’t be able to keep up with the entire trip. There’s so much to see and do in only five days! But you KNOW that I will be updating just as soon as I get back with lots of pictures and stories!

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!

To Virginia Tomorrow!

Lindsay, Dad, Kathi and I are headed for Virginia tomorrow to visit Grandma & Popops – I see a lot of tennis in our future (and also knitting lessons – well, I plan to relearn as I learned a while back and forgot how to do it!).

Guess where Lindsay is!

If you can’t from this hint (or at least narrow it down to one of two places in the country), then can I politely suggest an eye doctor appointment?

If all goes well, I’ll be able to get some pictures from the trip to share when they return!

More France Pictures!

More of Katherine’s France pictures have been added to the album in the photo gallery.

Photo Gallery Updated

Head on over to the photo gallery and you can now see some pictures from Katherine’s recent trip to France with Jeanne and Anthony. The picture up are from Cannes, Monaco and Monte Carlo. Paris is coming soon – and we’ll try to get some of the videos up as well!

In Honor of Katherine’s Voyage to France Today….

Though she won’t be in Paris till the end of the week, here’s a picture to get into the spirit of France! Have fun – and we expect to hear all about it when you return!