Friday 22 May

Regensburg is a really nice little city. It had a lot of shopping and Claudia got a great new dress, shoes and purse. I saw some really nice things as well, but they were quite expensive. I loved this leather shoulder bag with a large flap, but it was 200 Euros. I refrained from buying it, only to regret that later this summer. Emma got a copy of Freckle Face Strawberry in German which she was really happy with since she was learning a lot of German while there. James got a set of stamps which he enjoyed. I found that I have been really drawn to yellow, there was a great outfit there all in yellow, with an amazing coordinating purse. I saw a wonderful antique stand for a pocket watch but it was 400 Euros. I wanted to get it for Carl, but that was just too expensive.
The Cathedral in Regensburg was really nice, not as much gold but the outside was very ornate with a lot of stone work. The tomb underneath the had all the priests for it starting in 697. You just can’t find that history in the USA. The Cathedral was originally built in the roman style, but then was either torn down or destroyed then the gothic cathedral was built upon it. We also went into a protestant church. It was built in the 1600s, very old and impressive. Emma, James and Claudia went up into the bell tower. Later at 4pm we stopped for dinner. The kids got chicken strips with salad. Surprisingly James didn’t like it. It was more like real bread crumbs and the ketchup was more like tomato paste thinned out with tomato sauce, not the sugary American stuff. So, needless to say, dinner was a fight to get the kids to eat it. Carl got a sausage salad, but it truly was a plate of sausage swimming in vinegar, he choked down almost half of it, before Claudia couldn’t take it and traded with him.
After dinner we left Regensburg and drove to Bischofswiesen in the south, our next youth hostel waiting for us. Carl was really impressed, within 100 km of the hostel we could start to see the mountains. They sprung straight up out of the earth. Just as impressive as the Tetons, even more so maybe. It was nice and cool up in the mountains. When we set up our room in the hostel the kids didn’t want to go on a walk so just Carl, Claudia, Anna and I went. It was a nice walk, Anna ran most of the way. She is so cute with her dimples, hair, personality – just the whole package. By the time we got back, Emma was asleep and we weren’t even gone very long.

Thursday - May 21st

2nd day in Prague...in our late night walking, the night before, to show the kids the castle all lit up at night we found a toy store. So at 10:00 am we checked out of the youth hostel and headed to the toystore. i told the kids that they couldn't get anything that we could buy at target, walmart, or toys r us, also they couldn't spend all of their money. nearly everything there was american other than their baby toys, but we didn't need any of those. Emma bought a little cat wehre you push the button on the bottom and he collapses. James was really dissapointed and was pouty for quite a while. We then walked to the main square to see the clock but we just had missed it. The buildings and fountain were really pretty there though. Since we missed the castle the day before we decided to try again. So we wlaked over to the river then decided to hop on the trolly to cross the river and travel up the hill. Luckily they didn't check to see if anyone had paid, he, he. It was great that we rode up the hill it saved everyone's feet, even with that, our feet all hurt by noon. Even Claudia's feet hurt, and that is saying something. So, we went in the cathedral. It was really similiar to Notre Dame in Paris. Even the layout and the decor. it also had the same flying buttresses. the kids were fried and I was so sick of eating cheese and bread by the end of the day. So we finally left Prague and still had 400 crowns (about $20). The town before the German border we got some Czech cookies and wafers with some juice and water to use up our money. The wafers are for the kids to take back to school for their class presentations. Our drive took us around three hours to our next stop. the youth hostel in Regensburg, Germany we stayed at was nice and had a tether ball for the kids to play with. they enjoyed it. we walked into town and had a really nice German meal at a HB (hofbrauhaus). it was fun to window shop there too. the stores were all closed because it was so late.

Wednesday May 20th

We walked our feet off all over Prague!
It was fun, we went into the bell tower right near the St Charles bridge, hiked up to the castle on the hill. The castle grounds were closed due to a dignitary visit. We walked in the park on the hill near the castle then climbed up to a tower at th etop. It had 299 steps and my legs were really tired and I was out of breath. The view was great. There were marionette shops everywhere in Prague that lured the children in like the candy man in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Also garnet jewelry and crystal were everywhere. The city reminded me a lot of Paris, but I preferred Paris overall. The architecture was amazing. It didn't experience any bombing during the war so it was in great shape. All of our feet hurt after our day. We bought some nice artwork of Prague from a man on the St Charles bridge. He did the etchings on the metal plates and then prints it on paper. Very similar to the way Uncle Jim does his carving on boxwood.
Once the sun goes down the night life of Prague comes out. High heels, fancy dresses and sharp looking suits and sportcoats are everywhere. Interestingly we saw the elderly missionary couple for Prague. they were only 6 days away form going home to San Francisco, actually they wanted to travel a little before going home.
The streets of Prague were very narrow and many of the buildings were different colors - different from Paris. There were a lot of wooden or meal arched doors with the smaller door built into it for a person to walk through. nearly all of the streets were cobblestone. Carl got a stone from the St Thomas bridge near where they were doing maintenance. The walk in the park area near the castle was really nice, a sharp contrast to the city.
Oh, Prague is expensive...$200 for parking 1.5 days.

Tuesday May 19th - Day 5

In the morning we went on a nice boat ride all around Berlin, it was a 3 hour tour. My German had not come back enough that I understood much, but we all had a great time. The time went by fast. We got to see all different sorts of things. Nice parks, modern buildings, and a lot of historical buildings. we also crossed the point where the river was the old dividing line between east and west Berlin. It was interesting to see the bridge with the respective symbols on each tower of the bridge for the different halves of the city. we also saw the only bridge in Berlin that survived WWII. After we were done with the boat tour, we went through a great flea market and I got some great fabrics for dresses for me and the girls. One for me is yellow and black, very nice.
Afterwards we drove to Prague. we stopped at a truck stop for dinner and had silverware, glass plates with our schnitzel, kraut and sausage. I tried the curry wurst (a Berlin specialty). It was pretty good. You can also get curry ketchup in germany, I liked that as well. We got to Prague at 9pm or so. Carl got a ticket for driving on a restricted street. he paid a fine of 1,000 Czech crowns which equaled about $50. The cops showed him right where the ATM was to pay his fine, and gave him a receipt for 500 crowns.

Monday - May 18th Day 4

The girls and the boys split up today. Me and the girls went to the aquarium in berlin. Claudia had a sewing class to go to. The aquarium was small but really nice. They had a fairly large shark and sting rays that were neat to see. After we were done we saw the church with the top blown off in the war - the gedechnichs Kirche. Very neat looking and something I remembered from when I went to Berlin when I was 14. We then rode the subway to Potsdamm Platz to go to the lego experience, but it cost a lot and we didn't have enough time to see it. Anna latched onto a princess lego doll. She wouldn't let go for anything. So, I bought it for her. Never have I seen her attach to a doll so quickly. I also got soem lego star wars figures for James and Emma. we met up with James, Carl and Claudia at 4pm. We went and traded our car for a larger car since that was what were were supposed to get in the first place. After we did some shopping we found an amazing kids outdoor store. James got some great hiking boots and a nice rain jacket for his trip in August with Carl and the teton mountains. For dinner we met Claudia's parents at a north African restaurant. It was great, and Emma even found something she would eat - couscous. Emma got her zebra stuffed toy about 4" tall, she really wanted one to take around Europe with her.

Sunday May 17th - Day 3

Today we went to a castle - Sans Soucci. I was the first one up for the day - amazing!
Emma's quote of the day, so I asked if she had room for ice cream and she said, "sweets always just slip in."
The palace was nice. there were 10 rooms in the main castle living quarters. Then the kitchen and the bakery area were separate. So teh smells of the kitchen didn't enter the main house. Then the DamenFluegel or place for women, was also separate. When in the women's quarters we went upstairs and Emma counted 20 stairs in german and learned Die Treppe (stairs in german). She really liked it, this became a theme for our trip. James hadn't been that interested in learning the German, but he enjoys the history.
After that we went into the gardens which were magnificent. the kids enjoyed the fountains, ducks and fish. We made the long walk to Die Neuess Sans Soucci, a much bigger castle, it had really ornate wooden floors. the kids were getting pretty tired of walking. Emma was really fussing about her feet. Even my feet hurt some. We then walked into Potsdam and had a nice German meal. Emma got just noodles and cheese, and James didn't like his schnitzel which was really surprising. Claudia and her dad, Jachim, went with us the whole day, it was really nice.

Germany Trip - Day 2

Saturday May 16th - Amsterdam is beautiful!

Flying in we got to see a long sandy beach, a huge shipping port with what looked like lochs, tons of wind turbines in the ocean and even several baseball diamonds. Anna got to see another airplane in the sky flying near us over Ireland, she thought that was neat.

the Amsterdam airport is HUGE. We should land in Berlin at 11:20 am. Emma and Daddy slept on the flight to Berlin while James and I read The Graveyard Book (very good read, but terrible beginning). we purchased a camera battery charger in the Amsterdam airport for $130! ouch. That was expensive.

Claudia was waiting for us right off the plane. It is really good to see her. We went to the car rentals but the carl taht wwe got was supposed to seat 6 plus luggage, but would only fit 5 and no luggage. So there were no 7-9 seaters in Berlin available. She ended up getting us a 5 seater with a jump seat and we really squished in it. On Monday there will be a bigger car available and we will change for a 7 seater. It was really helpful to have Claudia to translate for that experience. It would have been a good test of my rusty German.

Emma near one of the neat old houses on our walk. We didn't take a pic of Claudia's family house...oops

We went straight out to the country to Riewend, to Claudia's family weekend house. It was a really old one built at the turn of the century that they have restored. interesting they did a ton of structural things like taking out the floors and ceilings and putting in steel beams. Quite a remodeling project. Christine had a really nice lunch prepared for us, Emma wouldn't touch it. The entire day she ate mostly chocolate. The kids were so tired we couldn't push too hard. Once they have a good sleep it will be better.

After lunch we went on a really nice walk through the village, near their lake and into the woods a little. It was so beautiful with amazing old buildings, very small town. We had dinner that night which was excellent. Barbeque sausage, chicken, pork, salad and broetchen. yummy. At the house we met Christine's sister, Connie and Daniel's fiancee, Tina. We had a wonderful time. The kids played in the dirt outside and got really dirty. So I put them all in the tub. Christine helped me out and seemed to really like having a little one to bathe, as she clucked sweet things at Anna in German while she was in the tub. We left around 8:15pm and they were all asleep before we left the village.