Munich here we come!

Saturday, we're going on a tour to Munich. We will visit Dachau Concentration Camp where we will see the prisoner barracks, the crematorium buildings and gas chamber and also visit the museum and see the documentary film. Dachau was the Nazi’s first concentration camp and served as a model for all the others. It was also the only one to operate through all 12 years of the Third Reich from 1933 to 1945. The guide, who is to accompany us through the entire day is supposedly extremely knowledgeable on the subject matter. Then lunch at Munich’s famous Hofbrauhaus where Hitler gave his first speech to the public, we will visit other memorial sites in Munich such as where “Kristalnacht” (The Night of the Broken Glass) began, the site of the Beerhall Putsch (Hitler’s 1923 violent attempt to take power), Munich’s war memorial and victims’ memorial, the Nazi art museum “das Haus der Kunst”, Munich’s Gestapo headquarters, Nazi Party headquarters, site of the former “Temples of Honor” and the “Führerbau” (Hitler’s personal office building where the infamous Munich Agreement of 1938 was signed).

Wild Boar

Brad had a German wild boar cross the road in front of our car today as he was driving down frog road on his way to Panzer. He was BIG, hairy and had HUGE tusks. Glad he didnt hit him, would have totaled the car. Frog Road gets its name from the fact that several frogs swarm across frog road to get to another pond, probably for mating. During the spring the speed limit on this road is 15 kph (like 10 mph) on certain stretches and at certain times of day. There is a 18 inch high wall that lines the road about 30 yards off to the side to contain them - Brad has named this the "Great Frog Wall" because it goes up and down the hills and twists like the Great Wall in China.

Ulm

One of my New Year's resolutions was to see a new city - one I've never been to before - every month. Since January was rapidly drawing to a close, I picked one that was fairly close - Ulm, Germany - about an hour drive away.

We drove up, parked, and then found a place to have lunch. I had kasespatzle (cheesy noodles) and brad had pork, potatoes & sauerkraut. Both meals were really good. We then walked over to the Minster.

Ulm is known for their cathedral - Ulm Minster. Since it's Lutheran and was never the home of a catholic bishop it can't be called a cathedral though. It was paid for by the people of Ulm, starting construction in the 1300's with final work in the 1800's. It has the tallest church spire in the world. It was HIGH! We went to walk up to the top, which involves small stone steps in circular stairways - 768 of them. Since it's winter we were only allowed to go up half way, so we didn't have the sweeping view we hoped for, but it was well worth it.

After walking around inside and seeing the huge stained glass windows, carved wood & stone, and the wall paintings in this church that can seat 20,000 (including one painting of Christ on the ground with his intestines being wrapped around a stick by two men standing over him - ewww!). We then walked over the the Ulm Bread Museum, which has several paintings and displays about the history of bread making.

Altogether a good day :-)

Boxers Day in London

As part of our flight to the states we stopped over in London for 17 hours. Brad and I lived it up, while nothing was open we did walk around and see all the sites. I was able to use my Hilton Honors points I've stacked up during all my trips to get a free hotel room at the Trafalgar Hotel on Trafalgar Square.

We walked from Trafalgar square past the old Admiralty (Navy) building, past 10 Downing Street (the Prime Minister's place), up to Big Ben, saw Westminster Abbey, walked around St James Park to Buckingham Palace, then through Piccadilly Circus where we had supper. We then took the train to the Tower of London and the Tower bridge.

It was a beautiful night, while the roads were wet we were never rained on and it was in the upper 30's/lower 40's. A well spent free stopover.

While it was nice to be in a city where everyone spoke English, neither of us feels a need to go back. For breakfast we had a traditional English Breakfast at the airport. The food is also not going to bring us back!!

From there we continued on our flight to the states where we landed at Dallas. Because of the terrorist attempt on Christmas day, we were required to be frisked with our bags searched before boarding the plane. Most stupid of all we had to put everything up and away in the overheads for the last hour of flight, not even a paperback allowed on our laps. What this accomplished, I have not idea, besides creating a lot of chaos on the plane that any terrorist could take advantage of, and making for a miserable final hour of travel!

When we landed in Dallas we went to Brad's mom's house and then went and picked up the girls. After a day with Brad's mom and stepdad, we drove to Minnesota to spend New Year's with my family, drove back and spent a couple more days with Brad's family, including watching two of the girls' basketball games, and headed back to Stuttgart on the 6th.

New Year's Eve Party

We lived it up on New Year's eve at my Mom's house. Our festivities included: fondue, with crescent roll wrapped little weenies, jalapeno poppers, mini corn dogs, meat - chicken & beef, mushrooms dipped in batter, cheese sticks, buffalo chicken bites. On the side we had a vegetable platter and cheese.

This gorging was followed with Christmas present opening, since it was the first time we were all together.

After this I watch my nephew embarras himself for $10 by allowing the girls to put makeup on him (when is $10 ever worth this for a 13 year old???).

As the night continued we watched Star Trek (the new one). We had our New Year's bags - these were a substitue for xmas stockings, which my family embraces as a chance to give a bunch of little gifts.

By this point we were all dragging, so we had our Energy Drink tasting - boy those drinks are all pretty nasty, only one that was okay was NOS. We tried Red Bull, Rockstar, NOS, Monster (blue), and two others who's names escape me.

With our revived energy we then had a chocolate tasting, including much chocolate we had brought back with us from Germany - the hand's down winner was Milka, though Cadbury milk chocolate is my personal favorite.

Before we knew it, it was midnight, which we welcomed in with toast of Mostcato d'Asti or Sparkling Cider.

It was altogether a great night, Hello 2010!!

Stuttgart Christmas Market

In addition to the Esslingen Christmas Market, Brad and I went to the Stuttgart Christmas Market. We also wanted to go to the Ludwigsburg market, which is Baroque, but never got there.

I took off from work on a beautiful day the week of Christmas, I think it was in the upper 40's - very nice out. We also went early and got luck and avoided most of the crowds. We drank gluwein (mulled cider) and shopped. We also ate lunch - rotewurst in brot (beef hot dogs in bread), french fries, and wine. Brad did see this fish vendor, and smelled him from afar, but we did not purchase any fish!

What we did get was some Christmas presents - a smoker and Nutcracker for Brad's mom, a scarf for my niece, a couple more cookie cutters for me (I love cookie cutters, especially the little ones when I make shortbread cookies), some socks for Brad, a scarf for Brad, some Christmas ornaments for our tree. It was a beautiful and productive day.

The first photo, of Brad walking up the cobblestone street is cool because of the angled windows on the building ahead of him.

The other pictures are of us enjoying the market.

Esslingen Christmas Market

This year we went to the Esslingen Christmas Market, which is a medieval Christmas Market. Not only do they sell several medieval type of items, but there are craftsmen with booths set up making things during the market. There is also some man-powered rides for the kids - like a mini-ferris wheel.

These three pictures are of Esslingen. The buildings in this town are a traditional German style with stucco inside of heavy wood beams. You can see one of the clocks in the upper level of the first picture.

This second photo was taken at the entrance to the Christmas market. We looked around, drank some good hot gluwein (mulled punch), in order to get some Esslingen Christmas Market cups, shopped and battled the crowds. It was BUSY! Only purchases we made were some cookie cutters for me.