Europe - Day Four

Day Four – 27 Sep 2008 – Castle Day

This was a day all four of us had looked forward to. Even though we had all been in this area before, Marie is the only one who had been to Neuschwanstein Castle.

We toured the lower castle first – Hohenschwangau – and then hiked up the mountain to tour Neuschwanstein Castle.

Taken from a postcard of Neuschwanstein Castle.

Diane and Marie waiting for tour to begin.

This is a bridge that is behind Neuschwanstein Castle. After the tour, we walked up to this bridge.

Mick on bridge behind Neuschwanstein Castle.

Neuschwanstein - "New Swan Castle" - You must have swans at the swan castle.

After touring Neuschwanstein we drove to the Linderhof Castle- another of “Mad” King Ludwig’s castles. Here we are on the grounds of Linderhof Castle.


Upon returning to Reutte to our hotel, we came across these street performers. I mean this literally as the parade was going right down the street we needed to go on. It was Oktoberfest in Germany. There were 5 or six perfomers walking and dancing on stilts and 2 marching bands dressed in traditional Bavarian costumes.

Europe - Day Three

Day Three - 26 Sep 2008

Before we left the hotel we took this picture of Stephie (prounouced “Schteffie”) who had taken such good care of us at the hotel. Her name is actually Stephanie and was delighted to find we had a daughter with the same name with the same spelling.

We drove from Berchtesgaden to Innsbruck,Austria, thoroughly enjoying the scenery – everything so green and the leaves were just starting to turn fall colors. We didn’t spend long in Innsbruck, but did take time to find the LDS chapel there. Mick had actually helped work on the construction of this building while he served his mission in Austria.

From there we drove from Innsbruck to Garmish, Germany. Here we hiked up a gorge. It was approximately a one-mile gorge cut through sheer rock, which was approximately 15 ft wide with a fast flowing river coursing through it. There was a path cut through this rock with a railing guarding you from falling and followed just to the side of the river. Quite beautiful as well as breath-taking.

From there we drove to Reutte, Austria – just across the border from Germany – and found a hotel.

Europe - Day Two

Day Two – 25 Sep 2008

We spent the morning on the Königsee. All boats on the Königsee have to be electric. They have not allowed any gas-driven motors since the beginning of the 1900’s. At one point on the boat ride, they stopped the boat and a trumpeter played – the song echoing several times along the walls of the mountains.

This picture was taken between the lake and this church.

In the afternoon we took a tour of Obersalzburg and the Eagle’s Nest. Our guide was an American who grew up in Europe and specialized in the history of this area. Obersalzburg is the area where Hitler lived and, therefore, his top leadership also had homes there. Since Hitler would spend several months at a time here, his leadership would follow him. They also built (or confiscated) their homes here and most of them had their families live here. NO ONE entered this area unless on official business so it was very secure for them.

The Eagle’s Nest was NOT where Hitler lived, but was a gift for his 50th birthday. He only visited a few times – something like 14 times. In today’s economy, if you take the cost of the gift divided by the number of times he visited, each visit would have costed $10m.

Today there is not a lot left of the buildings in this area. In 1952 when this area was turned over to the Bavarian government from the US military forces, the Bavarian government completely destroyed the buildings. For instance, Hilter’s home was totally razed, all of the debris hauled off and the area re-planted with quick growing plants. Here is a picture of what used to be the driveway to his home.

In the 1990’s after the US Military turned over the hotel which they had used for their R&R, it, too, was totally razed and hauled away. Only a smaller outbuilding remains and is currently a museum giving the history of this area.

In addition to the homes there, they had dug over 6 miles of bunkers underneath the mountain. They could have survived in these bunkers for over 6 months and still continued to run the war from there. Only a small portion is now available for viewing.

Europe - Day One

Day One – 24 Sep 2008

We were not sure Wayne & Diane were going to make it out of Arabia in time to make our flight out of Bahrain. When they had returned from Bahrain 4 days earlier there had been a computer glitch on the Saudi side of the Bahrain/Saudi causeway causing them a several hour delay getting across. (In fact, the back-up on the causeway was so great, that Bahrain had to close the causeway for a while because they literally couldn’t get any more cars on it!)

This “computer glitch” affected about 19,000 people. Even though they had returned to Arabia, the computer was showing they were still “out of the country.” It was the day before we left that Wayne & Diane became aware of the problem. They had to turn their passports in and then we met some official on the causeway where we waited for 2 hours for them to fix this “computer glitch” and return their passports.

After a red-eye special from Bahrain through Abu Dhabi we arrived in Munich, where we picked up a rental car.

While we were waiting for the shuttle to take us to the rental car, Wayne wanted to sit down. This is all he could find. (We were hoping it was not an omen of what was to come.)

We drove from Munich to Berchtesgaden, Germany which is just on the border of Austria and Germany. Everything was so green and lush – such a contrast to where we had just come from. All of the windows had flower boxes that were full of blooming geraniums, petunias and all variety of flowers.

After we got checked into our hotel, we drove to the salt mine near Hallein. They had us all wear white coveralls to protect our clothing.

Inside the mine are two slides – one about 27 feet long and one about 42 feet long.

My favorite European Picture

Our kids will definitely get the significance of my favorite picture from Europe.

Mick was driving and W & D were in the back seat. W all of a sudden shouted to stop because he wanted to take a picture. Mick pulled over and stopped just in front of . . .

We should have named this road sign "Mick and Marie in Europe!"

Opening Screen

While our internet seems to be coopeerating, I wanted to share the opening screen on my new Bernina.

If there are no sewing machines in heaven . . .

I remember my dad one time saying,

"If there are no sewing machines in heaven, it will be hell for your mother!"

When we finally got our luggage after a two-day delay, we discovered that my sewing machine had been damaged enough that it is unusable. Yes - this would truly be a hell for me here without my sewing machine. I told Mick it was like him being here, unable to work, unable to drive with no computer and books.

Our friends, W & D came to visit for the weekend and I rode back home with them as the Bernina dealer is in their neck of the woods. W drove us to the local Bernina dealer where I purchased a new Bernina. I was too busy in the store to take any pictures, but here is the guy from the shop wheeling my purchase to the waiting car. (By the way, this is the street not the parking lot!)

D with the Bernina guy. This guy is actually their mechanic that I won't let touch my machines other than to load a new one in the car!
When I turn on my machine there is an opening screen. I think I will put the words: "Mickie's Salvation" on this opening screen. What do you think?
I spent an extra day at W & D's using my new machine to make sure everything is in working order. Here are the projects I made using D's scrap bag.

C's First Soccer Game

Before leaving, Boppi and I went to see C's 1st Soccer Game. We were pleasantly surprised at how well these 5-year olds played

The coach kept telling these kids, "No Hands!"

But how can you get a good shot if you don't position the ball? C in his uniform
MK better get used to going to her brother's games.Not all of the action is on the field. Here A with Boppi, S and MK

Boppi holding MKS loves to "steal" Jamma's shoes. Here is at the goal line wanting Jamma to chase him to get her shoes back!

Most Loved Quilt in the World

Over the years, I have made a Christmas quilt for each grandchild. When I made M's quilt I had also made N's quilt. I couldn't decide which quilt to give which grandchild so I wrapped them up in identical Christmas wrapping paper so even I wouldn't know who got which quilt.

When M opened his quilt, he immediately scooped it up and hugged it. He hasn't let go of it since. I believe he was about 3 years old at the time; he just turned 12. This is what remains of this well-loved quilt.

(PS - his mom says that she finds shreds of it in his pockets. "Don't leave home without it.")

Raffle Quilt for A

Our oldest granddaugter, A, sings in her high school's ladies group. This group took first place in 2008 in international competition as well as first place in national competition.

For their 2008-09 year, I have made a quilt for the ladies group to raffle in order to raise the money needed for their travels.

A and Grandma M opening up the quilt. This is the first time that A has seen the quilt.

A Swimmin' Good Time

On Saturday, 23 August 2008, we had a mini-family reunion held at the Schlaws'. They had arranged for us to use the barbeque area next to their GREAT pool. Most of the time was spent in the water. M&M enjoying the water!

Hamma and TT



Hamma hitching a ride with B

Boppi is teaching T to swim

What good is a pool party without a good water fight

Looks like Mr. GQ with tag-alongs

A good hair day for three generations

Boppi (aka Spikey) & D with their wonderful swim hair

Dolly

The cousins with funny faces (at least I think they were trying to be funny)