The cutest Birks ever. Just sayin'.
Our itinerary looked like this:
1. Heidelberg day trip which was awesome.
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| Giant Playmobile Luther in Church of the Holy Ghost |
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| Schloss Heidelberg |
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| Castle Ruins |
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| I seriously didn't notice the signs to the right until afterwards |
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| Grosses Fass (great cask) |
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| This made me laugh!!! |
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| Alte Brücke |
2. Niece-sat Avery in the morning, explored Hockspeyer grocery stores in the afternoon, dinner at Danielle and Markus' in evening.
Also German Father's Day where the tradition is to fill your children's wagon with beer and drink all day(without spending anytime with your children). Falls on Ascension Day.
3. overslept and spent afternoon in Trier, missed the only English tour that day and had to figure out for ourselves what we were looking at. But it was old and Roman and gosh darn it, cool! (and hot since it was over 30C most of the time we were there)
Met Reid and Brenda and kids for dinner in Bad Durkeim - German wine country!
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| Porta Nigra |
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| Evening dinner |
5. Outdoor market in St. Wendel that was so very hot and busy that we found a dark corner in a restaurant with a slight breeze and shared lunch with Tom and Bekah. Late afternoon worship on Ramstein Air Force Base where a WELS group meets every two weeks. Turns out the chaplain can't get on base because he lost his wallet the day before with all his identification. Is there a pastor in the house? With about 20 minutes to prepare, Wayne led the service and delivered a sermon! Later went for dinner at a restaurant known for their flammküchen. Evening back at the house, played some cards, had "scotchgarita" shots (don't ask) and visited.
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| Me and my SEESTER |
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| Preaching on Ramstein AirForce Base |
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| Matching dresses! |
6. Drove up to Rudesheim with Reid, Brenda and kids for a Rhine River Boat tour. Enjoyed lunch together along the riverside afterwards. Parted ways and we drove to Bacharach where we had reservation for the night IN A CASTLE!!! Explored the town below, picked up some dinner of bread, cheese, sausage and wine. Spent evening watching a concert. (truth be told, everyone but me.) While they went to get cultured, I stayed back and made the beds (we were staying in a hostel), drank wine and read 1984.
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| Our castle for the night! |
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| Exploring Bacharach |
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| Our bunkbeds in the castle! |
7. Luther time. Break it down. Off to Wartburg Castle. Toured the display "Luther and the Germans", saw the room where he translated the New Testament. Spent late afternoon in Eisenach and toured Bachhaus (one of my personal highlights). Dinner, hotel for the night.
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| There she is! Wartburg Castle |
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| Bach |
8. Day trip to Wittenberg to tour Lutherhaus and three levels of Reformation things they had displayed. Visited the church Luther preached in two times a week and got married in. Walked down to the Castle Church where he nailed the 95 Theses. It was pretty cool. Back to hotel for dinner.
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| Katie |
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| Martin and Katie were married here! |
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| Castle Church |
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| 95 Theses |
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| Zanna got a dress with her $ |
9. Drove back to Hockspeyer and met Brenda for dinner in Landstuhl (the town she works in). Had dinner at Reid's favourite restaurant where I will forever remember the salad dressing. Little kids played outside in the water afterwards.
10. Faux Ro., and Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber. We were told we had to do the night watchman tour at Rothenburg. So Wayne reserved (and paid) for a hotel so we could stay the night there - only to realize that morning we were to leave that we had reservations in Rothenberg, not Rothenburg. Crap. But we thought we'd go check it out anyway and try to make it work. After driving up a foresty mountain with hardly a road to speak of and then descending a steep decline into a town full of gnomes, I was ready to leave my trail of chips (we had no candy) and steel myself for the possibility that our hotel might be a giant gingerbread house. While the hotel was impeccably clean and the view beautiful, we were in the middle of no where close to the Rothenburg we needed to get to by 6pm for our dinner reservations and 8pm for the tour. Long story short, we ditched Faux Ro., and got to Real Ro. just in time but with no place to stay. Brenda saved the day by making some calls and sent us in the direction of the local hostel where they had ONE ROOM LEFT. We had a fantastic dinner (thanks to Reid's suggestion), and the nightwatchman tour was totally worth it. It was Will who voiced, "so you're telling me we went through everything we did today just to go on this tour?" Yes. Shut up.
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| Taken in Faux Ro |
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| Real Ro |
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| Nightwatchman Tour |
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| Walking the city walls (with ice cream) |
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The hostel we stayed in
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11. met R & B and kids in Nuremberg for lunch of their famous sausages. Took city tour followed by a bus ride to the Documentation Centre Nazi Party Rally Grounds and walked through the Fascination and Terror Exhibition. Sobering, to say the least. Both kids had just finished studying WW2, so it was timely. Met R & B for dinner and stayed the night in an airbnb place.
13. Last day! Wayne and Will off to the Auto Museum and Brenda and I off to a bier and wein hike. Reid treated our group to a dinner of his smoked Texas brisket and ribs! Walk in the woods, games of Disney Twister and family fun.
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| Precious! |
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| The last day and they both finally came to me on their own! |
