Ireland -- They're After Me Lucky Charms!

Dateline Ireland, Labor Day weekend, 2009. In search of Lucky Charms, Guinness, U-2, Sinead O'Connor, leprechauns, limericks, wool, and folk music, we set our sites on Ryan Air's homeland, Ireland. With any luck we'd find at least a couple of the Emerald Isle's treasures. Opting to forgo Dublin for the craggy southwest coast, known commonly as the Ring of Kerry and Dingle area, we took to our $20 per person chariot. We brought Andrew's most Irish friend, Patrick. Although Patrick Goetz may not be as Irish as one might think, with a German name and an Asian mother, he still became "Paddy O'Goetz" for the remainder of the trip. Here are the kids getting off the the plane in Kerry:



We took the advice of pathfinders before us and shied from the famously crowded "Ring of Kerry" drive and headed straight to Dingle (of Berry fame?), a small seaside town of wool shops, hotels, pubs and fishermen. We made our first search for Lucky Charms and Bono in a local pub en route. No luck. All we found was pub grub, and a pint of Guinness. Not bad, though!



We went straight to John Pat Long's riding stables for a ride down to the shores. His motto is "Hold your the reins like 2 pints of Guinness!" He runs a family business and his son Sean (10) and Daughter Ceitie (7) helped us along and Rose, the Collie followed along and kept an eye on the horses, too. Here are the newbies, ready to ride like the wind:



The town in the background is Ventry. Dingle is just beyond it, a few miles down the coast. Jena was the cutest of all and rode like a pro (Sinead O'Connor maybe in the backgroud, comparing things to you):



Jeff was the most George Patton-like. He wished he had a pair of pearl-handled six shooters to fire in the air. Notice how he holds the reins like he's holding 2 pints of Guinness? Practice makes perfect!



Here's Jena fording a stream. She would have made a great cowboy in "Lonesome Dove."



Leaving John Pat Long and family behind, we noticed Dingle-berries growing next to the road. The place is COVERED in black berries. Jeff's mom would have loved it. We thought about her when we were eating them. Hopefully she can find some good picking spots in Florida. The blackberries in Dingle were sweet!



Here are Andrew and Paddy O' Goetz on the streets of Dingle. Patrick was a good traveling companion and we enjoyed his company. He did not, however, find a single leprechaun.



A view out of our very fine bed and breakfast. Sheep grazing in the background.



Guinness? We found it again! No Lucky Charms, no Bono, no pot of yellow gold. But Guinness, we found the hell out of it! This sign was posted inside O' Flagherty's bar. Brought to you by the Redundancy Bureau of the Department of Redundancy Department.



Pub crawl night was by far the best experience of our trip. We started out at O' Flagherty's bar. That's him with the white hair and the accordion just right of center. The folks playing music were locals who just showed up, pulled up chairs and joined in making the music more and more complex and rich as pieces added. What a great Friday night. We came early and sat right next to the players.



A little more crowded. Still no sign of U-2.



Listen to the 2 different styles. First is O'Flagherty's, with its folk sounds. Next is a sing-a-long at Murphy's. Both were a great time with very friendly (and tipsy) locals.



We took a drive (on the wrong side of the road) around the Ring of Dingle, stopping at several fortresses and scenic vistas. Here is Dunbeg Fort. You get a good look at the raging sea below. the wind was brutal and driving rain came and went all day...brrrr!




Jeff and Jena approaching Slea Head, the western most point in Europe. We were slowly cutting the peninsula down to a manageable area and were sure to corner the island's leprechaun population on that outcropping.



Apparently, they can swim. We drove them onto the beach (always just out of sight), but by time we got down there, there was nothing but the surf.



Notice Katie's wet pants below the knee. Lesson learned here: watch the surf, not the camera!



Well, in total, it was a short, but memorable trip. Jena got a wool sweater and Katie and Jeff wool hats. The pub scene was our fondest memory, of the many. We' d love to return someday and experience Guinness from the barrel in Dublin and meet more Irish folks. On to other journeys. Still to come: Rouse and Lynn Vallotton visit, Rothenburg, London (again) with the Hahira Crew, Greece, Bologna and Parma/Modeno, Budapest and Istanbul! Stay tuned.

Swiss Alps: Summer Style

Murren Switzerland, August 2009. We took a quick weekend trip, driving down to the Interlaken area of Switzerland. We took along Katie's best friend Mary, who is great to have around. We went with visions of hot chocolate, holey cheese and pocket knives. We were not disappointed! However, we discovered a few other things along the way in what is essentially Europe's outdoor playground.

The first thing we discovered was that to get to the town where our hotel was, we had to leave the car behind and catch a cable car up the side of the mountain to a train which took us into the pedestrian-only town of Murren:


We stayed 2 nights, in 2 different hotels, due to last minute schedule changes. The first place was like a cuckoo clock...which makes Katie and Mary the cuckoos! Ha! (Check out the fog. We couldn't even see the massive Eiger mountain you'll see so prominently later.)

Here's another shot outside the hotel. The owner of the hotel was very cordial and had medals and trophies in the common area showing she (like everyone else around here) was a serious outdoor competitor. These guys hold the annual Inferno, which is over 100 miles of running and biking and mountain biking in the giant, steep Alps. You have got to be kidding. Oh yeah, they start in the valley and end at the top...not vice versa.

After a great Swiss dinner with a fondue (how cliche'!) and some of the best schnitzel and veal dishes we've had, followed by a good night's sleep, we headed up the Shilthorn, via cable cars. We knew that the evil Blofeld's hideout had been blown up in the climax of James Bond's "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," so we came lightly armed, with no demolition equipment at all. Well, imagine our surprise when we got to the top and there it was: Blofeld's secret mountain lair, completely in tact. Jena and Andrew snuck around the north face for some reconnaissance:

Finding no weaknesses there, we set up base camp a half mile away and came up with a plan to storm the compound, kill the evil Dr. Blofeld, send his cat to the SPCA, and save the world. First we needed to rest as it's hard to breath up there. Unfortunately we were getting hungry:

It turns out Dr. Blofeld had already been evicted by the "James Bond Movie was Filmed Here Restaurant." Of course with our lack of assault gear and hunger situation, this worked out well in the end. Note the "007" on the glass. In the background you can see the Monk and Jungfrau peaks. The Eiger is off camera to the left.

What to do after (nearly) saving the world from domination by a mad doctor? That's right, seesaw! This is back in town at the beginning of our all day hiking adventure. Serious hiking. In the Alps, it is no "puss" game! (Except for the seesawing.)

Clark and Rusty, oops I mean Andrew and Jeff on the trail at the edge of a nice meadow with the Jungfrau in the background. It looks like the Sound of Music...(cue music)The hills are alive with the sound of...STOP THAT! THERE WILL BE NO SINGING IN THIS BLOG! Sorry. Anyway, the lack of sweat will easily demonstrate that this is early in the day:

More action on the mountain! This cable car needed rescuing, so Jena made herself 200 feet tall and gently scoped it up and lowered it to the ground. Take that James Bond.

It is just hard to show in photos what it looks like standing in the middle of the Alps. Try the video below. It is of Jena laying out enjoying the view. We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day.

Just when you think you're safe from cows...BAM, you come around a mountain bend and it's on! Man versus cow, the eternal struggle. Here, Jena talks the cows into letting us pass. You know, they were actually quite nice, although the one on the right had a bell on her neck saying "Bossy." Well we sat around and chewed the cud for a bit, (literally for some of us) and were off.

Don't let the smile fool you. She's glad part of the ordeal is over, sure, but here's the back-story. See the green meadow below? That's where the renegade cows were hanging around. See the village on the far left, way down there? THAT is where we THOUGHT we were heading. So about halfway up this peak, we let the rest of the crew sit and wait while Katie and Jeff climbed over what looked like a small peak to see if the trail "went around and back down." Well, here are the TWO PROBLEMS with that statement: 1. "Small peak" when compared to an ALP is extremely relative! 2. The trail DID NOT go "around and back down." Doh! (Of note, this is a nice back-drop with the 3 peaks shown, left to right, the Eiger, Monk and Jungfrau.)

This picture included for perspective. Doesn't that little peak behind Jeff look small? Well look back at Katie's pic, she's on top of it. Jeff is standing in the valley of the renegade cows. The trail was nearly straight up with switchbacks every 50 feet or so. Rocky, dusty and narrow. There's the sweat!

We finally got Operation Fugawee back on track and found the waterfall we'd been searching for before the renegade cows gave us bad directions. Never trust a cow. Anyway, the waterfall was beautiful, as was the view all day.

It was time to head out the next morning. We took the train to the cable car, back to the car and drove a few miles into Interlaken. Here's a little taste of the train:

Jeff and Andrew got Swiss Army knives. We had reservations for white water rafting, and the water was running! This is pure glacier melt. The glaciers sit on top of a chalky deposit and the minerals make the water a wild, nearly fluorescent blue-green. We had a group of Canadian wilderness girls with us in the raft. As seated in the boat, Andrew is second from the front on the right rail; Mary is in front of him, lead of the right-side rowers; Katie is lead of the left side rowers in the front; Jeff is behind her; Jena is behind Jeff:

The river wasn't too rough, but it had its moments. This is one of them!

Floating down after the big rapids, we had an easy stretch out into the lake. So we all hoped over the side into 35 degree water to float! Another mistake for Jeff, who broke his tailbone while relaxing next to the boat floating on his back--WHAM! Submerged rock beats tailbone every time in a game of submerged-rock, paper, scissors, tailbone. He sucked it up and finished the ride. Here's our victory photo.

All in all, for a short trip, it sure was memorable. We wish we had spent more time in Switzerland's rugged nature, but like all of our travels here, there is only so much time and so much money. A little piece of Switzerland will have to do for now!

A Weekend in Berlin

Still catching up from the summer. In late July, with the kids in the USA, we jaunted off to Berlin for the weekend. What an amazing weekend! We stayed on the Friedrichstrasse, in the heart of the old East Berlin. It felt really strange (for all of you over 40 or so, you probably never imagined being on the East Berlin side of the wall). To make matters more strange, our hotel closed early and left our key with a bartender down the street, named Hans. So, Jeff goes into this bar, in E. Berlin, and tells the guy his name, the guy slips him an envelope and Jeff walks back to the hotel--feeling like he's in the middle of a Cold War spy racket! Our hotel was nice enough, a spa/hotel combo, on the Friedrichstrasse and the Spree river. We rode the subway to a suburb and went to La Cocotte, a french restaurant. It was closing, but the owner served us anyway. We got the left overs, no kidding, but they were amazingly good, served in cocottes, little 1 quart cast iron dutch ovens. So good.


Here's Jena on the bridge (our hotel on the left):





So with only two days, how do you see it all? Well you can't. Berlin is chock full of stuff to see and places to eat. BUT...You can see a whole bunch of it with City Segway Tours. Our guide, Walid (like Wally with a "d" ending) was awesome. This was the single most fun tour either of us has ever had. It is maybe the most fun thing we've ever done on vacation. If we had an extra $10,000 laying around, we'd have a pair of Segways in the garage now. The tour was us and 7 other folks from all over the world. We spent about 15-20 minutes getting individual lessons and practicing turns and riding. Lean forward, go forward, lean back, go back-simple...sort of. For small movements, just curling your toes can be enough to produce the desired effect--magnificent machines. Here's Walid teaching Jena:





We took a hundred pictures (literally) but won't bore you with them all. Suffice it to say, we saw a lot in the 4 hours. The Segways top out at about 20 mph, and by the time it was over, we were riding like a Hell's Angel gang through crowded streets. We saw the Berliner Dome (Protestant version of the Vatican), the Reichstag, the communications tower, Checkpoint Charlie, sections of the Berlin Wall, Museum Island, the Holocaust Memorial, and a dozen other significant Berlin landmarks. All the while zipping down sidewalks and through crowds like El Guapo's men tearing up Santa Poco on a Saturday night!


Here we are outside the Concert Hall (left) and the interesting Franzosicher (French) Dom (Cathedral), built in 1701-1705 for the French Huguenots. You see, the Thirty Years War had reduced the city to half its population, so they invited the French Protestants over for some genetic diversity and a 3-1 female to male population party! Needless to say about 6000 Frenchmen moved on over. French was a common language of Berlin in the 1700s--who knew?





Here we are in front of a section of the Berlin wall (we're on the East side). It was a double wall with a no-man's land in between watched by sniper towers and mined. Fun. Oh yeah, Walid is laughing at me for taking a picture of "nothing." He was awesome. Very animated, funny, irreverent and knowledgeable.





Walid took this picture for us in front of the Reichstag (Germany's congress). The Reichstag was destroyed in WWII, but rebuilt nearly exactly (on the exterior), with the exception of the new glass dome. (You History channel buffs may remember a black and white video of the Russians blowing up the giant Swastika off the top of the building):





Here's a single video from the Segway tour. Excuse the wind noise. You'll see Jena take off and then see the Reichstag at the end (20 seconds).





With our Segway adventure behind us, it was time for another dinner, so where'd we go? Yup, La Cocotte, AGAIN! We'd made reservations with our host for this night, so we'd have the full menu to choose from. We were not disappointed. The service was great and the food and wine were even better. Here's Jena dipping bread in the butter and garlic in my escargot:




Forget the man dressed as a banana. That was not the purpose of this photo. Although I can clearly see, now, that that might be a logical conclusion. No, the green "walk" sign, which is a little pot bellied East German guy is the point here. When the two Germanies united, this little guy, named "Ample Man" was replaced with the West German plain stick figure, the East Germans went bananas (hey see the symbolism I just worked in?). So they brought the cute and pudgy Ample Man back. It's about 50/50 around the city now. These are the things we don't think about when re-unifying countries!




In case you didn't believe Jeff was actually in Berlin, here ya' go. In the background is the famous Television Tower built in East Germany with much fanfare as a symbol of the technological achievement of Communism in the 1960s. Because anyone with any technical skills had defected to the west (hence the building of the wall), they had to secretly hire the Swedes to build it! On top of the that, the design of the disco ball makes a burning, luminous cross (like Christian symbol) when the sun is out. The communists tried for years to try to "fix" this while the West Germans took every opportunity to rub it it. It still makes the cross.





There is a thirst for old East German memorabilia, and none is more popular than the "Trabi." The Trabant (Jeff at the wheel) was the standard, one each, car. Like communist housing, they were all the same, crappy and ugly. Now you can rent them and their go-cart engines and slowly, roughly, make your way not too far. This one is in the DDR (East Germany) Museum:





What's this? Junk in the trunk? No it's Jena. We weren't sure if we'd get out of East Germany, so she hid in the trunk like thousands of people had done over the years. Then we remembered that there was no more East Berlin.




But you'd never know that when you're in the DDR museum. Here's Jena checking out the typical apartment of a 1970s East German family. The rooms are square concrete with a thin wallpaper on the walls for color and a laminate floor. The furniture is actually kinda groovy and back in style. Vladmir Lennin would roll over in his grave, the syphilitic bastard.





While Jena checked out the living room, Jeff checked out communist toilet history...





The following morning we headed deeper east into a Russian neighborhood and had a traditional Russian breakfast buffet, complete with Russian beer. Everything was little wrapped something-or-others. Surprisingly, 9 out of 10 were really good. There was every kind of meat, cheese, yogurt, etc. The place is called Pasternak's if you're heading that way for Sunday brunch.




We went back toward Alexander Platz and Jeff got some boob from a chick at the fountain.





We hit several museums, including the National Gallery and the Pergamon on Museum Island. The photo below is from the Pergamon. The Germans excavated and moved an entire ancient Greek city to this museum. Unbelievable--a must if you go to Berlin.




Here's an obligatory photo of the Berliner Dom. As I've seen it put: Evangelical answer to the Vatican. We got to peek inside, but for some reason, which escapes me we couldn't go fully inside to see the organ or enjoy a view from the top. We got to hear the bells though--loud. An interesting footnote: The statues in front of the church were dropped into the river (behind the church) to protect them from bombing in WWII.




We caught a late evening flight home on our trusty no-frills favorite, Ryan Air. We've travelled many places in Europe, sometimes by car, others by Ryan Air. I figured we should have at least one picture to remind us of the cattle car...tickets can be as cheap as 10 euro each way ($15) if you book in advance...crazy.





We only had 2 days. We could have spent 2-3 more. Maybe when we come back to Europe for a visit in the future, we'll take time to see more of Berlin. If we come back with the kids after they're both over 16, we'll go Segway around for a few hours, no doubt! For a couple of children of the Cold War, this trip was a particular joy. Seeing the division of families and friends and the scars that are still left, really put the whole terrible ordeal into perspective. Seeing the city united and flourishing was good. In high school, we did a joint history project on the Berlin Airlift and finally being here and coming face to face with history was a special treat.

Hardigrees Invade Europe!

Info Note: Jeff and Amanda will be referred to as Jeff and Amanda. Jena will be Jena, but for distinction Jeff Lee will be referenced as Jeff (L).

We had a great visit from our friends from Georgia. They arrived in late June and stayed through the 4th of July. Jeff and Amanda arrived at Frankfort International and we began the two hour drive home. We stopped in Manderscheid and viewed the medieval castles there from a cliff side view, just to set the tone. After a quick nap and freshening up, we headed off to one of our favorite restaurants in Metterich, a quick 6-9 minute drive from the house.

Jeff got his first taste of Kristallweizen (crystal vie-sen) Erdinger. Which is a wheat beer that has been filtered to look crystal clear. Amanda dug into the local Mosel Reisling wine. Both enjoyed the schnitzel and Oma's (grandma's) dumplings. Jeff (L) ordered a local dish of white asparagus, which was an immediate hit with Amanda, too.

On our first full day, we went castling (is that a verb? to castle?) at Amanda's request. First stop was Burg Pyrmont, a smallish castle on the way to Burg Eltz, a large-ish castle set in a deep valley about an hour from the house. The castle, dating back to the 1300s, is still the residence of the family who built it. They occupy 1/3 of the castle and the rest is open to tours. After the tour, once she knew all there was to know about castles, learned the complete history of the Germanic people, and was ready for duty, the people of Germany rose in a great public upwelling and crowned Amanda Queen (see below):








After the coronation, we sat for an amazing bowl of really thick, flavorful split pea soup with a frankfurter and some brot (bread). Of course, you'll notice the Erdinger Hefeweizen (cloudier cousin of the Kristallweizen) as the centerpiece of the meal!






While waiting for the rain, we sat inside the castle, finished our drinks and made plans for the rest of the day.



Next stop, Cochem castle, just down the Mosel from Burg Eltz. Cochem is deep in the heart of the Mosel Wine Country, the picturesque and easy going, winding valley that runs the western side of Germany. Here, YOU see us with the Burg in the back ground, but OUR view is decidedly better...you'll see what I mean.



The photo below was taken from our previous vantage point. In the back ground is the Mosel River. If you look to the right side, you can see the steep vineyards creeping up the hill.

From Cochem, it was time to head further south (upstream...yep, that's right, the rivers flow FROM the Alps to the North Sea, so they flow north...weird, but logical) to Bernkastel-Keus, or Bernkastel for short. They apparently couldn't make a house in 1409 that would stay straight for 600 years, through hundreds of floods. So this Weinstube (wine bar) is a little crooked. It gets worse once you are inside.

This is inside. We had a Wienprobe, or tasting, where the glasses are labeled and you can compare side by side. Unfortunately these weren't all that good. The dark orange one near center is a 1976 Auslese--definitely an acquired taste!

Okay, so we castled like the wind. Now it was time to do Paris and Versailles. First stop, a picnic in front of the Eiffel Tower. The previous day we had all discovered the wonder of Eiswein, and ice-wine, made when the vineyards freeze. We brought a bit of Germany to the Champs Du Mars and took a sip on the grass on a sunny day. Our picnic was cheese, ham, bread fruit, wine...I am ready to go back!

Next, a little visit to Napoleon's tomb. A little tiny monument with a little tiny solid gold dome about 300 feet tall...The little general would have loved it!

Connected to the tomb church is Les Invalides, the world's largest military museum and Jeff (L)'s favorite museum on earth. The French were not to be caught off guard this time, and immediately sent tanks to attack Amanda, the new Queen of Germany!

Finding absolutely NO hunchbacks at Les Invalides, we caught the Metro (and sang the 1980's "Riding on the Metro") over to Notre Dame--a virtual hotbed of hunchback sightings. If you've been here in the past, you'll notice it is beautifully cleaned up (all the black pollution cleared off, leaving it brilliantly white.

Daring passer-by Algerians to steel our camera and run, we got a group shot anyway. I think you can see Quasimodo in the upper tower, if you look closely. You can definitely see the flying buttresses, supporting the walls from outside, which allows the massive interior spaces.

Here is only my second attempt at video embedding, so let me know how it goes. Here Amanda and Jeff (L) did a little shopping, while Jeff and Jena waited on us. It is just such a typical Paris busy street scene, I had to take a little video. If Jeff tips his chair back a little, he'll lose his head to a mirror!

From one church to another. We left the 12th century Notre Dame for the early 1900's Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart). This church was built in the Pig Alley area, home to the Moulin Rouge and the famous art, bar, prostitution, drug district of Paris, where Toulouse Lautrec, Hemmingway and many others have come over the years to drink absinthe and lose themselves or escape the world. We just came for the crepes and the view!

Sidewalk cafe with a view of Sacre Coeur, beer, crepes, coffee, and a waiter with a great sense of humor. Oh yeah, for all of you ugly Americans: we had a blast and everyone was quite nice.

Now the subway is a different story. This Metro pic was not crowded. We took a couple of hops when going to the Arc D' Triumph when we were packed like sardines and it was HOT. Hot like sweating-through-your-clothes hot.

After the Arc, we headed to the Tower for some night viewing. We were accompanied by 2-3 thousand Algerian beggars, trying to sell birds, jewelry, key chains, etc. They were a serious pain in the ass and hopefully France gets their act together and gets some cops out with batons to administer some beat-downs. After wading through those guys, we were expecting this huge Eiffel Tower. Huh, it turns out, Amanda can reach the top while standing flat footed. What a gyp!

Oh wait, that was just a trick of PERSPECTIVE...my bad. Interesting fact: The bridge over the River Seine, pronounced "sane" (if you fall in, are you insane? Get it?) is named the Jena Bridge. Built by Napoleon to commemorate a glorious victory over the Prussians in the town of Jena, not far from us! Anyhow below is a view of the tower in the late evening.

"But," you say, "what if you all four went and stood exactly under the center of the tower, laid, the camera on the ground, and took a picture straight up? What would that look like?" Well, I'm so glad you asked, for you see, we had a long discussion about what people might ask when we returned and made a blog, and this photo is the result of such forward-thinking:

Paris: done. Now for Versailles (Ver s eye), the palace of the French monarchs. Built to grandeur by Louis XIV (the 14th) aka "The Sun King" it is a monument to lavishness unlike anything else on earth. The 14th could get away with it as he conquered most of Europe by force or treaty, was loved by everyone, and ruled for nearly 70 years. His successors rested on his laurels and by 1793, Louis XVI (the 16th) and Marie Antoinette found themselves permanently a head shorter after checking out the inner workings of the guillotine.

Jena and Amanda hanging out in the Hall of Mirrors, one of the most photographed spots on earth. Add this one to the tally, Mr. Guinness.

Where the royal magic happened, Marie Antoinette's bedroom. It is divided by a short banister, so people could visit here, but knew where they stood, literally. The king had his own room, across the entire palace (lucky) and a private passage that opens next to the bed. It's good to be the king.

Here, the Hardigrees take in a couple of the huge paintings in the palace, this one is a favorite of ours, Napoleon crowning Josephine in Notre Dame. After he had already crowned himself Emperor, of course.

We loaded up and headed back to Germany after a short but full trip to Paris. No trip to the region would be complete without a visit to Trier, once the capital of the Roman Empire, 30 minutes from our house. (Yes, I too used to think Rome was always the capital). In the background, you'll see the building on the left (pointy roof) is made of red brick. This was built for Emperor Constantine the Great or Constantine I. He's the guy that made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire in the early 300's A.D. We viewed the baths and strolled the town Walk Platz (place), sampling Bratwurst and wine along the way.

I won't bore you with the details here, but below is the Porta Nigra--what is left of a huge Roman wall system that once encircled the capital. I highly encourage you to "Google" or Wikipedia it and see what it looked like new. Anyhow the Jeffs explored it and watched a guy dressed like a Roman Centurion give a tour to school kids, complete with yelling and sword brandishing.

For 4th of July (yes they have a 4th of July, 5th of July, etc), we went to the Rhine River city of Rudesheim am Rhein. We took the ferry across. You can see the vineyards in the background. They just happened to be holding and annual event called the Rhine in Flames. Basically, there is a giant wine festival in the town, with bands playing American songs (70s and 80s), a cable car up to the mountain, and a huge fireworks show in the evening.

Here we are listening to the song by America "Horse with No Name" and John Denver's "Country Roads" while enjoying the beautiful weather. Afterward, we ate a great schnitzel, gravy and potatoes meal, probably with some Spargel (that delicious white asparagus).

Then we took the cable car up to the top, to the German Unification monument (1871 not 1990). While waiting on fireworks from the river down below, a rock band played Skynyrd, Doobie Brothers, CCR, BTO, etc. We even did a little dancing under the stars. The fireworks were amazing. Part one was visible as the flotilla of 40+ boats rounded the bend and the castle on the opposite shore let loose a 20 minute barrage, illuminating the vineyards and river below, filled with ships. Shortly thereafter, the boats repositioned across from town and a barge based show began, lasting another 25 minutes. Finally, the show was over and the cable car line was so long, we walked in the dark at 1 AM down to the village and the car for the drive home. What a great day.

Too soon, it was time for Jeff and Amanda to head home. We saw them off to the airport, feeling like they had just arrived. It was a visit we were really looking forward to, and now is a fond memory.