With Stoffels

22-24 June - The vagabonds took Kay to the airport in Dusseldorf and returned to visit with our Favorite German Son, Michael, and his family. Petra was the very wonderful hostess and had cakes and Michael grilled shrimp and pork steaks wrapped in bacon :))))))))) The next day, 23 June, Petra took the group to Burg Eltz, a very famous and pretty castle on the Mosel River. http://www.burg-eltz.de/ The castle is one of the few where people still live. Parts are open to the public for tours. One of the families that lives here is the Eltz family that has lived here for 33 generations - over 800 years. That night, Michael hosted a Wine Probe (wine tasting) with quests at their home. Judy and I attended as well. Michael did a great job explaining the wine, where made, taste of each and all the specifics. We tried approx 10 wines that night. They other group left about 10pm and Judy, Alfons and I stayed and finished up most of the remaining bottles :)) The next morning, James went back to work early and the grop stayed behind. Chandler took a short tour of the wine making areas of their home to learn the process. Thanks to our FAVORITE GERMAN FAMILY for their time and a memoral few days with them. Jamie and Chandler playing at Michael's. They had a GREAT time!! Our German Son's parents - Petra and Alfons and her world famous Peach cake!!!! delicious!!! Petra, Jamie and Chandler outside Burg Eltz Burg Eltz

Dachau

20-21 June - The group picked James up at the airport and we traveled to a small town outside Munich. We linked up with our Favorite Munchener, Annika Ginkel and her family. Annika was an exchange student last year that we did many events with. We had a great dinner with them at her favorite Italian resturant. We stayed till they closed the place down - good food, converstation, beer and wine!! The next morning, we traveled 30 minutes to the town that cannot be forgotten - Dachau. Dachau was the first concentration camp in Germany after Hitler came to power in 1933 and was the only one to be operated the entire Nazi period until 1945. It was initially for political prisoners as a labor camp and later increased to house Jews, Gypsies, Beggers, homosexuals, etc. The prisoners were used as slave labor in the armaments industry in the town like in 100s of other similiar camps. Mass exterminations were not carried out here like at other more infamous camps Sobibor, Auschwitz, Triblenka. The gas champer was never used here. Many people starved or were worked to death. It was liberated by the 20th Division in April 1945. What makes Dachau so memorable are the experiments carried out here on prisoners from medical experiments such as high altitude pressure tests, freezing water duration, etc. The museum is really nice and speaks to the horrors of the time. This was the Germany of the past. Today, the German people are very understanding and working to move from their past that will haunt them along time. Our family is very pleased with the opportunities that Germany allows us to have while visiting in their country and we are Very happy that Germany and many other countries share the freedoms we have in the US. The sad thing is that while places like Dachau are maintained so that we never forget what happened because one race thought they were superior to many others and treated them like animals, we still see these actions occur in other countries - Kosovo & Bosnia in the 90s Cambodia in the 70s, and to a lesser degree and not as organized Afghanistan, Iran and Iran and now Darfur. Civilized people understand while those uneducated but taught hate carry out the same tragic events of over 60 years ago. Kim at the Holocost Dachau Memorial Jamie and Chandler at the front gate where all prisoners entered.

Castles

19 June - The clan visited the two castles - Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau in Fussen Germany. Neuschwanstein was built by King Ludwig II. He only lived in it for 150 days. He mainly lived in the smaller Linderhof we visited last Christmas. The second floor and throne room were never completed. Once he died, construction stopped. The bedroom was very interesting. It had a chapel built in. However, the chapel was built higher than the bed because no one can live, or sleep, higher than God! It has 136 steps from the bottom to the top floor. Hohenschwangau castle was the home of his parents. It is fully furnished with original or original period pieces. It is more of a home museum than a castle museum. Both were really nice and the kids enjoyed it. Jamie and Chandler with Neuschwanstein in the background. View of Hohenschwengau Castle. Another view of Hohenschweingau castle.

Switzerland

15-17 June - Kim, Jamie, Kay, Judy and Chandler traveled to Luzerne Switzerland. It is a very beautiful town in Northern Switzerland with a lake just at the tip of the Swiss Alps. It has a outstanding downtown with a river running thru the center with crystal clear water, beautiful building with drawing painted on the wall and 3 bridges going across the water - 2 are wood. June is a very pretty time because the weather is wonderful, the mountain passes are open to traffic and snow is still on the alps!! They had a great time. They toured the town, took a trip up Mount Pilatus where the legend has it that God banished Pilat after he died. They rode the cog train to the top and back down. Great weather for the trip. The next day they took a driving tour thru the Fussen Pass in the Alps. They drove to the top, had a picnic lunch, went on a tour inside a glacier where they have cut paths inside the glacier. Really interesting and beautiful!! They took ALOT of pictures because every turn was very beautiful. they finished the trip and headed back to Fussen Germany on the 18th to tour a castle - next entry..................................... Downtown Lucerne Switzerland - our facorite town!!!!!! Inside a moving glacier!!! really cool - literally and figuratively!!

One of the many beautiful views on the Alps Pass drive!!

View of Lucerne from the top of Mt Pilatus.

Cog train going up the side of the mountain - about 45 mins. You can come down by cable car, train, walk, or hang glider!!!! They have a resturant and hotel at the top. Really stunning views.

USO Trip to France

13 Jun - Kim, Jamie and Kay went on a day trip to Koenigsbourgh Castle and a Monkey Zoo in Alsace France. The castle was really nice and you can walk around the castle and grounds. The Monkey Park was very interesting because the monkeys roam free in the park and you can feed them. The castle is well preserved. Breakfast was on the road and Lunch was at the castle. The girls had a good time. Koenigsbourgh Castle France Armor Room inside Koenigsbourgh Castle Jamie feeding a monkey at the park.....Is this a foreshadow of future where she will have teenage monkeys eating out of her hand??

School Awards Day

9 June - 5th grade Graduation and Awards day. Jamie graduated Elementary school. She received received the Presidential Award for Academic Excellence. She also received her 4th Gold Honor Roll Award having all As for 4th quarter, the Citizenship Award and her Junior Librarian Certificate.

Proud 5th Grade Graduate !!!! On to 6th Grade.......

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMIE!!! :)

9 June - Hard to believe but Jamie is now the big 11........and it was a BUSY day for her. First, she had her awards day/Elementary school graduation at school -(next post). Then she had a Birthday party at School. When she got home from her swim practice, she had her favorite meal - Alaskan King crab legs and dump cake (#2). She received calls from Grandparents, Aunt Michelle, Tina's family and Michael and his family. Every phone call was Happy birthday in a foreign language!! She opened gifts from everyone.

From her parents - Trip to Spain for swim camp, Vera Bradley bag, and an appointment to get her nails done.

Michael sent her a purple pen bag, a purple diary book, purple pen and tan cat statue. Yep, I said it CAT.

Great Aunt Kay, visiting for two weeks, gave her a charm, dolls from Peru and Argentina, and money from seveal foreign countries in South America.

Her friend Megan gave her really cook oven mits because they are going to a cooking camp this summer. They cook alot when Megan visits......I like Megan visits!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Her other friend, Emily, gave her a gift certificate and a chocolate bar - an inside joke with Emily :)

On Wednesday, Jamie's German Tutor, Lena Sophie made her a small blackberry tort (cake #3) that was PURPLE and a really two nice t-shirts that were, yep, you saw it coming - purple!!!!

Ahyoung's, Tina's, and Grandparent's gifts are in the mail and Jamie is EXCITED. My guess is something - PURPLE....................................yeah.

For her party (11 June) , Jamie had it on Thursday. She and her little friends went to the Ramstein pool for 3 hours. One of her friends spent the night. They cooked pizzas and put up the tent.

For her 4th Birthday cake, Kim cooked what is fast becoming a tradition - Chocolate Cake with Strawberry Cream Cheese icing!!!

They slept outside in the tent and then made Monkey Bread for breakfast. basically cut-up can biscuits, sugar, cinnamon with caramel sauce on top and baked.

traditional Chocolate cake with Strawberry Icing!!! and Strawberries inside.

Birthday cake #4

Dolls from South America

Megan and Jamie -

Oven Mits from Megan

GS Awards Day

7 June - Jamie's GS troop held their awards ceremony and Bridging. This is where the girls "cross over" to the next level of Girl Scouts. Jamie will be a Cadet next year. The girls received their badges and awards today. Jamie and most of the girls in her troop received their Bronze Award. This is the 3rd highest award in Girl Scouts. The girls worked really hard and conducted several projects. Their community service was organizing and conducting a "try-It" day for a couple Brownie Girl Scout troops. This was very challenging for the girls and they realized how hard it is to work with younger girls!!!

The day was a typical Spring Day in German - Rain, Sun, Rain, Sun, Rain, Sun. :))

The local GS Neighboorhood provided food for everyone and it was nice - even with all the liquid sunshine!!!

Jamie is "bridging" and is now a Cadet Girl Scout!!

Troop # 307 girls that are now Cadets!!

Hamburg

29 May - 1 Jun - We travelled to Hamburg to visit a young lady that was an exchange student in Fairfax last year. We did alot of activities with her while in DC. She planned a wonderful tour of Hamburg for us and we had a PERFECT visit with her and her family - great touring and yes - FOOD!! Hamburg has 1.8 million people. It is one of the 16 city-states in Germany. The port is the 2nd largest port in Europe after Rotterdam. Hamburg is also the largest media center in German with TV, radio and newpaper headquarters. Emperor Charlemagne built the first fort in 808AD and the city has been here since. 29 May - We drove to Hamburg - it took 8 hours because of traffic and construction on the roads. It is 635 KM to her home. When we arrived, we went to Janika's home where her Mom served an excellent Rolladen, red cabbage, noodles, potatos. It was very very good and the dessert called Roete Gruetze which is red berries, crushed, strained and then gellatin added - SNAP - served with ice cream makes you want to slap your grandma!!!!!! 30 May - We picked up Janika and went to Hamburg. We took a city bus tour and saw the oldest parts of town and the HUGE homes around the lake in the middle of town. We stopped and took a tour of the harbor (hafen). After lunch, we visited the Minature Wonderland. This is an attraction that shows many areas of Europe in minature with train models, landscape and mini-people. This included one section on America. http://www.minatur-wuonderland.com/ Model of the Hamburg Harbor Station. After this, we went to dinner. Janika, James and Jamie went to dinner at Dinner in the dark. This was an adventure. You enter a dark room where the waiters seat you and bring your dinner. You only know you are eating a dinner dish like fish, lamb, or chicken or vegetarian. You enter the room in a line with hands on the sholders of the person in front of you. IT IS COMPLETELY DARK!!!!!!!!!!!!! Holy crap was it DARK!!!! The waiters are blind so it is no issue for them. They bring you your drink then the food - soup, salad, main dish and dessert. You either get soup or dessert so we got DESSERT!! It was definately a different experience. The waiter could tell when we were done eating by listening for us to stop using the knife and fork!! They don't serve things like spaghetti or peas but the food was fairly easy to eat - some with hands :) but not bad. It was no problem finding your mouth with the fork but the food presented a bit more of a challenge. The food was good. http://www.unsicht-bar-hamburg.de/. The dinner lasted about 1.5 hours!!! Kim went to dinner with Janika's Mom - they saw their food!!! Photo of the resturant and food - WONDERFUL!!! Like the flowers?? 31 May - We met Janika at 6am and went to the famous Fish Market at the harbor. It was really interesting and HUGE!!!! It started as a fishmarket many years ago and has expanded to fruits, veggies, clothes, chocolate from Holland, jewelry, flowers and live chickens....It was very nice. After the market, we went to the famous St Michael's Church. The church if undergoing remodeling and is called the "Most beautiful construction site in Germany." It is the largest church remodelling since WWII. The Sunday service was outside. We went to the top of the tower (turm). It was a beautiful day in Hamburg and we could see for miles arond the city!!! After the tower, we visited a park and played putt-putt and then had ice cream and Jamie played in the park. We then met Janika's Dad and Brother at the Harbor for dinner. Janika and I had Laubkaus - a traditional Hamburg dish. It is similiar to Corned Beef Hash and very good. We ended the evening sharing photos. Hamburg fish Market Labskaus 1 June - we met Janika for breakfast and then departed at 9am. It took 6.5 hours to get home and no traffic jams!!!! It was a wonderful trip and we are VERY thankful for Janika and her family for taking their time to show us a great time in HAMBURG!!! Janika and the Kennedys at the Harbors!! Silke's Dinner on Friday Night - YUMMY!!!!!!!

Hamburg Harbor

On the boat tour of the harbor. This is in the old town or Speicherstadt.