September 11th, Viehscheid (Sorting the Cows), Bad Hindelang

Every year, in Bavaria, on this weekend, the cows come home from their high mountain pastures. The herders bring the cows down, sort them out, and hand them over to their owners who bring them back to their own farms. This has turned into a huge festival, further proof that anything in Germany can turn into a festival. This one was great. The town is adorable and people really go all out for this one!

Cows.

Grammie and Nolan.

The sorting of the cows.

This might be my favorite picture of all time. Nolan jumped over the fence, went right out to one of the herders and walked right along with him as if he was herding too. The guy looked at him, looked at his friend, then patted Nolan on the back and walked along with him for a while.



Souvenirs

We stopped in Ulm on the way home so my parents could see the tallest church in the world, I snapped this as we were waiting, love it.

September 4, 5, & 6th, Budapest, Hungary

My Mom and Dad arrived on the 3rd of September and the next day, Bill and I were on a plane for Budapest. It was a holiday weekend and we always go somewhere. It was hard to leave my parents after not seeing them for a year and a half, but we knew they were staying for a long time so we went. We LOVED Budapest...the city is remarkably beautiful.

Hi Handsome.

We love, love the local traditions. Local college students rub the horse's undercarriage for good luck before a test.

The Fisherman's Bastion......one of the most beautiful vistas yet!

A view of Parliament from the Buda side.

The Matthias Church built in 1896. We went in to see the church but mostly to see a statue of the virgin Mary and baby Jesus from 1515, but the part of the church where it is kept was being renovated.



The Chain Bridge

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This is the mythical Turul bird, who led the Magyar people out of central Asia to settle in what is Hungary today. Why do I get the feeling that JK Rowling has visited this city?.

We did an evening Segway tour and we were the only ones there so it was a private tour.....it was a really awesome adventure!!!!

On the Danube River.

We saw roof's like this everywhere.



After the fall of communism, all the propaganda statues were rounded up and dumped out in this field out of town. It has subsequently become a tourist attraction for those of us who never got to see behind the iron curtain.

A HUGE statue of a hard working communist, striding mightily into the future carrying a Soviet flag. Or as the Hungarians view it, a bath attendant chasing after a customer who forgot his towel.



After our bus ride out to Memento Park, we got back into the city for lunch and then stumbled on a street fair on the main drag, Andrassy Ut. There were classical pianists about every block playing for the crowds.

We stopped for some strudel.

On to the House of Terror where they do a very thorough job of showing what life was like under both Nazi and Communist Russia rule. Hard to say which was worse.

The highly photographed "little princess", she's one of the first statues erected after the fall of communism and represents a refreshing break from decades of super-sized proletarian propaganda.

I had to at least get fries at the historic first McDonald's behind the iron curtain.



Parliament

The famous Hungarian flag, communist logo cut out by protesting anti-communist students, is the symbol of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.

A great view of the Buda side from the Pest side.

Imre Nagy and I.



Hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews died in the Holocaust. Over 20,000 were shot into the Danube by the Arrow Cross militia. This memorial was dedicated to them in 2005.

After miles of walking, we went on our last day to the Szechenyi Baths. This place is so wonderful. It was heaven to soak for hours in hot thermal baths inside and outside. It was sunny and cool out, so it was perfect.

The largest Jewish Synagogue in Europe, incredibly beautiful inside.

The tree of life. Each metal leaf has a name of a Jew from Budapest killed in the Holocaust.

August 7th - 14th, The Big Trek to Normandy

What a great trip this was. We knew we wanted to get out to see the Normandy region of France while we were stationed here. However, with such a big drive, we also wanted to see a lot of other places on the way there and back. This is a big post, for a very big trip!!!

The Cathedral in Reims.





Time for a prayer.

Absolutely amazing stained glass window done by famous Russian painter, Marc Chagall.

Statue of Joan of Arc (there are images of her all over this region).

On to our champagne cellar tour, which was quite impressive!

Nolan learned how they used to turn the bottles.

Happy Birthday to me.



Day two, wake up early, drive to Paris, see the Eiffel Tower!!!!!

The view from halfway up.







Next, we drove to see the Arc de Triomphe.



After the Arc de Triomphe, we walked to the Jardin de Tulieries where we walked around and took the kids to a street carnival.

Nolan was not thrilled about this ride.



Near the Louvre.

Day three, on to Giverny where Monet lived and painted some of his most famous paintings!

Giverny was actually on Nolan's "to do" list. He learned all about Claude Monet in his summer enrichment class so he was thrilled to come here.

After Giverny, we drove about 2 hours to Rouen. It is a beautiful town, rich with history. Here we sit where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake.

The town of Rouen, with the beautiful clock in the background.

Our first day in Normandy was a bit misty so we decided to do the museum in Caen. It is an amazing museum which details the war extremely well.

After the museum, we drove out to Arromanches (Port Winston) to see the beach and the Mulberries (used in the war as floating pontoons with bridging equipment to create an artificial harbor)!









Next, we drove to Longues Sur Mer, gun battery. This was built by the Germans as part of Fortress Europa.

Every post has to have a climbing picture!

While at Longues Sur Mer, we were suprised with a fly by from a French Alpha Jet.



Inside one of the bunkers.

The next day we got up early and drove to Le Mont St. Michel!!!



Even as early as we were, the only street that leads to the Abbey was packed!





A nice moment at the top of the Abbey.



"words....words....words...blah, blah, blah"

Billy, admittedly, was an angel on this trip, never complaining about anything, thank you Billy!!!

This was taken right near the Iron Mike statue at La Fière. It is one of two bridges over the causeway that leads into Ste Mere Eglise and was a primary objective for the 82nd Airborne on D-Day.

On this church steeple, hangs a replica of John Steele's unlucky D-Day landing. He hung here for several hours pretending to be shot, but was later captured by the Germans.



Pointe du Hoc. The Army Rangers had a very important objective to capture the gun battery here because it overlooks both Utah and Omaha beaches.

The ground here is still cratered from the heavy Naval bombardment that preceded the Rangers mission.



Omaha Beach.

The American Cemetary in St. Laurent sur Mer

This cemetery is both awe inspiring and beautiful.

Our final day we got up early, said goodbye to where we stayed in Bayeux and headed out to Honfleur. It is a beautiful little fishing village and port. This was a very popular place to paint for some of the early and famous impressionist painters.



Our last stop of the day was in Verdun, sight the bloodiest battle of WWI. Behind us is the Ossuary. Through the windows at the bottom, you can see the bones of over 130,000 soldiers.







With the help of some Easter Bunny magic, the kids found some old rusty bullets.



woo hoo!

The end.