More Fun!!!

After returning from our fun and exciting vacation in France, we needed a little a down time.  We are now recovered and here is what we have been up to since....

Nathan joined a group of German kids about his age to work for three days to build a Lego City.  This project was huge, but they learned that team work makes things fun and they can get a lot more done with more hands working toward the same goal.  This was a really cool project and Nathan and his friend Sebastian rode the train to Germering each day by themselves.  This takes about 30 minutes each way.  Nathan was excited to have this responsibility and freedom to learn to use the train.  Sebastian goes to school in this town and is very familiar with the route and how to go about getting the tickets etc.  He showed  Nathan the ropes and now Nathan will show Charlie and I what to do.  :)

We met some people who are German, but lived in Detroit for the last 4 years.  They only returned to Bavaria last year.  Their son, Magnus, is in Nathan's class at school and helps him with understanding the German language in school.  They invited us for a BBQ at their house last weekend and I have never seen so much food.  We had steak, lamb, chicken, turkey, sausages, potatoes, veggies, corn, salad, cheese, bread, and probably more, but I can't remember after the food coma I was in.  Nathan and Magnus found a HUGE slug and took this picture to prove it.

The next day Nathan and I rode the ferry with our friends, Rosalia, Sebastian and Paul.  Rosalia's husband, Andreas and Charlie rode their bikes to a Biergarten on the other side of the lake and met us.  We took our bikes on the ferry and we all rode home together.  It was 35 km back home and I was riding the beach cruiser.  My butt still hurts, but it was a really beautiful ride.  I told Charlie that I wished I had a helmet cam to record all the beauty we were passing by.

The Biergarten where we met the men had a huge tower for jumping into the lake.  Of course, Nathan was all over that thing.  He didn't want to leave and we had to bribe him with another stop at another Biergarten that has really good cake.  Here is a video of Nathan doing a backflip off of the 5 meter level of tower.  He also jumped off the top one which we think is about 10 meters high.

Here is a picture of some of the beautiful scenery we saw while on the ferry.  These little boat houses are so cute.  I saw a lot of people lounging around on the decks and floating on air mattresses on the lake.  This part of the lake had a lot of lily pads and little fish.  We also saw a swan and some storks.

After swimming and eating lunch at the first Biergarten we all got on our bikes and rode 6.5 km to another Biergarten that is inland from the lake.  This was a very nice place with a playground, a party room and lots of tall trees to make shade.  Oh, did I mention that it was the hottest day of the year at 35 degrees Celsius?  This is about 92 degrees Fahrenheit.  By the time we got to this place, we needed to sit and relax in the shade.  We ate cake and spareribs and had some water and orangenshorle (orange juice mixed with sparkling water).

Nathan tried out the slack line and did pretty well.  He has much better balance than I do.  :)

 

Shortt Tour 2012

We have just returned from our junket to France and we are glad to be home.  We had an amazing time with our great friends, the Logsdons, and are now ready to sit back and relax and recover from our vacation.  :)  We stayed for a week in France, based out of Nice, and we were able to visit 10 other cities.  Here are some pictures of the highlights.

This is the old walled city of Eze.  Lisa and I found a small snack stand in a building that was once the town laundry.  The proprietor gave us an olive oil tasting with some unique olive oils such as lavender, basil, and citrus/ginger flavored oils.

Nathan really enjoyed the French breakfast of chocolate crepes.

This is in the city of Nice, France.  There were mazes of small roads filled with cute little shops.

We climbed up Castle Hill where we saw this incredible view of the beach and the Promenade de Anglais.

Greg and Lisa climbing up Castle Hill.  There were about 300 stairs to get to the top and it was about 90 degrees outside.

Partway up Castle Hill in Nice, France.

Made it to the top of Castle Hill and celebrated with a picnic that Lisa and I bought at the food market:  baguette, tomato, olives, salami, cheese, and of course a bottle of French wine.

Hey Ladies....

All of us friends together in Europe!!!  Miss you guys already.

Nathan is training to be a cliff diver.  Lucy did the first back flip off of the cliff so the boys had to do it too.

Funny elevator shot.

Gelato!!!!

Cagnes, France.  This medieval walled city was beautiful with great views of the riviera.

Check out the cat!

George and Nathan in Eze.

The view from the top of the walled city of Eze.

Another view from Eze.

Our last night together, visited Eze, had dinner and enjoyed the views.

Nice es tre bien

We have arrived in Nice, France and found our apartment.  We left our house in Germany at 4:00 am and drove for about 10 hours (with a stop off at the beach in Italy for lunch and a dip in the Mediterranean).  The time flew by because there was so much beauty to look at.  I was amazed at the scenery while crossing the Alps in Switzerland and coming down into Italy.

Nice is really cool.  We rented an apartment for the week and we are right in the middle of the old town.  Charlie and Nathan walked down to the beach while I cooked dinner and said it was amazing.  They saw a few boobies, but otherwise they loved the beach and warm water.  Charlie also scouted out a good looking place to go for breakfast.  Can't wait.  I made fresh tagliatelle pasta with chicken and tomato/olive sauce for dinner.  We also had a mesclun salad and a fresh baguette.  I might gain a few pounds this week, but hopefully I will walk it all off.

When we arrived at the apartment, a car was vacating a parking spot right in front, closest to our door.  In this city which is known for impossible parking, we are wondering if we should move our car all week?  We can get to know the public transportation a bit.  Ha!

Here are a few pictures of the view from our apartment and one of Charlie doing the dishes after dinner.  :)

Sorry, I can't get the pictures to upload from my iPad, so I will have to post them later.

Field trip!!!

We are off on our first European excursion since becoming Bayerische.  Tomorrow morning at 4:00 am we leave for Nice, France.  I have been taking German lessons so I was able to tell our neighbor in broken German, " Wir fahren morgan nach Nizza.  Von Samstag bis Samstag.". This means we are traveling to Nice tomorrow.  From Saturday to Saturday.  That was the best I could do.

We are all excited to drive down to France.  It should be really beautiful.  Our route will take us from Germany through Switzerland and Austria down The coast of Italy and into the south of France.  We will be meeting our friends from Colorado, Greg, Lisa, George and Lucy Logsdon.  Lisa and I are planning to do some damage while in the perfume capital of the world.  We are also excited to visit the flea market and the flower mart.  Our family rented a small apartment in the heart of the old town and we can walk almost anywhere in the town.  I will take plenty of pictures and report back.

Caio!