Differences Part 2

There were so many little things that were different in Europe. Here is a list of things that we compiled over the course of our trip.

They don't use mustard.

Driving 220 mph on the Autobahn.

We heard church bells at noon and 6 p.m. everyday - from all directions.

Restaurants only serve lunch until 2 p.m. - after that it's just beverages and snacks - no meals.

Ice is not common - you have to request it in your beverages.

No free drink refills anywhere.

You pay for a glass of water.

Windows open in.

Air conditioners are very uncommon.

Windows do not have screens.

Most cars are compact.

Roofs are made with a lot of different materials (ie: sea weed)

There are wind turbines every where.

Woman cover their legs and show more cleavage.

Weird bug bites

A pharmacy is only a pharmacy - no Walgreens or CVS type stores.

Men wear capris & carry bags.

Grocery stores do not provide bags (ever been to Aldis? Same thing everywhere in Europe.)

Fountain pens are used regularly.

Pornographic materials are right out front for all to see.

There were solar panels everywhere.

You have to pay to use most public toilets.

Light switches are buttons that you push.

Toilets have two buttons to flush - one for little stuff - and one for BIG stuff.

Europeans don't wear white sneakers unless they are exercising.

They have Mercedes taxis!

The birds sound different.

They have alot of bike paths between towns.

Sparkling water (like club soda) is a common beverage - most homes keep it on hand.

Plastic bottles can be redeemed for euros almost anywhere. They have a special machine that you put the bottle in - and it spits your euros out.

Now that you have information overload - I'll finish by saying that Europe has a lot of customs we should adopt here in America, especially the conservative ones. They do everything they can to save energy including having different toilet flushes for different size loads! No wonder their economy is - well - not like ours.

Differences

When we boarded the plane in Detroit - there were three customs agents standing there. They were picking people at random and frisking them. Ashley was so scared they were going to pick her. She clutched her stuffed dog and her bag and proceeded through the line of people. When we got to where the customs agents were - one of them (a lady) looked at her with a straight face and said, "may I see that dog please?" Ashley turned pale white - looked at me - and handed the lady her dog. The agent frisked the dog, handed it back to Ashley and winked at her. As we were walking away - the other agents were laughing. Apparently they like to freak kids out.

When we got to Germany - we walked off the plane. We got our luggage. We looked around. We actually asked a security guard where we should go. He pointed to the exit. No frisking, no declaring, no customs anything! We were dumb founded. We had prepared for anything and everything - and nothing happened. NOTHING! Until we came home - to our country of citizenship - where we have lived our entire lives. I tell you what - this country does not mess around in the airports. We should feel very safe.

When we walked off the plane - we entered a large - empty room. The only thing in there was 5 customs agents and 3 dogs. We were instructed to form a single file line against the wall. Every single person was looked up and down from head to toe. The dog sniffed every single person. If the dog sat down next to you - it wasn't because he liked you. We only saw this happen to one person. He was asked to step forward - the dog sniffed him again - and this time the dog moved on. PHEWWWWW!

When we got done with that - we got in a line to declare our purchases. We had everything itemized just like we were supposed to. We handed the papers to the customs agent - they stamped it - and we moved on..... to the next check. That went just as smoothly. So after three customs checks - we were able to leave the airport. Quite a difference from just a few short years ago when we pretty much just got our luggage and left.

There were a lot of other things that were different too. Look for part two of this post for that. My fingers are getting tired!

I'm taking a little break from sharing our trip to share this slide show. Ashley just turned 13. She is my pride and joy and she is turning into a beautiful young lady. Enjoy.

The North Sea, More Food, and Whatever else I feel like posting

Well - I just realized that a lot of the pics in the last post were already posted - so since I have time - I am going to do a random post of some other things we did on our trip.

We went to the North Sea, a very interesting place. When the tide goes out - it goes out miles. So all that is left is mud - lots and lots of mud. There are actually tour guides that will give "mud" tours. This is because if you don't know what you are doing - you can get stuck when the tide comes in. Here are some pictures of Ashley enjoying the North Sea Mud.

Then there were the festivals and again - the food. Here is a picture of me in a Drindl eating some sort of fish at a Bavarian Festival.

It was really good! Can you tell?

Here is Judith playing barmaid.

Of course we couldn't resist this photo opp.

And I think this pretzel is actually bigger than Ashley's head!

And last but not least here is Josh eating a Feuerwurst at a winefest. This was something that he was told he HAD to try. I think he liked it!

And if Castles are your thing....

We saw a lot of awesome castles in Germany. Many of them were under construction - which is probably an ongoing thing when you have a building that covers 5 acres and is 800 years old!

This one was in Heidelberg. It was under major construction. But I did manage to get some really cool shots. I love taking pictures of abstract architecture.

I accidentally got this guy's profile in my picture. He's kinda cute though isn't he?

We also visited this castle - but I don't remember what city it was in.

And this is the Swan Castle. This is on the grounds of Neuschwanstein. Neuschwanstein is the castle that was the model for The Disney Castle.

Unfortuantely the pictures we took of Neuschwanstein are on Judith's camera. I will post them as soon as we get them transferred.

Just one last thing.

This made us laugh everytime. "Exit" signs in Europe are as such......

Pronounced just like it sounds!!!!!!

Berlin - the wall - the war - the impact

Berlin was a huge city. We were there 3 days and didn't see all of it. While we were there - we visited Checkpoint Charlie. Checkpoint Charlie is the checkpoint where people would cross over from East Berlin to West Berlin or visa-versa. The checkpoint is now a museum memorializing the wall, and the fall. It houses actual items that were used to smuggle people across the line and stories of people being separated from loved ones.

I may need to do another post about Checkpoint Charlie because I think the rest of the pics are on Judith's camera.

As we walked through the city - you could see where the wall used to be. There are marks on the sidewalk that were left after it was taken down, and they literally go straight through the middle of the city.

Something else that we saw in Berlin was this church. It was bombed in the war and now stands as-is as a memorial. Next to the church are two or three towers that house 100's of glass mosaics. The glass is what was salvaged from the ruins. There is everything from small slivers of glass to large pieces. Again - I will have to post more pics when I get the ones from Judith's camera. Here are the pics I have that show some of the damage still visible today.

This was one of the most powerful parts of the trip for me because it really showed the reality of was - and we were standing right there!

Heidelberg and so on

This is Heidleberg.

This is a castle in Heidleberg.

And so is this.

And this.

After Heidelberg - we headed to Berlin - a city full of European culture. Check back for possibily 3 or 4 pages of our time of in Berlin.

First full day in Germany

For our first day in Germany - we went to Bamberg - a beautiful town not far from where Judith lives. Here we visited this church. The gates into the sanctuary were locked so we weren't able to get many shots. But it was our first look at one of the churches we had heard so much about, and it was a good impression.





While walking around the town - we saw a lot of really beautiful architecture. This was one of my favorites.


This mural was also very cool.



If you look close at this mural - you can find a lot of "mistakes" like this: look closely! Do you see it?





Great food is another thing we had a lot of fun experiencing. There were so many different foods to try - we wanted to try a little bit of everything. This is what it all looked like.





This was also our first time to eat in one of the infamous beer gardens; and it was very typical of what you hear about on the travel channel.
I think Simon is again practicing his camera skills here. (see him at the left end of the table?)


Speaking of Simon......




Simon got duck - he loves duck leg. Here he is with his dish.





We actually talked him into eating in American style!


But that didn't last long because eating this way is absolutely unacceptable in Germany. I hope
we didn't get you in trouble Simon!





The red rooftops in Germany lend themselves for a great photo op. I took advantage of this when we were on a wall over-looking the city. Look how cool it is!






Love that last shot of our Judith!


We did take the opportunity to get some great family shots too. Do we look German?





This was really cute too.





So to end our first day - The Schunks threw us a party. We got to meet most of their closest friends and family. It was a lot of fun and we met a lot of great people! Here are some shots of the yard as we prepared for the guests. Ashley is posing with Laura - the family dog. Laura is 11 or 12 years old and pretty slow in her old age. But she is so sweet. Ashley loved her.





Simon was playing papparazi as usual - and we had a lot of fun taking pictures of eachother taking pictures!



Josh had a lot of fun talking to this guy.


He is a genious. He has been accepted to Harvard. He lacks a bit of common sense though. He asked Josh if he had ever had Chicken beer. Josh says "WHAAAAT! We don't have chicken beer!" The guy (his name is Marco) says " No, really! I was in a chat room talking to some Americans and they told me you had beer made from chickens!" I don't know if Josh ever convinced him that they were playing with him, and that "chicken beer" does not exist.


We also got to see our other german daughter - Mirja. Although not nearly enough.


We met Judith's uncle who brought us some regional wine. We got it home safely. Now we just need to pick the right occasion to drink it! Maybe New Years?


Another thing we discovered in Germany is that they use cola in some interesting ways. Have you ever had Cola Beer? It doesn't sound good - but I like it. They sell it bottled over there - but you can make here by mixing about 3/4 beer and 1/4 cola. They also mix cola with orange juice. Ashley liked this combo.


That pretty much sums up day one. Sounds like a full day huh?

Germany Part One

Ok Folks - here we go. Part one of our adventures ensues.

When we arrived in Germany, we were exausted and could not WAIT to get off the plane. We expected to go through a customs check, get our luggage, go through another customs check, and hopefully leave after that. Well - there was NO customs check. Nothing. We got our luggage and we left. CRAZY!

After some looking around and feeling a bit lost - our hosts appeared. Simon was on hand with his papparazi skills, but all the shots are still on his camera. Judith had the same beautiful smile as always with a tongue piercing added to the mix. She also went blonde on us.

So after we got something to eat - we headed out into the European world.

After about an hour of travel - we were greeted with this - cool huh?

Turns out Judith's boyfriend, Nico, has access to this awesome antique VW Bug Convertible. So we were chauffeured the rest of the way to Judith's home in this beauty.

Judith's home is beautiful. The homes in Germany are very old - some as old as 500 years. This is a shot from the street of Judith's home.

The next several pics were taken during a walking tour of Judith's town. The name of her town is Mainstockheim and it is located in Bavaria. It is a very typical German town.

That's all I have for now. I have so much to share - I need to figure out the best way to put it all together. Stay tuned!