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?