Meeting Maya

Monday, July 22.  Today we drove to meet Maya - my new sister who will be with us in just 16 days (my mom is freaking out!)  We had lunch at her house with her parents and younger brother.  Then her grandparents joined us for dessert. She is so nice!  I just know we will get along great!  After our visit, we headed back to Berlin.  Check out the video of dad driving on the autobaun - he hit 210 kilometers per hour which translates to 130 miles per hour.  Mom wasn't too happy but Karoline and I thought it was awesome.  I wanted him to go even faster but dad said the car was floored.

Visiting family in the south of Germany

On Friday the 19th we drove to Annette's parents.  They live in a village called Gerstetten.  We went to her sister's house for a cookout which was delicious. The next morning we went to see the castle Neuschwanstein - it's the one that Disney saw and had Cinderella's castle made like it.  I saw real mountains for the first time since the castle is built in the Alps.  The castle is way over the top!!!!!  The king who built it was called crazy and taken from the throne because he spent too much money on his castle.  So it was never finished. I think it is something like only 9 rooms are completely done, but it was a cool place.  We took a carriage ride up and back down from the castle.  We grabbed a brat sandwich and did a little shopping before heading to our next town of Magstadt to see Peter's mom and sister.  Too bad the pictures aren't clear.  It was a hazy day and we weren't allowed to take pictures inside so we bought a book for people to see.
     When we got to Peter's mom's house, we had a late supper.  I had real German potato salad.  It was great.  Hopefully mom can duplicate it.  On Sunday we went to another relative's house for a family reunion.  We met aunts and uncles and cousins. The best part was homemade ice cream cake followed by black forest cake.

Into Poland we go for our next adventure

July 18 - Yesterday morning we woke up to  take an 8 hour drive into Poland.   We stayed the first night in a cabin.  In the morning we went to Auschwitz and Birkenau. It ended up being somewhat interesting but still sad.  Auschwitz was more like a museum and Birkenau the death camp was left like it was found. The stories the guide told were hard to believe.  The crematoriums were destroyed by the Nazis as they fled the camp but enough is still there to see what it is.  After our tours, we drove about 4 hours and spent the night in a hotel in Legnica, Poland.

Best day ever - we went shopping

Tuesday, July 16 - Today we went to the shopping district of Berlin with miles of stores.  I shopped with both Karoline and her sister.  I came home with a really pretty blue, lacy dress. What fun!  In the evening we went to pick up a rental car because tomorrow we drive to Poland. We are going to see Auschwitz.

more sightseeing

July 15 - Yesterday we just relaxed, but today we were off again to see the city.  We took a close-up look at the government building, the "gate to the city", the American embassy, and the murdered Jews memorial.  There are so many things to see that we will never get it all in since my mom loves to look at every detail - it must be an old thing!

Trip to Spreewald

Saturday July 13 - This morning we woke up early and went to a town called Spreewald.  Spreewald is sort of like Venice in the sense that some people use mainly canal boats to get around. While we were there we took a trip on a canal boat where we tried all different flavors of pickles and bread with lard on it.  I liked the pickles but the bread with lard wasn't exactly my favorite.  I probably would have liked the bread with lard on it better if it had been white bread.  The cottages we saw had pretty flowers everywhere.  It was peaceful and quaint, but I am pretty sure I would not like to live there because I did not see a satellite and I am pretty sure that they do not have any WiFi.

Some of Berlin's sites

July 12 - today we traveled around the city by train then subway and even a boat.  We took a tour boat to see some of the famous stuff like the government building which is like our capital building, the chancellor's house which is like our white house, an art museum and their TV tower.  We then went to the movies to see Monster's University - it's soooo cute!  Most of all it's great hanging out with my big sister again.

Saying goodbye to Denmark and hello to Germany

Thurs - July 11 - Today we had to officially say goodbye to Sissel,  We are hoping that she will come visit next summer.  It was hard to say goodbye at the airport!!  Before I knew it I was on  plane to Berlin.  It was only about a 40 min ride so it was straight up and straight down.  When we landed, the whole Jooss family was there to meet us.  We are staying in their flat in the middle of the city.  The train is only a block away and there's a little cafe across the street. I just love big city life.  Peter made his famous goulash for supper then we walked through a nearby cemetery to see where the Grimm brothers are buried.  You know, they wrote many of the famous fairy tales.  Before bed Peter drove us around the city to see many of its highlights we will see in the next couple of days.

Day 6 in Denmark.

Early this morning we loaded the cars and took a ferry ride to Copenhagen.  We first took a picture with the statue of Hans Christian Anderson for mom.  Then we wandered the old streets.  We climbed the round tower, went to the queens castle, walked the streets by the old canal, saw the parliament building and later took a canal boat tour of the city.  If you think you have seen a few of these pictures before you are wrong.  They were scenes from Legoland!!!!

Day 5 in Denmark

Today we went to Summerland which is an amusement park near Sissel's house.  Did you know in Denmark people take their dogs with them to the amusement parks.  Every so often you find little areas for the dogs where there is food and water all ready for them.  The park has coasters and lots of water rides plus a water park. We rode a ride called Speedy Gonzales and laughed when we thought of Kari always saying "I don't think so".  Also there was a diving show where they lit one of the high divers on fire (just like in the Hunger Games)!!!  On the way out we ate waffles with ice cream on them. On the way home we took a quick tour of Grenaa and a super old church.  (Marianne - there is a picture here you will really like)

Day 4 in Denmark

This day we left for the town of Grenaa - this is where Sissel lives with her mom, step-dad and little brother Victor.  On the way we visited Sissel's grandma's house which had a beautiful yard (I took a lot of pictures of the flowers), met her aunt and cousins, saw the remains of a really old castle built in the 1200s, had lunch in a town by the sea, rolled in a big bubble (Victor and I had fun dumping Sissel), got to see where Sissel will start school in the fall and sat on the beach.  Grenaa has miles of beaches.  Now we know why Sissel always wanted to go to the beach!  That evening we grilled out and finished the meal with sausages - crazy tradition.  I think Sissel misses our way of finishing a meal with a hot fudge sundae.