The Bodensee

After Zurich, we traveled to our next hotel in Rorschacherberg, Switzerland. It sits on a hill overlooking the Bodensee, also called Lake Konstanz. The Bodensee is nestled between Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and is absolutely enormous and beautiful. Our hotel was so cute and charming! Its called the Rebstock...the rooms were huge and very clean offereing ridiculous views of the lake and hillside. Here is a look at the front!

And we had the best view from our terrace!

It was so charming that the hotel came complete with neighbors that had natural lawnmowers. The sheep even had bells around their necks...so cute. Tut wanted to catch one so bad!

And the hillside was beautiful. We were near the Alps, but not in sight of them due to the haze, although you could see the outline of them the day we left. We also had the best weather while we were there!

Both afternoons we were there we made our way down to the seaside for late lunches. Here was one of our views the second day...

I cannot count how many times we wished my Dad were here to experience this place. He love the water and boating and would have thoroughly enjoyed himself! I could just picture a sailboat for him right here in this marina!

Of course my Mom and I weren't the only ones who enjoyed our trip...Tut Anthony had a great time too! He went almost everywhere with us and behaved quite well too. Here he is watching the ducks in the lake with me. What a baby!

If you want a nice relaxing Swiss vacation I highly recommend the Rorschach and Rorschacherberg area near the Bodensee. It was lovely!

Yesterday I took my Mom to her ancestral homeland of Luxembourg. It was a fun day for both of us...more on that later!

Auf Wiedersehen!

More Switzerland: St. Gallen

When my Mom decided to make the trip back in July, I had asked her where she had really wanted to visit while she was here as I wanted to make a short trip out of a place different from here. She chose St. Gallen, Switzerland because of the historic monestary and its ancient, but well preserved library. We ultimately didn't stay in St. Gallen, but enjoyed its cuteness and history on our visit there. Like most European cities there is an area of the entire city that is called the "old city" and that is where all of the good stuff is! Here is a look at one of the main pedestrian streets.

And the really cute apartments that hover over the shops and restaurants in the area...

At the edge of the old city we came upon a really pretty fountain, although there were a couple of others in the old part as well.

And more super cuteness...

We saw a lot of decorated windows, with hand painted murals and carved out details. I haven't seen much of this where I have previously been so I thought it was adorable, especially in a town like this one.
The monestary probably draws the biggest crowd as it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It has a really beautiful church on its grounds as well as a really old and preserved library called the Stiftsbibliotek. It is quite an amazing place and now serves as part of the university. Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed to be taken in the library, but it was very cool. This is a statue of the guy who founded the Abbey, St. Othmar.

The church is huge and very beautiful on the outside...

...and just as impressive inside too!

It was cute, but I am glad we didn't stay there as it gave us a chance to discover another area in Switzerland called Rorschacherberg near the Bodensee/Lake Konstanz. More on that later!

Auf Wiedersehen!

Zurich, Switzerland: An Overnighter

We were supposed to leave for Switzerland on Saturday, but decided at the last minute to add a night in Zurich to our trip and ended up leaving on Friday so my Mom could attend the city's flea market on Saturday morning. It was a great decision for me as I have never been there and it turned out to be a pretty cool city. I will be sure to take TJ there another time. Zurich, for the most part, is nestled around Lake Zurich where boaters and sailors can be right on the water and the rest of us can admire it. A small portion of the city is the old city where shops, restaurants, and bars are plentiful. There architecture was also very cool..and like many other European cities, was very clean. Julie snapped more great photos here!
Here is part of the city with the hills behind it...

Some canal/street views.

A very old protestant church in the old city.

And a part of the new city.

I am sure TJ and I will spend more time there as well, so maybe there will be more posts in the future. The next day we went to our hotel near the Bodensee which was so cute...so more on that tomorrow!

Auf Wiedersehen!

Weinheim, Germany with Julie

Last Thursday I took Mom to Weinheim for some German charm. Weinheim is a very nice town as a whole, but the Tanner's Quarter is quite something and you really feel like you are in and old German town the whole time you are there. We went early in the morning to avoid rising afternoon temperatures as it hit almost 96 degrees. Yep, it was a hot one. Here is a look at only some of the pictures taken in the Tanner's Quarter...

Isn't it cute? I love how even though they don't have yards they still manage to have beautiful flowers and plants to decorate the property.

After we wandered through taking pictures we sat for coffee at a small cafe right in the heart of the old city. It was very nice and even Tut maintained a decent behavior while we were there.

Drinking coffee is one of my Mom's favorite passtimes, so it was so fitting we snapped one of her at the cafe!

After our short break in sightseeing, we headed up the Bergstrasse to visit the Wachenburg Castle and its fabulous views of the area. Here are a few highlights...

It was another fun day for sure. Friday, as well as the rest of the weekend, was spent in Switzerland...more on that later! For more Julie's photos you can visit her Flickr site at http://www.flickr.com/ and search "Jewellia1".

Auf Wiedersehen!

Mom's First Day Out

My Mom arrived safely in Frankfurt at 5:45 Tuesday morning and had a decent case of jet-lag, although her trip seemed to go well. Her first day here was quite uneventful as she needed to get on schedule, but on Wednesday we got up early and hit up the Schloss Schwetzingen Gardens. The gardens were designed in a French style by several architects for two different electors in the 17 and 1800's. There are simply beautiful! And I find it sort of special that on my second day of living here I visited them for the first time and now on my Mom's second day in Deutschland she also visited them. She took really great pictures and enjoyed making her way through the different gardens with Tut and I along side. We often spoke of those that would love the gardens...my Dad and Rita to name a few. She took really great photos with her camera...here a just a few snaps of the 178 that she took.

As you walk in there is a long aisle of flowers, trees, and fountains...
More garden views...

I really don't care for birds in the least, but this guy and many of his friends occupy the gardens and we thought they were kind of funny.

Hidden in the back is an old ruin of a watermill with a really cute brook.

And a gazebo too.

And a closer look at the ruin...I think it is really cool.

In the gardens there is an on-site mosque that is quite something, with its own gardens.

And here is a garden view of the site.

The interior of the mosque is really amazing as well!

Tut couldn't go inside the mosque so we hung out and wait for my Mom outside. This also happens to be the site where a Korean tourist asked me to carry (hold) my dog and pose for a photo...and then not long after I was approached by a crazy German lady who wanted to know my thoughts on the end of the world. Thats what you get for minding your own business hanging out in front of a mosque like this!

We had a really nice morning and then it reached about 90+ degrees out (FYI, no AC here) and took refuge at my house out of the sun. We ended the day at a small cafe in Ladenburg with coffee and a late meal. It was a great day!!

Today we went to Weinheim to see some German cuteness and I will post on that tomorrow. Until then, Auf Wiedersehen!

Mary Kay Porsche?!

Its not outof the ordinary to see a lot of Porsches here as it is a German car and a fair amount of people drive them...and even park them on the street. But Saturday night (Sunday morning) on our way home from a very fun girls night we came upon the most unique Porsche yet...

Being that all three of us are Americans, we immediately screamed "Mary Kay!" upon seeing this light pink Porsche complete with racing stripe. Isn't she a beauty? If its not a Mary Kay then it must be Racer Girl Barbie's! I couldn't resist a photo, so Meredith and Karen obliged! I personally love that someone parked this little girl about a foot and half away from the curb and into the street in the city center. The things we admire here!
Auf Wiedersehen!

Knokke-Heist, Belgium

On our way home we decided to drive 25 minutes north to one of the Belgian beaches. Something about a beach...if I am near one I must go! Anyway, its located on the North Sea near the English Channel. It was a really pretty day and we enjoyed checking things out and walking along side the beach. We had Tut with us and in high season dogs aren't allowed on the beach so we didn't go down to the ocean, which is too bad since Tut loves it so much. The beach was huge and there were many different areas as you made your way from the boardwalk to the water. First were the restaurants, then the rental sheds. Some people were grabbing chairs out of the shed and laying them right out in front of it...not even lookingat the sea. I thought that was strange!

It was a ways from the sheds until you hit the water front too. There was a marina for sailboats, and a giant port in the distance with a ferry that will take you and your car to England if you choose.

This is where spent most of our time...walking along the boardwalk eating our waffles for the last time!

TJ made the long trek down towards the waters edge while the little boy and I waited patiently. It took forever to get down there and get back though. Here is a closer look at the beach!

We weren't there long, but enjoyed it all the same! If we had more time I would have liked to stay there for at least a night or two as the beach and the area were very nice.

Auf Wiedersehen!

A Pleasant Belgian Surprise

Probably the most unexpected surprises in Belgium was how fantastic the food was. Sure, we figured that the beer would be good as some of our favorites brews are Belgian, but who knew the food would be this good? We have a friend in Augusta that used to live quite close to Brugge and made sure to tell us to try the local fries and beer, but still all the other edible things in this town were good too! My favorite...Belgian Waffles. My favorite are the ones with fresh strawberries, where TJ and Tut preferred the nutella and whipped creme waffle.


They are good for breakfast, dessert, and if you are TJ a good snack in the middle of the day! also liked them because you could walk with them.

I also didn't realize how popular seafood is in Brugge, especially the mussels as they were advertised at nearly every restaurant. Apparently there are several different ways to make them and clearly there is no shortage for them as TJ and I both received larged steamy pots of them. They were soooo good! And they also came with fries as a side...also very good.

The beer was quite wonderful too. We bar hopped a bit the first night we were there trying a new beer at each place. TJ is enjoying a dark Palm at the second place we went too, but I prefer the Bruges Blond.

Then we arrived at a place that has too many choices where beer is concerned. I was completely overwhelmed...but had we been thinking we would have tried a fruit beer. After we returned everyone mentioned we should have tried one and sadly we didn't...guess we will have to go back! This was the bar...I liked it and the atmosphere was perfect!

We continued to eat and drink our way through the next day, not leaving out the famous Belgian chocolates (which are divine and a complete sin) and looked forward to our evening meal. We ate at a French restaurant and for me this meant cheese and chocolate mousse, and for TJ it meant a three course lobster meal...and chocolate mousse! He had so many utensils and an interesting looking tool.

I hate to say that we ate and drank our way though Brugge, because we really didn't, but we could have and would have thoroughly enjoyed it!

Auf Wiedersehen!