Day 5

There is nothing quite like the brisk, fresh mountain air to wake you up at 6:00 am. We had the opportunity of being woken up by a fire alarm this morning. We had to leave the lodge in our PJ’s and breathe the fresh air in the Alps. The fire department arrived in their fire truck and declared it safe to go back inside.

This is what the country side looks like and the Lodge.

We decided to get ready for the day and have breakfast before we headed into Munich for church. We thought we were going to the International Ward but, discovered my ability to read German is pretty poor. It was the German ward that was meeting. So we attended sacrament meeting and listened to the Elders translation of the meeting through our headphones. It was fun to have that experience. There was an old man that was confirmed that day in sacrament meeting. It was interesting to see the little differences in their culture but, to see how the church is the same where ever you go. The thing that impressed me most was the power and simplicity of the gospel in their lives.

After church we went to see the castles. We drove out to Neuschwanstein castle, which was a beautiful drive for the Sabbath. We had great weather on this day! The castle was started in 1869 and completed in 1886. It is one of the first castles to have plumbing and electricity. It is quite the impressive sight to see this castle built up on this hill consuming the entire top of the hill. You can stand on this incredibly high bridge, not for those who are afraid of heights, and capture some impressive pictures of the castle. Only a third of the castle was completed before Ludwig II was found dead.

We drove from Neuschwanstein to his hunting villa around the mountain called Linderhof. This hunting villa is quite extraordinary, it is very baroque in design and did not spare any detail. It makes me wonder how much hunting really took place. We were too late to go on the tour but, we were able to walk around the beautiful grounds. It was nice to have the place to ourselves. I just can not imagine living a life in palaces and in such opulent settings. It is simply beyond my comprehension!

Day 4 - The Hills Are Alive with the Sound of Music

The Hills are alive with the sound of Music! We woke up this morning excited to go on our tour of Salzburg. We rode in a tour bus and they told us history and trivia as we drove. We stopped at the pond where they filmed the scene where they come home in the canoes, new clothes and meet their father and the new baron. Interestingly the house that it was filmed at was not part of the movie, just the back veranda and the pond. We saw the lane where they were hanging in the trees, the gazebo, we drove past the Abby, went up into the mountains and saw where they filmed the picnic, where Maria was singing and dancing at the beginning of the movie, the church where they filmed the wedding and of course the scenery in the opening part of the movie, the stairs where they sang Doe Rae Me and the fountain that they danced around. It was a fun tour to go on with beautiful scenery and I can’t forget the great music to sing along with!

This is the pond where the canoe scene was shot...they only use the veranda of the house and the pond, not any of the building.

This is the driveway where they are hanging in the trees as he comes home with the new baron.

The Abby is the building with the red onion dome on the roof. The hillside where they had the picnic.

Inside the church where they filmed the wedding.

We had the back of the bus which was great because we had more windows to take photos out of. Heather was spinning around constantly trying to capture the shots. We were probably pretty funny to watch as we were all snapping pictures! We met some LDS people on the tour. They were dentists in the Army based in Wiesbaden. A couple of the husbands were leaving for Iraq in a few weeks. They were really nice...well most of them. One girl didn't really want to talk to us.

It would have been nice to have more time in Salzburg to see more of the old city, the fortress and some of the other Sound of Music Sites. We needed to leave so that we could meet up with James that evening in Garmisch. We drove through Austria, the Alps to the little town of Garmisch. It was again in a beautiful setting nestled in the Alps.

We went to the train station to get James and he wasn’t there. So we headed over to the base to see if perhaps he was there. We can’t get on the base without James so the nice security guys tried their best to help me call him. I was having some cell phone issues and couldn’t get my phone to call out. While I was in the security booth trying to call James, Kristen was out taking a picture of the beautiful scenery. I guess you are not supposed to take pictures of the base so they had to come and tell her to stop. I am sure we seemed very suspicious; trying to get on base without a sponsor and taking photos!

We finally met up with James and got on the base to check in. We had dinner that evening in the lodge and ate at the buffet with American food. We also could use our American dollars…finally we could afford to spend our money!

Off To Austria - Day 3

We woke up early Friday morning to leave to Salzburg, Austria. We hoped to get to Salzburg in time to catch the 2:00 Sound of Music tour; it was a rainy morning which slowed our progress. There were times when the rain was coming down so hard that the wipers wouldn’t go fast enough. There was also a stretch of the road that was under construction that caused us a lengthy delay. There were some stretches along the way where we could make up time. The rain would stop and we had some nice straight roads where we could hit the cruising speed of 118. No, I didn’t stay at that speed for long but, I did enjoy not worrying about trying to stay below 80 miles an hour. I would say 100 is a comfortable speed for me. Once we hit Munich we began our search for an Esso gas station, as we had to fill up and they were the only ones that would take our gas coupons. We stopped at a gas station to ask them where an Esso was, and they didn’t know. We did have a bathroom break there and I got to see a new type of toilet. The seat of the toilet rotates so that it can be sanitized. Marta didn’t use the restrooms so I video taped it for her to watch…so now you all can watch it to. It was a pretty cool concept!

The drive along the border in the Alps was breathtaking. It was so beautiful and all we wanted were some great pictures. I was driving and so everyone else, mainly Heather tried to capture the picturesque surrounding as we flew down the interstate. It was quite humorous as cameras have that lag time between pressing the button and capturing the picture. So, we had many pictures of trees, telephone polls etc instead of the meadows and mountains. Heather got quite good at saying, “I can do better!”

It was so nice to have Ursula, James’s GPS, with us to give us directions. This was much needed as the city of Salzburg isn’t easy to navigate through. We found ourselves at the Sound of Music tour location about an hour after the last tour. I did have some difficulty navigating into the parking lot, turned down a one way street the wrong way and tried to go into the parking lot the wrong way. After figuring out the parking lot we went to secure our tickets for the next morning. We negotiated a better price for our tickets by asking if they were the cheapest place to buy. He gave us a student discount and then Kristen didn’t have enough money so he knocked another Euro off. I think that is what happened.

The guy spoke English quite well; I on the other hand was having some difficulty. Something about reading signs in a foreign language messed me up. They were going to pick us up at the hotel in the morning and I couldn’t remember where we were staying…as we had not checked in yet. I knew it was the Marriott so I so the Residence. This of course caused great confusion as every town has a Residence which is where the Royalty stays. Finally, he said is it the Renaissance? Which that rang a bell and I said “Yes, that is where we are staying. I am sorry; English is not my first language.” This of course made everyone laugh…but, I think he was a bit confused as if I was serious or joking. It was pretty funny.

That afternoon we went and found Mozart’s home that he was born in. We went into the museum there and I was a little disappointed with the museum. We walked across the river and saw where he lived when he was older. It was fairly cold outside and was raining off and on. We decided to go back to the old city and find something to eat. We ate at a spaghetti place. They sat us right by the smoking area and gave us all a headache. When we were done eating we decided to call it a day and went back to the hotel.

Wurzburg, Germany

Our first day was spent traveling to Europe. We all met up in Cinncinati and took our long flight across the ocean. I gave chocolate to those around us before we took off, in hopes they wouldn't get too annoyed with us if we got noisy on the flight.

Kailey and Kedrick picked us up at the airport in Frankfurt and we made the drive to Wurzburg where James and Kailey are stationed. It was so much fun to see them again and visit their cute city.

We went to pick up Reilyn from her preschool so we could be her show and tell. We arrived just in time for the fire drill. So we got to participate in that as well as show and tell. We went down into the town that afternoon and walked around. These are some pictures of the bridge and the castle. That evening I played the long awaited game of hide and seek with Reilyn. She has gotten to be a really good hider!

We started our second day in Germany with rain. We decided to go to the "Walmart" type store and buy chocolate in hopes of the rain stopping. Lucky us it worked! We went and walked around the Residence and the gardens were starting to bloom. It was really pretty with the flowering trees and bulbs.

Later in the afternoon we traveled to Rothenburg, a medievil town not too far from Wurzberg. This is such a fun town to visit. The buildings have so much character and there are fun stores to shop in. There is a garden area at the edge of the town that you can see the city wall. Due to the rain earlier there wasn't a lot of people and the birds were out chirping...it was really relaxing and beautiful!

We had an amazing dinner in one of the restaurants. We seemed to be very interesting as the other diners kept starring at us. We were trying to be quite and but, it must have been our beauty and foreign accent that made us so intriguing.

We took an evening tour with the night watchman and learned the history of this town. It was quite interesting to hear how this town survived the destruction of the various wars. The tour guide was excellent! This little city was definately one of the highlights of the trip.

Back into the routine

Guetin Tag, or as some may say it Guetin Stein! Well, I am back from my trip to Europe and seemed to slip right back into my daily routine with little disruption. The only problem I have had is getting really tired by the time 9:30 pm rolls around. Which really isn't that bad. I guess the good thing about it is I have been able to get out of bed in the morning and have gotten to work on time these last two days. I have finally gotten over day light savings time! Yippee!

I will have to post some pictures from the trip and fill you in all the fun times that we had! It was great to see James, Kailey, Reilyn and Kedrick. It was great fun to be with Marta, Kristen and my friend Heather. The sites in Europe were fabulous, the food was great and everything was expensive due to the sticken dollar being so low. So, I made this trip about memories and tried to keep my shopping to a minimum. That and I am running out of room in my house for art and trinkets. I guess I will have to go back again when I have either finished my basement or moved into a larger home. I do need to go and see Italy & Venice some time.

Thanks for the laughs and memories!

I will post again soon and fill you in on our trip.

Soup Recipes

These are some recipes for soup that was taught at one of our enrichment activities. The Tahitian Noni Cafe manager taught the class. I really like the Spinach Sausage recipe!

Chicken tortilla soup
8oz Chicken breast, diced
1 16oz can diced tomato
3 Tbs chicken base
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp fresh garlic
1tsp ground thyme
1 med onion
1 6 oz can of green chilies
1 gallon water
6-8 corn tortillas

Sauté chicken in a little oil until done. Remove. Sauté onions until translucent. Add garlic, cumin, thyme and green chilies. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Add chicken base and water. Bring to a simmer. Add diced tomatoes and tortillas. Cook until tortillas are soft. Puree. Add cooked chicken. Add salt and pepper to taste. Top with sour cream, cheese, toasted tortilla strips and avocado if desired.

Spinach and Sausage Soup
1 lb hot or mild ground sausage
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 Tbs chicken base
1 gallon of water
2 potatoes, peeled, halved and sliced thin
1 tsp ground thyme
1 tsp fresh garlic
1 bag of washed baby spinach
Salt and pepper to taste

Sauté sausage until fully cooked. Drain grease and remove from pan. Cook onions until translucent. Add thyme and fresh garlic. Cook for 2 minutes. Add water and chicken base. Add potatoes, simmer until tender. Add spinach. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Flat Stanley in Japan

There were sightings of Flat Stanley all over Tokyo: We saw him watching a cook make “dumplings”(or something),

hanging out at the popular Tokyo Krispy Kreme,

buying train tickets,

riding a train,

and then keeping himself and others germ free by wearing an official Japanese, hypo-allergenic face mask. What a guy.

Written by Jared Gingras the TN Cafe Accountant who hosted Flat Stanley on his trip to Japan