Monday, July 23, 2007

The Kids have arrived

It is our dream come true to have our children in Italy with us. They started arriving around 8:30 a.m. As soon as everyone had arrived (around noon), we took off to see the Vatican, Navonna Square and the Pantheon. Of course gelato ice cream was a must. Dad bought the first gelato for everyone! It was very hot today, they say it got up to 98 degrees. Rome is still my favorite city in all the world. The little side streets (Trattoria's) are something to behold. Flower boxes, wrought iron gates, plants, little trees, side walk cafe's, street violinists and cobblestone walkways cannot be beat in Rome. There is nothing like it in the world.

Germany continued



Castles are just everywhere you look in the Black Forest regions of Germany. We did a lot of castle tripping this week as we went on a treasure hunt for them! Steve would drive and Jayna would read the map suggesting every 10 minutes that we stop so she could get a picture of one or two within sight!

The Medieval town of Rothenuburg Ob Der Tauber was the most complete, gorgous 14th century walled city you have ever seen. German Christmas stores were everywhere. Walking the old city wall was commonplace as people used the walls to get from one section of the town to the other. Stephen ran into a gentleman who had lived in Rothenburg all his life and he told Steve the "must sees" that are behind the scenes. Thinking that Rothenburg was the ultimate medieval city and we would find none others that could compare, we reluctantly wandered 20 minutes down the highway to a city called Dinklesbuhl that was almost "too perfect". Each building had a fresh coat of paint on it - in pink, yellow, blue, green - all different colors with gilded rooflines and cobblestone streets all tucked inside a medieval wall.