Two Years in Germany

Two years ago yesterday we landed in Frankfurt. Now the kids speak fluently "auf deutsch", have German friends, teachers etc. We have German drivers licenses, drink German beer (Spanish wine though), pay higher taxes and go on longer vacations. Our drive to my parents became considerably shorter, but all in all not much changed. We miss our friends...
The picture above was taken last night, when I tried to make a cosy special night, while it was snowing and being bitter cold outside. The kids ended up playing computer games, while the parents read, drank the Spanish wine, and ended up watching Jay Leno on CNBC. So believe me, not much changed...

Rhine Valley

Two weeks ago we had to renew the kids US passports in person. This required a trip to Frankfurt, which we combined with a four day trip to the Rhine and Mosel valley (school was on fall vacation for a week). So we visited some castles, and cruised on the Rhine. We had amazing luck with the weather, and thus could really enjoy the fall colors.
Our first stop was at Eltz castle (picture above), nestled above the Mosel valley. What a gem! The castle was never destroyed by enemy or fire, and is still in possession of the Eltz family, which lived here for 33 generations (since the 12th century). The rooms had perfectly intact 550 year old massive beams. The castle kitchen contained a massive tree stump that served as cutting board for over 500 years. The interesting fact is that it is bigger than the kitchen door or windows i.e. it was there 500 years ago when the kitchen was built around it! The main room of the castle that served as bedroom and family room had beautifully painted walls (arabesque) that was never changed, only the colors were refreshed.
We also cruised the Rhine, visited other castles and even stayed overnight in a castle. It was a really fun trip!
The kids at Burg Eltz:
Mark at Rheinfells Castle:

Fall Trip to nearby Hohenzollern Castle

One sunny October afternoon we took a small trip to the nearby Hohenzollern Castle. The castle - rebuilt in the XIX century - is the birthplace of the Royal Prussian line. The 32 year old prince (not yet married) still lives here. After a nice uphill walk we enjoyed a tour and the views. It was a gorgeous, fun day.
Here are the kids with Adrianne:

Here is the entrance to the castle:

Weekend in Alsace

Two weekends ago we spent a gorgeous weekend in Alsace Lorraine (France), which is only three hours by car from our home. We took along my mom (Oma) and met up with brother Peter and his family. We stayed outside of Colmar at a cute B&B. Besides the gorgeous weather, we really enjoyed the food. The small towns with their timbered houses were impressive. They were and are rich due to the wine that is being grown here. There are a number of castles within sight of each other that formerly guarded this rich region. We visited Haut Koenigsbourg that was restored at the beginning of the 20th century. Among the towns Ribeauville and Riqwhirr stood out. At the end of the weekend we visited Strassbourg. After a nice lunch, we headed home.

At breakfast with Oma, Peter, Szilvia and Mate:

Visiting Haut Koenigsbourg:

My dinner was duck breasts:

Petit France district in downtown Strassbourg:

Summer Vacation in Vancouver

Our summer vacation we spent back home in Vancouver. It was wonderful to see friends and neighbors. We especially enjoyed staying with the Newtons. It was really fun! Thank you.
Mark and Victoria played with their friends as if they have only left two months ago, and not two years ago. We gladly drove them to play dates and sleep overs. Mark also attended with his friend Cameron a week long OMSI Science Camp (camping in the Cascades and staying in huts in the High Desert). They both came back black, wild, enthusiastically singing songs about the death of Barney etc...
Victoria had a mellower trip with the Newtons and their friends to the Oregon coast. She really enjoyed the company of Madeline, but also hanging out with the girls of the neighborhood. They are such good friends.
We also had the pleasure to attend Dan and Anna’s wedding. It was fun dancing with Victoria and watch Mark play air guitar to the music.
Over the course of two weeks Adrianne and Andras also raided Powell’s Books, REI and Fred Meyer, and still managed to pack everything into our suitcases. It was a really fun trip. We really want to come back in the summer of 2011. Till then we enjoy Europe…

Hiking in the Alps

We just returned from a four day hike in the Austrian Alps. We had great luck with the weather. The day before we left it was bone chillingly cold, and the day we returned the rain came with thunder and lightning.
Hiking is really simple here. Camping in the woods is not allowed, instead you have a network of huts, where you can sleep and buy food as well. There are also some ski lifts that operate even in the summer, so it was nice on the third day to take the lift up to the ridges, instead of climb the steep slopes (especially Victoria appreciated it). Also once you arrive at your destination, you can take a public bus back to your car. What was also weird were the many cows that roam the slopes. All of them have bells around their necks, so you can constantly hear them. Below you can see some pictures of the kids and Adrianne negotiating some tricky parts of our hike, and the smiles after we have been done with it. We are planning one more hike for the summer!

Kaltenberg Knight Tournament

In July we saw again a knight tournament. This time it was in Kaltenberg (between Munich and Stuttgart, about two hours drive from us). Many of the riders and knights are professional stuntmen, so they were really going for it. As it turned out all of them were from France, with the exception of a lone Austrian. The foot soldiers were Czech. Lances were broken on a regular basis, and they unseated each other as well. I thought that the bad guy, the "Black Knight" was the best. Both kids, but especially Mark was in heaven. After the tournament, the kids were doing various trials, and obstacles, after which both of them were knighted. There was also a nice medieval market, with lots of cool stuff. Please see below, some really cool jousting video, Victoria and Mark being knighted.

Midsummer Night Festivities

On Midsummer Eve we spent a pleasant evening with neighbors and kids. The festivities included a giant bonfire, folk dancing and torches for the kids. The adults had fun with some local bear and sausages.

Medieval Market and Tournament

Last week we visited the medieval fair and tournament in Horb, which is about half an hour drive from our house. The whole old town is turned into a fair, where you could buy all kinds of medieval stuff, such as weapons, clothes, food and drink. I did try mead (brewed with honey and flowers), which I always read about in books when I was a kid, but could never try it. It was OK, somewhat similar to a desert wine. The best thing about the fair was that about half of the attendants were completely decked out in medieval regalia. This gave the whole place a colorful, happy atmosphere. To fit in Adrianne and Victoria had to get matching outfits. Mark settled on a chain mail head cover. I had mead....

We also attended the tournament, which was a re-enactment of a power struggle some 800 years ago in this part of Germany. There was even some real jousting (see two clips below). It was quite nice, but still the best part was the market. Pictures below: Mark shooting with bow & arrow, the cheese stand, market scene.

Vacation in Greece

In short: Our two week family vacation this time took us to Greece. The first week we traveled on the mainland in and around Athens. We visited the canal of Corinth, the old capital Naupflio, the ancient theater of Epidaurus and the Mycenaean ruins, which predate the Greeks. Finally we spent time in Athens, with all its museums and ruins from the classical Greek times.

The second week we spent relaxing on the island of Crete. Here we hiked the narrow Samaria gorge with all our packs. After arriving at the Libyan sea, we took the ferry to the charming fishing village of Loutro. We spent five nights here doing not much, but swimming, kayaking and exploring the surrounding area. Finally, we took the ferry back to Athens and flew home.

Visiting Greece in May and June is perfect (we went May 10-24). There is no oppressive heat, significantly fewer tourists (except maybe in Athens), plenty of available hotel rooms and - at least in Crete - the water was warm enough for swimming.

Here is the trip report:

Arriving in Athens we rented a car and drove to Naupflio, the old capital of Greece under the Venetian and Ottoman occupation. On the way we stopped at the canal of Corinth connecting the Ionian and Aegean sea. There happened to be a strike of the tanker truck drivers delivering gasoline to the gas stations. At that moment I understood why I did not receive a full tank of gasoline from the car rental agency (at the end we managed to find gasoline, that required finding the only gas station in Naupflio that sold gas the morning we wanted to return to Athens). Thanks to the efforts of our hotel front desk.

By the way Naupflio is a beautiful old town, with a central square made of shining marble surrounded by restaurants. Our hotel was also located on the square. In Naupflio we visited the fortress, and made side trips to the theatre of Epidaurus (one of the few Greek ones not converted by the Romans), and to the Mycenaean ruins. We saw a still standing three thousand year old Mycenaean bridge. Amazing! See the picture below.

We also visited Mycenaea, the center of this civilization. They used giant stones for their building projects, and the Greeks could not understand how this could have done. They thought that Cyclopses built these towns. The entrances to their covered tombs (built into hillsides) reminded me of Egyptian ruins. The kids had fun, as you can see below.

After Mycenaea, we spent three days in Athens. We stayed at the Plaka (below the Acropolis), where most other tourists stay. It was packed. I would try to avoid it next time. The food in the Plaka is mediocre and expensive. As Adrianne said, we can do either or, but not both at the same time. From the sights the Acropolis (Parthenon), the National Archeological Museum, and the Temple of Zeus stood out. I did not know, but the Acropolis was built in just 9 years. The Parthenon used building techniques that corrected for optical illusions. I am not even sure how they could calculate how much to tip the columns inward so that they appear straight, make thicker corner columns so that they appear the same width as all others. Here are some pictures. Shown from top to bottom: the Acropolis; Temple of Hephaestus; finally Mark and Victoria admiring the remaining colums of the Temple of Zeus.

This concludes the sightseeing portion of the trip. We boarded a large overnight ferry; had our own cabin, and enjoyed watching the hustle and bustle of the trucks trying get onto the ferry. With people weaving between them, we were clearly reminded that we are more in developing country than in a developed orderly one. Below the kids are watching the neighboring ferry being loaded.

Arriving in Crete in the old Venetian town of Chania, we took the bus into the mountains of Crete, to hike the narrow Samaria gorge. I was first of all amazed by the lush vegetation of Crete. It must have been like that all over Greece in ancient times, when the weather was wetter than it is today. The gorge was great, Victoria did no even complain once about the six hour, 10 mile long hike (all downhill though). The pictures do not do justice to this gorge. Unfortunately this time of year there was only one bus, which meant that we did not hike in solitude.

After arriving at the rugged south coast of Crete, we had a nice meal before boarding the daily ferry to Loutro. Some words about the food. With the exception of the Plaka in Athens we really enjoyed the food. The yoghurt in Greece is the best I ever had. Mark enjoyed his daily fix of fresh squeezed orange juice (squeezed right there). Victoria (see picture) had plenty of octopus, while I enjoyed other seafood, especially the fried whole sardines (see picture), and Adrianne was adventurous to try foods like Cretan snails (see picture).

Finally we arrived in Loutro, a small fishing village with no road and only twice a day ferry access. The village had a grade school with three students. We had no hotel reservations, but upon leaving the ferry (only one other person got off) quickly found a clean room, with shower and sea view and super friendly, English speaking owners. The place was relaxing, the water crystal clear. We stayed five nights, and did nothing but explored the area by kayak, foot and boat. It was wonderful. Some pictures below: Our room; Mark jumping into the water with Loutro in the background; The goats of Loutro; the clear waters of the Libyan sea.

This concludes our trip report. On the way home we stopped in Chania, the old Venetian town with some flavors of Venice. If you are ever there make a point to eat at the Chani restaurant (next to the old restored synagoge). A family run place with really good food, fun conversation with the owner that has almost as colorful of a family tree as us. We want to go back to Crete next year.

Around Portugal

Last week Adrianne and I spent a wonderful week in Portugal. The children stayed home with Oma and Nagypapa, which turned out to be great for everybody.

We started our trip in Lissbon, where we visited and stayed with Ivo (Adrianne's cousin from Brazil). We really enjoyed his friends company. We had a downtown dinner with a group of friends from his PhD program, as well as a wonderful lunch prepared by his landlady and friend Alda. The wine, the octopus and the olive pate was delicious. We also visited Europe's largest aquarium, which was very nice.

Following Lissbon, we took to the coutryside with our rented car, and for the next five days visited and stayed in stunning castles from the XIII-XIV century (the castles were actually part of a network of goverment owned and operated properties called Pousadas).

We drive through the "Tuscany of Portugal" the Alentejo region. This region of rolling hills is dotted with whitewashed, walled villages, countless cork oaks, gnarled olive trees and wineyards. It is known for its food and wine, and we did enjoy both. The many well preserved castles and churches often show moorish motives, since Portugal was only reconquered by the christians some 800 years ago. Being outside the tourist season there were very few tourists.

At the end of our trip we joined HP's High Achiever celebration to which Adrianne was invited. We stayed in a five star resort outside of Sintra that is 40 minutes from Lissbon. It was really nice, but after eight days we did not mind going home to the kids. Next post is after our Greece trip in the middle of May.

Weekend trip to Luxembourg

This past weekend we met up with my brother and his family in Vianden Luxembourg, a four hour drive from our house. This sleepy medeival town is situated among the Ardennes in a deep valley of the Ourn river. Above the town is the dramatic castle of Vianden. Originally a Roman fortress, the castle exhibit nicely showed its development from a Roman outpost to the 17th century castle. Our hotel was a former abbey. It had nice creeky wooden stairs, and friendly service. No monks though!
From Vianden we drove to Echternach, where


we visited an old church (built in the early 11th century in early Roman style), which in its cript had a spring! The drive through the countryside was spectacular. Gently rolling hills dotted with deep valleys and mossy rocks. The latter somewhat reminded us to the Pacific Northwest. We also visited the capital Luxembourg, but the weather turned bad, so we left for home.

Easter

Last week was Easter weekend. Good Friday and Monday is a holiday here, and we also took off Thursday. It was nice, except we had white Easter (i.e. it snowed) and thus were couped up at home. Anyway, we did not have a white Christmas, and actually this was the only snow that we had here all winter. On Sunday we went to church in Tubingen. It was a nice drive through the snow covered Schoenbuch forest, but it melted off the trees by the time we were coming back. Mass was quite nice with a full Baroque orchestra, organ and choir playing and singing beautiful music. The kids liked it too, and nobody complained that mass as a result lasted about one and a half hours.

I almost forgot. Our little Mark turned 11 this week. He now enjoys his present, a computer game (Age of Empires). Next week we are going to hook up with my brother and his family in Luxemburg. It should be fun. Let's hope the weather will be good.