Home to Schneckenhausen

Saturday August 2, 2008
We left Berlin at 11:30am and arrived in Snail's Home at 7:30! This trip included an hour long stop for gas at an Esso station, with McDonald's (also has a McDrive and a McCafe). WE need these kinds of Mickey D's in the states...you can buy a lovely cheesecake torte for breakfast to take to your coworkers! The crowd waiting to order was patient and orderly, but it took awhile (maybe 1/2 hour) to get to the front of the line!Driving through former east Germany was beautiful. Unspoiled farmland and pine woods the entire way. The freeway is brand new, and traffic flow was for the most part very smooth. I am still not used to the speeds at which people drive here, my heart is in my throat at times! But drivers are safe, and follow the strict rules of the road (no passing on the right, the far left lane is for passing ONLY....no hanging out and driving in it).We knew the stores would be closed tomorrow, Sunday, so stopped in Otterberg at the new Wasgau for some food before it closed at 8:30.Also stopped in B to take photos of a friend's house! Hope I found it!

Sunday August 3, 2008 Snail's Home, Germany
We woke up gently this Sunday morning, Roland fixed a fabulous breakfast and we worked on the piles of laundry that only a family of 8 on a seven day trip can accumulate! We weren’t sure WHAT we wanted to do today…rest…or find a new adventure? As I browsed through a magazine about USO tours I read one about going to the Wine Street of Germany, and a castle ruin that is visible from the A6, south of Mannheim, in a village called Neulingen (as opposed to Altlingen, Neu= new and Alt= old). It sounded good, so we packed up after lunch and headed down the road, only 20-30 miles to our destination. Had to turn around in the village of Mehlingen, a bike ride was coming through town, so took the LONG way around, but enjoyed the dense forest covering the hills. Neulingen is a completely charming village clinging to the side of a small hill, somewhat like a small volcanic outcropping. There are 5 narrow cobbled streets with darling stucco/half timbered homes set on either side of the roads. There were several wine makers open, the largest is Ruttger (put an umlaut on the U). We went up into the ruins of the old castle at the top of the village. Nearby, in a quaint church (aren't they all 'quaint'?) a wedding planning session was going on, with a recording of Bryan Adams singing ‘Everything I do…I do it for you…” as the guys in the balcony worked out a sound system problem. The music felt oddly out of place inside the ancient walls of the sanctuary. We rested at a small playground while the kids ran off energy and then headed for Worms, where Luther defended his 95 Thesis so many years ago. The Dom at Worms was dark, yet had the most ornate altar area we’d ever seen. There were amazing stained glass windows, traditional designs and contemporary designs. The Neu Nibelungen concert was currently in concert, set up outside, up against the church walls. People were flocking to an outdoor Italian icecream stand (very very nice, with a backlit visual menu). Seriously, there were 30-50 people waiting at any given moment. Dave and I enjoyed being Nana and Papa watching the grandkids (little one is like Pebbles and Bambam in her walker!) race around the bricked in driveway in front of the house tonight while David and Roland took a bike ride on the surrounding hills (Roland wiped out on a gravel farm road, but all is ok). Wesley and I rode bikes up to the cemetery (Friedhof…much better word…meaning a courtyard of peace) and back to the house.

Friday August 1, 2008 Berlin
It was a hot day in Berlin today, we drove the van to the former east side of Berlin, parking on Dorothy (Dorotheenstrasse) Street and walked to the Pergamom museum on the Museeum Insel (museum island). The current exhibit (incorporating the Ishatar Gate) was called Babylon, Reality and Myth. The Ishtar Gate is the first thing to walk through entering the exhibit. I could've stayed there all day looking at the blue, gold, white glazed tiles, relief lions and dragons. The myth side of the exhibit was a smattering of contemporary and older art dealing with the concept of 'babylon', not the myths that the ancient babylon might've had.We then went to the Altes Museum and the Egyptian Museum (Queen Nefertiti). We played in the fountain in front of the Egyptian Museum because it was SO HOT!We drove to Checkpoint Charlie and the Topography of Terror outdoor museum. Drove past the Brandenburg Gate and the Victory Column. Had dinner near our hotel and walked down to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church at 10pm while the bell tower was ringing boisterously. A concert started at 10pm, but we would've had to stay for the entire concert (1 hour) so we didn't. Walked home as the rain began to fall. Got ice cream cones and milk for Anna at the corner Ice Cream shop (that has open walls with black/white stripe comfy chairs to sit in.

Thursday July 31, 2008
We all fell in love with Poland. The beautiful landscapes, farms, relaxed ways. We stayed at a lovely B&B (the Blue Beetroot)out in the country a bit. The owners bought and lovingly restored a derelict stone barn on the edge of a village outside of Boleslawiec three years ago. The owner's son made all the pine furniture, the linens and lamps came from IKEA. They have 12 locals working for them, and are training the little girls who live in an adjoining large home (the 'home' is inhabited by three families!) Our waitresses were the most charming, sweet, shy and hardworking girls we'd encountered. We wanted to take them home with us. David thinks the Polish girls are the prettiest! No wonder, our waitresses were beautiful and unspoiled in their affect. People walked, rode bikes, scooters and drove cars like racers all on the same narrow road! We shopped at Tesco's for our first dinner. I think going to a grocery store in a new country is a good field trip exercise! Try to find a wide variety of interesting food for supper, use the local currency and learn to say Thankyou! I found people smiled easily and were very helpful, almost shy. We shopped for Polish Pottery and have become quite picky about our newest addiction. We got a factory tour from the oldest factory (200 yrs). We walked around the town square of Boleslawiec the first evening. It was an eye opener for Dave and David. The buildings were in varying states of repair or crumbling plaster. Apparently the buildings previously owned/operated by communists are the most neglected. The mood was somber. Not many people were in the square, although the actual buildings were from the 1800's and were painted in soft pastel colors. Napoleon spent a winter in this town in 1812, resting from his war in Russia. Today we stumble upon the more vigorous, new part of town and were relieved that the economy is booming somewhere!We drove back roads up to the German border today, sharing it with trucks and cars, going through small villages and pine woods. Once in Germany it was autobahn all the way to Berlin. Amazing to think that only 19 years ago it was still East Germany, and basically inaccessible area.Once in Berlin we unloaded our stuff on the top floor of a small hotel (very HOT up there) and took off for the Tiergarten (walking distance) for 2 hours. What an amazing zoo. You feel you can reach out and touch the animals, and the setting is beautiful, lots of trees, bushes, benches.I could write more, but it is busy in our little lofty hotel and I need to let someone else on the internet now. We are using Roland's laptop with a wireless connection at the Berlin hotel.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008 Off to Poland Today!
Good Morning everyone,Just had our lovely breakfast in the basement room of the Golden Tulip Hotel in Prague, it was an international experience...we heard Chinese, Italian, Farsi, French, German, American....Last night Dave and I walked around to the center of town and enjoyed people watching beneath the lit up buildings of the square, especially the enormous twin spires of the most goth looking cathedral...it is lit with white light, had dark grey spires that are lit from within with golden light, spheres of gold light adorn the tops...and there are two decorative buildings built PLUNK DOWN right in front of what would've been the entrance! What is that about?Anyway, it creates an eerie presence above the encrusted like a decorated cake buildings. We also walked down to the river and watched 30 white swans in the dark water. A man came up to us to motion that the spiders were coming out beneath the concrete railing (he'd been watching us, and saw me brush something from my arm). We thanked him and moved onto the bridge. A little later that same man came to us, cupping his hands, pleading for money. I gave him 50 cz piece. He looked at it and thanked me. Then he walked away, but I watched him make eye contact with a youngish lad (17 or so) wearing an ipod, baseball cap backward and light blue shirt. I watched the lad make eye contact with a security guard type guy. Then the lad followed us down the street. (We'd been closely followed the night before in the square also). We finally ditched the young guy. I noticed a different man coming toward us, then he was following us also. It was a bit creepy. I wouldn't let Dave slow down the pace till we reached the square, full of people.We read in the local paper that the theft of US passports was way up in Prague, but of other nationalities it was down. Most are stolen when entire backpacks/purses are taken, or through scams in the nightclubs with bogus policeman asking for them.Anyway, this is an exciting city, but it doesn't feel safe.

Monday, July 28, 2008
Prague, Czech Republic
I have this to say about Prague. it is expensive. our little hamburger lunch today cost us around $100 today, approx $30 per person for a plate with two hamburgers and some french fries, a sprite or a beer....we didn't have the exchange rate worked out yet, we thought it was 15 crowns to the dollar, but turns out that is what a dollar with cost a person. It is actuall $11.81 to the dollar, and the hamburger plate (w/o the fries or drink) cost 195 crown...you do the math! arrggg.....it is the strong crown (against the dollar and the euro) that is creating some inflation here..the locals can't afford to come to the town center for a cold one anymore.
But walking around and looking up at the highly decorated, encrusted buildings and walking across the charles bridge, up the hill to the palace was wonderful...... dealing with crowds, signs, construction, (expensive drinks:$5 cokes, coffee makes paris feel cheap). at least our hotel rate is reasonable, and has a fabulous breakfast included. We walked for 7 1/2 hours today, in 80-90 degree sunshine with breezes. Water trucks drove by frequently, spraying out mist to cool us down!It feels a bit like the wild west here. As David remarked astutely, this country is in transition! Last night we ordered a Little Cesar's pizza at the entrance to a Tesco (grocery store we knew in England). We waited, and finally the store was closing (I tried to browse, but was sternly pushed away by a woman) we realized our pizza had not come...the woman we ordered it from had forgotten! She wondered what questions we had? and after a few seconds/questions back/forth, she realized she'd left it sitting in the box on the warming shelf. We gobbled it down and cleared our table. We walked around till 10pm, thousands of people out walking. We also drove around a bit, down the cobbled lanes, to dead ends, all crowded with people. Crazy.Stuff is expensive here, don't let anyone tell you otherwise! There are statues (all blackened with carbon, I think) EVERYWHERE. It reminds me of the Peter Falk, Natasia Kinski movie set in Berlin, where the real angels hang out with the statue angels at the tops of buildings! We are off to Poland tomorrow, the pottery making area in the town of Boleslawicz (or something like that). Looking forward to a more rural experience.The best part of today was walking everywhere, shooting hundreds of photos and knowing that we hiked all the way to the top of the hill where the castle/palace is.The Charles Bridge is pedestrian only, and many artists/artisans are set up selling their photos, enameled jewelry, wood hair clips, and watercolors.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Interesting people............ lovely window......

Saturday, July 25, 2008
Rothenburg ob der Tauber: in a word: charming. Flower boxes everywhere, painted buildings detailed to the max, tourists in abundance, Schneeballen to munch on, there are 40 fountains throughout the town (the normal kind that people use to draw water from ....some still have the wooden protective lids firmly in place to keep out bugs and leaves)

This is the famous view of Rothenburg....the 'crooked house'.

We were standing along the city wall in the evening when the Nightwatchman walking tour passed by us. The watchman was dressed in a medieval cloak and cap, and carried a lit lantern. He did not speak a word, we only heard the swish of the fabric as he walked by...the crowd of tourists following were quiet...until the stragglers at the end who were having good conversations!

from Dave's perspective

Sacre Coeur Basilica, Montmartre, Paris

from Dave....
Hi everyone! We got in to Germany about 9:35 last night. Took the train from Paris; average speed: 191 miles per hour! That means we were well over 200mph quite often. Didn't feel like it; pretty smooth. Amazingly beautiful countryside; almost all farmland interspersed wih woodlands and forests. Sublime villages, each with its own church with steeple. Charrnimg and beautiful! I tried to take pictures from the train to get an idea of the countryside. Tough at that speed. We'll take it easy here today at my daugher's house and then hit the road again tomorrow for eight days; Head east and then north through Prague, the tip of Poland, Berlin and back here (Schneckenhausen). 7 nights; four hotels. Our stay in Paris was 7days, 6 nights; all in the same hotel. Took the Metro (undrground)all over the city as well as a couple days on a bus. As our tour guide in Paris said "When you are asked where you went in Pars, answer, 'Everywhere'!" It is quite a city. Kinda crazy; 7 million people. It was good to get out of town one day and up into the countryside to Monet's house and gardens. Very peaceful and beautiful. We were often run ragged with all the Metro stops and incessant walking. Good thing it wasn't hot. The weather has been fantastic. They had had a heat wave a week earlier. I hit the streets with camera in hand ready to document all the wonderful things we were seeing. With three camers I was sure we would came back with about 1000 pictures. That may have been close. One woman in our group had taken over 400 in the first 24 hours! I'll never know as I left the camera in the bathroom of one of the main departents stores in Paris and it was gone after about three minutes when I remembered and returned. The store clerks and security were very friendly and helped me out but there was nothing anyone could do. It was a bummer. We were very disapponted. But a couple good things may have come from it: 1. It broke my "slavery" to the camera. I was looking at everything as a potential subject for a photograph. Once the camera was one I was more relaxed and able to enjoy things on different level without always thinking about the next 'shot". I was able to take it in and not be concerend with documenting the moment. I found that I wa taking most of the pictures "for others" (like you guys) and only about 5% or 10% for myslef, even though I tried to compose all the shots. So... I lost some great shots but enjoyed the rest of the time not being a slave. I realize most people don't want to see that many pictures anyway! A couple days later I took the other camera out and took "snapshots". So you'll still get to see some pics of Paris though maybe not as good of pictures as I had hoped. Everything starts to look the same after awhile :). If you want to see some of the places we visited Google: Sacre Couer, Montmarte, The Louvre, Musee D'Orsay, Notre Dame, Grand Arche (La Defense), Eiffel Tower, River Siene (Bateau Mouche), Giverny, Ache de Triomphe, Champs Elysees, Opera and all the streets and roas in beween. Typical tourist destinations all, but also the main anchor points of the city. Plus a differnt restaurant every night. Nothing fancy or expensive. We were on a restricted budget for food. No one starved, though. We had breakfast a our hotel, on our own for lunch and then dinner together. So one could splurge if they wanted to for lunch. We usuallu got a sandwish or crepes or even one day - yes, a hamburger (about 7-8 inches across!) from a carnivale food tent. I came down with a nasty cold two nights ago. I'm taking some French/Euro drugs faithfully. I hope they work. It's no wonder; there are so many people crowded into small places; endless handrails, stairs, elevators, escalators, drinking fountains, public bathrooms, etc. I think I'm the only one who got sick. That's good. So, we're off tomorrow on the next leg of this trip. Don't know when I'll be able to get online again. Certainly by the 2nd or 3rd of August. Hope you're all doing well.

Paris to Schneckenhausen

Dave on the ICE train...going 200mph!

Friday July 25, 2008, Schneckenhausen, Germany
Hi everyone, Yesterday afternoon we left our hotel in Paris (out in the new business district called La Defense), traveled by line 1 to Palais Musee Louvre, changed to Line 7 to Gare de L'Est (East Train Station) for our train to Kaiserslautern. We had a 7pm (so i thought) departure. Hmm....I saw a 19:05 departure to Frankfurt....but the train was number 9559, not 9551....so I FINALLY found an Accueil (my new favorite word to say) to show our ticket....oh, look....your train left at 7AM today!!! You'd think I'd have remembered military time after all these years...Since I'd purchased a 'special price' ticket over the internet (87 euros for all three of us) it was not refundable or exchangeable (I stood nervously in a new line to get fresh tickets...while the minutes slipped away for our departure, the LAST train out of Paris for our direction). I feel a bit idiotic. We COULD have caught the early morning train, and, as many times as I looked at the ticket, the time-thang just didn't click. (We need to switch 100% to military time, that's all there is to it!) Ok, so the new tickets cost 75 euros each (225 total). Bit spendy, but we are safely arrived in Schneckenhausen and loving the hugs from Wesley and Tommy (Anna is warming up to the new invaders). I think we triggered a passport search, the train stopped just prior to Saarbrucken, two passport control officers boarded our car and asked everyone to show their passport, then got off a few minutes later. (they only seemed to check us and the people seated nearby)Our trip/tour with 38 students and parents from West Linn High School was amazing, wonderful, exhausting. I will try to write a more detailed account of the tour in another email. Let's just say my legs have never been so trashed. Seriously, there were times when I think the muscle fibers went on strike and I was waddling on wooden legs up the Champs D'Elysees. No one got lost (for very long) and no one got sick. We had such a good time, and bonded together, I hope we have a meal together back home soon.We leave tomorrow for Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a walled, well preserved village that I last visited in October 1967, then to Prague for two nights, a country-ish town in Poland for two nights, and Berlin for two nights.Weather in Paris was mild, sunny, breezy. Resting under the Eiffel Tower and looking up at it was one of my favorite moments, as well as haning out at the top of Montmartre, looking at the Sacre Couer, and people watching everywhere!Parisian fashion has historically been a hot topic, and still is...I noticed many 'gamine' looks of layered clothing, belts and scarves. The 'hot' colors are muted lavendar, cocoa, slate, black, white. Pretty much any style you can invent 'goes' as long as it is the right look for you and not someone else.I LOVED practiced pronouncing the names of the metro stops, some favorites are Pont de Neuilly, Concorde, Charles De Gaulle Etoile, Champs D'Elysees Clemenceau, Porte Maillot, Franklin Roosevelt (oh yes, must say it softly like the metro voice lady says it) I felt very comfortable asking for things in French...such as "do you have the leggings in the window?" and "Please I would like to buy two carnet of metro tickets" and "I would like to buy a crepe with jambon, oeuf and fromage, s'il vous plait".

La Grande Arche

David and Diane at the top of the Grande Arche, July 24, 2008, Paris.




Thursday July 24, 2008, Top of the Grande Arche, Paris
ok everyone:::i hqve been zithout the co,puter for q zeek qnd the letters on this keyboqrd qre in different plqces, we qre on the top of the grqnde arche!

How I spent my summer vacation

DAY ONE/Two, July 17-18:We left Pdx on July 17, 1:05pm, a group of 38 students and parents from West Linn High School and boarded a Lufthansa flight LH 469 to Frankfurt. Arrived FRA 10 hours later, transferred to a one hour flight to Paris, arrived 10:30am July 18th,met at airport by Monia, our tour guide for the week, very experienced and classy lady! We were taken by bus to Adagio Parc La Defense hotel, given an hour to settle into rooms, met up in lobby (bare bones lobby, but it works) to learn how to use the metro system. Went by metro to Notre Dame. Had 2 hours to wander around the church, the Seine. Met up at a statue take the metro to the L'Opera metro stop, walked to dinner at a cafe that caters to tour groups on the Left Bank. (When dinner was done we took a CLOSE BY metro stop home....the walking was too much for Dave P and MJ S....and me, at times!) AT the restaurant our places were set already, with a simple lettuce salad already at the place setting. A dinner plate of rice and chicken breast topped with a mushroom sauce (students called it cream of mushroom soup). Not a great dinner, too much starch, we wanted more vegetables... And we were asked to leave because another group showed up early! What the heck?

DAY TWO, TRASH YOUR LEGS DAY!!! Saturday July 19: Great breakfast at the hotel: boiled brown eggs, ham slices, cheese slices as well as a spreadable feta-like cheese, pastries, croissants, yogurt, applesause, coffee, juice. Lunch was a camember sandwich at the bottom of Versailles Garden with a peach ice tea (we all shared the meal, approx 10 euros) Dinner was at ZAK, a couscous place. We had a bus tour with Thierry, a dapper and funny tour guide, around the main sites of Paris, then on to Versaille. He gave us a 'whisper set' tour through Versaille, often cautioning us for pickpockets. The bus dropped us off in Paris, near L'Opera, and we had a tour of Fragonard, a perfume house that is one of the EF Sponsors...definitely a 'sell' type place. I didn't buy any of the perfumes...way too overly scented!! We shopped at LaFayette department store, and D accidently left the digital camera behind in the restroom...it was GONE 5 min later when he remembered and returned for it. We met up at L'Opera steps at 7pm for dinner. We took the metro line 3 to Place de la Republic and had dinner in the 11th arrondisement, at Zak, a couscous restaurant, on the Rue de la Fontaine Au Roi! The plain couscous was served with a vegetable sauce, with garbanzos and gooseberries as condiments.

Day Three: Sunday July 29th: I AM BEAT! WE took the Metro to the Louvre, spent 3 3/4 hours there, from 11:15-3pm. Then we walked ALL THE WAY to the Champs D'Elsysses, probably 2 miles .....From 4pm to 5:20 we had free time. Try to find a cold drink and potty...? Good luck. My legs were like wood by this point. I could not have walked up to the Arc De Triomphe to save my life. We did find a toilet inside the very cool hip Toyota showroom. We sat down on some benches and pretended we were very interested in the display upstairs while we cooled off, used the WC, drank water and splashed our faces in the shallow rectangular sinks. The Citroen store had a very cool spiral display of cars. We met up outside the McDonald's and took the metro to FLAM, in Montparnasse. There we had our tarte flambe 'learning experience' (one student asked me on the last day when we were going to learn how to make tarte flambe....sigh) and then took the elevator (after a ridiculous amount of waiting time collecting money, buying tickets, the computer was crashed) to the top of the 59 storey building. I'm learning that bringing a large group to any place creates havoc with a system not prepared to handle it. That's whay having a tour guide blazing the trail is so essential to cut through the wait time.

I repeat myself below....so bear with my haphazard recollections...

Montparnasse for dinner at FLAM, where we learned what Tarte Flambe was: the test baking to see if the oven was hot). The view at the top of Montparnasse was great, because we could see all the historic landmarks (rather than being on top of one of the landmarks)

DAY FOUR, "FREE DAY" Monday, July 21, 2008: This was a much more 'gentle' day. We shopped at the nearby Monoprix store for our lunch, gathered at 11:30 for the Metro to the Eiffel Tower, our 'timed' entry for the elevator to the third floor was at 1:30pm. David and I walked from the second floor all the way to the ground! Whew! That was thrilling! I don't like the sense of being suspended over nothing! I held onto the railing, even though we were essentially caged in on all sides! Buying tickets for the Eiffel Tower had to be done online, and our guide wanted to wait until we were arrived and settled to confirm this event, based on the other points of interest in our tour schedule. She also suggested we take a boat ride on the Seine (at additional cost, but not too expensive: 11 euros) using the Bateau Mouches, after the Eiffel Tower experience. Some students had hoped to visit Disney Paris (or Eurodisney) but no adult wanted to go with them (which was required by EF Tours) and the students themselves didn't want to miss the Eiffel Tower. We were told to bring our own picnic lunch to the Eiffel Tower, that it is traditional to eat your lunch on the grass there. It was one of my memorable times, for sure, resting in the sun, looking up at the Eiffel Tower. After the Bateau ride we walked all together through/up the Trocodero (again, another Butan death march) for some great views of Paris. In the evening we ate dinner at ???? in the Montmartre area???? It was at Les Balcons, a restaurant with several indoor balconey levels. Our dinner was a delicious roasted chicken with scalloped potatoes. Then went up to Sacre Coeur and hung out till 10pm to see the Eiffel Tower light up.

DAY FIVE: Tuesday July 22nd: Musee D'Orsay, the former train station, near the Louvre. Rode the metro, put in the French SYM card in my cell phone with Monia's help, lost contact with David immediately before acutally entering the museum, spent much of my time worrying about this, and asking others (when we stumbled upon them) to let him know we were on the third floor, working our way down. It is amazing how much time/energy it takes to reconnect with someone. I didn't enjoy looking at the art as much, because I was anxious to reconnect with David. He finally found US, bless his heart, on the third floor. He'd been on his own, not particularly worried "we are all in the same building" he said (yes, and with a few thousand people to boot!) Once all together we looked at art, and liked it, especially the scale model of the Opera House (how little of it is acutally the stage/audience area is surprising). We walked through the Tuileries Gardens and ate lunch at a tented hamburger place. The owner was very solicitious, though I had to watch the bill carefully...he blithely overcharged for the sprite drinks! This was not the first time someone 'overcharged' and then smilingly corrected it when I pointed it out! (the other time was for a sandwich and drink near Notre Dame...my first experience in speaking French and ordering for us) Ah, tourists, what do the locals take us for? Fools? Yup.

I really wanted to find a small garden on the tip of the Ile St Louis, which we did (not impressed) and we walked down along the Quai of that island, then over to Ile de la Cite, crossing the pedestrian bridge to take photos of Notre Dame (the more famous views of it, with the flying buttresses in full glory). We walked through a convent area, that had lovely paper shops...oh, such creamy papers and inks displayed tastefully in the windows...I'm seduced by these tactile objects....

Our meeting time/place was McDonalds on the Champs Elysses (ok, I can't spell)...I got us off the Metro two stops too soon...we walked like crazy the last mile...I was fuming, I was so frustrated that I mixed up Charles DeGaulle Etoile stop (where we SHOULD have disembarked) with Champs Elysses Clemenceau. At least I had the cell phone working, and left a v/m for Monia that we were COMING! Our dinner was at a buffet on the Avenue de Wagpam, Rue Beaujon. The food was good, the variety excellent. I was craving vegetables and wasn't disappointed.

DAY SIX: July 23, 2008: Trip to Giverny!

Ah, we needed this pastoral break badly! A bus took us to the countryside, to Monet's home in Giverny, still a quiet, small village, unspoiled except for the big carpark for tour busses! We toured his home and the gardens, then walked down the main road to visit his grave at the churchyard. The bus dropped us off at L'Opera, and we had free time until meeting at L'Opera at 6pm for dinner. Dave and I took whoever wanted to join us back to Montmartre. Walked all over the Sacre Couer area, order crepes with egg, cheese and ham for lunch, bought some scarves, listened to street musicians, sat at an outdoor cafe and ordered ice cream and water. The water cost more than the ice cream. Met back at L'Opera for a metro ride/walk to L'Auberge restaurant (near the Folies Bergere) for our farewell dinner. This little restaurant is where Lynn's dad ate when he was in Paris after WWII. It was a poignant moment for Lynn!

Day Seven: July 24, 2008. We SHOULD have taken a 7am train this day, but because of my forgetting 'military time' we showed up at the Gare De L'Est in time for a 7pm train (good thing there actually WAS a departing train at this time! the last ICE train to Kaiserslautern). As it was, we took it easy this day, shopping at La Defense, and going up the elevator to the top of the Grande Arche. WOW! Pretty freaky heights! Dave was coming down with a cold, so we went to the corner Apoteke, where we consulted with the pharmacist. Pharmacists are allowed to diagnos and 'prescribe' medications in France, as a result doctor visits are way down in France. Two medications were suggested, and we bought both. He faithfully took the meds, and was much better each day! He was able to really sleep at night too, though had some med-hangover the next mornings. We caught the train to K Town (after buying new full priced tickets...no credit for the tickets already purchased at a 'deal' online at home) and arrived at 9:30. We travelled at speeds up to 200mph on the ICE train. It didn't feel that fast, but the train really swayed and rocked at times! It was wonderful to greet Tommy and Wesley in Germany (Anna wasn't sure about the new invaders).

I will save the Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Berlin 8 day trip for a new blog.

Favorite French words: Accueill (a-coy) Pont de Neuilly (bon de nu-yee) Concorde (con-CORD!)

Porte Maillot (porta MY oh!)

I recommend EFTours to use for group travel. They made everything possible with the least amount of headache for me. I would journal my day faithfully, however cryptically, however exhausted I was, because I failed to do this on this trip! I would also document each event with at least ONE snapshot, as an additional memory aid!