ROTTENDORF to HEIDELBURG to ROTTENDORF

Today, we left the house around 9 and drove with Mike to Heidelberg, which is a couple hours away. He had a meeting there so we went to spend the day there and do the tourist stuff. It is on the Neckar River which is joined with the Rhine. It was an awesome little city. We parked in a parking garage and then walked down the river to the Alte Brucke, which is the "old bridge." It was raining lightly and started coming down pretty steadily. We decided to do lunch first and then walk up to the castle. Mike told us to eat at the Red Bull, because Mark Twain had frequented that restaurant when he was in the city for a while. It was only open for dinner so we went to a pub next door for lunch instead. The only other customers in the place when we walked in was a big lazy dog staring at us when we walked to our table. The waiter was pleasant and the food was excellent. The rain had pretty much stopped by the time we left, so we started the trek up the mountain to the castle (the train up it was 8 euros for a round trip, but the walk was only 15 minutes, plus the exercise was good for us). The view of the city was amazing from in front of the castle. We walked around the castle grounds a little bit and then took the English tour at 2 15. It lasted about an hour and we were able to walk through a lot of the rooms and hallways of the castle. It was great to hear so much information about what we were looking at. After the tour we walked back down the mountain and into the city. We walked along the main street for a while and stopped at a couple shops. I meant to buy some post cards but couldn't find any that I liked. I figure I can wait for Munich for some good ones. We met Mike at the parking garage and then drove back to Rottendorf.

We stopped at Mike's office for a few minutes so he could just finish some stuff up and then came back to the house to check on Andrew, his youngest son who was home sick today (his older brother left for a ski trip this morning). Mike then took us to a Greek restaurant that he apparently frequents because everyone there knew him pretty well. He even has a special dish they make for him that isn't on the menu. They make it the way his mother used to make it (his family is Greek). It was really good food. Also, in the restaurant was a huge fish tank and a small pond. There were several turtles of all different sizes in the pond and some good size fish. It was very cool. Mike taught us a couple of Greek traditions (he read Meg's future with his coffee cup after he drank the coffee). We then came back to the house and figured out a rough plan for tomorrow. Tomorrow night we will be in Munich (hopefully).

ROTTENDORF to WARZBURG to ROTTENDORF to USA to ROTTENDORF

Today, I was woken up by Mike's dog licking my face. He is an old dog who was an award-winning hunting dog. Now is partially deaf and just hobbles around on his old legs. He is a very friendly dog and Meg's new friend.

We had a pretty slow morning, but it felt good. It is spring break and we are supposed to be relaxing, right? Well, we made it out of the house by noon (I think). We met Mike and his friend Rudy for lunch in downtown Warzburg near the cathedral. We ate at an old mill on the Rhine that looks out across the river onto the dominating castle. The restaurant is known for the ambiance and typical German foods. I ordered the Blau Zipfel, I think. Mike recommended it as a good German meal. It was very tasty sausage. I enjoyed it. We then walked around and Mike took us into the City Council building and took us to a couple behind the scenes rooms (Having been in the military for so long he has a lot of connections and influence when he talks to some people). Mike and his friend then had to get back to work so they left.

Tom, Meg, and I then headed up to the castle. It was a pretty good walk up the side of the mountain to the castle. We weren't exactly sure if we were going the right way or not so we just kept going up towards the castle. It started raining a little and lasted the rest of the afternoon. It put a bit of a damper on everything but we managed. We walked through the parts of the castle that we could. The ticket office was closed so we don't know what the deal was there. There were tour groups walking around but we had no idea where to pay so we just walked through the castle. We didn't go into the museum part of the castle because it cost a little bit and it closed soon, so we walked through the gardens instead. We took a different direction down the mountain and had a bit of an adventure. We saw these random little cottages in a cluster on the side of the mountain that must have been asscoiated with the castle somehow. We saw some very beatuiful landscape, such as rock gardens and a Japanese garden. The cottage neighborhood was a lot of fun to walk through and provided many nice pictures. We made it back to the Rhine River eventually and crossed the bridge back to our side of the river. We stopped at a cafe and had a little something to tide us over until dinner. On the way home we stopped at the grocery store and picked up some food to make dinner.

I worked on uploading my pictures onto Tom's computer. I used Mike's computer in his basement to check my email and what not.

Meg made a very good dinner tonight. I don't remember the name of it but it was delicious. She said she can't explain what it was but it involved potatoes, beef, lettuce, onions, eggs, and flour. She told us that she will make it for Aldana some night. I hope she does.

After dinner, Mike drove us to the military base where he works. We had to take our passports because we technically left Germany and were walking around on American soil. It was pretty strange. It seemed like a little America. There was a KFC, a Burger King, a Wal-Mart type place, and a basbeall diamond. It wasn't too busy though because the troops are all over in Iraq so it was a quiet night on base. He showed us where his two sons Matthew and Andrew go to school on the base and where the officers all live on the base. It was exciting driving around the area, especially when we stopped in the supermarket. It was all American goods and they used US dollars instead of euros (I bought a Butterfinger because I just couldn't resist).

COLOGNE to RHINE RIVER to FRANKFURT to WARZBURG to ROTTENDORF

So this morning we had planned to wake up before sunrise, walk across the bridge to the other side of the Rhine River and watch the sunrise against the Dom (Cathedral). Instead we woke up at about 9 30 and had some PB & J waffles before our 10 30 tour of the Dom. Our tour was very interesting. It was less than an hour but was very informative. Our tour guide (who was wearing all black and had purple hair) was a very smart lady. She told us stories, legends, and the symbolism of the Dom and the city rather than just babble about the architecture of the building (although she did tell us about its significant architecture). There was a twenty minute video after the tour that talked about the cathedral more. I videotaped it on my camera so hopefully the sound comes out alright (and hopefully the film was not copyrighted). After the tour we hit the road in the direction of our next stop: Warzburg. We drove along the Rhine River on a road known as the Romantic Road. Between the cities of Kolbenz and Mainz (I believe they are called) are several castles. It was a beautiful (but drizzly) drive.

We made several stops along the way. We stopped on the side of the road a few times to get some good pictures of the castles in the mountains and on the edges of the cliffs. We drove through several small towns along the river and decided that we want to live in one of those towns. One of the major stops was at a place called Loreley. It is a rock that is in the middle of the Rhine River that sparked a legend: A ship was sailing down the river and the sailors heard this captivating voice singing in front of them. When they looked to see who was singing, they saw a beautiful lady standing on a rock in the river. They were in such awe of the siren that they did not pay attention to where they were going and crashed the boat into the rock. Now, there is a statue on this rock of a beautiful woman distracting all the boats on the river. We drove up the cliff overlooking this spot. We then, hiked the rest of the way up, following the path to the top of the cliff that looks out onto Loreley rock and the Rhine River. The view was spectacular. We unfortunately were not able to go to any castles because since it is the off-season, none of the castles that we found were open for tours or anything. We have a lot of pictures of castles, however. We saw several, many of which were within a mile of the other. It is a very popular road to drive down in the summer, and now I know why.

We next stopped at Frankfurt early in the evening for a quick bite to eat. We walked around for a little bit and then visited their Dom. It was rather small but I still liked it. It was painted orange and white on the inside, which made it brighter than just the plain grey stone. We stopped at a store on the walk back to the parking garage so Meg could buy a sweatshirt because she was getting chilled from being wet so much (I think the rain is following us). She couldn't find one that she liked, but I found socks that I liked. They were 5 euros for 4 pairs. I have now bought a pair of paints, 4 pairs of socks, and 2 Tshirts since I got to Europe. The only thing left that I would like to buy would be a nice pair of shoes. They are very cheap in Barcelona but I haven't found that right pair yet. All in due time I suppose.

We left downtown Frankfurt at 8 and then made it back to the center of Frankfurt by 8 30. We left downtown a second time at 8 30 and headed south. Part of the joys of a road trip in a foreign place I suppose.

We were meeting Mike (Mrs. McGuire's friend from high school) in Warzburg. He lives in Rottendorf so when we got close we called him and he drove and met us. We then followed him to his house and we met his oldest son who is 15. Mike then drove Meg, Tom, and me into Warzburg to give us an overview of the city. He showed us where the city castle was, the Dom, the Royal Residence, and the Rhine. We stopped at a cafe and then came back to his house. We sat around for a little bit and talked some more about Germany. We slept in the basement in sleeping bags on air mattresses. It felt like a sleepover. I miss those sleepovers when we used to sleep in sleeping bags in the basement (or in tents that were pitched on the sides of hills).

OSNABRUK to COLOGNE

We woke up around 7 30 today, and then again at 7 45, and then finally got out of bed around 8ish. The free breakfast only went from 7 30 to 8 30 so we couldn't sleep in. We went downstairs, grabbed some food, and then packed up our things. Checkout was at 9 am so we all said goodbye to the hostel and drove into Osnabruk to go to church. There was a small little church, pushed back from the main road with vines covering the cobblestone walls, that I wanted to go. The mass there wasn't until 11 15 and we didnt want to wait 2 hours for the mass. We went across the street to a Lutheran church which had a mass starting at 10. We could have gone to the cathedral further down the street, but it was raining and we didn't feel much like going all the way down the street to it. Plus, I had never been to a Lutheran mass and I was interested to see what it was like. We had a half hour to spare before mass so Meg and Tom sat in the church and waited. I decided to go for a little walk through the rain behind the small cobblestone church.

I walked along a path which separated a cemetery from a residential neighborhood. At the end of the path was a neighborhood playground that had a merry-go-round contraption, zip-line, rock climbing wall, sand area, and soccer/basketball court. I walked down the bike path through the park and then headed back. I walked through the cemetery, where it was very peaceful with all the trees and and falling rain.

The mass was similar to the Catholic mass, except for no kneelers and no Eucharist. The organzization of the mass, however, runs much like a Catholic mass. I had no idea what the minister was saying or what the readings were about, but the organ was very pleasant to listen to.

After mass we got in the car and began the next chapter of our trip: Cologne. Along the way, we ran into a little problem, which had grown a little bit by the time we got to Cologne. There was a little crack in the windshield which had grown to about 9 inches across the middle of the window. Meg called up Mike (our main contact in Germany who we are going to meet tomorrow). He called up the car rental agency and explained to them what had happened. He then told us to go to the agency's office in Cologne. It was the first thing we did when we got to the city and we turned in our Clio for a Fiesta... a Ford Fiesta. We said goodbye to our French vehicle and went looking for a hostel with our new American companion. We went to the hostel that was the same company as the one we stayed at in Osnabruk. It was a very nice place and had free parking and free breakfast. It was dorm style living, which meant that we would be in a large room with a lot of other people. We had no problem doing this but I was hoping to find someplace a little cheaper. We drove across the bridge so we were on the same side as the mighty Cathedral of Cologne. We stopped at the Tourist Information center and picked up a few pamphlets about hostels. We found one that looked alright so we went to check it out. It was cheaper than the other hostel but didnt have free parking. We ended up leaving the car in a parking garage and getting this hostel. Since we have to pay for parking, it is roughly the same price as the other one, just with a closer location to the cathedral (which has a tour at 10 30 tomorrow morning we will be taking) and the three of us got our own room. We went to the train station to get some groceries since all the supermarkets are closed here on Sundays. We picked up some pasta and hot dogs for dinner and cooked it in the kitchen in the hostel. We then roughly planned our day tomorrow. We are going to wake up early and watch the sunrise. It should be amazing to watch the colors changing on the facade of the cathedral as the sun rises. We are hoping for some beautiful pcitures.

The hostel here has free wireless internet and Tom brough his computer so that we could upload all of our pictures on it. So for tonight, we have free internet. But I am going to take a shower and go to bed now. Goodnight.

OSNABRUK to LINGEN and back again

The hostel had a free breakfast so we were able to get some bread, ham, cereal, milk, and coffee. After breakfast we did Germany's favorite pasttime called "wandern" which means going hiking. Behind our hostel was acres of woods that had some dirt paths. There were a few runners and a couple of dog walkers. We walked through the woods and saw a soccer field hidden behind the trees, a playground in a little clearing, and then we got mooned by 3 deer. Actually we walked passed the zoo which had an entrance from the woods. I think that it was a very clever entrance. When we looked through the fence we could see the animals and it felt like we were out in the wild with these animals. There was a small monument in the woods that was in remembrance of a school teacher who was killed in a bombing at the site in 1944. We went back to the hostel then and took showers while we waited for Malte and his friend to come and pick us up (Malte is a friend of Phil, who went to my high school for a year as an exchange student. Meg has kept in touch with him).


Malte and his friend Daniel came to the hostel and then we drove to their apartment in Osnabruk. We stayed there for a little bit and then we walked through town for a couple of hours. It was a little drizzly but we didn't melt. They gave us a walking tour of the city and then took us to the university section of the city. They both go to school there and were able to tell us some pretty interesting things about the city. We stopped at a cafe and had some good old schnitzel. It was tasty. We then walked back to their apartment and drove to Lingen (the town where Malte and Daniel are both from). Malte and Daniel drove in their car and we followed behind.

We got to Lingen in the early afternoon. It is a town of a whopping 25,000 people so it didn't take too long to get that walking tour. It was a great place to spend some time though, especially with Malte and Daniel who are hilarious. They told us some of the history of the town and showed us all the interesting buildings and places. (Malte at one time wanted to study architecture so he was able to tell us a lot of interesting things in both Osnabruk and Lingen). We then went to Daniel's house in the late afternoon. We sat in his kitchen talking for a little bit and just relaxed (we were glad that we started this trip in such a small city because we were able to relax and not be overwhelmed by a large foreign city). Daniel's parents didn't speak English but they still brought a few pieces of cake out for us. We then left his house and went to Malte's house (Daniel said he had to do some things...we later found out he took a nap...oh siestas). It was raining pretty steadily so walking through the streets by all the shops wasn't really an option. Malte's dad is an architect and designed their house. It was a very cool house. It was very crisp and clean on the inside. The backyard was relatively small but there was a man made pond (about 20 feet in diameter) just a few feet from the back door. We used his computer to start looking into some hostels in Cologne that we could stay at. We left his house around 6 and drove to Daniel's house to pick him up for dinner.

We went to a restaurant called the Gruner Jager where we could get some typical German food. Tom and I both ordered the schnitzel with mushrooms and sauce. I think it was the best meal I have had in Europe so far. It tasted delicious. The bathroom at the restaurant was pretty cool as well. The wall above the sinks was a fish tank that was about 6 feet long and 3 feet high. There was a great variety of fish in it and, it was amazing to watch them swimming around while you washed your hands. We stayed at the restaurant a little while and then went to a pub that Malte and Daniel usually go to. It was a cool place and the owner was a nice lady. The guys have known her for a while and this was the third bar that she has owned in Lingen. We left the town around midnight and made it back to Osnabruk by 1 30.

BARCELONA to WEEZE to OSNABRUK

We are in Germany now. (We cannot believe that we made it). We got off to a rough start though (when I say we, I mean me). First off, we had to get up early this morning and Tom had a very difficult time waking me up. He had to shove a pillow in my face in order to wake me up. I packed up my bookbag real quick, brushed my teeth and then we were out the door. As we were leaving, Meg asked if I had my passport, and I reached my hand in my bookbag and felt it (foreshadowing).

We made it to the bus station near the Arc de Triumph by 7 am. We bought tickets for the bus to the Girona airport and got on the 7 30 bus. By 7 35, I was asleep. Apparently I was snoring and the lady next to me kept on staring at me. Meg said she thinks that the lady was looking at me because she thought her stare would make me stop snoring. I don't think it worked (Sorry woman who I will never see again...at least I wasn't talking loud like those people that kept Meg up on the bus ride.) We got to the Girona airport and stood in line to check in. When I reached for my passport, I pulled out my address book instead. I could not believe it. I told the lady at the check in that I forgot my passport and she told me there was no way I could fly. Tom and Meg checked in and then distracted the security guards. I snuck behind the security checkpoint and made it to our gate. Wait, what? Who said that? Tom and Meg checked in and then we went to the information desk to see if I could get a flight to Germany some time that weekend and they could pick me up at the airport or something. While we were waiting in line, I checked my bag again and found my passport. I accidentally put it in a different pocket than I usually do. It was in the change pocket instead of in the electronics pocket. Silly passport. So Meg told me to look her in the eyes and tell her that I would never do that again. I felt very stupid. I thanked St. Anthony and then went and checked in. I went to the same lady that told me I needed a passport and she looked very surpirsed to see me again. I told her that I found a passport and she smiled. She said "very good" and then checked me in.

We went to our gate and sat down for a few minutes. Tom and I talked about growing up in the US and I said I am glad I grew up in the US but could see myself living in other places. We then boarded the plane and I fell asleep for the first hour of the flight. The second hour I read the travel guide book about Germany and got very excited. When we got off the plane we walked into the quietest airport we had ever been in. It was like a ghost town in the Weeze Airport. We got the keys for our car and bought a road map. We went to the parking lot and found OUR car. We piled into that beautiful vehicle and hit the road at around 1 30 pm. Meg drove and we got onto the Autobahn and drove really really fast. Actually not. It was just like a regular highway and most people were going about 60-70 mph. We stopped for lunch at a very nice diner where everyone was blonde and had blue eyes...(welcome to Germany).

We drove into Osnabruk and parked the car in a lot that was near where the hostel was. We got out of the car and walked to the hostel which is just inside the city. We checked into the hostel and then headed out to explore the city. We stopped in an internet cafe because we wanted to send some emails to people and let them know we somehow made it to Germany and drove to Osnabruck by ourselves.

Meg, Tom and I walked thorugh Osnabruk after it got dark. We walked from one end of the city to the other and then back again. It wasn't a very big city but it was amazing to walk through. We walked down the main street but all the shops were closing up as we were walking by so there wasn't a lot of people. We got to see most of the city, except for the university section. We stopped at a pizzeria and got a pizza to go and ate in our room at the hostel. After dinner, we got EIGHT hours of sleep which felt amazing.

La Fira

Font Montjuic

SEVILLA to BARCELONA

SEVILLA for another day

Fabrica Real de Tabacos/ La Universidad de Sevilla
Real Alcazar
Alameda de Hercules
old city walls
Parlamento de Andalucia
Alamillo Puente

SEVILLA

Plaza Espana
Parque de Maria Luisa
Glorieta de Luca de Tena
Glorieta Juanita Reina
Isleta de los pajaros
Jardin de los leones
Monte Gurugu
Pabellon Real

Glorieta de Cervantes
Museo Arqueologico
Pabellon Mudejar
Simon Bolivar
Glorieta de Buenos
Puente de Los Remedios
Glorieta de los Marineros
Palacio de San Telmo
Torre de Oro
Glorieta Curro Romero
Plaza de Toros
Catedral de Sevilla
La Giralda
Museo de la Plaza de Toros
Casa Carmen- Arte Flamenco

GRANADA to SEVILLA