***Prague, Czech. Republic... ***

Prague earned its stars because it is just that great!..

Tuesday, July 28, 2009..

First full day in this city, and it's won mega brownie points! (It's definitely up there with Zermatt, Switzerland and parts of Germany)

We began with a light breakfast of bread, cheese and o.j. (yeah ok.. that one wasnt a point winner), then headed off to see the town!

First stop was the Narodni Museum (take pictures and move on!), then a couple churches, buildings, town square, theVltava river and a few miles and photos later, we were at stop two: the Prague castle.

View of castle from the bridge..

Korunni Building..

So due to lines and crowds, we didn't go "in," (I know, shame on us) but we toured the grounds, and goodness were they gorgeous! And the view??? Pretty close to AMAZING, like that from the Heidelberg castle. It was overcast most of the day, but even with the dark clouds looming about it was breathtaking... I took at least 20 pictures of the view alone... here's a few..

Views from the grounds...

Beauty...

After that, we headed back down the hill to hit up a restaurant recommended to us by Jason's friends: "Restaurace Stoleti." (Here's their website!.. http://www.stoleti.cz/) Classy!.. I ordered a chicken steak with spinich filet, a glass of white wine, a glass of "still" water (no free water in Europe!) and then topped it off with a hazelnut icecream, with caramel lightly drizzled on top and nuts sprinkled all around.. Such a display! Fabulous!

Well, with a content tummy and still daylight left, we made our way over to a classical concert near town square. It was in an older building (an old church I believe) with mural-painted ceilings, pillars, detailed crown molding, tiles.. pretty much everything from text books that would set you back a few hundred years :) Because the room was small (and just under 50 people), the acoustics were phenominal! Every note and chord and sound reverberated as though it were not a string quartet we were listening to, but an octet.. or much more! There were so many pieces played by so many composers (Mozart, Bizet, Bach, Dvorak, Vivaldi..) It truly was amazing.. It's something else to hear such classical pieces live.. and in such a setting. Ahh..

Let's just say it was a perfect way to tie up the evening.

Day 2 in Prague..

Up and out by check-out time (9am), and off to the city again! we looked into Old Town of Prague, checked out more of the city, hiked up to Prague's "Eiffel Tower" (pictures to come...) ate a late lunch in an old, smokey pub full of a bunch of locals, and called it a very early day. Our feet have been begging for a little time off, and Jason had a bit of fun out and about with some of our hostel roomies (from Holland) last night, so he needed his nap :)

Within hours (come 12 midnight) it'll be time once again to catch our next train out, and head for Austria! (then Romania, Turkey, Greece, and home!)

A countdown is about to begin...

Budapest, Hungary vs. Prague, C. Repub.

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
We were in Budapest for.... maybe 4 hours? ha! yeah.. so here's our impression: YUCK. Never going back....
We stepped off the train at 9am this morning.. it was dirty, smelly. dirty, smokey, dirty, trashy, and dirty.. there were literally human feces on the wall outside the train station. (I know I can be a germaphobe, but come on... that's just wrong!) We were anxiously ready to get back on the train and head to our next destination (Prague, Czech. Repub) but the train didnt leave until 1:30pm.... BAH! so we stayed.. unwillingly. Luckily tho, because we were forced to give this country a chance, we decided to take the Metro out of there and see what we could see.
Budapest redeemed itself a little...
A huge cemetary, a beautiful view of the city past the Danube river, and a stunning Parlaiment building later, our short stay felt more worth it. By 1:30pm, we were on our way out.. away.. FAR AWAY (well, 6 hours anyway) and onward to Prague. Here's to hoping for a better experience!

Train Ride:
3 hours into the ride, we found out that there was a dining cart on the train.. woohoo! This is good news to someone who has eaten next to nothing come 3pm :) So in this "food journey," J and I met a couple of guys in the dining car (Adam and Paul- both from the US) and ate with them. Very cool guys.. very informative, and very friendly. *Yes, we Americans are just that!* :) Ha! Anyway, so they'll be heading to Prague in a few days, and since we are planning to stay a few days there ourselves (no strict agenda here) we might meet up with them again. Time will tell! Either way, it's always fun to meet new people, even if just briefly :)

Prague, Czech. Republic:
Winner!!!!
Night has come, a CHEAP hostel found (loving this place already) Chinese food in the park by lamp light (DELICIOUS and also cheap), and soon a good nights sleep... yay...
Prague put Budapest to shame.. the train station alone got a 5 star rating from me! :)
Anyway, it is getting late (and luckily, bc I have my laptop now, I can do all my journaling on the train and not in the computer lab where time is of the essence!) so it's publishing time and off to bed!

Guten nacht!!!
(they don't speak German here, but.. whatever)

Munich, Germany

Hello Munich, Germany!

THE TRAIN.... ggrrrr.....
In short, there were train issues which left us with this option.. only: ride for 2 hours (midnight to 2am), wait in Frankfurt for over 3 hours, then catch another train at 5:45 for Munich.. which would be another 3 hours of riding. --Our original plan was to get a sleeper train that went straight thru, but the only train that left that eve ended up being full.. We didnt even think about making a reservation. Double Doh!--
Anyway, we'll just say I got next to no sleep (Jason seems to manage tho, however he does it...) My sleeping bag was my only saving grace that night tho bc it kept me warm and provided a sense of shelter from who knows what!.. It allowed for me to get a little comfortable on that nice train station bench so I could at least pretend to get some sleep.. mm.... yeah..... Im over train stations and benches.

When we finally arrived at our (correct) train stop, this is how this way went:
So we're tired... I'm once again dead tired, and all I've got thats keeping me going (tho it really wasnt) was a weak cup of coffee I got at the last big train station (the place we were currently at.. equivelant to the size of Lemon Cove.. AND the station itself was boarded up, so no food or drink there... AND, becaue it was Sunday, everything else was closed) So bummer....
The day was hot, I was feeling ill, Jason was doing the best to keep me smiling and fiure out how we were suposed to get from point A (train station) to point B (a church in Eichstock that one of our Haury ancestors helped build back in the 1800's) without transportation other than our feet. *Note that this church is waaaaaaaaaaay out in the middle of fields and trees... approximitely 4-5 miles (at least) away.* No buses and no taxis... things were looking grim and very UNappealing to me.. UNTIL (one of God's nice little blessings!) a couple who we had asked directions from earlier, offered to take us there... just because. Woohoo! They ended up dropping us at the road that lead to the church (at least 1/2 mile walk.. I'd do that!) and took no offers of money in exchange. We couldn't thank them enough!
Once at the church (which luckily people were still lingering and fellowshiping) Jason and I met what felt like the entire congregation (some of whom Jason met a year ago when he went to the church while in Germany). It was fantastic! AND we got cookies and coffee too.. just what I "needed"... ha! (I woulda taken water, but all they had was mineral water.. the bubbly stuff... ick!)
Anyway, one of the older couples (Wolfgang and Gudren Schmutz) offered to take us back to the station (yay! blessing number 2!) BUT only if they could feed us lunch first (Sweet! blessing number 3!). We ate and talked and listened to all the stories Wolfgang had to share.. 2 hours flew by! They were some of the sweetest people yet! (Im determined to go back and visit them too! Once I learn me some German...) **This couple is very involved in church growth over there in Munich, and just listening to Wolfgang talk about his faith, church ideals, Christ, etc... it snapped me back into a reality I needed, and reminded me how important it is to be rooted in Christ.. gosh... I will never forget those 2 hours...**


Jason, Gudren, Wolfgang and I

After a ride to the station and big hugs, Jason and I left the Schmutz's, and headed for town..

While there: We ate some food and drank some heafty beers at the famous Hofbräuhaus (Pete, we thought of you!!!), napped at the park nearby, then made our way to the train station for yet another night-long ride to Budapest, Hungary... and this time we made reserations!


At the Hofbrauhaus... yup, I totally beat Jason at the beer drinking!!!
What now!?! :)

Sleeping train... Never done it before and dont care to do it again.. it was a horizontal surface tho without being a bench, so.....

Final 2 days in Cologne, Germany

Day 14....

After our successful Thursday night Mexican-American meal...

Friday:
The morning began with sleeping in.. for real this time! ...9 am baby!!! :) Viktor and Indira made a fantastic breakfast of scrambled eggs n' spinach, and cucumbers, tomatoes, mozarella cheese and bread/butter on the side.. And hot tea too of course! Mmm... These two know how to cook! (They spoiled us! I dont even eat that good -and healthy- at home!.. hmm, perhaps I should start re-thinking my grocery list...)

Anyway, after breakfast and a bit of sittin around and shootin the breeze about whatever (probably politics.. we did that quite a bit), we got ready and set off for an adventure in Düseldorf!
At this point, because Indira had to take responsibility and be the good student that she is (like Viktor did the day before) she prepared for class as Viktor, Jason and I headed out to meet up with their awesome friend Nina. **These 3 people by the way -Viktor, Indira and Nina- ALL such fun, witty, and amazing individuals! Fantastic new friends whom I already miss!**


SIDE STORY:
"The little old lady from... Duseldorf?..."
-- pre-train ride we met an older woman who I just know I would have had one of the best conversations with!... had I spoke German. She was 81 years old (but had the spirit of someone MUCH younger), married to a well-known artist in the area (??) and is from Duseldorf, Germany. She was smiley and spunky and had the firmest handshake ever! --I just had to comment on it (because I haaaaaate fishy/wimpy handshakes) so I had Jason translate.. She agreed and confrmed the same dislike. :) --Anyway, by the end of the train ride, I got a group picture with her, a big hug (something that Ive NOT been getting enough of) and huge smile! She said something to me in somewhat of a whisper.. of course I had no clue what she said, but her eyes spoke volumes!.. Precious lil' woman she was.... Anyway, so she was my inspiration for the day :)
Cont....
The four of us went to the top of the Rheinturm once in Duseldorf (a tall, circular and glass-framed building (at the top) that slowly spun at the top for a panoramic view of the whole city.. what a view!) and after goofing around a bit and working up our appetites, we treked on to find food! More meat is what we really found. :) Of course Jason is a HUGE fan of meat, even if it looks like a giant (raw) leg of a pig!.. Which to me it almost did... yeah, not my cup-o-tea. But we ate up whatever we ordered, and headed on back to Cologne to meet up with Indira.

Viktor, Nina, Jason and I in front of the Rheinturm


J and I hovering over one of the slanted windows...


"The meat"

It was here that we split off from Viktor for the evening (who had a prior engagment to attend) and so the 4 of us (Jason and the 3 of us ladies) went off to explore the Dom (Cologne cathedral). What an amazing structure! So much detail it drives me crazy! Its no wonder that it took over 500 years of construction. The "hot" fact about this dom (aside from its beautiful stained glass windows and attention to detail) that makes it so dang popular and the "must see" site in Cologne is the housing of the 3 wise men.. Yup, that's right! Inside 3 gold caskets lay the remains (or what was) of the 3 kings who presented Jesus with gifts after his birth. Pretty cool...

Post cathedral exploration, we toured through the crazy streets of the city (remember.. Friday night.. futbol.. beer... EVERYONE is out by this time!) and found a local pub where we got us some delicious cocktails and just chatted the night away. Some of the most simple times were the best!

Indira, me, Jason and Nina
... However, the simple time that evening turned a little sour.. here's why: When the 4 of us left the apt earlier that eve, I was the last one out.. Naturally if you're the last one out, you close the door behind you.. right? hmm... Well, the door automatically locks once closed, and Indira kinda left her keys inside.. Doh! soooo.... that night after the pub (and after Nina had headed home) Jason, Indira and I hung out all over the place, trying to dodge the cold and rain, until about 1am when Viktor got home. Our hero! :) A game of chess for the boys, conversation for the girls, a cup of hot tea and an hour later, 2am hit and we were all off to bed!

Saturday agenda:
*Began with another yummy breakfast, courtesy of Viktor and Indira :)
*By 11am, Jason and I were making our way up the spiral staircase in the dom leading up to the bell tower.. 509 stairs! Ridiculous.. but worth it!
*Just after noon time, the 4 of us met up with Nina, and we bused ourselves out to Seilbahn Berg to see *drum role please!* a castle! :) The trip in and of itself was incredibly fun (the people made it such), but the castle was pretty cool too. (only half of us toured the inside.. and I wasnt one of em.. boooo me, I know. I just have the Heidelberg castle stuck on the brain that it didnt appeal to me at the moment) Next time!

The whole gang!


View from the castle


Indira and I... :)


My night in shining armor..?

*Post castle we headed back to Cologne (saying our goodbyes to Nina halfway thru), arrived home around 7pm, made some yummy dinner (chicken, rice n salad), had some chocolate for dessert, played a few rounds of poker (Indira smoked us all!!!) then booked it back to the train station so J and I could catch our 11:40pm train. So it was goodbye Viktor, goodbye Indira, and goodbye Cologne!
.. I am determined to go back and visit. I will!..

Cologney Bologney!

Not hardly!!!!... Cologne, Germany is neato burrito!



We arrived a few days ago, and have been lovin our time here with Indira and Viktor! WONDERFUL hosts!



On our day of arrival (Wednesday eve)...

We were picked up at the train station by Indira, got "home," unpacked/showered/relaxed, were cooked a wonderful meal, and after hours of talking and catching up, we called it a day. It was time for a good night's sleep.



Thursday...

Oooooooo.... This was a good day! No real agenda for us, so whatever we did was completely relaxed!

We began with a late morning wake up (7:30am... yeah we're rebels), and then Jason and I went for a jog around the University and the park near by (I know I know... we walk all over, we're on vacation, so why jog? Well.. Its an oultet.. and.. well, I guess we're odd like that. We are eating plenty of food tho to make up for it! No skinny-minnies here :) Anywho, post all that, we went with Viktor to breakfast at the University, then split to head to Bonn, Germany as Viktor went off to class.

Bonn: Beethoven's house!!

We got ourselves train tickets and headed out to explore this smaller town where Ludwig Van Beethoven was born and raised. J and I toured his home, listened to a few numbers/scores of his, then ultimately went on our merry little way! So neat to step foot in places like that! >>Seth, I totally thought of you when I was there too.. You and your amazing musical talent! I couldnt take pictures of anything in there, otherwise I would have gotten some of his harpsichord/piano/violins/etc... I know you'd be one to appreciate it :) <<>Yes, the Cologne Chocolate Factory...

It was stinkin' awesome! As much a sucker as I am for flowers, I am a sucker for chocolate too!! (just less weird for me to buy myself chocolate than flowers.. eh! anyway..) Let's just say that for a moment I was in Chocolate heaven... it was wonderful!






After enjoying the factory, buying some chocolates and enjoying some desert at the Chocolate Factory Cafe, he headed to a grocery store, bought all kinds of food, and went home to cook our hosts an "American" meal!.. Burritos and all the fixins! (Not really American per say... but we treat it like it is... )

Verdict: They loved it!!! Success! Their first time ever eating one too :)

**Both Indira and Viktor live in Germany, but are from elsewhere... where Mexican food is not available. So this food is foreign to them.. well, not anymore! :) **

Our cooking adventure...

We all sat around and sipped wine and talked until at least midnight after dinner, then called it another day. Ah... how good it feels to be in a home... with people I can talk with... and laugh with... But I still miss home home..

Today (Friday) we plan to see the Dome (Cathedral) when it quits raining.. if it quits raining.. and do who knows what after! I know that they want to stay up late tonight to play poker, so thats on the agenda for later! Woohoo!

No God allowed????

Hahaha! Ok, so during a walk through a park in Heidelberg, Jason and I came across this sign:





Get it???? The burning bush (top picture) ha! We debated making signs and protesting, buuuut..... :)

Heidelberg and Frankfurt, Germany

Heildelberg, Grmany



Our day in Heidelberg (post Marnheim)... We treked out to see our final family farm in Germany (just outside of Heidelberg) in the morning hours of the day, but to our disappointement, though we found what is supposed to be the site, there was nothing of old there.. just a bunch of newer homesteds. Nobody there to really talk to either about the history of the place... (Apparently there is an Italian family that lives on that farm now tho).


Bruchhausen Farm #3 (Heidelberg, Germany)...

Anywho, back into town, we hiked on up the mountain (one of many) towards the Heidelberg castle. This is the first "textbook quality" castle we've seen, and man oh man!.. FABULOUS!!! After enjoying a nice German pasta and beer meal at a small cafe atop the mountain (overlooking the city and the castle), we ventured out onto the castle grounds. It's neat to think that we were possibly walking in the same footsteps as our ancestors!. It was all quite breathtaking really.. And the fact that it had the view that it did and we were catching it all during the sunset hour...beautifully romantic. *This is another place where pictures will probably not do it the justice that it deserves.. You have to be there to truly appreciate this piece of God-given beauty*


The castle ("schloss") from afar...


Our delicious dinner and beer atop the mountain (by the schloss)








Castle grounds.. so green and lush!!

View from the castle...



We wer so excited we just couldnt hide it!!!

With an hour or so of walking to get back to our hostel (again, another day full of extra walking mileage) we pretty much just bunked ourselves in (exhausted from another set of long days) and got in our few hours of rest before day 10.




My banana breakfast... "Corny Big!!!!" Fantastic... :)


Frankfurt, Germany
This was a place and a day where we got to do whatever we wanted with no agenda in mind. So what to do??? (Other than get lost... again...ha! We're getting really good at that, by the way, maps or no maps! :) )
Anyway, the nutshell version is we checked out the Goethe Museum (Goethe was an old poet back in the 1800's whose work has been used in more modern-day musicals n such.. one of Jason's favorites), then, come the late afternoon/eve, we "trained" it over to what I would like to call the "west side" of Germany.. quite ghetto in other words. :/ But it was there that a musical ("Caberet") was playing in an old castle.. well, was supposed to be playing that is. When we got there (45 min later), aparently there was a misprint, so the night's actual event was a comedy ("Floh Im Oir"). Perfect! I can always use a good laugh!.. except when you have no clue what is being said. ha! The actors/actress were fabulous tho, so I was able to catch the gist... I think :)
By 10:30pm we were on our way back, ready to crash so we could "up n go" by 7 the next day. Too bad I was up by 4:45am :( Thats what happens when youre a light sleeper, and the lady next to you snores... loudly... and deeply..


**Jason and I finally split up in our hostel bedding, so my roomies were Jeu- a young gal from Seoul, S Korea (yes, I definitely picked her brain since that is where I was supposed to go a year ago), Camilia- an older woman ("The snorer") from Spain, and Sonya- a young gal from somewhere in Germany.. 3 others came later who I only "met" because they so politely came stumbeling in past 1am and woke us all up. Im sure they could feel the love :) Jason roomed with an Australian and a bunch of others who showed up in the middle of the night.. you'll have to ask him his stories tho!) **


Sooooooooo, taday, day 11 (July 22nd) we booked it on over a few cities to catch a boat (with a goat in a moat who stayed afloat with a coat...DORK!.. I know) that would take us to Boppard, and in turn take us to Cologne (by train). We did catch that boat though, literally :) and floated on down the Rhine river where we saw 1... 2.... no, 15 castles or so! Pretty sweet.

Cologne, Germany
It is the eve of Wednesday, 22nd and we are here in Cologne, sitting just feet away from Germany's largest (if not Europe's) cathedral! It's massive!.. and kinda dark. Certain aspects remind me of Notre Dame... especially the hunchback swingin from the belltower!
Anyway, we are just chillin here waiting for Jason's friends Indira and Viktor to come pick us up from this train station in about an hour.. which is why I'm taking advantage of this writing time :)
So mere hours from now we'll be in our first home for a full night's rest.. for 3 nights! (We'll own them BIG) I'm "very excite" tho :) And Im reeeeeeally looking forward to a home-cooked meal, even if it is something from a can or box... Im tired of eating out :/

Blah blah blah!...

So I'm peacin' out my home slices!

Til next time.... again....

Thanks/Responses/Misc...

Let's see here...

First Id like to thank all "contributees" for your thoughts, prayers, texts and comments. ALWAYS great to get feedback and hellos from the people I love the mostest!

So for comments...

*Lil' Miss Rose.. OF COURSE WE'RE GONNA SEE SOMETHIN SCARY! Haha! you know me you crazy girl! On our list is actually Count Dracula's castle.. so Ill be sure to take pictures of plenty of vampires and ghosts :)

*Keith.. Yeah, I'd love to say that I miss work, buuuuuuuuuuuuut... You know how that goes! :) I miss you and the guys tho.. tell Austin to work on his "knuckles" so when I gt back I can get a hearty knuckles from him. None of that sissy stuff!

*Mama dear.. I LOVE YOU! Thanks for sending me packin with some chocolate.. it turned out to be just what I needed a time or two :) .. oh, and tell Pete that the anti-bug stuff he gave us.. perfect! It was definitely used the eve of the Swiss bench n slugs.. ha!

*NeenMarie.. What a sport you are for holding down the fort back home! (even tho youre still house sitting..) Danke meine schweister!

*Wesley!!!!.. So I got a computer anyway yo. A German one! NEW TOY (as youd say) thanks for your earlier efforts in that area tho.. :)

*Jay n Gayle.. and Breanne!.. I miss my Fresno family Monday nights... I thought of you guys in Zermatt, Switzerland when I was walking through the gardens and enjoying all of the lush scenery.. Its like your garden but bigger! :) )

*Uncle Ron & Aunt Marilyn.. You two are wonderful! Thank you for your prayers :) Miss you! ps. and yes uncle Ron, I'd gladly be your nurse once Im actually a little qualified :) Lord knows you need all the help you can get!! :)

*Rachel.. Oh you wonderful lady you! I went to the farmers market here in Germany (Mannheim) and totally thought of you! Woulda bought you something, but I dont think 3 weeks would do anything good for fresh fruits :) I bought me a flower like I usually do tho! A beautiful rose!.. Im a sucker for flowers :)

All the rest of ya'll... thanks for following this blog! Feel free to leave comments/questions/amazing anecdotes! **I'll do my best to reply!**

Love love LOVE you!!!

Germany and such :)

Ahhhh..... Where to begin?....
So post- Aarau, Switzerland (where we spent most of our day at the Archive Bldg researching family history..)
We ended up leaving at about 4:30pm-ish, running thru the rain to get to the train station to make a 5pm departure, and made our way on a last-minute and spur of the moment trip to Montreux, Switzerland for a Jazz festival. (This event goes on for about a week, and is aparently a "big deal" over there... I could see why if you're familiar with all these German jazz groups, but if not......) Hmph!
So here's setting the scene: ETA in Montreux is 6:30pm. Final departure from Montreux is 8:15... OR 5 am the next day. Its raining cats and dogs (and a few horses and goats), its crowded, loud, smokey and cold, and the cherry on top: both Jason and I are so incredibly low on sleep that the teeniest tiniest thing will ignite the bomb that rests daintily on a string that both he and I hold. So for those who know both of us (and probably those who dont), Im sure you can guess what happens 30 minutes into this awful idea of a trip.. KABOOM!!!!!!!! Lets just say (and mom, no need to worry, we acted like the adults you raised us to be and figured/talked/worked things out) my voicing my opinion on the whole thing (AKA me not wanting to hang around to watch a 9pm show (who knows how good) and then having to wait til 5am to catch a train) was not a "good" thing. At that moment, that is not what Jason wanted to hear (note: we went there for him) so things went sour quickly... Before I knew it, I was alone in a crowded smokey place full of all sorts of [drunk] people, sitting there waiting for something bad (or worse) to happen.. *you know those moments when you just need a hug or a sincere smile??? For someone, anyone, to just reassure you thats its ok?.. well, it was that moment (the first of this trip) that I longed for home... * Im a big girl tho, so I held back the tears, put on my tough face, and stuck it out until I was back at Jason's side again within the hour.. All is well.

In a nutshell, we ended up deciding sleep was more important, so we booked it through the rain to the train station with literally 30seconds to spare... and on to Mannheim, Germany we went.

Mannheim, Germany:
Haha! Oh boy... so you think sleeping on a bench surrounded by Swiss slugs is bad?? Well, the train to Germany arrived at about 2 am.. hostel? None. Open store or cafe? Nope! A human being capable of understanding and responding without slurring their words and falling over? Of course not. It was too cold and rainy to sleep outside, so that was outta the question too... so what did we do??? Guess! Take a guess!!!! Oh come on, you know you wanna!!!!!!!!!!
.... YOU GOT IT! We slept on the super-clean train station floor! Oh my was it soft and cushy! Smelled like roses too :) ... **So for those who are too literal, please note that I am being VERY sarcastic. It was pitiful... but cheap...? ha! For whatever reason tho, I was actually able to fall asleep (must have been a God thing).***
A few hours later (after someone tossed us a coin- must have thought we were homeless) we got up and started out our day with a cup of cafe and some breaded something... I dont even know... I was dead to the world. Im sure I looked it too.. BADLY. By 5:30 ish we were on our way to find our hostel for the next eve...
Hostel check-in: 3pm!!! Which meant we had 9 hours to kill... So we went to wandering the streets of Mannheaim... Learned the layout of the inner city, found a farmers market (Reminded me of home!!! :) I thought of you Rachel! and Neen and Seth and Casey.. All ya'll! How I miss you...), bought some food and fresh fruit, wandered some more, bought me a computer (Yay for mini laptops!!! and its in German too.. ha! One cool souvenir if you ask me.. if only I could figure out how to make in English now...Was a steal of a deal tho! Wes, you'd be proud of me :) ), got some lunch -Thai place called Wan Wans..mmmmmm...- and gradually made our way back to the hostle, where luckily they let us check in 30 min early.

So....... You wanna know what we did for the next 15 hours????????????? (after a long shower of course!) SLEEEEEEEEEP!!!

Yes, 2 sleeping pills and 15 hours later, we were charged and ready for the next day! 7am and we were downstasirs eating breakfast, and on our way to the next town over: Marnheim, Germany.

Marnheim, Germany:
This is where we found 2 of 3 farms that once belonged to the Haury family somewhere along the line back in the 1700/1800s. Cool stuff actually! LOTS of walking though (approx 10 miles.. with the 25 pounder on the back).

...Now I know I'm wordy by nature when it comes to writing (and I can just see some of you nodding off) so I'm gonna cut to the chase on this bit and just show you pictures!
(in process... slow internet :/ )

After all that business, meeting some of the people who now live on those ol' farm houses (and finding a living Haury right there in in a part of Marnheim), we went on to a few cities over (about 1:30 train ride), found a haostel after getting lost one too many times, and are now in for the night.. at almost midnight. Im only up cuz Im doing the laundry.. plus there is free internet and I wanted to take advantage of it! Sweet yo! (..as Heather would say)

So now its off to sleepy sleep town to get a little shut eye so at 6am I can be up and half-way runnin! Guten nacht to you all back home (even though its only mid afternoon), and until next time!

Mannheim/ Marnheim, Germany (Family Farm) **Photos**

4:30 am breakfast after a hard nights "sleep" at the
Mannheim station


My beautiful single rose from the Mannheim Farmer's Market



Jason's "fresh" purchases st the Mannheim Farmer's Market



Marnheim.. site to 2 Haury farms



Farm #1 (Marnheim)




Haury headstone at Froschauerhof



Froschauerhof farm



Haury farm #2



Me on my family's old farm...ish



Bolanderhof

More Switzerland!.. with a side of Swiss slugs :)

Oooooooooh man! Have I got some stories (and finally the time to write them) for you!!!


Where to begin... (Im gonna pull out my journal here... its full of all sorts of goodness!! --Neen, youd be so very proud of me!!)
>>So, I know there will be holes in all of my briefing and story telling, but Im gonna try to feed you the most important (and probably most entertaining) stories! The rest I can fill you in on in person when I get home :) <<



Zürich.. ish
In the mid afternoon (after checkin out a couple of local churches/cathedrals- one with stained glass windows designed by a Surrealist artist, and another with the largest exterior clock in Europe) Jason and I checked out of our hostel, and made our way to a local park (AKA small gravel area alongside the river.. there were benches and trees tho, so it worked!) to read and relax a bit.
---Originally, part of our Zürich plan was to explore some family landmarks, but last-minute research proved this stop to be next to pointless. Nothing to be found. Nada.
So after our short resting period, we decided not to waste our time, and move on to the next "family" city to see what we could find!
p.s. I finally found a Starbucks!!!!! AMAZING! .. but amazingly expensive.. 4.40 Swiss franks for a plain ol tall cup of coffee.. but hey, it was an American size at least! :)

Schöftland, Switzerland
SUCCESS!!!!! Though we were only in Schöftland for a few hours, we managed to stumble across the right people, and found ourselves links to family history! (We even found a grave site where some of our Hauri (today Haury) ancestors were burried) Sweet yo!
Because that town is super small though, there were not only no hostels, but no hotels either.. so we bought yet another train ticket and headed a couple of towns over (which is where one of Switzerlands (or perhaps the worlds) largest Ancestoral Archives is.

***Excuse my lack of "apostrophies".. its buggin me too, but I cant find the darn button on this keyboard, and I dont feel like copy/pasting them all over! ha! ***

Aarua, Switzerland
Upon our arrival to Aarua, Switzerland (landmark city with the archives) we found we were minutes too late to get in.. the office closed at 5pm, and we arrived minutes late. Well, we had the eve to kill and nothing much planned to kill it with (since we knew we had to stick around to check out what we could find in the archives) so we dropped our bags behind a bush... yes, a big bushy bush (note: people in Switzerland are pretty wealthy.. why would they need a backpackers bag?! Yeah, thats what I thought... :) )
We went into the city, found ourselves a pizza kabab cafe (mmmm......), chowed down, and made our way back to decide sleeping plans.
Heres where it gets interesting... ha!

So, we had already been warned that it was supposed to rain that night (we considered "camping" (AKA benching it in a park), but that fact kinda put it out of the question), so we did what we could to find a hostel. After a little effort put forth (to be quite honest), we decided we would camp outside the Archives bldg on benches surrounded by trees, take our chance (it was perfectly clear all day! Not one dark cloud in site!!) and take the cheap route for once. Boy, was that the beginning of a "fantastic" and sleepless night!
Ok, so our bedtime hit at about 9:30pm.. surprisingly I was tired enough to where I actually fell asleep. Suddenly though I woke up from a horrible nightmare (including firecrackers randomly going off nearby) just after midnidght.. which of course broke up my sleep. Well, I had to use the ladies room, but of course... there was none. ha! Yes mom, I did what any camper would do! You ashamed of me??? :) So I swung myself out of my sleeping bag (which by the way has been a lifesaver too many times!), threw my legs over the bench and my feet into my sandles.. sorta. It was dark by now. My sandles felt wet. Morning dew already??? Couldnt be!! hahaha!.. yeah, you guessed it, "goooooood evening Swiss slugs!!!" There were slugs on (and all around) my sandles! I grabbed my Ipod for light, and sure enough, as lush as the grass, so were the slugs! (and to think, we considered sleeping on the ground for comfort sake!)
In short, the slugs went flying, my feet went into the slimy sandles, I did my thing (while probably stepping on too many slugs to count) I came back, regrouped, cleaned my feet tith "Wetones" (good suggestion mom!) and climbed back into my bag.
No more than 30 minutes later, the sky began to flash... loud thunderous roars came about (literally sounded like cannons) and my first thought: STORM!!! Pack! Pack now!!!
So I did...
Apparently storms in Switzerland dont take their sweet time getting going.
In no more than a minute I had all my things bundled in my hands, was getting at Jason to wake up and move, and was under shelter.. already partially soaked. mmmhmmm.... I couldnt help but laugh at this point.
It was about 2am at this time... we settled at the front door of the Archives bldg (yeah, not suspicious at all.. I know) and were there for about an hour "enjoying" the sheer fact that we were in the situation we were in, until a man came up to us from the darkness.
I was kinda scared at first, but turns out hes a very nice and hospitable, musician (John Mark)who just happened to live across the street, and just happened to see us, and just happened to follow the urge and see if he could offer us shelter. I jumped on the offer real quick, and we headed over, where we eventually fell off to sleep on his couches after an hour or so of conversation, and actually got some rest. I think it has been the best sleep Ive gotten this whole darn trip!
After waking at about 8, having some coffee with our new firend and then saying our thanks and good byes, Jaons and I headed across the street, to the archives, and have been here since.
(it is now 3:30pm) I took advantage of the free computer/net/picture upload after a few hours of research on my part... woohoo! -- Jason is the German speaker, so hes done most of the leg work here.. pouring in hours of reading. Finally called it a day tho!

So now, as I begin to close, we are going to regroup, figure out the next few steps, and be on our way to Germany!

We wont be arriving to Jasons friends house until next week apparently, no theres potential for no internet time on my part. Weve been lucky tho thus far, so we shall see!
Til then, Im signin off!

Lovelovelove!!!

Ps. thanks for the texts, posts, prayers and thoughts! I miss you all!!!!


AnnaBanana

Zermatt, Switzerland photos

Here's just a few... :-)

Catholic church in the center of town...

Middle of town...

Alps anyone?...

A rose in a fountain (in cemetary)...

My weak attempt at climbing the Matterhorn... :)

The real "smokin" thing: The Matterhron...

Our hotel.. not hostel, but hotel. First and only...

A sweet band...and I so badly wished they would have yodled! :) ...

Billy goats!!! And lots of em! ...