Europe 2008

I really can't believe that my long awaited trip to Europe has come and gone. I went with my two sisters Kim and Marta along with Heather, Kim's neighbor and friend. We went to see my brother James and his family before they return to the states this summer. I flew from TN to Cincinnati where I met up with Kim, Marta, and Heather. We then flew through the night to Frankfurt Germany where Kailey, my sister-in-law, picked us up. We spent that day and the next day with Kailey and their children Kedric and Reilyn.
We walked around Wursberg and enjoyed a bratwurst and an ice cream cone. I can't remember what they call their ice cream, but you see people eating ice cream cones all over Europe.
We visited a store like WalMart where we were introduced to taking your shopping carts up to the second floor on escalator type things. We visited Rothenberg a quaint medieval town. (The battery was dead on my camera, so I don't have any pictures. I do have video of it though)We were only there for an afternoon and in the evening we went on a night watchman tour, where we learned all about the city. We then borrowed James and Kailey's car and drove to Salsburg, Austria where we stayed at the Marriott one night. We visited Mozart's birthplace

and went on "The Sound of Music Tour" It was a four hour tour that took us up into the hills and mountains around Salsburg. It was gorgeous and very memorable. We treated ourselves to some apple strudel in one of the small villages that we visited on the tour.

This is the lake that the kids in the Sound of Music were in when the father came home.

The gazebo where the scene with the music "16 Going on 17" took place

The hill that Maria was running on to get back to the Abby

trees that the children were hanging from

the chapel that Maria and Captain Von Trapp were married in

Apple Strudel that we ordered


Our very own Marta.

The residence in Salsburg

The city of Salsburg Austria

drove to Garmish Germany where we stayed for three nights. It was a pretty drive through the alps. We stayed at the military resort in Garmish. James came down on the train and met us there. He spent the next few days with us as our tour guide. We went into Munich where we walked around town.

Downtown Munich. I think that this is their Residence Building.

Pictures of the market downtown. You can buy fresh produce, cheeses, breads, meats, and flowers

This is "Spargel" - white asparagus

Buildings in Munich



We had lunch at Tahitian Noni (The company that Kim works for) two days. They were very kind and helpful to us. We attended church in Munich. It was a German ward so we got to listen to a translation in English through head phones. We went to three of King Ludwig II castles. The most impressive was the Neushwanstein Castle which we got to go inside.


The front entrance with guard towers

The Kingdom below

The fancy front door.



Marta and I by the Castle


A close up of one of the Castle towers.
This is looking out of the castle with a view of the Alps and two Lakes.
We also went around the mountain to his hunting lodge which was closed, but we enjoyed walking around the grounds.

This is a picture of some of the cool scenery on the way to the hunting Lodge.
This is King Ludwig II hunting lodge. For some reason I thought that it would be rustic or something more fitting for hunting.

James took us around Munich and showed us where Adolf Hitler's headquarters were.
We also visited one of the concentration camps just outside of Munich. The day that we were there was 63 or 62 years from the day that the people were liberated from that camp.
The entrance to the camp.

A guard tower

Example of the bunks in the bunkhouses
We flew from Neunberg, Germany to Zurich Switzerland where we spent the next two days. We stayed with friends of Heathers just outside of Zurich in the beautiful countryside. I thought that Switzerland was beautiful with it's hills and quaint little villages.

We enjoyed listening to cows and sheep with their bells around their necks.

We visited Lucerne, Switzerland. It was rainy that day, so we really didn't see a whole lot. We did visit a glass factory that had a really cool museum and we got to watch the factory workers make glass vases and platters.

This is at the glass factory

A 400 year old bridge in Lucerne Switzerland

A Lion carved in the mountainside. It is a memorial for the soldiers in some war.

City of Lucerne.

There are swans in the lakes and rivers in Germany and Switzerland.

The next day we went on a train ride up the alps to the top of Europe. It was cold with big glaciers at the top.

This is a picture of one of the three tall mountains that we went up on. This mountain is the one that the North Face company got their name from.

Before going up!

On the train

This is at the train station half way up. We stopped and had lunch here.

Some kids started throwing snowballs at us, so we had to throw a few back.

The icicle below shows how cold it is at the top. There is snow year round on the top of Europe.

Here we are on top of the world!

An ice glacier at the top

There was an ice cave with ice sculptures at the top. I only slipped once............while I was posing for this picture.

Marta slept on the way down. I took this picture for Kailey!

It was an amazing site and another memorable experience. After our adventure up the mountain we drove to Bern and stopped by the temple there.

The next morning we flew out of Zurich where I said goodbye to Kim, Marta, and Heather. I then flew to Atlanta and then home to Johnson City. What a wonderful time. Thank you Kim Yodaman, Marta Schwanstein, and Heather Lingerbrowser (Names that they rightfully earned while vacationing in Europe)