More on Trip to Europe

Amy has been posting about our current travels in South America (be sure to look there), so before I (Dad) share my own insights on Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay, I want to respond to the request for more photos of the Germany trip we went on in October.

1st from Tyson's file of interesting vehicles which he collected -a covered motorcyle, then a picture of the boys after the girls hit us with a cucumber facial (thanks to Janice Riggs), and a pic of Moritz with his dog Nemo, and Tyson -- they had a lot of fun together, especially throwing sticks and having the dog race after them.

Next, we have pictures of our boat tour of Hamburg Harbor, sitting on the side of the Alster Lake near the middle of Hamburg, and a shot of the boat which took us across the harbor to the professional theatre to view The Lion King -- a fabulous production with amazing sets, costumes, and music (sung in German, but we knew the gist of the story so it was okay).

Next, a few shots of the small town of Blankenese, which we visited on a short trip away from Hamburg. On a longer trip, to the East Germany city of Saaleck, we saw some great sights, like the photo below of the city, taken from a castle on the hill above, and of the kids at a lion monument also above the town on that ridge.

As noted earlier, we visited Leipzig and Weimar, old Germany cities with tremendous histories. The pics below are from those cities. First us with our good friend Johann Sebastian Bach, who was an organist and composer in the church behind. Then a shot of the fascinating old style architecture in Leipzig; finally a shot of the famous German writer & politician's home, that of Johann Goethe.

Hope you all enjoy these sights of Germany.

Busy Fall Filled with Travel

To chronologically update our history we have two busy months to review -- October's exciting trip to Germany, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Ireland, and November's exploits to Argentina, Uruguay, and (in another week) Paraguay. Perhaps here we should review the first, and later (in a week or so) give a review of the latter.

EUROPE 2008

In October Mom, Dad, and Tyson (as a surprise no one over there knew about) flew from Salt Lake City to Paris, to Hamburg, Germany to spend 10 great days with Moritz and his family -- Maria, Julia, his father, Willi, and his mother, Doris. We also saw Hecki and met his mother. Among the many things we did, we: walked along the River Elbe, went to a German production of "The Lion King", rode bicycles around town, visited the river-side city of Blankenese, went to Mortiz' school, and learned a lot about German history.

We had an amazing experience for several days as we traveled to Saaleck, Germany, to the Muller-Preisser family's home there, in that once-Eastern Germany city. There along the Saale River we had a great time visiting castles, hiking mountains, visiting ancient Abbey's, and making side trips to Leipzig (home of Johann Sebastian Bach) and Weimar (important location for Johan Wolfgang Goethe). The spare time was taken playing card games, soccer (European football), and having long talks.

After a great German time, we had to leave and do some work for BYU. We flew to Manchester, England, and visited 2 cities of Wales, 3 cities of England, flew to Belfast, and went to 5 more cities of Ireland. Driving on the left side of the road resulted in many varied and interesting experiences -- but thank goodness for a GPS machine that mostly get us where we needed to go. We visited the north coast of Ireland -- Giant's Causeway it is called, and there were practically blown away by a fierce wind (see photo below). We also visited Bunratty Castle near Limerick, Ireland. It was mostly work for me (BYU Singers Tour), and mom and Tyson patiently endured the meetings and work, mingled with a few fun stops. We flew home just in time for Halloween.

During our trip Riley's mission call came, to serve in the Fl. Ft. Lauderdale Spanish speaking mission. We were thrilled with his call to serve and know he'll have a great experience.

For now this is just to give a few ideas of our October -- in word and picture. More to come later on the South American advance with Amy and me.