Germany-January 21, 2009

Today was still snowy, but we woke to a better view of the mountains. We were exhausted from the drive and chose to sleep in today. We weren't sure where we were going to go, but had thought about Dachau concentration camp before breakfast. By the time we got ready, ate and were out the door...it was too far to drive to Dachau for the day. We decided to go to Neuschwanstein castle, just 30 miles through the mountains.

I was so excited. Neushwanstein Castle was right at the top of my "to see" list when we came to Germany. It was built by King Ludwig II. It was designed by a theatre set designer instead of an architect, and each room in the castle has a theme...usually the theme is based on one of Ludwig's favorite plays or scenes. He was a wild supporter of the theatre and the arts. Because it looks so much like it's from a fairy tale, Walt Disney used it as the blue print for the castle in Sleeping Beauty, which later became Disney's logo. Everyone associates Walt Disney with the castle...in short, Neuschwanstein castle. It was cool to see the castle that inspired the magic.

Anyway, we got to the site by 2:00pm. I forgot to figure into the deal that we were in Europe and it was winter time. Everything closes early here in the winter. We got to the ticket counter to find out that the place closed at 3pm. It was a 45 minute hike to the castle from the bottom. Even by horse and carriage, it wouldn't have given us much time to look and wonder. But, we decided to hike to the top anyway and see the exterior, if nothing else. I was more than a little heart broken, but glad to be here, nonetheless.

Kevin carried Weslee most of the muddy way. The snow had melted on the dirt road and turned everything into a mudslide of sorts. Horse manure mixed in with it all and made it a rather revolting mess. The woods were gorgeous though. The trees were lined with white frosting. Little sprays would fall from the trees and sprinkle the air with glittering "pixie dust".

By the time we reached the top, we were breathing heavily, sweating to death in our overstuffed coats and hats. We walked around the castle and took pictures. It was like a storybook...the long spires stretching to the grey sky. We were sad to find out that while the last entrance is at 3pm, the castle doesn't actually close until 4. It was too late to go and get a ticket. We would have had plenty of time to tour the inside afterall. We were a little miffed. I took pictures while we cooled down.

Slowly the clouds pulled back over the castle and it began to snow again. It got cold and windy and we put our coats back on. Kevin carried Weslee down the long slope and the poor kid crashed on his shoulder for part of the way.

We headed back to the hotel in quiet, enjoying the snow covered Alps. We ended the day by going to the Hotel Gastholf Fraundorfer for dinner. They served German food in a family style environment...which means that if your party doesn't fill up the whole table, they will seat another party at the same table with you until it is full. We shared a booth with two English men who spoke wonderful German. They told us all about their adventures skiing the Alps, the Rocky Mountains, and travelling the world. We listened intently while Weslee slept in my lap. He slept for the entire meal and didn't wake until we were almost through with dessert.

We ordered Wienerschnitzel and Pfeffersteak...which were both very delicious. But the height of culinary pleasure came with the Apfel Streudel. I hate baked apple things...but this delicious apple pastry with vanilla ice cream was divine. We should have ordered two! The entertainment was fun. All of the staff were dressed in German "folk" attire, two teenage boys did traditional dances for the crowds, and another man played the accordian all night. Very fun and entertaining. It capped off the day and by the end, I called it a very good day indeed.

Austria- January 20, 2008

The tourist trap. Shawn Hatch and his girls bravely go where none of us had gone before. The snow was so beautiful.

Wes is getting quite proficient and throwing snowballs...and hits his target a fair amount of the time. My camera was the next target after this picture.

Cuckoo Clocks. These things were everywhere, in every size imagineable.

A beautiful church near the tourist trap. We walked around inside of it for a while.

Prayer candles inside the church. They added a warm, cheerful ambiance to the room.

The fake castle that I almost risked my life to photograph.

Everyone waiting in the van for me to photograph the fake castle.

Dusk-time sledding. This was my favorite part of the day. Kim Hatch and her daughter Shaylee get ready to take the plunge.

Kevin and Wes are going so fast, they're just a blur.

Wes mostly looked frightened going down the hills, but as soon as we'd get to the bottom, he'd ask to go up again. Crazy kid.

Shawn Hatch and his daughter Rylin.

Kim, the adventurer, kept taking the jumps on accident and had some sweet spills.

So, we woke up the next morning, ready to put on our ski gear, take our son to the Child Development Center for the day, and hit the slopes. And then, we opened the curtain to our room. The night before, I could vaguely see the outline of mountains and the snow groomers on the mountainsides. This morning, I could barely see the pine trees just 100 yards away. The ground was covered in snow and the snow was still coming down...HARD. We decided that if visibility was this terrible in the valley, it would be miserable on the slopes, and we further decided to forego our day of skiing.

Instead, our friends convinced us to try the breakfast buffet at the hotel (which was amazing) and head to Austria with them instead. So, we climbed into the van around 10 am, and drove the hour to Innsbruck, Austria. Our friend was visibly nervous driving on the icy roads. The visibility was horrible, but the roads were well shovelled. We arrived in time to find out that they were starting to close roads in the mountains. All of us froze. We didn't want to SPEND THE NIGHT in Austria. We had just wanted to check it out. We decided to make our visit quick before they decided to close the road to Garmisch, where we were staying.

We got out at the "tourist trap". Rows of gift shops lined a small, ancient alleyway. We looked at cuckoo clocks, cow bells, and knitted hats. Shawn, our friend, had promised his little girls some Austrian chocolate and we went in fervent search of it. While we slogged through the snow, I found and bought small gifts for family. After an hour of walking through shops, we stopped at a church nearby and toured its interior. Honestly, at this point, most of the churches look the same to me. I've been in so many magnificent churches, that some of the novelty has worn off. But, I took pictures and enjoyed the high vaulted ceilings.

We drove back without problems. The roads weren't closed, and we were so relieved. At one point on the drive, everyone admired a castle on the side of the road. I was stuffed in the back seat of the van, and couldn't get any good pictures. Actually, I don't think I would have gotten good pictures had I been in the front either. The windshied and windows were so splattered with mud and melted snow. At any rate, our friends stopped on the side of the road and told me to go and take some pictures of the castle. On the drive, it had seemed like we had stopped just after seeing it, but walking back up the mountain, it seemed much further away. I'm guessing it was about 1/4 mile up the mountain. I slogged along in the snow-mud mixture, stepping into deep snow banks to allow cars to pass. Because the road was so winding, I lost sight of our van pretty quickly. Suddenly, I felt alone in a desolate wilderness of white. With each passing car, I slowly began to realize that I was quite vulnerable.

My thinking went something like this: "Someone could easily stop and kidnap me. They could shove me in a car and drive right past the van, and no one would even know." I know that's pretty morbid, but it's sad that the first thing you think when you're alone on the side of the road in the Austrian Alps isn't "Wow, this is gorgeous", but "Dear God, please keep me safe".

I quickly found the castle, and while standing there, aiming my camera, I realized, it wasn't a castle at all. I'm pretty sure castles weren't built out of stucco. It was a resort, built to look like a castle. From the backside, you could see a shopping area of sorts. I snapped a few pictures, but I felt pretty foolish anyways.

I ran the quarter mile back to the car, informed them of our mistake, and relaxed in the relief of being with other people. Being alone in a foreign country had given me the willies.

On our way home, we found a good hill to go sledding on. We enjoyed the rest of the daylight, and the early night hours zipping down a small hill we found near the hotel. Weslee LOVED it and insisted on going over and over again. When all of our fingers were frozen, we piled back into the van and headed back to warm up in the hot tub.

We spent the rest of the evening relaxing in the indoor pool and outdoor hottub. Weslee learned to dunk his head under the water. (This is a big accomplishment considering this is the kid that would scream bloody murder when you poured water on his head in the shower. He would then spend the rest of the shower glowering at you like you had, in fact, tried to kill him.) He also learned how to jump while holding on to the side of the pool. He spent the entire rest of the time, alternately dunking his head and jumping.

We fell into bed that night, exhausted from the drive the previous day and wondering if the snow would ever let up enough to ski. The forecasts weren't good.

Germany-January 19, 2008

Wes in the ferry. He loved running around and getting to exercise his legs before the LONG stint of our journey.

Everyone is Europe is all about "going green". No wonder the landscape was littered with windmills.

Today was a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG day. We woke up at 4am, threw the remaining luggage in the car, and headed off from our home in Mildenhall, UK to catch a ferry in Dover at 8am. We had to be there at least an hour ahead of time. The blue-ish bags under our eyes could testify to our tiredness. We had stayed up entirely too late the night before packing, and it really showed. Weslee soon fell asleep in the car, and Kevin and I drove in relative silence. We usually talk about things...lately, we talk alot about Kevin's career and his options. We love the military, it's done alot of good things for us, but if Kevin doesn't become an officer, we have to have a backup plan. Neither of us is fond of the deployments frequently required by the enlisted personnel. Not to mention, my husband is WAY too smart, and WAY too capable to spend the rest of his life being treated like a sub-human. He says he doesn't mind, but I mind. If I could change one thing about the military, I would have the leadership treat the enlisted personnel with dignity. But, I digress...

When we reached the ferry, the white cliffs and sea were still shrouded in darkness. There were no lines, and rain was pouring down. We had never seen such a down-pour in England. We're used to light, almost misty, rain. But, as if some one poured a bucket of water out of the sky, England was drenched in torrents of precipitation. We waited in the car for an hour until our time arrived to board the boat. We were so lost. Having never ridden a ferry before, we were unsure what to do when we finally got our car aboard. We finally decided that "when in Rome........" We watched everyone else and got out of the car and headed upstairs.

The ferry was very nice. We breakfasted at a table overlooking the very stormy sea. Weslee enjoyed running around. The boat rocked from side to side with the push of the waves and a few times, I felt like my bowl of cereal would greet the world once again. Luckily, it decided to stay put. Weslee and Kevin took the opportunity to go on the deck and felt like they were going to be blown overboard the gusts of icy wind were so fierce.

When we finally arrived in Dunquerque, France, two hours later, the seas were much calmer and we drove out into a light wind and no rain. Amazing the difference of weather just across a slim channel of water.

The next 11 hours were spent listening to the smooth accent of the British woman inside our Tom-Tom GPS system, guiding us along roads that we didn't know. On one occasion, I HAD to use the restroom. We couldn't read the signs (they were in French, Dutch, and German) and had a hard time finding a restroom. The road signs were all different from the ones used in England, and even then, some of the symbols on the English signs are still an enigma to us. We got a little lost. Stress levels rose and the air inside the car began to feel stifling. Of course, Wes decided this was the perfect time to cry. It didn't help. After some silence and some tears of my own, we found our way back with Tom-Tom Jane announcing every 5 seconds "Please turn around", "Please turn around", "Please turn around". The satellite eventually located us and guided us back on our way.

We arrived in Garmisch, Germany, nestled in the Bavarian Alps around 10pm. It appeared as if there were no snow on the ground, and Kevin and I worried aloud that we had just gone through the whole day's ordeal for nothing. We had come to ski, and we hoped there would be enough snow to ski on up in the mountains. The clerk at the desk assured us that while it was a little icy up top, you could still ski.

We went to the room, unloaded our stuff and relaxed. We called our friends, the Hatch's, who had been at the hotel for 3 days already. We prepared to get together the following day. I looked out the window at the snow groomers combing the mountain. I snuggled into bed, and I was promptly asleep.

Stoke on Trent

Every American lady that lives here in England gets a little bit giddy when the name, Stoke-on-Trent, is mentioned. Visions of Wedgwood, Spode, and Burleigh bone china go dancing through their heads. And in January, the desire to trek to Stoke becomes almost feverish for one reason...it's half-price month.

England is known for it's blue and white print bone china. In fact, you'll see a little of it on display in every Jane Austen movie you see. In days past, it was a luxury for the aristocracy and upper class who could afford the exorbitant prices. Even today, the names Burleigh and Wedgwood excite images of fine dining and luxurious weddings.

However, at Stoke on Trent, a charming town lined with bottle shaped kilns, there are factory stores. You can still purchase the imaculate china (known as "best" china) at the individual factories for considerably less than you could get it elsewhere. But, what brings the flocks of women to Stoke in January are the factory stores, offering steep discounts on "seconds" (china that has small flaws, some unnoticeable). "Seconds" by nature are cheaper than "bests" and when at an additional 50% off...it's the most affordable way to own a piece of English history.

Our expedition was decided last minute. By the time Kevin and I would have returned from Germany, too many tours would have visited Stoke and the selection would have been minimal. This was one of the only souvenirs I wanted from England and so, I was determined to go. We decided that I would put together a group of ladies and travel to Stoke, the day after the sales began on January 17th (which happened to be the day before we left for Germany). We left at 6am (got up at 5am), threw on clothing and put our hair in ponytails and headed off in a van to Stoke (2 1/2 hours away). We shopped from the time the stores opened at 9am and ended near 5pm.

I was a particular fan of Burleigh china. I bought an assortment of different blue prints. There were so many to choose from, both I and the other ladies kept choosing pieces and putting them back, choosing more and putting them back...trying to get the right mix, and not kill our husbands with the bill at the end of the day. I am not normally a shopper, but I had so much fun looking at all of the china that was offered. I can honestly say...I shopped until I dropped!

From Burleigh, we travelled to Spode, Portmeirion, Royal Doulton, Wedgwood, and Aynsley factories. I spent the most at Burleigh, but went a little hog wild with the white china at Portmeirion. Boxes and boxes of wrapped china made their way home with me at the end of the day.

Some interesting tid-bits about Burleigh is that they still make china the way that have since our country was established. They spin the pots and plates out on a wheel, cure them in a kiln, and then transfer a print onto the china from fabric. All of the prints on the china were transfered from a fabric. You can actually see on some of the china where the fabric crinkles or overlaps (that's what makes them "seconds"...the print isn't perfect). It is a practice that has been used for centuries, and it makes the china look lovely. I bought a cake plate that has a 1930's flower print. The ink didn't come off of the fabric easily, and it left the cake plate looking weathered and very old. I absolutely love it.

Another fun thing was that the guard showed us the offices while we were waiting in line for the loo. They still use the desks from the time the factory opened. They have computers in there now and fax machines, and other pieces of modern office equipment, but the furniture hasn't changed. They have the same file cabinets, desks, and fixtures. They've changed the lighting to electricity, but the same lamp shades are still there. It was like stepping back in time. Everything was so beautiful.

After it was all said and done, it was one of the most fun ladies trips I've ever taken. I went with Cheria Sadler (who goes to church with me) and her friend, Reagan. We laughed and talked, and egged eachother on with our purchases. It was a fun break, and one I'm glad I took.

London...3 weeks late

From inside the Tower of London. You can see the immense crowds lining up to see the Bloody Tower in the background. We didn't get to see it. The line was too long.

The iconic Tower Bridge stretching over the Thames River.
Wes and Kevin waiting in line to get tickets to see the Tower of London. I am in another line, hoping to beat them to the ticket counter. It didn't happen. They totally beat me.

The Yeoman Warder tour at the Tower of London. He told us all the gruesome details of the beheadings and other bloody parts of the history of this place.

Guard at the gates of the Crown Jewels. Apparently, their costumes cost 10,000 pounds. Yikes!

This Tudor apartment was a gift to Anne Bolyne from Henry VIII. The lovely part was that she spent her house arrest here when she lost favor with Henry and was beheaded on the front lawn you see here...just about where the Christmas tree is standing.

Entrance to view the crown jewels and the largest cut diamond on earth...located in the royal scepter.

I love this picture of Shakespeare, standing in the center of Leister Square, amidst all of the theatre houses and movie theatres (and in this case, a New Year's carnival), looking unbearably bored.

Double decker night life.

Teri in the Tube.

OK...so, I've been way to busy preparing to travel, that I haven't recorded the travels we've already been on. I'll try and recap:

The day before New Year's found us in London. Our first trip to the big city since moving to England. We went mainly to attend the temple. We caught the last few sessions before the temple closed for it's bi-annual cleaning. While there, we stayed in the temple patron's housing (because it was WAY cheaper than getting a hotel in the area) and we ate at an AWESOME pub called the Peacock. Even now, I crave their chicken and bacon burger. Haven't found anything that compares at our local pubs. The deal at the temple patron housing is that for every day you stay there, you have to do a session. So, we toured London during the day and did our temple sessions at night. It was a win-win situation. We got to see the city and get a spiritual boost, all in the same trip.

Our trip to London could have been better planned. We forgot about the crowds that would gather to ring in the New Year in London. Silly us. But, after the train ride into London, we had time to walk beside the dirty (seriously, it was disgustingly muddy, murky and polluted) river Thames, and tour the Tower of London. Touring the Tower took the remainder of our day for several reasons. First, the crowds. The lines to get tickets were SO LONG. People of all nationalities lined up to see the crown jewels and the places where Anne Bolyne and other famous British politicians were beheaded. (Seriously, Europe and in particular, England, has such a bloody history). Second, it's winter here and daylight doesn't last long. With the sun setting around 4 pm, we had very limited daylight to see everything in. By the time we got through the 1 hour line to see the crown jewels, the sun was quickly setting. We headed to Leister Square to check out theatre tickets (which we didn't buy) and to grab a bite to eat at a very nasty Chinese buffet. If there is one thing I've learned from experience here, it's that the British DON'T know how to make Chinese food. The pub grub is delicious (if not artery clogging), the Indian food is superb...but don't ever eat the Chinese food. Nasty-licious.

We ended our tour of London catching the Underground ("the Tube") to the train station and heading back towards the temple. We were grateful that the train was heated, because it was SO COLD outside in the city.