Rhine river again

A day trip with our friends Chris and Diana to the view the castles of the Rhine River. This time by car and the bonus of it being fall. Fall is my favorite season! A couple of the castles are open for internal viewing. My Chris can explain all the cool history of the castles and how they were used for fortification. We had dinner at a restaurant in one of the castles. Dinner was great unfortunately I can't remember the castle or the name of the restaurant.

red fortress above Tauber

Day trip to Rothenburg! We "walked atop Rothenburg’s city walls and climbed to the top of the town hall for great views and visited the Medieval Crime Museum (Mittelalterliches Kriminalmuseum)" just as Tripadvisor advised. I really enjoy being surrounded by vast history. I feel a deep connection with Europe. I wonder if this feeling is psychological - based on my education or if genealogical - am I some how connected to this place through the past (don't be close-minded it's possible). It could just be what I'm interested in, but I believe in cause and effect, even if you aren't aware of the cause. Anyway, we didn't take many pictures. We ate at a local restaurant we stumbled upon, Burgerkeller, which turned out to be delicious-I'm not a huge fan of German food, so it was a pleasant surprise. 

Rhine River cruise

Chris is in the States so I took the opportunity to go on the Rhine river cruise with a friend. Chris isn't a huge fan of cruises. Beautiful and all the other superlatives apply, along the river are various castles and vineyards-like a dream. I never want to leave here.

Lorelei

The story of Lorelei: According to German legend, there was a once a beautiful young maiden, named Lorelei, who threw herself headlong into the river in despair over a faithless lover. Upon her death she was transformed into a siren and could from that time on be heard singing on a rock along the Rhine River, near St. Goar. Her hypnotic music lured sailors to death. The legend is based on an echoing rock with that name near Sankt Goarshausen, Germany.

The Paris for Europeans

Someone told me Brussels is the "Paris for Europeans". ewww! I hope not! I was not impressed. It's very possible that my expectations were too high. It was a fun drive there (yes, I took pics of license plates along the way, but I won't bore you this time). The most memorable scene from this trip was Chris getting cursed by a gypsy. Set Scene: We were having coffee at a cafe and this scary lady approached us, asking for money. Well, we assume she asked for money-there was a slight language and odor barrier so we didn't lean in for clarification. So, Chris politely said no. The lady then said something that sounded horrific with squint of hers eyes, upturn of her nose and she even spit a little. I'm pretty sure she cursed our unborn children. No need to be nasty lady, geez!

Miracle of Life

I had the pleasure of being present when my good friend's 1st baby was born. I had the pleasure being the first to hold this brand new little girl.

Unbelievable

It's amazing when you recognize God at work in real time. Usually I recognize afterwards, but today I knew that all sequence of events, me being there at the time was not an accident.

Mommy, Daddy, and baby are doing fine. 

We can be in France in an hour

How cool is that?! I'm never leaving this place! So, yea we went to France this weekend. The drive is a litlle over an hour. I entertained myself by taking pictures of licenses plates. I've always been interested in license plates, as a little girl I would sit in our driveway and write down all the plate numbers that went by. 

Is this weird?

Anyway, Strasbourg is cool. Apparently, it has flipped from belonging to France and Germany over the years, so you feel both influences.

ich liebe diesen Park

I organized an outing for the ladies. Luisenpark in Mannheim, Germany. A beautiful place, I can't think of an equivalent park in the US, maybe Central Park. A small fee to enter, but it's worth it for the cleanliness and lack of riffraffs. We spent this visit walking around the park, which is 41 hectares according to Wikipedia (no source). I plan to bring Chris back here, I see us just hanging out at the park, packing a picnic and lounging under a tree!

Me

They have animals here too!

The ladies

It was a great day. I love this Park!