China - Day 69, Monday

We got back from Germany yesterday and had a wonderful week. I did not have Internet except for 2 hours while I was there. Will try to keep this blog short!

We left Shanghai on Saturday, Oct 1, at 7:30pm, arrived in Hong Kong at 10pm. Left Hong Kong at midnight and arrived in Germany at 5:30am (or 11:30 am Chinese time) on Sunday. My cousin-in-law, Ludwig, was there waiting to see us. He had a sign for Daniel that said “Happy birthday Daniel” (Because it was Daniel’s birthday). Ludwig came to see us even though we were heading to Stuttgart (actually a town outside of Stuttgart called Bretton) to visit our friends Peter and Petra.

Ludwig and Daniel at the airport!

Peter and Petra had a traditional German breakfast of rolls, luncheon meat, and cheese, etc. waiting for us when we arrived. They had also put out traditional birthday candles for Daniel and a gift of a kaleidoscope. Daniel really liked everything!

Happy Birthday Daniel! Traditional German candles - 10 small candles and 1 large.

After breakfast we went to a petting zoo and fed the animals.

Feeding the deer

Petra and Daniel petting a goat - who appears to love it!

Randy, Peter, Daniel and Petra

This Llama was so gentle

Cute face!

Danie and a wallaby.

Play scape

climbing on the play scape at the Petting Zoo

 When we left the petting Zoo we went into Bretton, the town that Peter and Petra live in. Petra and Peter bought a birthday cake for Daniel at the bakery. We had cake for a mid-afternoon snack.

Petra and Daniel in Bretton

Randy and Daniel.

Randy, Daniel and Theresa on a quaint little street in Bretton

Yummy Birthday cake!

Enjoying his birthday cake!

After cake we went to a castle and explored it.  The view from the top was wonderful.  Daniel loved running through the tunnels.

Petra and Daniel at the entrance tot he castle

View from the top of the tower

View from the castle

Daniel trying to climb the wall

We had dinner at a lovely restaurant and had a wonderful meal. Daniel was so tired (jet lag caught up!),  he fell asleep before the meal arrived.

On Monday we got up very early and headed to another castle. This castle, Berg Hohenzollern, is still owned and used by the prince of Prussia, as a matter of fact, he had been at the castle for the weekend – we missed him by a day!

The entrance to the castle - one of 4 draw bridges you go through before
getting to the castle

partial view of the castle

They let the children wear King and Queen robes during the tour!

Daniel wearing a Knights mesh armor - very heavy.

Pictures of the Princes from this castle.
The middle picture is the current prince (the one we missed by a day)
 at his wedding a month ago.

Another view of the castle

This castle has 3 churches. Each a different
denomination (Catholic, Protestant, Russian Orthodox)
depending on who was ruling at the time. This is the
Catholic Church. The Russian Church was not open
because the bodies of a previous King and Queen are still
buried there.

The view from the castle is breath taking

Daniel loved the stairs up to the loft where we slept.

Breakfast, good friends and a view, who could ask for anything more?

The view from Peter and Petra's balcony

This is their dog Kelsey (Fly was camera shy). Petra raises them and they
 compete in agility courses

Tuesday we had to leave early because Randy needed to get to Belgium by early afternoon (a 4 hour ride from Frankfurt). I visited with my aunt Liesel (my mother's sister who is 87), my cousin Heidi (my Aunt Liesel's daughter, who is 70) and Heidi's husband, Ludwig. We ate a lovely lunch. Then Ludwig took us for a ride to a small town, Erlach, where he grew up and where he still owns his family’s home.

Daniel and I in my cousin, Heidi's, 1984 VW Bug. We took this to Erlach.

Daniel in the center of Lohr. This is the town where the story "Snow White" was created.

The Catholic Church in Lohr, built in the year 13!

Daniel feeding the swans outside Ludwig's house in Erlach. This is the
Rhine River. Nice view from the house!

Wednesday we went to Koblenz. This is where 2 large rivers, the Mosel and the Rhine, join together. We rode a cable car across the river then we took a river cruise. It was really fun.

The view from the cable car as we rode down to the other side of the River

Another Catholic Church built around 1300

Daniel at the bottom of the Monument in Koblenz

Looking out to where the Mosel River (left) joins the Rhine River (right)

Beautiful view from the River cruise

The view from the observation platform. The point middle-left is where the monument is that Daniel was standing at in the previous pictures. There were rays coming out of the clouds - you can see them a little in this picture.

Thursday and Friday Ludwig will then take us shopping so I could pick up some things I needed to take back with us. While we were shopping, Daniel and Heidi made a race track out of an ironing board to play with.

The race track which continues onto cutting boards all the way to the window.

Thursday afternoon we went visit with my aunt Maya (my mother's oldest sister who is 90), I also saw my cousin Anita (My aunt Maya's daughter, who is 60) and a bunch of other family members.

My Aunt Liesel - 87 (left) and my aunt Maya - 90 (right)

Andrea (left), my cousin Anita's daughter, and my cousin, Heidi (right)

My cousin, Anita, and my cousin Eurk

It was wonderful to see all my family, since I have not seen them since 1985! Hopefully it will not be another 25 years before I get back to see them again!