August 5, 2009

This morning the boys were definitely excited to go home. We said our good-byes to the Angersbachs and headed to the airport. We received a bit of a surprise when we were told that the boys had no seats for the flight. After checking in our luggage we were told to report to the gate to determine our options. One of them would be to stay overnight in a hotel at the airline’s expense, be put on another flight the next day, and receive 600 Euro vouchers per person! That was an option Karen and I were happy to take, but the boys were not impressed! However, when we checked with the gate we were told that seats had been provided for us. I let them know that we were willing to fly the next day, so they put us back on stand-by. In the end, Sol and Isaac were moved to business class, and with the rest of us slumming-it in Economy. Sol and Isaac had a great time with the fully reclining seats, the computer games, and the extra chocolates and desserts, which they smuggled back to the slums for us!

We arrived in Vancouver at 2:45 with Karen’s parents and Karen’s nephew Daniel waiting to greet us, and our friend Robert waiting to pick us up. After waiting for around 45 minutes for our luggage, we were off to Abbotsford and back home. Joey our dog was very excited to jump all over the boys and lick all their faces, and we spent the evening with most of Karen’s family.

August 4, 2009

Our final full day in Europe was devoted to car museums! Karen wasn’t overly excited, but the rest of were ecstatic. Our first stop was the Porsche museum in Stuttgart, where we spent several hours. The museum is quite new and was very impressive. Our next stop was the Mercedes-Benz museum, another new museum with eight levels. This museum focused on the work of Damiler and Benz as they were the first inventors of the gasoline powered automobile. Of course there were many vehicles on display as well, which we enjoyed.

After a snack we drove a couple of hours back to Frankfurt where we were reunited with the Angersbachs and our luggage. We did some final packing in preparation for our flight home, and spent the evening visiting.

August 3, 2009

We woke up this morning to cloudy skies and a bit of rain. We decided to tour Schloss Nymphenburg in Munich, which took four hours in total, including brunch. The place itself was nothing special, but the grounds were very large with a number of smaller structures that were quite interesting. We decided to skip the old town of Munich in favour of driving to Nuertingen, east of Stuttgart in the Schwabing area where we stayed with a family for night. We had made the arrangements through Mennonite Your Way. The family had two boys ages 15 and 13 and the boys had a great time riding bikes with them and playing on the computer. They have travelled extensively in both the USA and Canada, and their English was great.

August 2, 2009

This morning we departed from Prague and drove around three and a half hours to Munich. We headed straight for BMW Welt and the BMW Museum, where we spent several hours admiring new and old BMW cars. I and the boys had a great time, while Karen actually enjoyed the experience as well – at least that is what she claims. We then headed for our hotel, a Holiday Inn, where after a bite to eat down the street, the boys headed for the pool, our first in Europe at a hotel, and hopefully used up some of their pent-up energy!

August 1, 2009

Today was devoted to the old city of Prague. Our hotel was a 5 minute walk away from the heart of the old city, which was very convenient. We decided to leave Isaac behind at the hotel to surf on the Internet and watch TV (let’s just say it was best for all concerned). Everywhere we looked we marvelled at the beauty of the city, which escaped both World Wars relatively unscathed. We took a free tour of the city for three hours (free means you only pay the tour guide a tip) led by a student from Wales who was very enthusiastic about everything! After a bit of a break, I walked through the town and crossed the Charles Bridge to climb the hill up to the palace while Karen and the boys did some shopping. After three hours I was exhausted but glad I did the walk. I met up with Karen and Abram outside a restaurant near our hotel and had a bite to eat with them.

In the evening I stayed at the hotel with Sol and Isaac while Karen and Abram walked back to the old city and took in a classical concert, which they both enjoyed very much. The whole day was great, with not a cloud in the sky and beauty everywhere we looked. I ended up taking around 225 pictures – not as many as I did in Venice, but pretty close!

July 31, 2009

This morning we continued our drive south and crossed the border in to the Czech Republic. Our first stop was Terezin, formerly known as Theresienstadt, formerly an Austrian military fortress that was turned into a Jewish Ghetto during World War II. We toured several museums and the prison, and learned about life in the Ghetto. There were a number of pictures that were drawn by Jewish children held in the Ghetto that were on display. Over 150,000 Jews were sent to the ghetto from all over Europe, and 33,000 died there. Around 88,000 inhabitants were sent from here to places like Auschwitz. The town was also the site of a prisoner of war camp.

After Terezin we arrived in Prague. The hotel we had booked had made an error in our booking, so we were moved to a sister hotel located right in the old city, which turned out to be a bonus for us. We ended up with a suite with two bedrooms, a kitchen, two bathrooms, and a balcony on the fourth floor. We were pretty impressed.

After supper we strolled around the old city and did some shopping.

July 30, 2009

This morning we drove around two hours south to Dresden, where we stayed with Alexander and Katie Neufeld, friends from seminary days. After lunch we met their daughter Daniela in the old city and she toured us around for a few hours. The old city is incredible, with many Baroque buildings. The highlight was visiting the Frauenkirche, a church that was nearly completely destroyed when Dresden was bombed near the end of the war. The church has been completely restored and is beautiful. The interior is very light and feels very different than many of the other cathedrals we have visited. By the time we returned to the Neufeld’s home it was after 7 p.m., so the boys watched a video and we spent the remainder of the evening visiting.