Time is running...

We often walked through this tunnel to get to the Neckar River area and to town.

What do you think Isabelle and her Daddy are talking about?

Tuebingen really felt like home for us and is such an amazingly beautiful city.

The Planatenallee.

Isabelle and her buddy, Julian.

Allie is becoming quite adept at eating with utencils.

Isabelle finds them not always required with chocolate pudding.

These shoes were made for walkin'...

And that is just what Allie does! Last week she decided to finally put her little short legs in action. I am of course dreading the plane trip back to Iowa even more (if that is possible), now that she thinks she needs to be up and about all of the time now. She is walking down the sidewalk in Bremen in this video.

Perhaps you aren't too familiar with many cities in Germany, but Bremen is famous for a Brothers Grimm fairy tale. "The Town Musicians of Bremen", is about 4 animals that run away from their owners and want to make it as musicians in the city of Bremen. On their way, during the first night they see robbers in the house that they want to stay at. So having the donkey on the bottom, the dog, then the cat, and then the rooster on top, and having them make their music (braying, barking, meowing, and crowing) startles the robbers and they leave the home. So, apparently they made it big in the town of Bremen. Allie and Isabelle find their statue near the Rathaus.

The Rathaus (town hall)(1410) and the double towered Dom St Petri (9th century).

Bremen

In front of the Altes Rathaus in Bremen.

A view of the Markt.

Boettcherstasse is an example of "expressionist-Art Nouveau styling", and was a unique contrast to the ancient buildings and city-scape.

A really interesting mime.


Street performers.

Driving from Hamburg, we stopped in Germany's smallest state, Bremen. It is also a Hanseatic city in the state of the same name. It was a really delightful city with amazing old buildings, cobblestone streets, and relaxing cafes.

Allie and Isabelle had a super time playing in the Tiergarten Spielplatz (zoo playground).

Isabelle attempting to feed the elephant. I had to lift her up so the elephant's trunk could reach the food. It was quite an experience. Even Allie gave a couple of carrots to them.

You can see the set-up in this photo. The elephants are behind wires and then a trench and another fence is between the zoo visitors and the elephants. At all times, they had a zoo keeper around the elephants.

Isabelle and Allie had fun watching the lions.


Isabelle's first pony ride.

When I open up my travel guide book and see that the city that we are going to has a zoo, I know that it is a sure bet that we will be there. Rain or shine (lots more rain then sun), we made it to the Tierpark Hagenbeck. Besides the fact we will see some elephants, lions, and penguins, and that the kids will be estatic, zoos are becoming easy. Lunch? Simple ... I have a total kids menu to choose from...a German hot dog and french fries it is. Restless energy? No bikes or cars with no pediastrian regard coming at us. Seeing something unique? We're at a zoo...bored with the monkeys???? Let's go see something else. This zoo was really fun (besides taking cover every 10 minutes when it would down-pour rain), you could buy animal feed or a bag filled with cut-up vegetables (carrots, cucumbers, lettuce) and fruit (apples), and take it with you to feed various animals. They had a huge playground and even horse-carriage rides. This zoo animals were housed in an open enclosure concept.

The many...

faces...

of...

Isabelle

ummmmm...

...room service?

A look toward the stunning baroque Rathaus of Hamburg. There are 647 rooms here.

Isabelle and Allie playing in the Rathaus courtyard fountain.

St. Nikolai Kirche is now a memorial as it was destroyed in WWII.


Walking along the Elbe River,

We traveled to Hamburg and arrived on Friday and spent the weekend there. Jamie had a neurosurgery course and Isabelle, Allie and I ventured out into the big city (2nd largest in Europe with 1.8 million people). It FELT like a big city too...lots of traffic, walking and a very unaccessible U-Bahn (subway) system with a stroller. Thankfully there were people willing to help a struggling mom out with bringing the stroller up and down stairs. I have to say that I missed the half-timbered houses, cobblestone streets, and rolling hills of southern Germany...I guess that I am a small town girl at heart. Hamburg has one of the biggest ports in Europe and this is St. Pauli harbor. The city has many canals and bridges, and also has 3 rivers that run through it.

Gorgeous sunflower fields in France on our drive back to Tuebingen.

Stopping for an early dinner in Strasbourg, France

Does every city in France have a Notre Dame? This Gothic Cathedral was built in 1284 and the spire was completed in 1439.

We spent a rainy Sunday afternoon in Strasbourg, a city of 272,000 in the Alsace and Lorraine region in France.

Still in Trier, this is the Porta Nigra (Black Gate in Latin), a city gate that dates to the 2nd century.

We spent the night just outside of Trier in a hotel that was also a winery. This region is very famous for it's Rieslings. The steep hills that the grapes grow would really give the people who tend to the grapes and harvest a work-out.


On Sunday, we drove through Luxemburg to France. It is Europe's 3rd smallest country.

Jamie in the small city of Altenheim outside of Strasbourg, France. His ancestors imigrated to the U.S. in the 1600's from here.

Roman Amphitheater from the 2nd century minus the bleachers. This was once an actual gladiator ring that was used for tournaments and animal fights. Most of what I could imagine that this place was like came from the movie, "Gladiator". But, it was so well preserved that you really felt like you were stepping back in time.


Walking underneath to the cellars. They were once used to keep the losers of the battles (corpses), animals, and prisoners.

Walking into the amphitheater.

Isabelle and Allie in the garden.

This is a bit out of order, but the prince-electors' residence is attached to the Konstantinbasilika. It had a lovely formal garden.

Liebfrauenkirche is one of the earliest Gothic churches in Germany.

Dom. The Dom was built above Helena's palace (Constantine the Great's mother).

Trier