Look out Germany, Here we Come!

Here we are on our first day in Berlin. It was raining, but that didn't dampen our spirits. After we check into our hotel we took bus 100 which drives by all of the major and important sites in Berlin. One comes by every 15 minutes so you can get on and off as you please. We went in a cathedral, to Checkpoint Charlie and to the History Museum ( we could have stayed days in there) We ate dinner in a little restaurant where they didn't speak english. That was interesting but eventually we got the point across of what we wanted to eat and it was, well OK. The Hotel Ambassador was a refurbished hotel with a great breakfast!

We rented a mini van but we got a tour bus. Fortunately we had our resident fire truck driver with us so we did great . . . . . .Well . . . . . except for the names of the streets changing every couple blocks and the drivers all driving like crazy people. Generally, I am a good driver's assistant . . . but here I had to turn those duties over to Marie. It seemed like everytime I sat in the front seat - we got lost. Marie and Marilyn got to ride the train perhaps we will consider that in the future.

On our way to Wittenberg we drove on the freeway where the drivers in the left hand lane don't have a speed limit. If you need to change lanes, they better be a long way back there or it doesn't go well . . . they really like their horns and to tailgate. I think next time we'll take the train. You can go anywhere on a train or bus. They have an incredible system there. Anyway, the countryside is beautiful. Rolling farm land and big forests and every so often a town springs up, you can tell because there are 2-5 tall wind mills outside the town (not Holland type, California type).

Meissen is incredible it is so pretty with is cobblestone streets and red roofs. This is the royal palace of the Witten family. It sits high up on a hill with the cathedral next to it. It is built just like you would imagine a kingdom would be built in the 12th century. We have some wonderful pictures, way too many to share here, but we are all anxious to tell you about what we saw.

The pictures above show: us walking in the Procession, the wine cellar in the basement of the 5th generation pewter shop, a Meissen City municipal building with the banquet hall located in the wine cellar (our first night in Meissen), the Albrechtsburg Castle home of the House of Wettin, the final Sister Cities banquet and a view of Meissen from the hills overlooking the City.

Speaking of kings and queens, that is how we were treated in Meissen. They were feeding us every time we turned around. We ate a lot of bruts and kraut, along with pigs knuckles and potatoes, oh and the weenies that were a foot long, as big around as your thumb and had really tough skin. We even broke down and ate at McDonalds the day we went to the Freiberg temple, because after a week, we seriously needed American food. They had some awesome appetizers at the get together they had for all their Sister Cities (4 were there).

It was an amazing experience but my two favorite events were the Wine Festival Procession, which included entires from all the vineyards in the area driving wagons filled with cases of their wine. The people in the crowds had glasses and they would just walk up to the wagon and they would get their glasses filled up. We had bought some cowboy hats and as we walked along shaking hands and handing out metal cowboy key chains, we each picked out one person in the crowd that looked like a hat would mean something to. It was awesome. Another favorite was attending the play 'Taming of the Shrew' performed by the High School kids. I can honestly say, you have never seen "Taming of the Shrew" performed like this. They put a modern flare on it and it was hilarious even though we couldn't understand a thing they said.

The most favorite experience was at Ina's house. You may remember Ina and Katja were the two young German girls that can to do interships in Provo for 6 months. They have become very dear friends. In fact Ina calls me her American Mom!

Her parents invited us over to eat with them on Sunday afternoon. They invited Katja and her mother too. This is a picture of us. Ina's sister had decorated the table with tiny little dasies. She had them stuck into the tines of the forks. They had American and Germany flgs on the fence. The food was the best of the whole trip. Ina's dad even made Rod a hamburger out of ground up pork and some incredible kind of seasonings that made it soooooo yummy. They had cucumbers and tomates they had grown in their garden made into side dishes. They even had kiwi trees (you have to have a male and female). It was a delightful, relaxing afternoon with lots of stories, laughs and 'Good Eats!"

We visited Dresden and took a tour through the rebuilt Old City and rode a boat up the Elbe River. We had wienies in the dinner room on the lower deck of the boat . . . oh did I mention that they only drink carbonated water. . . . yes it's true. You have to be really creative when you ask for something to drink. One waiter finally understood when he said, "Oh River Water?" Sometimes saying 'still water' worked but you've never sure until you take a sip.