Hall & Oates, or The Soundtrack of Car Trips in Germany
Hans thought that it would be funny to work "Hall & Oates" into the title of this blog entry. For all of you who now think that we are hopelessly stuck in the 80s, I dare you to listen to Hall & Oates without finding yourself singing along and possibly snapping.
Don't worry, we listened to some "cool" music too--Reel Big Fish, whoever that is. Some ska band from Florida. Hans may have to clarify. Some of the songs were pretty damn obscene. So, we had the Hall & Oates to counteract the evilness of Reel Big Fish.
Hans would like everyone to know that he recently broke his land speed record. Drum rollllllll: his new standing record is 147 mph. I wasn't in the car to verify this amazing feat, but I believe him. And I also believe that at some point, he will beat 147 mph. And then his head will explode, because that's what happens when your ego can't get any bigger.
I'm joking, honey.
Today being Valentine's Day, we decided to do something uber-romantic. We dropped the kids at the CDC and went to visit Burg Hohenzollern. Try to say "Hohenzollern" three times fast. Is it just me? I have to break it down into syllables and say it sloooowwwly. It's probably just me, thanks anyway.
For anyone keeping count, this is the fourth castle we've seen in approximately three weeks. We haven't even scratched the surface yet, because there are even more castles in Baden-Wurttemberg. How? I don't know, haven't figured it out yet, but I'm beginning to think that every eighth person in Germany was a king or a prince!
I didn't blog about it because it was only slightly less painful than Sigmaringen, but we visited the castle at Lichtenstein this past Sunday. Annika was slightly more happy at Lichtenstein than at Sigmaringen, which isn't saying much. Thankfully, the tour at Lichtenstein was incredibly short and filled with other children, some of whom were German and (gasp!) didn't behave absolutely perfectly. We did have a nice lunch at a restaurant there after our tour. Hans had schnitzel with noodles, I had bratwurst mit brot. That's pretty much a hot dog, for you un-German types.
Back to Hohenzollern. Wow. The location was amazing, at the top of a hill in the Schwabishe Alps. Yeah, we had to park and walk to the top. I don't have to go to the gym tonight! I'm glad that we walked, actually, because it allowed us time to appreciate all the views of the castle as we slowly huffed and puffed our way around and around the hill.
Finally, breathless, we arrived. We spent a good half an hour walking around the castle grounds, admiring the spectacular view and taking pictures. The tour was good, a very small group and no crying toddlers!! The interiors there were absolutely stunning. Sigmaringen is superior in terms of sheer jaw-dropping grandeur, but Hohenzollern is a close second. A very, very beautiful place.
Enjoy the pictures. They were taken with our new camera, the Nikon D-40. We finally decided that we'd had enough of our old Olympus' slow shutter speed. I mean, honestly, Matthew Brady probably took faster pictures during the Civil War. The Nikon is click-click-click fast and the traditional look of the camera makes me feel like I'm a professional, artsy-fartsy photographer. To me, the quality of the picture is better, too.
Oh, and about school: Josiah and Annika had a fine day. Of course, when I dropped Josiah off this morning, there were already six kids there. I don't know why some days it's just him and other days, there's a horde. Luckily, Miss T. was busy and I didn't have to interact with her at all, and when I went to pick them up, they were in a different classroom.
OK, it's just the kids and me tonight, so I'm off to make pigs-in-a-blanket and thaw out the go-gurt and if you don't know what these things are, you obviously don't cater to toddlers every night! Enjoy your duck ala orange!
Don't worry, we listened to some "cool" music too--Reel Big Fish, whoever that is. Some ska band from Florida. Hans may have to clarify. Some of the songs were pretty damn obscene. So, we had the Hall & Oates to counteract the evilness of Reel Big Fish.
Hans would like everyone to know that he recently broke his land speed record. Drum rollllllll: his new standing record is 147 mph. I wasn't in the car to verify this amazing feat, but I believe him. And I also believe that at some point, he will beat 147 mph. And then his head will explode, because that's what happens when your ego can't get any bigger.
I'm joking, honey.
Today being Valentine's Day, we decided to do something uber-romantic. We dropped the kids at the CDC and went to visit Burg Hohenzollern. Try to say "Hohenzollern" three times fast. Is it just me? I have to break it down into syllables and say it sloooowwwly. It's probably just me, thanks anyway.
For anyone keeping count, this is the fourth castle we've seen in approximately three weeks. We haven't even scratched the surface yet, because there are even more castles in Baden-Wurttemberg. How? I don't know, haven't figured it out yet, but I'm beginning to think that every eighth person in Germany was a king or a prince!
I didn't blog about it because it was only slightly less painful than Sigmaringen, but we visited the castle at Lichtenstein this past Sunday. Annika was slightly more happy at Lichtenstein than at Sigmaringen, which isn't saying much. Thankfully, the tour at Lichtenstein was incredibly short and filled with other children, some of whom were German and (gasp!) didn't behave absolutely perfectly. We did have a nice lunch at a restaurant there after our tour. Hans had schnitzel with noodles, I had bratwurst mit brot. That's pretty much a hot dog, for you un-German types.
Back to Hohenzollern. Wow. The location was amazing, at the top of a hill in the Schwabishe Alps. Yeah, we had to park and walk to the top. I don't have to go to the gym tonight! I'm glad that we walked, actually, because it allowed us time to appreciate all the views of the castle as we slowly huffed and puffed our way around and around the hill.
Finally, breathless, we arrived. We spent a good half an hour walking around the castle grounds, admiring the spectacular view and taking pictures. The tour was good, a very small group and no crying toddlers!! The interiors there were absolutely stunning. Sigmaringen is superior in terms of sheer jaw-dropping grandeur, but Hohenzollern is a close second. A very, very beautiful place.
Enjoy the pictures. They were taken with our new camera, the Nikon D-40. We finally decided that we'd had enough of our old Olympus' slow shutter speed. I mean, honestly, Matthew Brady probably took faster pictures during the Civil War. The Nikon is click-click-click fast and the traditional look of the camera makes me feel like I'm a professional, artsy-fartsy photographer. To me, the quality of the picture is better, too.
Oh, and about school: Josiah and Annika had a fine day. Of course, when I dropped Josiah off this morning, there were already six kids there. I don't know why some days it's just him and other days, there's a horde. Luckily, Miss T. was busy and I didn't have to interact with her at all, and when I went to pick them up, they were in a different classroom.
OK, it's just the kids and me tonight, so I'm off to make pigs-in-a-blanket and thaw out the go-gurt and if you don't know what these things are, you obviously don't cater to toddlers every night! Enjoy your duck ala orange!
Comments
Are the other parents like us and only send their kids a few days a week?
Only 147 mph? I look forward to further updates on this subject, as I recall a trip down to see the Vikes where, tragically, American speed laws were in effect and we did not, in fact, invoke the Doppler Shift.
Not for lack of trying.
I loved Lichtenstein! Aunt Liz, Pat and I were there for a weekend. We attended a little church and well into the service, we realized we had seated ourselves on the "men's" side. When I noticed it and motioned to Liz and Pat that we should move to the other side of the aisle, the man sitting next to me indicated we should stay put. After the service the folks were very friendly toward us.
I am so happy you are getting out to see the wonderful sights.