Dirndl

Eleanor in the Dirndl we bought while in Munich!

On Wisconsin!

Six weeks into our world tour and here we are in... Wisconsin!  That may sound silly, but really, it was a great way to re-enter our side of the globe.  Stopping in the Mid-West shaves off 5 hours and 2 time zones.  Not to mention, it delays that moment when we excitedly walk into our own home only to discover all the ways it has been neglected while we were off having fun.  And visiting family means we had someone to help keep us functioning during the worst of our jet-lag!  So, on Wisconsin!

Eleanor caught a fish!

Six days in Bavaria

After a fitful night's sleep in a couchette car shared with a nice couple from Korea, we arrived in Munich a bit more jet lagged than anticipated.  Settling in to the apartment was relatively easy, so we headed right into town for a brat and a gawk at the Glockenspiel, then we wandered until we realized what we really needed was an afternoon off to lay about napping, reading and doing laundry.

On a sleeper train, you go to bed looking at beautiful French farmland that is then indistinguishable from the beautiful German farmland you see when you wake. The countrysides are so similar, yet the cities are so different.  From the food to the architecture, Paris is layered and delicate and lacey (even with Hausmann's great sense of structure) while Munich is stout and angled and squared.  Paris is pastries, Munich is meat.  I love them both.

DAY 2 - biking Munich

We joined a biking tour of the city, ate at the English Garden, bought Eleanor a traditional dress, visited the city's biggest toystore, and had a brief visit with a friend of mine, Laura, who moved to Munich eight years ago.

DAY 3 - Neuschwanstein Castle

Joined a bus + bike + hike tour that drove us to the small Bavarian village of Ludwig's famous castle, pedaled us along country roads for great views and a swim in an Alpine lake, and flatfooted us up the backside of the castle's beautiful perch. Then, we toured the castle, which is in theory what we came for but really the rest of the day made the memories.  And we slept hard this night.

DAY 4 - fossils

We rented a car and took to the German highways and small roads. The goal was to hunt fossils in the famous limestone beds that produced archeopteryx. Specifically we stopped at the publicly accessible quarries outside of Titting and Eichstatt. Beautiful countryside which I left largely unphotographed because I was busy enjoying driving like a German.

DAY 5 - Mittenwald

With a "Bayern" day pass we hopped a regional train south to a village known for murals and violins. The day was a nice pace, there and back again without too much agenda.

DAY 6 - Our final day abroad

Today was just the right pace, with a relaxed early morning followed by a lovely visit with Laura, her girls and Carson. Now I have a better picture of her life here. The group of us strolled the Isar, lunched in a biergarten, and then parted paths. We ended the day at the Hofbrau Haus with a band and a bier.  Tomorrow we head west.  Really west.

Five days in Paris

We spent a whole day getting ourselves to Paris.  We launched the day at 7:30 am with the 4 hour drive north to drop off Sabina and Collin in Jerusalem, then the drive to Tel Aviv's airport, then the extra large security buffer for flights out of Israel, then the 4 hour flight to Paris, then the cab ride to our rental apartment...to end the day crawling in to bed by about 11:30pm. Amy arrived hours before us and had us nicely settled in with breakfast supplies and metro tickets ready to start our first day in Paris.  And so it began...

DAY 1 - Thurs

We woke earlier than expected and decided to dash out (literally running) to the Tour Eiffel.  Hoping an early jump on the stairs line might mean we could beat the mad, summer+independence holiday weekend rush.  It worked. By 9:30am we were on the 3rd terrace!  We crossed the river for the landmark view from the Trocadero, walked to the mini- statue of liberty and finished the day with a visit to le Musee d'Orsay.

DAY 2 - Fri

L'Orangerie museum, Champs Élysées, l'Arc du Triumph, and Le Musee Marmottan.  Oh, wait, and Eleanor and Mike made a special excursion into Le Louvre after dinner to glimpse the Mona Lisa (thanks to the Magic Treehouse series for contextualizing cultural artifacts like the Mona Lisa!).

DAY 3 - Sat

Today we took the train from Paris to Vernon; from there we biked the short distance to Giverny with a tour group, stopping along the way at the market for supplies and then on the banks of the Seine for a picnic.  We didn't have as much time on Monet's property as I'd like, but oh well.

DAY 4 - Sun

July 14 is Independence Day in France, and like us on the 4th, the French picnic and do fireworks.  We spent the day much the way a French family would, walking around the city taking in the festivities as we found them.

DAY 5 - Mon 

We stuff our bags into lockers at the train station, and spend the day wandering around Paris before catching our overnight, couchette class, train to Munich.