The rest of the story

Okay I really had plans on writing a more exciting blog about our Europe travels because honestly it isn't like I get to go to Europe every day and although Spencer has been to Europe TWENTY SEVEN times, we likely will not be as fortunate so Europe blogs will be far and few between that being said I still don't feel like talking any more about the trip. i'll just post pictures. Here are a few 1000 words.

Day 4 Audi Adventure...the alps!

Finally I"m finishing off our trip. Yes I know that it has taken me forever. Mostly this is just going to be pictures. Day 4 we drove from Saltzburg into the Alps. That is right the ALPS! (I die with envy myself) and took a senic boat ride on the Konig Sea. (King's sea) towering over head is Hitler's Eagles nest. We saw it from above but didn't bother going up to it. I guess now it is a resturant. Hitler did have good taste for scenery. This area of Germany is one of the finest.



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Day 3 Audi Adventure....Vienna and Salzburg

In case it hasn't been clear this Audi adventure included Me, Spencer and Spencer's best friend Michael who is studying Law in Germany. (Jake and Jaz took the train back to Dresden from Prague) I am almost pron to include our Navigational system as the forth person along.

Our "Navi" knew EVERYTHING from the best restaurants to where every Audi dealership was and she displayed it along with a map in the dashboard at all times. She had a sexy voice and said things like. "Nach dreisig kilometer bitte abwenden" "In 30 kilometers please turn."


She SAVED us driving across the Check Republic. You would think 2 major European Capitals like Vienna and Prague would be connected by some sort of autobahn, but no. We wound through little run down check town after little run down check town. It was foggy and dark and without our Navi all of us would have been a little more cautious and irritable. They only had signs telling confirming we were indeed headed to Vienna every 150 kilometers or something.

We stayed in a youth hostel that night. We were so late in coming that the woman left the key in the flower pot and told us we could pay in the morning. We were the ONLY people in the hostel. That was 10% creepy and 90% awesome.

The next day (day 3) we drove into Vienna. It was COLD. Much colder than anywhere in Germany had been. After 5 minutes of walking on the street we jumped on one of Vienna's many sight seeing buses and saw the whole city riding on a double decker with headphones tuned to the English Channel.

I don't have any pictures of Vienna because it was so cold!

Afterward we drove to Salzburg. I really wish I had taken pictures because Salzburg was just as beautiful as it always is and more so because it was still decorated for Christmas. Salzburg is a narrow city carved into surrounding cliffs. They had hung lights between all the buildings which gave the feeling that you were walking through a tunnel of light.

A word of advice to European travelers. In my opinion you can skip Wien (Vienna) and spend your time in Salzburg.

Day 2 Audi Adventure,,,,Prague!

We convinced our wonderful Friends Jake and Jaz who were SO nice to let us stay accompany us to Prague in the Morning.

I'd never done the drive from Prague to Dresden in a car. You can tell an immediate difference once you cross the border into the Check Republic. It's like driving from the USA into Mexico. Buildings are run down and the roads are not as good.

What is different than Mexico is that you still see castles and fortresses left over from Europe's empire days carved out into cliffs and picturesquely set onto mountain tops. We drove our Audi right into Prague.

Prague is one of the coolest European Capitals. (My all time favorite is Budapest.) Unlike Vienna, or London or even Berlin you can really see most of the cool old parts of Prague doing your own self guided walking tour. It was my 4rd time in the glorious city.

Prague has drastically changed since the first time I visited in 1990 just after the wall fell. Then Prague was a dark city with a medieval feel. They sold Chrystal to all of the tourists and NO ONE spoke English. Now Nike shops and American sports bars flavor the sidewalks making it feel like the rest of Europe.

However, we still didn't feel safe leaving our Audi on the streets. Cars get stripped in the Check Republic and end up in the Ukraine with no tires...or so we hear. We didn't want to risk it.

So after a day of sight seeing we headed down to Vienna.
One of the best parts was that they still had their Christmas markets up. Christmas Market's are such a wonderful European tradition and it warrants its own entry. This is in Prague's main square with Spencer and his best friend Michael. They are more like brothers than best friends. This is a cool old clock in the square. Tourists gather in herds to watch the time change.

Day 1 Audi adventure!

After we left Heinz in his well insulated house things got much better. No digging just gallivanting through Europe. We rented a car in Hanover. It was a sweet ride. They upgraded us to an Audi A6 with this awesome navigational system.

We tested its limits on the autobahn. I've been called a speed daemon in my day so I can just tell you that the Autobahn is my new favorite place to drive. Not only do they have no speed limits but people realize that you can't drive slow in the left lane. Very few people in Utah realize this. Germans MOVE OVER when you want to pass. Americana's don't.

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We cruised at 140 miles an hour over to Leipzig where we had our first Doner's of trip and bought all the Pixar movies in German.
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Doner's YUMMM! Spencer in the Tomas Kirche. A kiss in front of Goethe. (He wrote Faust)



Ah Leipzig, I do love you but you are nothing to Dresden where our friends were waiting. On to Dresden. AKA the Florence of Germany.

Dresden was totally destroyed in the War, actually AFTER the war was over. The Communists rebuilt some, but not all. I was very excited to see the Frauen Kirche (Women's Church) rebuilt. The commies couldn't be bothered to rebuild churches. Just palaces. We wandered around Dresden at night. Then our wonderful American friends living in Dresden put us up for the night. This was VERY nice of them. You can read all about thier apartment on Jaz's blog American Dresdener. See link on side of my page.
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German Christmas...as indentured servants.

It really is about time I get around to blogging about my European Christmas! For those of you just stumbling across my blog here are the details. My wealthy father-in-law offered to fly me and my husband (not so wealthy newlyweds) to Germany to spend Christmas with him in his beautiful German house for free!

Their was one catch though. We had to help my father in law (lets call him Heinz which is in fact his name) dig a hole. That's right a hole. Apparently water had been leaking into the basement of Heinz's house and he felt that December would be the best time to fix the problem.

Thus began our stint as indentured servants. Welcome to Germany here is your shovel! We dug and dug. I hauled away dirt and hand washed bricks. My hands blistered. I tried to keep the dirt off of Heinz's precious grass. Spencer handed buck after bucket of dirt up to me. When it got dark we still worked all with Heinz supervising "dig dig dig!" Spencer dug down 8 feet then his friend Michael arrived and did the rest.

2 days, 3 blisters and several thousand Euro later (thanks to a broken pipe line) we had finished the project and Herr Heinz was satisfied.

Apparently most indentured servants had to work for 8 years so we feel we got off pretty lucky. We finished right in time for Christmas. Here is a picture of Michael. Down the hole.

What you notice right off the bat in Germany

1. People drive very fast
2. It's a white line that divides 2 lane highway not a yellow
3. License plaits tell the city in which your car is registered (DD = Dresden) (HH = Hamburg)
4. Their are no drinking fountains (Europeans aren't into the body hydration system like the Americans)
5. The Grocery stores don't hold a candle to Our American stores (No 24 hours No unlimited supply)
6. The sun is very far south.
7. Smoking is allowed (not for long!)
8. The Toilets are different (more sophisticated, less user friendly)
9. The light switches are different...Europe doesn't mess around with little nipple switches
10. You have to pay to go to the restroom. EVERYWHERE

A German Christmas

It is official, my wonderful husband Spencer and I will be journeying to the motherland for the Yule tide Holiday. We fly of SLC on Dec 19 and return after the new year. I'm of course ecstatic. No one besides the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has ever paid for my flight to Germany and they had a pretty steep rate of return. I had to wear nylons for 18 months and knock on doors. When I think missions I think....sigh.

Now thanks to the generosity of my Father-in-law, the German, I will once again experience the wonder that is Germany at Christmas.

In case you didn't know the Germans invented Christmas. They might not believe in God, but they sure know how to celebrate his son's birth. Every little town strings tree branches between the streets. Picture it narrow windy streets branches above creating a tunnel, underfoot a picturesque cobblestone carpet, and brightly lit windows on either side.

Also Americans have a way of making most everything tacky. Germans realize that placing 8 feet tall blow up snowmen on your front lawn is a really bad idea. I think this should be banned in the U.S. as well. They invented all Christmas carols, trees, stalkings, the works. They have special Christmas markets to celebrate the season and my personal favorite at midnight on Christmas Eve all the Church bells ring and ring and ring. The Germans also realize that all of their Superior Christmas traditions can not be packed into just one day. Yes that is right Germans have TWO DAYS of Christmas. December 25 & 26.

Can you tell I'm excited to go? I'll bring all my loyal readers chocolate!