Germany week 29 Edelweiss at Garmisch, Germany & Innsbruck, Austria

Germany week 29-- Edelweiss  at Garmisch, Germany & Innsbruck, Austria

Hey all:

This week I had been under the weather all week and planning on trying to take off a sick day to sleep in and try to recoup, but each day at school it seemed impossible to do since we had someone visiting or a meeting that couldn't be missed, etc. So finally on Thursday I just decide to take off the next day which was Friday.  It was the best decision since I was able to sleep Thursday afternoon and sleep in Friday.  I am feeling much better.  I gotta love Nyquil and Dayquil--wonderful healing medicine.   And it also allowed us to get off about 30 minutes early for our trip to Edelweiss Lodge and Resort in Garmisch Germany.  I think by doing this we were able to miss a lot of traffic.  When we got here we first went to the site of the winter Olympics when Hitler made his famous speech -those pictures below are in the first part .  The ramp where they jump off of is still in tact and it looks really scary. Garmisch is a quaint and very pretty town.

The Edelweiss Lodge, advertised daily on AFN--okay they sold us on it, we were subjective to their sales tactics and the pcitures which were not a lie, it is NICE!!!  Edelweiss  is wonderful and not a secret as I had to make reservations back in January and this was the only weekend that was open and the only room open was a suite which I would not have normally reserved but it was doubly nice.  It was just a fabulous place.  Great buffet and Gregg of course found the casino room.  I got to shop for souvenirs.  All the stuff we like.  See the picture of the view outside our room with the coffee cup below. picture #1

We decided to go to Zugspitze, with an altitude of 2,962 metres (9,718 feet), it the highest mountain in Germany.  We road a gondola crammed with people mostly with skiis except us.  LOL Then we went to the top and I mean to tell you it is gorgeous-- talk about majestic beauty.  We rode the train through the mountain on the way back.  We wanted to experience it all.   Zugspitze is unbelievable and if you don't believe me look at pictures--but of course they cannot do that beauty justice.  What a wonderful choice and what a clear and gorgeous day.

After that we drove to Austria where Gregg beforehand had to get an international driver's license in case  we got stopped.  Course we didn't but better safe that sorry and also we had to buy a sticker for our baby car.  They don't take up tolls just make you have a sticker on your car to drive in their country.  The Alps there were so beautiful that they looked fake.  It took your breath away.  As I was riding I just kept saying--"Gorgeous, beautiful."  Just a lovely ride. We visited the  Swarovski Crystal Worlds in Wattens near Innsbruck.  It was very different.  It had kind of a cave man to welcome you. They had the museum set up with crystals in different types of art work and even a a show with flying shirts and mannequins--very inventive.  This was on the tours of the things to do when we looked at  what was close to Innsbruck so we decided to go. I loved the crystal Christmas tree and as you can see Gregg got me an upgrade on my diamond LOL. See pictures below.
The Austrian Alps and German Alps are a  site that I have never seen before-- white, pure,sparkly, beautiful, awe-inspiring--I cannot think of enough adjectives to describe.  Out of all of the places that we have visited in Europe I would have to suggest if you get a chance to visit Europe put this area on your list--You won't regret it.

Looking forward to Amanda's visit next week.

With that I will close.

Hugs from Germany,
Susan



outside of our room



the gondala ride

Edelweiss Lodge outside

 Ski jump Olympia

 Same Gregg said he would take a bullet before he would jump

 Me at Olympia

 The Olympic Rings

 Fireplace at Edelweiss

 Zugsplitz

Summit

 Area below summit

 Crystal World

 My new ring LOL

 Christmas tree crystal

Week 28 Germany—Stonehenge!!!!

Week 28 Germany—Stonehenge!!!!

Hello all:

Well since cheer is over we had a celebration trip planned to where else-- Stonehenge. Now this is by far one of the coolest things I have ever done. These rocks are just sitting out in the middle of a pasture and you come around the corner and lo and behold there they are just sitting out there- so out of place—it is truly phenomenon. Of course up there you can see all of the surrounding roads and it looks like field of dreams- you know the last scene—“If you build it, they will come.” LOL

Anyway we did the Ryan air again and drove to Frankfurt this time with another teacher and her husband. Ryan air –Get on Get off was in full force. We got to London and rented a car- all driving on the wrong side- fortunately the lady teacher had driven on the wrong side and was a pro at it but when we saw the first line of traffic on the road and Gregg and I both said we would have wrecked right then and there. Anyway we drove to our hotel- through about a million roundabouts and if you think roundabouts are hard on the right side you wouldn’t believe them on the left. It was kind of rainy and the border check lady said she hoped we would have good weather. That morning we woke up to drizzling rain and I was a little sad but when it got time to go the sun came out and it was a glorious day. Then we listened to all about Stonehenge and I bought about a gillion souvenirs. See pictures below. Especially the weird lighted picture- I have not messed with it at all- it just come out all lighted and one other weird thing happened at Stonehenge- My watch stopped --the battery quit working-- Weird huh? After that we went to Salisbury Church in Salisbury and it is the tallest spire in the UK. See picture below

Then we went riding around looking at museums from WWI and WWII see picture below. We closed up that town and had fish and chips and walked around a flea market. We decided that the night was still young and the Garmin took us to a park but it was dark so we decided to go to a casino. It was located in Southampton at Leisure Town. I kid you not it was called Leisure Town. It ended up being great right on the English Channel. We won so that was a good night –they had blackjack, poker, roulette and three card. Gregg was in heaven. Then we went to another part of Leisure Town and there were movies we thought about going there but none of them were at the right time. So we saw a comedy club. Kristin the teacher I was with asked the guy how much it cost to get in and he said it was sold out. So I said well can I go in and take a pictures and while we were doing that they decided to let us go in and watch the show for free. A little reminiscent of Chevy Chase in European vacation- the British are so polite. LOL

The comedians were great there were three of them and we got most of the jokes --a few were about people we did not know about but it was great fun. We closed up the place and came back to the hotel.

Today has been a traveling day I am just unwinding. It is supposed to snow all week this next week. I’m excited.

On a serious note. I was sad to hear about all of the devastation in the mid states. Hope that is the end of the bad weather.

With that I will close.

Hugs from Germany.
Susan