Lovely building, downtown Baden-Baden
Can you believe the cotton-ball clouds over Baden-Baden on a gorgeous fall day?
We stopped for dinner at Rizzi WineBistro for dinner. We sat in the outdoor area. You can see the huge lawn area, and there were fabulous, huge, green trees in abundance!
After turning in our rental car and walking underground (toward the Frankfurt Airport terminal area) for what seemed like a mile (!), we expected to find an elevator that would take us to the upper level so that we could check our bags and get boarding passes. When we found NO elevator, Phil left me with the luggage and went up the escalator to ask where the elevator was located. He was told that there IS NO elevator in that building! So, being the improvisational individual that he is, Phil created his OWN elevator! These four photos show the sequence, the first picture with him at the bottom of the escalator with the cart that held all our luggage. :-) (And, by the way, there are signs everywhere saying, "Do Not Use Luggage Carts on Escalator." ha!)
Oh, we are so spoiled! We always expect to take a short walk inside a jetway from the gate to the plane. Well, that's not always the case....and it was NOT the case 9/25. We had to walk down (and carry our carry-on bags) down two flights of stairs; board a bus in which we Chicago-bound passengers were like sardines in a can; then line up and walk UP the stairs (carrying our carry-on bags!) into the plane! Like I said: we are SO spoiled! ha It did feel good to finally get to our business class seats and settle in for our 9-hour flight home.
Above: the United 777 aircraft waiting for us to board
United wasn't the only airline with planes parked out on the tarmac in what looks like a huge airplane parking lot. (And there were lots of other United planes parked up near the terminal building with jetways reaching out to them!)
Final four photos -- views from the plane window. Above: interesting cloud formation soon after we reached our crusing altitude.
More clouds
Someplace very cold and frozen - perhaps Iceland?
From the time Phil and I were married, vacation time was most often spent in Florida. I was raised there; my sisters and other family lived there; and it provided sunshine and water, which have always been the factors that were important to both of us. We continued to head southward from Illinois every year for time with our three daughters, and from the time they were all very young, we went to Sanibel Island off the coast of western Florida, just south of Ft. Myers.
Nothing has changed. We continue vacationing on Sanibel, as we have had a timeshare there for almost thirty years. Now that our Kimberly and her husband, Paul, have a timeshare on the island, we continue to enjoy the tranquility and relaxation that has always been our pleasure at Sanibel Island.
We just spent a week at our timeshare, Hurricane House, the beginning of September. Kim and Paul, Julia and Jason-Paul stayed with us at our timeshare, while Kim and Paul graciously allowed Paul's sister, Andrea, her husband, Adam, and their brand new baby daughter, Corinne, to spend the week in their unit at Surfrider. Since Paul's parents, Bob & Evelyn, have a timeshare at Surfrider also, we all had the pleasure of being on Sanibel the same week.
The photo above, which I took several years ago, was taken from the beach, looking at Hurricane House.
The beach, looking eastward
Looking westward at the Gulf of Mexico, sunset
The pool area of Hurricane House. You can see Kim and Phil returning after they enjoyed a long father/daughter walk & talk on the beach. (I just happened to be at the top of the stairway when they came back...thus, the chance to get the photo.) Kim told me, "We didn't stop to pick up *one* shell!" (That's unusual for those two.) :-)
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Landscaping between HH and beach area
Kim & Phil ready to get in the pool and cool off after their long walk
Enjoying technology is something we all share, including Julia Jo. Our little Netbook was "hers" for the week. Her mom and dad limited her time using it, but she enjoyed time at Disney and other children-appropriate websites.
This precious child is *SO* tender-hearted. She was all teary when I took this photo while she was watching a DVD her mom had brought for her and Jason-Paul to watch.
So studious..........in Grandma's computer glasses :-)
Jason-Paul entertains himself so well. We were amazed at how he loved to spend time puttering about on the screened-in porch...just on the other side of those sliding glass doors which kept out the HOT, humid air. He didn't seem to mind that heat and humidity! By the way, we began calling the porch J-P's "playpen."
On the porch....under the table
Photo above and below: watching the DVD with Julia Jo :-)
Kim & Paul, JJ & J-P, and Phil & I left Sanibel Friday morning, 9/11, and drove up to Orlando where we would spend the night before our flights to our respective home cities. That evening, we met with Joyce and Ken (above) and Teecie, Phil (Tee's husband) and Christopher (Tee's son) so that we could celebrate (Tee's) Phil's birthday, which was September 9th. We met them all at Fuddrucker's where Christopher is the manager. (We all joke that like Thing 1 and Thing 2 in The Cat in the Hat, we have Phil 1 and Phil 2.) :-)
Phil, Teecie, and Christopher
Julia Jo at the table
