First cousins-once-removed: Lalo and Christopher
Darling Raquel, our oldest granddaughter
Julia Jo, our youngest granddaughter
Evelyn and Bob Corens (our Kim's parents-in-law) of Minnetonka, MN
Sunday, January 24, 2010
After our time at Organ Stop Pizza (which I chose for my birthday dinner), we returned to The Buttes. Phil and the others surprised me with a cake and lovely gifts to celebrate my 65th birthday!
I thank God for my family. I cherish them all, and am so very thankful for all who love to gather (and put in the travel!) in order to spend Thanksgiving together...regardless of where we happen to meet, be it Chicago, Tavares, Nashville, Phoenix...or San Francisco.:-)
Saturday, October 03, 2009
Many of you know that Phil just spent two weeks working in Germany; you also know that Myrna got to go along, too (I *LOVE* his job!). :-) You have to know as well that I took a few pictures while we were gone.
The first one, above: Looking out the window of our aircraft at a plane identical to the United 777 we were on for our flight from Chicago to Frankfurt. We left O'Hare Airport Sunday evening, September 13th and arrived in Frankfurt eight hours later (it was 9:55 AM Monday when our plane arrived in Germany).
Please remember: click on any photo to enlarge for better viewing, then click the "back" arrow in the upper left corner to return to blog.
On many flights, Phil enjoys playing with an electronic Sudoku game I purchased for him. The photo above was taken after our meal and before we took our Ambien for the long nap we would enjoy while in flight.
Above: The Autobahn! It may *look* like just a regular expressway, but riding/driving on it is a very different experience from anything in the United States. While there is a speed limit only at various & limited points on the roadway system, the continuous high speed is amazing. It was strange to drive so fast with no sense of guilt or fear of flashing red lights coming up behind! ha
German drivers are VERY considerate and actually exercise driving safety and "etiquette." The slower cars keep to the right; the left lane is only for those cars and motorcycles going very fast! In areas where there were three lanes, cars in the middle lane may have been going over 160 kilometers per hour (over 100 mph), all the while being passed up by cars flying by in the left lane! I videoed our speedometer showing 164 kph, and we were traveling with the rest of the traffic in the middle lane! :-) Let me say that we felt very safe the entire two weeks we were using the Autobahn.
Just a way to say Exit. :-)
Upon leaving Frankfurt, we drove southward about 1.5 hours to Karlsruhe, where we checked into the Renaissance Hotel. We would spend six nights in Karlsruhe. Phil drove each day to Rastatt, a 25-minute drive farther south, and worked at the offices of the IBM client, Maquet, manufacturer of all sorts of medical devices and equipment.
Renaissance Hotel lobby, Karlsruhe, Germany
Above and below: two interesting buildings, Karlsruhe
On Saturday, September 19th, we decided to leave Karlsruhe and go for a long drive. That drive took us over into Strasbourg, France; south from there to Basel, Switzerland; east to Zurich, Switzerland; north through the Black Forest to Stuttgardt; and northwest back to Karlsruhe. In all we were gone only about 8 eight hours. What a great little "day trip."
While in France, we stopped at a rest area. We were able to get one of our very favorite French treats which we've had many times in the past on trips to France: (dark) chocolate-filled croissants! Oh, my......just too wonderful for words!
The rest area in the French coutryside also had a huge, beautifully designed vegetable garden and lots of flowers. I found a very busy bee frantically drinking nectar from a delicate white rose blossom.
And, oh, did we enjoy the magnificent dance of the butterfly (or moth??) above as "she" also busily drank nectar from the tiny deep lavender blooms. She turned every which way so that I could get pictures of her from every angle possible. :-)
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