The famous European UGLY fish, at the Groeninge Museum.

Touring the beautiful canals of Brugge. The weather that afternoon was perfect - what luck!

The romantic streets of Brugge, during high Christmas shopping season!

The city hall in Brugge, on the same square as the Beltor (Bell Tower).

Brugge's famous bell tower, with an open air skating rink in front. This was part of a Christmas market in the town square.

300 beers, and Travis couldn't find a single one he liked! Père Noël at T' Brugge Beertje wasn't too bad, I thought.

Mmmmmmm.... Beer.

After Brugge, we headed back to Stuttgart by way of Düsseldorf. On Christmas Day, Betsy arrived from the states, and Bobby and I headed to the kitchen to prep dinner. Travis decided to taste the local brew.

Someone's in the kitchen with Jenny... it's BOBBY!

Glorious German Bier. Hefeweisen from Paulaner, complete with glass (a Christmas gift from Bobby)

The Christmas Feast - Complete with Duck A L'Orange. The wine we bought in the Rhine Valley came in handy... a little for the duck, a little for me...

Winding down...

Spring break has come and gone, and the last of the company leaves tonight. It's been a quick two weeks, that's for sure! Betsy and her roommate Sheila leave tonight, after touring a resort and having dinner here. The job interviews weren't a total bust - though the screening interview left something to be desired. Betsy is talking to the music director in Mesa Public Schools today - I hope it goes well.

In the meantime, my job still leaves a lot to be desired. I don't think May 25th can get here fast enough! I don't know why I think things will improve when school ends... maybe things will change sooner.

We got some great pics of wildflowers while the folks were here... butterfly pictures, too. I'll post them tomorrow - I'm off for Good Friday. In the meantime, I'm gonna go fix dinner. Everybody have a good night!

Spring Break!

So I'm a little bit behind in getting the blog updated... you all knew I really meant next month, not next week, right?

So we've got the "seniors" in town right now - Travis' grandparents, his cousin Eva and her parents, and it's kind of like a week-long slumber party. Lots of card playing going on, and more chatter than teeny boppers at a skating rink! Oh well, they're all having a good time, and we are, too. Nothing like a big group of people at your house as an excuse to grill out and drink a few bottles of wine, eh?

I've got more pictures from Europe scanned in, and I plan to post them tomorrow. I've got the rest of this week off from work, so I am going to catch up on things at home. I also have to work on my Mesa Comm College grading... but that's fun work. No class at Mesa this week, either.

So next week Bob & Vi and Nanny & Grandpa go home, and Betsy shows up with her friend Sheila. And somewhere in there Travis' Uncle Wayne and Aunt Donna will have come and gone.
It's a houseful, but that's what I get for living in vacationland!

Photo Shoot!

So I've managed to scan a few pictures from our first few days in Europe... see the captions below for explanations of each photo. We had an awesome time on the trip...stay tuned for next week's edition!

Jenny

So we got on the train with a Schönes Wöchenende ticket, and then they wouldn't let us off at St Goar! So we ended up in Boppard, hoping for another train...

We finally made it back to St Goar, a lovely little town on the Romantic Rhine... Our hotel is the tan building on the right - the Hotel Hauser.

This is a view of Burg Katz across the Rhine... we were the only people in the hotel!

After Burg Rheinfels, we went on to Bacharach, where we stayed in Burg Stahleck, an AWESOME hostel at the top of a pretty steep climb. The view wasn't bad, but I imagine it is more beautiful in the summer!

Down the hill from Burg Stahleck are the remains of a red sandstone chapel - it was destroyed in the 17th Century during the wars of Succession, I believe (I'll have to look that one up...)

This is the inside of the Dom, the largest cathedral in Europe. The stained glass dates from the 1300s, right after the Dom was first constructed.

This is the Dom in Köln, with the Weinnachtsmarkt out front. Credit to Travis for the awesome photo - I took the picture, he reminded me to overexpose!