You are currently browsing the daily archive for July 2nd, 2008.
Greetings all!
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This morning we got to sleep in for the last time (breakfast at 8 again) and then onto the bus for the 45 minute ride to the Frankfurt airport.
We arrived, got Ariel on the train to Hannover to meet her former foreign exchange student, and then we were off to Rekyavik and then to Minneapolis/St. Paul.
Thanks, everyone, for the fantastic trip. The kids were amazing and the trip was as tremendous as it was because of these fantastic kids!
Enjoy the rest of your summer!
Our first stop in Rudesheim this morning was a grocery store so we could get chocolate and candy at a more reasonable price… I think we bought out the store! Then we ate lunch at a Schnell-Imbiss (ate bratwurst and other such things) and then it was time to find our boat for our Rhein Cruise!
We rode with the Bingen-Ruedesheimer company and got to ride on a beautiful boat called Vater Rhein. It was a beautiful day and we really enjoyed our time relaxing on the boat! We got to see awesome things like the Maeuseturm and the Loreley as well as many amazing castles that dot the landscape on either side of the river.
Then to our youth hostel in Rudesheim… a beautiful hostel with an amazing view of the Rhein. We ate supper and then un-packed in order to re-pack for the trip home.
We finished the night with a debriefing of the trip and a good-bye for Toni. We ate some Moevenpick ice cream and just relaxed together for our final night together. Tomorrow morning to the bus and a final ride in Germany before good-byes to the country!
This morning we got up and said goodbye to our beautiful hotel in the Alpine town of Wilderswil. We stopped at Vogli, a grocery store, to pick up some food for lunch and then back on the bus to go to the Rhein Falls.
We got to the Rhein Falls around 11:00. The Rhein Falls is kind of like the Niagara Falls of the Rhein (on a smaller scale). It was beautiful!! We took a hike around the entire area and even got down into the mist of the falls. It was beautiful! On our way back to the bus, we stopped for ice cream and lunch.
Then it was time to say goodbye to Switzerland as we crossed back into Germany and into the Schwarzwald (the Black Forest) and found ourselves at the Titisee. The Titisee is a beautiful lake in the middle of the Black Forest. We rented electric and paddle boats and enjoyed some time on the lake. It was relaxing (except for the few rounds of bumper-paddle-boats or splash-o-rama) and truly amazing to just relax in a boat in such a beautiful atmosphere. Most of the kids were wishing for their cabins as we lazily paddled around.
After Titisee, we were back onto the bus to travel deep into the Black Forest and the city of Triberg. Triberg is home to many shops that sell one of Germany’s most well-known souvenirs, the cuckoo clocks. We went to the store called “House of 1000 Clocks“. It was awesome!
Then off to our youth hostel up in the forest and after supper we played cards, ping pong and watched the finale of the European cup… Spain vs. Germany.
This morning we woke up at Hotel Schoenbuehl in Wilderswil, overlooking the biggest peaks of the Swiss Alps, the Eiger, the Moench and the Jungfrau. We ate breakfast at 8:00 (sleeping in!) and then went down to the train station to take a train to Lauterbrunnen and then a cog-wheel train to Wengen. In Wengen, we got on a Lufseilbahn that went up the mountain to Maennlichen, the beginning of our Alpine hike.
From Maennlichen to Kleine Scheidegg, we enjoyed the most beautiful Alpine scenery and even a few snowball fights here and there! Se took some really beautiful pictures and hopefully we can add those for everyone to enjoy soon!
Once we reached Kleine Scheidegg, we stopped for lunch and ate the Swiss specialty, Rosti. Everyone thought it was delicious and really enjoyed the Roesti with the bacon, cheese and eggs on top!
When we finished in Kleine Scheidegg, we took a train back down and went back to the hotel for some more swimming. Supper time came soon as we ate rice, curried chicken, salad and tomato soup. Then back to the pool for swimming and once the pool closed, we spent the rest of the evening playing cards, ping pong, trivia (with the scottish kids) or even a few went to a truck festival that was in town!
Good night for the Alps!
