So Long Farewell

Germany was an experience. I've been waiting to go home now for a while but tomorrow I'm finally coming home. Three months with my siblings by my side everyday, bugging me every minute of the day, but it was worth it. I love my family and I love to be with them. When we come back to America we won't be able to spend so much time together  - this was fun. I bet when I'm finally in my house I'll say I miss our flat. I'll miss the churches and I'll miss my dad but it will be over soon. Back home tomorrow. This was a trip worth going on.

London

My favorite place and last place we visited, was London. Wednesday we arrived there in the afternoon so we went to go see Big Ben and also went on the London Eye. It was so high and amazing! The capsule behind us had its own food and drinks and a server. Thursday we went to Buckingham palace to see the guards switch up and then we went to the famous British Museum. We saw paintings and the one and only Rosetta Stone! Friday we went to the Tower of London, Victoria and Albert museum and Saint Martins in the Field church to do brass rubbings. The Tower of London was great.  Actors were acting all around and the different towers had stories. (Like the uncle who wanted to be king so he locked his 2 nephews in a tower to rot). Then we went to the Victoria and Albert museum that had paintings.  After that we went to do brass rubbings in Saint Martins in the Field. First you pick out a design that has lines that are 3D than put a paper on top of and rub it with a crayon. Saturday we walked over the Millenium  bridge to go to the Tate Modern muesum and then we came back to Munich. London is still my favorite place. 

For my Dad's birthday we went to Vienna where we saw the famous boys choir and saw the famous Spanish Riding horses. Saturday we went to see the horse show. They were stallions. They could walk on their hind legs and jump in the air. Then for dinner we went to a place that had all different types of goulash. Goulash is meat with sauce. Sunday we went to church and saw the boys choir. They all had really high pitched voices and because of that we thought they were girls.  Coming back from the choir, the old-fashioned elevator in our hotel stopped between floors. We didn't know what was going on and nothing worked so we hit the alarm button. It felt like we were in there for hours. Vienna was cool. I want to come back some time.

Prague

Friday to Sunday my family and I were in Prague which is in Czech Republic . To get there, we took a 6 hour train ride on an Alex which is a fast train. We got there at 2:00 pm and waiting at the train station was my old aupair Michaela from Czech. She helped so much getting us to our hotel and getting us to the right tram stop. After we settled down in our hotel we had enough time to go look on the Charles bridge. It was so big that there was statues that could fit on the sides of the bridge but still have enough room to have 15 people side by side moving forward. Saturday we went to to a church called St. Vitus and the Prague castle but to see these places were a delay. After breakfast we went up to our hotel to get our coats but we heard lightening and hail and wind on the balcony so we waited a while 'till it cleared up. Sunday we met up with Michaela again to go see the castle called Karlstejn about 30 minutes outside Prague and even better, we had an English tour. The tour was a long time so after that said bye to Michaela and got on our train to Munchen. We arrived there at 11:30 pm and then I fell asleep.

Regensburg and the park

Saturday we went to Regensburg  which had alot of churches on each block  and there were different kinds of architectures in each church.  Gothic architecture was used in most of the churches. After that we went on a bridge called Sternerbrucke which had pontoons which held the bridge up. It was on the Danube river. On Sunday we went to 2 beer gardens because it was 64 degress out and it was beautiful. One problem was that it was packed and every table was filled with people and every line to get drinks and foods was horrifying.  It was a beautiful day but next time I think we need to get to the beer gardens earlier to get the food and tables.  My brother invented a mud slide on one of the hills and I couldn't stand not to try it. We had to take really long baths! I want to do that again. Au Revoir!

Dachau and Ulm

On Monday we went to Dachau where the Nazis were a long time ago but we did not go to that part of Dachau. We went to see a castle and churches in the very pretty town. The castle was not open - only the restaurant part was. The church we went to was very big and had mini heaters for when it got cold. Wednesday we went to Ulm. Not to the new Ulm but the old Ulm where I saw the biggest church I've ever seen. It was called the Ulm catherdral. For a little while we sat on the stairs of the Danube river in Ulm where the swans came and asked us for food. After that we went to go see the most tipped over hotel ever but we when we found it it was not tipped alot at all. Something my family was going to do for a long time was visit the bread mueseum which showed what bread was made from and what salt was made from. Some time I want to go back and visit there because it was very nice.

Herrsching

On Sunday my family and I went to Herrsching only 40 min on the s-bahn. We saw churches and the Ampersee, a really big lake with really clear water. The weather was great and we got very good ice cream. Also  after the ride back on the s-bahn we found a very good English church. Finally we found a  church where they speak English. It wasn't that big but there was still enough room for everyone. Today was a short day but I liked it. 

Deutsches Museum

Yesterday we went to the  Deutsches Museum just a couple stops away on the S-bahn. Let me just say it was the best museum yet.  They had all these air planes from big to small. The exhibit had air planes cut in half to show when you fly what is under you and over you.  The also have a kid palace to play with crazy experiments and learn things too.  In the palace they have a wheel you go in and run as fast as you can to make the huge buckets of rocks come off the ground. I like it there a lot and we did not see all of it but I hope we go back and see the rest. 

Nurnberg

This weekend we went to Nurnberg  where the best sausages are supposed to be and to me I think they are. Nurnberg is also known for gingerbread. They make it different shapes, like a bear and different kinds. They also hang them up for good luck. The ones that are hard are really hard but the other cookies are soft.  My dad's work friend came with us and he knew a lot about Nurnberg. Something I saw that was exciting was the first mini-van I ever saw in Germany. I was so surprised. We all so saw a gold sculpture fountain which has a lucky ring on it which is good luck if you touch it so we climbed the fenced and we touched it. It was a lot of fun. We also saw churches  which were huge and one was made for girls only. We also went to the toy museum and saw a lot of different kinds of toys including paper toys. They also had kitchen sets that were used to help little girls learn how to be wives.  I hope we go back sometime.

Welcome to PARIS!

Today is Monday and Friday to Sunday my family and I were in fashion city which is Paris. Ordering from the menu was hard but when we finally got to see the sights I thought Paris was amazing. Getting to all these places was tough because there were alot of people pushing and being rude but that is somthing else Paris is known for. We started sightseeing Saturday. The 1st thing we went to was the Louvre. A very famous museum that has the real Mona Lisa. When we 1st saw it there were guards and alot of people. It was amazing how people loved this picture alot even though it was small. After the Louvre we went to go see the Montmarte and Notre Dame. To get to the top of the big hill(which is Montmarte) was alot of work. At the very top there is a church called the Sacre Coer. Think about going there every Sunday! Coming out of the church walking back to Notre Dame the bells rang and the Eiffel tower sparkled. It was beautiful . Then we went to the Notre Dame we were going to climb all the way to the top but the line twirled around the church -It was the longest line I ever saw.Now Sunday was a special day. One of the reasons we went to Paris for the weekend is because it was my sister's birthday and she wanted her birthday here. First thing we did was go to the Eiffel tower and all the way to the top. The only problem was how cold it was. Everyone was freezing. Even though the sights were bueatiful it was a long wait for the elevator. After that we were going to go to another famous museum but the line was very long. It was a nice visit but I think I don't want to go back too soon.

Neuschwanstein and Hoheschwangau

This weekend we went to Schwangau  to go see famous castles like Neuschwanstein.  We also went on a big mountain which is called the Tengelberg. We took a big cable car up and a cable car down. On top of Tengelberg  there was a restaurant and a balcony where people sit to get a tan and enjoy life - like on the beach where they love to relax. At the very top of the mountain there was a cross like you see in churches. We were going to climb all the way up but it was too long. Then to end Saturday we went to go see a very tiny castle and  it was called Hohes Schloss and it was in a small town called Fussen . It only took us ten minutes to look everywhere. Sunday we went to the Hoheschwangau castle which was right behind our hotel. It was closer than we thought but it was high. My sister counted 106 steps from our hotel to the castle.  This castle was my favorite because we had an english tour guide and we were the only ones with the tour guide. Everything is so different from our houses inside the castles like the plumbing. The water running off the mountain was going so fast they ran it through the castle for the flush. Also this castle was built on top of an old fortress. After this castle we went to the famous castle of all which is the Neuschwanstein and what mostly everyone calls the cinderella castle because this is what Disney world copied off of for cinderella's castle but this one was the real one.  This castle is in the mountains and it would take 45 min to walk so we took the carriage to the castle that was 20 min long but it was better than walking. Inside we had a english tour as well but with about 30 people. They had strange rooms like a cave room for the king himself, King Ludwig the second  This castle was amazing. After the long day seeing beautiful things we took the train home -  back to Munich. It was a long day. 

Busiest Weekend Yet

It is the 3rd Monday here and we just had the busiest weekend ever.  Saturday: At 7:00 AM we had to get up to catch our train to Salzburg, Austria. It was the second country we have visited. In the previous weeks we had been learning about Mozart and we wanted to visit his house in Salzburg. We saw beautiful churches and the inside of Mozart's house. After we saw everything, we went on a carriage ride around the city. It was so cool because our tour guide could talk English and could tell us about everything we wanted to know - like Mozart was 35 when he died.  Sunday: We went to church (which was in German) and it is the biggest church I ever saw compared to Cherry Hill. After church we went to Olympia Park which is where the Olympics were held about 20 years ago. It was so beautiful and it had many hills to slide down and they had trampolines and a swimming place and soccer fields and miniature golf - and it was so amazing. After lunch we crawled home. It was a tiring weekend. 

TierPark (the Zoo)

 yesterday was so much fun. we went to the german zoo which smelled bad and some animals looked like they were sick. they had things i never saw in my life.  the u.s zoo is nicer and better and bigger than this. some animals look sick but rest looked very insteresting. the monkeys, the seals, the lions, and the mighty rhinoserous.   but the poor polar bears look like they were sick. here is a tapir which is like a ant eater/ panda/armadillo.

long walk

Yesterday was so tiring. we walked 5 miles. We went to a crepe bakery for lunch which was very interesting. After that we went to the gummiebear store which was all made of gummy stuff. All our 3 pound gummiebears will be gone in a week. It's the best gummy bears I ever had . Then a long walk to the english garden to go to the Isar river for my sisters river project. After that we walked all the way to the Maximillineum (in the picture). For that whole night we were zonked. I think the best part was when I went into the 1st church  that had a huge picture painted on a wet paste wall which is called a fresco. I hope next time we take breaks in between.

-Devon

We get to try a lot of new foods here. Yesterday we had a chocolate bagel and Dragon fruit. There are a lot of foods here I wish they had at home like kinder eggs and other chocolate.

settling in

We finally settled in our apartment and it looks very cool. The apartment was made along time ago so the steps look medieval times and the closets and fireplaces look like antiques. We ride the U-bahn (the sub way) mostly everywhere when it would be a mile to walk, like to the big main food stores and to go see castles. It's strange but they only have little cars that only 2 people can fit in. So far I only saw 2 mini vans that were not taxi's. Please give me comments on my blog every day.  See you there! - Devon

Hello Kinders

Hello kinders and adults. Welcome to my 1st blog posting. Sorry about the delay. We had wireless problems at the apartment. Most of the people here are my schoolmates so hi. Its Monday here in Germany and its nightime so you are probably still in school. Today was 1st day of Linda school and then we went shopping as usual. That’s all for today. See you tomorrow.

First Few Days

Hi everyone - We arrived a few days ago and everything is great but we don't have an internet connection in our apartment yet so I can't start blogging for a few more days.  I'll write more soon. Guten Tag!