Where Fairytales Are Made

The last stretch of our journey was in the dreamy countryside of Bavaria.

This Cathedral was nestled back in the Bavarian countryside. This Cathedral was actually Catholic and the ornate gold decorations spoke to it's faith. It felt Catholic, if that makes sense?

The cows even had bells!

Seriously! Look at that countryside!

The Black forest wasn't nearly so ominous as I had anticipated. It  was lovely.

Jared was ecstatic about his half a chicken. The food at this outdoor restaurant was the very definition of comfort food! I had an especially delicious dish of cheesy spinach scalloped potatoes. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

We had stopped in the very touristy, yet exceedingly delightful town of Rothenburg. Here Spence and I are introducing you to the Medieval Museum of Torture. Yikes! My stomach was a little sick by the time I left this building. How can humans be so cruelly ingenious. I was just glad I could laugh and have fun while not so long ago others would have been screaming in pain.

We took pictures of some of the less gory tortures. These masks were used to shame people if they had been gossiping, being glutinous or other socially inappropriate behaviors.

Postcard picture from Rothenburg.

Rothenburg still has a city wall and we were able to walk around it. This is us looking down on the town below.

Castles! The reason every little girl dreams of a European vacation.

Two castles on the forested hilltops. It was a Romantics dream come true. What more could a girl ask for? Other then a hot Prince to go with the hillside castle & I had both!

Last up we have Jared in what was probably his most glorious moment of the vacation. Here my husband stands in the largest beer hall in the world. Here we come Octoberfest!

Oh, Germany, How I miss you!

After being home from this delightful vacation for 4 months I do so miss the green rolling hills and pastry shops at every turn. Oh, Germany, how I miss you!

These pictures are from our time in the beautiful city of Berlin. A city that reminds us all that hope is always possible even in the face of many years of turmoil.

The Dunn/Thomas family in front of the capital building. So cool!

Checkpoint Charlie. At least to me, the area still carries a sense of hesitation and foreboding. A lot of tense moments happened in this very spot over the years.

Mom and Dad standing in front of a large section of the Berlin Wall.

At the Checkpoint Charlie monument you see a young American soldier staring at you entering the American side and on the opposite side there is a young Russian soldier. A reminder of who it was that manned this post and put their lives in the hands of their leaders.

Here we have Jared listening to our audio tour of the ancient artifacts museum. I can't remember the name, which is shameful, but I remember the impact it had on me. In this picture Jared is standing in front of the gates of Babylon. Can you imagine how many people marched through these gates? Dignitaries, Soldiers, Farmers. Wow!

Athena and I. I just sat and marveled at these amazing accomplishments of ancient times. In many ways, I think, what they did then is more marvelous then what we do now with all of our advances.

I am trying to make my fish face next to the statue of Poseidon. Slightly undignified I know.

Berlin was a memorable day!

Welcome again to Thomas Town. We have more vacation pics' to share.

So, in the amazing city of Lubec our tours guides once again struck gold. The story goes: The city had been built and the surrounding wall protecting it put in place. But, what about all the other people that wanted to live in this prosperous, and beautiful city? Well, What they did was to build inwards. They took backyards and courtyards and built these tiny, yet charming homes. I guess it's a travelers game to see how many of these little entryways to the secret homes you could find. It was a delightful experience.

We went up a church tower in the city of seven cathedrals. It was a beautiful view as you can see next.

Jared and Spencer with the Devil. They seem awfully happy in their present company don't they? I guess the story goes that the cathedral that is directly behind the devil was being built and the devil came and thought it was for him and was pleased. But, then he found out it was dedicated to God and he was livid and was going to destroy it. To pacify the devil the towns people said they would build a tavern across the street for the devil and he was once again pleased. Hmmmm? Sound like a fishy reason to build a bar? I have my doubts.

My sister-in-law Heidi was very excited about this replica of Gutenburgs press. It was really cool. You could actually make your own copy of the first page of the bible in German. And, as a really cool side note. The man helping her was into genealogy and said he new about the Mormons because of this. He was really nice.

The interiors of the cathedrals were breathtaking. I never tired of exploring them. You could feel that so many lives had poured their heart and souls into making these marvelous buildings.

A glorious day at the beach. Actually it was rather cool but it was beautiful and sunny. Jared and Spencer ran around without their shirts on and everyone was looking at them like they were crazy. You know Germans and their reserved nature. But, it was a beach after all and they were going to make the most of it. My brother Paul said and we were only day or two's travel by boat away from Finland. Yeah for K.J. and Finland!

Anyone for a thick, creamy, decadent cup of hot chocolate? The Germans know how to do it right. Well, that's according to my family. I'm not a chocolate fan so I did not try the rich delight.

Stay tuned... Next up will be Berlin. Ich bin ein Berliner! So what if I say I'm a donut. They happen to be very tasty. I would know!

Germany: The best vacation ever!

Have you ever really built something up so much you think there's no way reality can live up to the dream? I thought our recent vacation to Germany would be just that. I mean how can reality ever live up to the fantasy you've built up in your mind? Well folks, I'm here to tell you reality can be even better then what you've concocted in your dreams! Germany was a fairytale in living color. And, thanks to our terrific tour guides, Dunn&Harris, we were able to truly relish the experience. We learned histories, went on fabulous walking tours, and dined on the delicious and comforting Germanic dishes. Seriously you can't go wrong with meat and potatoes!

Our journey really began at the Las Vegas airport. By the time we made it to the Paris airport where we found these super awesome pea green seats we were exhausted but still psyched to see Paul and Heidi even if we did miss our connecting flight and had to wait another 3 hours.

Dad and Spencer taking a snooze at the Paris airport. It's nice to be able to lay down after being scrunched on the plane. 

By the time we arrived in Germany it was 2 in the morning their time.

We slept for about 8 hours and then Paul said it was time to get up and start exploring. Here Jared has stormed the playground castle and was victorious.

Jared had to try out this super cool swing. Talmadge would have loved it!

We are walking down one of the main streets in Rostock, one of the city gate guard towers are directly behind us. Everything was so medievally marvelous!

Jared and I in front of the Fountain of Happiness. If you can't tell the statues are naked. We figured the fountain was appropriately named. How could you not be happy being naked and playing in water!
Also, the building behind us is the oldest University in northern Europe. It had been around since around 1200.

This is the town hall in Rostock. In German it's called a Rathaus. Does anyone else find this as funny as I do? The politicians in the Rat house? He He.

Paul and Heidi had planned fantastic day adventures that we took the trains to get to. It was fantastic having someone who spoke the language and could tell us when to get off the train and how much things cost. Once again, Yeah for Paul and Heidi!

These white cliffs are the German equivalent of the White cliffs of Dover. They were actually named after Queen Victoria who was Kaiser Wilhelm's aunt or something like that. Paul could tell you precisely. I was just loving the scenery and the hike.

So, you could choose to take a mammoth staircase down from the cliffs to the sea shore. We, of course, had to do this. However, I don't think we really considered how grueling it would be to get back up the 20,000 (that might be a slight exaggeration) stairs. My calves have never been so sore in my entire life as they were the day after I scaled that staircase.

Can you guess who that is in the old fashioned scuba gear? Jared! One of the days we went to a seaside aquarium. We all loved it, Spencer especially. He spoke about for days afterward.

What do you mean there's a large man eating polar bear behind me?

That's us watching the fish in the grand finale aquarium. It was thoroughly mesmerizing. There was a really scary looking shark that kept circling around and around.

Is this not gorgeous scenery?! Every city we toured was so charming and had such fantastic character.

Those towers and gate behind us are the original gates of the city Lubeck. It was a very rich merchant city. This city had seven spires ( a lot of cathedrals ).  Northern Germany originally built their cathedrals as Catholic but then switched to Lutheran. They have paintings in them depicting Martin Luther as a Swan.

These buildings are the old warehouses.  Lubeck has a canal that extends around the entire city, convenient and excellent deterrent for invaders.

... And that is just part of our trip. Stay posted there are more germanic adventures to come.

Spring!

Hello All! It's been a while. The lull after Christmas inspired no posts. In fact the dreariness of winter makes me want to... Well, I think this first picture of Jared explains it best.

But, not of all of us felt this way. The youngest of the Thomas clan found something joyful about winter, throwing snowballs at Daddy.

When we all finally decided to come out of hibernation it was because spring had finally returned to our beautiful corner of the earth, and a special furry visitor came bearing gifts of sugar. Sugar by the truckloads.

This year Talmadge really got the concept of Easter egg hunts. He was loving it!

Uncle Spencer was having a ruff time about something and Talmadge is offering a candy to sooth his wounded soul. Nothing a little candy can't fix.

Next up we a very special day that had been long awaited. Talmadge's Birthday Party.
Why does he look so very forlorn? It's his party and he cried because he wanted to. It also didn't help that the munchkin had skipped a nap that day.

But, that mopey face couldn't last long with Nana directing the games. Before long the birthday boy had turned that frown upside down.

Back in the action!

Look at those manly men grillin' up some burgers for the party goers.

No sad faces here. It's present time and all the children gathered in a tight circle around Talmadge to see what amazing delights would be unwrapped.

Nana hit the jackpot with this super hero combo. Talmadge loves it!

This last photo is Prince Charming taking a snooze. His crazy mother had to get out in the sunshine and run around because she was loving the weather so much! Working out is exhausting.