Frankfurt, Strassbourg and Northern French Villages

Hi Again,
After an extremely enjoyable stay in Franfurt we have now relocated to Northern France and have collected our Lease Peugeot, a French version of the people mover. The 6 speed diesel certainly gets along well on the highways and luckily has more storage space than our MPV. We moved straight out of the big cities and have started our village tour, driving randomly through the country lanes and finding one amazing village after another. This area was German until after WW1 when the country borders were shifted, so there is a continual cross between the two cultures, however French is the chosen language. (No we are not getting better at speaking yet, but are managing to communicate.)

We visited the village of Selestat before driving to Colmar where we stayed in the village the first night and on the outskirts the second. After visiting the 800 year old castle Chateau du Haut-Koenigsbourg, which has an amazing history prior to being sacked and burned by the Swiss and then left for a couple of hundred years before the town of Selestat gave it to Kaiser Wilhelm ii. The Kaiser then had the castle returned to what was thought to be its original state. It is now undergoing further repairs.

All of these villages have the original narrow cobble stone streets and buildings where pedestrians must move over for vehicles they are so narrow, and then as you move towards the outskirts the streets become wider and buildings more modern. On the outskirts of some villages there are rows of tin shacks with a small workable garden each on the edge of larger farms. It would appear that workers live here, but cant be positive. We can say that they are tiny. Not sure how you would fit a bed in there, never mind kitchen, bathroom etc.

Throughout the villages in the tourist areas they are selling toy white birds. It wasn't until we studied the postcards that we realised they are storks, of the delivering babies fame. They are nesting in chimneys etc of some of the houses around here. We plan to get a decent photo to add today.

A more thorough post will come, but we wanted to get some brag shots up quickly as we are loving the countryside and landmarks, and of course the wine and cheese at regular intervals throughout the day. You walk into a grocery store... and there is a wine tasting. Cheese counter at the deli is huge. Heaven!!!

A heads up that daylight saving started here today, so if you are Skyping us we are now 8 hours behind Oz, 9 hours ahead of Vancouver.

More soon!!

New York, New York!!!

New York, New York

Hi everyone, you may have noticed the delay on this blog…it’s because we have been totally STUFFED!!! Our flight left New York at 11p.m Sunday night and although it was only 7 hours in duration, the time change and busy week beforehand was enough to totally wreck us all. Luckily the hotel we had booked in Frankfurt was clean, comfortable and spacious. We had interconnecting rooms with free mini bar (unbelievable) and extremely helpful staff. Frankfurt airport was going to charge 5 Euro a day to store one suitcase, the hotel was happy to store 3 suitcases free of charge until we fly out of Europe in June. Again unbelievable as it makes life so much easier, the weather here is beautiful so we have finally been able to go outside without wearing several layers of clothing.

We are now on a train to France ready to collect the Peugeot and begin our European adventure. New York was the perfect way to end our time in America, it was FANTASTIC. We stayed at the Belverdere a mere 3 blocks walk to Times Square and once again jampacked every day full of activities, lots of walking and many late nights. First stop was the toy stores, Toys R Us (Times Square), FAO Schwartz and the massive Lego Store as the boys had spending money burning holes in their pockets. We also stopped in at the Apple Store (unbelievably crowded) before heading into Central Park. There was so much to see and do…horse drawn carriages, street performers, ice skating, beautiful lakes and bridges and the zoo.

Tuesday morning we caught the subway downtown to Ground Zero, a humbling experience. There is a beautiful church (St. Pauls’) directly across the road from where the buildings collapsed which was completely unharmed. It became a refuge for the many volunteers working at Ground Zero and is a remarkable monument to the spirit of New York. Thousands of people including doctors, counselors, chiropractors, massage therapists, chefs and spiritual leaders from every denomination volunteered around the clock to ensure those working at the site were adequately clothed, fed and emotionally supported during that horrible time. It was uplifting to see how the New Yorkers united and worked together to overcome 9/11. Our day ended with a ferry ride across to Staten Island, the perfect viewing platform for the Statue of Liberty and a fitting end to an emotional day.

Wednesday we walked back through Central Park to “The Museum of Natural History” where we spent an enjoyable afternoon. Thursday was the St. Patrick’s Day parade so the city was buzzing. We watched the procession from beautiful 5^th Avenue and thoroughly enjoyed the festive atmosphere that lasted all day and well into the night. It was too much fun to sleep so at 10p.m we went ice skating at Rockefeller Centre and enjoyed it so much went back for more on Friday night, skating until midnight (after spending that day walking around Manhattan and going to the top of the Empire State). Each day involved lots of walking and sightseeing, it is such a spectacular place which we just couldn’t get enough of.

The boys finished off our wonderful week with a visit to the “Intrepid Warship Museum (Aircraft Carrier, Submarine and Concorde with a vast variety of combat planes and space memorabilia) while I caught the subway back downtown to Century 21, a large department store where everything from clothing to suitcases is hugely discounted. I had some fun. Craig and the boys met me several hours later for one more ferry ride across to Staten Island as we wanted to see the sun set one last time over the city. New York definitely exceeded all our expectations.

So here we are with a car for the next nine weeks and absolutely no plan… let the adventure continue. Each day still brings some new surprise and great joy. Yesterday we came across a lake in the Frankfurt Botanical Gardens and for a mere 4 Euro the boys spent an hour rowing a quaint little boat around it. Craig and I sat and enjoyed the beautiful spring weather and watched the boys laughing and enjoying their time together. 

Okay that’s enough raving from me for now. Am I making you jealous? Sorry everyone we really hope you are all enjoying work/school…. Funny, we don’t seem to be missing either so until next time…

Auf Wiedersen from the Wockies

 Photos:- FAO Schwatrz Toy Store, Central Park, Staton Island Ferry, Museum of Nat. History, Times Square, Empire State, Rockerfeller Centre Ice Skating, Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge, Street Performance with Sam and Jord, Assorted parks, Supreme Court, U.S. Intrepid Warship Museum. Central Station, Ground Zero Model and Police/ Fire patches from around the world.