Massive Post for a Massive Weekend

We spent a few more days in Prague before heading to Germany for a long weekend.

K and Mom in front of the theatre where Mozart premiered Don Giovanni. Just one of many musical connections we made during my parent's visit.


Cracking jokes in the Dvorak museum is always appropriate!


Leave it to Mom to bump into former students. And at a concert in the Smetana hall, of all places...

We're Czechin' out! We hit the road on a beautiful Friday afternoon and headed Northwest towards the German city of Leipzig. Ask my Dad about the border...

This is for Tracy's mom, who I understand enjoys cranes. Lots of construction in Leipzig in preperation for the World Cup in June.


Maybe a cousin of mine remembers this statue in Leipzig? K and A do their best to imitate it. Which just goes to show that even while teaching in a foreign land we can answer questions about art imitating life, or life imitating art. You be the judge:


Dining in the restaraunt where Goethe wrote some of Faust. Very nice, indeed!


"He stuck his tongue out at me!" Silly musicians. You just can't trust them to behave themselves...


K and Mom in front of a Wagner bust near the hotel in Leipzig. K and A ran around town in the morning. It was so cold that our sweat was freezing, but we did run on some famous people's streets, such as Martin Luther, Beethoven Strasse, and we saw the new football stadium that will host some of the World Cup games.


Continuing with the musical theme, we encountered the church where Bach played the organ and directed the boys choir. Luckily for us, there was a small choir rehearsing in the church, which only added to the magic of the place.

After departing from Leipzig, we headed south to Wurzburg, where we stayed with relatives. They were distant relatives on paper, but once we met them it was as if we were old friends. They were wonderful hosts and showed us their beautiful city. The Festung Marionberg seems to be floating in the darkness:


Wurzburg's bridge isn't as famous as Prague's, but it is still lovely.


Thanks to the miracles of tripods, I was able to capture this shot of us walking on the bridge looking towards the center of town. Because it was Carnival season (similar to Mardi Gras but lasting from November 11th to February 28th this year) there were people in costumes carousing through the town.

I know you've been waiting to see the horse we rode in on: The Skoda (pronounced Shkoda) Octavia was a brilliant car, cruising in style and comfort at REASONABLE speeds on the autobahn. When all was said and told, we travelled 1,419 Km and used 90 L of diesel. You're mission: Convert that to miles per gallon!

The Skoda, looking brilliant in blue:


Yes, you can park right up next to the castle walls. The cannons weren't firing today, apparently. We toured the Festung Marianberg and could hear the sounds of the Carnival parade starting in the distance. The size of the car helps to show how massive these walls are.

Ahhhh, this was a sort of anniversary trip after all...

We hit the Autobahn once again and drove southeast to Munchen, or Munich. We were two full months early to start celebrating around the Maypole, though.


Dad and Host Brother T in front of a restaraunt sporting Dad's initials in Gold. You might have to click on the picture to enlarge it to really see it well.

T and A reunite in front of Ernst Mach Gymnasium after a seven year hiatus. It was great to be back in Haar.

Inside the school someone drove a Volkswagen through a tunnel!


This is for Keith: A lovely looking lion! (and lovely ladies)

Farewell Germany! The Neues Rathaus and the Frauenkirche in the foreground, the Munchen Olympic Stadium in the far distance. The trip home featured a driving tour of Regensburg. We also had to get lost, and chose Plzen as the place to do it. No speeding tickets, parking tickets, bribes, extortions, or anything but pleasant experiences.