June 11, Germany

June 11, 2015 GERMANY

Quite a bit of bus time today.  First stop today was actually the tiny country of Lichstenstein. This country had an appropriately tiny castle to go with it.  The prince is also in residence just now, but I looked him up. He's too old for Catherine. 

Neuschwanstein was next. One of the things she remembered from 12 years ago was that the water was exceptionally good. The water is gone, but on the bright side the hike was much easier than she remembered.  The chandelier in the throne room was a wow. 

Less so was the angry man who yelled at her for taking a picture. Not sure if she was taking pictures illegally. I asked if he yelled at her in German. No, but he was plenty scary in English. 

They didn't get to go to the other castle, Hohenschwangau, it was never on the itinerary, but even if it had been they would have had to skip it because the bus driver backed into a pole and broke the back windshield, so they had to leave to take care of that.  oops. 

She's waited 12 years, but at last got some spaghetti eis. Her life is now complete. 

June 12, 2015 GERMANY

Heading toward Munich, first stop, BMW world. Not Catherine's thing. She said it was really boring, but managed to find a motorcycle and a really good chair.

Next was the Pinakothek der Moderne, a modern art museum.

 The vote here is "crazy but cool Grapic and Industrial design as well as architecture."  For a small fortune she could have taken a class to better understand the modern art. She decided to save her fortune. 

They saw the famous Glockenspiel.

Then walked to Asam's church. This church was built in the 1700 by the brothers Asam. It must have cost a fortune; it remains one of the most important examples of the style of that period. 

The group dinner looks interesting. Look how big the radishes are. 

June 13, 2015 MUNICH to SALZBERG

A good day to be in Munich. Munich was celebrating it's birthday (857 or so years old). There were tables set up in the Marionplatz and lots of food and music.

Later they rode the bus to Salzburg, had a little free time and then saw The Magic Flute at the famous puppet theater.

The show included the following dialogue:

"I am the princess"
"You are the princess"
"You must be the princess"
"yes, I am the princess"
"you have a white nose; you must be the princess."
"Yes, I am the princess."

June 14, 2015 Salzberg

Salzburg and all things Mozart.  This includes Mozart kugeln and Mozart Eis (the kugel is a ball of chocolate and marzipan and Eis is ice-cream).  They saw his birth house.

And really got into the spirit of things.  Left: Catherine, Center: Zoe, Right: India

No doubt the day included plenty of music. For sure it included a showing of the Sound of Music.

They saw Hohensalzburg castle which was begun in 1077.

And also Salzburg Cathedral which was first built in 774 and then rebuilt in 1181. This Cathedral has the font where Mozart was baptized. But it is NOT the Cathedral where Maria got married in the Sound of Music. That was filmed in Mondsee Cathedral.

June 15, 2015 Salzberg


Before starting on today's trip, I must post the best souvenir ever.  Catherine got this for me at the Rijks museum in Amsterdam.  I put it up in my office today and it makes me smile every time I see it.

After breakfast, which included a kiwi--aber naturlich! The group went to the Berchtesgarden salt mines.

I'm sure when it was built 2,500 years ago the miners saw scenes like this. 

Boy oh boy, not anymore! Now it's a full-blown over the top tourist attraction. I love being a tourist--how fun! There are various tours--the regular tour.

The BOAT tour---this strikes me as odd---since salt dissolves in water, I would think a boat would be a really bad idea, but what do I know?

This is the first group picture I've seen of this study abroad group.

And of course there was a gift shop. Looks like fancy salts will be coming my way soon. 

There was also a movie, and all kinds of scenic wonders. But I saved the best picture for last. the SLIDES. Catherine's favorite. She's in front and if that smile isn't pure joy, I don't know what is. 

Then to end the day a truly weird dinner of Chinese food and Kase wurst.

June 16, 2015 Vienna


The only word for today is Palatial. The first visit was to Belvedere Palace. Built in the early 1700 for the fun of it by Prince Eugene.

Next stop was the art history museum, which judging by google images, looks exactly the same as a palace.

Catherine did manage to find  some artwork though in the form of another Eygptian hippo!  Meet Jens, the Viennese hippo.

Catherine bought a little Jens to keep William company.

After some Wienerschnitzel, the group went to the Vienna Opera house, to see Mozart's Don Giovanni.

She was in one of the boxes and couldn't see very well. We told her to pretend she was a gorgeously dressed member of high-society.  She told us that there were still two hours to go. This pretty well sums up my feelings about opera as well. 

Happily, there are always friends to come home to.

 From left to right, Catherine, Susan Duncan, Kayla Sylvester, India Sherman, Madison Stewart, Amy Grant.

June 17, 2015 Vienna

Europe is starting to affect her brain. This morning she deliberately ordered sparkly water. She knows mineral water is horrible, but her brain wanted it anyway. Looks like her body still thinks it's awful.

The group spent the whole day at Prater amusement park, the oldest amusement park in the world.  Horrors, one of the other students, Claire Woodward, wore the same shirt as Catherine AND then wore the same jumpsuit. 

Not sure which ride required the jumpsuit, but Catherine wrote the following about this ride:
"The seats rotate and then the entire thing goes back and forth until you go all the way around. I just sat on the ground laughing and trying not to puke for a good five minutes after. I'm still shaking."

I'll include some mystery pictures here. They're great, but I have no idea what they are or where they were taken. Looks like something that could be in Vienna though.

Winner of strange vacation picture?

Or maybe this one should win? Story here for sure.

Impressive fish. I hope it wasn't for lunch.

A happy place.

Claire and Catherine.

Nice dress! I like it!

June 10, Switzerland

Catherine is on top of the world today, or at least, Europe.

Despite the rain in the lower elevations and the snow in the upper, she managed to get some fantastic views. She's on the Jungfrau.

The Jungfrau also has an ice-palace with bears.

They took a five mile hike up the Eiger.



 . Catherine's friend, India, says they have a symbiotic relationship. She is Catherine's pillow, and Catherine is her space heater.

They took a train to the top of a mountain--the Jungfrau?

And then a cable car down.

As far as I know, no one needed rescuing, but it's good to know rescue is available.

After dinner a train and then a bus took them to Fussen, so they can see the famous Neuschwanstein castle tomorrow.

June 9, Switzerland

The day started with breakfast at the hotel in Lausanne. Then they hopped on a bus and went to teh Fromagerie d'Alpage. This whole trip seems to have a definite cheese theme. I approve.

Some of her samples.

Next, a group lunch which I hope featured cheese. Then a bus ride to the Callier chocolate factory. You can view the tour on youtube. 

In the bag is a year's supply of chocolate for her, some mini bars for her friends, and a classic bar for us. How this is all going to stay unmelted is a mystery---there has already been one encounter between purse and chocolate. But what are mistakes for if not to repeat them? There are worse things in life than a european chocolate blob.

Next stop, the Swiss temple.

And a pass by what looks to be the Swiss equivalent of Deseret Book. 

Then the bus to the Belle Epoque Hotel in Berne. 

During free time in the evening she found this Bear.

And of course, fondue. We all tried fondue in Lucerne when we were there 12 years ago, but none of us liked it much. This must have been a different recipe. She said it was delicious. I said we could all explore the world of fondue when she comes home. 

June 8, France to Switzerland

Mostly bus travel today, including lunch on the bus. But they did stop at Fontenay Abbey, a world heritage site. This Abbey was built in the 1100, by monks who felt that the Benedictines had become too worldly. They called themselves Cistercian and this Abbey is the most complete example of their architecture.

She arrived in French speaking Switzerland this evening. She says it's very pretty with very white cows. Perhaps most importantly are mini McFlurries. Along with places to put your McFlurries when you're through.

June 7, Paris

Definitely sounds like a better day today.  Wallet WAS in the Louvre post office lost and found. All euros intact.  PHEW!!

Church was next. And then visits to very famous churches while wearing good walking shoes,  Notre Dame and Sainte Chapelle.

St. Chapelle, was built in the 1200, to house Louis IX collection of relics of Christ.  It's especially famous for all of the 13th century stained glass.

But somewhere early in the day she found what she considers to be the perfect place. The Shakespeare company bookstore which has both new and old books, a piano and a cat.  It doesn't get better than that.

They had lunch in the Latin quarter, which is a place for student life and bistros.

Then saw the Great Mosque. This was built after WWI in gratitude to the 100,000 Muslims who died fighting Germany. 

After this, there was a lecture on Mormonism in France, then dinner, then at last---The Eiffel Tower. 

The tower is sporting a tennis ball in honor of the French Open.

And Catherine is sporting a beret. I'm also happy to see that she DID buy that shirt at the Louvre yesterday. 

Her day closed (I hope!) with this text to me. "12:30 a.m. and I've already walked almost 2000 steps and a mile today."  No idea what she's doing. Running laps up and down the tower perhaps?