Neuschwanstein Castle, June 20, 2008

Friday morning, June 20, we drove to Germany and the Neuschwanstein Castle. The castle was lovely and we got our exercise walking up and down stairs.



Here is the brochure for the castle, they have a much better picture than I could take. King Ludwig II began building the castle in 1869. He saw it as a monument to medieval culture and kingship, which he revered and wanted to imitate. It was built and furnished in medieval styles but equipped with all the latest technology, at the time. It was never finished because he spent too much money on it, went crazy and died.

The castle from the parking lot below.



This is the Hohenschwangau castle on the next hill. It belonged to King Maximilian II, father of Ludwig II. His son decided to build a bigger more beautiful castle. Ludwig's castle is very ornate and much larger.

It is very tall. I think they said there were 630 stairs on the tour.

Side view of the castle


A, D and L waiting to go inside the castle.

Mary's Bridge seen from the Castle window. From the bridge you get a good view of the castle.
View of the Castle from windows.

This is a model of the castle in one of the rooms. It was the only thing we could take pictures of inside the castle.



It is a hike up to the top. We rode a bus up most of the way, but still had to walk some. We must have spent too much time inside, the buses had stopped running and we had to walk down.

Austria and Venice

Friday June 20th

We headed out of the tourist city of Fussen, Germany and across into Austria. We saw a sign saying there was lodging down a country road and headed off the freeway. The road went along the edge of the Vils river, back up into the country. Brian is cute, once he is headed for a room, he keeps going and going until he finds something and we did. He found a nice hotel that had a couple of rooms for us, even though they had a tour bus come in. We had dinner in the hotel.

Saturday the 21st we drove into Innsbruck where we ate lunch and saw the town set up for the “Euro 2008". We also saw the government house below, which is one side of the walled old city and the Clock tower.

Then we drove to Salzburg and found a room. When we got off the freeway we found a tourist information center. It was closed, but there were pictures of lodging places and a phone to call them. So Brian called one, got the address and we headed for Haus Elizabeth. It is a great place, and we had dinner at the campground restaurant next door. They had a birthday party for a family member, and it took us a long time to get dinner. When we got it, it was good.

Sunday morning Erwin Roth picked us up for church and the kids followed with the children. I rode with him and we talked. RS was interesting with a young lady translating. SS we had the same young lady translating and there were 4 men doing the story of Alma and Amulek as a readers theater. As we listened to the translator, I thought how if Alma stood before me I would need a translator to understand him. The scriptures are translated so we can read the words of the prophets.

Then we went to their house for dinner and a long visit on a hot afternoon. We went back to the room. Debbie and Brian got the children to bed and then went next door for ice cream and mousse.
J is a cute happy baby, even with sleeping in different rooms each night and spending many hours in the car.


Monday June 23 we got packed and went into Salzburg. We saw the old town and toured the castle. Brian bought a jews harp and a lamellophone or thumb piano type of instrument. We then rode the train up to the top of the cliff and toured the Hohenstein Castle. It was so beautiful we took a lot of pictures of Salzburg from the castle.






Inside the castle was a puppet museum. We saw a lot of puppets from a wide ranch of eras.



Then drove south towards Italy and got caught in a rainstorm going through the Alps. It was raining so hard that cars pulled off the freeway because they couldn’t see to drive. Even big trucks pulled off. We did also for a while, until it let up a bit. We pulled off to get a room at Warm Bad, which means Hot Springs. That was a weird place with Hospitals and Old Folks Homes and very expensive hotels. We looked around a bit and then got back on the freeway. We found a nice hotel attached to the rest area and gas station. Dinner that night was cafeteria style - where you choose what you want and then pay for each individual item you have.


Tuesday we drove to the airport near Venice or Venizia dropped of the rental car and took a bus into Venice. The bus went across a bridge and pulled into a large parking lot. There was a train station nearby, a parking garage and rental car returns. From then on, everyone was on foot. There are no roads. I hadn’t known Venice was a bunch of islands with corners filled in so they are square and bridges from one island to the next.

B, L and D walking along a small canal. There are a lot of boats of all kinds and descriptions, taxis, garbage boats, buses, gondolas, package transporters, etc. Every morning guys with wheelbarrows went past our room loaded with old wood or cement. One morning I got up from breakfast and followed them, I wondered what they did with the junk. They took it down to the canal and dumped it into a boat with a large garbage bin, it looked like a dump truck bed, in the middle. All the deliveries are made by boat and then hand truck, cart or wheelbarrow. It was very interesting. There were very few gardens, mostly sidewalks and buildings. We asked about a gondola ride, but it was 200 Euro and the day was very hot and the gondolas are not covered. So we took a 6 Euro each water bus ride instead.
D, J, B and L enjoying dinner along side a small canal.

Here I am in front of the famous Clock tower on the San Marco Piazza

D and I in front of the Basilica di San Marco in San Marco Square or Piazza.
Below is L running down a narrow road.



The streets are very narrow. Here are J, D B and L coming out of a road.




Lizzie loved the bridges. She is just learning to walk and the stairs we only 3 or 4 inches high and she could go up and down holding one hand, but two was better.

After a couple of days in Venice we went back to London . L sat on Bs lap, J sat with D on the plane.

Trip to Scotland with family June 2008

Friday, June 28, we flew up to Glasgow, Scotland for the weekend. We first saw the Hunterston Castle. The pictures are:
A in front of the garden gate,
the garden,
the castle from across the lawn,
J, D B and L in front of the castle tower,
a little pile of rocks and laminated cards near the tower left by visitors to the castle,
One of the torrets,
L, B, D and J in front of the castle,
the Hunterston House near the castle,
another view of the Hunterston House.

After seeing the Castle and Hunterston House, we drove up to Dumbarton and found a Carvery where we stopped for lunch. The procedure was to pay for your dinner and then go pick up your food from the carver. There was ham, turkey and beef plus yorkshire pudding, stuffing, 2 kinds of potatoes and 3 hot vegetables. The ham was labeled by another name and B told me it was ham. The couple in front of us laughed and I asked if they were laughing at us. They said they were and asked if we needed additional translation. I asked what the round balls were that the carver put in the yorkshire pudding. The fellow said it was "like stuffing". I asked what it was called, and he said, “stuffing”. We continued to visit with them while we were in the Q or line and then they stopped by the table and said “Goodbye” before they left. The meal was not expensive, so we added dessert.

Then we went to find a room for the night and every place we asked about was full. So B kept going down the road. Finally we found a Bed and Breakfast with a room for the bunch of us. We were in about 6, B and I went to the store for a few groceries. The next morning we got up and had a great breakfast and went to church. As we were talking to people in the foyer one of the ladies said, “Oh, you are the people from the restaurant.” Sure enough the couple that we had spoken to in the restaurant were there, and the husband is the bishop. When he said “Hello” he said to his wife, “I am sure glad I was nice yesterday. Wouldn’t it be embarrassing if I had said something rude.”

We just thought it was interesting that of all the people in Dumbarton we had talked to the bishop at the restaurant. Meetings were good and I understood more than I had the last 2 Sundays. Afterward the bishop turned out the light in the chapel before he left the stand and the ward members all left the chapel. But they stood in the foyer and visited for 20 minutes or so. One of the ladies had a bag of crisps and candy that she offered to everyone and people stood and ate and visited. It was very impressive that they did that outside the chapel.






We drove up to the Duke of Argyle’s Castle - the Campbell Clan Castle - and walked around and took pictures. L's favorite part were the rocks. She picked up the rocks and dropped them over and over.

We then went to dinner at a pub that had been recommended. As we were waiting for dinner, L began to break out in hives. There were red welts all over her. So we ate quickly and called the nurse line and we headed for the hospital. They had began to go down by the time we got there. The doctor gave her decongestant to help them go away and we headed back to our room.

Monday we went to the Dumbarton Castle. The kids were sleeping, so we just walked around outside for a few minutes. It is up on a big rock next to the firth, or river delta. The views below are rock from the land side, of the entrance down on the coast and a close up of the castle on top of the rock.

Then we drove through Glasgow and looked around.




We visited a castle in Paisley. This was a ruin, there were metal signs telling what the rooms were, but no one there and we let L run for a while. She enjoyed being out of the car.

We had a nice lunch at the Hungy Monk on our way to the airport. It is a beautiful place in the Scottish countryside.













J and L were delighted to be in London and getting into their own car, to go home to their own beds.

Tuesday we rested and I played with the children. We did a little work in the house and garden. Wednesday July 2 D took me to the airport where I said "Goodbye." L understood what was happening and didn't want me to go.

It is nice to be home again.

Watton at Stone - Below is the Sign on the road letting us know we had arrived at the village our ancestors Thomas Hale and Thomasine Dowset left in about 1637 to come to the new world with their 2 young sons, Thomas and John. The next picture shows the church across the road and field from the sign, which is just to my right. The picture on the right is the church and cemetery from a little closer. The big tree on the right is different with its branches all going down.The name of Watton-at-Stone is often just called Watton. Click here to go to Wikipedia and learn more of the history. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watton-at-Stone. This is a picture of what we were told is The Stone for which the village is named. It looks a lot like an old lump of concrete sitting next to the curb just outside the Waggon and Horses Pub.
Here is the sign again with a memorial in the back ground. The memorial is for all the soldiers from this small place who have died in battles through the years. Behind the memorial is a field and then the church is in the distance. Below is Debbie in the old grave yard next to the Church.