Israel

What better place to celebrate Christmas than the place it began, right? So, after some discussions with some German friends who went to Israel last summer, we decided to make our own trip to the holy land during Christmas week 2009. It took several weeks to research flights, hotels, and tours, but we were able to put together a whirlwind trip that would allow us to see a number of sites in a 5-day trip.

We flew into Tel Aviv, Israel on Tuesday, December 22nd. We decided that Jerusalem would be our main point of interest and the hub from where we would embark on all our trips, so we took a shared taxi to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv. Jerusalem is only about an hour by car from Tel Aviv, but in reality you are driving 2000 years into the past, leaving a vibrant modern city in Tel Aviv with skyscrapers and modern conveniences and arriving in a city divided along religious and cultural lines that has been disputed and fought over for thousands of years. Jerusalem sits on the dividing line between Jewish controlled Israel and the Palestinian territory, and the city is divided accordingly with western Jerusalem occupied by Jews and eastern Jerusalem occupied by Palestinians. The old walled city of Jerusalem is divided into fourths with the sections known as the Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Armenian quarters - each of which tending to house holy sites important to the differing religions.

So, we arrived at our hotel, which was located in eastern Jerusalem and were greeted by the owner of the hotel with delicious pea soup and tea with fresh mint leaves. A nice warm welcoming. We arrived around 9 at night and were a bit hungry still, so he ordered us a pizza, while we settled in and then we came back downstairs to eat and meet some of the fellow hotel guests. There were people from all over staying there and we chatted with some graduate students from the US who were currently studying in Egypt. After eating most of our pizza we headed back up to our room and headed to bed, because we had an early tour the next morning.

On Wednesday, December 23rd, we meet our tour at 7:00am outside Jaffa Gate, which is one of only 7 entrances to the old city of Jerusalem. From there we loaded onto a shuttle bus that would drive us to sites in the northern territories of Israel in "the Galilee". Along the 2-hour bus ride to Nazareth we watched the landscape change drastically, from the baron moon-like-scape of the Judean Mountains and Dead Sea, to sparse grasslands, and finally lush valleys and prairie near the Sea of Galilee and River Jordan.

Our first stop was Nazareth, which was the home of Mary and Joseph before the birth of Jesus. There we toured the Basilica of the Annunciation, which is a modern Catholic church built over the remains of a Byzantine church and a Crusader church. The church incorporates the cave in which the Virgin Mary received the news of Jesus from the angel Gabriel. The cave that is enshrined inside the basilica was identified no later than the 4th century as the place of the Annunciation, and has been a destination for Christian pilgrims ever since. The basilica centers on the cave of the Annunciation and is topped with a 55-meter dome that is shaped like the Madonna lily.

After touring the basilica our next stop was the town of Cana on the outskirt of Nazareth. Cana is known as the location of the first miracle performed by Jesus when he turned water into wine at a wedding. There we toured the Catholic Wedding Church of Cana, which is a tribute to that event. Shea and I, never ones to miss an opportunity, renewed our wedding vows in this small quaint chapel.

From there we drove through the town of Tiberias with amazing views of the Sea of Galilee and the surrounding hills and grasslands, stopping in Tabgha, which is the traditional site of the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. Located here is the modern Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes, but with its mosaic floor depicting two fish and basket of bread, which dates back to Byzantine times. It's a great place to stop and think about how much you are blessed.

From Tabgha, we drove along the Sea of Galilee to the Kfar Nahum ("Capernaum") and the House of Peter. Capernaum was a settlement on the shore of the Sea of Galilee that was the home of the apostles Peter, Andrew, James, and John. According to Luke, Jesus taught in the synagogue in Capernaum and the remains of a synagogue from that period has been found and excavated. Additionally, the ruins of the ancient city of Capernaum have been uncovered and a church to St. Peter has been constructed over a small area of the ruins. Shea and I toured the church, walked around the ruins, and through the synagogue. From there we went down to the beach at Capernaum and dipped our hands in.

After Capernaum, we drove alongside the Sea of Galilee to the River Jordan. There we stopped at Yardenit, which is the site of the baptism of Jesus by St. John the Baptist. There were groups there from all over the world that were dressed in white robes and being baptized. It was remarkable to watch. Shea and I both sprinkled the water on our heads and then renewed our baptismal rights. I celebrated with a beer. Nothing better than a baptism and a cold beer.

We loaded back onto the bus and headed back to Jerusalem. We arrived back close to 6:00pm, and Shea and I strolled into west Jerusalem and found an outdoor restaurant on the main walking strip. We people watched and enjoyed some kosher kebab and our eighth helping of hummus...oh, and another beer.

After dinner we walked into Old Jerusalem and toured the ancient streets lined with merchants and vendors. We got lost for a bit in the maze of alleyways and finally made our way out through Damascus Gate. We walked back to our hotel and crashed after a full day.

On Thursday, Christmas Eve, we slept in a bit in preparations for a full day in front of us. We had a nice breakfast of pancakes, sesame cakes, eggs, hummus, olives, tuna, and cheeses and then headed to Jaffa Gate outside Old Jerusalem to meet our walking tour of Old Jerusalem. Our tour guide, Noam, was amazing. She had an incredible knowledge of history and religions, and led our group on a 5-hour walking tour of Old Jerusalem. She first took us to Mt. Zion through the Zion Gate and there we visited the room of the Last Supper. We spent some time there and then we went down to the Western "Wailing" wall. We then got in line to go up and visit the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount, as the Muslims only allow non-Muslims up to the level of the Dome of the Rock and Mosque for 1 hour per day. She took our group up to visit one of the holiest spots for the Muslim religion and then explained why the Dome of the Rock has so much significance for both Jews and Muslims. First, the Dome of the Rock sits on the spot where the holiest of all Jewish synagogues once stood...the Temple Mount that housed the "Holiest of Holies". That is why they pray at the Western Wall, as it is the closest they can now get to that spot that once stood. As for Muslims, the Dome of the Rock houses the place where Mohammed ascended to heaven. From here we had a beautiful view of Old Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives. After our hour there, she led us out to an area of the Western Wall that is hidden and she gave us a history lesson on the wall's significance.

From there, she took us on a tour of the Via Dolorosa, which is the path Jesus carried his cross to the Hill of Golgothe, pointing out the stations of the cross as we went. Shea put her hand in an imprint supposedly left by Jesus as he caught his balance. The Via Dolorosa ends at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. She took us inside and up the stairs to the top of the hill of Golgothe (or Calvary) to the place where Jesus was crucified. From there we were shown were Jesus was buried and the stone of the anointing where Joseph of Arimathea prepared his body for burial. The tour took us back to Jaffa Gate and Shea and I had lots of things to go back and inspect closer on Christmas Day, but for now we had to catch a bus to Bethlehem!

When Shea and I decided to go to Israel for Christmas, we knew we wanted to be in Bethlehem for Christmas Eve. We had done some research and were put into a lottery to receive tickets to Midnight Mass at St. Catherine's Church in Bethlehem. We were fortunate enough to receive tickets and had picked them up just before our tour of Jerusalem started. We took a public bus to Bethlehem, which is in Palestine and populated by Arab Christians. The bus dropped us off about a 10 minutes walk from the center of town and the church. The city had a carnival type atmosphere with live music and lights, and thousands of thousands of people celebrating.

We had met another couple from the US on the bus ride over and the four of us went to grab some dinner before heading back to stand in the mass of people waiting to get into the church. As we were standing outside, we also happened to bump into the American students we had meet at our hotel two nights before. So, we now had a small group of us and we chatted and made friends as we waited for the church to open and the security screenings to begin. We stood in line from about 8:30 until 11:15, when we finally made it inside the church. It was standing room only, and the church was packed. Television crews broadcast the Mass around the world as the Bishop said mass in Latin, and delivered his homily in at least 8 different languages. We left Mass after it ended at about 1:45 and caught a taxi back to the Palestinian/Israeli checkpoint. From there, we took our bus back into the city and made it home to our hotel room about 2:45 in the morning.

On Friday, Christmas Day, we reserved the day for touring Jerusalem on our own. We walked over to the Mount of Olives and toured the Jewish cemetery there, which houses over 150,000 burial sites. Jewish tradition holds that this is the place where God will return to collect his people. Also on the Mount of Olives, we toured the burial site of Mary, the garden of Gethsemane, and the Church of All Nations. We walked back into Old Jerusalem through Lions Gate and then walked the entire Via Dolorosa and the Stations of the Cross. We went back into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and spent some time inspecting what we had only seen on Thursday. We waited in line and touched the top of Calvary, where a Greek Orthodox altar protects the site of the crucifixion. We then waited in line and toured the inside of Jesus's tomb. We watched as a Franciscan Mass processed through the church and touched the stone of anointing. Pretty amazing to say the least.

From there we headed over to the Wailing Wall, as Jews begin their sabbath on Fridays at sundown. Shea and I cleared the security lines and watched as masses of Jewish people celebrated and prayed outside their holy site. Men and women have separate areas of the wall to pray too, so Shea and I wrote down our prayers and headed off in separate directions to cram our prayers into the wall. I grabbed a paper yarmulke and did my best to fit in as I squeezed into a spot between prayers to deliver my prayer. Shea and I met back up and watched the large throngs of people celebrate as the sun went down and pray intensely in Hebrew. It certainly was a sight to behold. From there we went into the market and bought a manger scene that Shea had her eye on...she successfully negotiated the guy down and after years of saying she wanted one, she finally had one to call her own. As an alternative to the usual Christmas ham, Shea and I went crazy and decided we were really in the mood for some sushi. So, we found a nice restaurant in New Jerusalem and enjoyed a nice Christmas meal together...complete with raw fish.

On Saturday, December 26th, we had another 7am tour. This time we were headed south from Jerusalem. Our first stop was the Qumran caves. These caves were the location where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, which altered the study of the Old Testament. They also unearthed ancient communal towns, which demonstrated how tribes survived and practiced religion thousands of years ago. After Qumran, we headed to Masada, which was a fortress built by the Roman emperor Herod on a plateau overlooking the Dead Sea. Herod built the fortress between 37 and 31 BC and furnished it as a refuge for himself, filled with food, water, palaces, barracks, and an armory. We took a cable car to the top and enjoyed the views and amazing Roman architecture...bathhouses included. We took the "snake path" back down which took a sweaty 35 minutes to complete. Nothing better after a sweaty walk then going swimming right? Well, that is exactly what we did next...but this time it was in the Dead Sea. The tour went to a beach located on the Dead Sea, and we were able to go swimming and treat ourselves to a "do-it-yourself" mud treatment. The Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth (on dry land ) at -420 meters below sea level, and the salt content and chemical make up of the environment make it the world's original health spa. People use the salt and minerals from the sea to create cosmetics and herbal health treatments. Shea and I floated in the super-salty water and felt like little kids trying to figure out our buoyancy. We caked each other in mud and took pictures for you all to see (and make fun of).

We showered off and headed next to see the ancient city of Jericho. Jericho is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world dating back to 9000BC. We were able to see the tree of Zaccharus and the Mount of Temptation there. We then headed back to Jerusalem, where we stopped on top of the Mount of Olives again for a view of Jerusalem at night. The lights of the city were beautiful.

We then went back to our hotel and collected our belongings. We ordered up a shared taxi and took it to Tel Aviv along with our American friends from our hotel.

Shea and I stayed in a hotel just 5 blocks from the Mediterranean Sea, so we checked in, showered off again, and changed clothes and went for a moonlight walk on the beach. We grabbed a quick bite to eat and a beer and then walked around the city until about midnight. We hit the sack for our 5 am wake up call on Sunday to make it for our early morning flight back to Frankfurt.

We had a wonderful trip in Israel and really felt very fortunate to see everything we did. We crammed in as much sightseeing as possible and truly feel blessed to have been there.

Oslo

First and foremost we would like to thank the Brusevold family for hosting us on our recent trip to Oslo over Thanksgiving weekend. Jan and I went to UT together, and at the Scharnell wedding this last summer, he was kind enough to invite us to come visit him and his family for the holiday.

We flew into a small airport about an hour and half south of Oslo right along the coast. As we came in for the landing we were rewarded with some beautiful views of the famous Norwegian fjords and their rocky coastline. We took a bus to the central station in Oslo and met Jan and Hope there. They gave us a brief tour of the city as we walked to the ferry to catch our ride to Jan's parents' home for dinner. We boarded the ferry and chatted away during the 20 minute commute over the fjord to the area where they lived. Jan's mom picked us up and ushered us home to a meal she had prepared for us. Not just any meal mind you, but a Norwegian specialty...moose. It was delicious, and we had a wonderful dinner sharing time with everyone.

On Saturday, we woke up and Jan and Hope took us to Oslo to tour the city. Oslo was filled with excitement due to the visit from Barack in two weeks' time to collect his peace prize. We saw city hall where the ceremony takes place (pictured above). We toured the Nobel peace prize museum, which was very interesting and had a wonderful exhibit on the transition from the time of MLK to the time of Barack. Each of us won a Nobel peace prize while we were there, only ours were better than Barack's because they were filled with chocolate.

We saw the royal palace and the impressive new opera house. We saw Norway's parliament building and the University of Oslo. Then we took a boat cruise around the harbor, which dropped us off at different points of interest. We toured the viking ship museum, the Con Tiki museum, and the Fram museum (which is the first ship used to explore the poles in 1892). We went at sunset to the Vigeland sculpture park with its numerous nude statues showing different stages in the circle of life. From there we went to eat a nice dinner and then headed back to the Brusevolds to try to take in the OSU/OU game for Shea. Unfortunately, we didn't get the game, but luckily it wasn't a bad game to miss.

On Sunday morning we were invited to a wonderful breakfast at Jan's cousin's house. She lives in an apartment near the Brusevolds so we were able to walk through the neighborhood and get a good sense of the area to take some splendid pics of the harbor. From there Jan and Hope went with us back into the city where we toured the Christmas market, visited the Norway World War II museum located in the Akershus Castle, and then did a few minutes of shopping. Shea and I then jumped on a bus back to the airport to catch our plane to Frankfurt.

We had a wonderful visit with the Brusevolds and really appreciated their hospitality over the holiday weekend. It reminded us of home, and we are thankful to have such great friends.

Amsterdam

We know what you all are thinking, but no we didn't take part in "everything" Amsterdam has to offer.

On November 20th, we were supposed to wake up early and take a direct speed train to Amsterdam to meet Seth (Shea's brother) to celebrate his birthday weekend. But ya know how sometimes alarm clocks don't work like they are suppose to...ya, that happened. So after several hours of transfers we finally arrived in the late afternoon. Fortunately, it gave Seth a chance to get lost for a while and get a sense of the place. From the train station we all headed back to the hotel to check in and drop off our bags.

We all freshened up and then went for a walk through the canal-lined streets. As it was raining cats and dogs we huddled under our umbrellas until we found a tucked away bar in the "Jordaan" district. The Jordaan district is an artistic and residential area in Amsterdam known for its quaint shops and friendly atmosphere.

We hung out with all the locals in the bar and the bartender was helpful in picking out some traditional foods and beers to try. As we were all a bit tired from our full day of travel, we headed home about 10 and were soon fast asleep.

On Saturday, we woke up to clear skies and mild temperatures...alright! We had a 10:30 tour appointment at the Anne Frank museum, which is located in the building where she hid for two years during WWII and wrote her world-renowned diary. We learned about her life, both before and during the Nazi occupation of Holland. We were able to tour the cramped spaces that 8 people called home and were struck by how difficult life was for them all.

After our tour there, we stopped for a bite of lunch and then headed to our 1:00 walking tour of the city. We met the group at the train station and then walked to the front of the royal palace in the heart of the city. From there we toured through the red light district and learned about the history of the city and its liberal leanings toward prostitution and marijuana. We were shown underground Catholic churches that survived during the Reformation and the Dutch East Indian Trading Company, which was a model for much of our modern corporate structure. We walked through a portion of the Amsterdam Historical Museum and visited the Jewish quarter with its 1960's architecture. Taxes used to be assessed according to the size of the front of your home, so we were shown the narrowest home in Amsterdam - which wouldn't allow you to lie down sideways - but did have a lovely view of a canal.

After the tour we enjoyed a great dinner to celebrate Seth's birthday on Sunday. He had done a little research and wanted to visit a popular jazz club in town. We figured out how to get there and headed out for a night on the town. We found the place and had a great time listening to some live mellow jazz and drinking some local Holland beer. We left and got some late night pizza and then caught a late night bus back to the train station near our hotel. Great times!

On Sunday, we woke up late (imagine that) and headed back into the city. We found a mass to go to that was in Latin...very pretty, but after the late night we had had it was rough for all of us to keep our eyes open. From there we headed over to Vondelpark, which is a beautiful park in the interior of the city. We left there and went to the Van Gogh museum where we toured and saw his many famous works. Don't tell Shea but the chewed bubble gum I gave her is not the found portion of his ear. Another late dinner and we called it a night. Happy Birthday Seth!

On Monday, it started raining again, but we went to an underground church museum and then walked for a while through the city, taking in the canals and the beautiful architecture of the city.

We headed back to the train station to make our train and left Seth to enjoy one more night in town before his plane back to DC in the morning.

We had a great time in Amsterdam, and we really appreciated getting to see it with Seth.

Marburg

Sorry for the delay in updates. Over the next few days I will be writing about several trips we have taken this Fall.

In late October, we took a day trip to Marburg, Germany. It is a quaint university town with one of oldest Gothic churches north of the Alps, St. Elizabeth. The university was founded in 1527 and is most famously the school that the Brothers Grimm attended and where they collected their fairy tale stories. Marburg is also the home of the Marburg Colloquy, which were meetings between Martin Luther and Zwingli to develop and establish the Protestant church.

Shea and I arrived and first visited the cathedral. It was very beautiful with amazing stained glass and a handcrafted tomb made entirely of gold. We then toured through the hilly city streets and enjoyed the half-timbered houses and shops. We followed the streets up to the castle, which dominates the city. Though not quite as big as the castle in Heidelberg, it was still impressive and offered beautiful views of the city and river valley below. From there we walked through the university district and felt a little old seeing all the university students who looked like they could pass for pre-teens.

It was a nice day trip to a pretty little town with some interesting historical significance.

Mustaches vs. Cancer

Ladies and Gentlemen- to the absolute repulsion of my wife, I have endeavored upon a great mission. What mission you ask? A mission to grow the meaty-est mustache any of you have ever seen.
I know what you are thinking..."Why, Tom Selleck, what are you up too?"
Some people run races or marathons, some compete in triathlons, some come back after retirement and finish 3rd in the Tour de France...all in the name of raising awareness and money for the research of a cure for cancer.
I have taken up a much less athletically demanding crusade for trying to raise money for cancer research. I simply signed up at http://www.mustachesvscancer.org/ and vowed to grow a sweet stache to help raise money to aid childhood cancer research because, as they say, "kids can't grow mustaches, and they shouldn't have cancer either."
So, the benefits of this event are two-fold, I get to increase my rugged handsomeness and (more importantly) raise money for this great cause. The second part of the two-fold equation is where you come in.
I hope that those of you who read our blog would do me a favor and swing by http://www.mustachesvscancer.org/ and drop a few dollars into my collection (you can type my name into the search function or just look for 'Sir Stachalot'). All the money goes to the charity and you get to watch my mustache progression with weekly photo updates on the website. As long as I receive $10 in collections each week, I promised to keep the mustache. So as long as you guys promise to keep putting a few dollars in...I can promise you a shockingly hairy upper lip...that, as a Keller, I can guarantee. The event kicked off on Monday, October 5th, with all entrants clean shaven and then ends November 25th...that is when Shea will be seen with me in public again.
So...after you check out the website and put some money in the collection...feel free to ridicule your hairy lipped friend here- My mustache promised to defend me from all negativity.

(November final product pictured above)

Oktoberfest Munchin 2009

For my 33rd birthday this year Shea treated me to a trip to Oktoberfest...yep- "the" Oktoberfest filled with lederhosen, women in dirndls, and big beers...what a cool gift.

Now, if I could only remember it.

We left Frankfurt on Saturday, Sept. 26th, on a train at about 10am and arrived into Munich at 1pm. As soon as you step off the train you are surrounded by people dressed in the traditional garb. The Oktoberfest grounds are just a 10 minute walk south of the main train station in Munich and our hotel was situated directly between them both...so to say we were in the middle of the mayhem would be absolutely appropriate.

We checked in and immediately changed clothes..."into what" you may ask...that would be my lederhosen and Shea into her dirndl! Yep, we were all decked out!

We headed over to the Oktoberfest grounds and were impressed by the size and number of people there. The best way to describe it is to equate it to the State Fair of Texas, but instead of having the fair halls filled with the baking competition winners, hand sewn prairie skirts, and next years line of Chevy's...fill them with tens of thousands of beer drinkers looking for a party. Unbelievable.

We walked around to get a lay of the land, and unfortunately by the time we got there in the afternoon, the beer tents are packed full and security won't let any new revilers in. That simply meant that partying inside a beer tent would have to wait till tomorrow and today we would have to party at one of the outdoor beer gardens.

Looking the part, security assumed we were locals and quickly allowed us into one of the Hippodrom beer gardens. We sat at a large table with a collection of Bavarians who we shared the evening with drinking beer, eating, and having a great time. They were super nice and gave us all the insider scoop on how best to enjoy the festivities. Now, Oktoberfest starts everyday at 10 am and then ends each night at 10:30. We didn't want to ruin ourselves for Sunday so we called it a night about 9 and went and got some dinner. We headed back to the hotel room and could hear the party leaving for the next several hours...people were having a good time.

We had been told by our new Bavarian Oktoberfest friends that we wouldn't need to worry about getting to Oktoberfest super early on Sunday to get in a tent. Usually, people start lining up by 8 to get in the tents on the other days. We followed their advice and got to the festival site a little after 10:00. We were able to walk around and duck in all the beer tents and get a few pics of them and decide on which one we wanted to try first.

When we stepped in the Hofbrauhaus tent at 10:30, it was packed and there were already people dancing on the tables and singing. Decision was made for where we would hang out first. We found a table, made quick friends with our table mates, and ordered our first round of giant beers (1 liter each).

At noon, we were already into our second beer and had eaten a roasted chicken for lunch. All us Oktoberfest-ians were ready and in marched the band which started the next 10 hours of ever-repeating German drinking songs. We finished our second beers and decided we wanted to go ride some of the rides and see some of the areas we hadn't been able to see yet.

We rode a huge ferris wheel which offered great views of the festival and of Munchin. We then slid on the giant slide and ate some dessert. After that, we said enough of the rides it's time to get back to business.

We headed into Augustiner beer tent and sat down at a table. Our table mates this time included 3 guys from Holland who were hilarious and made for great comedy over the next several beers. We had our own party going on that included our table and all the ones surrounding us. Great fun!

We had to leave at 8 to walk back to the train station to catch our train back to Frankfurt. We made it in time and fell asleep for our 3 hour trip home.

It was a great time and a wonderful birthday and we hope to get to go again some day.

Gonzales European Vacation

So our close friends Adrian and Kelly Gonzales came to visit us all the way from Georgetown, Texas. They arrived on Friday, September 4th, and stayed through Sunday, September 13th, and did a bunch of traveling in between.

They got into Frankfurt around 7 am on Friday, and I picked them up from the airport. We came back here to the apartment to drop off their luggage, and then out the door we went to see some of the sites in Frankfurt. They saw the Roemerplatz, the Main River, the Dom cathedral, and the Zeil shopping galleries all before 2pm. To say that the Gonzaleses were ready to get their "vacation-on" would be an accurate description. We came back to the apartment and packed up because at 6 we had a train to catch to Berlin. We met Shea at the train station and took the 5 hour train ride to the German capital city. We hopped in a taxi to our hotel and then watched the Gonzales's pass out after 26 hours of being awake. Gotta love jet-lag.

On Saturday, we got ready and headed into the heart of the city. The weather was cool, but clear, and we were ready to see what this historically significant city had to offer. We decided to take a walking tour that included all of the major sites like the Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, the last remaining section of the Berlin wall, the Reichstag (German Capital Building), Hitler's bunker, the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe, East German Government Buildings, the location of the Nazi book burning, and numerous museums, churches, and memorials. We were all thankful we did the tour as the history and significance of the sites just wouldn't have been the same without the perspective the guide was able to impart to the group. After the tour, we headed back into what used to be East Berlin and had dinner at a traditional German restaurant, before heading back towards our hotel and closing down a bar.

I, for one, was feeling a bit rough on Sunday, but we headed back out to more thoroughly investigate some of the sites. We went back to Check Point Charlie and walked around for quite a while checking out the history of the wall and its significance in an outdoor museum. It told the history of the end of WWII, the division of Berlin and Germany by the Allies, the development of the Cold War and construction of the wall, some stories of successful and deadly escape attempts, and the final re-unification of Berlin and Germany. It brought a whole new understanding to the video images we could all remember from our youth of the German citizens standing on the wall with sledgehammers and pickaxes destroying the symbol of division. From there we went to the Memorial for Murdered Jews of Europe museum. We toured the facility and we were all silenced by the atrocities history must never forget. From there we walked around a while and then headed back towards our hotel and enjoyed a late Thai food dinner.

On Monday, we headed back to the Reichstag, which allows visitors to tour the glass dome that sits atop the legislative chamber. After standing in line a while, we were then treated to a view of Berlin from on high, as well as, a lesson on Germany's representative Democracy. The building itself has an interesting history, and we were glad to have gotten to take the tour before our train headed back to Frankfurt early that afternoon.

On Tuesday, Shea went to work, while Adrian, Kelly, and I went to Heidelberg. We took a 9am train and got there in time to meet an old friend of Adrian's from high school, who lives and teaches in Heidelberg. We met him, his wife, and newborn son and enjoyed a nice lunch, before touring the old city of Heidelberg and heading up to the castle. We took the tour of the castle and enjoyed the beautiful views of the surrounding landscape.

On Wednesday, we toured Frankfurt some more and gave Kelly and Adrian a chance to do a little shopping downtown. We then repacked and caught an afternoon train to beautiful (yet expensive) Zurich, Switzerland. We got in late and went to bed, then woke up Thursday morning to nice weather. It wasn't quite as clear as we had hoped, but as the day wore on we were able to make out more and more of the Alp summits to our South. We took a train to the top of one of the surrounding mountains that overlooked Zurich. We climbed to the top of an observation tower and looked out as far into the horizon as we could. We then headed back down to the city and walked through the shopping avenues all the way to the lake. There, we boarded a ship and were treated to a short cruise around the lake. People were out sunning and swimming and enjoying the last bit of summer before the altitude and change of season takes hold. After the cruise, we walked through the old city of Zurich and enjoyed the quaint feel of the older sections of town.

On Friday, the weather was a bit cooler and cloudier, so we rented bikes and made our own bike tour of the old town and around a portion of the lake. We stopped for some lunch and then ate it lakeside, doing our part to feed the swans, ducks, and seagulls. We then toured some of the old churches of the city, seeing magnificent stained-glass windows that were created by the artist Chagall. Friday night, our friends Brian and Tiffany Mooney from Dallas arrived in Zurich, after they had just completed some traveling through Italy and Switzerland. The 6 of us went out for dinner at a nice Italian restaurant and enjoyed each others' company. It reminded Shea and me of good times back home.

On Saturday, we all met up with the Mooneys again and had some lunch, before we headed back to the train station and then Frankfurt. We got in to Frankfurt and enjoyed some good ol' American burgers, beer, and college football at a local sports bar and toasted what was an exciting week with good friends.
We had a wonderful time having them here, and Shea and I were sad to see them go. But we were glad to have gotten to experience those places with them and hope that they get to come again soon.