Cows, Cows and more Cows

Last weekend while in a village in the Black Forest, I noticed something strange. Painted cows. I have no idea what's behind it, but the cows were interesting.

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4th of July weekend

We spent the past weekend with Tom’s Aunt Micky, her husband Helmut and his brother’s family. It was a fantastic weekend. Micky and Helmut picked us up and we drove to his brother Manfred’s home. Manfred and his wife, Racie, were so wonderful to us. They don’t speak a lot of English, but somehow we communicated. They live near Heidelberg in a 4 story house. Tom and I had an entire apartment to ourselves. Manfred has done wonderful things with the back yard. He designed and made the rod iron flamingos hanging on the wall. He has mood lighting and a water feature. Spending time in the back yard was so relaxing.
On Friday we went to S garden palace with Micky and Helmut. The palace is beautiful and the gardens are exquisite. Tom was particularly taken with the Kings Bath House. All that marble and glitz made him think he’d been a king in a former life. For the rest of the weekend he kept saying “It’s nice to be the King”.
Friday night we went out to dinner with Micky, Helmut, Racie and Manfred. This time we were joined by Helmut and Manfred’s younger brother Herbie. Herbie is so quiet. He’s not as outgoing as his brothers, but he’s just as sweet. Also two of their friends joined us for dinner. I can’t remember their names, but I sure remember their smiles. With all the talking (in German) going on, I sometimes felt I was in a movie without sub-titles. Good thing I had my camera, I just took more photos.
Saturday we spent in Heidelberg, first at the castle then in the town. This time Manfred and Racie joined us. Micky and Tom just kept talking and smiling. The castle is one of those you see in the travel guides. It’s amazing. After walking for miles and miles (ok, so it wasn’t that long), we drove into the town. It was another of those “oh my, how do they drive here?” One of the things that surprised me was the sign advertising 4th of July Independence celebrations being held in the town. While we were walking around, I spotted a yarn shop. Tom turned to Helmut and said, “She’s going in. We might as well go get ice cream; this is going to be awhile”. Micky and Racie went into the shop with me. I fell in love with a sample sweater, unfortunately it was an old pattern and they didn’t have it any longer (and I probably couldn’t have translated it anyway).
I did buy the yarn. So soft and beautiful I couldn’t resist. I’ll just have to find a pattern.
Sunday we drove to…. An amazing town in the Black Forest. This is what you imagine when you think German Black Forest town. It’s small but it was beautiful. They were having a local fest so we got to watch the parade with the drum lines and costumes. And we ate! After spending a couple hours in the town, we headed out into the Black Forest. Helmut took us to a small guest house that he goes to. The drive was drop dead beautiful. I ended up with a neck ache because I keep turning to look at the scenery. The roads on the other hand, were just plain scary. No way would I drive up those mountains. The roads were just big enough to drive one vehicle through at a time; thank goodness we only met one car going in the other direction (they backed up). Helmut is a wonderful driver. Manfred is friends with the owner of the guest house, so he got the key to the small chapel near the guest house. While Tom and the rest had a drink, Manfred showed me the chapel. It was like something you see in movies. Only about 10 pews and a small alter. I was amazed at the stain glass.
After drinks at the guest house, we said good bye to Manfred and Racie. I can’t explain how wonderful these people were to us. It was like we were family. I got choked up saying good bye to Racie. Even with the language difference, I think she understood how much we appreciated her hospitality.
Even the drive home was amazing. We saw grape vines everywhere; they grew on the side of very vertical mountains. We even saw a castle sitting on the side of a hill. It had a flag flying, and Helmut said that mean that the king was at home. Tom said for the two hundredth time “It’s good to be the King”.
It was a long weekend, but we really enjoyed it and I took over 600 photos.

More about PARIS

Observations:
Traffic in Paris has no rhyme or reason especially at “roundabouts”. There doesn’t seem to be any rules. No stop lights, no stop signs nor any yield signs, just a free for all. I watched in fascination as incoming traffic just drove in and traffic in the circle just continued on. I watched in horror as bike riders entered the fray! I held my breath as motor cycles just weaved in and out of the traffic. I haven’t even mentioned the buses! They just take the right away. The thing is… I didn’t see even one accident. How they managed to drive in Paris I’ll never know. But I know I’ll never drive there!
Now parking is another thing I couldn’t figure out. The parking is very limited so they just park bumper to bumper. I mean that literally. In many cases, there wasn’t so much as a few inches between the cars. How they parked and how they got out I couldn’t figure out. I meant to take a picture, but didn’t get around to it.

Eiffel Tower: It’s BIG. I mean really BIG. Much larger than I expected. Our USO tour guide (Kim) told us to get right in line as soon as we arrived, although it was 30 minutes before it opened. Good thing we got in line by 0830 as there was already a line forming. The ticket office opened at 9am. We waited in line about 30 minutes for tickets, then waited another 30 minutes to get the elevator to the 2nd floor and another 15 minutes to get the elevator to the top. Yes that was quite a wait, but well worth it. Luckily it wasn’t hot so the wait wasn’t too bad. C and I “Peopled Watched.” Lots of different nationalities. The view from the top was amazing. It was a clear day, so we could see the entire city. I took lots of photos and I still didn’t take enough. By the way, did you know there’s a toilet on the top level of the tower? It cost you 50cents (about 75 cents US)to use the toilet. I know I used it! 50 cents to Pee!