We arrived on Thursday, June 9th at 2:00am (Detroit time), which is 8:00am (German Time). The plane ride was extremely long. There were little babies crying the entire trip, with mothers shaking rattles against the seat in front of us. Not exactly what we had in mind for an overnight flight. Luckily, Lufthansa provides a touch screen television set with a large selection of television shows, movies, and music. I was very greatful because watching the movies helped pass the time. Carol picked us up from the airport and my mom and I arrived at their new home in Weirheim. We proceeded to sleep for a few hours. We walked around the little town and were shocked to see a cow in the middle of the town, surrounded by shops and streets. Apparently they had just built around this farm, it was quite strange.

The next day (Friday) my mother, brother and I ventured to Bad Homburg, a nearby city that Danny and Emily go to school.We took the train there and left my brother at the train station so that he could catch the next train to Paris and then Barcelona. We walked around the city, which is much bigger than Carol's current residence. We ate sausages on the street and then found a cute little gelato shop (that we of course stopped to eat). Then we walked to a nearby church and park, where we spent a while walking around. At about 3pm we returned to the train station to return to Weirheim. We had an interesting experience at the train station when a Dutch man came up to us and asked us if he was waiting for the correct train. After we shrugged and said we did not understand him, he continued to speak to us in Dutch. We had no idea what he was saying and could not help but laugh at the situation. That night we went to a little Greek restaurant which was very good. However, we are quickly learning that water here is heavily salted or sparkling. It is rare to find flat bottled water, and we try to ask for tap water but it is difficult to obtain.

Today (Saturday), we drove to the Rhine River and walked around different towns along the way. It was a perfect day for it. They do not have any bridges on the river, so we had to cross on an "auto ferry" to the other side. We went to a Chinese restuarant. Then we went to another town and climbed hundred of stairs to a castle at the top of a hill. From there you could see multiple vineyards and the town across the river. We took many pictures but as the train travelled across the town it looked like a model train display. Everything felt like a fairy tale or as if we were stepping out of a postcard. While at the top of the castle we ate cake and ice cream. We could not help but laugh when we saw other Americans up there. However, these Americans were participating in some sort of character game. They were dressed like the Joker from the Dark Night, Ivory Girl, Green Lantern... the list goes on and on. I took pictures of them as proof. On the way back to Weirheim we stoppeed at a beautiful church with stained glass windows that were done byMark Chagall.