Bonjour

I'm certain the man at the desk in our hotel thinks I'm nuts- always on the computer!

So to finish up with Germany, after Playmobil Park we went to Rothenburg. This is an ancient walled city- very touristy- lots of Japanese tourists. Since we went in the evening it wasn't bad. But everything was very tourist-driven, lots of shops and knick-knacks.
We haven't done much shopping, and when I have looked, everything is priced outrageously. I wanted to get a nutcracker for my collection- those are all 60 dollars and up. Beer steins are at least 50 dollars. T-shirts are running about 25 dollars. And some of the places we have been are not very touristy! The exchange rate is not that great- one euro cost 1.25. I think 15 years ago things were much more reasonable.
So the last night in the dark and scary castle filled with dead stuffed animals at every turn there was a huge thunderstorm. Perfect setting for a ghost. The boys awoke in the middle of the night to loud snoring- I blamed Jack, Jack blamed me, but I secretly think it was the ghost!
Our next drive was to Neuschwanstein on our way to Germany. That's the fairytale castle Walt Disney based his on. Ingrid sure took us some weird way- down some farmer's dirt road- but we did end up on the autobahn.
The castle was hot and crowded. We actually didn't take the tour, just had lunch in the town below. We wanted to get moving since it was 5 hours to Lucerne.
Switzerland was not as hilly or mountainous driving as I thought it would be. Only when we got to the actual town we were staying in (Beckenreid) did it actually get hilly- they have drilled roads through the mountains, so it's mostly tunnel after tunnel. The boys had fun calling the lights "fireworks". Every tunnel has escape doors and emergency phones. But I wouldn't want to get stuck there- we're still not sure where those escape doors go to.
Have to sign off!
We have yet to meet a glass of wine or beer we haven't liked! The boys have been weaned off of junk food at this point. Jacob, when he is hungry, asks for bread or a croissant. The coffee has been excellent as well!
John has been eating his weight in weinerschnitzel- basically like a giant chicken nugget- and the pommes frites (french fries) are all awesome. (although the ketchup is weird sometimes)
The Saab is now dirty and has logged about 1200 miles.
We are off to our final destination- Brussels, Belgium. After this we will need a vacation from the vacation. We are hoping Yukon recovers by the time we return home. He will be staying at the vet hospital. God I wish we had a Canine HMO. This trip is costing a fortune after all that!
Lots of Love,
Lisa

P.S. Mom they have Aldi in every country. The big store here in Lux. is Cactus.
John says, "Bye, Europe we have only one place to go."
SpongeBob is SpongeBob Swarmdorf in German. Not sure what it is in French......