Kyle and Jemma's blog
Saturday, August 28, 2004
Vacation 2004: Rothenburg Germany
Mom finally got a chance to see some of the huge, impressive Lutheran churches in Europe... much different than the ones you see back home. This one was beautiful, and the stained glass at the front was amazing.
The church has a relic too... a drop of Christ's blood. I think this is the altar that was supposed to house that relic.
A long day of sight-seeing calls for some play time too... finally a chance to crawl!
Mom was bad. They had a whole museum dedicated to crime and punishment through the ages in Europe... cool stuff, but I wouldn't want to have lived back then.
A little more crawling on the Church steps...
And this is Rothenburg at night.
Thursday, August 26, 2004
Vacation 2004: Salsburg Austria
Another day in the car...
Coming into Salsburg was pretty cool... after an interesting experience in an underground parking lot for 15 minutes (you mean this ISN'T the tunnel through the mountain? What do you mean this isn't a valid parking stub? Why can't we get out?), this cool tunnel enterence presented itself:
After checking in, Kyle took his first bus ride... he's a natural it seems.
Salsburg is pretty cool; the birthplace of Mozart (even though he wasn't really respected there at first), and it has a really cool fortress on the hill. The fortress tour was pretty impressive, even in the rain. Salsburg also has a beautiful little centrum.
On to Rothenburg...
Wednesday, August 25, 2004
Vacation 2004: Vienna Austria
It actually took a little while to find "Vienna" on our Austria map... who gives us English the right to change the town's real name of "Wien" to Vienna? After figuring out where we were really headed, a few hours in the car got us to Vienna unscathed.
One of the many ornate fountains in Vienna... amazingly detailed and beautiful.
Kyle figured he should spruce up for his first day in Austria.
Here's the whole family walking through Vienna... thank goodness Dad has long arms so he can get us all in the photo. :)
The churches in these towns are AMAZING... the amount of detail, care, and time put into building and maintaining them is mind boggling.
Mom, Dad, and Kyle went for a "hop on / hop off" bus tour through Vienna to see the sights... it was interesting to see the whole city this way, and we learned a lot of little things we'd never have heard otherwise.
Kyle thought it was time for a nap, and Mom and Dad thought it was time for food and drink... there was a nice little cafe in the Stadtpark that served good food and excellent beer.
The swings in the Stadtpark were pretty fun too!
Dad thought this was funny... but I guess some things just don't translate. :)
After a good nap, I was ready to go again!
We finished up our day in Vienna with a horse-carriage ride through the old city. It was actually a better way to hear about all the cool stuff than the bus ride; next time I'd head straight for the horses in the morning, then do a walking tour of the most interesting stuff by ourselves afterwards.
Whew... that was a long 2 days. Off to Salsburg we go.
Monday, August 23, 2004
Vacation 2004: Munich Germany
Munich... we got here (finally) after a long day of driving and an overnight stay in Ulm on the way. We were supposed to go through a little town called Speyer on the way, but an hour into the drive we realized we left our passports at home. Travelling through Europe, that isn't really a good idea. So, 2 hours later we were back on track.
We skipped Ulm too... oh well, on to Munich.
Jill and Kyle in front of the big church in Munich... cool clock with animated figures in the tower.
Kyle just about to have meltdown #1 for the trip... in the last little bit of "Residenz" in Munich. This was an AMAZING hall to see.
There's nothing like a little Royal Gravel to calm down a fussy baby... I guess it's much better to play with than the Royal Grass next to it.
All in all, Munich was nice, but it's not the first place I'd go if I were to do it again. On to Vienna...
Saturday, August 21, 2004
Home sweet home...
This is our house in Waterloo... nothing overly special, but it's got all we need and it's less then 5 minutes to the office (20 min walk).
Oh yeah... and here's the stellar rental car we have. We had a Nissan, but we had a little bump in the parking lot... lets not talk about that. Our "real" company car will be here in October (a VW Touran). We can't wait... but it'll be SO tough to give up this luxurious Scoda! q:]
On a different note: Kyle DOES have teeth now. At 11 1/2 months he finally decided to pop one bottom tooth. Of course, now that we're ready to go on vacation, he's teething like a deamon.
I like grass!
I used to be afraid of the grass... so much so that you could leave me on a blanket in the park and I wouldn't go ANYWHERE. That's over now, so mommy and daddy need to chase me everywhere.
Sunday, August 15, 2004
Quick business trips...
It's kinda cool to get up in the morning, hop a train to Paris or London, do some work or have a business lunch, and be home by supper. However, coming home to a jealous wife isn't quite so cool. :)
Gare du Nord in Paris - where you arrive on the Eurostar from London or Brussels, etc. I'd have to say it's my favorite train station anywhere... but I couldn't tell you why.
Welcome to Belgium!
Welcome to Waterloo, Belgium!
Actually, we spent our first 3 months or so in a temporary furnished apartment in Brussels (Waterloo is basically a suburb of Brussels, about 20 minutes South).
Waterloo is the site of the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 where Napoleon was defeated by the Brittish (Wellington) and the Prussians. Le Lion de Waterloo is about 2 km from our house, and we're likely living on some of the battlefields.
Our first house guest was Fatima - Kyle loved her, and we loved her for taking Kyle once in a while! It's nice to get a break...
The temporary place was ok, nothing special. It was nice that it was downtown though - it gave us a chance to see things there before moving out to the 'burbs.
Kyle explored too... EVERYTHING. Note to self: look for loose floor grout when choosing an apartment for a toddler.
Jill and Fatima went off to Luxemburg for a night and left Kyle and Daddy to fend for themselves... (uh-oh!):
Before:
During: 
After:
Thankfully, kids heal quickly.
We've been exploring on the weekends a bit to the local towns (Charleoi shown here), but nothing too far yet. We also met a couple from the US that we got along with great... until they moved back home (of course).
Look for more tales from Europe coming soon! Bye!
