Europe 2010 - Days 1 & 2

Finally...well over a month late, but better late than never, right?

Back in November, my parents and I took a trip to Germany to visit my 'little' sister, her husband, and to tour Europe.

We left Iowa on Thursday, November 18 in the afternoon.  Our flight to Frankfurt left Chicago around 6pm or so, and landed in FRA around 10:15a German time...which puts us at about 1:15am Iowa time.  Because of this, and my little sister knowing how the jet-lag can kick ya good, she took us sight-seeing right away.

After our warm welcome from Gina at FRA, our first stop...Mannheim, to visit the John Deere Forum.  This was a big building with a many of their current tractors inside.  But just outside the main doors, sat a combine.  We talked and thought about going on a tour of the plant, but didn't.  In the end, we probably should have.  But at the time, waiting another 20 minutes for the tour to start seemed like a long time.  Had we gone on the tour, my parents would have toured 3 JD plants in 3 countries.  The other one was China.

Next up was visiting a run-down castle in Heidelberg.

Even though the castle was unique and very run-down, I also liked what I saw off in the other direction of the castle.  A roof top view of Heidelberg.

Lastly, I thought it would be fun to get a picture of my cowgirl boots in each of the three countries we visited.

First country : Germany.

After leaving Heidelberg, we eventually made our way to Schweinfurt, which has been Gina and Jay's home for the past 3 years.  I think we made it staying awake until well after 9p.  That was quite a success I believe.

On the flight from Chicago to FRA, I did NOT sleep well at all.  So I was more then ready to lay my head on a pillow in my 'crib'.  A 'crib' because Gina and Jay put me on an air mattress in their extra room....which is their storage room.  Apartments in Germany have very little if any storage space.  Because of this, their spare bedroom became that.  After some rearranging and cleaning earlier in the week, they were able to make room for the air mattress.  There was access to the bed from one side, surrounded by tubs and shelves and more tubs on the other 3 sides.  But I didn't care!  I was sleeping, so didn't care that I was in a 'crib'.

That concludes days 1 & 2.