Here's the key

to the awesome view and

to our room at this hotel in Fussen. We're just glad they had some rooms because we told them we were coming in July but we showed up a month early. Oops. We all thought the woman who ran the place was the German version of Grandma Townsend. She was small with short white hair and ran around doing all the work. She showed us which spot to park in, checked us in, showed us to our room and the next morning told us where to sit and then spread out the breakfast buffet. And she reminded us everytime we saw her that we were fortunate to have a room.

When you walk in the front door, the nice man offers a beer, although he didn't seem disturbed at being turned down repeatedly.

And then you walk down this hall and out of the building, across the parking lot and up three flights of stairs (no elevator) to the rooms with the dormer windows on the top left.

When, what do you know? The view out the window was of this castle, originally the summer home of the Bishop of Augsburg.

We walked up this nearby hill

to the castle courtyard where every architectural detail was merely painted on the flat surfaces.

These hooligans, that usually prefer not to be captured on film, were in rare form on this particular day.

Kunst, means art in German and they say it's subjective but I'm not really buying it.

Eric has spent the summer employed in the produce department of a local grocery store. I'm guessing he didn't learn these skills there.

We enjoyed staying here. The streets were so narrow, it felt like we could be driving on the sidewalk.

Another painter, making a living, another carpenter without a job.

Wake up,

and get to practice. Emily was in the ballet Sleeping Beauty last night. The director commented on how the performers had spent their summer preparing for the event. Emily not so much. She had only attended two rehearsals until this past weeks marathon sessions of "figure out your part or forever be embarrassed." Official pictures are pending. For now this ballet loving imposter who thinks he's Prince Charming with his mouth full will have to do. It's the best that we could come up with. Sorry.

Happy trails

to you if you can endure this. We decided the day after visiting the "Disney" castle to stop on the way to Salzburg at the Ehrenberg Ruins. We thought it was four ancient castles grouped together, and they were, only on four separate peaks. We chose one to explore.

It was a beautiful day to visit an old castle. A don't forget your water bottle day. A slight dig to the family for not wanting their own water because they could drink mine without having to carry it.

There was not much left since it's heyday of the 13th century.

And hard to believe that an army or two could invade with a cannon pointed in their direction.

Here's a view from where we stood, across to the road less traveled (by us anyway)to the castle on the adjacent peak. Can you see why one castle was enough for the day?

Put on your hiking boots, or flip flops in Emily's case, and you can see the valley far and wide,

and the restored turret below,

which previously held a cannon.

With our feet back down on the ground, we found the moat.

Everyone knows what a troublemaker Eric is, finally his comeuppance.

Before I forget

our first day in Germany was spent in the medieval city of Rothenburg. We flew clear across the Atlantic on Air France with no splashdowns midway. However, after our arrival in Rothenburg I thought a time machine had just appeared to be a Boeing 767.

We left home at near 10 a.m. flying to Atlanta. From there we ventured to Munich arriving at 1:00 a.m. our time but in Germany it was 8 a.m. So the vacation began whether you slept or not on the plane. I may have been tired but Rothenberg was charming. This clock on the market square chimed on the hour and just like a cuckoo version the windows opened and out came a couple of. . . well. . . Germans.

Here's Emily, Eric and Geoff in front of the City Hall. And below a close up view.

Christmas is kind of a big deal in Germany and this store is the ultimate holiday shop. I would have taken pictures inside but apparently they won't let you steal all their ideas. They have a website but I fear it's one of the those times when you had to be there. Geoff sent us a picture with himself and a ginormous Nutcracker last fall which was taken on the other side of this bus.

Saint Jakob's Church, built in the 14th century, and converted to Lutheran since the mid 1500's was the home of this statue of Christ standing on a skull. Overcoming death people. Obviously.

The guidebook describes Tilman Ruemenschneider as the Michelangelo of wood carvers and lists this as the "most wonderful wood carving in all of Germany." Also at St. Jakob's. Um,impressive.

Rothenberg is surrounded by a rock wall with a walkway running along the top. The night watchman would walk along the wall all through the darkness looking for trouble. Fires were the most destructive and no one wanted to encounter a thief or fully armed intruder but a World War II bombing required the wall to be rebuilt.

We were fortunate enough to run across the night watchman himself and took the tour.

There is a pulley above the upper most door of these houses. It was used to move their food from the ground to the attic for protection. A year's supply of grain and corn were required by the city. Interesting?

It looks like Rothenberg is on fire in this picture but it was an early evening fog. This picture doesn't really portray how awesome it looked.

There's no evidence but I climbed up this wall and then just turned around and climbed back down. It was rickety and scary, but Eric leaned on the railing and lived to tell about it.

Where was I?

Well, I wasn't finished with Germany when I was whisked away to WA for a week and then Bear Lake for another. I have not one picture from WA because no one wants to see me scrubbing toilets and vacuuming my bug collection. When my life movie is premiered however, that will basically be the story line. My baby girl accompanied me and then I came across this photo from this past week and okay, what happened here?

We spent four days on this beach with 40 members of Lonny's family working on a tan between eating, boating, eating, wakeboarding, eating, tubing, eating and waverunning. Was there a prize for whoever gained the most while family reunioning?

I hardly have any pictures, but here are my AZ nieces, Kristen, Jen, and Danielle and is that you Dan under the towel?

My daughter, Jenny with her kiddos, Kirsten and Colton,

Geoff making sand castles with Colton and Bryce,

and my nephew Devin, in some proper OU attire. Remember Labor Day weekend is fast approaching, go BYU.

Geoff wakeboarding.

Jon wakeboarding.

Eric wakeboarding. And my nephew Kelly, but darn, I didn't get a picture of him upside down.