We left Unsleben this morning, sad to be leaving our quiet cottage and sweet neighbors who came over for our last night of tea. The kids next door, Sylvia and Richard, were enamored with the kids and stayed until dark - Sylvia holding Ava on her lap. The kids want me to write to Sylvia's family and ask her to come be our au pair next summer - something we don't need anymore, but still an appealing thought...hmm.. then I could work to pay for this trip!! Richard is an impressive "free runner" - something I thought the boys made up, but it turns out is really a sport. He "ran" up the cottage wall, flipped around in the air and landed on his feet - very cool. Needless to say, the boys couldn't get enough of him! Cullen is really wishing Aidan Pitt was here...to go off the high dive, see the free run - he is missing his friends.
We drove south to Rothenberg and stopped for lunch. Rothenberg was built in the 1400's and still has most of the wall around the city - there is a narrow set of stairs leading to a path that runs along the top of the wall - we walked on the wall until Nana got tired. Aidan quickly snapped into his role as historian and explained with great gusto where all of the canons, swords and shields would have been stored for battle. We walked in the dungeons and dark, narrow alleys underneath the wall...unbelievable to me that such places still exist. We bought souvenirs and ate Chinese food for lunch...ok, I'll admit it....German food is not our favorite! The boys have had enough brats to last a long time and Ava has been subsisting on bread, cheese, tomatoes, french fries and of course, chocolatte eis. Not that she ate anything better at the Chinese food restaurant, but we were all very happy for the change. We are all craving burritos and salsa - neither of which is available anywhere....maybe Spain? Paella is calling our name! The city was very confusing with its narrow alleys and numerous doorways, but thanks to Aidan, we found our car - not sure what I would do without him on this trip.
After Rothenberg, we drove south on the "Romantic Road," until my laptop battery died and the Avatar episode ended and Ava started moaning "are we there yet?" After 20 minutes of pointing out beautiful fields and cows, I gave in and changed over to the Autobahn - 90 mph feels normal now, but still not fast enough for those last 45 minutes of a road trip in a crowded car (and not fast enough for Cullen who wants me to hit 100 in our Ford wagon!). Aidan got into a very chatty mood as we found ourselves discussing whether it would be cool to be in prison in space...strange topic. Aidan couldn't let it go and kept talking...we all started wishing Baker could jump in the car to "talk" with Aidan...they could have gone on for hours :). We finally made it and checked into our fantastic apartment that is situated at the base of the Alps. The kids and I walked to the market to get food for dinner in a torrential downpour - it still hasn't stopped. We are all happy for the change after a really hot week.
So much to do here...hiking, alpine slide, gondola ride, swimming in high mountain lakes, looking for Nana's old house, famous castles...hope we can fit it all in! Aidan is insisting that we travel into Switzerland to get a true "Swiss" Army Knife - how can I say no?
Hoping to see the Richardsons as they travel through this area next week. We are all really missing Marc and the pets, but time is flying now...he will be with us soon :) :) :)
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