mom and grandma come to europe.

I had a wonderful week with my mother and grandmother in Europe. I kept them busy the first day they arrived so that they could beat jet lag. We ate a warm lunch with our family in Leutershausen. While it was difficult for my mom and grandma to communicate with the family in town, I think they enjoyed once again seeing where they spent holidays while my grandpa was stationed in Germany. We ate a typical German dinner with Sabine after meeting the boys. On Wednesday, we explored Heidelberg together - Philosophenweg, Hauptstraße, Schloß, Königstuhl... It was nice having visitors because there were places that I still hadn't gone because they seemed too touristy to do on my own. We even made it to the monastery where we enjoyed a beverage with Annika before dinner at the Herzberg household (the picture to the left was taken at the Hofladen). On Thursday, my mom and I were able to take a wonderful walk between rain storms from the house back to the Philosophenweg some 3 miles away. In the afternoon we loaded two cars full of people and went to Schwetzingen. We took a tour of the castle which was in German and did little good for my mom and grandma. Therefore, they received English reading material and Sabine and I did our best at translating. We proceeded into the gardens and spent the rest of the day in the sunshine amongst the flowers of the billion acres of land. Absolutely breathtaking!

On Friday morning we caught a train to Basel where we were greeted by family friends who once lived in the United States. They were absolutely wonderful hosts. They showed us all around Basel on Friday and made a day trip to Strasbourg, France on Saturday. The weekend could be detailed better but I wouldn't do it justice. Sadly, my grandma and mom left on Monday after only a short week but they say three countries. Quite a successful trip according to my standards.