Germany

When we initially planned our trip, we were going to be able to see Susan's daughter Laura dance (she's a ballerina with the Stuttgart ballet).  Unfortunately, she injured her foot, so she had to take a month off for it to heal.  But while we didn't get to see her dance, we did get to spend time with her and her boyfriend, Frank.

Walking in the park.

While we were there, the Stuttgart ballet performed Sleeping Beauty, and they set up a huge TV screen (and I mean huge!) in the park to show it.  We went and it rained on us the entire time.  We stayed until the break and then headed indoors for dinner.

After a couple of days in Stuttgart, we headed down to Garmisch-Partenkirchner, which has a cable car up to the Zugspitze, the highest mountain in Germany.  We had tried to go up when we were in Germany last October, but it was socked in with clouds.  Guess what?  Same thing again.  I guess we're just not fated to see it.  But we spent the night there this time, and there was a street fair that we went to.  It was really fun, until it started raining cats and dogs.  Of course by this time we were a long way from the hotel, so by the time we got back to the hotel, we were totally soaked.  Oh well, the price you pay.

Then we ran across this street that was named after me!

One of the amazing things about the little towns over here is how so many of the houses have these elaborate paint jobs.  I guess being a house painter over here is a little different.

And then when we'd given up all hope of seeing the mountain, the clouds broke a little and gave us a tease.

After we'd dried out, we went out for a walk around town and saw lots more cute houses.

So, once again we didn't get to take the cable car up to the top, but maybe next time.