Spent the day at Martina and Johannes home in nearby Gersdorf for a wonderful lunch of creamy zuchinni soup, pork tenderloins, goulasch, noodles, boiled potatoes, garlic bread (just a few carbs!) and strawberry sundaes and more wedding cake for dessert! The weather was great but the pool was a bit cold. Only Alec and Johannes were brave enough to get in! After lunch, we took another city tour of Chemnitz to see some of the sights we had missed the day before. One highlight was the Karl Marx statue gifted to Chemnitz by Russia and recently adorned with painted German flags on the head of the statue in celebration of the upcoming World Cup Soccer Championship. We also went to the Chemnitz square which is home to the Opera House, Theater, and St. Petrikirche Church (1888) ... read more

Ines picks a great breakfast spot just a short walk from her flat. I love all the outdoor dining in Germany and the weather has been beautiful! Then a nice drive through the country side where the kids get to see some typical German villages. One of our main destinations today is the Konigstein Fortress. According to their brochure, The Konigstein Fortress is on a surface the size of 13 football fields and it is one of the largest hilltop fortresses in Europe. Embedded into the bizarre, rocky landscape of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, visible from afar, the fortress is enthroned on a table mountain. High above the River Elbe, the always-unconquerable fort offers stunnig views or Saxon-Bohemian Switzerland, the foothills of eastern Ore Mountains, and Dresden. We spend a good part of the day exploring ... read more

After a nice family breakfast at the hotel, we headed for Chemnitz. Our first stop was the city center where we did some exploring and shopping. Next, off to the bungalow and to get the kids checked into their room at Hotel Schloss Rabenstein, a beautifully restored hotel with a view of a Castle which belonged to a Count from the area. Not bad digs according to Jamie and Alec, especially considering the staff called to make sure they didn't want any breakfast and folded all of the clothes they'd left strewn around the room! We took a nice walk out in the woods to an observation tower, climbed all 200 stairs to enjoy the breathtaking view of the region, and then ventured on to a quaint chalet style restaurant nestled in the woods for a ... read more

We have had a couple of exhausting, but very interesting, days in Washington DC. Day one we took the subway from a station just a few miles away from the campground. It was really handy not having to spend more time behind the wheel navigating traffic. By the end of the time here, we consider ourselves subway experts as we learned how to read the schedules, switch trains, even take the bus between stations closed for maintenance! Yesterday we toured the capital and surrounding area on foot and enjoyed a nice dinner at a rooftop restaurant complete with the biggest bowl of guacamole I have ever seen! Today we had brunch at a classy spot downtown and then did the "hop on hop off bus tour" of the other major Washington DC sights. It was a ... read more

After an easy drive across Florida (okay easy from the passenger seat at least!) we spent the first night of our motor coach adventure in St. Augustine, Florida. Neither of us had ever visited and we were both very impressed with what we found. The vicinity of St. Augustine was first explored in 1513 by Spanish explorer and governor of Puerto Rico, Juan Ponce de Leon, who claimed the region for the Spanish crown. Spanish influence is evident throughout the city. We enjoyed a delicious Spanish dinner at traditional restaurant after strolling the city by foot. The next morning before departure, we took a stroll on the beach, noticing how much different the sand is on the Atlantic side of Florida, and shared a nice breakfast. Fritz and Stella are acclimating well. Stella sat up on ... read more