Hello All-After leaving Munich at 7AM their time yesterday, we arrived in Chicago at 1:30 PM and ET at about 4:30. On a scale of 1-10, we both agreed that it came close to a 10. The tour aspect with 30 individuals on a bus was challenging at times, but overall, we saw and did so much cool stuff that it was worth it. Many places to go back to! Highlights included an evening river trip on the Seine looking at all the lit up Paris attractions, a visit to a little French wine village, being in Innsbruck during the European "Football" 2008 Cup game with the Swedes and the Spaniards. The kids loved that! They got their faces painted with the Spanish flag by the drunken revelers and we drove past the Olympic stadium as the throngs walked in, and swimming in the Olympic swimming pool in Munich during some rare free time. We covered alot of miles, saw much beauty and had no idea what was going on in the rest of the world.
I kept hearing from the other tourists and various locals that they were hearing about our flooding on CNN and several people had upgraded their phone service to international, so during a boat trip on Lake Luzern, I called Jay to hear the bad news about the very bad storm, possibly tornado, which took out lots of huge trees and the power and caused our basement to take in 7 inches of water. Jay and Colin waged a major battle against the water, but we pretty much lost most of the furniture and carpeting. They had a great week! We came home last night hoping for a hot shower only to find out that the water heater was one of the major casualties. Bridget and I combined a visit with G and G with use of their shower! The boys have been using the health club and sponge baths. I haven't gone down into the basement yet to see how bad things are. Most everything that was important and can be salvaged is in the living room. They had 15 inches of rain in 10 days and most of the trees that went down pulled out by the roots. The damage seemed to go right down Hy L-old 24.
Anyway, we packed for summer in Europe and got cool, rainy spring, so we were challenged to find layers to keep warm. Our tour guide had a suitcase full of summer stuff which she was unable to wear and wasn't happy about it either. I had a lively discussion with her about our political situation. The Europeans are willing to have us choose any president but McCain and as we figured, they hate Bush, think we are very stupid for electing him twice and have no respect for him now. I assured her that I share her feelings.
Glad to hear that you are dry, Mark! We saw the MAN truck company in Munich and their 2008 Truck of the Year and the new BMW museum, and thought of you. I know that you have gone there also, Dave, and am curious to hear what you have seen. We had more free time in Munich, so got to eat and shop there and found great food and incredible architecture, as well as the tour of Dachau, so overall, we really enjoyed that area.
I better quit while I am ahead. I will try to post a picture or two. Really enjoyed the adorable Freya picture and the Father's Day and Alaska story. I was trying to figure out how to move to Austria or Switzerland. Alaska sounds great, too.
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