Germany

So it's four in the morning here but I can not sleep anymore because I'm still on Germany time--I know, poor me:). But I just wanted to post a few of the pictures of the wonderful things that we saw. We visited parts of Ryan's mission, saw homes where my mother-in-law lived while over in Germany, went to an amazing Berlin Airlift 60 year celebration, saw family and friends, and ate lots and lots of wonderful food. It was picturesque and perfect. Enough of this talking, here are some shots. . . This first one is us going up in a cable car with church bells ringing in the background and the Rhein River flowing through this beautiful valley and vineyard

Here are two crazy airmen, my cousin Russell and friend Nathan who are stationed over in Germany. As you can see they still keep their cool despite the amazing location. Russell let us borrow his European GPS that saved our lives--many times. Leading us not only to all the local sites, but rest stops (that you have to pay to use), gas stations, and most importantly, resturants.


In Heidelburg, we got to meet up with the family of one of the guys Ryan taught on his mission. He later served a mission and married this wonderful woman. He's the Branch President of a branch we visited while there and where I was completely humbled by not understanding one word of the German spoken there. . .
This was the main reason behind our visit to Germany. We went to Berlin to watch the 60th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift. This is Ryan's Grandpa who never runs out of energy and represents the pilots who flew for almost a year to keep West Berlin free from Communist Rule.
Here are some sights in Potsdam--what used to be East Germany. We talked to a West Berliner at the celebration and she said the first thing she did when the wall came down was go here to see these sights she'd heard about all her life but could never see. They were beautiful.
















We left Berlin and went north to Bremen, a nice fishing town. We stayed with a family who lived here near Ryan's parents for a few years. It was great visiting and having our own tour guide. We went into three cathedrals that day and at every one there was an organ playing. It was amazing!
And, finally the Gothic Cathedral in Cologne. We walked up 580 of this bad boy's steps to get to the tower. It was amazing to see the height of the ceiling in here after learning about it in Humanities 101. There was so much history and greatness.
Two last shots include the ride that got us around. Ryan had a great time on the Autobahn, zipping around into tight little parking spots, and trying to follow the GPS into unknown territory. He was in heaven hitting speeds of 100+. I tried to sleep as much as possible during these moments.
Finally, the babysitters who made all of this possible. Thanks so much Mom and Dad for watching the kids and putting up with us. The kids were in HEAVEN and don't feel guilty at all saying that they got SPOILED!