Zehr Güüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüüt!

Another great day in Deutschland. This is Wilhelm Skot König. Today as we all went different we were thinking thoughts of the beauty of the land and the creatures within. :) Äliesje went on a hike and Keith and Rußella traveled to Erfürt and LOVED the churches and history of that fine city. Rob, Betje and Scott traveled to Marburg, a fascinating university town (think Oxford) and there were many hills and old buildings. We toured at least 3 churches, all were quite nice. Later we traveled to a charming town called Alsfeld. We enjoyed a nice traditional Deutsch lunch in the Market Place surrounded by buildings from the 1500s. Tonight we had a Thai dinner with Claudia und Manfred that was zehr ausgehzeichnet!!! Äwesöme!!! So we are visiting and laughing and enjoying the good times! Tommorow the 3 King kids travel east to Prague and are exited for that and we will see what that entails. Peace! --ßest Wishes!

Guten Tag! from Rob.

Today we woke to welcoming sunshine after a rainy opening day of celebrations in the village of Harle. What a wonderful and proud time of being with my family knowing this is where my great-grandfather George Brandau was born and raised. This is a very important event for my counsin´s family who live in Harle. 800 years ago this tiny village was established and we are having the time of our lives celebrating an outdoor museum experience as many of the streets and homes have been transformed into arts and crafts exhibits,food and drink booths, and hands-on displays of the work and culture of the people of this German village. I am doing alot of video taping of the sights and sounds of this unique experience and Scott and I hope to put together a I-Video of some of the highlights of the Brandau family celebrations. Claudia and Manfred have been such gracious hosts making our time in Germany an exereince we will never forget. Auf Wiedersehen

Rob's pictures

Eine zehr schön Tag für alles!

some fotos

wine, fries, and bikes..

hello from robin! i forgot to sign my name on my last post which was very quick in an internet cafe. but where do you start talking about a family vacation - the first in seven years - especially the first intercontinental?
i am sure everyone has already talked about our madcap misadventures - i always realize that you discover so many aspects about a person when you travel with someone. family always adds a fun dynamic.
keith and i ventured to amsterdam for a few days...which was an adventure in and of itself. we paddled through the canals, vistited the rijksmuseum, ate dutch food,- which i had made him suffer through before when i make dutch pancakes, stroopwaffels, and poffejetes (sp?) at home - now he has the real stuff to compare to- and inevitably had to have milkshakes and fries to remind ourselves that we are true americans.
what i love most about amsterdam is the great architecture - narrow houses made so because the city taxed on buildings width - so everyone built narrow and deep - and the leaning because of the soft land and storing everything in the attics in earlier days. and of course all the bikes and canals of the 'motherland'. even though it was my third trip to holland and amsterdam, i still am amazed by it all.
its funny how much i try to think i know in dutch - i went into this great wine store in amsterdam and thought i had got this cheap (or realitively cheap) bottle of wine- i really didn't know as i was mezmorized by this great little place - and brought it to pay, and it was three times as much as i thought it would be. i had started talking to the guy in dutch, and was not about to admit i couldnt speak very much dutch, so i kept talking to him in dutch and tried to explain it was supposed to be less, so then i showed him, and he took several euros off the price, but not the price i thought. .. so i just paid for the expensive bottle of wine, all because i didnt want to talk in english (though of course i am sure he could have spoken english a lot better than my dutch!). so i walk out on the street with this fancy bottle of wine wrapped in a fancy box and realize i didnt even get the wine i had thought i had purchased! so now i have a bottle of wine i have no idea what it is....but success! - I never spoke in english in that wine store, not once.

Guten Morgen aus Homberg (Efze)

Greetings from Germany! Although the rain clouds have been ominous these last few days, we have enjoyed many fun events and great food! Naturally there have been some differences in opinion amongst the travelers, but that is OK! :ö) We now are in the German province of Hesse and will in the next couple days visit Harle where my Great-Great Grandfather was born as it celebrates 800 years!!!! So we will try to keep the updates coming at a good pace as we travel throughout Germany and the kids in Prague this weekend!!!

ßöä!

-- Wilhelmus Skot König

vaderland

Dag, and I will see if I can catch you up for a few days of our trip--we are all still speaking to each other. That was a little testy at times but we are the Kings, so we wake up happier. Today we are with Claudia and Manfred, and it is rainy but beautiful. It is very green and lovely, and everyone is so friendly and helpful even if we can,t understand each other. THe time with the dutchies went well and we were tearful with parting, but had to come back because the key to the camper was discovered on the car key chain--that time we all were laughing. Two days before that, the key to the car Lief, Robin and Keith were planning to drive to AMsterdam in was in Scott,s pocket and no one was laughing. We had just arrived at Kinderdijk with fabulous weather and the guys were just taking pictures when Scott reached into his pocket and had a very horrified expression on his face, knowing his fate was sealed since the others had planned to be off. We hopped back in the car for another hour back to discover oom Jan had already taken them to the catch the train. As you know, telephone booths are not to be found now in Nederland so we were destined to miss the mad moments. Oom Jan thought the girls were not angry but we knew better. He may have payback for a long time.... We have so many dutch treats that we won´t have room for anything else, and could not find any NL stickers. Sorry. We discovered that our picture from our last trip here with Kyle is in a book now about the history of Harle! Sorry, Kyle, you are a King in the book. It must be an honorary title! Time to eat again--the food has been amazing! Love to ya all from all of us--betje

one minute...

with one minute and too much to say, ...all i can really say is that it has been an adventure so far. and one vacation not soon to be forgotten....

Places

Germany mostly...

excuse the side-ways glances... i cannot read dutch.

in the homeland

Hi friends and family:

well after a wild adventure or two (a man had to leave our plane to Germany as we started to leave the runway [got really ill and then half way through the ocean a family with three young kids needed ma's nursing skills because of some nasty bouts of ... the flu... once we arrived in Germany we had to wait until the paramedics checked out the kids to assure no -one was carrying the "Swine flu" (h1n1... or is it n1h1?) our adventures truly began. So far we have seen vine yards, rivers, trees, old buildings, consumed more bread and cheese than anyone should in a 64 hour period, hiked to a castle, drove through beautiful hilly countrysides, and now arrived at moms tante and ooms fantastic farm where we young-ones (sorry mom) will stay in our own little trailers with the other campers from all over (it really is quite exciting) while the rents stay in the old farm house. All are excited to write, but being the most computer dependant, i get to share this first bit of info.

I am sure all will add fab details about all of the pictures and the days continue. To all we send our love and big dutch hugs.

xoxo

liesje for all

Oh and sorry about the spelling errors, i cannot figure out how to do spell check in English.

The start.

Guten Tag alle menschen! ( Or something like that... ) Scott here.Today we start it all, we are pretty excited. I have to pick up the parentals now, but there will be more to follow. -Peace-

Pre-Adventure.

Friends, & Family...
Liesje Here.
Entry One:
Scoot sleeps, Robin and Keith work, mom and dad are boarding their plane in Boise. And I continue to avoid packing up the rest of my stuff... :)
Today my excitement for the trip is at its peak: the reality of summer hit me as i unloaded my little Jetta (which will move me to Portland when we return) and read through Scott's itinerary. I really am not sure what all, where all, who all we will be experiencing over the next two weeks...but with Robin Scott and Ma in charge i have nothing to worry about. So sit back, and come along with we Kings as we head out on our biggest family vacation event to date.