Ferry travels

During our stay in Denmark, the only way to get where we were headed was to take this ferry for a while. Since I had never had the chance to do that before in the U.S., I totally enjoyed the experience. You can see where we are headed in the picture below. There were about 12 other vehicles on this particular ferry with us, we just happened to be the first ones on.

I had to take the picture above. The Garmin even knew there was not a road underneath us.

THE AUTOZUG

After hearing so much about the European Rail system, we got a chance to experience it first hand traveling from Hamburg Germany to Verona Italy. The trip was about 23 hours long and the countryside was beautiful.

Alan driving the car up the ramp to the train

Our car on the upper deck, the lower deck is already full The front part of the train Getting on board.

LONG OVERDUE

We were back in the US for the month of October and had a wonderful time with family and friends.

Visiting Will and Christine and seeing some of the Minnesota sites.

Having a picnic in the yard on a beautiful October day

Emily and Carmen getting a chance to play

AS FAR NORTH AS YOU CAN GO IN DENMARK

On Sunday we headed for Skagen, Denmark where the two parts of the North Sea meet.

We walked out to the very tip

This is part of a German bunker from WW2 that is now in the sea



Other than being slightly cold, it was awesome

My Italian Angel

Angels exist all around the world, and this is mine here in Italy. This is Val, our next door neighbor. I am not sure what I would have done without her help.

GROCERY SHOPPING ON BIKE

I have learned to load a bike with groceries. Now if I could just master my balance a bit more.

BEFORE: OUTSIDE THE STORE

AFTER: BESIDE OUR GARAGE

VACATION PHOTOS

We took a weeks vacation while on the way to Denmark for business. Traveling through Europe brought both beautiful sites and difficult challenges (mostly because the language changes in every country). But, the challenges were never unsurmountable. Here are some pictures. Unfortunately, there is no way you can capture the real beauty of the area.

Lunch in Austria


Can you see the zip line and gondola behind Alan? We were crazy enough to ride it to the top of the peak you can just see behind the clouds. The ride and the view from the top of the mountain were breathtaking.. (literally)

The countryside below the castle in Germany

This is the castle that Walt Disney copied when he started Disney Land

We took this paddleboat down the river outside of Dresden. It was a 2 1/2 hour ride to the following island.

Pillnitz Island

The gardens inside Pillnitz Island

The Jewish Museum in Berlin Germany

The Brandenburg Gate

THIS IS FOR YOU DAD

Check out the last name.

BANANA PLANT RACE

This will only make sense to those of you who follow the blogs of our entire family.

How are these for banana plants. See what you have to look forward to. I just had to bike down and get these pictures after the banana plant challenge was issued.

HERE IS WHAT "WE" WERE POINTING AT

On our way back home we had a chance to stop and see the Mt Blanc glacier. Neither one of us had ever seen a glacier before and we were amazed. This is like one of probably twenty pictures we took of it.

2 kilometers after you leave the glacier, you enter the Mt Blanc tunnel in France and exit the tunnel in Italy. It is approximately 11 kilometers long and I did not want to think about how far under the Alps we were.

DECISONS DECISIONS

"Wish I could figure out what this is in French, because it sure looks good"

FAVORITE PHOTO

Here is one of my favorite pictures from our recent trip.

GREAT DAY FOR A BIKE RIDE

Sunday afternoon we took the bikes for a ride and ended up on a trail by the river that runs thru the town. Since ours are not mountain bikes, we ended up having to push the bikes most of the way because of the terrain, but it was so worth it.

WHAT IS SHARON AND "STATUE GUY" POINTING AT?

What do you think I and the guy in the statue behind me are pointing at? We will post the picture of the answer later.

HOW TO GET OUT OF A TRAFFIC STOP IN FRANCE

There is something to be said about not knowing the language of the country you are traveling through.
The police were doing routine traffic stops in France and (of course) we were the vehicle that was pulled over. It did not take them long to figure out that we could speak no French at all.
It did not take long for us to figure out that they wanted our driver’s license. After this point, it went down hill. They asked us several questions to which we both had no idea what they were wanting.
Long story short, they got frustrated pointed down the road for us to drive on and said “No English, go”
I think I will try just speaking Italian in the states next time we get stopped and see what happens.

TRIP TO FRANCE

We spent 4 days in Chateauroux, France and this is a picture of the church in the town square. I am amazed and never get tired of looking at the architecture of the European churches.

For all of you that like a challenge question.
How many dollars in tolls do you think it takes to get from Bassano del Grappa, Italy to Chateauroux, France? This is a trip of approximately 600 kilometers one way. Your guesses can be either in dollars or in Euros.

BACK IN ITALY

We arrived back at the flat on July 8. I have spent most of the time since we have been back unpacking and finding a place for the items in the 5 bags of luggage we brought. Once we get a bit more settled in, we will try and start posting pictures.

BACK IN THE USA

We are back in the states for the month of June, so the posts will be missing for awhile. But, we are headed back to Italy in July, so please check with us again then. We love all your comments

BASSANO AT NIGHT

Bassano del Grappa is a very beautiful city, but especially at night. The above pictures are of the famous bridge, the town square, and the river. The river is about 100 meters from our flat.

PS: If I have to get used to metric, so do you!!!!!

STARTING TO LOOK LIKE HOME

Our flat is starting to be home. Here Alan is reading while we wait for our dinner guests to arrive. Our first dinner guests where from Denmark and work with Alan when he is in Randers Denmark. We had a great time talking about work, customs of the different counties and enjoying cross cultural communication. We have started a guest book for all that come to the flat for a visit.

NAME THAT MEAT

This is one of the typical seafood counters in the grocery store. Can you name any of the above seafoods? I just wish I could include the smell!!!!!!!!

Apini's take over Bassano

This weekend is the 81st annual Alpini festival in Bassano. The Alpinies fought to save Mount Grappa from being taken over by the Austrians along with other areas of the Italian Alps in 1917. Bassano Del Grappa is a city of about 50,000. The Alpini group brought to town 450,000 people, 60,000 cars, and 2,000 buses. All trying to drive in the narrow Bassano streets. The entire city is closed to traffic. Alan can home from work Friday at noon just to get the Flat before they closed the streets. The only mode of transportation in and out of the city until Monday morning is by public transportation.
The picutre is one of the Alpini groups coming down the street in front of our flat.

OUR NEW WHEELS

We have four new wheels, two for Sharon and two for Alan. Our wheels are two 21 speed bikes that will allow us to get into the Italian/European mode of transportation. We had a great day biking around the city of Bassano and the surrounding areas. We biked about 15Km for our first ride. Now we have 4 bikes, so we are ready for visitors to come biking with us. Who will be the first??????

This is the bike shop owner and his shop.

Here we are ready to explore and try not to crash them on the first day.

Help us name the new bikes. You will get venti ”Grappa points” if we choose your suggestion.

SHANNON & FLANDERS DO ITALY

Shannon and Flanders are the two bikes we got from Tim and Mindy. Tim and Mindy never thought the two bikes that introduced them to Leuven Belgium would end up in Italy introducing us to Bassano. On this trip Shannon and Flanders were taking us on a trip to explore Bassano Italy.

Flanders in Flanders field. The poppies are in full bloom here. They grow wild and this is a wheat field close to our flat