HOME * SWEET

ASUNTOLA

HOME......

Monday, and time to return back to Espoo where we belong! It has been a wonderful week visiting to Italy and with Allgaier cousins in Bavaria.

We have been staying at Traudel's B & B when we visit family because she has a wonderful place. Traudel's daughter, Andrea, is married to Gotfried, our 4th cousin. Here we are with Traudel and another daughter, Sylvia. Sylvia speaks English so well and translates a lot for us when she is around. Traudel fixes such a wonderful breakfast! DANKE Traudel!!

Getting the luggage in our little rental car......and headed out....

It was cloudy when we left and we couldn't get a good picture of those gorgeous ALPS behind the house....but we knew they were there!

We like to drive the 'scenic' route when we go back to Munich to the airport.......and that always takes us through a part of AUSTRIA.

And a great view of the ALPS and the ZUGSPITZ....except today because of the clouds!

We stopped in GARMISCH to have lunch. Because we were running a bit late we only had time for McDONALD'S!! :-( Sorry, but it was still good.....when you are hungry!

One last shot of downtown GARMISCH.....

And a 'VISIT' with some of the 'local folks'........

We are now HOME * SWEET * ASUNTOLA * HOME!! We know the next 2 months will go by quickly! The next airplane we will be on will take us to our HOME * SWEET * HOME in Brunswick Maryland! We are NOT trunky.....just trying to be realistic about what is to come!

SUNDAY IN

KAUFBEUREN BRANCH

Traudel asked if she could go to church with us today! Of course we were very happy that she wanted to! We think she enjoyed it. And she stayed for the full 3 hours.

It was a little drizzly as we drove over to and back from Kaufbeuren but it was still a beautiful drive.

In the afternoon we drove over to Kempten to visit Elisa and her mother, Sigrid. It was fun to see them again. They moved to this new (remodeled) flat back in November. It is situated along the ILLER RIVER. A beautiful view of it too.......

The inside is very nice and inviting and relaxing.

We then drove over to say good-bye to Gotfried and Andrea and Tobias. It has been a great weekend being with our family here in Nesselwang. We will miss them. Not sure when we will be able to get back. Maybe we need to be 'called on a mission' to Allgaier country! :-)

ALLGAIER

REUNION

IN

NESSELWANG!!!

Everytime we come to see our Allgaier cousins here in Germany we say it will never be as good as the 'last time' we were here. But you know what....it just keeps on getting better!

We stayed at Traudel's again this time. This is a 200 year old home (you know, the kind with the barn attached to the house). Very cool. This was our room this time. The one we usually have was taken by some visiting friends of Traudel's.

We were off to Gotfried ad Andrea's for a BIRTHDAY BRUNCH to honor TOBIAS's 13th birthday. Elisa even surprised us by showing up on her way to Switzerland for a convention.

It was truly a family affair with this celebration....so fun to see everyone again. Pia, the youngest of the two daughters, is quite the musician. (By way of information, we is the Disney Rapanzel (spelling not correct) voice for the German version and she sings all of the songs! She is a very talented musician as such a young age. She wrote a song especially for Tobias and sang it for him! It was AWESOME!

Tobias seemed to really like his FINLAND T-SHIRT we gave him for his birthday, along with a Finland ball cap.

After the brunch, it was time to hike over to the SKI LIFTS for a gondola ride to the top of the mountain. It was a nice walk from their home.......

Andrea took this picture of Wayne and I from the inside of the gondola as we rode to the top.

This is the half-way point where we picked up another gondola.

And.....THE TOP of the mountain where we could look out and see so very far on such a gorgeously beautiful day. Could not have asked for a better day. Off in the distance you can see (almost dead-center) the ZUGSPITZ, Germany's highest mountain. We have actually been to the top of that and it has an amazing view. The mountains to the right in the picture are actually in Austria.

A closer up view of the ZUGSPITZ......

and a view of the NEUSCHWANSTEIN CASTLE in the middle above the pole. We could even see that. It is located in Fussen.

Before going back down the mountain we had a little 'group' picture taken.....Left to right: Wayne, Vicki, Traudel, Gotfried and Andrea.

A view of Nesselwang as we were taking a drive out of town.

Pretty 'sunset' at the back from Gotfried and Andrea's home.

Night lights on the ski lift......

And we ended up in the INTERNET CAFE where we had a nice dinner (believe it or not) and were able to work on our computers. In the 200 year old home, there is NO internet! This was actually a very nice place with very nice people. There is also a very nice swimming pool. We will have to remember this the next time we come here.

Tomorrow: We will be going to the Kaufbeuren Ward. Traudel has asked to go with us. We are glad for that.

VENEZIA, ITALY

TO

NESSELWANG, GERMANY

TODAY

We made one last little stop at a shop to pick up a couple of last minute gifts. This saleslady was so nice....we actually saw her on Thursday night too!

As we took our waterboat taxi back to our parked car at the edge of Venezia Island, we enjoyed taking our last look at the waterways and thinking of how much fun we had here in VENEZIA!

And it was another beautiful day here.....

Even the DOGS have a good life riding around on the boats with their masters.

This is where our car has been parked for the last 3 days. It is suppose to be the worlds LARGEST PARKING GARAGE. I do believe it is TRUE!

As we were driving through the WINE COUNTRY again, it was amazing to see just how these vineyards are 'positioned'! How do they do this!!

And how do they get these going up such steep hills!! They are crazy people!

We went from Italy to Austria to Switzerland to Germany today.....and the SNOW RETURNS!

AAAAHHHHH.......NESSELWANG! We feel like we are HOME!

We will be staying at TRAUDEL'S place for the next 3 days......this is a 350 year old home. Traudel's daughter, Andrea, is married to our cousin Gotfried Allgaier. It will be fun visiting with them again.

Tomorrow: More FAMILY visiting!

OFF TO

MURANO ISLAND

AND

LIDO ISLAND

TODAY

It was a beautiful day....even though it was on the chilly side. NO SNOW anywhere in sight! We did a LOT of walking.......over bridges, tiny narrow streets......and rode a LOT of boats! Here we are approaching MURANO ISLAND.

And the sign even 'proves' that we arrived!

And to make sure we KNEW that the MURANO GLASS is made here.....a sign to prove that too!

Gorgeous GLASS everywhere....including 'statues' along the walkways. So many unusual things and very, very pretty!

We decided we wanted to check out this MUSEMO on glass making. Very interesting albeit 'brief'.

Love LIGHTHOUSES....and we added this one to our list of 'have seen that one'!

It was on to LIDO ISLAND next.....about a 20 minute and 2 boats-ride to get there. Like take a bus or having to transfer.

Lido Island is a very narrow Island. We got off the boat on one side and walked over to the other side where there was a beautiful beach.

We gathered a LOT OF SEASHELLS to take back to Espoo with us.

Wayne (above) was doing a little 'wave dance' to miss the waves from getting him too wet. A nice lady and her two children were walking along the beach. Wayne took a picture of them and in turn she took a picture of us. Nice when it works out like that.

This body of water, by the way, is the ADRIATIC SEA which feeds into the

MEDITERRANEAN SEA.

We headed back over to Venezia Island when we finished there. Caught Wayne as he was just finishing taking pictures from the boat.

The landmark bridge.....THE RIALTO BRIDGE .... with its shopping area. Still just amazing to see.

We bought shirts from this nice Italian guy. And YES the shirts are made here in Italy....not China! :-)

Back in the Hotel room, we were catching up on some e-mail and working on the blog. Don't know where we were getting the internet connection but we were sure grateful for it!

Tomorrow: Off to NESSELWANG GERMANY and spend the weekend with the Allgaier Cousins! Will be fun to see them again.