And they lived happily ever after....

Enjoyed dinner on our last night in Germany. We are looking forward to seeing our friends and families! And to share our adventures with our students! Thanks to everyone for following our journey:)

Au Revoir Paris

What an end to our stay in Paris! We started at the Louvre with Venus De Milo and then on to the Mona Lisa -- with so many incredible works of art in between! We had a relaxing lunch in the Jardin de Tuileries...Mrs. Larson ordered a french classic--quiche lorraine....and it was delicious!!! We stopped by Notre Dame and walked around the outside -- where we saw a couple getting wedding photos taken!! And then we hit the shops along the Seine River -- where we saw another wedding on a boat cruising down the river!! It was another scorcher today, in a city that doesn't have air conditioning most places. Needless to say, we are all exhausted from our whirlwind visit in Paris!! Tomorrow is another driving day -- back to Frankfurt and then we leave for an early morning flight home on Monday. Au Revoir!

A Day in Paris

Bonjour from Paris! Today we learned the Metro system to get into the city and back to our apartment in Vincennes which is just outside of Paris. It is a beautiful Parisian apartment and we are loving the extra space. Anyway, after emerging from the tunnels we found our way to the Louvre where we boarded the "hop on, hop off" tour of the main attractions in Paris. We learned lots of interesting facts as we enjoyed NOT having to drive! We got off at the Eiffel Tower where we ate lunch while we stood in line. We waited about 1 hour and then boarded the elevator for the 2nd floor! We were in awe of the amazing sites below us. Then, Ms. Evans and Mrs. Manske waited another 20 minutes to ride the elevator to the TOP,324 meters off the ground. Tte wind was whipping but we were all smiles as we circled the deck to see all the sights! We have several video clips to share too! After coming down to the ground we all agreed that we can cross this experience off our bucket list. Our cultural lesson the the day is that it is socially accepted to change a baby's poopy pants in the middle of a restaurant! Word of the day: merci ( thank you!) Translation time: tres chaud

Bon Jour, France!

Today was a good driving day. We took our time leaving the hotel in Belgium and drove through the heat to Paris. We were back on the highway for our drive, sadly no more cozy roadside villages to see. What did we learn on our way? 1.How to use the French toll system 2.How to navigate around the crazy motorcyclists 3.Avoid the standing bathrooms if at all possible and 4.NEVER EVER stop to eat at a rest area cafe! Looking forward to navigating the metro system of Paris and a whirlwind tour of the city! Translation time: (comment your best guess) Liege Our French word/phrase of the day: Bon Jour (hello)

Herring, Rats and 113mph!

Today was a hot and long day. We ate breakfast at our hotel, (herring, head cheese and other assorted things that some of us would not eat were available!) then headed out to find the tourist information center. The center was full of souvenirs and we found some cool things to bring back and use with the students including a pied piper hat, a rat puppet and even some finger puppets! Next we headed to the Internet cafe to try to check Facebook, etc. We were expecting to find a cafe with wi-fi, what we found was a creepy old man in a tech repair store. He spoke no English and since we couldn't communicate, we gave up. On to the old town part of Hameln where we did some shopping and waited and waited and waited for the musical, Rats, to start. We enjoyed the musical even if it was in German. The music was great and it is an interesting story. Years ago, children really DID disappear from Hameln and no one knows what happened to them. We also got to see the Pied Piper clock-work figure play some beautiful melodies. Unfortunately, today was one of the hottest days that we have had, it reached 33 celsius, about 90 degrees. Of course, all four of us were sitting in the blazing sun for at least 2 hours. Finally, we left Hameln and headed for Belgium. Jenna, once again, did an awesome job driving over 3 1/2 hours to reach our hotel. She broke her record on the Autobahn, 113 and she still had people passing her! Our German word/phrase of the day: Auf Wiedersehen (Goodbye) Translation Time: (please comment your best guess) stift : - )

Chicken chips and Pommes...

Today was a rather relaxed day! We woke up in Trendelburg where we slept in Rapunzel's tower. We walked down the hill to get breakfast at the local 'bakerie' where they had apple juice 'with no bubbles'. That was quite exciting for all of us. We then loaded the car and headed on our way to Hoxter to see a statue of Hansel and Grethal. We had lunch at another outdoor cafe and most of us had none other then chicken chips and pommes (chicken nuggets and French fries). We also looked at a few of the local shops in the area. We proceeded to Polle where the ruins of Cinderella's Castle are located. We were able to tour a museum, the grounds around the castle and then meander through the castle imagining what had once been there. We saw what we believed to be the dungeon in the middle of the castle grounds. It went almost 50 feet into the ground. Finally we were able to climb 52 more stairs to the top of Cinderella's tower. We had an excellent view of the river that was winding through the small town. To end our evening we drove to Hameln, where we would be staying for the night. We ate at the restaurant in our hotel, and then spent the evening repacking our suitcases with all of our exciting purchases to prepare for the next days drive to Belgium and Paris! We are excited to see 2 more countries, but most of all we are getting excited to return home where we can drink something other than sprite or coca cola light at dinner (milk would be nice...) and sleep with 'real' pillows. Our German word/ phrase from yesterday is aschenputtel (Cinderella) Translation time: (comment your best guess) Sparkasse

Princesses for a Day

Wow, it has been an amazing day. We started the day with a visit to Sababurg, Sleeping Beauty's Castle. We toured the garden and saw LOTS of roses. There was a herd of deer outside the castle wall too. We walked inside the castle and saw some great architecture. Then we left for Trendelburg, Rapunzal's Tower. It has a hotel in it where we are staying in a very fancy room! Ms. Evans and Mrs. Manske climbed to the top of the tower, 136 stairs in a very narrow spiral staircase, while Mrs.Larson and Mrs. Schroeder held steady at the spot the stone steps ended (about halfway up). We enjoyed eating lunch at the hotel and dinner at a local restaurant. We were so excited to order from a menu written in English and to have a waiter with great English skills.

Lots of Walking!!!!

Our adventure in Kassel began with figuring out the city's tram system...and we didn't do too bad -- the proof being we are back safe and sound in our hotel room! Our first stop off the tram was the Brothers Grimm Museum. We learned even more about the brothers -- I didn't think it was possible!! We also found some more things to use at school with our classes. After yet another outdoor lunch, we hopped back on the tram to take us to Wilhelmshohe Park and Castle. It was a beautiful day for a hike, which we definitely got!!! Our trek up the mountain started with a walk through the rose gardens and then onto a pond to watch a fountain that spouts only on Sundays and Wednesdays at 3:30...it starts at the top of the mountain as a waterfall and then runs down the mountainside until it erupts like Old Faithful! We continued on up the hill and at the 7kilometer mark, Mrs.Schroeder and Mrs. Larson decided to rest their weary legs and watch Mrs. Mankse and Ms.Evans continue up 565 steps to the top for some incredible views. Our German word/phrase for the day: schloss (castle) Translation Time: (please comment your best guess) "einzelfahrkate"

Little Red and Snow White!

7/13: Our journey to Alsfeld we stopped at the Castle Eisenbach. it was neat to see the outside of another castle...they are all so different, even though the building materials are the same at each one. We saw 2 peacocks wandering the grounds and a cannon inside the castle gates. There was even a kindergarten located at the castle! Alsfeld was our next stop. It is the gateway to Little Red Ridinghood country. We were not sure what there was to see, but our wish came true and we found a hidden treasure in this town. The Marchen Haus was full of fairy tale depictions. Rapunzel was leaning out the upper window; the Frog Prince was guarding the city's original well system; the wicked witch's house was recreated in an entire room. We also found the best storytelling dolls to use at school. Just wait til you see them!! We drove through the deep, dark woods to get to Bergfreiheit. Sadly we did not see the Big Bad Wolf! We merged from Little Red's woods into the woods that Snow White ran through to escape the Huntsman. We visited the 7 Dwarves cottage in Bergfreiheit. We got to try on their hats, sit at their table, and see their beds...all of which helped us imagine what their daily life may have been like. We even learned how they kept their beds warm -- a copper kettle filled with hot water and tucked in to their sheets. On our way out of town, we stopped and had our pictures with their statues. We toured the countryside and ended our evening in Kassel...with a delicious "eis" for dessert! Our German word/phrase for the day: marchen (fairy tale) Translation Time: (please comment your best guess) "umweg" Sent from my iPad

Witch's Tower???

POSTS: 7/12: Our tour of Steinau began with the Brothers Grimm Museum. When we walked through the front gate we entered the past. There were gardens, statues of the princess and the frog and the seven dwarves, the gingerbread house with Hansel in the cage, and carriages and wagons of long ago. In the museum, we went through room after room of fairy tale fantasy. We learned about the Grimm family tree -- did you know there were 7 brothers and sisters, not just Jakob and Wilhelm?!? We got some very creative ides for our upcoming lessons and family nights! One of our favorite areas was the fairy tale shadow box room where we had to use the illustrations to guess the fairy tale because we could not read the German. And of course, Mrs. Larson LOVED the crown room!! Next we visited the Steinau History Museum. Wetoured the museum like children -- appreciating the beauty and history of the pictures and artifacts without reading the signs and descriptions. This museum was also set up to make you feel like you were walking back in time. It showed both the original building materials, along with the modern day materials. Our final stop in Steinau was the Steinau Castle. We wandered the outside grounds and enjoyed the atmosphere of the castle. It was so different from Neuschwanstein, the latter being opulent and elegant. Whereas the Steinau Castle was ancient and rustic. There were no pictures allowed inside any of the buildings we visited, so we took many of the gardens, buildings and scenery. We continued our fairy tale journey to Gelenhausen where we saw many more incredible sights, including a cathedral that looked like a castle. We also walked to the witch's tower...well we thought it was the witch's tower,but since we can't read German we were wrong!! When we found the real witch's tower later on, it was a little chilling with the blackbirds swooping around it and owls hooting. We enjoyed our meals at outdoor cafes and even had a trumpet player serenade us during dinner, with the first American song he could think of -- "New York,New York." Our German word/phrase for the day: stilles wasser (water American style) Translation Time: (please comment your best guess) "sweinsteak"

Word of the day: Danke

Today, Jenna Evans, Kyla Manske, Holly Larson and Darla Schroeder headed off to Neuschwanstein Castle -- it turned out to be a bit longer than we anticipated -- 7 total HOURS one way!!! and Ms. Evans was even going 95mph (and still getting passed...). But it turned out to be a nice drive along the autobahn through the construction, mountains, and countryside. On one of our detours, we found school that had children going home around 12:30. When we were on the right trail, we were enthralled with the breathtaking scenery -- lush valleys, Bavarian Alps, quaint villages, rolling farmland, and placid lakes. Our first view of the castle was awe-inspiring. We toured the village, visited shops (and bought a few things to use in our classrooms), ate at an outdoor cafe, and paid to use the bathrooms. In order to get up the mountain to the castle, we rode in a horse-drawn carriage. Up on the castle grounds, it felt like we were on top of the world looking down...it was a bit scary! Once inside the castle's stone walls, no pictures were allowed, but we were too busy taking everything in that I don't think we could have taken a picture if we were able to! Simply AMAZING! We ended the day with dinner at an outdoor cafe, with the castle and Alps as our background view. Oh yeah, Ms.Evans hit her top speed of 103mph on the autobahn home! Our German word/phrase for the day: danke (thank you) Translation Time: (please comment your best guess) "ausfahrt"

GutenTag! Sprechen sie Englisch? (Two phrases we now know how to say)

The four of us set out on our fairy tale adventure in the early morning hours of Tuesday, July 9th. We drove to Minneapolis and boarded a flight to Charlotte NC. Once landed, we then hopped on the BIG plane that took us to Frankfurt Germany. Flight was nice and smooth but none of us got very much sleep! Once we landed, we picked up our rental car and tried to find our way to Hanau, the birthplace of the Brothers Grimm. Kudos to Jenna for being an amazing driver and Kyla for being a great navigator! Road signs in Germany are very different from the US as Jenna learned the hard way. Words of advice: don't follow a truck that doesn't know where it is going! In Hanau, we saw the famed statue of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. It wasn't quite what we expected as it had tarnished to green similiar to Statue of Liberty color and they had a few pigeons roosting on their heads. Interestingly, the statue is in a town square that has a permanent farmer's market. We saw many beautiful flowers, fruits (strawberries are plentiful over here) and even a butcher cutting meat for sale in a truck! By this time we were starving but were a little worried about trying to read a menu in a different language so... luckily, we saw the Golden Arches! Yes, they have McDonalds in Hanau, Germany. It was an interesting experience trying to order in English with a German speaking cashier. Lots of pantomiming and pointing! Sure made us empathize with our ELL families! Next we went to Schloss Philippsruhe which is a museum that has a small collection of Brothers Grimm artifacts. One thing we learned is that Jacob and Wilhelm had a younger brother, Ludvig, who was a painter, illustrator and an engraver. We saw some of his drawings and caricatures. Jacob and Wilhelm's father died when they were teenagers and then they were responsible for taking care of 8 year old Ludvig. Last exciting fact that we found out is that Wilhelm Grimm and Holly's youngest son, Patrick, share the same birthday! Tomorrow we head to Neuschwanstein Castle, then a drive up through wine country and maybe a stop in Heidelberg.

April 3rd was a great day!

Once upon a time, we four teachers got together to write a grant for Fund for Teachers. We worked really hard and even though we almost missed the deadline and had to cut over 9,000 words (Thanks Holly!) we submitted it with one minute to spare. Official notification came on April 3rd and we were so happy some of us even did a little dance. We celebrated with an outing to El Vallarta in Sparta for bonding and some mexican food! We will continue to update this blog with our preparations for our trip! We would love for all of you to follow our adventures! : - )