Amy & Adam's European Highlights

During the weekend of May 1, a national holiday in Germany, our good friends from Tübingen, Rose & Uli and their boys, drove up to Dresden to visit. We had a wonderful time exploring the city with them. The boys simply adore Adam (they could take me or leave me). Spending the weekend with a family was a great reminder of how different the pace of travel is with kids. As I was leading the group returning from old town to our neighborhood, Rose had a wonderfully apt comment for me: "You will learn how to walk slowly when you have kids." True enough. This weekend also marked the beginning of our stretch of sunny, 70 degree, perfect weather. Suffice it to say, it's positively spectacular here now.

The boys playing in a fountain:

There was a festival set-up along Hauptstrasse. I was captivated by the mylar balloons. Do these look equivalent to ones in the U.S.?

As part of the festival, an adventure company had setup an incredible bungee trampoline jumping station. Linus and Lorenz were lucky to give it a try. It looked like so much fun...

The boys were captivated by the Elbe river:

Adam and his buddy Lorenz in Old Town:

Family photos in the Zwinger palace gardens:

We went for a beautiful scenic ride on a paddle boat along the Elbe:

While our guests went to the royal armory museum (and Adam was at the archive) I sat outside and people-watched and listened to these excellent musicians who have a sign "greetings from st. petersburg." Rose told me that many talented Russian musicians have moved to Germany in search of work as funding for many orchestras in Russia has disappeared.

We climbed (and rode an elevator) to the top of the Frauenkirche. While many churches and towers in Europe are quite tight and claustrophobic feeling, since this church was recently rebuilt, it's incredibly open and spacious. And, the view of the city was fantastic.

We escaped the city and took a day trip to the Saxon Switzerland:

My favorite Dresden statue, The Archer, who is said to protect the bend in the Elbe River:

Rose & Uli took us out for brunch on their final day. It was a fabulous ending to a great weekend. With amazing weather, great food and great friends, what more could one ask for?