Hi Everyone!
This will most likely be the final blog. Today is humid and overcast. It is supposed to rain a lot this afternoon. Tomorrow hopefully everyone will pack and get organized for the flight home on Wednesday. Tuesday at 7:30 is our going away party at a place called the Central Station. It should last just 90 minutes to 2 hours.
We will arrive at the airport around 11 AM Frankfurt time (3 AM in Denver). After checking in, we will head to the security spot and go through the first area, where we can shop for awhile depending on how much time we have. Our flight (446) departs at 1:50 PM Frankfurt Time (5:50 AM in Denver). We hope that the food is better on the way home than it was on the way here.
I think that all of the kids have had a great experience and learned a lot of different things about Germany, the German culture, how to use public transportation, etc. I'm sure they will have a lot of things to tell everyone when they return.
Thanks for following our trip and reading the blog.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Vienna Final Day Pictures
Rachel on her way to the concert. She won the award for being the best dressed on that evening.
These are samples of the plaques around Vienna that show the names of victims of the Holocaust. It is meant to personalize the Holocaust instead of looking at large numbers. We saw these on our walking tour.
At the concert before it starte. Jon was shopping.Riesenrad Pictures
The Kids inside Car #2 on the Vienna Ferris Wheel. Rachel added PHS GAPP to the list of Graffiti names of people who were there. 
The view of the Amusement Park from above.
This car was about at the top when I took the picture.
Extra Pictures from Vienna
Here is a picture of the Gloriette at Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna.
One of Rembrandt's self Portraits that we saw at the Kunst Historisches Museum in Vienna.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
The Return to Darmstadt
Hi Everyone!
We left the youth hostel at 7:30 this morning and got back to the train station in Darmstadt at 4:30. The trip went fine. It was long, but we made it home successfully. Ty leaves tomorrow and Monday and Tuesday the kids don't have school due to testing.
I'm going to relax and recover this evening. Maybe I will post the last pictures tomorrow. Our going away party is scheduled for Tuesday at 7:30.
Have a great weekend.
We left the youth hostel at 7:30 this morning and got back to the train station in Darmstadt at 4:30. The trip went fine. It was long, but we made it home successfully. Ty leaves tomorrow and Monday and Tuesday the kids don't have school due to testing.
I'm going to relax and recover this evening. Maybe I will post the last pictures tomorrow. Our going away party is scheduled for Tuesday at 7:30.
Have a great weekend.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Friday-Vienna
Guten Abend!
Hi Everyone. We got home early tonight (11:00 PM)! Here's the recap of the day.
After breakfast this morning, we all went into town. Then the kids had free time do what they wanted to do. I needed to take care of buying tickets, getting money, etc. Rachel and Jessie went sightseeing and went to the opera house, the Naschmarkt (a flea market) and possibly some other places. The guys went to the palace Belvedere and saw an exhibit of Gustav Klimt (an artist) who Jon really likes.
I found out that the trip is really over, because after paying for the concert tickets tonight, I went to the bank to get out money off of the credit card. I have not been able to check the balance, so wasn't sure what was left. I had to adjust my amount of withdrawal several times until it was low enough to give us money. After giving everyone their food money for today and tomorrow, paying for the concert and the tour of the Jewish area, we have about 65 Euros left over.
We met at Stephensplatz at 12:45 and then walked to where our tour was starting. The tour was through the Jewish part of Vienna. The guide gave the tour in German and English. Most of the Jewish areas have been destroyed. Around the time Hitler came to power, there were about 200,000 Jews in Vienna (10% of the population). Today there are 17,000. While on the remembrance tour (called that because you see where certain places were), we saw a lot of Jewish people (they come from a lot of different countries). I learned today, that one of the musical Strauss had Jewish ancestry, but because he was a favorite of Hitler's, he didn't have any problems. Hitler had ALL of the paperwork destroyed that showed his Jewish heritage.
We came home for a brief hour. Then we left, had dinner at the Kurssalon, where we heard the concert. We choose a different place after consulting with the tourist info office this morning. it was fun and the program had a lot of Strauss and Mozart. The concert ended at about 10:15. We made our way home and I just checked to see if everyone is more or less packed for tomorrow morning's early departure.
I don't know when I will get pictures uploaded from today. Tomorrow we will travel all day and get to Darmstadt around 4:30 Pm and to our host families shortly thereafter.
Gute Nacht!
Hi Everyone. We got home early tonight (11:00 PM)! Here's the recap of the day.
After breakfast this morning, we all went into town. Then the kids had free time do what they wanted to do. I needed to take care of buying tickets, getting money, etc. Rachel and Jessie went sightseeing and went to the opera house, the Naschmarkt (a flea market) and possibly some other places. The guys went to the palace Belvedere and saw an exhibit of Gustav Klimt (an artist) who Jon really likes.
I found out that the trip is really over, because after paying for the concert tickets tonight, I went to the bank to get out money off of the credit card. I have not been able to check the balance, so wasn't sure what was left. I had to adjust my amount of withdrawal several times until it was low enough to give us money. After giving everyone their food money for today and tomorrow, paying for the concert and the tour of the Jewish area, we have about 65 Euros left over.
We met at Stephensplatz at 12:45 and then walked to where our tour was starting. The tour was through the Jewish part of Vienna. The guide gave the tour in German and English. Most of the Jewish areas have been destroyed. Around the time Hitler came to power, there were about 200,000 Jews in Vienna (10% of the population). Today there are 17,000. While on the remembrance tour (called that because you see where certain places were), we saw a lot of Jewish people (they come from a lot of different countries). I learned today, that one of the musical Strauss had Jewish ancestry, but because he was a favorite of Hitler's, he didn't have any problems. Hitler had ALL of the paperwork destroyed that showed his Jewish heritage.
We came home for a brief hour. Then we left, had dinner at the Kurssalon, where we heard the concert. We choose a different place after consulting with the tourist info office this morning. it was fun and the program had a lot of Strauss and Mozart. The concert ended at about 10:15. We made our way home and I just checked to see if everyone is more or less packed for tomorrow morning's early departure.
I don't know when I will get pictures uploaded from today. Tomorrow we will travel all day and get to Darmstadt around 4:30 Pm and to our host families shortly thereafter.
Gute Nacht!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Thursday Write-up
Good Morning to all! It is 12:40 AM in Vienna. We just returned from the Amusement Park (Prater). This will be a short post because I am really tired tonight.
We started out by going to Schönbrunn palace. See the photos in the previous posts. We toured the palace (audio tour) and then went to the garden. We went to the Maze. Rachel got through it the fastest of anyone. The kids hung out in that area for awhile. We ate our lunch and as we were leaving the weather started getting colder and very windy.
Around 1:30 we went to the Kunst Historisches Museum (Art History Museum). We saw a lot of different artists, including Rembrandts. We headed back to the youth hostel for a break and to unload our purchases. The kids went swimming.
We went into town around 6:30 for dinner. We had a good authentic Austrian Meal. Ty had an amazing meal. We got to the amusement park around 9 PM. It is called Prater. The kids went on rides and we met at the Riesenrad (the big ferris wheel). We rode that (one rotation), spent money in the shop and headed home. We had to take two subways to get to our bus. Little did we know that the last bus to the youth hostel was leaving in 15 minutes.
Tomorrow the kids will go into town and have free time until around 12:30. We then will go on a tour of the Jewish sections of Vienna. Unfortunately, the Vienna Boy's Choir was sold out. Instead we will head back to Schönbrunn for a concert at 8:30 PM.
We started out by going to Schönbrunn palace. See the photos in the previous posts. We toured the palace (audio tour) and then went to the garden. We went to the Maze. Rachel got through it the fastest of anyone. The kids hung out in that area for awhile. We ate our lunch and as we were leaving the weather started getting colder and very windy.
Around 1:30 we went to the Kunst Historisches Museum (Art History Museum). We saw a lot of different artists, including Rembrandts. We headed back to the youth hostel for a break and to unload our purchases. The kids went swimming.
We went into town around 6:30 for dinner. We had a good authentic Austrian Meal. Ty had an amazing meal. We got to the amusement park around 9 PM. It is called Prater. The kids went on rides and we met at the Riesenrad (the big ferris wheel). We rode that (one rotation), spent money in the shop and headed home. We had to take two subways to get to our bus. Little did we know that the last bus to the youth hostel was leaving in 15 minutes.
Tomorrow the kids will go into town and have free time until around 12:30. We then will go on a tour of the Jewish sections of Vienna. Unfortunately, the Vienna Boy's Choir was sold out. Instead we will head back to Schönbrunn for a concert at 8:30 PM.
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