BACK TO THE USA....

Well, John and I are back in the good ol' USA. Since we got back, it has been non stop. First, we had to fix the water leak that happened while we were gone. There was a terrible storm while we were gone and baseball size hail and very strong winds that did some damage to our new trailer and the roof on our house and pool. Had to take take of insurance calls and get that all set up. After being gone, my house was a sight dusty and needed cleaning. There was a lot of washing after we got the water leak fixed since the washing machine in Switzerland took all day to wash one load of clothes. I really have not had time to sit down and relax - you know what???? I am ready to go back to Europe. It was fun not having responsibilities and chores to attend to over there. Guess that's what life is all about---work, work, work! Never Ending! I am ready to get back into my routine now so watch out.

A BAD MEAL..OR. GOOD SOUTHERN COOKING

FARMER GOING TO MARKET


GARDEN AREA AWAY FROM TOWN


GARDEN SHACKS WITH TOOLS BY GARDENS

GARDEN SHACKS OUTSIDE OF TOWN

When we went to the grocery store the other day, John S. loves their produce department. He bought some fresh asparagus (white). I wasn't even sure that's what it was. It sure didn't look like I thought fresh asparagus looks like. He came home and fixed dinner that night. We had German sausage (actually they were wieners with white stuff in them), with brown rice and he fixed that white asparagus. He had these plans of making cheese sauce to put on it, so he took some cheese and mixed milk with it and cooked it. Now all the Swiss cheese is so delicious over here-all white- but, oh my gosh, it all stinks awful bad. When he was cooking that sauce, I had to go out on the balcony. It stunk so bad we had to open all the doors and windows. I had to hold my nose when we sat down to eat to keep from gagging. I wasn't sure about those wieners either and asked what the white inside was. It looked like fat plus you don't know what wieners are made from usually. He said he thought it was cheese. Well, I let him taste the asparagus first with that stinky sauce. He took one bite and spit it out and said it was sour. Needless to say, we through that meal out. Last night, he fixed dinner and, oh my gosh, it was delicious. We wondered why we haven't done this meal before now. He fixed fried chicken breasts, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn and fresh SOFT rolls. Now that is southern cooking ..AND THE BEST. You know we can't handle any meat over here but German sausage and chicken (pullet as they call it) If you ask for chicken, they don't know what you are talking about. It took us awhile to get used to the milk over here. They don't have it in the refrigeration at the store. It just sits out beside it. I have noticed they serve their milk warm anyway. (cereal, drink, etc). It looks funny, but tastes ok. The people over here that live in town at apartments or houses with no yard rent or buy garden areas in groups outside of town. They are just "put together" shacks that they keep their tools and feed, etc. in then, outside the shack is a little garden area to grow their veggies and flowers and pullets in. The whole family goes there on the weekends to work it. I think some of them take their veggies and fruit to market .As you drive down the highways, you see these little groups of 50-100 garden shack areas all together, usually up on top of a hill. It must save a lot of money to grow their own food (they don't use preservatives over here either, I don't think), plus they make extra money taking it to market. Maybe we need to start doing that at home, especially with the price of food now. Today is packing day. Trying to get everything back in those suitcases. For some reason, they never have room in them when you pack to go home. Wonder why???? Just one more day.....

FINAL COUNTDOWN! DADDY GOES LOCO!

DADDY- "LOCO"

SPRING FLOWERS-SWITZERLAND

AUTOMATIC LAWN MOWER

We have been here 5 weeks and already time to go back to the USA. It is Sunday, May 4, 2008 and counting down to Thursday, May 8. We decided to let our bodies and bones rest today. We have hung out at the condo washing, cleaning and packing to come home. I think it is the first day of rest since we have been here. I am already dreading that long flight home. We get a little tired of watching CNN all the time so we play "Texas Hold'em" poker a lot. Why don't we do things like that at home? Always too busy, or stuck to the tv. I have been trying to stick all the memories of this place in my head. The beautiful flowers and green rolling hills and snowcapped mountains, the old (thousand years) places we have been and especially the bells ringing all the time from the churches and I get really sad. Do you know that, in Switzerland, at the grocery store, the milk is not refrigerated. Makes you wonder if it's milk. Well, it will all be over in just a few days. I saw something the other day in Austria that I have never seen in USA. It was an electric lawn mower. It looked like a vacum cleaner moving around then I realized it was mowing the grass. I sure could use one of those things. I was working on the computer and noticed daddy was gone. I stepped outside on the balcony and there he was, in his shorts enjoyed the sunshine and beautiful day. Then I saw him smoking one of my cigars. I think the trip to the fairy tale castle made him go loco. I said "What in the world---" and he turned and looked at me and he was a little green. Maybe it was bad beer. This is the first day we have not had to wear a jacket. It is cool but still short sleeve weather and lots of sun. No clouds. This will probably be my last blog until I reach the USA. It's been fun and the memories will be with us forever.

ENERGIZER BUNNY....JUST KEEPS GOING AND GOING!!!!

You know we just don't know when to give up. Our bodies and bones hurt so bad when we got back from the mountain climbing and castle walking we didn't think we could get out of bed the next morning. WRONG. We got up fairly early and went again(Saturday, May 3,2008). This time we went back to "old town" Winterthur, Switzerland, where we are staying. Went down there where there is no driving - only pedestrian streets - and WALKED ALL DAY shopping and looking for the last time before we leave for USA.I even had my picture made with "Blue Dog" outsider their store and he gave me a neat bag to bring home. Daddy found the McDonald's with the Swiss flag flying over it. You would not believe how much their hamburgers are over here. We have to walk up 8 or 10 steps at the apt. and when we got home, we could hardly lift our legs up to the next step, they hurt so bad. WE ARE IN SHAPE, BABY! We have exercised more in the last 28 days than we have in a very lonnnnnng time. Both of us really feel good. We are just having too much fun. We decided not to stop when it started getting late on Saturday evening and decided to go back to "Old Town" and walk some more. This time it was to eat at a traditional Swiss Fondue Restaurant. Oh, my gosh, we had so much fun. I even laughed at some "papa jokes". We started eating our cheese and bread fondue and daddy asked me if I brought any correctol. He was going to have to take it along with his milk of magnesia(a whole bottle) after all that cheese. The restaurant was so neat and friendly. Talked to us a lot. It was called "Walliser Kanne". When I looked it up on the internet for directions to get there, Daddy looked at it and I asked if he knew where it was. He said "no, because it is in Delaware,USA". I am serious, there is one there too. The food was delicious (cheese and bread) but we didn't stop there. Oh no, we went on to eat their famous ice cream. We had the "cha cha cha". It is chocolate, carmel, and mocha and of course, topped with tons of whipped cream, wafers and fruit. We walked some more after dinner. It is so pretty down there at night with everything lit up. We came back to the condo and watched a movie with Robin Williams filmed in Switzerland. We are trying to cram everything we can now into the last few days here.

FAIRY TALE.....OR.....NIGHTMARE?????

NEUSCHWANSTEIN (FAIRY TALE) CASTLE WAY UP IN THE MOUNTAIN AS WE DROVE IN FROM THE VALLEY. I ZOOMED IN A LOT TO GET THIS PICTURE.
THIS IS THE CASTLE AS WE WERE DRIVING INTO THE REGION. I EVEN ZOOMED THIS!
BEAUTIFUL VALLEY RIGHT BEFORE WE REACHED THE VILLAGE BELOW THE CASTLE.

I CAN SEE IT UP THERE- MY BODY FEELS IT ! I THINK THIS IS THE SAME PICTURE. WAS JUST SO GLAD TO SEE IT.
THIS IS A WATERFALL AND WALKING BRIDGE OVER FROM THE CASTLE ON ANOTHER MOUNTAIN. PEOPLE ARE WALKING ON THAT BRIDGE TOO.
FINALLY! LOOKING AT CASTLE FROM COURTYARD INSIDE GATE.

GERMAN TRADITION: SAUSAGE, SAUERKRAUT, MASHED POTATOES!
HORSE AND BUGGY TOOK US HALF WAY UP MOUNTAIN FAIRY TALE CASTLE- HALF WAY UP THE MOUNTAIN. HORSE DUMPED US OFF.

VIEW OF VILLAGE WE LEFT AS WE CLIMBED THE MOUNTAIN

ARE WE THERE YET? ...NOPE, HALF WAY UP...OR DOWN.
IT JUST KEEPS GOING UP...SEE THE SNOW MOUNTAINS!
ALMOST THERE! I SEE IT BUT STILL A LONG WAY TO GO.
RESTAURANT/HOTEL WHERE WE ATE LUNCH. PEOPLE WALKING UP HILL ARE GOING TO THE HOHENSCHWANGAU CASTLE (IN BACKGROUND)

We got up early Friday, May 2,2008 to discover castles in Germany. We left at 8:00am thinking it would only take 2 hours to get to the castles in Germany. It ended up taking longer because "Miss Gips" had her own route to take that was longer. John S. kept arguing with her that she wasn't taking us right. We were right outside Munich and he was getting upset. She finally had us turn off the right direction. Uhhhhh! it was going right toward the huge snow covered Alps. I kept asking John if the castles were in the snow covered mountains and he said he didn't think so. He had been to these castles on a previous trip to Switzerland and I kept thinking he just isn't telling me. We kept getting higher and closer to those monster mountains covered in snow. Yep! sure enough - they WERE up there. Right in the smack dab middle of them. We saw beautiful green rolling countryside on the way going through ski villages and around lakes. I can't describe just how gorgeous everything was. BUT, the fact still remained, here I am, going through those mountains again, only this time we were going up to them. When we arrived in the village where the fairy tale castle, Neuschwanstein, built for King Ludwig II and his boyhood castle, Hohenschwangau under the dad, King Maximilian II was, it was awful. I think half of Europe had the same idea as we did to go there on that day. We waited in a long line to get into the parking lot. Finally, we got to the gate and the guy apologized but said it was full. Said it was crazy there that day. Well, we drove around for another hour and got in another line for a parking lot. It was worse. They would let a car in as a car left. That took forever - 1 hour 45min. We finally got parked and headed for the ticket window. It was over 1 hour wait in line to get tickets. We got up there at noon and finally got our tickets at 3:00pm. They told us our tour (in English) would be at 5:50 pm. You could see the fairy tale castle way up above us in the mountains. I asked if we had to climb all the way up there. The answer was YES or, you could ride the horse and buggy, BUT, it only takes you up half way. We decided to each lunch at 3:00pm while we waiting to ride the horse and buggy(at least I got to ride half way). I didn't realize that the last half of that trip would be the worst. Even the dumb horses wouldn't go up that steep. We ate at a neat outside cafe/hotel and decided to eat traditional German food. We had sausage and sauerkraut with mashed potatoes. Let me tell you, they do know how to make sauerkraut. It was not sour and was delicious. We stood in another line to get on the horse and buggy. Finally we were off to see the castle. Those horses did not want to pull us up that mountain and any minute I just knew they would rare up and go nuts on us. We did not go very fast at all, people were passing us walking, in fact. We got half way up and I looked up the mountain and that castle was still a long way off. I didn't think I would ever make it climbing that far. I DID though. Oh my gosh, it was worth it. The castle and the story behind it are remarkable. I have learned so much history since I have been over here. I can't show you pictures of the gorgeous inside (not allowed) but I bought a book with some in it. We got in line for our tour (50 people). It started to rain up there. We forgot our umbrellas of course. When we got inside (we were in the front of everybody) we had to climb one long flight of spiral marble stairs in the tower. My legs and body hurt so bad. We saw that floor and the guide said ok, now we will climb 3 more flights of spiral stairs WITHOUT STOPPING. uh oh! I did it everyone, and the only reason I did was thinking about 50 people right behind me and if I stopped, we would all go down in a circle like dominoes. My whole body was burning when we got to the top. When we went through all the rooms, we had to eventually go down all those stairs. The bad thing was, you couldn't take your time and stop to rest. Now I know why I kept seeing the signs " tour is not for disabled persons". I AM NOT DISABLED" I kept telling myself but, I think I am now. We came out of the castle and it was getting later. NO HORSES. It was one of the last tours and the horses had gone home. Oh my gosh, we had to WALK ALL THE WAY DOWN THAT MOUNTAIN. It is just as bad going down a steep mountain as climbing up. Needless to say, when we got back to the bottom, everything was closed, including the father king's castle. I wanted to spend the night, but there were no rooms to be found. Sooooooo I missed seeing the other 2 castles of the mad King Ludwig II. His story is so neat and when I get home, I may journal the life of that king. Pretty interesting. He was crowned king at the age of 18 and died at the age of 23. He spent all of Germany's money on building extravagant castles. Believe me, they are getting every bit of it back now from all these tours. We drove down out of the mountains and it got dark. I am telling you, when it gets dark up there, IT IS DARK. We got home about midnight. Every bone in our body was hurting.

CHEAP GASOLINE IN EUROPE

Memories of Switzerland I will take with me

We have been here for 5 weeks and I was really feeling good and telling everyone at home how cheap the gasoline is over here. I thought it was so great that, at least the gas won't cost that much. Everything else is sky rocket high. Well, we have driven to Germany, France, Italy, Austria and all over Switzerland without a worry. When we got here, I noticed the gasoline was 1.78 (not bad). I heard gas was up to $3.50 at home now. Well, today, we were driving to the castles and looking forward to our trip back to Germany tomorrow to see the fairytale castles, and we passed a service station. I noticed it said 1.85. I mentioned to John S. that gas had gone up to 1.85 a gallon now. (Still not too bad). Wellllllll, he broke my bubble real fast. He said that is 1.85 a liter. We filled the tank up and that baby cost $90.00. Man! it's a good thing tomorrow is our last trip over here. The next trip will be back to Zurich to catch the plane home to USA. I am feeling a little emotional about leaving here. It really has gone by fast, I think. I will miss the beautiful green rolling hills full of flowers and little red barns and chalets AND THOSE CHURCH BELLS RINGING AND ECHOING THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS ALL THE TIME. When we got here it was still cold and wintery. Now it is spring and everything has turned so green and the most beautiful huge tulips everywhere. It is so clean here and the air smells good. No pollution.The people here in Switzerland are doing something right. The kids are well behaved and respectful (all ages) and you never hear of a lot of crimes here. I miss everyone at home too and it is time to come home.

chairs to tie little children in to make them be still
handpainted tiles for ovens that tell stories

John in Shackles (now I need these at home)

Kay beside old firewagon from 1700(leather water buckets on wall)

John with his stein at Morsburg Castle sidewalk cafe'
ummmm! Big Bowl Bailey's Ice Cream (chocolate, caramel and vanilla
Of course, Kay found the wine cellar Morsburg Castle Winterthur Switzerland
Bells from the tower that was destroyed in a war-Morsburg Castle - Winterthur

(I'm not really that fat - I have a big purse under my coat) Before Ice Cream




SCHLOSS MORSBURG (Castle) in Winterthur. Most of the towers and castle were destroyed in a war back when???? This castle was built in the 13th century. Very interesting but totally different in furnishings from the Kyburg Castle. I am infatuated with the bells in Switzerland. They ring over here all the time - not just one church - but all of them. They sound so beautiful and echo through the mountains. It is just like I had imagined it would be. John says I have bells in my belfry (I think he is mixed up-the saying goes- "bats in your belfry". On the ovens in these castles (there are several in each castle to keep them warm) they have handpainted pictures on them and when the mothers were cooking, the tiles also served as story books for the children. They also had small chairs to tie the children in so they would be quiet and stay out of trouble. Can you imagine your little ones running all through the castle? How would you ever know where they were? Tie them up, then you keep up with them. When we got through touring this castle we sat down at the sidewalk cafe beside the castle up on the mountain (other side of town from Kyburg Castle). Another beautiful view of town and the rolling hills so green. John had a stein and I had a fabulous Bailey's ice cream dessert. They are famous over here for their beautiful dessert bowls of ice cream with fruits on top and lots of whipped cream.

THE NEW GRISWALDS DISCOVER CASTLES

Entrance to Kyburg Castle

Kay in the Kitchen (it would be hard to cook and keep this one clean)

Kitchen Oven with handmade picture tiles (each tells a story)

John in the torture chamber with "Iron Maiden". Spears/Spikes inside

Forest drive up mountain to Schloss Kyburg (Castle)
Wooden covered 1 lane bridge over Toss River

Schloss Kyburg (Castle) Winterthur Switzerland
My knight in shining armour (the one with glasses on)

May 1 is a European Holiday (May Day) and they take their holidays serious. There was nothing open - not even restaurants. We decided to discover castles right here in Winterthur. We found out there were 4 castles right here under our nose. The first was SCHLOSS KYBURG. Oh , somebody forgot to tell me that castles are usually way up on top of mountains. We drove straight up the mountain and some places were drop offs on both sides. The view on the way up there was absolutely gorgeous and everything has turned so green since we arrived here 5 weeks ago. We drove through a beautiful forest and came up on an old wooden covered bridge that crossed the Toss River. Now I am talking, it was scary, but I had to see this bridge. It was one lane and even had a wooden floor. When we finally got to the top of the mountain there was a problem- no parking places. We had to drive on the other side of the mountain to park then walk back around to the castle. It was worth it because I have never seen anything like this before. Can you imagine this old castle was built in 10th century. We just kept going up stairs and through huge rooms. If I lived in there, I would never find my way around. There were little sections cut out of wall at the end of the rooms called the chat room (if it didn't have a door) and a secret room (if it did have a door) It had a washbowl in there. It was smaller than a tiny closet. Well, there you go, I found another kind of bathroom here. In the dining room the table was set and the Mother and Father got a spoon, fork and knife each. The boys got a knife and fork. The girls only got a knife. Now that is discrimination I'm telling you. We went to the basement and it was the torture chamber with this big iron thing called "Iron Maiden". They put people in it and shut it but it was full of spears and spikes all around it. In one of the upper rooms was a long table and funny looking chairs around and up above it. That was the court of justice room where the nobles and landvogts tried prisoners. The view was beautiful from the top of the high tower where the cannons sat. I was really prepared. Tried to get some really good pictures toward the end of the tour and my camera would not work. I saw on the screen that my disc was full. I had used a whole 1mb . I was so mad. We still have more castles to go to and no room left on my camera. Everything is closed today and nowhere to buy another one. We were going to stay up there on the mountain at a nice restaurant we found was open. They served fondue. Now, everyone knows how much we love to fondue and duh! fondue comes from Switzerland. We checked the bill of lading and I saw the price and said "no way". Then John S. got mad because I would not spend $45 each to fondue. Now we are both mad and still a whole day to go. Not a word was said on the way down the mountain. We came back to the condo and ate a sandwich then left to go to another castle. I just erased some pictures that didn't really mean much so I would have enough memory to get some pictures at the next castle , that is, if we get over our mad mood. I should have left him in the torture chamber and I would have, but I wasn't going to drive down that mountain by myself.