Sommerfests and Gäste (Guests)

It's been a long time since I've written, but it's been a busy summer, although it feels more like fall--cold and rainy.

The weekend after Philip's birthday was Kindergarten St. Nikolaus's Sommerfest, and Alex played the xylophone during the Vögels Hochzeit (Birds' Wedding). Plus, he had a birthday party to attend and two play dates that week.

During the last week of June, Bob and I made numerous phone calls to hotels in Paris and Strasbourg trying to get a hold of my friend, Darka, who was touring Europe with a Ukrainian Dance Group, Hromovytsia, from Chicago. We finally made contact and met her and her family in München (Munich) for dinner at the world famous Hofbräuhaus, which was packed with American and Asian college students getting drunk on liters of beer.

Saturday, June 30, was Philip's busy day. He had his Sommerfest, during which the students presented projects they had been working on throughout the week. He learned to whittle and worked on the wood decorations that would complement a painting done by another group of students. Later, in the afternoon, he had his piano recital and played "Happy Birthday" almost flawlessly.

The highlight of our busy schedule was the arrival of C.K. (C.K.'s blog) from Chicago en route to India. It was a mini-vacation in Bavaria for us, because instead of doing all the things we normally do with visitors, such as driving out to the Fränkische Schweiz, we did things we hadn't done yet.

On Saturday, we did the underground tour of Nürnberg. We visited the dungeons of the Rathaus, which, of course, the boys loved because they had a torture chamber and instruments of torture. We also visited the Felsengänge, the tunnel system that served for centuries as a natural refrigerator for beer and food, and later, during WWII, as an air-raid shelter. This tour was a little too long for the boys, so Bob left with them early. C.K. and I toughened it out.

On Sunday, we drove to München to meet C.K.'s imaginary friend (C.K.'s friend's blog). First, we had lunch in the Englischer Garten. Bob and I had heard that people sunbathe in the nude here, but we were surprised by how many naked Germans, mostly men, there were sprawled out on the lawn. We were also surprised to see so many people swimming in the fast moving Eisbach river. Later, we met C.K.'s friend for coffee, and the imaginary friend became a real friend.

Before C.K. continued her journey to India, she gave me a much appreciated yoga lesson. She taught me some poses that would help strengthen my arms and stomach and loosen up my back.

Thank you very much, C.K., for a wonderful weekend.