Summer break began on August 1, and we've been busy ever since. First, Bob's sister with her family came to visit, and we went through our standard sight-seeing repertoire--Nürnberg, Bamberg, Fränkische Schweiz. It was especially nice for the boys, because they had a chance to spend time with their cousins, who they haven't seen in three years.
Then we did some local things, like spending the day with friends at Freizeitland Geiselwind, before our vacation in Denmark.
This time I was prepared for lazy Denmark, much more so than last year. I brought lots of books with me and told myself not to expect anything special. It worked, because I didn't feel bored once. We did many of the same things we did last year, such as visiting the WWII bunkers on Houvig Strand and Legoland, and since we celebrated Alex's 8th birthday in Denmark, he picked out his present at the Legoland store. We also experienced a new ride--Power Builders. You receive a chip card and program what you want the ride to do. Then you're strapped into a huge arm that moves you around. Alex and I kept it simple by programming it to swing us back and forth and tip us onto our backs, but not flip us over like it did Bob and Philip.
The one new thing I did this year was ride a horse, a Norwegian Fjord, along a beach. I've always wanted to ride on a beach. I've ridden over fields, through forests and in deserts, but this was my first beach. Unfortunately, I rode no faster than a trot, because I'm timid about galloping. But next time...
On the way home, we stopped for the night in Stade, on the Elbe River, not far from Hamburg. To get there, we took a ferry across the Elbe. At first, we thought we would have to wait for a long time, because there was a long line of cars. But there were so many ferries loading and unloading that the entire excursion took less than a half hour.
We stayed at Hotel am Fischmarkt right in the center of Stade, and it was perfect. Stade is a very charming, old port city with a plethora of brick Fachwerk buildings. In Bavaria, Fachwerk houses are mainly wood and stucco, so it was so nice to see the brick variation. Thank you Matthias for recommending it!
Now we are getting ready for our trip to Croatia.
