Jemimah's Castle

Here is the castle that is above Jemimah's town.

It is an old castle and is in disrepair and of course we had to see it on a rainy day. Jemimah says that their are little plays and festivals during the summer time. It is still beautiful.

The castle is build on limestone such as this. Looks pretty strong.

The wall that you see as you come up to the castle.









A video of the town from the top of the castle.

The well has been concreted over, but while we were there, the workers were working on one of the roofs. I guess they have to work on it all the time to keep it from falling apart.

These next pictures are of another caslte further down from them. Jemimah and I climbed to the top of the tower. I had Adam's down winter coat on.

Top of Tower

Even though this castle was in better shape and bigger I liked the idea of Jemimah's castle better.

Jemimah is game for all kinds of adventure so up we went.

This view is from one of the landings of the tower

Here we are on the top landing of the tower. Pretty cool. Jemimah is trying to keep her hat on, cause the wind was blowing so hard.

The dundgeon. YIKES

What a day. I loved it. I like cold weather, as long as I am warm.

The snow day

Today I was hoping we were going to rest. Well we did. Jemimah and Adam's car had a flat yesterday and Jemimah needed a rental to go visit some other areas in Germany.

I got up at 9:30 am (2:30 am your time). I wouldn't have gotten up except I needed to get some coffee into my system. So I got up and drank my coffee and what to my wondering eyes should appear? Snow! yes it was snowing.

Such a beautiful snow. Thought I would share it with you.

Jemimah went to get the car and fill out the hundreds of forms. I cleaned out my purse and extra pink paper bag so I can fill them up again. So we were doing what we needed to do for tomorrow.Then Jemimah colored and cut my hair. She is still the best.

That is all for today. Tomorrow we go see a castle.

A day in Paris

Here we are at the train station in Landstuhl and what should I see but a McDonald's across the way. Sure enough, McDonald's has invaded the Mother land.

It was cold this morning, but not to worry, the weather channel said Paris will be 50 degrees and sunny. But no problem, I had on my silk long underwear, my fleece jacket, my jeans and warm socks and shoes. And I brought a scarf. I was going to be warm.

We waited in the inside waiting room for the train. We hopped it and off we go to Paris. The trains are sleek and fast. We rode the train into Paris in 2 1/2 hours. It was great.
Finally my my feet hit the Paris ground!

We go from the train to the subway system and take another train to downtown Paris.


Jemimah asks help from a shop owner who was just setting things out.














Jemimah had scheduled a ride on a sightseeing tour. It was great. First we saw all these store owners putting out their wares. It really is something to see.


Then we caught the bus at the Louvre. Imagine, "hey what are you doing? Not much just catching a bus at the Louvre! "It seems so bizarre. Yet here we are in front of the Louvre.
















Well, the Weather Channel was Wrong, Wrong, Wrong. It was cold.
The sun did not shine, the clouds did not go away and the wind did decide to blow hard.

So it was a great day to ride inside the double-decker tour bus. We saw all kinds of buildings-stone building after stone building after stone building, with some kind of facade that looked like they had been done all the same. Don't start emailing me about the difference in windows and roof lines made in the 7 century, they really look all alike.

I have never seen so many stone buildings. I mean blocks and blocks, and miles and miles.




Can you see these in every mile of your hometown? There were some differences but one thing stood out was that there were homes, businesses, cafes and restaurants and dry cleaners etc. in each block. So each block and each mile had a unique culture. Latin, Italian, and so many more I didn't know. But it went on forever. I told Jemimah, what really made me wonder was how much this must have cost. Every time we went around a corner we found out how Napoleon had ordered this monument or that "house." It was as if money was no object. (Hey when our politicians start building monuments to themselves, it is a bad sign. Just keep a look out!)


Notre Dame was one of our first excursions off the bus. (You can get on and off this bus system with one payment all day long.) I thought Notre Dame was very tall. Since I have not grown up in a Catholic environment, I am not sure how I feel about it spiritually. But wow, what a structure. It was very impressive. The inside was just as impressive as the outside.


















It was truly beautiful. Hey, did I mention it was cold? In fact Adam said they had a snow storm at Baumholder! Thank goodness it didn't snow in Paris.

We decided that since it was really rather chilly we would just stay on the bus and see everything from there, except you guessed it the Eiffel Tower.





Yes there it is right before your eyes. There is the Eiffel Tower. It was great. The line was long and I was getting chilled, so we did not go up on the Eiffel Tower. Sorry.



It was enough to see it. We did however buy some "...Fries!"





It was worth the cold to go see the one the only Eiffel Tower!
But not worth any more freezing cold weather. So we stayed on the buses and saw the rest of Paris by bus. I noticed several things about Paris sitting in a bus, everyone drives like a crazy person and the city always seems to be going somewhere, but not to the same place. I loved seeing the people in an everyday type of way. I saw real Paris on a weekday and not a holiday or summer or weekend. I saw Paris working, and I must say, Parisians work. I don't know where they were going or what they were doing, but a town that size can't survive without a lot of people working. And they are always in a hurry, so I hope they are in a hurry to make business work. Hurrah for Paris!

We got to our train station had some espresso and I wish this picture was of the cafe we drank our coffee but, did I tell you it was cold?



The espresso was good, and now I am wired even after traveling home on a high speed train. Soon I will get some rest, but I just couldn't help telling you about "Tanya's and Jemimah's 'venture in Paris!"



Au revoir

A Day of Rest?

Jemimah's style is so different than mine. Although we think alike on a lot of philisophical and spiritual ideas, we are at opposite ends of our style and our temperment. If you know me personally where more is more, my only neat-nick is Jemimah. Take for instance this view of her ribbons, paper and stuff. Neat, tidy, and well organized. Her aptartnemt is the same. Less is more.

Since we have different styles and different temperments you might think we don't get along. Actually we get along side by side. We are like two toddlers who like playing around each other. We interact, but we like to be alone together.

This is Jemimah's new computer. She got a great mac. She says her pictures are clearer. It sure is pretty! I love great appliances. I don't have to have new gadgets just because they are new. I like anything that works like it is advertised.

Today we had an assignment. I have to have a vistor card to go anywhere on the base. So we go to the Landstuhl Hosp., we go up, up, up and wait 30 minutes. Sorry it is at another base. After lunch we head out to the other base, nope, can't come in that way; have to turn around with the whole road block thing and all. Then we go to the other side of the base and finally get an id card for me.

I will say this about all these check spots, they really mean what they say. You ain't going into the base no matter who you are unless you have a passport and a military issued id. Actually I was glad to see that they are careful, very careful.

This is Trooper. Jemimah and Adams dog. So cute and loves to plays catch. So full of life.
Jemimah cooking our "Kitchen Sink" soup. Everything but...

So good. Loved it.

I love that everything is English/German on the bases. In the "economy" as Jemimah calls everything is German/English. Even in Starbucks. Day of rest has come to an end. Gotta get up early in the morning to go to Paris.

See you there.

To Germany I Go!

Here I go to Germany to see Jemimah. I can't believe I am so fortunate to have kids who love me and want to visit with me. Johnny is taking me to see my mom and dad. As the Ambassador to Germany I have to make sure everyone is given the chance to give me advise!

My mom set up a tea party with presents. A warm blanket for the plane ride, some candy and of course the muffins that she made for the party. I must have food! We had a lovely time. My mom would love to go to Europe, but she can't fly, cause of her legs needing room to move.


After we visit my mom and dad we go to see Nana & Grandaddy and say goodbye to them. I gotta get Nana some German Chocolate. We go to the airport to load up and I get there in plenty of time and load up into the airplane. I am ready!

Flying into Chicago is great. I looked out of the window down on Illinois farming land and I wondered why Chicago is the face of Illinois, when there really is more of it than of Chicago. I am guessing the politics of the farmers is much different than that of Chicago. Funny that all I know of somewhere is what is reported negatively in the news. Just like everyone who hears that I am from Arkansas, thinks we are all a bunch of hicks. The media must have been surprised that the president from here really isn't looked upon as a god by the people from here. That intelligent people could actually disagree with him, must have cemented their belief that we are really a bunch of hicks. Oh well, enough of politics.

I love archtecture of airports. It seems like they are designed "in the moment." They are almost always modern. As if the planners said go ahead and design something new and exciting. So many of the airports look like they are from the 1970's ! So I took pictures of what I could get from the airplane.


The tower is a really strange looking monster! A truly crazy way to make something look new! I loved the atrium in the airport. I thought it make a real light filled bright place to feel you welcomed. I loved how it really
looks unlike an airport. The wait was 3 hrs and a youth group had already carved out a spot on the waiting room floor, but I ate my muffin and had a starbucks. I had to get up and walk around some, while I waited as I would get tired of just sitting.

We finally loaded the plane and we were on our way. The pilot said 8 hours, but it felt like 100. Long way to go, with no where to go.

I am in Germany!!! I get off the plane the old fashioned way down the ramp and we get on a bus and head toward the terminal. I finally go through all the gates, get my bags, and now I get to see Jemimah and Adam.

It is so good to see them and know I am still ok. I made it to Germany! I still could sleep a year of sleep to catch up, but I am here.

We go into the town of Lundstuhl to get something to eat. This is Jemimah and Adam's little town. We eat a great sandwich and I have to go to bed again. Two hours and I get ready for Church.

Their church is a great group of believers. The church is in downtown Landstuhl and the people are very warm and the preaching was great.

Adam and the pastor compare notes on a passage of scripture.

We go home and talk for 4 more hours. What a day. I am tired again. I sleep so good I even open the window.

Glad to be here.