More goodbyes.

Every time we turn around it feels like we're saying goodbye to someone else. Since Ryan extended in order for us to stay an extra year in Germany this year that's become even more of a problem. All of our friends that we arrived with are on their way to somewhere new.

The next to leave were our friends the Baldwins. Julia is a bit older than Katy and Luke is a few years younger, but somehow they all manage to play together pretty nicely in a cohesive group. We headed to the Neunkirchen zoo for a final visit (along with Kellie and MJ, too).

The group of girls....

Katy checking out a spider.

Dropping money into the spinner. Whoever thought of those things was a genius; no kid can resist and my pocket change gets emptied into them every time....

The girls were pretty much inseparable.

Katy and Luke checking out the zebras

My child with no fear of animals climbed right up the fence and stuck her hand in (everyone else came along after Katy did).



The pigs. Mommies and babies; too cute!



The hands on bunny exhibit.

Checking out the sea lions.

A quick rest before some real playing commenced.

I bought plastic zoo animals for the kids, which were a big hit. Who needs to look at the actual animals when you can play with the plastic version?



A final hug.

We've learned not to say "goodbye" in the military, merely "See you later!" because it's always true. We hope to see the Baldwins soon!

We got everyone safely to the airport and on their way home. It ws a great visit and we were sad to see them leave. Of course, the morning they left Katy woke up with "the cold" (or whatever it was) that had been passed around. We spent the next few days laying around and recovering from everything; the trip and the illness.

By the weekend we were ready to get back out and explore again. Ryan had read about a wine fest at a walled city near our house so off we went.


Notice what I'm noticing in the shot below?



There aren't many people around. Fests usually bring out crowds. I was trying to be positive. Every time I'd see a person I'd point them out to Ryan: "Maybe we're just really early...." Or, maybe WE were really early. An entire week early, in fact.

Oops.

It was a cute town. We explored a little then cut our losses and headed for home, determined to return the following week.

Rothenburg ob Tauber

I've always loved Rothenburg. I came alone for a weekend getaway once and really enjoyed it. It was wonderful to be able to share it with everyone else.

We started off the morning by climbing the highest tower. The views were stunning.




That's our hotel parking lot. We stayed in a great location. And yes, the car is still there.....

We spent the rest of the morning just wandering the wall and enjoying the sights of Rothenburg.









We stopped for one last vacation lunch (everyone is to the lower left) on the plaza while the market was going on.

As a final treat we were able to catch the clock tower opening (the right window is a man drinking a beer - it has to do with the legend of Rothenburg)



Rothenburg was gorgeous, but we were all ready to stumble home due to exhaustion from the entire trip!

A most welcome sight:

Rothenburg ob Tauber at dusk....



Of course, we were loathe to leave Vienna, it really was one of our favorite cities in Europe so far, but we had a rough last day and were ready to escape.

Ryan, Katy and I packed up and loaded into the car in the morning. Dad and Diana had a tour to attend through their group so we planned to meet at their hotel at about noon. We moved the car to what looked like a great spot in front of their hotel, paid for a sticker to put on the dash and off we went on foot for one last morning of exploring.

About an hour later we returned to meet up.

Our car was gone.

Yes, gone.

I ran into the hotel and asked the desk what might have happened. It turns out that the rear bumper of the car was in a taxi zone and the overzealous taxi drivers called us in. So we were towed. There was a lot of chaos involved with pulling Euros out of an ATM to pay to retrieve the car, visiting the police station to figure out where to go and, of course, the inevitable ironic taxi ride to the impound lot (ironic, you ask? Because we had to pay a fare to the same taxi driver that called our car in....).

So, a lot of money and about an hour behind schedule, we were back on our way and ready to leave Vienna.

On our way home, we stopped for one last night of sightseeing in Rothenburg....

The morning of our final full day in Vienna once again dawned bright and beautiful. Of course, that didn't stop Katy from insisting on taking the umbrella along. She needed her "cane" to be just like Grandpa.

We headed out for more exploring.

A beautiful Greek Orthodox Church.

A restaraunt in a courtyard with a lovely fountain.

I thought it was odd to see a police officer randomly lounging around in the plaza we were walking through. Then I figured out why. We had stumbled upon the US Consulate.

After much more wandering we ended up back at our favorite place, the playground. But, how could we not love it when this was my view from the park bench.

An even better view; the ones I love playing.

Katy really did love that park. Sand water, what more could you ask for?

Oh, I suppose you could be asked to eat it....

That night was the big event; Diana's concert. We got dressed up in our finest and headed off. The venue was beautiful!

Katy wanted to come inside and listen, too.

She actually did very well and made it through about 30 minutes of concert before she got restless and Ryan took her to a park across the street (we had previously scoped out that option).

The concert was really lovely. Here's Diana's group singing their individual concert. Afterwards several choirs joined forced to do the big number. It was a truly moving experience and I'm glad we were able to make it.

More horses!

After their tour, we met back up with Dad (Diana, once again, had to rehearse - you'd think this had been a vacation for her but between rehearsals and the fact that she has some sort of deathly respiratory infection that kept her asleep the rest of the time you'd be wrong...). We had discussed the night before heading out to take Katy on her first hansom cab tour. Very exciting stuff. Of course, the day before they had been everywhere and this time we had a little trouble finding any at all.

It turns out they were all hiding over by the horse school (where else would they be?!?). We headed to the front of the line, but Ryan and Katy split off to look at a few. The man directing us was VERY annoyed with me that I wouldn't just take the one he sent me to. We wanted one where the horses were wearing hats, darn it. Very important criteria and the man was arguing with me about it.

Success at last.

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A VERY excited little girl...

And we're off....

Yes, Katy did wave to people the entire time. She's such a little princess.

The driver pulled over briefly for some unknown reason, but it gave us a chance to check things out.

We had a lovely tour. Katy "thanked" the horses afterwards.









Then, more importantly, she thanked Grandpa for taking her.

After some more exploring we ended up back at the park. This time we'd learned our lesson and took off Katy's clothes.

A rare shot of Katy and I playing (not that I don't play with her, but Ryan rarely picks up the camera).