Anna Up Close and Personal

Today we had another ultrasound and it was fun to see Anna again. We got a good look at her beating heart and all her little parts. This is a very close shot of her face profile. She is just over 2 lbs. :)

Coming home...

Ok I just broke down and bought this dress. I'm hoping it will work for bringing Anna home from the hospital and won't be too big. It does have a tie sash in the back, so hopefully we can make it work. :) I was looking at it online and then found it in the outlet mall for less, so I couldn't resist. heehee

Anna's New Chair

While we were in Europe, our glider rocker came in. We picked it up today and it looks lovely in Anna's room. It's very comfy, too!

More Lovely Pictures

Here are a couple of my favorite pictures that I haven't posted, yet. Here is Angela on a slide at the little park beside the Rhine Falls in Switzerland. She looks like she is having a bit of fun, eh? And my sweet husband... I was laughing so hard at this point because I looked much worse than he did, but he didn't get a picture of me. I was eating and apricot-filled sugar covered donut and had apricot all over my face and a bit on my jacket. He looked especially cute with all the white powdered sugar on his black jacket and a bit of cherry all over his face! This was also when we were in Switzerland a couple of days ago.

Now for a few pictures in France... the Notre Dame Cathedral in Strasbourg was very pretty... and inside was this very interesting clock. It had a little person that struck a bell to ring the hours... and apparently at 12:30 was the big show of the day when all the little interactive parts of the clock would move around. Unfortunately we were there too early for that and didn't want to wait an hour for it.

We wandered around the town a bit more and just next to the river, we saw this nice tree and decided to take Anna's picture here... so here is Anna in France.Close to the tree, we saw people buying tickets for what looked like a fun boat ride... we checked it out and it was a reasonable price for over an hour boat trip around the town. The river was an offshoot of the Rhine and the boat was a nice glass enclosed, warm boat with little headphones to listen to the audio tour in English (or whatever language you preferred). The commentary on the audio guide was very interesting and the views were lovely. It said this next house was one of the most photographed places in Strasbourg.And then the most umm... memorable bits of history we learned on the audio tour was about this tower where prisoners were tortured. It was apparently very bad conditions and the prisoners complained that they didn't even have straw to sleep on. It was also apparently bad conditions for the torturer. He sentenced for something while he was employed as a torturer and the sentence was to have his tongue cut out and then to be decapitated. But they said that he was granted a bit of a kindness by the next torturer, in that he decapitated him before cutting his tongue out! :O Strasbourg has major influences of both French and German ancestry, due to the number of times it changed leadership over the years. You could see a lot of both influences in the city. This girl statue here is demonstrating the interesting hair dressing that seems to be traditional in the city.

Just a lovely view in town....

After Strasbourg, we went back to Germany and stopped in Karlsruhe. This is the Schlossplatz in the center of town there.

Today we are having another day of rest before we take our day trip to Munich tomorrow!

The Saddest Gargoyle

Yesterday, Mark & I took a fairly short train trip down to Strasbourg, France. Here is my favorite picture of the day. There is a Notre Dame Cathedral in Strasbourg and at the bottom of the cathedral, we saw this gargoyle... and he must be the saddest gargoyle ever!! We have to go get some breakfast, but will post more pictures later today. It is another day of rest before our day trip to Munich tomorrow.

A Moment for Gardenpinkie

Gardenpinkie, I decided that your moment couldn't be one spent out in the cold, so it had to be my warm happy moment last evening after a day of sightseeing and travel. We went to a lovely restaurant called Alte Kanzlei that was so warm and inviting with its soft lighting and lovely atmosphere. It was recommended to us and we all really enjoyed it. I had this yummy concoction called Kasespaetlze - basically glorified mac & cheese - ha! But it was so much more!!

A Few Pictures for your Viewing Pleasure

Today, Angela headed out to her flight back to London and Mark and I wandered a little bit around Stuttgart and to one museum. We decided to rest the remainder of the day so we can be ready for our trip to France tomorrow. Mark brought his camera cord, so here are a few for you. This is the flat screen tv in our bathroom in Salzburg.This is a shot of some of the lovely buildings along the river that runs through Salzburg.Here is the traditional self portrait of Angela and me... overlooking Salzburg.

Here we are striking a pose in front of the reconstructed Sound of Music gazebo. This lovely photo is in the marionette museum that was in the fortress in Salzburg. The characters are two from The Magic Flute. (Angela loves them.) This was yesterday in Switzerland... Mark & I are standing in front of the 'largest waterfall in Europe'. :) Feel free to compare it to our recent trip to Iguassu Falls in August.

Recovery! Switzerland and Germany...

Unfortunately, the internet is expensive at our hotel here in Stuttgart, Germany, so you may not be hearing from us as often! Yesterday was fairly uneventful... Mark made it in to Frankfurt on time and to the hotel in Stuttgart about 10am where he waited for Angela and me. I did not have a great day yesterday. Ang and I got up at 5:45 am to get ready and make it to our 7:53am train. I was already feeling not too good before we got on the train and managed to throw up 3 times during the day... We made it to the hotel a bit afternoon and stayed here the rest of the day so I could recover! But luckily I was feeling fine this morning and we were able to go ahead with our plans for today.

This morning we rented a car and drove about an hour and a half down just past the border into Switzerland to see the 'Largest Falls in Europe' - the Rhein Falls. They were pretty and gave us a lovely time in Switzerland, but they weren't really very big :) We drove a bit around the town there next to the falls and walked a little bit around the shops. Then we headed back up in to Germany and to Hohenzollern Castle. This was a lovely castle situated high on a hill. Fortunately there was a shuttle bus option to the top from the parking area and I considered the 2.60 Euros well worth it!! The guided tour was not in English, so we bought the little book and Angela was our tour guide. It was lovely, but pretty COLD!! We had a nice time and then headed back to Stuttgart. We got a recommendation for a German restaurant from the man at the car rental place and really enjoyed our dinner!! Ang and Mark both had beef dishes and I had a noodle dish... Very yummy! Then we walked back (and froze our buns a bit) to our hotel!!

Poor Ang's week off school has come to an end, so she heads back to London on a flight tomorrow. We will miss her!!!

Climb... Every... Fortress........

Today was another nice sunshine-y day in Salzburg! We started off with a frankfurter from a street vendor (Anna was craving one since last night). Then we headed off to Mozart´s residence museum that had a nice audio tour. The next stop of the day was the Toy Museum - it was cute.

Then, we started the trek up to the ´High Salzburg Fortress´ or Festung Hohensalzburg. It was a rather steep trip up, but we went slow and were careful not to tire ourselves and watched our footing. :) In the Fortress, we wandered around and to the Marionette Museum and a little audio tour up to the top of the tower where there were some lovely views.

We wandered back down a slightly different route and had a lovely dinner at a fancy but inexpensive little place. Now we are in for the evening!

Mark should be on his plane headed our way and we take a train to Stuttgart in the morning. More later!

Do, a deer... a female deer....

Today was our Sound of Music tour. It was another lovely day (although a bit chilly, we had sunshine) in and around Salzburg. Our tour guide was a jolly fellow who seemed to enjoy singing the songs as much as we did. We saw and learned about a lot of sights that were either used in filming or filming was modelled after (sketch artists came in after they got kicked out of various places they were trying to film). haha They were kicked out of filming in around one church after they put up Nazi flags on the outside without asking permission. ö We saw many sites and drove up to the beautiful Lakes District and took many pictures. We saw where the kids were in the trees while playing in their play clothes and the reconstructed gazebo and where Rolf threw stones at Liesl´s window and the back of the Von Trapp house and where the kids and Maria fell out of the boat into the water and many buildings. We´ll send out pictures later! We also ate a crisp apple strudel close to the church where the inside was used to film the wedding. And we got to sing through the whole soundtrack on the bus. :)

Then this afternoon we went back for the separate tour of the concert halls that included the site where the filming was done when the Von Trapps are singing together as a family just before their escape. This tour also included a couple other pretty opera and concert halls and Angela got to sing us a bit of opera in one to demonstrate the acoustics.

After that we wandered around the city some more and took an elevator up to the top of a cliff to see some nice views out over the city and a walk back down to the cemetary that inspired where they filmed when the Von Trapps were hiding behind the gravestones to escape the Nazis. The difference is there is no room behind the real ones, so they couldn´t have fit there.

Finally, we had a bit of dinner at an Italian place... I had some wonderful gnocchi (with broccoli for Anna) and now it is 7 and I think we are done for the day!! Time to go enjoy our fabulous hotel room.

The Hills are Nearly Alive!

Hi all! The trip is going great so far! Angela and I had a short time in London and a nice meal with friends and headed out early this morning for our flight to Salzburg, Austria. It was not crowded and on time and then we had a short taxi ride to our hotel where we were upgraded to the king suite! Our room wasn´t quite ready when we got here, so we took advantage of the beautiful sunny day and walked down by the river and shops to Mozart´s birthplace museum and then wandered back up through some more shops on the other side of the river after a bite to eat at a little restaurant.

We also went back through the Mirabell Gardens, where we recognized a few sites from the Sound of Music, although the gardens are in winter now and the movie was filmed during the summer.

When we got back to the hotel, our room was ready and wow, what a room! We did take pictures, but unfortunately, I didn´t bring my cord for transferring them, so pics will have to wait. The Haydn Suite has 4 rooms - bedroom, living room, main bathroom, and half bath! haha!! 3 of those rooms have a flatscreen tv... yes, there is a flat screen in the main bathroom! Angela is also excited about the robes that are provided. We popped in one of the provided Mozart cds to provide some lovely background music for our stay. Our hotel is also in an excellent location and is within walking distance of all the major sites.

Tomorrow, our Sound of Music tour starts at 9:30 am and lasts for 4 hours! We can´t wait!! We shall sing our hearts out!!

I'm JUST a Ruby.....

I have now arrived safely in NY. My husband told me to go to the 'Flagship Lounge' because it was for international flyers and had better food than the Admirals Club... so I walked quite a ways out of my way to the other Admirals Club location which looked like it had the Flagship Lounge with it. I went upstairs to check in and asked the lady if it was indeed the Flagship Lounge. She said 'I need to see your boarding pass.' I thought she had misunderstood me, so I repeated that I was just wondering if it was the Flagship... (as, I wasn't going to stay if it wasn't... since there was another Admirals Club much closer to my gate). She again repeated, while looking down her nose at me, 'I need to see your boarding pass.' So, I gave it to her... She punched a few things in her computer and said, 'You will be going to the Admirals Club since you are JUST in Business class and JUST a Ruby member.' I'm like... geez, lady... let's work on our customer service skills! So, I took my boarding pass back and turned around and left. Now I'm back in the Admirals Club close to my gate where they accept lowly Ruby members... Maybe when I am laying flat in my 'Next Generation' business class seat, I will feel like a worthy citizen again...

One Flight Down...

Hi all - Anna has made her short one hour flight from Austin to Dallas just fine and we are now in DFW waiting for the flight to NY. I'm rather excited about the 7 hr flight from NY to London, as I'm flying in the 'Next Generation' Business Class and I've never had business for an international flight. Click here if you'd like to take the tour of my next generation business class. heehee The seat reclines to a flat position and it shows this nice snuggly duvet they provide. I may wish I was on the 15 hr flight to Australia! Ok... maybe not... :D

Almost time for the Baby Moon!

Mark & I decided to spend some of his many airline miles to take a last big trip before the baby arrives. We decided on Austria & Germany (maybe a short drive to France & Switzerland) as our destination. My best friend, Angela, has next week off school and Mark actually has a conference in Austin, so I am going to meet Angela first and Mark will come later. So, I leave on Sunday!! YEA!! And I get to travel in business class! Whoo hoo!! Our itinerary is roughly as follows:

Sun, Feb 10 - Sarah leaves Texas
Mon, Feb 11 - Sarah arrives London
Tues, Feb 12 - Ang & Sarah to Salzburg, Austria
Wed, Feb 13 - Ang & Sarah take Sound of Music Tour
Thurs, Feb 14 - Ang & Sarah in Salzburg
Fri, Feb 15 - Ang & Sarah to Stuttgart, Germany to meet Mark
Sat, Feb 16 - Drive to Switzerland and back by Hohenzollern Castle
Sun, Feb 17 - Ang to London, Mark & Sarah around Stuttgart
Mon, Feb 18 - Wed, Feb 20 ... still deciding!
Thurs, Feb 21 - Mark & Sarah from Frankfurt to Texas

Ok, fine.... 5 months pregnant!

Since some readers requested it, I took a picture... this is me this morning, about 5 months pregnant. I think I look slightly deformed, but oh well. I was trying to pull the shirt tighter since I still am wearing mostly clothes that don't touch my tummy.