Nuremberg

Our day began today with a breakfast buffet followed by a meeting that detailed the highlights of the rest of the week. We left the ship at 10 AM for a Nuremberg city tour by bus.

Nuremberg was only mentioned in a document written during the 11th century, but for Nuremberg historians, they consider the date when the document was written as the day Nuremberg was founded. The city grew with the domination of leading trading and merchant families. The late 15th century and 16th century have seen the economic and cultural growth of the city. When the first railway in Germany was built between Nuremberg and Furth in 1835, the city rose and Bavaria became the center of industrial growth in Germany. During the 20th century, Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party abused the city's progres

s. Nuremberg became the "City of the Party Rallies". During World War II, Nuremberg was greatly destroyed by bombs. It has recovered and has flourished into what it is today.

This is a picture of the Nazi party headquarters in Nuremberg.

After we saw the highlights by bus, they dropped us off at the

famous Christmas market. The weather was cold & quite windy, but we were pleasantly surprised that the forecasted rain didn't arrive. It was extremely crowded at the market. Mom & I got on a 1 o'clock bus back to the ship for lunch. We ate lunch, then both opted for an afternoon nap. I got up in time to run a little on the treadmill in the ship's workout area. We joined our friends for a nice dinner, then back to the cabin.

Danube Christmas Market River Cruise

My mom asked me back in February if I'd like to go on a Christmas cruise down the Danube River. Are you KIDDING?? Think I'd turn down a trip like that?? No way!!

Our friend, Margie Turner, did a fantastic job of organizing the trip (she started the process in February). At the last minute, because of some health concerns, she had to stay home. That was the ONLY disappointment we experienced on the trip.

Our crew ended up being a very congenial group of ladies. There were 4 moms & daughters on the trip & 7 other ladies. There were 9 of us from Granbury, 1 from Fort Worth, 1 from Dallas, 1 from McKinney, 1 from New Braunfels, 1 from Pearsall & 1 from Virginia.

Mom & I left home about 11 this AM. We met some of our traveling partners at the church building. One of the girl's husband drove us in the church bus to the airport. We picked up one of our girls in FW & met a few others at the airport.

We flew from D/FW to Frankfurt, Germany. It was a long overnight flight. We departed at 4:30 PM & arrived at 8 AM. We had a 4 1/2 hour wait for the short flight to Nuremberg. We were met at the airport by the Grand Circle travel guide & a tour bus. They took us to the ship. We had time to unpack, get settled in, rest a bit, then it was dinner time. We had an extravagant 7 course meal. Everyone was worn out, so we all retired soon after we finished eating.

San Antonio Excursion

Tommy & I celebrated our 25th anniversary in June. Quite a milestone! We never made it away this summer, so we decided to take off a few days & go to San Antonio. We left Thursday after school & drove (dodged deer all the way down Highway 281). We stayed at the Grand Hyatt on the river walk.

Friday we went to Fredricksburg & looked around. I hadn't been there in years & it's a neat little town.

Saturday Cori & Will joined us. We went to pick up our packets for the San Antonio Rock & Roll Marathon that we were signed up to run the next day.

Sunday, we got up early to run (well......3 of US ran). Tommy was a great support team/photographer!

It was the first long run Cori had done & I was SO proud of her! We opted to run the relay & it was so exciting to see her run into the exchange area & get to have her hand off our baton to me. LOVED IT!

Fun family time......GREAT way to celebrate! Looking forward to the next 25 years!!

Another year begins...

Just got home from "Meet the Teacher" night at Acton Elementary. There is always anticipation in the air...nervousness, excitement, lots of emotions rolling around in everyone's mind. I think coming to school, seeing their name on the class list & looking around the classroom makes everyone a little more comfortable.

When I was a "younger" teacher, I remember at the beginning of the school year, "older" teachers would say, "I had that student's mom and/or dad when they were in school." I never said it, but I have to admit that I thought, "WOW!" Tonight I had THREE parents who were bringing their Kindergarten students say to me, "Do you remember me? I remember you from when I was in 5th grade." Does that make me one of the "older teachers" now? I'm afraid so!!!

This is always a fun time of year.....full of new beginnings & possibilities!! I wish I knew each of the parents personally so that I could assure them that we will love & nurture their babies while they're with us at Acton Elementary. I'm excited to teach at a school with a staff that really cares about each & every student that walks through the doors!

God bless all the students & teachers as we begin a new year!!

Last day...

We decided that we had only seen Napa on a rainy day, we'd go back today since the sun was shining.

We went past Napa to the Kuleton Winery. It was very remote at the TOP of a mountain. The setting and grounds were EXQUISITE. It is a place we would all highly recommend.









We had gotten sandwiches at a deli in Sausalito this AM and had this beautiful setting to enjoy our picnic.

It was a delightful way to spend the afternoon.

After a couple of stops on our way home, we made our way back and had a delicious seafood dinner at Scoma's on the water. Beautiful view...great food...fun company!!

Some time on the balcony at our hotel completed the trip. A fabulous way to spend a week.....

A good time was had by all!!!

Napa Valley

We woke to an overcast, rainy morning. The word around town was that it was the rainiest day in June since the 1800s. Apparently, it DOESN'T rain in June.....well, usually!

We drove to Napa Valley. The first stop was Oakville Grocery. The next stop was Rubicon. We went in & looked around the winery.

We had lunch at Hurleys with a distinguished guest. Becky & Ken had met a gentleman named Ben Franklin on a trip to SF last December. This 83 year old veteran was an intriguing dining companion.

The next stop was Del Dotto winery. We toured the wine cave.

We made a few shopping stops along the way home. A fabulous dinner at Cole's Chop House in Napa finished out the day.

San Francisco

I met LaVera at the airport in Oakland. We rode a shuttle to meet Ken & Becky at Inn Above Tide (BEAUTIFUL PLACE ON THE BAY!!), where we were staying. This is the view from the window of our room. It was OUTSTANDING!!!

We went to Angelino's for a bowl of soup, then headed to San Francisco. We went to Pier 39 & got on an open-air tour bus. It was cool & windy when we started the tour & continued to get colder & windier until is was almost unbearable. Our Russian tour guide proved to be very hard to understand. We did see lots of interesting sights, that included Telegraph Hill, Golden gate bridge, Lombardi (the crookedest street), Ghiradelli Square, Chinatown, Painted Ladies, San Francisco trolley cars, Alcatraz Island...just to name a few.



Becky did a fabulous job of chauffeuring us around the city, including driving us down the crooked Lombardi street. We headed back to Sausalito and sampled lots of good cheese at our hotel. Becky, LaVera & I drove to Tiburon that evening & saw lots of beautiful areas.