This Week Has Just Flown By

Today the sun is shining and its absolutely beautiful outside! :) It really is nice to see! On April 16 we had a BAKE DAY!! We made monster cookies, impossible pie and Annie asked Tam if she could do something with a million peppers, so we made stuffed peppers for supper. The family loved it! Annie said it was nice to come in from outside and be able to sit down and eat. It made us feel really good that we could help in some way. On April 17, we decided to head into Traunstein by bike... wow what a work out. The 16 kilometer round trip was a little more then we anticipated, the uphills and busy highway were a little intense at points but we made it to Traunstein and back in one piece!!Yesterday we went to Prien a Chiemsee to the Islands of Herreninsel (Island of Man) and Fraueninsel (Island of Woman). At Herreninsel we went on a tour of the Royal Palace by King Ludwig II. King Ludwig II built a copy of the Versailles Palace as a "Temple of Fame" in honor of the Sun King Louis XIV of France. The first 3 rooms we saw were never even used. Then we saw King Ludwig II private bedroom, dining room with a elevator for his table to be set below him, study and his dressing room. Our tour guide told us that there are 70 rooms in the Palace and only 20 were completed due to King Ludwig running out of money, makes you wonder why even start something if you can't finish it! It just blew our mind! Then we headed to Fraueninsel we didn't have much time to look around as the last ship to Prien came at 6:00pm so we walked around, climbed a tree and walked out onto the pier. All in all we have had an amazing week and are hoping to head to Salzburg tomorrow. :)
Love From
P&T in Quirn, Germany

 On The Boat to the Islands

 Patrick was actually standing on a different tree branch, nice picture!

 What a beautiful view!

On our way back to Prien. :)

Family Fun Day!!

Today was a great day! We went to Erding Thermal Spa where we got to play on 16 slides; one of them being the longest slide in the world!! It was a great day with Annie, Ernst and Michael!! We had some laughs and made sure we were tired out!! After we were done our day of swimming we went to pick up Anna-Marie from her girlfriend's wedding. Then we made the hour trek back to Traunstein. We got back home to the farm and we had a lazy day since the weather is STILL RAINING but what an amazing day to spend some time with a family that opened their homes to us and has made us feel at home. We couldn't have asked for a better stay in Germany! :) At the moment we are listening to a live solo performance of Michael playing the accordian :) it sounds amazing and to see the traditional instrument be played for us. :) What a fun filled family and were glad we got to spend time with them!
Love
P&T in Quirn, Germany

Annie and The Family

We departed from Nuremberg on April 10 and headed even further south to a place called Quirn, which is a little community made up of 10 people and with significant others it is 13 people. Annie met us at the train station and we were so excited to meet her. Finally we met a nice family that we could stay with and feel like we found our place. The weather may not have been nice but the company has been warm, friendly and a lot of laughter. In the family there is Annie (mom), Ernst (dad), Opa, Hubert (28 years old), Anna-Marie (25 years old), Stefan (23 years old) and little Michael (15 years old) and we feel right at home! We have even taught Michael to make friendship bracelets :) Yesterday we went into Berchtsgaden and toured the Salt Mine which was an amazing tour. We then decided to hike up the steepest mountain you could possibly find but we made it to the top in 1 hour!! Patrick and I ventured throught the Dokumentation of Hitler which was moving, shocking and sad to see. It was all in German so we had an Audio Guide tour but still the pictures did most of the explaining. After we had to wait 1 hour for the bus so we decided to hike down, we just keep putting ourselves through misery lol. The walk down was much easier than the hike up. Tam had a little melt down on the way down and found every word there was in the book. She was tired of grumpy people, the miserable weather and hiking up and down an insane mountain and all Patrick could do was laugh at her. He couldn't take her seriously because of her huge grin on her face!! LOL. Before we headed back to Traunstein we bought some groceries and a wobbly pop to reward  ourselves from the hard day of work. We had to wait 1 hour for the train so we ate some pistachios and had some good laughs where Tam was even in tears! What an amazing day!!
Love
P&T in Quirn, Germany

A Better Day

Today was a great day, the weather still wasn't the best mind you but we made the most of our day. We started off at the Tucher Mansion Museum, Tam did a marvelous job at being a tour guide and Patty being a photographer. We saw many old cabinets and paintings, it was quite a sight to see. After we went to the Toy Museum which was awesome there were so many dollhouses and porcleain dolls which are Tam's FAVORITE and Lego of course for Patty. We also did a tour of the Rock Cellar and man it was amazing! Tam was a little nervous as it hard narrow walkways and was way underneath the group. They used these cellars as air raid shelters during the war so you can get an image of how deep they are. We went out for an amazing supper and where Tam enjoyed her second beer in 2 days!! Cheers to a great day!
Love
P&T in Nuremberg, Germany

Germany

We are in Nuremberg, Germany and it has been a rough start to the trip in Germany. The weather is cloudy and dreary, we're tired from not sleeping well and have had a rough go with rude people. Last night we went to Barfüsser and Tam had her first full beer!! She had Nuremberger bratwurst, sauerkrat, and a bun especially for Daddy Frank. It sure was a good meal Tam really enjoyed it. We are going to purchase a Museum Pass for €21 each to go see the Toy Museum and make the best of the last 3 days left here. Then we are not sure what are plans are yet but we will keep in touch.
Love
P&T in Nuremberg, Germany

Some Help!

Well friends and family we are in need of your help... we are looking for volunteer work or places that need an extra hand, we are not asking for money, just a place to stay and see the culture. The best way of doing that is to stay with people that we know or family and friends may know. If you know of any people that would be willing to take us in, please e-mail us at my tamararairdan@hotmail.com.
Thanks for your help!
Love P&T in Berlin, Germany

Where to Start?

Well we have had some busy times behind us, we went to Rotterdam and to the Sea. We celebrated my birthday on the 28th of March in the small village of Hattem. We went to the Bakery Museum and to the Anton Pieck Museum to see his collection of art and to be told that the Eftling was designed from his work. Then on the 30 of March, we celebrated my birthday with Hans, Annette, Marcel, Oma, Opa and the little neighbor boy Nick. We had a lot of fun! We met up with Ruben in Deventer yesterday and spent some time with him before we continued our journey to a new country which we will start tomorrow :) We are going to Berlin, Germany. :) So excited!
   We have had an amazing time in Holland and would like to thank everyone for their hospitality and opening their homes to us. We truly appreciate everything that everyone has done for us. Especially Oma and Opa who took us in for our first 3 weeks here. It was amazing to stay with you and we had a delightful time!! We would like to thank Monique and Adri for also opening their home to us and helping us to find a place to stay in Berlin and what is really interesting to see while we are there. We would also like to thank Rob for letting us stay with him and showing us around his area. We really enjoyed ourselves. We would also like to thank Hans and Annette for showing us the farm last night, it was great! Tam was very happy to be able to feed a baby calf!! We would also like to thank Marcel for the gift of the Deventer tour! It was thoroughly enjoyed! We would like to thank Dennis, Angelique and Colin for the visits! What fun we had and laughs too!! We would just like to thank everyone! You are all truly loved!!
Love
P&T in Twello, Nederlands