Rothenberg - Saturday, July 4th

We celebrated July 4th by traveling on the regional train to Rothenburg. The original part of this town is still surrounded by it's original stone wall and is well preserved. The town is full of tourist shops, hotels and restaurants, which both adds and takes away from it's charm. We certainly enjoyed being there, and also think that Tuebingen is just a beautiful and charming!

Comments - anyone?

In case you've been wanting to write comments on the blog, you can now...at the end of each entry, is a pencil, click to write an entry. You may need to create a google account to do this - which takes only a few minutes. We're looking forward to those comments....

And yes, I've been gone so much, I've not written in a week, I am attempting to catch up and learn a bit more about how to put this blog together with less time and effort!

The rose in the photo is the same varitey of rose we have planted next to our front door. It was fun to find it in the back yard.

Peace and Quiet

In case you've been very envious of our holiday and peace and quiet...here's a little look at the other side.

Just outside our window, the city dug for electric connections. First the sidewalk was removed with cement saws, then digging and exploring....and then replacing , and then smelly, sticky blacktop. And to continue...between the house and sidewalk, our landlord is constructing and planning to make a garden sitting area....which may be complete by the time we depart!

And this is only the beginning..the city has plans to be digging and working on the streets all summer, lots of machines, streets closed, busses with new driving schedules....and actually the bus change is not bothering us, but the locals are really noticing the difference!

The old barn roof you see is only part of a very large building that is in process of being demolished. First they removed pieces by hand the old fashioned way, saving some items to be salvaged. And now for 1 1/2 weeks banging and knocking down and very loud machines and beeping backwards is the constant sound of the day - this is in the back yard area. We expect as soon as it is torn down, new construction will begin.

And finally just for fun, is our landlord Stephan, going on a motorbike ride to camp for the weekend with friends. We loved his riding suit and snuck a photo before he departed. Actually, the motorcycle has not been a noise problem...it was just fun to include in this little email, for drama.