the drive home

On our way home, we chose the "economy" route on our GPS.  Tolls around Europe are pretty ridiculous and we thought we might get to skip a few of them.  It turned out to be a gorgeous drive, although quite a bit longer than the original route.  We drove through the Alps and right next to Mount Blance.

Mount Blance

We stopped for lunch in Torina, Italy.  

"Don't get wet!" 

 I'm pretty sure I said that at least a few times, but you'd never know it by looking at them afterwards.  Oh well, kids will be kids.

I got some really cheap jewelry and sunglasses on this street.

One drink, three straws :)

It was a wonderful trip and completely exhausting!  It was good to be home in our tiny apartment.  We've been spending a lot of time at the beach to cool off in this hot weather.  Our last big trip is planned for this fall in PARIS!

Geneva, Switzerland

Our last night on the road was spend in Geneva, Switzerland.  It was really beautiful.  By this time though, we were all pretty exhausted and just ready to get home so we cut our time there short.

This clock is so cool!  All the numbers are there, just not in the picture.  I got tired of waiting for people to move out of the way.

Lake Geneva

We rode a ferris wheel.  At the top I kissed Dennison then told the kids that when you're at the top of a ferris wheel with someone you love you should kiss them.  Carter leaned over and kissed Jude on the cheek and Jude said, "I did NOT expect a kiss..."  It was pretty hilarious.

Our last hotel room before going home.  Vienna still asks to go to a hotel almost everyday.  I think she liked us all going to bed at the same time and in the same room every night!

Metz, France

We stopped for lunch here in Metz, France.  We took a few hours to walk around the city center.

There was also a big indoor market that had EVERYTHING! 

We finished off our visit here with some pastries while the kids did some spinning.

Luxembourg

The next morning we said good-bye to Grandpa Harris as he headed for home.  Then we started to head home and stopped to check out Luxembourg.  It was a really cool place, I'm so glad we got to see it.

These elephants were all over the city.  Each one was painted by a different artist then sold.  Half of the proceeds go to charity.  This year the charity has something to do with elephants in Africa, I don't remember the specifics.  Each year they do a different theme and charity.  How cool is that?!

This is the city center.  I loved this girl playing her piano in the middle of the square!

Frankfurt, Germany

Next, we spent an evening in Frankfurt.  We walked around the city sqaure.

Then we had a nice German dinner at this restaurant.

The kids kept themselves busy by doing laps around this fountain.

It rained all through dinner then this beautiful rainbow came out.  I didn't get a very good picture of it but you can kinda see it behind that tower.

We all said good-bye to Shane and Ellyse that night.  They headed to Paris bright and early the next morning.  

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

This city... wow.  It was just incredible.  It's a beautifully preserved midevil city surrounded by a city wall.  It was so interesting walking around the city.  It's not very big so we were able to see a lot of it.  I felt like we had gone back in time.

There were flowers everywhere.

We visited a bakery for breakfast.

This is the center of the city.  There were tons of little shops and museums and resaurants.  

We visited this Christmas store.  After I took a few pictures I saw a "no pictures" sign.  Oops.  It was really cool, even in July.  We even bought a cute little Christmas tree ornament.

I told Jude to go stand by the knight so I could take a picture.  He felt it necessary to make a "knight face" to go along with it.  Nailed it.

And another one.

Then he coached his little sister through making a "knight face".  I mean, does it get any cuter??

This is one of the city gates and watchtower behind it.

I took a little stroll up on the city wall.  This is the view from up there.

Walking along the wall. 

A cool clock in the middle of town.

A cute little hotel sign.

Another view from the city wall.

This was one of my very favorite places.  It was magical and whimsical and just awesome.