Man, I took a lot of photos.
But then, we saw a lot of cool stuff.
I decided that I would just post my way through the week, day by day, starting with last Monday.
So, here goes.
12 April, 2010--Day 1
We left dark and early, getting all the kids out of bed by 5:30 am so that we could be in the car and driving away no later than 6:00. Well, except Dallin. We put off waking him until the last minute. And then we made Abby do our dirty work for us.
Have I mentioned, she's a very good girl?
Anyway, we had to get down to Dover to catch our ferry across the English Channel by 8:45 am, and we had no idea how the traffic was going to be. We had to get across the bridge over the Thames, which almost always has a bad traffic jam, but didn't actually have to go far into the London area. We just had to skirt around it, and avoid all the folks that were speeding off to work.
Fortunately, we had built in some time for that bridge crossing, because there was a fender bender at the top, which slowed everyone down considerably.
No worries. We still made it in plenty of time to get our passports stamped by the nice Frenchman working the booth at the port. Whew! First hurdle managed.
Here we are getting back in the car after checking out the port, and sneaking a peek at those famous white cliffs.
Looking a little groggy, but still anticipating good times ahead.
Then we got settled onto the ferry, which was enormous! Our kids have experienced ferry rides before while we lived in Virginia, but this was a whole other league of ferry riding.
We finally found a place to sit where we could look out at the water, and then we worked on getting our sea legs. There was much more rocking than I thought there would be.
Some were brave enough to go out on deck, though it was pretty windy and chilly.
Don't they look happy and comfortable?
The rest of us stayed inside where it was warm, though rocking and smelling of fish and people. We had fun munching on Cadbury chocolate (hey--I know it's only 9:30 am, but we're on vacation here, people) and watching the seagulls and other ships go by.
When we docked in Calais, France, we all got loaded back in the big van and headed toward Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany, our home for the next few days.
We drove, and drove, and drove, cutting through the corner of France, and working our way across Belgium. You know, I always thought of Belgium as a small country, but as the afternoon wore on, it seemed to get bigger and bigger. It was lovely though, with charming villages each with a least one gorgeous church and homes with red tile roofs.
Eventually we crossed into Germany, and were promptly met by a checkpoint full of German police. Yipes.
You see, we had all of our passports. No problem.
We had our registration for the car. No problem.
But for some inexplicable reason, we had not been able to locate our proof of European auto insurance that morning. Possible big problem.
But, level-headed DH handled it beautifully. The officers quickly realized that both adults spoke no German, and transitioned into blessed English. We handed over our passports and registration, and prayed that they wouldn't ask for our insurance papers. No sweat. Well, maybe a little sweat. They were extremely polite, thanked us for our time, and waved us on our merry, sweaty-palmed way.
We finally got to the air base, and got settled into our digs. It was a fabulous Temporary Living Facility (TLF, for those of us in the acronym-happy military) with four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a spacious living room, a fully appointed kitchen, and glory be, a full size American washer and dryer! I thought I was gonna cry! How pathetic am I?
Here are the children immersing themselves in German culture:
I think they're watching Spongebob, or something culturally diverse like that...
These two were just happy to be out of the car kicking off their shoes and stretching their legs!
We went out for a quick dinner on the base, and then geared up for a great week of sight-seeing!
Tomorrow--Trier. Stay tuned--it only gets better from here.
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