Monday, June 26, 2006

The Adventures of Captain Kitty

"Captain Kitty was a great pirate, and he had a treasure. The treasure was buried on Kitty Island. Captain Kitty went to the island to bury more treasure and he took his map. He went to the island and saw THE BAD GUY PIRATE Captain Evil Kitty. Captain Evil Kitty wanted the treasure so he followed Captain Kitty to the island and they fought with REAL SWORDS and Captain Kitty won because he is the good guy. Then he took his map and went to find his TREASURE wich was GOLD. It took him a long time to get there because he had to stop and pet all of the kitties. Then he dug up the treasure and took the gold (which was REAL GOLD) and made a robot which was his brother named Captain Kitty. The End."

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Monday, June 19, 2006

Poland

 

On Wednesday a friend mentioned that she was taking the family on a trip for the weekend. They would spend most of their time shopping, but would go first to the Czech Republic and then to Poland. Her plan was to leave Friday morning, go to a huge flea market in Czech, head towards Dresden (Germany) to sleep, and then go to Poland on Saturday.

I knew that the flea market would make us unhappy, but she mentioned spending the night in a castle in Poland, so we decided to join her family there for a day of pottery shopping and an evening of swimming in the indoor pool. It sounded like a great plan.

Reststop smoker

We left early Saturday morning, and made great time. Breakfast was Pop Tarts and iced coffee on the road, as the boy slept. As we neared the border we called our friends and discovered that we were within a few kilometers of one another. Yay! Perfect timing is a beautiful thing. We stopped for gas and chocolate and drove through the crossing together. After a last look at the maps we headed for the castle.

Nordland

The boy and I agreed that it was a “castly” castle. There are castles everywhere in Germany, but most of them do not fit into the image of “castle” that most people have. We have a castle in Vilseck, but it is a “Burg”, and looks like a fortress rather than a castle, so we were happy that it was such a beautiful place.

View from our room

We checked into Kliczkow Castle and had some lunch. Then we made our way into Bolestawiec to look for some beautiful pieces. Unfortunately, it was Saturday afternoon, and many of the stores had closed. We had been warned not to leave our cars for long, so one adult stayed with the cars (and the four children) while the other three shopped. It truth, I never stayed with the cars. Of the four adults, I am by far the pickiest, so it took me MUCH longer to find what I wanted. Eventually we all headed back towards the vehicles and went in search of a restaurant. The food was very nicely done, and all eight of us ate for 40 Euro, which made us very happy.

Thatched roof restaurant

So back at the castle we changed and headed down to the pool. The resort reminded me of resorts in the Catskills in New York. I’ve never been lucky enough to stay in one, but I’ve wandered through a few, and now I know where they found their inspiration. We were probably the youngest families staying there, other than the two wedding parties fighting for space in the courtyard. The pool was filled with older men and their much younger women, and the courtyard had older couples enjoying a late night coffee under a clear sky. The buildings date back to 1292, and were restored in 2001. The hotel staff was well trained and the rooms looked as if they had been put in place longer than 5 years ago.

Dragon rainspout

The next morning we woke to a huge breakfast buffet. There was an amazing array of food, including apple pancakes and pickled herring. I filled my plate with black pudding, salads, eggs, and bread, grabbed a bowl of “milk soup” (sweetened hot milk with noodles), poured myself a cup of strong coffee, and sat with our friends for a wonderful meal. Then we headed our separate ways for the trip home.

Castle hallway

It was a beautiful day, and we should have had clear roads and no problems on the way home, but we did not factor in the exaustion from our travels the day before. Because of this, the trip home involved far too many stops and driver changes. The boy had picked up a bit of a cough, so he was not terribly comfortable, but he was not at all tired and stayed awake for the entire trip. To top it off, we were given a clear example of the gas-sucking power of air conditioning, and came way too close to running out of gas. We ended up finding a station in a small town a few kilometers from the Autobahn, and then took side roads the rest of the way home. In the end, although we left only a few minutes behind our friends, they made it back to Vilseck a full two hours before us. By the time we made it home we had all stopped talking to one another and were ready to put the day behind us.

Opal afternoon

The trip has helped me see that there are some trips I should just take on my own. Last night I discovered that there had been a bus trip to the pottery factories on Saturday. For 50 Dollars I could have spent almost as much time there as I did, and more of it would have been surrounded by pottery. I’ve already told the guys that I will return ON MY OWN to explore further. We did get to spend a night in a castle, and we did get the chance to travel with friends, but all of that could have been missed. They would have been happier at home, it would have cost us less overall (although I would have spent much more), and we would not have had to deal with any of the small traumas of the weekend. Next time.

The boy's reaction to our trip Posted by Picasa

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

The Eyes


The Eyes
Originally uploaded by allysther.

Wowie zowie, that's my boy!

Monday, June 12, 2006

Twelve Years

 

And where has all the time gone?

 

For the record, I would say yes again. Posted by Picasa

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Exploration

They stand at the edge of town, watching the setting sun.

  Posted by Picasa

Thursday, June 08, 2006