The Meier's German Adventure

This is the view from where we parked - the Piazzale Michaelangelo - nice eh? And we found yet another David. Florence is a beautiful ...

"No Harleys Allowed" - or so it seems - look at all the scooters! Anyway - we did some shopping and browsing on the way back to t...

We walked the streets some more and arrived here - the Piazza della Signoria where the building in the picture -the Palazzo Vecchio- is loca...

Just outside of the main entrance sits the Duomo's Baptistry. Lorenzo Ghiberti's famous bronze Baptistry doors were commissioned in...

From the Galleria we walked thru the maze of streets to the Duomo - Santa Maria del Fiore . This cathedral is Europe's fourth large...

Today -we all got in the truck early and drove to Florence - we had a date with David. I had bought our tickets weeks earlier so we did not...

We stayed on the beach all day - Scott and I walked to a small store store and grabbed some lunch for all of us and we dined at the beach on...

What a great time! Swimming in the Mediterranean - awesome! The water felt great!

Getting chairs and an umbrella in May was easy - later in the summer - this would have been nearly impossible. It was really great - they a...

Today was our day to relax - in the Med! Our town of Camaiore is very close to the beach so we enjoyed a day at the Lido di Camaiore - and ...

We left Pisa and drove north to the town of Camaiore where we checked in to our lovely inn - Locanda Le Monache. The Le Monache Inn, that ...

The tower is 183 feet high - 8 stories tall. I suppose this is why Galileo conducted his experiments on the velocity of falling objects from...

Two views from the top- the kids with Pisa in the background and the other is of the Duomo and the Baptistry. It was really strange at firs...

The first picture is of one of the seven bells in the belfry, tuned to musical scale. The narrow steps in the next picture are the final st...

The Tower of Pisa is the bell tower of the Cathedral - pictured in the background. Begun in 1173 on sandy silt subsoil, the Leaning Tower (...

We all hopped in the truck this morning, left Vicenza and drove across Italy to Tuscany. Before going to the town where we will be staying...

Another fabulous day in Venice! We ate some pizza at a place that we have eaten at before and the kids loved it - called Ae Oche , ( www....

While shopping we went into a few of the glass factories and watched the show! It is amazing to watch them make things so effortlessly and...

Time for some shopping on the island of Murano!

During our last visit to Venice, this was covered up undergoing cleaning. It is the Torre dell'Orologio on the north side of the piazz...

Our visit would not be complete without feeding the kids' feathered friends!

This one of the lagoon - Besides being used to aid those on boats, during the Middle Ages, the tower took on a less benevolent role - when ...

It offers stunning views from the top - this one is of Piazza San Marco.

This is where we got off the vaporetto - San Marco's of course! Scott and I took the kids up the Campanile(clock tower) in the picture ...

I love looking at all the beautiful old palaces that grace the canal. The one behind the gondolier is my favorite - look at the details on ...

Ta-dah - Back in Venice! This morning we got up and drove a quick 30 minutes over to Venezia! We hopped on a vaporetto and went up the Gr...

The kids had fun too - chasing the peacock around the vineyard. From here we went into town and had a delicious dinner.

Apparently the winery was already closed but the gentlemen was very kind to let us taste and buy some wine. He spoke no English but we u...

We arrived in Italy, checked into our rooms on post in Vicenza, Italy. From there we followed a map (written/drawn by our neighbors) to a g...

Liechtenstein for lunch anyone? We set out early this morning for our week long trip to Italy. The last big trip for the Meiers! We hit one...

After exploring the Hatten site, we drove along the Maginot Line for a while. It was cool riding along these winding country roads and then...

Here's Jake and Grandpa looking at some of the vehicles.

Here's Jake on top of the fort. It was really cool exploring the area. On this site they have lots of old planes, vehicles and a room ...

This diagram shows how the fort was set-up and divided into various rooms.

Located 35 miles (50 km) north of Strasbourg and 25 miles (40 km) west of Karlsruhe, the "Abri" (shelter) is an underground barrac...

Today we all went out to France to explore the city of Hatten and the Maginot Line. Scott rode out on his Harley and I followed with mom and...

And here are the kids with their fabulous teacher - Georgiana Vidican-Teohari. We are going to really miss her!

A few shots after the concert -

There were 22 students that performed at the concert. Grandma and Grandpa Talluto were even able to attend! They had gotten into Germany the...

And here is Kaitlyn:

Go ahead - have listen to concert!!

Kaitlyn performed three songs: The Musette, The March (from the Nutcracker Suite)by Tchaikovsky, and Jagerchord. She was just wonderful!

Today, the kids had their piano concert at our chapel on post. They both played beautifully! We are really going to miss our teacher. Georgi...

We had a fun time exploring the windmills. Then it was back to Mannheim. We did stop in Nijmegen hoping to find some memorial or somethin...