Sibs in Berlin: Potsdam

After our awesome trip to Potsdam with Frederic and Johanna, we decided to bring the sibs there too.  Here we are standing in front of the Brandenberg Gate. 

Jarrod, Becca and I stood in front of this rack of tea for about 10 minutes just cracking up.  The tea company cleverly translated commonly used German idioms to English and they had us in stitches!  Fritz and Chris eventually had to drag us away.  Some other favorites include: "you make me fix and ready," "you have no idea of tooting and blowing," and "you go me animally on the cookie."

There were some beautiful ducks hanging around the Palace Sanssouci.  

Fritz really really wanted me to take a picture of this windmill.  I didn't like the lighting as the bright sun in the middle of the day was causing the windmill to be a bit backlit and off balance with the bright sky, but I think I'll get in trouble if I don't post it.  This one is for you Fritz. 

Fritz and I have decided this is "Lover's Arch" so we put Becca and Chris under it for a photo. 

Then I took a picture of Jarrod leaping for joy...

...and another one...

...and one more for good luck!  He's just so good at that!  That's the New Palace in the background.  

These were the statues lining the roof of the New Palace which was built 20 years after the Palace Sanssouci.   

Galway and the West Coast of Ireland

You know you are off to a good day in Galway when you are eating this otherworldly brown bread at Anton's Restaurant.  This stuff is so good we had breakfast here two days in a row.  We have learned that Irish brown bread is a staple of almost every meal in Ireland, in addition to potatoes of course.  But not all brown breads are created equal, and Anton's bread is exceptionally delicious!  We begged the staff for the recipe, but their lips were sealed. They did seem very appreciative of our emphatic praise of the bread and sent us off after the second day with an entire loaf on the house.  So very kind!

We took a day trip over to Spiddal, a coastal town about 45 minutes up the winding scenic road from Galway.  On our way, we spotted houses with real thatched rooves!  Apparently they provide very good insulation, but it can be difficult to insure a house with a thatched roof as they are highly flammable. 

The drive along the Atlantic was absolutely beautiful and as you can see, Ireland had quite a rocky coastline. 

Spiddal has a small craft village that we explored.  All the crafts are authentically made in Ireland, if not right in the town of Spiddal.  Here is a loom used to weeve Irish wool.  

The rocky shoreline was gorgeous, I had to take photos!

Old rock walls are all over Ireland.  We passed a bunch of them on our train ride from Dublin to Galway and here they are again on the coast.  

Everyone keeps telling us that the weather is never this good.  They had a terrible winter with tons of rain and serious flooding.  It's often cold and foggy if not raining, so it is probably reasonable to state that it was the five of us that brought the blue skies.