TravelStream™ news feed for member curtisandnancy on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/curtisandnancy en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Thu, 25 May 2006 02:03:54 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/curtisandnancy/germanyfrance/1144281900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/curtisandnancy/germanyfrance/1144281900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/curtisandnancy/germanyfrance/1144281900/tpod.html Thu, 25 May 2006 02:03:54 -0400 Canadians Curtis (photographer) and Nancy (artist & writer) explore Germany and France.

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St-Remy-de-Provence, France

With Nan's illness, we only made one outing this day to St-Remy-de-Provence. This little town is known as the birthplace of Nostradamus (1503) and a home to VanGogh (1889) when he was cared for by nuns in a psychiatric asylum. Our favourite part of St-Remy was a beautiful square surrounded by old buildings where there were benches to sit and relax. We saw a lot of beautiful little scenes that will make great sources for Nan's watercolours in the future.

You'll see a picture of the store where we bought sea salt for Curtis' parents and some specialty salt for ourselves. We also visited the Van Gogh gift shop in the Hotel d'Estrine where the art centre is housed in the 18th-century building.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/curtisandnancy/germanyfrance/1143348420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/curtisandnancy/germanyfrance/1143348420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/curtisandnancy/germanyfrance/1143348420/tpod.html Sun, 30 Apr 2006 23:49:26 -0400 Canadians Curtis (photographer) and Nancy (artist & writer) explore Germany and France.

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Schwaebisch Hall, Germany

We thoroughly enjoyed the mix of cultures at the marriage of Christina (Nancy's younger sister by four years) and Benni (German husband she met at the torchbearers school in Austria). The day began as any North American wedding: the girls went to the hairdresser and the boys picked up the Jaguar. One thing that is very different in Germany is that the couple doesn't normally dictate the attire of the wedding party. Benni's best man found it odd that he was asked to wear a certain colour of suit. Nancy and her other sister Jennifer (younger by one year) were the bridesmaids, and happened to choose matching dresses. Curtis, as the official wedding photographer, had the opportunity to drive the couple to the church in the Jaguar. At 1:00, the church bells rang, signaling Christina in her gown and Nancy with the umbrella to get inside the church. The ceremony was held in a quaint old stone church (c. 1500s). The ceremony lasted about an hour and a half, including a lengthy, translated sermon and the couple singing a song, etc. Outside the church after the ceremony, Germans usually set up some activities for the couple to do. One group made a big puzzle of the German and Canadian flags for the newlyweds to assemble, and afterwards they had to take a bucksaw and saw a hunk of wood off a log. After the receiving line, we took the bride and groom into Schwabish Hall for their wedding pictures.

The reception was held in a different village at a hotel. We started with cake at about 4:30, a typical German afternoon tradition. Christina's broadcasting brother, Peter (older than Nancy by 3 years) and Benni's journalist sister bilingually hosted the eight-hour program that included entertaining skits, improv, songs, games, and audiovisual presentations. We enjoyed how much effort everyone had put into these activities. The Duck family attempted to contribute a song of our own, but were put to shame with our unrehearsed song next to the Kannenberg family's amateur choir and piano accompaniment (comparable to the Van Trap family singers in the Sound of Music). We ate a huge buffet of delicious food with the best salad bar we've ever seen. Dessert was served around 10:30, and drinks were non-stop.

Near the end of the program, one of Benni's friends played an amazingly-composed arrangement on the piano. Later, the guests all went outside to stand by a candlelit pool to sing a song to the couple, and someone lit some fireworks. You can watch for select pictures of this event on Curtis' website in the coming months.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/curtisandnancy/germanyfrance/1143219600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/curtisandnancy/germanyfrance/1143219600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/curtisandnancy/germanyfrance/1143219600/tpod.html Sun, 30 Apr 2006 23:48:37 -0400 Canadians Curtis (photographer) and Nancy (artist & writer) explore Germany and France.

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Rosengarten, Germany

The Rat House may sound like an unlikely scene for a wedding, but as we discovered, Germans have two weddings. The official wedding date was March 24, when Christina and Benni were married by the local mayor in the Rathaus (town hall). Normally a fairly quick and serious event, this mayor was excited to perform a wedding with a group of about 20 witnesses including the oldest resident in the area (Benni's grandfather) and a group of English-speaking Canadians. He spruced up the event by starting with a trivia game about Germany, awarding the winners "sweeties" (what Germans call candies) made of stinging nettle and other strange ingredients. He translated part of the service to read in English.

Later in the day we had a rehearsal at the stone church, which was icy like a walk in fridge. The caretaker reassured us it would heat up in three hours before the actual wedding the next day! In the evening the Kannenbergs hosted the rehearsal dinner at their house.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/curtisandnancy/germanyfrance/1143080640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/curtisandnancy/germanyfrance/1143080640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/curtisandnancy/germanyfrance/1143080640/tpod.html Wed, 26 Apr 2006 01:15:11 -0400 Canadians Curtis (photographer) and Nancy (artist & writer) explore Germany and France.

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Rothenburg, Germany

Our family made a day trip to the medieval village of Rothenburg, Germany. It felt a little bit like an episode of the Brady Bunch or the Simpsons when they take family vacations. Nancy never envisioned the family making it to Europe! The weather was barely above freezing, and we even saw a few snowflakes! The old part of town was surrounded by an extensive stone wall. We first walked along the cobbled streets, looking into the shops filled with swords, cuckoo clocks, glassware, ornate mugs with metal lids, wooden toys, Christmas decorations, and pastries shaped like snowballs. In the shop where Nancy took pictures of the bread birds (see picture), we tried samples of the pastry. Near the church, we saw colourful eggs hanging in trees like Christmas ornaments - just one of the signs we've scene that Easter is approaching.

Next we climbed steps up to the walls and walked along the covered ramparts, taking many photos. The view put a whole new twist on the town that we had just walked through at stony street level. Now we could see the red clay tile roofs, interesting little gardens, and bird's eye views of the town, church, and countryside.

Later that night we threw a surprise kitchen shower for Christina and Benni - showcasing our North American tradition. There were well over 20 guests to participate in the games, activities, and snacks prepared by my mother and sister Jennifer.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/curtisandnancy/germanyfrance/1142981640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/curtisandnancy/germanyfrance/1142981640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/curtisandnancy/germanyfrance/1142981640/tpod.html Wed, 26 Apr 2006 01:13:23 -0400 Canadians Curtis (photographer) and Nancy (artist & writer) explore Germany and France.

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Schwaebisch Hall, Germany

The small village we're really staying at is called Hohenholz. The pictures attached to this entry show the main town in the area, Schwabish Hall.

PS. Curtis is enjoying driving around Germany (including the Autobahn).
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/curtisandnancy/germanyfrance/1143174960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/curtisandnancy/germanyfrance/1143174960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/curtisandnancy/germanyfrance/1143174960/tpod.html Wed, 26 Apr 2006 01:10:39 -0400 Canadians Curtis (photographer) and Nancy (artist & writer) explore Germany and France.

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Schwaebisch Hall, Germany

During our week in Germany, we stayed in a rented farmhouse with Nancy's family. Early Thursday morning, we were all buzzing around the windows in eager anticipation for...drum roll...the return of the bread truck. The previous day, we were alarmed to hear the blare of a vehicle horn outside on the road. We all went to the window to see a small truck stop on the road, open up the side like an ice cream or cotton candy vendor, and set up rows of glossy buns, fruity pastries, floured bread, and salted pretzels. Now to our North American audience, this event would be exciting in and of itself, but add to your mouth-watering image the following contextual details. First of all, this farmhouse was located in a "village" called Hohenholz. Now I know villages: I grew up outside the village of Morpeth in Southwestern Ontario with a humble population of about 200 people. But in Germany, the villages were located only a couple kilometres apart and this one had only about 8 houses in it. In addition, the road to the village was closed for construction (which included a big chunk of the road being absent in one direction). Yet still, the bread truck faithfully came on Wednesday. Unfortunately we were all too busy gawking at it to take any pictures or buy any breads, and the driver promptly packed it up and continued on her journey to the next village. To our disappointment, the truck didn't return on Thursday. Similar to a market, the bread truck only comes on Wednesday and Saturday.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/curtisandnancy/germanyfrance/1145101500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/curtisandnancy/germanyfrance/1145101500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/curtisandnancy/germanyfrance/1145101500/tpod.html Mon, 17 Apr 2006 22:48:21 -0400 Canadians Curtis (photographer) and Nancy (artist & writer) explore Germany and France.

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Singen, Boblingen..., Germany

At 5:00 am, we started our long journey home. The four of us walked through the sleepy streets of Konstanz to the train station. The only sounds were birds singing and three suitcases rolling noisily over the cobblestones.

We saw the most beautiful sunrise over Lake Konstanz before hopping on the 6:45 train to Singen. Christina and Benni came with us on the first train to help us make the four-minute transfer to our second train to Boblingen. We had to switch platforms in that amount of time: running downstairs and up another set. We left them at Singen, waving their Kleenexes dramatically at us through the windows.

At Boblingen we switched to the S1 and then the S2 to get to the airport.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/curtisandnancy/germanyfrance/1145070240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/curtisandnancy/germanyfrance/1145070240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/curtisandnancy/germanyfrance/1145070240/tpod.html Mon, 17 Apr 2006 22:39:26 -0400 Canadians Curtis (photographer) and Nancy (artist & writer) explore Germany and France.

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Konstanz, Germany

The sun came out on our last day in Konstanz, inspiring us to walk along the Rhine and through the city. We had coffee outside on the main street at a cafe. Christina was really happy with the weather (we decided she's a sunflower).

Curtis and I also ate gelato almost every day since it was only 60 cents a scoop.

Later in the day, we had raclette. Last time I had raclette was twelve years ago in Quebec on exchange (see picture). Christina and I cut up a whole bunch of food including onions, tomatoes, peppers, cooked potatoes and rice, shrimp, cold cuts, corn, eggs, mushrooms, etc. We each had a couple little trays that we could put the food on, covered in cheese, and then heat on the grill. We had fun with this meal. The raclette set - a Swiss invention - is a standard part of every German household. Christina and Benni got this one for their engagement party.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/curtisandnancy/germanyfrance/1144983600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/curtisandnancy/germanyfrance/1144983600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/curtisandnancy/germanyfrance/1144983600/tpod.html Mon, 17 Apr 2006 22:14:38 -0400 Canadians Curtis (photographer) and Nancy (artist & writer) explore Germany and France.

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Kreuzlingen, Switzerland

On Thursday we walked from Christina and Benni's apartment across the border to Switzerland. The area was very rural (and it was cold - started raining during this adventure). We walked all the way to the Swiss chocolate factory, a reward that we'd been promised since we first arrived in Germany. The factory store had pretty much been cleaned out, since it was the day before Good Friday. We saw a Donald Duck Easter "bunny" and lots of other interesting chocolate creations. We spent no less than 20€ on chocolate bars that could very well throw our baggage over the weight limit! We didn't take any pictures, so you can go and rent Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for some visual aids.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/curtisandnancy/germanyfrance/1144800960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/curtisandnancy/germanyfrance/1144800960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/curtisandnancy/germanyfrance/1144800960/tpod.html Mon, 17 Apr 2006 22:06:24 -0400 Canadians Curtis (photographer) and Nancy (artist & writer) explore Germany and France.

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Konstanz, Germany

We spent the last several days of our vacation with Nancy's newly-wed sister and husband Benni in Konstanz. They had just returned from their honeymoon and were setting up house - and in Germany, that entails things like assembling your own kitchen and plumbing. We explored the beautiful town, which is situated at the Swiss border on Lake Konstanz and the Rhine River. We also played games, visited, looked at wedding pictures, and ate bread.

Nancy decided to paint a picture for the couple as a gift, so there are a few pictures of that process as well.
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