What a group.......

It finally dawned on me that I have not entered a picture of our group.

Here we are - students, parents and teacher

This is a group picture we had taken at the base of the statue of King Victor Emanuel II of the United Italy. Each day our tour director would take a picture and post it on the Internet for parents so they could see what we were up to that day. They just forgot to tell me to tell them - so I doubt any parents checked the website.



There were some great bonds of friendship that came from this trip. Casey became a friend and helped keep me centered each day. - she has a great personality and is a wonderful young lady.

There is also a picture of her
with Cody H. and several of the others in the background. Cody took over1,000 pictures on this trip.... thank goodness Reasor's is running a 10 cent a picture sale....





Jake and Brittany in front of the statue of King Victor Emanuel the II. in Venice Italy








Here they are at the oldest church in Munich. great looking group of kids..........

Hope they are having a wonderful summer.

Enough life questions....... how about the trip???

Ok I know I have been a little melancholy about life, love, and the mystery of life so now it is time to get focused again on the purpose of the blog. TO SHOW PICTURES...........

The tour's first stop was in the city of Rotenburg ob do Tauber. This city is located in the Bavarian region of Germany.

The town is actually located on the top of a mount overlooking the Tauber River. It is one of the best examples still remaining in Europe of what a Medieval town would look like.
The name Rotenburg ob de Tauber actually comes from the words "rot = red" and "burg = town". As you can see in the pictures the city gets its name from all of the "red roofs".


The city is famous for two street Koboldzellersteg and Spittalgasse. As you can see the streets are very narrow, but are also beautifully decorated.

The town design was the inspiration for Walt Disney studios when they decided to create the movie "Pinocchio".



If you click on the picture you should be able to see the steeples in the background. They are of the church St. Peter and Paul built in 968.

Are we of water of land???

Are we of water or land?

There are times in my life when I am troubled by things I hear and see. I find myself wanting to retreat and find solace in vistas that will comfort my soul. But I have trouble deciding: "am I of water or land?" - Will I find the peace I seek on land or on water?

These are difficult times for me and I am thankful that I have these pictures to focus on for inner peace. I know most of you are saying "what about GOD". Well GOD is in my life and does offer me the spiritual peace that I crave; but I am talking about the inner turmoil that comes with being a part of society. The family, the job, the relationship between people = all of those are wonderful, but as you can see by this picture, life can be full of heavy seas.

This is a picture of the Adriatic Sea - we crossed the sea to reach Venice, Italy. The water was a little choppy as this is the only way into Venice and the water traffic was heavy.

What I seek in life is the inner peace that GOD brings to our lives. The sigh that means "all is right with the world Debbie just relax"I can imagine what it must be like to look out over the view of the lake in this picture. Do the owners of the house appreciate the beauty and majestic show of God's power and love? When they go out on the porch do they "sigh"............




Here's to the rough times that bring us strength. They are what make us strong enough to want to get out of bed the next morning. They are the promise that for each rough morning there is also the peace that comes each night.
The picture is from the Rhine Falls, very powerful waterfall in southern Germany. There is a boat that will take you out to the center of the falls and you walk up to a platform to hang over the falls. It must be majestic, and frightening at the same time, as is life..........


"Am I of Land"???????

Some of my happiest memories are of working in Seattle Washington. Every moring driving to work I could see Mt. Rainer. On this trip we went up 7,000 feet to the top of Mt. Pilatus in Switzerland. The VIEW from this mountain is spectacular. There is a peace that comes over the body when the ears no longer hear the rush of life..........





As I get to this picture I am at peace. There is a beauty that surrounds the soul and I hear that all will be just fine. According to God's plan as it was millions of years ago when he created the Alpine mountain range so that we might traverse the long haul to see how truly beautiful and simple life was meant to be...............

Two views of pain and sorrow..........

There are things in this world that defy explanation. Sometimes its family, sometimes it's emotion, and sometimes it is that feeling that although you were not directly involved you understand the pain and sorrow just by looking at a picture or sculpture. I try not to envy, and yet there are people, sculptors to be specific that I am in awe at what they can accomplish with just a simple stroke of a brush, or nick of the chisel.

There were two events on this trip that showed the beauty, the pain, the sorrow of mankind.


The first is a lion - not just a lion - but a
representation of a group of people who
suffered a horrible loss, and we can see
it in the lion's eye. How unbelievably
talented was that sculptor to know how to
shape, how to caress the pain and
sorrow and express that in a simple eye,
an eye that can say so much to the world.

The eye made me cry, as if it were saying

"I did my best, but I have lost."

Swiss guards were hired to protect French King Louis XVI his wife Marie-Antoinette and their children. When the French mobs attacked the Palace more than 700 Swiss officers and soldiers died trying to protect the royals. The Sculpture was created by Danish artist Bertel Thorvaldson.

It is carved out of a sand stone cliff above the city center of Lucerne, Switzerland.

Dachau Concentration camp Germany

The second sculpture is much more moving, much more of the pain and suffering of man. And yet our eyes are drawn to the simplicity of the sculpture, at first it seems a simple twist of metal, then our brains absorb the shapes and we begin to see the depth of human suffering and pain. We are at first repulsed and our hearts reject what our eyes are seeing, but the brain insists - LOOK, FEEL, REJECT, ACCEPT, REMEMBER...........

Munich to Innsbruck Austria

Today's trip took us from Munich to Austria.

I have to admit the scenery was absolutely breathtaking.

I hope that you can get a sense of the beauty from my pictures.

Our guide explained that while we call them

the Alps they are in fact the German Alps,

Austrian Alps, Italian Alps, and of course the Swiss Alps.

I have pictures from each area a believe me

they are worth taking a trip to see.

Innsbruck is known for the summer

palace of Marie Theresa, and Mozart memorabilia.

It is an adorable little town nestled

between the mountains. What

a view they must have every morning!

After a short walk, and a visit to a few churches we headed south to Venice for the next stop on our tour.

.