Driving through Germany & Switzerland

21 - 23 September, 2007

Over the weekend we needed to go to Munich to complete Wren's final homestudy. Since we were going to have to drive the 5.5 hours up there anyway, we decided to make a weekend trip out of it. Jason's had been wanting to go to Friedrichshafen, Germany for quite awhile. Friedrichshafen is best known for being where Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin built his Zeppelin airships. It is also located on Lake Constance so we spent some time driving through the pretty towns that are on the lake. The whole area is surrounded by apple orchards and this was a pretty time to be there as all the orchards were harvesting and it gave a nice autumn feel to everything.

We spent a night in St. Gallen, Switzerland because we wanted to go to the Abbey Library. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the earliest and most important monastic libraries in the world.

On or way home, we stopped at a few churches and castles, a plant nursery where a multitude of beautiful dahlias were blooming, and some cow pastures to hear the clanging of some Swiss cow bells.















The shoreline of Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance.


The Zeppelin Musem in Friedrichshafen


a Zeppelin


a Zeppelin cruising over Lake Constance


The Zeppelin hanger at the airfield


a cool Zeppelin playground in a piazza outside the museum


Wren in front of the Baroque style cathedral of the Convent of St. Gall


The interior of the cathedral which is decorated in Baroque style


The protestant Church of St.Laurenzen in St. Gallen


One of the 111 oriels which were built to demonstrate the wealth of the many merchants of the city.


An intersting window idecorated with books in the St. Gallen Library


The interior of the Roccoco style library of St. Gallen


Wren in front of some flowers in St. Gallen


The "city lounge" in St. Gallen. The "red carpet" is spread out between the downtown buildings.


Wren wants to know why we are humiliating her with a picture like this.




A defensive tower in Switzerland along the autostrada.


A little Swiss village among the corn fields.


a Swiss gorge in the mountains


An alpine meadow and Swiss cows


Church on top of a hill in Switzerland


Dahlias at a Swiss nursery


Jason and Wren among the dahlias























Lee Anne and Wren among the dahlias


Dahlia closeup


Happy Autumn!

A Visit from the Grandparents

7-19 September 2007


Grammy and Grampy Bryant came for a visit this month and boy were we happy to have them. Of course, I think Wren might have been the happiest of all. She really liked spending time with her grandparents!


Laveno - a town near where we live


Wren and Grammy on a taxi boat


Wren on some steps in Orta


Wren, Grammy and Grampy on another taxi boat.


view of Isola di San Guilio


another view of the island


and still another view of the island


and a view of the island from the Sacro Monte


Jason and Wren on the road coming down from the Sacro Monte

Around the house

I feel like I don't get the camera out enough when we are just hanging out around the house and I'm trying to better. I hope you enjoy these few photos and videos from the past week.

Wren wasn't too sure about the bubbles in the bathtub.





Wren, Clover and Kipper


Wren and Clover


Kisses for Kipper


Yes, this is a bucket on her head...she's a silly girl.


Lookin' cute!




Wren always thinks she's "coo" when she's wearing mom's sunglasses.


Future gymnast. Look how she gets up on those toes!

Miscellaneous Videos

Gettin' down to the They Might Be Giants CD, "Here Come the ABC's" in early August.


Eating delicious perogi in Krakow on Aug. 10, 2007


Having some down time in Krakow on Aug. 10, 2007


Wrenny Roo, Aug. 11, 2007