Our summer adventure

Bonjour from Provence, in southern France! First, our last few days in Germany: We visited a palace in Munich, Schloss Nymphenburg. It was the summer palace for the ruling family. It has beautiful gardens, and lots of waterfowl, including tons of Canada geese, swans, and this Eurasian coot - check out his feet: Our last day in Germany, we went to Zugspitze in the Alps, the tallest mountain in Germany. It was quite cloudy, so we didn't get much of a view, but we were able to cross over to Austria briefly. There are glaciers and places to sled. The next day, we then took a long train ride to Avignon in France, where we rented a car and drove to an adorable town called Fontvieille.  We are renting a place with a pool, the boys are really enjoying that We visited Chateau Montauban in town  and then went to see the remains of a Roman aqueduct. The most amazing part about this is the aqueduct is just in a field near an olive grove, no museum, interpreti...

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity - Jeff and I finished working, Monte finished elementary school, and we packed up all of our personal belongings. We are renting out our house while we are gone, so all of our belongings and our two cars went into the garage. Finally we were ready to go, three checked bags and four carry-on backpacks. The flights went as well as can be expected - the boys got a bit of sleep, Jeff and I didn't. Reykavik airport in Iceland was challenging - few food options, really long bathroom lines, and no orderly boarding - it was basically a horde of 250 people trying to get on the plane, no boarding by row. Our first full day in Munich (Friday 15 June) we visited Marienplatz, the main square.  We saw the Glockenspiel ring in the hour with automated figures "dancing" - a lot like "It's a Small World" at Disney. Teo and I then climbed the tower of St. Peter's church, 301 steps. The church was originall...