Strasbourg

This weekend we took decided to take a day trip to France. Strasbourg is a little less than 2hours away by car so we loaded up the car and took a fun family trip to France!




Strasbourg was one of the homes to Johannes Gutenburg, the inventor of the movable-type printing press which made the Bible more accessible for the average person.

Here they have a statue in the Place Gutenburg in his honor. (Notice in the picture Bill the Duck has also joined us on our journey in France.)



There was a carousel right next to this statue so the boys took a ride, they thought it was a little slow though. LOL



(Can you find Bill the Duck?)




It's just a beautiful city!! All of the old renaissance building seem to transport you back in time! At one point we turned the corner and BAM! this cathedral, towering over all, seemed to jump out of no where!



Funny enough this cathedral is called Notre Dame. Personally I think this one is much prettier than the one in Paris but that's just my personal opinion! :)



It took them about 300 years to build this cathedral. When it was finished it was the tallest building in the world until about 1874!

Look at the detail!!



Inside: (sorry about some of the pictures inside being a bit blurry, it was dark in there and I didnt want to use my flash out of respect)





Intricately carved pulpit:



Gorgeous pillar of angels:



Really neat astronomical clock:



Outside of the cathedral was just as beautiful! I couldn't get enough of these charming buildings!





















This one was my favorite. A teenie tiny little restaurant, older than dirt.




At the end of the day we stopped at a little cafe and had dinner. Dennis and I enjoyed a yummy potato and bacon dish that was topped with the specialty cheese of the area Munster - YUMMY!!

On our way home we got off the "beaten path" and here are some of the sites we saw along the way. Such beautiful country!!

A visitor in our home!

We have a been given a special opportunity to help another homeschooling family, in the States, out with a project! If you've ever heard of the Flat Stanley books, it's something a bit like that. They have sent us a visitor, Bill the Duck, who is going to go site seeing with us for a little while and then we will send him off to a new destination to visit with another family. In the end, he will have travelled around the world and make it back home with a journal full of adventures!

Enjoy the Picture story I have included about Bill's adventures so far:

Bill the Duck arrived safely, though he looked a bit weary after his long plane travel. He was held up with many lay-overs and delays because of the Icelandic volcano spewing ash and not allowing any plane travel over here in Europe.

We helped Bill out of his traveling quarters and checked his passport and tickets to make sure all was in order.

Elizabeth gave them a thorough inspection.
Yep! That's Bill alright!

And promptly gave Bill a warm welcome!

We let Bill stretch his legs and rest a bit.
Eventually he settled down with the boys and helped tutor them on their school work.

We are really happy to have Bill visiting us and have a bunch of plans to show him around our area! But first we'll let him rest a bit until the weekend to let the jet lag wear off.
Stay tuned!!

If you would like to see more about this project, check out his home family's blog. They have another friend, Waddles the duck off on an adventure as well!