EUROPEAN RELOCATION: RACE DAY & BACHARACH, GERMANY

Last morning at Heimersheim. We had a great visit and we talked a lot about the family tree. It was really great and I loved the fact that our kids were able to meet such distant relatives. It's awesome. The Koehler clan is having a family reunion next September so since we will still be living in Belgium it makes it easy for us to attend.

We got to the track early and we saw the Porsche Supercup race, the F2 and F3 races, and of course the F1 race.

FIRST & SECOND

F1 DRIVERS - PRE-RACE PARADE

NEXT TIME THE HIGH SCHOOL MARCHING BAND COMPLAINS ABOUT
THEIR UNIFORMS JUST SHOW THEM THAT IT COULD BE WORSE!!

THOUGHT THIS GUYS OUTFIT WAS HILARIOUS AND
THEN I FOUND OUT HE WAS THE SINGER OF THE
NATIONAL ANTHEM!

I was hoping to post some videos of a couple of pit stops but they might have been too big for me to down load. I'll see if Mark can upload them to You Tube and then we can post the link. I also think Brian has a great video of the start of the F1 Race. The engines are so loud. You really have to have ear plugs in while watching the race. Even with the ear plugs in - it's super loud.

I also have a video of the fans trying to start "the wave". It's was really funny how it would start and get through a couple of sections and then die. Then it would get through the next section and die at the next section and so on. I've seen that happen at Fenway too.

The race ended around 4:00. It was a really clean race. I think there was one short "yellow" at the beginning but after that it was smooth sailing the whole race. The skies were even clear so no threat of rain issues. Fernando Alfonso of Spain (racing for Team Ferrari) won.

We left the race track and headed north to spend the night in Bacharach, Germany. This town is situated along the Rhein. The "Romantik Rhein" as they seem to love to advertise in the area. I wouldn't mind spending more time traveling up and down the river either driving or on a boat or even biking along the extensive bike trails. There are countless castles in every town along the way.

We stayed at the Hotel Cafe Am Market. It was a cute little place with interesting little rooms. The kids were in an attic room with a slanted ceiling (as Randy discovered the hard way....twice - ouch!) But they loved it. Typical of European Hotels...no A/C but our room was actually fairly cool. Our room was super tiny - but we picked that over stuffy and low ceiling.

VIEW FROM OUR ROOM

THIS BUILDING HAD A DATE OF 1368! THEY STILL USE
THE FIRST FLOOR AS A RESTAURANT.

THE WAITRESS AT THIS RESTAURANT TOOK ABOUT 8 PHOTOS OF US! SHE WAS SO FUNNY. SHE MUST DO THAT FOR PEOPLE 10 TIMES A DAY.

The next morning (Monday) I got up a little early and went for a walk on a path that takes you up to the top of a decent hill with an old castle on top. Luckily the weather cooperated. The one thing we found absolutely amazing was the vineyards that were on these steep hills. We have yet to figure out how they harvest these vines. Hopefully you can see the steep angle of the hills.