Lonnie and Bob in Europe

Michael and Mel and Sam and Simon had just one day left in Germany, so in the morning we headed back to the zip line at the park where we first went the day they arrived. I think the zip line may be one of the Sam and Simon's favorite memories.

Then we stopped at the store and got a few snacks and headed for Rudesheim, a quaint little city on the Rhein with half-timbered houses and cute shops.

We walked up what we call "Harry Potter Alley" and listened to the bells chime.

We had always wanted to go into Siegfried's Mechanisches Musikkabinett, and today was the day! We were not disappointed, as this was the best tour and the most interesting museum we experienced in Europe.

The instruments were magnificent, and the tour guide played many of them for us.

We loved the beautiful chapel with it's painted ceilings that held the next collection of rare music boxes.

The tour guide invited Sam to wear the organ grinder's hat and play this instrument. Sam did a great job!

The tool shop.

The gift shop.

I would have bought both Bob and Michael one of this cool singing bird music boxes, but I didn't have my four grand with me. These delicate little birds sing so beautifully.

Simon fell in love with this Christmas music box. He showed us how each time he opened it, it played a different song.

I was fascinated by the story of the owner of this museum who had spent his life and fortune in his passion to collect these fabulous mechanical music boxes, The tour guide had told us that every day Siegfried walks over to see how his museum is doing. I had just taken these pictures of the photos on the walls . . .

. . . when sure enough . . .

. . . Siegfried, himself walked out of the museum! That really made my day!

Mel did a little more shopping in the Kathe Wohlfahrt Christmas shop.

Then we headed to our favorite Doner Kabop shop and ate a delicious lunch.

We hopped back into our cars and drove further along the Rhine River to count castles. The fall leaves were spectacular!

Sam and Simon together spotted over thirty castles along the Rhein!

We stopped at this park on the river for the boys to get out and play.
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On the way home, we stopped at the XXL Restaurant. Bob explained to Sam and Simon that we had spent all of our money on the trip, so we could only get one cheese burger for all of us to share. Their eyes lit up when they saw the size of the burger. It was so big that all six of us could only eat half of it!

When we came home, Swen and Gretel Swensen came over to visit. Swen was Michael's mission president when he served in Austria, and Michael actually lived in the mission home with their family when he was the assistant. The Swensens have been serving in Frankfurt as medical advisor missionaries. Wonderful couple!

In the morning we had a quick breakfast of toast, jam, and juice, and then we were off to the airport. We loved having their family here. Michael and Mel had planned such a fun trip for us, and the boys were great travelers. We hope that we can travel again together soon!

Salzburg was our last day touring together, and we only had half a day before Michael and Mel took off for parts unknown on another week of adventurous explorations. Salzburg was the perfect place to end our travels together.

We headed for the lovely Mirabell Gadens.

We found this cute sculpture garden--the Zwergerlgarden or Dwarf Garden with four foot high statues. Dwarves were popular court entertainers during the the 17th-18th centuries.

We found this spooky old tree.

Then we walked along the river toward the Church Platz.

Love how these buildings are built right into the rock.

We meandered into the narrow shopping streets and found the smallest Doner Kebab shop in the world and squeezed around a little table and enjoyed a delicious lunch served by a gracious little lady.

Then we said our goodbyes. It was hard to leave because we had spent such a fun week with our family.