My favorite time of the year...

Was anyone watching?

Sure hope so.

Can't wait for the Iowa straw poll on Saturday.

Happy Elections.

A Balloon Ride.

We went on a balloon birthday ride a few weeks ago.

It was fabulous.

Thank you to Mitch for a great birthday.

Ireland

Ireland was beautifully green, rainy and full of amazing pub music. I loved Ireland. In fact, one of my favorite days of the entire trip was in Ireland. We went on a "Pub Crawl", which is a music tour of three different pubs. We got the entire history of Irish music and listened to the best music. I didn't want the day to end. We also went to Kilmainham Goal, a famous jail in Dublin. Ireland didn't receive their independence until the 1920's and a lot of people who fought for freedom died at Kilmainham Goal. We visited Trinity College, Temple Bar and Bru na Boinne as well. I loved Ireland.

Us at Bru na Bonne.

Bru na Bonne.

Our Irish singers, amazing.

Berlin

Berlin, Berlin. I think Berlin might be my favorite new city. Berlin, especially East Berlin, is full of so much history. I was amazed by every part of the city, it seemed as if every part of the city has some important history behind it.

To remember the wall, there is now stones in the ground marking where the wall once stood.

Checkpoint Charlie, the most famous checkpoint station.

There is a one mile stretch of the wall that artist have painted. This was one of my favorite murals. I never knew that there were two walls, this portrait portrays the two walls perfectly. I learned that many people died getting caught between the two walls.

This is the Holocaust Memorial. It really is stunning. The artist created this memorial for each person to interpret. I can't really describe the monument.

This was Hitler's bunker where he committed suicide. The bunker is apparently still under the parking lot. The German government made this site into nothing important for a reason.

Here is a part of the wall. It's amazing.

I loved this statue. This statue represents all the mothers that lost their children war. This sculpture is directly under the oculus, it is exposed to the rain, snow and sunlight, symbolizing the suffering of civilians during World War II.

We went on a bike tour around the city. It was awesome.

Mitch with his sweet beard in front of Checkpoint Charlie.

Munich

We went to Munich on a whim. We first stopped in Ainring, right to the southeast of Munich to visit Christian. Christian used to live in Utah and we love to visit him. He lives in a little tiny town full of wonderful, kind people. There just happened to be a music festival the night we were there. Christian played his trumpet in his lederhosen. It was awesome. We ate our first German meal, it was delicious and listened to traditional Bavarian music all night long.

Mitch and Christian after Christian finished playing.

Next, we went to stay with Giedre in Munich. Giedre lived in Vilinius when I was on my mission. She took us all around Munich and gave us the history of the city.

She also took us to the market. I wanted to buy everything there.

Interlaken

We went to Interlaken, Switzerland. It was my first time visiting Switzerland and it really was beautiful. Interlaken is a little city between two lakes (Lake Thun and Lake Brienz). Once you are in Interlaken you can go to the top of many mountains. We took a tram, rode a train and hiked up one mountain and climbed back down. It was amazing. It rained the entire time, but it didn't even matter. Mountains always feel like home to me. I missed them so much in Minnesota, I guess a little part of my heart belongs to all mountains.

This is a picture from a little city on the mountain above Interlaken.

Mitch in front of Lake Thun.

Florence

The city of Florence. Isn't the Duomo beautiful?

Mitch and me in front of the river on the main bridge.

We went to the top of the Duomo. Definitely worth it. The view was amazing and we able to walk right up the dome.

I really love Italy. We only had the chance to visit Florence while we were in Italy, but I do love it there. The food was delicious and the weather was perfect.