July 8 - Travel to Dresden

Today is a long day of driving….from Amsterdam to Bad Schandeau it is 8 hours.  Luckily we are well equipped with activities and food for all.  We managed to purchase some healthy groceries before leaving so broccoli and carrots have been crunched throughout the day.

Oliver figured out the navigation system built into the car, (I didn’t know he could read Dutch?) even after 13 years of marriage – he still has some surprises!  He is enjoying the drive along the autobahn…the girls and I are ready for our next hotel in the mountains.  We’re about an hour away….hopefully tonight we will sleep and wake up refreshed for the wedding.

First impressions of Bad Schandeau

The spa town is about 45 minutes away from Dresden.  It’s set up in the mountains with cute little shops and a medieval type look with bridges and cobblestones.  From some of the signs, there is canoeing and kayaking along the river – if we had our gear here – that would have been fun!

Later….we are now up in our Guesthaus and it is gorgeous!  For only a $100 a night we have an entire flat, fully furnished and a balcony with patio furniture.  It has two bedrooms, a sitting room a full kitchen room, and bathroom.  It is very modern and looks to be newly painted and carpeted. 

After meeting the owner and checking in it was almost 9:00 pm….a long day of driving for Oliver and the kids were still full of energy.  The owner called a local restaurant who said they would cook some food for us.  The girls were excited to eat Spezle, German pasta fried in onions and butter with ham and bits of potatoes.  Ollie enjoyed some schnitzel and I had a turkey salad.  The owners and locals who were there were super friendly and chatted with us for the rest of the evening. 

After leaving I said to Oliver, that we would never have come to this town if we were touring and would have missed all of this beauty and friendliness.  We’re here for a reason!

Now to prepare for the wedding tomorrow…we need to set alarms so that we don’t sleep in and miss the service.  The ceremony is for 12:00pm at the Park Hotel which is at the bottom of the mountain from where we are staying.

Mik-When we went to the restaurant, I had no idea what anything was!!!  But, as usual, I liked the food. (I like almost all foods, I’m not that picky.)  As my mom said, Zoe and I had Spezle.(pronounced sh-pet-sle)  It was really good!!!!!!:)