Everywhere! Okay, maybe not everywhere, but we have covered a lot of ground. We’ve spent half of the month of July away from home, and the other half getting ready for a trip…away from home. It was a very busy month.
We’ve been using August to catch up with all the stuff we missed in July. I believe we’re finally catching our collective breath.
We celebrated the 4th of July in Germany and in a small country pretty close to Germany. The rest of the trips all took place in Germany. We saw some small towns and some big towns. And a good time was had by all.
So, over the next few weeks, I’ll try to share a bit more detail about our adventures; like what we saw and who we met.
But right now, I’d like to share an event Mike and I attended this past weekend: The Flammende Sterne (the flaming star). It’s an international fireworks competition, held for three days in Ostifildern (just outside of Stuttgart). We attended day/night two. This year the competitors were from Japan, Italy and the United States. We saw the Japanese fireworks show (designed by a woman…a first!) and it was great. After you get used to the loud, thunderous booms, you can settle in and enjoy the spectacle. The fireworks were choreographed to music (I’m still amazed that that’s possible). And the show lasts for about 30 minutes.
The fireworks show didn’t start until 10:30pm, but there was plenty to keep us occupied until then. We had some snacks, looked at the shopping stalls (no purchases), and listened to some music. They had several cover bands on hand and even a DJ. They also had a laser light show (right before the fireworks started) and a balloon glow. Now, Mike and I have been to the mecca of hot air balloons (Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta) and this balloon glow was no Albuquerque balloon glow. So needless to say, we had to manage our expectations.
At first it was just sad…only one balloon was there.
And then this little guy showed up…
But soon, a few other balloons joined in. We almost missed it, because we just walked away.
It was a fun, crowded night (they can get crowds of up to 30,000…so, that part wasn’t fun).
Oh yeah…and the United States took home the prize. Too bad we didn’t see their show. Oh well…Go USA!
Tschüss!