HALLOOOOOOOO!

HALLOOOOOOOO!

Aloha! Talofa! Mabuhay! Maayong adlaw! Gruss Gott! Warmest greetings to all of you! I hope that life is treating you well!

Well, it's been a while since my last post. Since then things have been rolling right along. Work has been busy for both of us, and "school," as always, has been very very fun for Princess Jasmine. Saturday was the 4th of July, the time we remember and commemorate the independence of America. I hope everyone out there had a Happy Independence Day.

This weekend hubby arranged for us to take a little vacation. We went to the Landshuter Hochzeit. It’s Europe’s largest medieval celebration and it only happens every 4 years! We went to the last one in ’05, but our little darling was too young to do much. This year, we were able to see the knights, the princess parade, the medieval dancing, and the festive games. Hubby was very lucky to get tickets! He called around January and they were sold out! But, thanks to Ms. Ursula, a wonderful young woman who works at the Landshut office, he was able to get tickets and a hotel reservation. She went out of her way to get him tickets and reservations, and worked so hard to ensure our vacation would be a success. Our heartfelt thanks go out to our friend, this wonderful lady who made our time so abundantly enjoyable.

We started off Saturday morning. It was cloudy and rained some on the way. As usual, we went a little slow so we could enjoy the drive. Once we arrived. The wonderful staff of the Goldene Sonne Hotel, who were so helpful through our whole time, greeted us. The entire staff made us feel so welcome and like a part of the family. And the restaurants served such delicious food! The hotel is very old and has such beautiful furniture and decoration.

Well, after settling in and cleaning up, we were off to see the town. It’s been 4 years since our last visit, and it is still the most beautiful city! The center of town, the Altstadt and Neustadt, has the most beautiful buildings and colors. You have to see it to believe it!

After wandering around and seeing the costumes and some of the sites, we headed to the Rathaus for our first event. It was the Tanzspiel. The folks dressed as princes and royalty performed medieval dances to music played on traditional instruments. Jasmine was in heaven! The show lasted for over an hour and was the most amazing display of dance and music! They were performing like it was a typical night in the royal life, so it gave the dance even more style! After the show, we walked and chatted about how lovely it was, and then it was off to dinner. We ate at the outside terrace in the hotel. What lovely weather that evening for dinner and small talk. The waitress even cleared off a reserved table for us! Hubby, of course, had the Cordon Blue, which he loves. Jasmine had some soup. And I ate schweinebraten. It was truly delicious! It was in the top 5 ever! Of course, Joseph’s in Hohenfels steals top place for me. Followed by Goldene Sonne, Eckmeder’s in Schmidmuehlen, the Hirsch in Parsberg, and the Gasthof Schoell in Hoermannsdorf.

After dinner, it was time to head to the Turnierplatz for the Festive Games in the Night Camp. Oh my! Such a spectacle. People dressed in costume waving flags, dancing, performing acrobats, and horses. Yahoo! Horses, mommy! Our little princess was in her stride during the whole show, which lasted about 2 hours. She was excited with every little thing being done on the field. I took her out for a quick bratwurst when she got hungry, but aside from that, she sat watching the show. She was in awe of the tricks and stunts, the dancing, and riding. Oh the joy of seeing her so happy will live with us forever! After the show we wound our way back to the hotel and to our room to soak up the atmosphere and finally, to sleep.


The princess and her mommy.

Sunday morning, we had brunch at the hotel. After wandering around some more, we went to our reserved section for the parade. It really was so lovely to see all the actors and participants’ parade through the town and perform such a lovely re-enactment of the procession. Jasmine was so excited to see the princess and yelled “HALLOOOOOOOO!” in reply to all the participant’s shouts and cheers. She really was so engaged with the town’s people performing for our pleasure. After chasing the parade a bit, we visited with Ms. Ursula, who was such a gracious host and is such a wonderful lady.

To the people of Landshut, we send our thanks and admiration for doing something so wonderful to preserve the culture and history of your amazing city. We will be visiting your lovely town for some time to come and hope to return during the next “Landshuter Hochzeit.”

Now that I’ve bored with our story and the details of our weekend, I’ll let you go for now. Of course, there will be photos on all my blogs. Don't forget to click the home button above to see more pics, posts, and stories! Hubby took over 800 photos during our trip. But before I go, I would like to say a special “Thank you!” to our landlady, Mrs. Schaffranka. You have made us feel like family since day 1 and we look forward to another 5 years of being here.

May God bless you all with a great week and wonderful fortune.
Ciao!