D158 -- Tracing steps

Today we visited some of the old stomping grounds of my brother Sean and his wife Heidi when they lived in Germany. For lunch we stopped in the town of Amberg at a restaurant that Heidi had taken my family to when they visited a few years ago. It was atop a hill overlooking the town, and the view was very pretty.



After lunch we headed to Vilseck, the post where Sean and Heidi both worked. Heidi was thoughtful enough to contact her friend Jenny, who still lives there, and she signed us on to post and gave us a tour. We got to see the school where Heidi taught 5th grade, including her classroom. We also saw where Sean worked and the church they attended. We stopped by the post fitness center, which had been renamed the Memorial Fitness Center to honor those soldiers who died in the war on terrorism. At the entrance there was a plaque listing the soldiers from the unit who had died.


After Vilseck we traveled to Kaltenbrunn, which is where Sean and Heidi lived. It is a tiny place, with lots of small town charm, and their house was right across from a beautiful cemetery. Germans do a fantastic job of maintaining their cemeteries, and virtually every plot was filled with flowering plants. The whole place felt alive and vibrant. Very nice.
























We drove back to Amberg, and I watched Germany's opening match in the World Cup at a pub while Elva did some shopping. I started to feel pretty sick before the game ended, so we headed back to the hotel. When we arrived in Wurzburg, we saw lots of jubilant Germans in the streets waving the German flag, letting us know who won the game.

-Tom