Working in Hackney

Hackney Town Hall. Our new building is right behind it.

The front entrance.
One half of the building...


The third floor. No wall between floors 1,2,3 and the open Atrium.

A balcony for work/meeting/break on the 1st floor (which is actually the 2nd floor.) The building is Wi-Fi enabled, so with laptops, we can go anywhere to "do a piece of work."

I have often shared the story of how I found this job. "I got frustrated with LUCI, went to Google, and now I'm in London." (For those of you not from Johnson County Mental Health, LUCI is the electronic medical records system.) Well, I have to admit, I've cut off my nose to spite my face with regards to electronic records systems. The system here is WORSE! The record keeping system is overly complicated, with over 2000 categories in which to file information! While the system does have functions for importing emails relevant to clients, there are many extraneous steps to get that email into the system. Not only that, the local authority has purchased a document storage system which provides for extra security of records. Good idea. But, again, it is overly complicated with many extra steps. Add that, the two systems do not work together! So, anytime you create a document, it forces you to save into one of these two systems. It's a minimum of 8 clicks to save any document. (I'm a click counter!) I'[m thinking of suggesting that my current employer talk with Jo Co about purchasing LUCI..... ;) NOT!

Our jobs are typical child welfare work-- like that of DFS or SRS in MO or KS. We work with families with whom someone has expressed concern about child abuse or neglect. The department we work with might be akin to Family Preservation. Families have been through an extensive assessment process, and it has been determined that there is some level of risk of harm to the children. We work with the families to try to keep them together. Sometimes, families either can't or won't make the changes needed to keep the children safe, so we have to begin legal proceedings to take the children into care.

The philosophies in the work here are very similar to those in MO and KS.

There are, however, some huge differences. We work in the London Borough of Hackney. It is one of the most diverse areas of London, with over 100 languages spoken in the area. There is a very large Muslim population. The predominant ethnic groups are Turkish and Afro Caribbean, with a significant part of the population coming from various parts of Afria (and each having it's own culture and language.) With this, comes abuse issues we don't see in Kansas, related to religious beliefs or traditions.

One of the things that attracted us to this particular job is the model that this borough is promoting. They are basically bringing the multidisciplinary team concept into child welfare work. They refer to these teams as "Social Work Units." Each unit has a Consultant Social Worker, who acts as a team leader, with both management and direct care responsibilities; a Social Worker, who focuses on traditional case work; a Child Practioner, who does both traditional case work and individual work with children (many people in this position are social work students, working toward a Bachelor's or Master's in social work); a clinical practitioner, who completes clinical assessments and provides therapeutic intervention with children and families; and a Unit Coordinator, who completes administrative tasks and keeps us all organized. David and I are both Consultant Social Workers. As with our team work in KS, a well functioning unit is like a well oiled machine. When it works, it works very well. If some parts are not functioning well, it doesn't work. David and I have had very different experiences with this. My unit is comprised of people who have a lot of varied experience both in London child welfare, and in other social work arenas. Additionally, we "clicked" right away. David's unit has had to work at figuring out their " machine," but they have all committed to working on it, and things are moving forward and becoming much better.

One of the traditional conflicts that has happened in units is a tension between the Consultant Social Worker and the Clinical Practitioner. Unlike the US, social workers here are not trained in clinical intervention. Many of the therapists here started their careers as social workers, and went on to get further training to become therapists. However, most of the Consultant Social Workers are very experienced and clinically skilled, though they may or may not have had formal training. Then, they bring in us Americans who are essentially dually trained. You can imagine some of the turf wars that occur. The deal is, the Consultant is solely responsible with what happens with every case, and has the final decision with regard to the plan of intervention. I am very lucky in that my clinician understands and values that my training and skills are very similar to hers, and she isn't threatened by that. David's is working on it.

If you haven't caught on, social workers here are not qualified to do therapy or diagnose! They are traditional, case manager-type social workers! There are many avenues to get a qualification do be a therapist, and they have to do with completing training in a specific therapeutic school. So, you can be trained in psychoanalysis, and become a qualified psychoanalytic practitioner. Or, you can complete a training program in Systemic Family Therapy, and become a Qualified Systemic Practitioner. (These seem to be the two predominant approaches, though my therapist is trained in CBT.) Each approach has it's own training program, so therapists are trained in only one school of thought, but can also get trained in more than one area and be qualifed in more than one. David and I could probably get grandfathered somehow, but we haven't looked into that.

The people with whom we work are wonderful. Our managers have been very understanding, supportive and helpful. We are meeting a lot of people from a lot of places! The Social Worker in my unit is from Madrid, and David really likes her accent! My child practitioner is from England, but of Jamaican descent. My Unit Coordinator is from Liverpool. While this is in England, it is amazing how different her accent is from co-workers from London! Our manager is from South Africa, and has been here 9 years now. (She has as much difficulty getting her children into school as we did.)

So, when Jo Co talks about "Diversity," they really don't have much to talk about, compared to here!

Oh my goodness. I can't forget to talk about our "new building." In March, we moved into a new building built by Hackney, designed to house all of the servcies which work directly with "service users." (This is how we refer to our "clients.") So, Housing, Youth Probation, Adults with Disabilities, Parking Passes, Blue Badges (disabled parking passes), and any other service which deals directly with people, are housed in this building. It has space for 2000 people! It is a very modern building, which is full of glass. The Atrium is open all the way to the top floor (it is 5 floors tall), with the work spaces in a U shape around the open atrium. Floors 1, 2 and 3 (the ground floor is 0), have no wall or divider around the outside, so people on each of those floors can lean over the balcony and look down into the reception area that is the open atrium. The 4th floor (which is where we are, in the "Penthouse Suite," does have a glass wall, but we also have a balcony looking out over the reception area.

Along with the new building, comes "a new way of working," as Hackney has said over and over. We now work in an "Open Plan," with "Hot Desking." This means: no offices (or cubicles). Just a very large, open space, with clusters of desks, each desk with a computer docking station and a phone. We are encouraged to feel free to sit anywhere each day we come into the office. (Of course, people are creatures of habit-- we all sit in the same place!) We all have a labtop or tablet, and we dock it and log on each day. We have to log into our phone extension each morning, and log out each night. "The Clean Desk Policy" ensures that whatever desk we use each day is clear, so that we have a clean work space no matter where we sit. (As our department works in Units, each unit has it's own cluster of 5 desks. Other departments may have a collection of clusters in one particular area. So, 40 desks for 50 people.) Theoretically, there are not enough desk spaces for everyone to have a desk, so we are "encouraged" to work from home one day a week. This sounds all well and good, but the connection to our internal systems remotely is VERY SLOW. For now, our department does have enough desks, but we are expected to grow, so we will have to figure this one out. We are not allowed to eat food at our desks if it requires the use of a utensil-- only "finger food." (Makes me want to bring in BBQ ribs!) There are several "break out" areas on each floor, with fridge, microwave, sink and hot water tap. There are tables and chairs and sofas in each break out area. Instant coffee, tea, sugar and milk are provided for our breaks.

Each individual has a locker to keep personal and work supplies (and our laptop), and each unit has a "unit cupboard," in which we keep things we share as a unit. (Stationary, pens, food, games and art supplies for work with children, etc.) Each Desk cluster has dividers, which is actually made of some sort of sound proofing material, so that we can have phone conversations that don't interrupt others at our cluster. The interesting thing is, I can often hear people accross the room better than I can hear people in my own unit, even when we are tryng to have conversations (work related conversations, of course!) The experience has been much more positive than I imagined. It's nice to be able to coordinate accross departments, just by walking accross the room. It can also be a bit of a distraction. That is why the laptops and tablets are Wi-Fi enabled, and there is Wi Fi available in the building. There are work areas in various places if you need to go away to get "a piece of work done," as they say here.

Finally, the benefits are wonderful! The work week is 35 hours, with an expectation of working from home one day a week. We get 27 days of "annual leave" each year. (We call it "vacation time" in the US.) This is in addition to about 10 "Bank Holidays." Bank holidays are the same as federal holidays, and includes days like Christmas and New Year. Each employee keeps track of their own annual leave-- it's an honor system. Also, there seems to be no limit to how much education leave you can take. Just can't leave the unit bare, and have to share trainings across the unit. I am taking a Systemic Family Therapy Course which is equivalent to a semester graduate level course. It will result in a Certification in Systemic Family Therapy, and if I complete the second year, a further certification. This is in addition to all the various child protection oriented trainings. I am actually getting a little tired of training! (Yes, I did just say that.)

Speaking of training-- have an essay to write. I guess this is enough for one post.
Just one more thing: We are still looking for good social workers, and they have now started interviewing by Skype! (Hint, Hint...)

More about Italy

Venice



Rialto

Our second day in Firenze, we slept in a little bit. Up in time for hard rolls, coffee, OJ, and cereal provided by the hotel. Zane was hoping that a continental breakfast meant that they brought waffles and bacon and eggs to your bed when you woke up. Nice dream kiddo.

Before too long, it was time to head for the Galleria della Academia. The artwork has been on display here since 1784. Even the museum is a museum! Shaunda had pre-arranged reserved tickets, which cost more, but helped us miss a long line. The first statuary you are treated to are some of Michealangelo’s unfinished marble sculptures – the Four prisoners. They seem to be trying to escape the marble in which they are entombed! Shaunda heard a tour guide tell a group that Michelangelo believed that each block of marble had it’s own personage, and it was his job as the artist to enable the personage to escape. But then you see David. Zane was struck by the detail – the veins, his Adam’s apple... He is so tall – 17 feet! Historic oils are on all the walls – scenes such as Abraham preparing to sacrifice Isaac. Further in, the antiquity level continues to rise as you see a crucifix from the 14^th century and other religious art that is even older – some dating from the 1200’s. On the way upstairs, you are treated to a collection of Russian icons. Gray was starting to get bored, but Zane was still engaged. Back downstairs, Shaunda reminded me about the musical instrument section. Stradavarius violins, trombones from the 1800’s, and instruments I had never seen before. I especially enjoyed seeing the original surviving precursor to the modern piano.

After all that, it was time for some lunch! On the way, however, we spotted a Leonardo Da Vinci museum that contained working machine models based upon Da Vinci’s drawings set up for the boys to handle. Zane has been quite interested in Da Vinci, so we went. Gray was interested to see how all the machines worked. I didn’t realize that Da Vinci had also been the first to discover layers in the earth and how they change over time.

In the afternoon, we took a bus up to the Michelangelo Piazza that overlooks Florence. You can really see how large Il Duomo is. You also have a great view of the city and the hills surrounding it. Beautiful view! From there, we hoped to go to the Pitti Palace, but we couldn’t find the best route. In addition, it had been too long since we had had a bathroom break, so we struggled to find our way. The map wasn’t much to go on ;-) The end result was that some tired kids got some gelato they didn’t deserve, cause you gotta buy something from the merchant with the bathroom!

We eventually passed by the Pitti Palace, but too late in the day for a tour. We headed back over the Ponte Vecchio, enjoying some shopping on the way despite our sore legs.

Following taking pictures of the nearby statuary (including the Rape of the Sabine Women by Giambologna, and Perseus by Cellini, as well as a copy of David, which stands where the original stood before it was moved to Acadamia), we enjoyed a good, but pricey dinner in the Piazza della Signoria. The Palazzo Vecchio’s huge bell tower nearby, beautiful weather, and a nice bottle of wine. (of course, the boys got gelato again too!)

At the end of the day, we are fulfilled, tired, and butts and legs ache...

Second day of Venice:

Sun was shining this morning! We didn’t rush too much. Gray had been sick the night before – we had really worn him out! Time to pack up to leave this hotel, but we still had most of the day ahead!!

One of the things Gray had wanted to do was to rent a bicycle cart – like two tandem bikes joined together with a little roof. Our destination – the other side of the island where we could see the sea. The Adriatic Sea! I’m not sure I could have found this on a map previously! Gray kept his mother awake while he piloted this craft. Eventually, we found the beach. Gray and Zane collected some shells. During our explorations, we saw more sights of Lido, the island on which we were staying. We found a neat open-air market with the backdrop of the bay and Venice (with the Alps back behind that!). After returning the cart, we attempted to find our way back to Murano. Venice is famous for having blown glass, but all of the actual furnace (furnaces?) were moved to the nearby island of Murano due to fire risk, odor, etc. After a few setbacks, we took our lunch in Lido, overlooking the waters between Lido and Venice.

Take two on heading to Murano – but the boat we had boarded kept going a different direction! We ended up going through more of a residential side of Venice to the train station, where we stored our bags while seeking more Venician adventure. From there, it was back to the Rialto bridge area (more gelato and more shopping). OK, now we needed to return to the train station. Gray wanted to take a water taxi (a smaller wooden motorized boat). The driver wanted 40 Euros! So we went to the water bus station. But they said that our passes had expired!! We went to another taxi, but they wanted 50 and wouldn’t budge. Then back to the water bus ticket station – a different one – who stated that our tickets were fine! But now we were seriously running out of time! Where was that big boat!! If we missed our high-speed train, it would cost even more than a water taxi! Plus it would take two hours longer on the slower train! What to do? (Remember – this has all been quite expensive and I don’t like to spend too freely!) Water taxi it was. But would we make our train on time? I kept urging Gray to tell the driver “Rapido!” Out of the taxi, Gray and I ran to get our luggage. Track 13? No, track 5. Which car? What is a carrozza anyway? Anyway, we did make it. We have been enjoying the Italian countryside roll by on our way to Rome!!

Italy

The Rape of the Sabine, by Giambologna, in Piazza della Segnoria, Florence


Is it our store? Or a completely different family?


On Ponte Vecchio
Hmmmmm...... what do you notice?


Ponte Vecchio




The Duomo (cathedral) in Florence


This is actually a copy of David, by Michelangelo. It does stand where the original stood before being moved into the museum.

Ponte Vecchio. How cool is that!

Shaunda and I both had a lot to do our last day of work. Shaunda had a teenager with a baby that took her past 6 pm without any of the resulting documentation required afterwards. We got all packed for our 6:30 am flight - which meant getting up at 4! Our cheap airline also required a lot of extra re-shuffling to avoid a £20 per kg charge for luggage over 15 kg (33lbs).

I slept most of the flight, but woke to see flying over the Alps and part of the Mediterranean sea. We took a very crowded bus to our hotel. Once we found the hotel, we also found that there were two and a half flights of stairs up to our room - with our heavy suitcases!

The hotel Shaunda had found was really cool. It is reportedly part of an old castle. It was clearly really old, with a huge room and a very high painted ceiling with heavy beams. They recommended a nearby restaurant we enjoyed after wandering around Il Duomo and the local streets for a while. The food was really good (but not inexpensive!) Afterwards, we wandered some more. We found another piazza with statues - but more to the kids' interests - some gelato as well. Ice cream in hand, we found the Ponte Vecchio bridge! The first shop on the bridge was a jeweler named Gherardi!

Our train the next day was to leave at noon on Easter Sunday. Other options were too much later or involved a lot of changes and more time. So we searched for an early Easter service. 7:30 at Il Duomo - in Italian. The boys were not excited to get up early again! Unfortunately, we did not find the entrance until well after the service had started, so we returned to the hotel for breakfast and checking out. We returned for the 9:30 service - also in Italian. The side chapel was pretty full, but the huge old cathedral was not used for the Easter service. Instead, setup was in preparation for the Holy Fire ceremony. This ceremony originated from the crusades, when rocks from Jesus' tomb were brought back to the church. They would strike them together for Holy Fire. One thousand and some years later, this means fireworks!! We could barely see, but I have some video from a camera held over my head. There was a huge procession involving men dressed in period and decorative garb as well as musicians. Then a huge cart arrived pulled by white oxen. After the oxen were led away, a cable was attached leading from inside Il Duomo. Also, several extensions were added. The place was incredibly packed. The show was to start at 11 - and our train left at 12!! A once in a lifetime show, but would we catch our train? (stay tuned!)

Fortunately, the show did start actually at 11. A 'dove' flew down the cable into the huge cart. Fireworks burst from the cart - St. Catherine's wheels, rockets, loud bursts, etc. followed by flags released from the top and clouds of multi-colored smoke. We pushed through the crowd, hauled the luggage down 2 and a half flights of stairs and tried to negotiate a taxi via broken English and Italian. The streets were choked with revelers - the driver scared me with how close he came to hitting people! We made it to the train station at 5 minutes until 12 - trying to find our line and our car! (All listed in another language - how inconvenient! ;-) We made it!!

Next up - Venice!!

Love you all! Email us!

Dover photos

Not the ferry we rode, but one like it.

A view of buildings surrounding the castle, from the top of the castle. Notice the trebuchet.

Another view of castle outer buildings from the top of the castle.

Dover castle. Started in the 1000's. Many additions over a couple of hundred years.

Those white cliffs!

The boys hunting for treasure on the pebble beach at Dover.

Roman Lighthouse, built in 1 AD!

Zane gets a medieval chess lesson.

A view of Dover from the top of the castle.

Saxony church and Roman lighthouse.

A medieval toilet
Castle gate.
St. Edmund's Chapel. Built in 1253.


One thing I didn't mention in previous blog. The "hostess" on the ferry felt bad for us, just riding the ferry, not getting off in Calais because it was too late. So, she arranged for us to visit the bridge of the ship. It was pitch black up there, because the crew couldn't see anything if lights were on, but all of the digital navigation equipment was lit up, and very cool!

Time's flying!

The National Portrait Gallery



An old Routemaster bus-- built in the 1950's. They have brought
a few back to run some of the "historical" routes. In the "old days,"
people would jump on and off while the bus was moving! Not today,
though. They even have a conductor to take your tickets! (The
modern buses have an electronic "ticket taker," which just reads
the credit card type card that contains your travel pass.)


The Irwins on Routemaster. Gray has wanted to
ride in one of these for a long time!
Having fun with the ads in Picadilly Circus.

More fun with the ad.... (How sneaky of McD's, to make sure that people
take photos of their ad!)

Rickshaws in the St. Patrick's Day Parade.

Nelson's column in Trafalgar Square.

Big Ben from Trafalgar Square.

More of Trafalgar Square.


We have been in London 4 months, and blog posts are getting farther and farther apart! Sorry about that. I guess it means that life is in full swing. (Seems like I wrote that before...?)

I guess the most recent adventure was on Mother's Day-- 14 March here. Based on Mothering Sunday, it is set according to Lent and Easter. We went to the St. Patrick's Day Parade and Festival at Trafalgar Square. It was quite a small festival, with about a gazillion people, so we got on an old Routemaster bus, and rode through the city. Quite a trip, we got to see more how the city is laid out. Since we have used the Tube a lot (it's much faster than the buses), it's hard to imagine how things all fit together above ground.

We are getting ready to go to Italy! The boys are out of school for two weeks at Easter, and both Good Friday and Easter Monday are bank holidays, so we don't have to work. So, we're taking some of our very generous vacation time and going to Italy. (we get 27 days of vacation per year, and that is in addition to about 10 bank holidays (which does include things like Christmas, New Year's, etc.))

It has actually been challenging to book this trip. The flights were easy, and while they were pretty inexpensive compared to traveling a similar distance in the US, they were more expensive because it is a holiday. It was more challenging to find hotels. Typically, when going somewhere I don't know, I browse through hotels on travel sites, look at reviews, and book something. However, many of the reviews were in Italian! And, I had NO IDEA what the descriptions referred to in terms of "hotel is near this place, or that river." All Italian names, of course. So, I'm going back and forth between the travel sites, guide books and Google Translate! Don't know why I didn't just go to a travel agent...

Finally got hotels booked in Florence, Venice and Rome. Ran them by a friend who does know Italy (by email-- he was in the US at the time, or I would have planted myself on his couch with the computer). He approved of all but the place in Rome-- said it was too far outside the city. GRRRRRRR! Fortunately, I found one that is closer to the center. The deal is that these cities are all cities to walk around, and staying outside the city makes it more challenging to get back and forth (traffic is worse in Rome that you have EVER imagined!) One cool thing: the hotel in Venice is actually on a small island across the lagoon from central Venice. So, we will have to take a water bus (boat) into town each day. It's only about 10 or 15 minutes, and I think it's pretty cool! We will let you all know how it goes!

We also went to Dover one Saturday, a few weeks ago. This is a coastal city, and is the city that is the closest to France. (By boat, of course). We went to the castle there, which is nicely done-- they have several exhibits, including a live reenactment of the King holding court.

And, of course, there are the White Cliffs of Dover. We asked a taxi driver where we could enjoy the best view of the cliffs. He said by boat. So, we decided to take the ferry to Calais, France. Just a boat ride across the channel to France. We didn't even get off the boat, because it was late and most of the city was closed down. Also, we needed to get the train back to London. It was a cooky, cool thing to do, and we did it cuz we could. We watched the cars and trucks loading and unloading from the car deck below us. The boys thought that was pretty cool. How many semi-trucks can you fit on a boat? We counted 20! Plus all of the cars, which we did not count.

The boys are in school full swing now. Gray has 14 classes! Talk about block scheduling! He has maths (short for mathematics, you see), Language, history, science French, Phys Ed, art, geography, religion, music, computers, drama, foods, and dance . Some of those classes he has only once a week. It looks like he has a couple every other week. He has maths and language several times a week, PE and science twice a week. There are 5 class periods each day, with a 20 minute morning break, and a 55 minute lunch break. Then he has Registration/Tutor time (which I think is like home room) each day in the morning and afternoon. And, he is on some sort of two week rotation. I ask him how he remembers which class he's going to. He says he watches someone else in his tutor group and follows them! (There are groups of students, sorted into "tutor groups," and all of the students in each group have the same class schedule.) It's a very strange way to do school!

He is having a hard time adjusting to having to change clothes for PE. And, he joined school at the time when they are playing rugby in gym! He is built like a rugby player, but he has a social worker's heart, so he's not having a fun time in PE right now! Coincidentally, his ankle has hurt the last two times he has had PE.

Zane is adjusting very well. He has a couple of friends, Ashok and Sidak. Sidak invited him to his birthday party at the Royal Observatory last weekend. He had a great time, and was not ready to leave! The Royal Observatory is a very cool place. It is at the location of the prime meridian, and they also have some very cool technologically advanced exhibits teaching about the Earth, space, space study and travel and astronomy. I was mesmerized! Oh, and it's all FREE! So many of the big museums are free here. Pretty cool, eh?

The boys got bikes this weekend. They were very excited, and we have already sent Gray to the store for milk-- twice! We live in a very calm neighborhood, and the store is about a half mile away. How cool is that?!?! He will want to ride his bike to school, and will likely do so, as soon as we get it insured. (Bike theft is pretty common here.)

We are gearing up for company. Carla is visiting (and escorting our animals!) on April 16. She will be here 3 weeks! We are very excited to have company, and the rest of our family!

Then, in May, my friend Connie is coming with her two girls! They'll be here about 3 weeks also. Wooooo Hoooooo! It's one of the reasons we moved here-- so people would have a place to stay when they come visit!

Okay, gettttinnnnnnnnng verrry sleeeeeepppy. Will write again after Italy

No Kisses on Valentine's Day

(Guess we'll have to transcribe from what David wrote while we were in Germany.... )

Poor Shaunda became ill on the plane on the way to Munich on the 13th of February (sick, as in need a toilet nearby, SICK!) We went straight to the hotel so she could rest. I took the kids to the pool-- where we were asked to be quiet while playing-- as were the other guests with kids. Kids + swimming pool does not = quiet! Ever!

The next day, Valentine's Day, Shaunda was still ill. (thus the no kisses bit). We got the kids rousted from their bed early to get to the bus for Neuschwanstein Castle. As shaunda was ill, we inquired about coming another day, and were assured that we could. So, now-- plan B. I had the kids help figure out the train system. (Good for them, but also stalled for time so I could figure it out.) We git a bite of breakfast and proceeded through the Karlstor into Old Town. The Karlstor was part of the old city walls kept when the rest of the wall was demolished in 1791. We headed down Munich's largest shopping street toward the Marienplatz. Along the way, we stopped in Michaelskirche (the Church of St. Michael), where we heard Mass in German. The boys were impressed by the pipe organ in athe church, bu tnot so much by listening to a sermon in German. Two famous German kings, Ludwig II and Mazimillian I are buried there. After leaving the church, we found another church nearby with even taller towers. The Frauenkirche was built in teh years 1468 to 1488, and is the largest Gothic building in southern Germany. The towers are nearly 330 feet tall! We passed by the "New Town Hall" (1867 to 1909) and Glockenspiel on teh way to the U-Bahn train. After checking on Shaunda, we proceeded to the BMW factory. The BMW Welt (BMW World) has most of their new cars and lots of interactive displays for all ages of petrol heads regarding technologies they are using or developing. (They are working a lot on hydrogen. I hope we get some good alternatives to the gasoline engine soon!

Following that, Zane had had enough of cars for a while. We went outside and took some video of playing in the snow. We were on the grounds where the 1972 Olympics were held. the hills there were made from teh rubble removed from the city after WWII. Then, inside for some hot chocolate!

On to the BMW Museum. They have a shape-shifting car, which was the only one Zane wanted to see. Turns out, it is actually in London right now! We will have to see it before it returns home. After most of the museum, even Gray said he was ready to go!

Shaunda was a bit better after a day of rest, but still weary. So, we ate at the hotel "Burger bar."

Autobahn and Neuschwanstein

The next day, we made our own tour to Neuschwanstein Castle (since we couldn't take our scheduled tour the day before, due to Shaunda being ill.) Part of what Gray has wanted since he heard about going to Europe was to go fast on teh autobahn. (Autobahn is actually just a generic term for highway. Nevertheless, no speed limit at points! They have this in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.) I had not done enough preparation to get the kind of exotic car rental that Gray wanted. (He was thinking Maserati, Porche, Ferrari, American Muscle (Vette, 50's Cadillac). You get the idea...) We were able to locate a BMW rental place (yes, in Germany!) No M-series available, but a brand new 5 series sounded good to me! "Quite posh." It had talking GPS, a rear end camera so you could see what you are about to hit while backing up, along with warning "beeps" whenever any part of your car was getting too close. Heated seats front and back, along with electric seat adjustments, moon roof, STEREO, veeerrrryyyy smooooooooooth ride. After setting the navigation up for English, we proceeded toward Neuschwanstein Castle. After a late lunch, Zane and I climbed the mile up to the castle, while Shaunda and Gray chose to take the horse-drawn carriage ride. I have wanted to see this castle since I visited Munich for a few days in college. I wasn't able to do it then. The setting is spectacular, with the castle built into the Bavarian Alps, with mountains and Alpine forest all around. The inside is just as spectacular. The woodwork incredible, as are the paintings. The castle is actually only partially finished, as King Ludwig II died before it was completed. He was too fond of castle building and not attentive enough to the politics of the country. (He had 3 castles built, simultaneously!) The castle is illustrated throughout by schenes from Wagner's operas, as Wagner was a friend of the king.

Alas, I had to drive the BMW through all sorts of winding mountain roads afterwards. We went to Oberammergau for dinner. (There is a famous Passion Play put on here once a decade since the 1600's!) Then, back on the autobahn. I hit nearly 250 kilometers per hour on the way home (150+ mph...). What a day!