Back from Family Visit in Europe

First, we had two nice weeks with Paul's son Chris and family in southern France, with an Easter trip to Spain where we still did not find too much warmth, nor escape the rain!!! But we had fun and enjoyed spending time with our three grandsons at a camping resort near d'Amettla del Mar, with walks at the Mediterraneum, a birthday visit to an amusement park, and some birding in the Ebro delta. Upon our return to France we drove to the medieval city of Carcassonne as a grand finale, with an interesting and somewhat disturbing visit to the medieval torture museum. Hard to believe that mankind is capable of those atrocities!!!

On April 13th we flew to Munich, where the weather was unseasonably warm and sunny, to spend time with my family: a wonderful weekend with brother Hans and family, that also included a boat trip in beautiful sunshine on the river Danube with 3 of his 4 daughters. Then we headed southwards to the Alps, stayed with my little sister Petra and her 2 teenage sons, even managed a little class reunion at the Staffelsee thanks to Heidi's organizational skills. We also spent a lot of precious and fun time with my mom (83) and her husband (95) in Oberammergau, but were sad to miss the funeral of my aunt and uncle, who had just passed away. Paul was excited to do some birding there, too: he was delighted when I whistled (just copying a call) a grey-headed woodpecker to come into view!