Kavanagh-O'Connell
Occasionally up to date

Bronnen, then family fest in Garching

On Thursday was drove to see Franz and Sabine and families in Bronnen. The first hour was in heavy traffic due to road construction, but once we got past Ulm the countryside was very nice and the driving was easy. We ate lunch at Tante Kathi's, then Franz took us to visit the castle at Sigmaringen -- a which had nice tour. We ate dinner at Franz's with Sabine, Joseph and all the kids.

We stayed up very late talking, sharing photo albums and watching videos of family gatherings. We stayed with Sabine and Joseph, and Katie and Sean were excited to see their goats. We might have a summer exchange to think about next year. We woke up on the first day of spring to blowing snow -- about 4 inches to shovel. It made for a longer drive back to Garching.

Friday morning headed back to Garching, where we attended (arriving late, thanks to the snow and traffic) the family gathering at Gasthof Neiwirt. There were more than 50, including us. Mary Ellen, with Katie always at her side listening, recorded the names and birthdays of all. Sean played with the other kids, and overcame the mutual language barrier pretty easily. I spent a lot of time talking with Bernd, who speaks perfect English and provides seemless and simultaneous translation. We took photos of every family. We'll post some here, later.