lufthansa, the autobahn, and grocery shopping

We're here!
I just have to give a shout out to Lufthansa Airlines.  Our trip from Seattle to Frankfurt was outstanding.  The food (pictured below) was a visual nightmare but tasted delicious.  I told Matt that the spinach they put on top of our breakfast omelet looked like something dumped out of your lawn mower bagger, after mowing wet grass (but was still good).
Our flight landed on time at 9:00 a.m. this morning (1/16).  Going through customs was easy- our passports were checked and quite a few questions were asked about our destination- they checked Isaiah's passport and then immediately asked for his notarized paper work from his parents stating that he could travel with our family.  In the Frankfurt airport, it seems that most of the police and attendants understand English.
After going through customs, we went down to pick up our luggage.
Lufthansa is still searching for it (AAAHHHH!!!).  It did not come up in their system so they are in the process of locating where it is.  Our hope is that our 4 checked bags did not make our connection in Seattle (as opposed to being 'lost' completely).  The blessing in our lost bags is that we did not have to rent a second car to bring it all to our destination (2 hours outside of Frankfurt).  When they find it, they will deliver it to our apartment.  Still, the negatives in not having our luggage outweigh the positives so I'll just move on to the next subject :)
THE AUTOBAHN
It's crazy fast and completely AWESOME.  I had told Matt that we were supposed to stay out of the left lane (that's for the vehicles going over 100).  We rented a car equivalent to an American Ford Focus....it's practical but not a speed demon....unless my husband is driving.  Somehow he was able to left lane it most of our way to Schwabisch Hall (our 2 hour car ride was quite a bit less).
Just before we arrived in Schwabisch Hall, we pulled into a grocery store.  Ryan grabbed the cart (which you pay a Euro to use and then get your Euro back when you return the cart) and we headed inside.  You also have to bring your own bags for your groceries (or purchase bags at the store, which we did).  You just have to wing it and think of the grocery store as a picture book.  You can't understand a word of what is on the food but you look for pictures.  we bought meat that had a picture of a cow and a pig on it, along with the German name for beef and pork.  Food is cheaper than by us, in Oregon, and taste's fresher.  The store we were at, you did not have any other option than to buy organic produce and the bread items are sold much like a specialty bakery in the states. I tried to ask questions but could not find anyone who spoke English.  We had ham and swiss sandwiches for lunch with chips (the chips are delicious- not greasy but very crisp).
We arrived at our apartment around 2 p.m. (German time so 5 a.m. PST).  Schwabisch Hall is an adorable town that is very traditional looking.  Our apartment sits right next to the town square and close to the treatment center Ryan will be receiving treatment at.
The little bit of Germany we have seen has a very homey feel.  For those reading this that live in the States, it feels a bit like Pennsylvania and a bit like Portland (OR).
Here we go!! Day 1 of 91 is in the books

Canada

Elle's coloring in the coloring book from her school (Thank you Dale)

breakfast (remember those lawn clippings I talked about above...check out the wad of them in the right corner of the omelet)

Isaiah seeing Germany for the first time

The sun rising just before we landed in Frankfurt

This was their view of the Autobahn :)

This is a small village type town just before we came into Schwabisch Hall- not sure what the name of it is but this is where we did our grocery shopping

Our kitchen (with all the groceries)

The view from our living room window.  It started snowing just after we arrived....It feels like a movie set!