July 6, 2009 - New videos and slide shows just added today!

June 29, 2009 - We are back home in Pearland now. But are still adding slide shows and videos to our web site. So keep checking in!

We've added new slide shows and videos today!

June 22, 2009 - Well, our journey is drawing to a close boys and girls. Today is our last day in Copenhagen. We are in our room getting ready to pack up all the stuff we bought to bring home to you and our libraries.

Today we visited the famous Tivoli Gardens, a very old amusement park which Hans Christian Anderson said was his inspiration for writing the fairy tale, The Nightengale. There was wonderful ride there called the Flying Trunk (also the name of one his fairytales) and throughout the ride several of Anderson's fairytales are told with beautifully colorful scenes. Mrs. Williamson liked sitting in the trunk and flying through Hans Christian Anderson's fairytales. Mrs. Hinds liked the scenes from the story Thumbelina.

In the harbor of Copenhagen, we also saw the statue of The Little Mermaid from that Anderson fairytale, which by the way, is very different from the story we know in the United States.  

We can't wait to share our adventures with you this coming school year. Be sure to finish your Fairytale Passport before August 1st! After that date it will no longer be available on the website. Don't forget to print it out and bring to either Mrs. Williamson at Silverlake Elementary School or Mrs. Hinds at Carleston Elementary School.

By the way, we will add some more videos and more slide shows after we return home, so be sure to check back on this web site for more fun!

Come with us on a Viking ship! Click on Videos on the left.

June 21, 2009 - Today was a wonderful day in Copenhagen. We visited a very famous viking ship museum and even got to go sailing on a ship just like the ones they used hundreds of years ago. We saw how weavers made the fabric that was used to make the sails for the ships and we saw a blacksmith make something called a firestarter. There were also parts of ships that had been found buried near the sea. These were ships that had actually been used by the Vikings! The viking ship museum was very interesting. We learned a lot about how people in this area lived. The sea is a very important part of the culture here in all of Denmark.

We also visited a place called The Wonderful World of Hans Christian Anderson. It was very interesting and in addition to telling about his life, there were also shows that told some of the stories he wrote. We enjoyed it very much. Mrs. Williamson really liked the clever use of mirrors in the telling of the story The Emperor's New Clothes. Mrs. Hinds liked how the rocks in the story The Little Mermaid turned into the Sea Witch. Speaking of The Little Mermaid, we are going to go see her statue in the sea tomorrow!

We also discovered that our hotel is just 2 doors away from one the places here in Copenhagen that Hans Christian Anderson lived! He lived in 3 different addresses here in our area and all of them are just a few steps from our hotel. we've seen them all. Each has a sign that tells that H. C. Anderson once lived there. We have also visited a lot of statues that have been made to honor Anderson or his stories. Denmark is very proud that Hans Christian Anderson is one of its citizens.

Here are some Copenhagen pictures to add to your Fairy Tale Passport.

We've added a new video today!

June 19, 2009 - Today we drove from Bremen to the more modern city of Hamburg. There we turned in our rental car and headed to the train station for our trip to Denmark. We ended up at the wrong station and had to catch a subway to the correct one. We made it just in time. The train ride was long and not very exciting, but we did see a windmill and met some very interesting and nice people. Tomorrow we plan to visit the boyhood home of Hans Christian Anderson and a museum like the one we visited in the Black Forest. However, this one represents a typical villiage in Denmark at the time Hans Christian Anderson lived in the 1800's.

Here are some pictures from Odense for your Fairy Tale passport.

June 18, 2009 - Today was our last full day in Germany and tomorrow we ride the train into Denmark. We will first stop in Odense which is the birth place of Hans Christian Anderson. We have found Germany to be a wonderful place to visit. People have been very friendly and helpful and certainly the country is beautiful!

Yesterday we were in Hamelin where the story the Pied Piper of Hamelin takes place. The city of Hamelin celebrates the story with a lot of rat stuff! At one of the restaurants we drank rattonblut - that's how you say rat's blood in German! It wasn't really rat's blood, only juice and soda. But it was good! We also had rat pastries for a snack while we waited for the glockenspiel to start. The glockenspiel was similar to the one in Munich, only this one tells the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. There are rat t-shirts, rat candy, rat toys. There are also some pied piper things, too. You'll be able to see some of things we've bought for our school libraries this fall when school starts.

We are now in Bremen which is the location of the story The Bremen Town Musicians. This city is very proud of its connection with this story and we see a lot of donkey, cat, dog, and rooster stuff here! It is all very interesting and fun to see. Today we had dinner in the ratskeller, which is the town hall. This restaurant has been serving meals since the 1400's! That was even before Columbus discovered America!

More pictures from Fairy Tale Road.

Sleeping Beauty's Castle       Sababurg Nature Park                   The Bremen Town Musicians

Finally we have Internet access!

Take a look at the NEW videos we've added. Click on the Videos from the Bread Crumb Path section on the left.

June 17, 2009 - Last night we spent the night at Sleeping Beauty's Castle. It was very beautiful. There were roses growing everywhere - even on the sides of the castle. We could smell the scent of roses as we walked throughout the castle grounds. Our room was in one of the towers of the castle. There is an area of this castle where the fairy tale play about Sleeping Beauty is performed. But it is only performed on the weekend so we didn't get to see it.

There is also a very nice animal park at Sababurg. A king from long ago made the animal park by surrounding the area with very tall stone walls. Today we saw bison, wild hogs, several different kinds of deer, badgers and other animals at the park. We also saw a presentation about different kinds of hawks and other birds of prey.

Trendelburg Castle is the castle associated with the story of Rapunzel. We visted there today. The castle is now a restaurant and hotel so we could not really tour inside as we have many castles, but we did have lunch there and enjoyed a great view of the valley below. There is a local story here about Sababurg Castle, Trendelburg Castle and the valleys surrounding them. We will share that story with you when we return.

We are now in Hamelin. That is the town that the story the Pied Piper of Hamelin came from. The interesting thing about that story is that it is based on a real event from history. A very long time ago 130 children from the village turned up missing and no one knew where they went. It is one of history's greatest mysteries. But, the people who study history believe that the children left to settle a new area of Germany. Sort of like the pioneers in America who travelled west to get land and settle a new area of North America.

Here are some new pictures of our travels from the Black Forest area. You can use them for that part of your passport.

June 14, 2009 - Here are some pictures from our adventures over the last few days. These pictures are from Meersburg and Lake Constance.

 Mrs. W & Mrs. H              At the castle fountain               A school auditorium

The school lunch room!                 Inside the Castle               St. Christopher's Day

   On the Ferry                         Rhinefalls in Switzerland         Mrs. Williamson finds her knight.

One of the things we have not told you about was our visit to a German public school. It was in Meersburg and it was right on the side of Lake Constance. Both Mrs. Williamson and Mrs. Hinds agreed that it would be difficult to work in that setting - it would be too tempting to just go sit by the lake! The school was a former monastery. That is a school for men who wanted to become priests. That is why the school auditorium is so fancy. It was beautiful and the students there have concerts and choir programs in the auditorium. While we were there someone was playing the piano. It sounded lovely. Some of the students who go to that school are boarding students. That means that they live at the school. The students at this school are from 12 to 19 years old. It is sort of middle school, junior high and high school all in one place. The students also must choose to participate in either the arts (music) program of education, or the science program of education. It is very different from schools in the USA.

Yesterday we finally made it to Hanau which was where the Grimm Brothers went to college. The town has created a huge statue of them and placed it in the town square. It is lovely and we will post pictures of it soon. We also visited another castle in Hanau where they have a small collection of Grimm Brothers items. We saw paintings of them and also some of the writings written by their own hands - remember boys and girls these writings and papers are 200 years old! We also made our way to Gelnhausen where we spent the night. It is a beautiful little town. Mrs Hinds thinks it would be great to live there! We saw the city gates and also a building called the Witches Tower. It was used as a prison for people suspected of being witches! As we have driven around Germany we see many witch dolls, puppets, and toys. As you might imagine, witches  play an important role in German culture. We see many witches in the fairy tale stories.

June 12, 2009 - Today we went to the Gutach Open Air Museum in the Black Forest. It is a museum that made up of old farm houses from the 1600s and the early 1800s. It was very interesting to see how houses are so different from the old houses and farms in America. Mrs. Williamson thought the most interesting thing was the thatched roofs -- roofs made of thick layers of grass. Mrs. Hinds liked the way the house and barn were all one building with a sort of hallway between them. That made it possible to care for the animals when the weather was very cold and snowy.

The views along the way were amazing. We'll try to post some pictures and some new slide shows tomorrow.

  We've added new slides shows today!

June 11, 2009 - Today, we travelled from Meersburg to Freiburg, Germany. We took a slight detour along the way to see the Rheinfalls in Switzerland which is along the southern German border - sort of like Mexico is along the border of Texas in the USA. The falls were lovely and right above them was another very old castle. It was not in our plan to visit there so we just stopped at the falls and made our way to Freiburg. Freiberg is in the Black Forest. That is the area that inspired the Fairy Tale of Hansel and Gretel and other tales, too. there  are many, many tall trees that create a beautiful dark green forest on the mountains. Everywhere we look is like a picture post card. These 2 pictures are from Meersburg and Lake Constance area for your Fairy Tale Passport.

                Mrs. Williamson & the castle guard.         Mrs. Hinds picks out armor.

June 10, 2009- Boys and girls, please be patient with us. We are learning that getting the Internet is not always easy here in Germany. We were not able to get a connection at our hotel yesterday because it was in the Mountains of Bavaria. Hopefully, we will post some pictures today.  Please look for them tomorrow. We have many pictures to share with you. But first we will write our journal.

Mrs. Hinds getting upset with Internet problems.

We were in the mountains yesterday visiting Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles. They are beautiful. Neuschwanstein Castle is the big white one that is on our puzzle page. All we can say is WOW! Both castles are very, very beautiful. We took a bus up a great big hill to Neuschwanstein Castle. It is very hard for us to think about what we like best at this castle because it is so very beautiful. We took a horse carriage ride back down the mountain to begin our visit to Hohenschwangau.

Mrs. Williamson holds a            The inspiration for Cinderella's        The horses did a good job

    holds a castle!                      Disneyworld Castle.                 getting us down the mountain.

(These 3 pictures are from the Munich and the Alps area of Germany on your Fairytale passport.)

Hohenschwangau is very lovely too. It is a reddish colored castle and is much older that Neuschwantstein Castle. Both castles were owned by the same family. King Ludwig, the last king in Bavaria, Germany, grew up in Hohenschwangau Castle and built Neuschwanstein Castle. But by the time the big white castle was finished he only lived in it a very short time before he died.

                                  Mrs. Hinds at the Hohenschwangau Castle gate.

                                  (Munich & The Alps on your Fairytale Passport)

We are now in Meersburg, Germany and visited the oldest castle in the area it is called Alteschloss - that means old castle, in the German language. It is very different from the other castles we have visited because it is so old. It was built in the 600´s. That is about 1,400 years ago. It looks really old and so many people have walked through the castle all of those years that the stone has worn down. This castle looks like it could be haunted. We saw the way servants got water from the palace well and also where weapons were made there. Before weapons were things like guns, the guards would drop huge stones on armies attacking the castle and we saw stones sitting as they would have long ago. We also saw lots of armor, weapons and furniture from the middle ages.

Take a look at the slide shows we added on June 8th!

June 8th, 2009, 11:00 pm Munich time - Yes, we are now in the city of Munich Germany. We arrived about noon today after a full last day in Paris.

Our last day was spent at outside the city of Paris at the Chateau Breteuil near the city of St. Remy. A chateau is a French castle. The Breteuil family who lived in this castle were important to the rulers of France for many years. Now the Chateau is dedicated to Charles Perrault, the author of Cinderella, Puss in Boots, Sleeping Beauty, and Little Red Riding Hood.  (Mrs.Hinds & Mrs. Williamson are a little confused by that because Little Red Riding Hood is also a German fairy tale! Hummm..)

Puss in Boots is a very popular fairytale in France and children all know the story. At the Chateau Breteuil you will see this famous cat in scenes from other Perrault fairytales. Here are some pictures from Chateau Breteuil near St. Remy that you can use in your Fairytale Passport.

"My favorite thing at the Chateau was the Cinderella Maze."

"I liked Red Riding Hood's grandma's house."

(These 3 pictures are from St. Remy and you can use them in your passport)

At the Chateau - St. Remy    Look how grand it is! - St. Remy       Puss in Boots as Cinderella's

                                                                                              Prince - St. Remy

Another thing we did in Paris yesterday was visit the Army Museum. We never knew that armor, guns, swords and other weapons could be so beautiful. It made us wonder how knights could fight or even walk around in their armor. Take a look at this suit of armor...there were even many suits of armor for children! Would you like to wear a suit made of metal?

                          Where's the other leg?          It doesn't look very comfortable!

More to write about tomorrow! Don't forget to look at the slide shows.

June 6th, 12:25 pm Paris time - Guess who we saw today! President Barack Obama! He visited the Notre Dame. It is a famous church. You might have seen the Disney movie - The Hunchback of Notre Dame.) Our President was honoring men who fought in World War II.

                                   President Obama drove right by here!

One place we visited today is called the Musee d'Orsay. We saw a lot of paintings and sculptures that are very famous. We also realized that the railroad station and clock in the book ,The Invention of Hugo Cabret, (one of this year's Bluebonnet books.) must have been inspired by this museum which was once a train station, too. It also has a huge clock that looks very much like the one in the book.

We will post pictures tomorrow. It is late and Mrs. Williamson and Mrs. Hinds need their beauty sleep!

June 5th, 11:25 pm Paris time - What a fun day! Neither one of us slept very well on the plane. It was noisy and busy. But when we arrived we went straight to our hotel, checked in and went out exploring.

Houston Airport

We saw the Eiffel Tower and went to the Tuileries garden where we found the statue of Charles Perrault along with one of the favorite characters from his stories, Puss In Boots.  

                Eiffel Tower - Paris           Puss in Boots - Paris    Seine River Boat - Paris

Then we went to the Louvre. It is a very BIG museum. We saw famous paintings like the Mona Lisa, and we saw lots of statues. For those of you who like the Rick Riordan books in the Lightening Thief series you will like the pictures we took of some of the Greek gods and other characters in the book.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Come along as our journey begins. We will be updating our journal throughout our travels giving you the opportunity to learn about Fairy Tales and the countries they come from. We will be visiting castles, museums, parks and historic sites that you can find in your favorite Fairy Tales.

Mrs. Hinds: I am looking forward to seeing real castles that are hundreds of years old.

Mrs. Williamson: I can't wait to see different Fairy Tale and author statues. I LOVE statues!

Did you notice the different colors? When Mrs. Hinds wants to speak to you she will "speak" in Carleston Cub purple. When Mrs. Williamson is "talking" her words will be Silverlake Stars blue.

large view The Journey Begins

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