The RAF Museum in Cosford, England

This is when I really really really hope you like airplanes!

That's becasue we DID see enough airplanes to sink a ship at our 2014 Shutterchance meet-up, held at the RAF Museum in Cosford, England, on Sunday, May 11 (Mother's Day in America but not in England)!  In my last post I showed pics of all 28 of us who gathered for the day.

RAF stands for Royal Air Force and the museum is located in Shropshire, offering "a fun, entertaining day out for all the entire family. Situated next to an active airfield, this is the only place in the Midlands where you can get close to so many breathtaking aircraft for free."

 The show actually begins outside, which is where we all started to meet up, one by one.

And starting outside, you discover it's not just about airplanes.

But mostly it IS...big planes...

...and little planes that snuggle right in under the big ones.  Over 70 planes altogether in 3 buildings.

The feat of getting them all inside, fitting together like puzzle pieces, must have been Pure Magic.

There were war planes, of course.

Actually, the planes started running together for me.  I don't have a clue about most of them!

But we kept bumping into each other as we went along, which was the big fun of the day.

Don't you love how many planes (and boats!) are named after women!  :)

 To be honest, airplanes are photo-ops waiting to happen.  Who would have known!

Definitely worth a meet-up of photobloggers, right?!

 It was chock full of all kinds of stuff for kids of all ages.

There was even a shop to satisfy any of our RAF/war interests.

There was even an exhibit of the Berlin Wall.

This is Europe, of course, where especially WWII is up-close and personal.

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I know I showed people pics in my last post but this meet-up was especially special

because of 2 long-time SCers we met for the first time:

 Elizabeth (left, with Astrid) is from Arizona and is unofficially married to Frank, a Brit.

We've had lots of correspondence with Elizabeth because their situation is similar to Astrid's and mine,

an internet romance from two different countries begun on our same photoblog.

Ray (right, with moi) is an Australian married to a Thai lady living in Thailand who has been with me
on SC since 2006. His visit was planned and kept a secret by a couple other SCers.  

What an incredible surprise and treat to finally meet him in real life!

 As you'd guess, someone (Penny!) got us all organized for a group photo.

And here we are, just the SCers (well, one isn't) minus 2 who somehow missed it.

21 of the 28 present that day are actual SC photobloggers, 18 here in the pic (and Penny makes 19).

I'll say it for us all--what a motley crew!
(thanks to Maureen, Brian's wife, who took this picture)

Clervaux, Luxembourg: the Church and the Castle

So, after seeing that incredible, painted church in Eschfeld, Germany (last post), we drove 9 miles (15 km) to Clervaux, Luxembourg.  It was the last day of our long weekend and we just wanted to see some highlights on our way home.

In those 9 miles we drove through the forest and open fields, like the rest of the trip.

We always set the Tom-Tom to the back roads so that we can see the real countryside.

You know how much I love to catch the churches...and the weathervanes!

As we drove into Clervaux, there she sat:  the Church of Saints Cosmas and Damian, from 1910.

Can you imagine that as the parish church for a town of 2000 inhabitants?

 You can imagine the thrill of anticipation after getting out of the car and walking up to it.

Once inside, it was actually much plainer than we expected.

Is that possible?

But then...it's only 100 years old!

See how spoiled we've become by the centuries of art attached to the huge, old cathedrals!

As we walked out of the church, straight ahead of us stood the nearby Clervaux Castle from the 12th century:

 Because the sun was shining on the front of the church, we first saw the castle in shadow.

But as we walked around it, it, too, caught the sun on such a gorgeous day.

It stands 365 meters (approx. 1200 ft), overlooking the town.

It was destroyed by fire in the Battle of the Bulge during WWII,

but has been completly rebuilt.

Speaking of WWII, there's a war museum there full of wartime memorabilia.

The only piece I took a picture of was the WHY? poster.

WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY?????  A gazillion WHYs.

Outside in the courtyard stands this US Sherman tank.

Did you know that the German tanks had more destructive power

but these Sherman tanks were so much faster, they somehow were able to elude the Germans.

Still, there was much loss of life, including the Americans.

Everywhere you go in Europe where these war memorials exist,

the Americans are thanked profusely.  It's actually very touching.

Did I tell you it was HOT HOT HOT?  The hottest day of our summer to date at 30 ºC (86º F).

So we really splurged!  Normally we're satisfied with one scoop of ice cream on a cone.

But not that day.  As Astrid says, I'm making a beer drinker of her.  HA!

The thing is, how can you live in Europe and NOT drink beer, especially on a hot day!

Did you know that beer glasses match the beer you're drinking?  Yup.

Bofferding beer from Luxembourg since 1764!

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Switch gears now till my next Luxembourg post to catch up on my newest Vision and Verb about Dutch idioms:

"It's like an angel peeing on my tongue!"

If that doesn't pique your curiosity, what will?!