As many of you know Jenny and I recently returned home from doing clinics first in Sweden and second in Germany. We both love to ravel, and equally both love to teach, so this is always the perfect opportunity to do a little of both.

Stockholm Sweden

Our first leg of the 8 day journey took us just outside of Stockholm Sweden. Jenny has business in Norway, so she has had the chance to visit Scandinavia before; however this marked my first trip. The wait was certainly worth it as the country is beautiful, and the people are even more enjoyable. I think that one of the things we enjoy most about our travels is all the wonderful people that we get to meet and start new relationships with. That being said we would first like to thank our host Josefin Odeberg. This was the first clinic that Josefin put together by herself, and for only 19 yrs old she did an outstanding job. She kept in small and more intimate which always works, had a great facility, and treated us like royalty. Participants in the clinic included Viktoria Andersson, Madelene Frieberg, Linn Andersson, Ebba Oyemark, Moa Nyman, and of course Josefin. Yes it was a bit cold, however not by any means unbearable. Our only disappointment was that we did not book enough time to see any of Stockholm as we would have liked. More reason to return soon I guess. We were so happy with how the clinic finished up and are so proud of how much work each participant put into themselves and their learning. This picture shows all of the clinic participants from Sweden. Unfortunately Jenny had to fly to Norway on this day for business so she missed out.

Germany

At the conclusion of the third day I headed back to the airport to meet Jenny for the second leg of the journey in Germany. (Let me first say that the Sweds are going to be upset with me, but you can have your chance to get back at Germany when we return.) Thank you so much to our hosts in Germany Johanna Jablonowski, and Martin Oswald. Martin and Johanna live in a small town about an hour outside of Munich named Bad Worishofen. There they operate a Horse rehab facility featuring all of the modern therapy treatments. If I ever run away from the US, this may very well be one of the first places that you need to come looking for me. The food was amazing, the people were extremely friendly, the town was adorable, with a lot of spas, and THE BEER!!! I have been waiting since my last visit to Germany for the beer, and the German Breweries did not let me down.

Back to the serious part of the trip now, Johanna set her clinic up just as they did in Sweden keeping it very small and intimate. Having large clinics is wonderful and all, however when you have a small focused group like this you can teach so much and strive further and further ahead into training and showing practices. Thank you so much to Johanna, Martin, Philipp Roos, Gabi Hagl, and Gesa Meier-Bidmon and her husband Thomas for welcoming us to your country, and for pushing yourselves so hard.

This time we did save some time for sightseeing, and Johanna was the perfect tour guide. Of course if you are ever in Bavaria you have to take the time to visit Neuschwanstein Castle. For those of you who have been, you know what I mean when I say “breathtaking”, and for those of you whom have not, start planning your trip asap. This is the castle that Walt Disney modeled Snow Whites castle after. (pic 4) Unfortunately it was being renovated on the outside while we were there, but you could still see how magnificent it was. From there we headed into Munich to take in some of the sights of the city.(pic 5) We did a very quick tour around, but did stop and spend a moment taking in some of wonderful food and of course beer, that the city had to offer. (pic 6) I think that next time we visit we may have to go during Oktoberfest to really take it all in.

Well back home to the hustle and bustle of real life. Thank you again to our outstanding clinic participants. We wish you the best in your upcoming shows, and look forward to seeing you all again soon.