Euro Vaca--Day 2: France

Hello folks - We made it to France. It has been another beautiful day, with temperatures in the mid- to high-80s and clear skies. We left Stuttgart this morning and made it to the first of four cities along the Rue de Vins (wine route) - Ribeauvillé. Ribeauvillé is known for its three castles on the same hill that overlook the town. For some reason storks enjoy making their nests at the top of all the towers in these towns. 

I also find it interesting that these tiny towns have such huge churches, and often more than one. The streets and shops are all really neat. Restaurant seating and shop wares, spill out onto the cobblestone streets. The buildings are all half-timbered architecture with those exposed wooden beams. Everything is really picturesque. Nearly all of the buildings, at about 10 ft off the ground, jut outwards, enlarging the second floor's living space by a foot or two on all but two sides.

Across the street from one of the churches here was a neat 15th-century cemetery, which was the former resting place of four sandstone statues that date back to 1494 and now reside inside the church. The statues depict Christ praying on the Mt. of Olives and Peter, James (Jack on the translated welcome sheet), and John (see pic). Peter (far left) is actually holding a knife with which he will "de-ear" some poor centurion.

Next, we made the 2-km jaunt over to Riquewihr, another spot on the wine route and Disney's inspiration for Belle's village in Beauty and the Beast. There's even a fountain after which the animators modeled Belle's fountain. No statue of Gaston though - what a disappointment!

All through this area are vineyards, vineyards, and more vineyards. Here's a pic of the view over the vineyards between Riquewihr and Kayserburg. There's a river running through it and an awesome, huge Christmas shop. These streets are all pretty great, with neat shops and cafés and museums all along the road.

We made it to Strasbourg, Fr to stay the night. The church here is incredible. Anna said, it took her breath away as she rounded the corner and witnessed the spectacular sight for the first time. She also noted that city centers that are basically pedestrian squares with open spaces and outdoor cafes spewing from the buildings onto the cobblestones is completely wonderful. We ate at a nice little restaurant literally at the foot of the cathedral so Anna and Jacob could draw while we waited for our food... Chicken cordon bleu, duck with spaetzel - good stuff. And interesting to note that that is a very combined menu of French and German food. These cities are heavily influenced by both countries seeing that the border is close and hasn't always been so defined as right now. We found an apartment right by the giant cathedral on the website Airbnb to rent for the night. Our "host" had some really spectacular shoes. Wish I had taken a picture. He also had some interesting art work in the bedrooms.

More from Strasbourg tomorrow!

Germany: Day 1

Here begins Rob's obsession with panorama shots.

After approximately 17 hours of travel (including a three hour layover in Turkey, in which we inhaled as many taste testers of Turkish Delight that we could get our hands on) we arrived in Stuttgart, Germany. I was surprised that the 10.5-hr flight to Istanbul went so quickly. And let me just say that Turkish Airlines was great. They fed us dinner shortly after takeoff (nothing like a delicious salmon or chicken breast shortly after midnight) and then a breakfast shortly before landing. In the meantime we slept a good portion of the first flight and then watched movies for the rest of our travels. A luxury we are not usually permitted when travelling with our youngsters. Upon leaving the airport Anna, of course, looked fairly shady and was accosted by the German Customs officer: "Hallo." "I am ze German customs officer" "Vhere are you coming from?" "Vhy Istanbul?" Our answers were satisfactory, apparently, and he let us through without any fuss or bag checking.

Sa-weet bracelet from the Ataturk Airport

5 star service at the Anderson household

Day 1 in Stuttgart: After a little sleeping in, we went to a 15th century monastery in Bebenhausen. Highlights include a 1470 medieval painting of Christ descending from the cross.

Then off to 14th-century Castle (schloss) Lichtenstein, which is built on the edge of a cliff, 250 m over the valley floor. This was really neat. The tour was all in German so we didn't understand much but luckily we were given a sheet with a description of every room. Highlights include a secret exit from the hunting room (where men drink and regale other men with their hunting stories), a broken mirror left-over from a flying window shard from a WWII tank shell blast, and a 6-ft champagne glass that fits 3 full bottles of champagne. The glass requires three people to use: someone to hold the glass, a drinker, and someone to hold the drinker. Prior to touring the castle we had our first German food: bratwurst with French fries and an apple juice/sparkling (apfelschorle) water combo drink (kinda like Martinellis but less carbonation--enough though that Peter would still like it). I had been trying to learn some German all day from Jake and Ashley and successfully ordered our food in German. Thankfully there was a sign to read from; all I had to remember was "ein" for one. That was about it.

European Vacation

SAY WHAT? I haven't posted anything since March?! I'll make up for it with this big news. We went to Europe. Germany and France to be exact. When did we start planning this trip? March. There it is, my big fatty excuse for not posting.

Oh how I needed a vacation, and boy did we take a big one. There is no finer way to shed stress than to spend thousands of dollars in a small amount of time. Ha! Just kidding. It worked once we were actually travelling. Our nudge for this trip came when our dear friends sadly decided to move to Germany last year and leave us and the great state of Maryland. Their departure across the Atlantic Ocean lit a little fire inside our opportunistic travelling selves. We had talked about heading to Europe while living here in the East but would never have actually gone at this point in our lives without a little push. You know, we have all the usual excuses...What will we do with the kids? It's so expensive. I'm nursing. I'm pregnant. We have that project around the house that we need to get to. We'll go in awhile...and on and on. It was high time to saddle up, and be on our way. So we had two glorious and childless weeks. I love my children to pieces, and I now love them even more because I got a rest. A rest where we were able to sight see AND read the signs (as long as they weren't only written in German or French), meander, be outside past bedtime, eat at ridiculous or infrequent hours, or see monuments at a clip no toddler could endure and it was rejuvenating!

And my kids were probably happy for the break from us. This was dreadfully apparent when Aunt Katie was referred to as Mom while we were gone. My mother reminded me of this gem of wisdom, bestowed upon her by my brother (age 8 at the time), as she herself returned from vacation where she had left us with a sitter ,"Mom we need a break from you too," . I imagine she was hoping for something more up the avenue of, "I missed you Mom, you're the best. No one mothers like you do! I'm so grateful you are finally home,". Sorry!

So here to relay tales of our travels to you is Rob who wrote a letter daily during our trip in order to not have to explain to anyone, more than once, what we did. This is going to be a series because, well, we thought the trip was pretty darn exciting and interesting. Don't you worry a bit if you disagree. We're posting anyways!

Willkommen to our adventures!