GERMANY 2008- Part Three

Days 7/8: Baby's First Christmas

After being on the go, it was nice to finally have some time to relax and enjoy Christmas with family. David is still a little young to really get into the tradition of Christmas, but he was a happy baby and enjoyed his gifts from Santa.

Christmas Eve
Our family after the Christmas Eve service at Dave's parents church.

Not ready for bed.

Sitting by the fire with Auntie Schwest.

Christmas Day

David made sure to wake up nice and early Christmas morning around 6:30 AM. We all got up and ate yummy breakfast casserole and opened presents. David got so many wonderful new toys that we had to pack up and send back home; we cannot wait for them to arrive!!

We spent the day relaxing and playing with all our new toys. Grammy and Pappa got Mommy and Daddy a new camera! See pictures below; we are still learning how to use it. David got to enjoy an early dinner with the family. He actually really enjoyed the mashed potatoes, green beans and corn. My picky eater has certainly branched out on this trip. We truly had a wonderful Christmas.

A Night in Paris

After a nice relaxing Sunday full of church and yummy home cooking Dave and I caught the high speed train Monday morning to Paris. Grammy, Pappa and Auntie Schwest were nice enough to offer up their time to watch baby David while Mommy and Daddy took a mini trip. Let's just say we were a little out of our element in Paris. Neither of us speak French and we came to realize very quickly that the streets in Paris are not well labeled. It was definitely an adventure but through nasty weather, getting lost and at points coming across like complete idiots we managed to have a nice time. Here are some highlights of our night in Paris.

The train got us into Paris around 1 PM and we headed straight for the Eiffel Tower. Dave is deathly afraid of heights, but was a trooper and went up to the 2nd viewing level. As you can tell from the last picture the view was not great. The rain and fog really limited what you could see. It was because of this that I did not go to the very top. I figured why pay the money and wait in an extra line to get up there and not be able to see anything? We then headed over to the Arc de Triomphe and preceded to walk down the Champs-Elysees. This was a little hectic considering it was the Monday before Christmas and the Champs-Elysees is basically where all the major stores are. We did not stay here long and I really did not take many pictures because of the chaos.

The Arc de Triomphe

At this point in the trip Dave and I were absolutely starving and would not mind finding a cafe to sit down at. So I had the brilliant idea of taking the subway to the Latin Quarter, which is by the Universite' Paris Sorbonne. This is where we ended up getting lost and you could probably imagine what it was like; two hungry Americans lost in Paris......not a good situation. Someone was looking over us because we happened to finally stumble onto this cute courtyard with Christmas lights and cafes. It even had a map that helped get us back on track. So we stopped here to have a beverage and then we were off to eat dinner at this cute cafe below.

Lost, and no that is not snow.....it was cold and rainy.

The cafe where we ate dinner.

A french bakery across from our cafe.

Happy now that we have full bellies and know where we are. Mode of transportation.....subway.

We found our way back to our hotel and felt that it would probably be in our best interest to hang out around a familiar area. So we spent the rest of the evening at a few different cafes enjoying drinks and conversation.

Yummy French Bordeaux

Tuesday morning we got up bright and early to hit a cafe for a croissants, crepes and coffee. We had planned on getting to the Louvre Museum early to beat the crowds, but we found out from our waiter at the cafe that it is closed on Tuesdays. I was SO bummed, my travel book that Dave picked up said that the Louvre was closed on Mondays. We are going to have to write Frommer's a nasty letter. We did enjoy the view from the outside and since it was a nice morning we decided to walk to Notre Dame Cathedral. We were tight on time because we had to catch the high speed train back to Germany at 1 PM. We tried to cram as much as we could into such a short trip, but there are still some things I would have loved to see and do. Maybe next time.

Hotel Regina, where we stayed. It was right next to the Louvre.

Musee du Louvre

Tuileries Gardens

The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel

A view on our walk

Notre Dame Cathedral

Thank you again Grammy, Pappa and Auntie Schwest for watching David and allowing us to have such a great trip to Paris!

GERMANY 2008-Part Two

Day 3: Trier Christmas Market

Saturday afternoon we drove to the Christmas market in Trier, the oldest city in Germany. Trier is such a neat city full of great history. The city is known for its Roman ruins and Dom St. Peter, the Trier Cathedral built in 326 AD and holds the Holy Robe of Christ. The Christmas market here was twice the size of the one in Kaiserlautern. We had a wonderful time with Dave's family and enjoyed the Gluhwein and yummy food.

Drinking Gluhwein at the Trier Christmas market.

Trier Cathedral at night.

Eating kase wurst!

This was one of the shops they had up especially for the market. You could purchase traditional German Nutcrakers, Christmas Pyramids and Smokers. It had a giant Christmas Pyramid on top that was lit up and turned; it was really neat.

Being silly with Grammy and Pappa.

These Santa's crack us up. The Germans love them; you see them all over the place. There are different variations; Santa climbing in by ladder or by rope.

GERMANY 2008

We're back! Actually, we got back late yesterday afternoon and have been extremely exhausted. We had a GREAT trip! It was so nice to spend time with Dave's family in Deutschland. We have quite a bit to blog about so I figured I would somehow break it up over the next few days. So keep checking back for more.

Day 1: We're a Long Way from Home

I will be honest and say that I was absolutely dreading this trip. Think about it....9 month old infant-9 hour flight there/10 hour flight back.....does not sound fun, right??? Well Dave and I were actually pleasantly surprised with how well David did on the way there and his adjustment to the time difference in Germany (7 hours ahead of CST-we cannot say the same for the trip back and his adjustment to the US time-yep he woke up 5 times last night and is still struggling). I am that mother who is a stickler for schedules and it has worked well for us; he did start sleeping through the night at 8 weeks. The only problem with my tight schedule is that when we get off of it in the least bit we can sometimes run into problems. This did not happen and it made our trip to Germany very pleasant. Of course these bassinets on the plane were in our favor- they hooked onto the wall in front of our seats.

Aren't these great? It makes traveling with an infant a lot easier; I did have to stop thinking about the germ factor involved though he got a thorough washing once we got to Dave's parents house.

That evening we went out to one of the many German restaurants that we hit along the way. We all had to get bundled up to go out; it was around 28 degrees. Living in Houston we are not used to that type of weather.

Tenne's, the restaurant we ate at, had a beautiful live Christmas tree in their courtyard. We stopped briefly for a few shots of the Roser's first night in Germany. On the menu; goulasch soup and schnitzel..yummy!! Also, David's first introduction to pommes. (French fries) Again, we were desperate. The one thing that I realized about eating out in Germany is that they do take their time and with a tired 9 month old infant time is not on our side!

Day 2: Kaiserslautern Christmas Market and Family Fun

Friday morning, we tried to take it easy and get David acquainted with Grammy and Pappa's house. For some reason, we think that he really loves the cold weather. He was really giddy and silly when we were out and about. Could of been lack of sleep and time change, but he did seem to enjoy it.

This is the view from Dave's parents house. It overlooks Essweiler, the village that they live in. David loved going outside each day and observing the beautiful scenery. We were a little disappointed because it did not snow, but that's okay.

Friday afternoon Dave took David and I to our first Christmas market in Kaiserslautern, something the German's are well known for. It is usually held near a town square and involves socializing, drinking Gluhwein (warm mulled wine) and lots of food and shopping. It is such a neat tradition and David loved the people watching.

That night the family had reservations at a restaurant that is in an old castle in Kusel, a town outside of Dave's parents village. It was such a cute restaurant; I just love how the Germans get into decorating for Christmas; my pictures just don't do it justice.

I just love this picture. Check out the pomme in his hand!!

After dinner we left the baby at home with Grammy and Pappa and went out to enjoy some German beer in Landstuhl, where Auntie Schwest lives. We had such a good time visiting with Melissa's friends and having a much needed night out in Germany. Thank you Grammy and Pappa!

Drake, Mis, Me, Dave and Jim, Melissa's Scotish friend that gave us a three pence to put in the baby's right hand for good luck. It is a Scotish tradition.

Our cab ride back to Essweiler....just kidding. It was a neat British car that the owner of the pub was driving. It was hilarious!