Super fun girls' trip to Paris!

Let me first just say that I totally recognize how crazy my life is... it is certainly not how I imagined my life would go, and the nomadic thing has its ups and downs, but the travel is FOR SURE one of the best parts in my opinion. This past weekend Charlotte and I took the train to Paris. We rented an apartment with a few other women from our church, but then we mostly all did our own thing while we were there.

 

After dropping off our stuff, we headed directly to the Eiffel Tower.

 

It was a beautiful and super cold day.

 

The very top floor was closed for maintenance, but the second floor was plenty high up, and windy.

 

On the first floor there was an ice rink set up.  And most shockingly, it was free to rent skates and skate. It was a small rink, and crowded, but Charlotte and I both loved skating to the music as the sun set.

 

We rode down the elevator just in time to see the Eiffel Tower start to twinkle at us. (It lights up every hour for about five minutes.) Then we took the metro back to our apartment by way of Chipotle where Charlotte and I got a burrito bowl to share for dinner. It is an odd thrill to find American (or Mexican) food from some of our favorite places when we travel in Europe.

 

Saturday morning we made a beeline for The Orangerie art museum. We were there pretty early and actually got to sit alone with Monet's waterlilies. There are two oval shaped rooms filled with his huge paintings. 

 

We sat in the middle of the room and just looked.  Charlotte said, "It's like we are in a boat on a lake." I loved it.

 

After the Orangerie we went to the Musee d'Orsay. The building used to be a train station and has these fabulous clocks.

 

But the real treasure is the Impressionist collection. We spent hours there and I loved hearing Charlotte's awesome observations and getting to share with her why some of the works are considered so significant.  My little dancer with Degas' little dancer.

 

 Next stop was Shakespeare & Co. I love this funky English bookstore.  I know it is as much a tourist stop as anything these days, but I love the bohemian history of this place. 

 

I sat and read some poetry, Charlotte read in the children's corner, and we both listened to a guy play the piano upstairs for a little while. It was a great rest stop in our day.

 

Right across the bridge from Shakespeare & Co. lies the beautiful Notre Dame.

 

I always love sitting in these awesome cathedrals. Notre Dame was built over nearly 150 years, beginning in the 1100s. There was an exhibit of an artist's works focused on the beauty of the creation. It was lovely.

 

Our next stop was another cathedral.  I had never been inside Sainte Chapelle before because of the simple reason that you have to pay an admission and there is so much that you can see in Paris for free. The chapel is to the rear left in the picture.  Unlike Notre Dame, Sainte Chapelle was built in about 10 years in the 1200s. It is quite a bit smaller, but still hugely impressive.

 

Above the doors is this beautiful Madonna with Child. I love that the baby Jesus is holding a bunch of daisies and looks about to pull Mary's hair. That is a little kid I recognize!

 

We walked in the chapel and were impressed by the beautiful ceiling and windows.  But honestly, it was like, "huh... what's all the fuss about?"

 

Then we saw a stairway and thought we'd check out the upstairs.  At the top of the stairs I said, "oh WOW!" and Charlotte said, "Now this is what I'm talking about!" The stained glass in the upper chapel is truly breathtaking. And the sun shining through it is spectacular. I took many, many pictures and walked in circles staring at the windows.  Charlotte quickly became bored with this and told me that there was nothing to do but look at the windows.  To which I responded, yeah, but LOOK AT THE WINDOWS!!! So glad we went there.

 

To finish off the night we went to Hard Rock Cafe for a big meal and a milkshake. Most of our meals were speedy crepes, pastries, or splitting takeout. We are not gourmands, and Paris is expensive y'all. 

 

The next morning was Sunday and we found the local congregation of our church and attended Sacrament meeting. They were clearly used to visitors and provided headsets with live translation of the service. I was delighted to run into a family that we knew from last time we lived in Germany as well! It is a small Mormon world.

 

After church we returned to sightseeing. We took the metro to Pigalle and saw the infamous Moulin Rouge before walking up to Sacre Coeur.

 

Sacre Coeur was built right around 1900, so it isn't nearly as old as many of the cathedrals in Paris, but the history of the location is really interesting. And obviously, the place is gorgeous.

 

We grabbed a bite and got on the metro to the Arc de Triomphe.

 

We had fun taking some photos and crossed under the ginormous traffic circle to get an up close look.

 

It is a beautiful monument.  The French sure do know how to do fancy! After the Arc de Triomphe we strolled down the Champs Elysee and popped in a few stores to window shop.  Of course there is Tiffany's, Cartier, Louis Vitton... but we spent the most time in H&M and the Disney Store.

 

Monday morning we had to check out but had most of the day to wander the Rues and Avenues.  We started in the Latin Quarter and headed toward St. Sulpice. We couldn't go in because we had a carry-on with us, but it just reminds me how much more I could still go see in Paris.

 

 

After that we walked to the Jardin du Luxembourg. This park was established in the 1600s as a royal garden but is now a public park run by the French Senate that meets in the Palace.  The playground there was awesome- but not free- we actually had to pay to play. Paris you guys. But, that is also probably why it was so nice. Charlotte played with two very gentlemanly French boys. I was impressed by how kindly and cooperatively they played. I also spoke with a family from Atlanta, GA... the mom was from New Jersey originally and we had a nice chat.  Have I mentioned the smallness of the world lately?

 

On our way back to the train station I thought we'd hunt down this cafe.  The Le Procope opened in 1686 and has run continuously since then. I wanted to go have a hot cocoa where Voltaire enjoyed his coffee and Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin would dine (as well as a ton of other famous characters.) But sadly, they were only open for dinner, and we didn't have the time.

 

We arrived at the train station fairly early because it was so cold and we were pretty worn out.  On the upside we were finally able to get a couple of cups of hot cocoa and find a table to sit, read, draw, and talk and just be very Parisian about it. I loved traveling with Charlotte.  We had some good talks. We read our novels. We made a lot of memories, and I am thankful we had the opportunity.

2016 goals

I like setting goals.  I don't always achieve them all, but I feel like I accomplish more than I would have if I hadn't made any, so I keep at it.  In the coming year I have a few things on my mind...


1. Update our 72 hour kit. We have one, but it was last updated when we still had 2 kids.  Eek. It needs a major overhaul.  People have different names for these things; Bug out bags, 3 day pack, etc, but what it comes down to is if you have to leave your home in a hurry in an emergency, what could you grab to take with you? Especially living in a foreign country, and watching the unfolding refugee crisis around us, I feel that this is really something we should be ready to go with.

2. Walk, run, or crawl a 5k, 10k, and half marathon this year. I'm not putting marathon on this list, but we'll see. These may just be me and my fitbit spending a day on the trails and not an organized event also.

3. Travel our butts off. This is one of the main reasons we love living in Germany.  In 2015 we visited 3 countries (Ireland, Spain, and France) in addition to our travel within Germany... in 2016 that will be 9 countries, maybe 10. (You'll have to wait and see!)

Christmas festivities

In early December we visited the Darmstadt Christmas market.

 

The giant Pyramidin has a Nativity scene that goes around and around. If I am inappropriately capitalizing nouns, I apologize... that happens to me in Germany sometimes.

 

We ate yummy food, which is our go-to Christmas market plan, Flammkuchen and crepes.  We also bought some treats to take home- spiced pecans and walnuts.  And let the kids pick a ride to go on.

 

That's just ducky.

 

I think Charlotte has gotten a bit old for this scene, but she is not convinced.

After we left the Christmas market, Rob wanted to show us something new he saw at Mathildenhohe.  This is an artist colony in Darmstadt that I used to love to visit when we lived in Germany last time.  It's a new building installation, made of wood and recycled car parts.  It was pretty awesome. 

 

And one of the bumpers had this sticker on it.  "No kids with goofy names on board." Why not "am Bord" Germans?  I dunno, we see a lot of English/German mixes on signs lately, but I thought it was funny.

 

Charlotte and Toby had a Winter concert at their school and it was very cute.  Toby even sang two songs in German with the other German immersion kids. I forgot to take the camera and Charlotte was mad at me.  I offered to take their picture when we got home and this was the end result.  Clearly, I haven't been able to convince the kids of the value of just being in the moment sometimes and not always having a camera in hand.

 

In December, we said goodbye to Bingo.  He was re-homed by the rescue that we adopted him from because we simply could not handle him. He chewed constantly, but not on the items we bought him to chew.  In fact, he flat out snubbed the Kong stuffed with peanut butter in favor of the stairs and moldings.  He was a lot of dog to deal with, and required CONSTANT attention and caused constant stress, and the kids were not sad to say goodbye to him.  The same day he moved out, we went and bought a Christmas tree.  (We had been waiting until that day and as you can see there are no tears.)

 

Christmas itself was so calm and cozy.  Once again, I didn't pull out the camera, but cooked, baked cinnamon rolls, and cuddled my babies.  Rob played every board game the kids asked him to and we enjoyed staying in our jammies and spending the day together.

 

The day after Christmas we put together Pie Face.  Yes, Jake got this game for Christmas, and yes we all played it.  This occasion did require a camera.

 

The kids loved it. Especially because Daddy was the first to get it.

 

At first Jake didn't want to play, but then he insisted on continuing to turn the handle until he got smacked.  He now wants to invite all of his friends over and "smack them in the face with my game."

 

I did ask the kids what their favorite gifts were and Jake's was HANDS DOWN this homemade soccer trophy that Uncle Mark made for him, followed by his Star Wars tent. Toby's favorite is Battleship. Charlotte's favorite is a giant stuffed Polar Bear (bigger than her) and second place is Elsa and Anna Barbies. Amelie says her favorite is Legos, even though she didn't technically get any Legos.She does seem to really like her Little Red Riding Hood doll. (If you flip it over the other side has Grandma and the Wolf.)  

It just reminds me how very little it takes to make these kiddos happy at Christmas time and I am thankful for the simplicity of our celebration this year. Every time I set up this Nativity scene some little hands rearrange it so that all are gathered around the baby Jesus.  I realize my Nativity won't always look like this, and I want to remember it, because it is so sweet. 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Berlin for Thanksgiving

On Thanksgiving day, we planned to drive to Berlin for a quick visit. We celebrated Thanksgiving a week early with turkey dinner and all of that, and took the van in for a tune up and oil change. However, the garage had some delays on getting to work on our car and the day we planned to leave on our trip our van was STILL not done. Well, I blew a gasket. I called and screamed and yelled and threatened and was quite ugly about it and I am not proud of that, but an hour or so later the garage delivered the van to our house. We will not be using this mechanic again. Anyway, by the time we made it to Berlin it was time to put the kids to bed so I planned an action packed day for Friday.

 

We rented an apartment off of airbnb again. It had three bedrooms and pretty basic furnishings, but was very convenient to a bus line that took us right down to the sights we wanted most to see.  We started the morning at Checkpoint Charlie. 

 

This was the main access point most people passed through when visiting East Berlin between 1961 and 1990.

 

Souvenir stands near here sell Communist kitsch and mementos.  We couldn't resist a nesting doll set starting with Lenin, then Stalin, and and so on.

 

Crossing into the East Berlin area, we walked down Friedrichstrasse, which is Berlin's version of Fifth Avenue. High end shops, luxury brands, and this awesome Audi showroom. Toby loved this racing game.

 

And Rob may not be a motorhead, but he really enjoyed looking at these impressive cars and motorcycles.

 

After the Audi showroom, we turned left onto Unter den Linden and walked to the Brandenburg Gate. It suffered considerable damage during WWII, and was inaccessible while the Wall stood, but has since been fully restored.  In this photo, the French Embassy is to the right and the US Embassy is to the left. The French embassy's sidewalk was covered in flowers, candles, and notes, in the wake of the recent attacks in Paris. 

 

After passing under the gate, we turned left to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This memorial is a big deal. First of all, Germany admitted to a crime in naming the memorial, and second of all they placed it in front of their government offices. It doesn't look like much, and at first I was underwhelmed.  But then we began to walk between the stones of varying heights and I started to lose sight of the kids, which made me feel anxious as they disappeared and reappeared further away.  Also, it is sunken down somewhat and the ground is uneven, and no matter which way you try to go out, you must walk up hill.  It is pretty striking.

 

Across the way is the Reichstag building. This is like Germany's Parliament building.  You can make an appointment to tour inside and view the government debates... but ya know, four little kids.

 

At this point we had crossed the former Berlin Wall at least twice.  A brick line and these markers let you know all throughout the city.

 

Our next stop was the Berlin Wall memorial.  This is a small remaining stretch of the wall, which was actually two walls with a no man's land down the middle.  Guards in towers along the way could shoot anyone trying to cross the wall.

 

Inside the visitor's center, the children sat down to draw pictures and hang them up.  Both Charlotte and Toby's pictures focused on the idea that we should have a world without walls. Jakey drew a pirate train.

 

At the wall.

 

Broken shards.

 

And a memorial to those who died in their attempts to escape East Berlin.  The anniversary of the wall coming down was just a few days before our visit, hence the white roses.

 

The world is crazy.  It just makes me want to hold on to the ones that I love.

 

After the Wall Memorial it was time for some fun.  We scrambled onto a bus to the Berlin Zoo. We only had a few hours of daylight left, so we skipped a sit down lunch and fed the kids a few McNuggets literally as we walked to the zoo. Berlin Zoo was awesome, and I wish we had more time there, but we made the most of the time we had.  This baby hippo kept bobbing up and down like she was giving Toby kisses.

 

Charlotte got to see her first real live polar bear.

 

By luck, we even caught part of the seal show and the feeding of the lions and other big cats.

 

This wagon gave Jake's feet a break, and Rob's back a break from carrying Amelie all day. Also, I should really note that Rob had broken his big toe just about a week earlier, but he toughed it out.

 

Just before dark (when the Zoo closes) we scurried over to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.  This church suffered serious damages from the bombings of Berlin in WWII, but has been left standing as a memorial.  The new church is that modern thing in the foreground.

 

In the church square was a large Christmas market.  So we sat down as the sun set and drank some hot Kinderpunsch (non-alcoholic juice drink; the shot glasses on the table are not ours) and ate lots of yummy brats, pommes, kale and potatoes, crepes with Nutella, and pierogies. Everyone was completely exhausted from our marathon day of sightseeing.

 

After dinner and a stroll around the market, we hobbled back to the bus and to our apartment, and all slept like rocks.  We needed to head home on Saturday, but first visited the Deutches Historisches Museum.  (German History.) I didn't take any pictures because my camera battery was dead, but the museum was really interesting, although not very child friendly at all.  The kids did like the medieval armor, weapons, and cannons.  And Charlotte liked the fancy portraits and old clothing, but so much of it was over their heads, so our visit was brief. It did make me think about how history is written by the victors though, and it was interesting to view German history from their perspective and to consider how it has shaped their national identity and current political policies. After the museum we stopped in two very fancy chocolate shops and stocked up, and one last tourist shop and let the kids choose their souvenirs.  Then we hit the road back to home. We wanted to be home before the kids' bedtime so Rob set a new driving record in our old minivan, getting it up to 105 mph at one point, and getting us home in just 4 hours and 40 minutes.  We like the Autobahns very much.  (And I guess it is a good thing we had the van checked over before our tip.)