Vacation

Vacation in Germany: wonderful. Nicholas came down with a cold the day before we left. But he did really great on the plane. He did transition pretty well to the 6 hour time change. Although Joe was the one up with him at 2 in the morning. Thanks, babe. Also for taking the hits on Sunday. Nicholas got really sick and was vomiting all morning...all over Joe. We aren't quite sure what was wrong but he snapped out of it and then we went to see a castle and have dinner. He's such a trooper.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous all week. We had sunshine and 60's. It rained the day we left. Our timing could not have been more perfect. The fall color was just beginning to show but mostly things were still green and the flowers were still in full bloom. I couldn't believe the geraniums.

Our hosts, Clayton and April, were fantastic. Thank you for opening your home and sharing your lives. I would say I am a little jealous that you get to stay there. We are so grateful for this opportunity and to have such great friends.

(Our hosts)

A quick rundown of events and highlights from the trip:

Day 1: Adjustment day. We took it pretty easy to adjust to the time change. Nicholas and I took naps. Joe powered through. We took a nice stroll into the Lynches town of Seeheim-Jugenheim. We had some wonderful ice cream and found a playground.

(Kathryn and Nicholas at the gate)

Day 2: Nicholas was sick 1/2 the day so we just hung around the house still settling in. Then we drove up to Castle Frankenstein located on the hill right behind their town. We couldn't see much of it because it was closed and set up for Halloween. But we had our first wonderful German dinner out and the kids didn't melt down too much.

Day 3: We drove north to Rudesheim am Rhein, it's on the Rhine River. It was so beautiful. We walked around, shopped, ate and then took a cable car ride up over the vineyards to the top of a hill. Nicholas kept yelling, "Heelllllooooo Down There" all the way up. It was great. The kids ran around in this cupola thing and we started walking back down through the vineyards. We stopped at a little Gasthaus for a snack and coffee. On our way down we ran into what we think was the owner or manager of the vineyard and his grape picking machine (photo below). Its wheels run between the rows (which are immaculately straight and clear) and the top skims over the top and sides of the plants picking the grapes. It was really cool to see.

Day 4: Our families split and we took the train into Darmstadt, a small city just north of them. We of course got lunch and shopped a little and just walked around. It was a nice family day out.

Day 5: We took off for the Weinstrasse, Wine Road. We headed to the southern tip of it to a town called Schweigen-Rechtenbach. It's right on the France border. We had a wonderful lunch in this little town. Joe got a very tender, flavorful pork roast in gravy with noodles. I had a wonderful spinach tortellini in cream sauce with red peppers, shallots and white asparagus. Since I can't indulge in the wine I had a glass of grape juice. It was yummy. We both said upon returning home that this was our favorite meal of the trip.


We continued to walk through the town into the surrounding vineyards and into France. We came to the town of Wissembourg (ca. 1500). It was gorgeous. The architecture and a small stream running through the town. We would have liked to have more time there but there just wasn't enough. Maybe someday we will get back.
We headed back to the Land Rover (our vehicle) for our drive down to Baden-Baden where we were to spend the night and had hotel reservations. Unfortunately the closest bridge over the Rhine River was closed and we were detoured. So trying to follow the not so well marked detour signs and looking at the map we came to ferry crossing to the south (we are now in France by the way). It's 8:30 at night and we pull up behind a waiting Porsche for the ferry. The ferry is on the other side of the river. We can see it. It's coming over. It's docked. It's lights go out. The drivers get off and head to their cars. What?!? The Porsche driver gets out and you can tell he is talking heatedly to these two men. Then they all get back in their cars and speed off. The ferry has shutdown for the night. Now what? We are still on the other side of this river. We are 20 minutes from Strasbourg, France and about 45 minutes from Baden-Baden. So a quick change of plans has us driving into Strasbourg to find a hotel for the night. We fortunately found one and got into our rooms at 9:30pm. The kids were troopers, I tell you. We settled for the "not-so-fast" French McDonald's for our bedtime meal. Oh, well. We woke up in France the next day.


Day 6: We spent in Strasbourg walking around this very nice city with the canal running through it. We took a boat tour on the canal and got to see a lot of the city and learned the home of the European Parliament is here. Some great architecture in this city of both the old and new.

(This is Nicholas dancing to the music on the boat)

A beautiful, humongous Catholic Church. We left the city late afternoon to finally drive to Baden-Baden (we switched our hotel res.). It was surprisingly easy to get across the river in the daylight. We enjoyed a nice dinner at the hotel restaurant in Baden-Baden.
Day 7: April and I got totally spoiled by our husbands and the Dorint Spa. We went for facials and I got a foot massage while April got a pedicure. We could have stayed there all day. We enjoyed a late lunch in the Dorint Hotel lounge while the kids played around. Then headed back to home that evening.
Day 8: Travel home day. Nicholas did really well on the plane ride given we were delayed 1 hour on the tarmac and he only had a 45 min. nap on the 8 hour flight. He did pee through his two outfits and ended up in his diaper for more than half the flight. The straps on his diaper kept getting twisted so once we looked over at him sitting in his seat with his diaper undone and him amusing himself, if you get what I mean. It was quite funny actually.
So other than that our trip home was uneventful and we made it.
A great week that went all too fast.