Christmas in Europe!

I really need to blog about our European Christmas vacation before we are into February!  Needless to say, we had a great time and it was wonderful to see our friends, the Knapps!  They were awesome tour guides and made all of our arrangements ahead of time, which made our trip stress-free.  We were able to relax and just take in the beautiful sights of Germany and France.

Our first adventure was to the Christmas markets in the adorable villages of Bernkastel-Kues and Trier.  We sampled gluhwein (hot, mulled wine) at both markets...I had kinder punch (hot grapejuice) but did have a taste of the real thing.  ;)  Blaine sampled enough gluhwein for the both of us.  ;)  The markets and the villages were so charming and the bratwursts were outstanding!  I could have eaten one for every meal.  We decided that collecting gluhwein mugs from each market would serve as a good souvenir from Germany.

Bernkastel-Kues Christmas market

Our first stop at every Christmas market!

It was COLD, so the hot gluhwein (and kinder punch) was perfect.

I fell in LOVE with the Christmas decorations in each village...and maybe all over again with this guy. ;)  Check out that huge mistletoe!

The buildings were exactly what I would expect from a German village...so cute!

Trier Christmas market

Enjoying more gluhwein...this is where I actually had the real thing.  :)

Our next stop was the amazing village of Rothenburg.  This is THE picturesque German village and Christmas market you might see in a fairytale storybook.  This was definitely my favorite village.  We stayed overnight in a cute hotel run by a sweet German man who was quite the character.  :)

Adorable streets of Rothenburg

Rothenburg at night

Rothenburg Christmas market

The lights were so pretty!

Rothenburg is surrounded by a wall, dating back to medieval times.  You can walk along the wall around the entire village.

After returning from Rothenburg, we enjoyed a nice and relaxing Christmas at Mike and Jewlee's home.  It was so much fun to watch the kids' excitement while opening gifts on Christmas morning!  Later that afternoon, we were invited to one of their German neighbors' homes for cake and coffee.  What a treat!  Claus and Gertie served us a spread of different desserts with coffe and we really enjoyed visiting with them.  The way they entertain reminded me so much of my German grandparents.  :)

Kaiserslautern Christmas market...I can't recall what day we went here, but it was near Christmas.  We also stopped for dinner and had amazing schnitzel!!

The day after Christmas, we headed to Paris on the ICE train (the fast one that gets you there in two hours)!  We spent two nights in Paris in an adorable hotel near the Arc de Triomphe..amazing!  In addition to the Arc de Triomphe, we saw the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Louvre, and took in the sights of this romantic city.  The architecture is breath-taking!

Arc de Triomphe...just around the corner from our hotel!

The Eiffel Tower...impressive during the day but AWESOME at night!

Our best picture in front of the Eiffel Tower...taken with my iPhone.  Go figure.

Paris even had a Christmas market!

I think this was the Hotel de Paris from looking at the signs outside...stunning!!

Notre Dame 

We took a lunch break near Notre Dame and Blaine ordered a beer.  THIS is the obnoxious production that came to the table.  Times three!  All three of the guys ordered one.  ;)  

The Louvre Palace where the Louvre museum is located...once again, we were blown away by the amazing architecture and attention to detail!

Ah, the Mona Lisa.  We were not blown away by this...ask anyone who has seen it and they will probably concur.  While I'm sure the painting is fascinating in person, no one could get anywhere near it to enjoy it because of the ropes and annoying crowd of people trying to take self-portraits with the painting with their iPhones and iPads.  Not a great experience.  

On our last day in Paris, we were returning to the metro after finding a Starbucks for Jill's France mug :), and we stumbled upon this statue.  It is an exact replica of our Statue of Liberty's torch.  To our surprise, though, it also sits atop the tunnel where Princess Diana died.  I snapped this quick iPhone picture, only to realize later that I got a perfect shot of the Eiffel Tower in the background.  

We spent our last day in Heidelberg, another gorgeous German village.  We toured the Heidelberg Castle (beautiful!) and had a great meal of brats, potatoes, and sauerkraut.  Yummy!  Yes, I love sauerkraut...must be my German roots.  ;)

Looking over the village of Heidelberg

Heidelberg Castle

Heidelberg Castle

We really maximized our days of sight-seeing, despite my poor, swollen feet.  I can't wait to get back to Europe again to tour some more!  Thank you, Knapp family, for a great visit and fun memories!