Strasbourg, France {January 17}

Nate had a Church meeting in Strasbourg, France on a Saturday afternoon, so we decided to make a day of it and all go down with him. We got there around noon, ate our lunch in the car, then walked over to the Cathédrale Notre Dame de Strasbourg. I remember climbing to the top of the Cathedral when I was living in France with my family – about 26 years ago – and was looking forward to going back with my kids. We climbed all 330 steps to the top and the kids did great. Fortunately, as opposed to the Bruges Belfry tower, the Cathedral had one tower with stairs you climb up, and one with stairs you climb down. It was easier with the kids especially to not have to try to squeeze by strangers. The views from the top were gorgeous, and the architecture of the Cathedral is amazing, especially considering that construction started about 1000 years ago (although it wasn’t completed until 1439). The inside also has a huge astronomical clock.

After seeing the Cathedral, we took Nate to his meeting, then I took the kids back downtown and we walked through several souvenir shops to find a Christmas ornament and walked around the little streets for a while. The boys were really good at not touching things and had fun choosing an ornament (at least, I let them think they were choosing ;), but I could see the shop owners cringe every time I walked in with my 3 little kids. I tried to do a little shopping before picking Nate up, but the address I had took me to a random one-way residential street, so that was a failure. We went back and picked Nate up a little after 6, and drove home after stopping for some quick hot dogs at IKEA (it was the closest fast food we could find). It was a great day – I loved walking around the city and seeing all the cool buildings. We’ll have to try to go back sometime and see a little more of the city.

The parking spot we found happened to be right by the river, which was really picturesque. And on the right: the “windows” in the stairwell as we climbed up the Cathedral tower.

Views from the climb and the top:

below center: the astronomical clock; below right: there were swans in a lot of the shops, they must be a symbol of the Alsace region. Ryan kept wanting pictures with them.

 

Our Life in Luxembourg: Month 2

Buying our Europemobile – a Toyota Verso ‘MPV’ (multi-purpose vehicle) or ‘space wagon’. Its previous owners visited 15 countries in a year – we’re hoping to take it to at least half as many in twice the time :) (their kids were teenagers, a little easier to travel with)

Becky getting yelled at by an old Luxembourgish man for parking in front of his house (not his driveway, just on the street) when going to the house next door – buckling Eliza back in the car to move it 15 feet so he’ll stop yelling

Getting excited to go pick up a package that arrived, driving 20 minutes to the post office indicated on the notice, waiting in line for 10 minutes, being told to wait in another line, and finally being told the package was at a different post office – 5 minutes from our house, with no line. Thanks mailman.

our first Christmas away from family

our first German adventure – to the Christmas market in Cologne (Koln)

Christmas break trip to Bruges and Oostende, Belgium

Eliza taking her first wobbly little steps

Celebrating Epiphany with a Galette des Rois that neither of the boys liked – but were willing to pick through searching for the fève.

Saying the prayer in Sacrament Meeting in French, and getting several comments afterwards from people who didn’t realize I spoke French. I guess it just hadn’t come out yet!