Sunday, January 10, 2010

Holiday Summary :)

Hi again!

I'm back with more of the details and pictures I'm sure you ALL have been waiting SO anxiously for. :) :)

You can see my pictures from our Christmas holiday here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2012470&id=142700074&l=4a0ee89587

The Tuesday before Christmas I left by bus and headed to my Aunt Ang's house in Konigfeld, the Black Forest of Germany. I switched to a train a few hours later and had a pretty uneventful 8 hour tour of the country side.

I had seen lots of pictures of my Aunt's house over the years (she's lived there with her roommate Edda for the past six years, and in Germany for the past twenty!) and it was so fun to see it all in person. The rest of my family wasn't coming until the Saturday after Christmas, so we had a few days to spend on our own. (The first few pictures in the album are of their house and town, after Mom, Dad, Maria and Nick had arrived)

I honestly felt like a little kid at Disney World - Aunt Ang and Edda's home was so cozy and beautiful, and they were so welcoming and willing to do whatever we wanted for the day! :) On Wednesday we went to a little town a couple hours away called Rothenburg o.d. T. (Those are next in the picture order). It was a 900 year old Castle town with a large part of the Castle walls still intact. We were able walk around a good part of it, and then went down into the cute little streets and shops.

Thursday was Christmas Eve and we spent the morning and afternoon relaxing and drinking tea. In the evening we went to two different Christmas Eve services. The first was at Aunt Ang and Edda's church. It was all in German, but they were kind enough to welcome me to Germany (during the announcements up front! :) and wish me a Merry Christmas. I tried my best to say it in German, but it never did turn out too well. :) The second service we went to was at the Moravian church in their town. Here they had a huge tree up at the front with real candles all lit on it! This service was in German as well, but I was able to follow what the Pastor was saying while he was holding up a highligher - that the birth of Jesus was the one story that God highlighted and said to world "Look at this! This is what it's all about! Don't miss it!" Good service. They also had a beautiful brass choir that played during the service and outside afterwards (Stille Nacht!).

Friday was Christmas Day, and we spent it in a very delightful way - Aunt Ang and I drove to a salt water springs spa town about twenty minutes from Konigfeld. They had about three different pools, all hot and salty and two different saunas. One of the pools was outside and we enjoyed that with the snow falling all around :) That evening some of Edda's family came from Switzerland and we had a very nice lunch and dinner with them.

Saturday was the big day and Aunt Ang and I went early to pick up the family in Zurich, Switzerland. We got stopped at the border and actually had our car searched and passports checked (I guess we looked pretty suspicious with our sunglasses and bagpacks lol) but we were soon on our way and got there in a little over an hour. We took a train up to a mountain close by and spent a few hours in view of the Alps! (The next set of pictures in the album). Pictures can obviously not do it justice, but it was hard not to try and capture the beauty. There was an observation tower to climb up for a better view, and a very nice restaurant we had lunch at. We were able to spend a couple of hours there and view the Alps at different times of the day. So fun! We then got a call from Dad saying that they were actually still in London and wouldn't be getting to Zurich for another few hours. While we were very anxious to see them, we were pretty excited to have another few hours to look around the city. It reminded me a little bit of Prague, but it definitely was a unique city, sitting on a lake at the base of the Alps.

We picked up the family and spent the next few days hanging out and enjoying our time together. On Monday we visited the town of Triberg, home of the world's largest cuckoo clock, and on Tuesday we all packed up and headed back to Prague.

I loved being able to show everyone around - both to my favorite "home-town" spots and the glorious post card sites Prague is known for. Old Town Square at night and the Castle were some of the favorites, I think. We were also all able to stay at my flat, so that was fun and convenient too.

New Years Eve was lots of fun - Prague is known for it's fun party scene for that evening, including fireworks being set of by anyone and everyone, metros and dark alleys not excluded. So, rather than risk losing a limb, we decided to do our own celebration at our flat. We went grocery shopping and made a big pasta dinner and welcomed in the New Year with some wine and a Berlin station count down on TV. At midnight the fireworks exploded and we went back and forth from my top-floor living room, balcony and bedroom, looking out the windows watching them all on the horizon. It lasted for almost an hour and sounded like we were in the middle of a war zone. Definitely a fun thing to experience.

Well, that about sums it up, I think. :) It's past my bedtime now so I'm going to go. More to come later though!

Love to all!!
Steph

2 comments:

  1. Great summary, Steph!! Mind if I borrow some of it for my January letter? Thanks!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Plagiarism is a serious offense, mom... but if you insist... :)

    ReplyDelete