Today we got up early, ate breakfast, finalized our packing, and set out for Frankfurt. At 9:00 we called a taxi to take us to the bus station. We weren’t expecting the taxi to show up so soon. (I guess they don’t get much business at 9:00 a.m. on Saturdays.) The taxi driver got us and our luggage to the bus stop by 9:05 which meant we had a long, cold wait until the bus arrived at 9:59. The two-day Christmas market in Baumholder meant that main street and the regular bus stop were closed to traffic, so we were at [View Full Entry]

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Baumholder had their Christmas celebration in front of town hall (the Rathaus) despite bad weather tonight. We took June Bug and enjoyed a horn ensemble, a chorus, and some sweet kiddie carnival rides. Baumholder isn’t very big, but the crowd was. I think everyone in the village was there. It was lovely. Germans really know how to get into the Christmas spirit. [View Full Entry]

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Watching the scenery go by as I sat on a bus with 21 Americans, 2 Germans, and 2 Russians, I thought about all the things I love about Germany. Everything outside my window looked so green, and it reminded me of the sensible laws Germans have to do their share in protecting the environment. First of all, everyone recycles. You have to, it’s the law. If you try to dispose of a huge bag of recyclable trash, you’ll get a fine, and the trash men will leave your trash behind. That’s right, if you don’t recycle all of your waste is [View Full Entry]

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I think I've had enough of typing, so I'll just give you the quick synopsis of our last day in France. We went to the museum of antiquities in Arles. We flew back to Germany and drove home. I didn't see any American flags on the 4th of July, just lots and lots of German flags. They were on all the cars and hanging from all the houses. People were hurrying to get home in time to watch the game. Most of them were wearing German soccer jerseys or something else in black, gold, and red. Go Germany! [View Full Entry]

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Today we ventured out to Arles. If you’re ever looking for a party at 11:00 on a Monday morning, go to Arles on the day of a bull show. We were planning on touring the Roman Arena and visiting the museum of antiquities; we weren’t expecting packed streets, live bands, wild dancing, horse parades, and live bulls roaming the streets. (For the record, we never saw a live bull, just the triangle-shaped warning signs. We did however stumble into music, dancing, and a horse procession. Festivities were going on all over the place.) We couldn’t tour the Roman Arena, because th [View Full Entry]

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We started Sunday at Avignon’s market. We looked around at all the stalls. June Bug liked the fish. She kept telling me she saw Nemo. David liked the bunny carcasses. They looked just like bunnies (heads and ears still attached), except that they were fleshy and dead instead of being warm and fuzzy. He wanted to point them out to June Bug, but I begged him not to. I liked looking at the sweets, and we left with two little pineapple-coconut cakes. (Sorry guys, no stinky fish or rabbit carcasses today!) As we headed out of the Market, June Bug wiped [View Full Entry]

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Saturday found us back in the hotel lobby enjoying a free continental breakfast again. One of the men who sets out breakfast and clears the table crouched down next to June Bug and smiled at her. She stopped eating and frowned at him. When he left, she looked at Papa and me and said, “I was thinking, ‘get out of here, you’re gonna make people sick.’” After breakfast we headed off to Les Baux-de-Provence to see the castle on the cliffs and the medieval town. We parked in the public parking lot surrounded by beautiful scenery. I was happy to see [View Full Entry]

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We started our day with a free continental breakfast at the hotel. June Bug was enjoying her plateful of croissants, fruit, and cheeses when she said, “What I look like a vegetarian?” I laughed out loud. That was the first time I had ever heard her use the word vegetarian. We headed off for the center of town. Avignon is surrounded by a pretty city wall and the Palace of the Popes is visible from far away. By the time we arrived all the obvious parking just outside the city walls was taken, so we spent a long time weaving in [View Full Entry]

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We’re traveling again. For those of you who aren’t familiar with our travel-styles: I like to have everything planned way in advance, David makes it up as he goes along. Our trip to France was extremely under-scheduled because I had been ill, and up until Wednesday we were still debating whether or not to go. For a couple of days I was unable to stand or walk. On my worst day I couldn’t even hold a drink up to my mouth, but the doctors gave me some super strong antibiotics to fight my infection and now I’m doing better. Even [View Full Entry]

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We went into Idar-Oberstein today. I had some delicious wurst. I’ve been living in Germany for over a year now, and this was my first wurst experience. It has always looked unappealing to me, but darling daughter was hungry and she kept shouting that she wanted a “hotdog,” so I bought her some wurst. It was too much for her to eat, so I helped her out. It was delicious. It tasted like maple-syrup flavored link sausages, but the texture was better. We bought a toy porcelain tea set. I was very impressed with the selections of tea sets in Germany. [View Full Entry]

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