...so Daisy and I went for a walk in the park around the corner.
We saw tons of kids riding mini wooden sleds with runners beneath them. Daisy must have looked like she wanted to try...
...because a nice little girl offered to share her sled with Daisy. As you can tell, Daisy loved her first sled ride. (Thank you for safely holding her on and braking before you reached the street, nice little girl.)
We are so thankful to have seen all of our family in our visit to Orange County, California. During our two weeks + two days, we bounced back and forth between the two households. The weather was beautiful, we celebrated Christmas, the New Year, and our 6-year anniversary, and had a wonderful time reconnecting with our roots. Although Daisy got sick, antibiotics helped and we were all healthy by the time we needed to trans-Atlantic again.
Highlights with Chris' family:
4 Cousins = Heaven for Daisy. Katie, Jeremy, Bekah, Levi, Faith, and Claire made the trip down from Redding so that we could all spend Christmas together. I loved seeing Bekah teach Daisy how to ride a scooter, Claire (only 3 months age difference from D!) and Daisy playing and "communicating," and the whole gang work on some gingerbread houses. After they all went home (sniff), we spent {quieter!} time with Chris' parents reading Piglet books to Daisy and planning for our upcoming Italy vacation together. We also took a memorable trip to Balboa, complete with dinner on the pier during a blazing sunset.
Highlights with Holly's family: Daisy kept asking for "more tea" at her first Ladies Tea, hosted by her Great-Grandmother (Gigi), and stepped into a piece of Holly's childhood when she played with Great-Granny and Grandpa in Palm Springs. She learned about basketball and guinea pigs from Opa and Uncle Joel, tea parties from Grandmommy, and Snow White from Aunt Rebecca. We all had fun at an inspirational family New Year's Eve party {salon} where our topic was Carpe Diem. The Galileo brothers (aka Joel and Chris) took a trip to LA's Griffith Observatory, talked physics, and spent cold (haha) nights outside with Joel's cool new telescope. It was hard for all of us to say goodbye!
How did it come to be January 14? With our 2-week trip to California and a fire-cracking start to the new year back in Germany, my blog posts have certainly piled up. On to number 1:
No need to belabor these Christmas markets, but I had some images that I thought were worth sharing. Köln, a city 1 hour southwest of us, and home of this magnificent Gothic cathedral, had some wonderful markets. Popular, though; our regional train was standing room only the whole way there. Here are Chris and Daisy in front of the Dom markt, one of the seven markets in the city.
Another market had a medieval theme, with costumes, demonstrations like hammering iron, and the most wonderful bread. (It had way too much sugar in it to be authentically medieval, though.) It was hard to choose, but Chris chose "Viking Blood" as his hot beverage, while I took the opportunity to sip some Mead. (It was alright, kind of watery, I thought. That probably is authentic!)
From Köln, we traveled another hour west to Aachen, where we had first visited on Father's Day. This time, we were able to see Charlemagne's simple marble throne, perched on the 2nd floor of the chapel, which was not available for viewing last time. A French tour guide was saying something about how they believe that the marble was significantly brought over from Jerusalem. Also, I've read that Charlemagne symbolically placed his throne in the chapel instead of in a secular building, thus linking his authority with spiritual authority. We had time to see the market briefly before Daisy needed to go home. Here is the glowing city hall, and you can glimpse the tops of some of the tents below.
Sometimes, it's hard to remember that we're in Europe. But when I see a picture like this one of Chris, I realize how distinctively European these cities and sights are. We're hoping to soak it up during the rest of our time here!
Finally, here is a little video clip from our homey Mülheim market, which winds down through the old town and circles up by the church. Daisy loved all the Christmas trees that lined the streets! There were just the typical food and drink stands and decorative, handmade items for sale.
