Eurotrip 2013

Also in Rothenburg is the international Christmas museum. Who doesn’t love Christmas?

They have ornaments and decorations dating back hundreds of years and information to go along with it.

Did you know Santa Claus was actually a combination of two people? One was Nikolaus, who went around giving the kids presents. He was accompanied by an evil companion, sometimes called Krampus, who would beat the bad children with a stick! He was eliminated for obvious reasons.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber is a small German town still preserved as it was in the medieval ages. It has a city wall that encloses the city (you can see Leah sticking her headout the window above). There is no driving allowed in the city and all of the hotel, restaurant, and shop workers are in costume.

We also happened to arrive the day of their big annual festival, so the town was packed and there were parades of people on horses singing German songs and of course drinking beer.

Today we went to the Wurzburg palace which was inhabited by a wealthy Archbishop in Bavaria. The place was stunning as you can see above, where Leah is checking out the gardens. Napoleon stayed there once in the guest room.

After the palace was Schnitzel and some delicious beer, of course.

We have arrived in Germany and all is well. Also, all is exactly how we pictured. The beer is delicious and the meat is plentiful. We’re sure this will be the recurring highlight of the trip but more updates to come soon.

Last day in Paris. Finally had some lovely weather so we enjoyed some mid day wine outside which is what every other Parisian was doing. Not sure how these people live so long because they seem to drink wine every hour of the day. Au revoir Paris!

We also visited the Centre de Pompidou which is a fairly new museum in Paris that houses modern and contemporary art as well as media centers, technology exhibitions, etc. Leah loved the modern furniture exhibits and I loved the technology aspect. Very cool museum.

Went to a phenomenal dinner this evening where we had fondue of meat and cheese. Tables were very close together and it became a United Nations of travelers. We made friends from all over the world including (from left to right, above), Mexico, USA, Australia, and Italy.

The Italians asked us if we lived near a town called “Hoboken” because that’s where the Cake Boss lived and they loved the show. They were extremely jealous when I told them I walk by the bakery every morning.

Sacre coeur! A beautiful church at the north of Paris overlooking the entire city

We rented the city bikes in Paris and biked all over the city today. For a couple Euros, we were able to use them for 24 hours and drop them off at any any location around the city. Very easy way to the city and looking forward to seeing how they work in NYC.

Guten Tag Friends and Family,

Apologies about the lack of updates. We have been quite busy and have had some trouble finding Internet in Germany. We are having a blast still and will update soon. In the meantime, here is a pensive panorama from the Arc de Triomphe.

Hope al is well back home.
Andrew and Leah