Christmas

Olivia had a very good second Christmas, even though we are separated from the families. Olivia loved opening presents and getting gifts from Santa. She just didn't want to see Santa, more on that below. Here are a few pics to show how much fun she had.

Olivia opening the first of her presents on Christmas Eve. She really got into the swing of it, after opening a present she would look at the tree and say "more please."

Olivia holding one of her new presents. Needless to say, she was a bit peeved when there were no more gifts left.

This is Christmas morning, take two. The first time as she was about to come into the room, Heather said "Olivia, Santa brought you presents!" This was not what Olivia wanted to hear, we think she was scared the jolly old elf would actually be waiting for her (she's not a fan, see earlier posts.) So Olivia went back to bed for a little while to calm down. 20 minutes later she ran down the hall and was very excited to see all her new toys...

...big hits included the kitchen (left), the fairy princess dancing castle (pink thing behind her), and her new Fancy Nancy book.

Here is Olivia a bit later on wearing her new Christmas outfit (editors note: she is wearing a different outfit than Christmas eve, only the beret is the same). We cleared out the living room for a Christmas dinner with our Rota friends and Olivia danced to Christmas music in the new found space.

We hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas!

Our Germany Trip

So I am really dumb and should have organized the following posts better. We started in Aachen, Germany which is the last post from this trip. I should have done it backwards instead so Aachen would be what you see first. If you care about chronology, scroll down to Aachen and work your way back up. If you could care less, then start with Cologne and work your way down.
There are 6 total posts for our Germany trip. I know this is a lot but each post was worth mentioning and showing pictures. We enjoyed this trip so much and are so glad we went. It really put us in the Christmas spirit and reminded us of what is important in our life... all of you.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to our family and friends. We will be thinking of all of you this Friday with much love. Have a wonderful holiday.

Cologne (Koln), Germany

The last stop on our trip to Germany was Cologne. This town was almost completely destroyed by the Allies in WWII but miraculously the Gothic Cathedral in the center of the city escaped 14 bombings with little damage. The Cologne Cathedral is THE site to see in the city and it did not disappoint. I have seen a lot of cathedrals now and I must say, this one took my breath away. It is huge-you struggle to fit it into a picture. It was started in 1248 and finished in 1880. That's 600 years it took to build with some interruptions. It is the largest Gothic church in Northern Europe. It was built to house the remains of the 3 wise men that brought the gifts to Baby Jesus. Oh yes-they somehow tracked these 3 random guys down and got their remains. Hmmmm....Anyways, the cathedral is awesome!
We also visited the 5 Christmas markets in Cologne and the Schokoladen Museum. I will not tell you what the subject of that museum is. Just sound out the first word and you can figure it out. Or scroll down to see the pics of it! Either way, it was pretty cool.
I must apologize. For some reason, I did not steal the camera away from Justin enough so this post is me and O heavy.



The Kolner Dom. Justin had to get way down on the steps to include the spires.


A Christmas market next to the cathedral.

The sight as you enter the cathedral. The pic does not do justice to how huge this place was!


Ahhhh. THE sarcophagus that houses the remains of the "3 wise men". Or just 3 guys from that time period. You be the judge.

It's a knight buried here! I just thought that was cool. The statue on the top of this vault depicted the man in full knightly gear.

A view of the altar with the 3 kings sarchophagus lit up at the back.

Did you guess what the museum's subject was? CHOCOLATE. The museum showed the production of chocolate from the tree all the way to the sugary goodness we eat. Here the small bars go through the conveyor for sorting and packaging.

Free samples! As you can imagine, O loved this.


Justin in front of an enormous chocolate camel and wise man in honor of Christmas.


We assume "What can brown do for you?"


The "Angel Market" in Cologne. All the markets had a theme. This one was the prettiest we encountered on our trip.

Heading back to the hotel through the lit up shopping district. I could have done some serious damage here but the lock was tight around the wallet and Justin had the key.

Outside a department store. The windows were decorated with scenes. O loved it and just stared and commented on everything she saw. It was really sweet.

Here she is actually posing for the camera. It takes motorized stuffed animals to get this pic.

Random pic. On the way to the airport (we had time to kill) we found this palace and gardens and decided to walk around. It was really pretty but incredibly cold again. The pond to my right had swans swimming.

Trier, Germany

We headed to Trier after visiting Luxembourg. Trier is the oldest city in Germany founded in 16 B.C. and later became a Roman capital in Western Europe. Roman Emperor Constantine (the man that converted the Romans to Christianity) built a palace basilica in the 4th century AD here which still stands today. Trier also has a great shopping district and really nice Christmas markets!


The Porta Nigra (Black Gate). The best preserved Roman city gate north of the Alps. It got the name black gate in the middle ages because it turned so dark in color. It was built between 186-200 AD.


Olivia is checking out the inside of the Porta Nigra. On a similar note, she says "Roman ruins!" very well now that we moved to Europe.


The German market with the Trier Cathedral in the background. I show this picture twice so the focus in this one is on the cathedral. It is the oldest cathedral in Germany and was built on the foundations of a Roman building.

The view of the inside of the cathedral from the back of the altar.


A view of the inner courtyard of the cathedral from the cloister.


Aula Palatina or the Basilica of Constantine. This is what Emperor Constantine built in the 4th century to hold court and his throne room would have been inside.


The inside of Constantine's Basilica. It is now a working church but Constantine's throne would have been where the altar now is. It is a great representation of Roman architecture.


Let's switch gears for a moment. This is a pic of the Christmas market during the day. Where's the schmuck in the picture??? He he.


A view of the shopping area at night.


Okay this pic again. But this time the focus is on the market just outside the cathedral.


Every market had a merry-go-round. O loved to watch them.

O watching the merry-go-round.

We are sitting outside the cathedral looking back at the market and eating a Bulgarian funnel cake.

Nearing the end of our night in Trier. Had to try the Gluhwein!!

Luxembourg American Military Cemetery

About 20 minutes outside of Luxembourg City there is a small American military cemetery. We could not pass up the opportunity to see it as the foreign cemeteries for Americans killed in war are absolutely beautiful. This one was set up the same way as Normandy. A small chapel to pray, a memorial with a bell tower, maps of the battle and row upon row of beautiful white marble crosses. This one did not disappoint. There are close to 6000 men buried here.
We also had another reason to come to this specific cemetery. General George Patton is buried here. He chose not to be buried in America but amongst his troops. He also could have received a huge burial plot and monument but again chose to have the same simple marble cross grave like everyone else. What an amazing general and leader. Justin loves Patton so this was a big deal to see his grave.
It was again cold when we arrived here and there was just one other family walking around so it was peaceful and serene much like the Bastogne monument was. And we arrived at noon right when the bell tower chimes were striking. Very eery. Then after the chimes stopped, the bells chimed "Eternal Father, Strong to Save" followed by "America the Beautiful." I was so overwhelmed, I started to cry and I could tell Justin was moved as well. We live on a base that does not fly the American flag so when you see it flying, hear these beautiful patriotic songs played and stare at marble crosses of men who sacrificed everything, you can not help but be proud of America.



The gates leading into the cemetery.


Looking out on the marble crosses from the memorial chapel.


General George Patton's grave with the memorial chapel in the background.


Had to post this pic of Justin in front of Patton's grave. So cool to see it!


Olivia walking among the crosses. We felt that these men probably don't have a lot of visitors given the location of the cemetery so we thought they would not mind a 2 year old's voice and the pitter patter of her feet on the ground. We also walked all the way back to the end of the cemetery and took time to look at the graves. As Justin said, "These guys probably don't have many people walk back here and deserve a visitor too." I could not agree more.

A grave of an unknown.

We found out that just down the road there was a German soldier cemetery as well for the men who died fighting here. I had to go and see it. As I told Justin, "These men deserve a visitor also. They died for their cause as well." I went alone.

The entrance to the cemetery.


A view of the entire cemetery. The American soldiers buried these men after the battle. There are almost 10,000 men buried here. They are buried 2 to a grave. I was the only one here. I imagine this cemetery is forgotten and not visited much.

The big cross memorial at the top of the cemetery. It seems that their military graves are designed the same. When we visited a WWI German cemetery a few years back, they had the same type of cross for the graves.

Someone had been here recently! They left flowers at the grave. This was one of only 2 graves that had anything.

Here is an example of 2 people buried per grave. One has a name, one is unknown.

Luxembourg City, Luxembourg

After Bastogne, we traveled to Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. This tiny country is landlocked by Germany, France and Belgium. They have no Navy and their small army contribution to NATO is about 800 soldiers. They were a founding member of the European Union and are becoming a big banking center in Europe. The cost of living is high here. It is ruled by a Grand Duke and is a trilingual country-they speak German, French and their own Luxembourgish language.
We wanted to come here because it is hard to reach and we wanted to say we had been there. And that is pretty much where the excitement ends for this place. The old medieval fortifications of the city are pretty cool but that's about it. We got there in the morning and the weather was in the upper 20's with a fierce wind. Very Chicago-ish. I was very cold and not up to spending a huge amount of time here. Also, nothing was open!


O and I standing in front of the Duke Of Luxembourg's palace.

We are trying to keep up with the Royal Guard who is "patrolling" (aka keeping warm) in front of the palace.

Here we are freezing to death at the medieval fortications of the city.

Looking down from the wall. You can see medieval structures down there as well.