taking one for the team....

This post is just to say that all you folks who've told us you're coming over sometime while we're here,both to see us and to see all the sights that are nearby..... we're expecting you.

We've got a guest room in the basement ready, but not without casualty. While we maneuvered the queen size boxspring into the basement with lots of muscle and the help of gravity (after removing the hand rails and sacrificing some paint in the stairwell), we're not getting it out without a chain saw. It would be a real shame to go through the motions of setting up a guestroom and yet not have any actual guests to put in it.

We'll leave a light on for you!

(Now I'm off to check on D who's in our room putting togethter our bed, which we were smart enough to leave boxed from the store so it could ship unassembled; there's NO way a kingwould've made it up the stairs. But if it can be put together now, it can be taken apart again when its time to pull up stakes.)

looks like we'll all have a place to sleep tonight :)

An Acquired Taste?

Ate lunch recently at the local subway. (Subway and Mcdonalds are the only two places I've found with fountain sodas or coffee in to-go cups). The menu is pretty much the same as in the states. However, the chip choices were interesting.

ever tried a prawn-flavored potato chip? Did you ever imagine such a chip existed? D ate the whole bag, so he must have liked them. Me, not so much.

Tonight is our last night in our guesthouse, which means this will likely be my last post until our internet gets up and running (two weeks if we're lucky, a month if we're not.)

Merry Christmas one and all. We're still undescided where we're headed for the holiday, so be sure to check back after the new year to see where we ended up!

Aachen and the Autobahn; Cereal and Sausages

We made it Aachen this past Saturday-- a really old German city (yeah think Charlemagne's time, so really yreally old). But this time of year it's claim to fame is that it hosts the largest Christmas market that's kind of close to us and has a fabulous toy store.


The weather Saturday was cold and drizzly, but if we waited for a sunny day to go anywhere we'd never get out.

The toy store is three levels and has a slide that the kids can slide on to get from the main floor to the basement. Saturday, St. Nikolaus was out giving presents to the kids. (St Nikolaus was also outside every store we walked pass giving out chocolate, so much so that when C was ready for more candy he'd say to me, "Where's Nikolaus")

The Market itself was super crowded, but it was still good fun to meander.

I started B on some cereal this week and as you can see from the picture he's already progressed from cereal to sausages.



To get to Aachen we took our first spin on the Autobahn. I didn't drive, but I did pass my driver's test last week and took the car out for the first time on Sunday. ("the car" would be the 1997 BMW Dan bought this week for our second car-- our orange box is still in transit.) Local lore has it that when you come to GK, you leave with either a baby or a BMW. BMW: check!