It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

And is too -- sunny and 55 degrees, wow, what a nice change.
We walked the farmroads to a local bakery and didn't even mind that much when we got there and the bakery was closed. D had preschooler with him on the bike, so we sent them a little further to the bakery in the next village. Fortunately, it was open, and they came back with the BEST Berliner I've had yet.

We tackled Aachen this weekend too, riding the train instead of driving. C very much enjoyed the train experience. Tip: look for the handicap train cars -- the seats aren't as comfortable, but there are no steps and lots of space for the stroller. The Aachen station's not a bad walk from the historic center. We strolled the streets; ate lunch at an awesome tex-mex place (think a classier, yummier, grownup MOES); took C to the toy store; visited the German version of Borders -- that had a carousel in the kids section, btw; sampled the Printin; and took the time to tour Charlemagne's Cathedral and Treasury (which boasts a rather impressive collection of medieval relics, the largest in Northern Europe).

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!