Christmas in Paris

We arrived in Paris on Christmas day.  Rather than transferring to another train to take us directly to the hotel, we decided to walk.  This longer than expected walk took us through the gardens surrounding the Louvre, through Concord Square and the Christmas Market on the Champs Elysées, which was just opening in time for us to get a crepe salee. It was a cold day but it was Christmas in Paris!  It was a dream come true.  Our hotel was a quintessential Paris hotel; The Hotel Napoleon.  The tiny, charming room seemed like the perfect place to spend Christmas.    

 What a perfect way to spend Christmas.  We explored the streets of Paris.  We have both been to Paris before.  Ryan while on a high school trip and me for work.  Paris is a very different city when you are there with someone you love.  We walked through two Christmas markets, watched the ice skaters at a tiny rink near the Eiffel Tower and sipped coffee in a cafe.  Later, we had a romantic dinner at a beautiful restaurant. 

  The next day, we continued to explore the city.  We took the subway to Montmartre and walked about a million steps to get to the Basilica and then up to the bell tower.  The view was well worth the walk. 

We left the Basilica just as the sun was setting.  We couldn't have planned it more perfectly.  The sky was the most stunning amber.  We stopped and watch sunset then walked the tiny streets of Montmartre in search if dinner.  After dinner, we walked to the Christmas market for crepes with nutella and banana.

On our last day we went to the Louvre and I finally got to ice skate in Paris!  Doesn't every little girl dream of spending Christmas in Paris with the love of her life? Well, I did.  Thank you Ryan for making another dream come true.

Christmas in Wiesbaden

Our first Christmas in Wiesbaden was beautiful.  We didn't actually stay for Christmas Day but with the Christmas Market just a few steps outside our front door, it felt like Christmas for the whole month of December.

We walked down to the market several days after work to look around and have some gluwien (hot, mulled wine- YUM!), which always seemed to hit the spot.  Or, we would go after dinner for dessert or just a frigid evening walk to look at the lights.

Living in the city in the winter was fantastic for us.  We both wanted to live in the city but I don't think either of us realized that it meant we could walk just two minutes to a party every evening.  There were lights at every turn.  Every store and restaurant was decorated or over-decorated.  When it snowed, which was often, it was like a winter wonderland.  It was the perfect place for us to spend our first winter in Germany.

We didn't have a Christmas tree since we were not planning to be home for Christmas so we claimed the city tree as our own...

The Longest 40-minute Commute Ever

Everyone in the office was talking about the snow. "It's really coming down out there," is what heard from several different people in which I had varying levels of confidence.  People began to leave early and since we didn't have the most reliable car or the requisite winter tires, we left too.  The drive on the autobahn wasn't too bad.  It was snowing and most people were driving at a good pace.  Germans are excellent drivers even in the snow.  

It was a Friday and the weather report indicated that we would be stuck in the apartment most of the weekend.  Since we didn't have TV or Internet, I talked Ryan into stopped to rent a few movies.  This is when it really got rough.  Leaving the base, which is the only place we know of to rent English movies, is all downhill.  Downhill is not good when the plows leave an inch of snow on the ground to be compacted into a solid sheet of ice.  We were on the sidewalk at one point.  We almost hit at least 3 other cars. There were a few very tense moments down this hill. When we got to the road that leads into the city, we saw the concrete and assumed it would be clear sailing to our parking garage.  Then we turned onto the street below, which you can see still has ice and snow. 

The drive from this point to our garage usually take 5 minutes.  However, this night, it took over an hour.  We slipped and slid all over the road.  We took turns pushing the car when it got stuck.  I begged Ryan to let me push through one intersection because I was afraid I couldn't steer.  My high-heeled boots really were impressive as the dug into the ice.  

 There were moments when Ryan didn't want me to talk because he was concentrating and the moment above when he was in utter disbelief that the city had left so much snow un-plowed.

After over 2 hours on the road, we decided that we would not make it up the hill to our parking garage so we stopped in another garage and walked the rest of the way.  This was a pretty stressful drive home so the last thing I was expecting when Ryan called me out to the balcony was to see that he had written "I love you" in the snow.  After this horrible night, all he wanted to do was see me smile.  

And, I did smile... for the rest of the night.  I knew at that moment that no matter what went wrong for us as long as we stuck together and took care of each other, everything would work out just fine.  

We decided to walk to the Viking restaurant for dinner and this time, we enjoyed the snow.  When you don't have to drive in it, the snow really makes the city beautiful! 

Trier, Germany

Before leaving the states we visited some family and friends to tell them we were moving.  Ryan's grandfather, although excited for us, was very sad.  We told him over breakfast and he left feeling pretty down but about an hour later he called and asked if we would come to his place for lunch.  When we arrived, he took us out to the recreation room where had laid out newspaper clippings, photographs, maps, photocopies from the library and books.  He asked us to show him where we would be living on one of the maps.  We pointed out the Mainz & Wiesbaden area, which happened to be pretty close to a town called Trier.  It's the oldest known city in Germany and also just happens to be where Ryan's Great Grandparents were born and raised.  We spent the afternoon looking at tattered old black and white photographs that Grandpa Fox has tried to so hard to maintain.  We read the articles and listened as Ryan's Grandpa told us the story of how his parents arrived in the states, his father's thick German accent, how his father made his own beer (or bier in German). By the end of the afternoon Grandpa Fox was much happier for us and made us promise to make Trier our first road trip and that we did!   

Thanksgiving weekend was a four-day weekend of course so we thought it would be perfect to visit Trier.  The only problem was that it was raining in Trier.  We didn't see very much of the city; the cold November cut our trip short.  First we walked through the Christmas market a bit but the rain increased so we headed into the cathedral. The Dom St. Peter in the marktplatz (market place) at the center of town is the oldest church in Germany.  It was built in Roman times, 326AD by Constantine.  The remaining church is only a quarter of the size of the original but still houses the Robe of Christ.  The Robe was said to be worn by Christ during the crucifixion.  This church still receives religious pilgrims.  

We also saw the Porta Nigra, which means Black Gate.  It is the oldest defensive structure in Germany (180AD)

We thought Trier was beautiful and we know there is much more to see so we plan to go back when the weather is better to see the town and take pictures for Ryan's grandfather so that he can see where his parents were born and raised.

Thanksgiving Day 2009

We were still living in the Mainz Hilton on Thanksgiving Day.  The Mainz Christmas market had just opened.  With an invite to a have an American Turkey Day dinner with friends, we decided to spend the morning in the Markt Platz at the Christmas Market.  This was our first Christmas market experince.

There were stalls selling Christmas decorations, wine, honig (honey) in very yummy sounding flavors, various handmade Christmas gifts, gluwein and lots and lots of very unhealthy German treats.

We thought we would have a little snack to tide us over until dinner.   Crepes with banana and nutella and gluwein were just perfect!

We had a delicious introduction to the German Christmas Markets.

We found a wine stall with pretty baskets to pick something up for our Thanksgiving dinner hosts.  This was a very different Thanksgiving for both of us and we loved every minute of it!

We visited the area about 5 months before moving but at the time we didn't know we would be moving. We stayed in Mainz, a beautiful old town on the Rhine River, when we visited.  We thought it would be a good place for us but the apartment hunting proved to be a bit of a challenge.   Most of the apartments were tiny with no closets and a spare room just big enough for the cat.

Our daily routine consisted of waking up to have breakfast in our room, going to get a newspaper, using Google translator to translate the descriptions of the apartments in the paper and on various real estate sites.  For two weeks did nothing but process paperwork to start our new jobs and look for a place to live.

Fisher was growing tired of the hotel.  It wasn't so much the hotel he didn't like but the maid who came in with the ridiculously scary vacuum every day.  In the picture above he is waiting patiently for his daddy to find a house.

We decided to shift our focus to Wiesbaden.  It is a slightly larger city near Mainz.  But, we had a little trouble here too.  For example, these pink houses just would not do....

We found one apartment that was just perfect, overlooking the Market Square in the center of Wiesbaden but the day we were to sign the lease, the owner decided he wanted to lease it to a German man.  Feeling defeated, we were running out of time.  We went to see one more apartment downtown.  We had no expectations.  By now, Germany had taught us that expectations only led to disappointment.

We set out in the morning to meet the real estate agent.  We loved the location.  We loved the rickety old elevator that took us up to the penthouse and opened right up into the apartment.  Once inside, we discovered that we loved just about everything about the place.  It was too good to be true.  Then the real estate agent told us that the owner would not agree to a lease with an American.  This was our last hope for a decent apartment in the city.  Ryan asked for the agent to double check and refused to let me be disappointed just yet.  By the time we had walked back to our car, the agent called and said the owner would agree!  The apartment would be ours!  We were elated, relieved and a bit disbelieving.  Was this this end of our endless search?  It was!


This is our new apartment-

Away We Go!

On November 5, 2009 we set off on our 3-year adventure of living in Europe. With lots of errands to complete before lunch with the family and our flight to Germany, we woke up early and headed out to get started.  Later we had lunch with my family to say goodbye.

Danielle gave me a beautiful Tiffany Key locket.  She noticed that I was eying the keys when we were at the Tiffany store in NYC.  She made it extra special by placing pictures of us as babies inside!

Then, after a lot of tears, we said good-bye and Danielle took us to Dulles Airport.  It seemed like a longer drive than usual with the anticipation building and Fisher whining to get out of his kennel.  I felt so sad for Fisher knowing what was in store for him.

It was hard to say goodbye to Danielle at the airport.

But, we had to say goodbye and take Fisher to check-in.  We gave him a little, pink pill that the vet said would help him relax and not care so much about the trip but wouldn't make him sleep.  By the time we got to the desk, he didn't seem to care as much about being in the kennel or in the strange place but it was still hard for me.

We had so many emotions.  This was a big step for us.  We were about to move to Germany.  Neither of us spoke German.  We had only spent 5 days there.  Who knew if we would love it or hate it?  Who knew where we would live?  Regardless of all the unanswered questions, we were prepared to live out the answers.  We were prepared to live this adventure together and this was definitely going to be an adventure!

So, away we go!!

Packing out...

Normally, when the luggage comes out Fisher gets very curious.  He sniffs around, probably wondering how long we will be come this time.  This time was different.  Fisher would be going with us.  I wonder if he knew this??

We packed the things that we would take with us on the flight. Next, the packers would come to pack everything else.  One shipment would be sent by boat and would take about six weeks.  Another by air and would take a week or two.  This second shipment would be for essentials, the things we needed within the first month or two.  A third shipment would be taken to storage where we would not have access until we move back to the states. 

Packing all of your belongings and deciding what to take with you on a 3 year move to Germany is an interesting endeavor.  We wanted to pack as light as possible and in doing so, we left a lot of furniture behind.  What would we need over the next three years?  What would fit in the the tiny European apartments we heard so much about?

Watching someone else pack your things compels you to think and re-think; will I really need that?   No, put it in the storage pile.  No wait...   In the end, we should learned we should have brought more furniture but we didn't leave anything behind that we could not live without.

We put the condo up for rent with my beautiful sister...

 




She found a renter a few months later... thankfully!