Life: Idiotropic

This morning we enjoyed a nice breakfast in the hotel via room service. It was, of course, the traditional French breakfast. A baguette, a croissant, and a chocolate filled croissant, jam and butter, a clementine, and an apple sauce, plus all the beverages we'd ordered - coffee, juices, and hot cocoa. It was nice that first morning to wake up not having to worry about where to find breakfast and it helped us get going at a reasonable hour (not a small feat with four daughters all of whom care about what they are wearing - yes, even Elise).

We took the Metro from St. Augustin to Franklin D. Roosevelt and then switched lines from the "mushy peas" to the yellow line and stopped at Concorde. Switching lines wasn't horribly easy. You really need to know more than just the color of the line as the colors aren't used except on the maps themselves, so it helps to know the ends of each line as that is what you'll see on the signs. It took us a loop or two to find the yellow. The tunnels weave in and out of each other quite a bit and they get crowded. A man played the clarinet to some classical music on the side of one tunnel. Large posters framed by colored tiles lined the sides of the tunnel.

Coming up from the Metro out to the Concorde was nice. It was cold and grey, but the pond and Ferris wheel were right there. Luci didn't want to go on the Ferris wheel, so I took Tiara and Arianna on it while Kirk stayed with the little two. There was no line at all, so as soon as it stopped, we were first to hop on. Then we sat at the top while they loaded more people. I tried to take pictures, but every little move made our basket turn and rock - something that made Tiara and myself very nervous. The Ferris wheel is big and a little taller than I am comfortable with and seeing Kirk and my other girls in ant form at the bottom made the height pretty obvious. Being in the middle of things, it is a great vantage point to get the view of the city and a better sense of the layout. It was the first time I'd seen the Seine river and the Eiffel tower in the day.




Photos: 1) The Egyptian Obelisk, a gift from the Egyptian viceroy to King Phillip, in the foreground with the Ard De Triomphe in the back center 2) The Eiffel Tower and the Seine River 3) The Grand Palace 4) The pond in front of the Ferris Wheel in the foreground, then the Tuileries and Jardin des Tuileries (I'm sure much prettier with foliage in the summer), and the Louvre is the big mass of grey in the background
Scattered around prominent tourist spots in Paris including the Ferris Wheel at the Concorde were little carnival style rides for small children that were absolutely free for the holidays. It was nice. Those little things just make it that much more friendly and so far, the Parisians have been very friendly. So, the kids and Kirk enjoyed a carousel ride once we got off the Ferris Wheel. It was right there and something that the little ones could enjoy.


Conveniently next to the carousel and quite unavoidable was the waffle/crepe stand. They also sold bratwurst style long sausages in baguettes, but the "healthy" food was overshadowed by the crepes and waffles. My little ones have been in Brussels enough to know exactly how absolutely necessary it is to eat a good waffle when one presents itself. Truly, there is no refusing that sticky glob of dough if you're under the age of 10. Even Kirk and Tiara wanted one on this day, so I ordered 5 waffles with really obnoxiously messy powdered sugar that soon coated coats and gloves (for Kirk and the kids), and one delicious crepe (for me, of course).






Feeling relatively well nourished from our sugary dough and wanting to have a decent amount of time in the Louvre, we began the walk through the Jardin des Tuileries (fancy talk for a big green space with a lot of leafless trees) towards the Louvre. I didn't know until approaching it that it was housed in the old Royal Palace. The leafless gardens ended, old white statues with birds on every head circled the pond at the Louvre end of the garden, and then we saw this amazing building that seemed to go on forever. It was huge. The entire building is not used for the museum, but a good portion is and the building itself is quite a museum piece. Walking up the steps towards the entrance we passed countless men selling art - the same cheap reproductions that we saw everywhere in Paris - but these were 10Euros each - a very high price for what it was. One vendor also sold sweaters and very cute little hats - something that tempted me just a little on the cold December day.

Although Elise was carried quite a bit on the trip as a whole, she was spunky and full of energy on this day walking the entire length of the gardens - all the way from the waffle stand to the Louvre without being carried once. Luci, however, never the conformist, rode in the stroller.

Beyond the fountains and the statues is a beautiful gate just sitting all alone marking the way to the Louvre beyond it. The entrance of the Louvre is in a large glass modernistic pyramid that rises from the pavement in the middle of the palace square in stark contrast to the old stone building facade and it's heavy ornately carved gate. It's surrounded by large pools of water with fountains. Upon entering the pyramid, we had our bags scanned as if in an airport, then took the escalator down into the large open area that truly did feel more like a busy metropolitan airport than a museum. It was large, open, and scurrying with people going in all directions. Big signs over the doors led way to various portions of the museum as if heading off to the C concourse to catch a flight. Inside they had various gift shops, a Starbucks, a restaurant, a lot of little food stands, information booths and many ticket sellers. We had to go down one wing to buy our Museum passes - a great deal as they were good for admission into most of Paris' museums and monuments.

Not knowing exactly where to start, Kirk decided that if we saw nothing else, we should see La Jaconde (the Mona Lisa), so we entered that wing and followed the signs to see her. Some rooms allowed photography and others not. Little poles with ropes connecting them (like the ones in the bank, but shorter) ran along most walls to keep people an arms length away from the precious paintings. A huge atrium of sculpture lay off to one side. Another room we caught sight of was closed to the public and was filled with beautiful sculpture still wrapped partly on wooden slats - may be new acquisitions or things moving on. The museum itself was beautiful. The inside vast and elegant with gorgeously carved columns and embellished ceilings.

The museum itself truly is something that should take days. It is impossible to see everything enough to really appreciate it all in a short period of time. Each room was different -- not only the art in it, but the room itself. It was apparent that quite a bit of thought went into the style of the room -- the color, architecture, and size -- and the art that would fit best into it.

The Mona Lisa was on a wall all by herself in the middle of a large room. Ropes kept the crowds back and two guards stood by it where most rooms shared one guard with several other rooms. I saw the crowd before I saw the Mona Lisa and though it is not my favorite painting, I could see why she was special. It really is different in person - the colors that film cannot capture. I couldn't photograph her and the postcard does no justice, but she glowed. The colors brighter, more intense, and more lifelike seeing her in person.

Walking back we also saw the Venus de Milo - also sitting by itself in the middle of the room with a decent crowd around her.

Tiara studied Egypt this last term in school, so we went through the expansive Egyptian art section there, saw a lot of papyrus, stone carvings, sarcophagi, and a very well preserved mummy. It was in this area that Kirk and I saw by far the oldest "things" we'd ever seen. Truly, looking at the museum's collection is one thing. It is too easy (especially with the four girls) to walk by, think, "oh, that is pretty" or "interesting style," without really looking at the art itself, trying to read the description written only in French, or looking at the dates. It's then that the things jump out at you. And, with Kirk and his incredible grasp of history at my side, those moments when we did talk about a particular item, made those things so much more special - realizing their age, the civilization that created them, and what was going on at that time. Those details made the "ordinary" art become really quite extraordinary.

After all that we'd been at the museum for about 3 hours and everyone was getting antsy. We walked through some 17th C. French art - not the impressionists (my favorites), so it didn't excite me, and then saw two Vermeer paintings before we left. (Tiara really likes Vermeer's work, so if we're in a museum with Vermeer, we'll see those paintings.)


Photographs above: 1) a mummy 2) one of several long rows of sarcophagus' 3) One of 36 capitals of a column from the audience hall of the palace of Darius I (Elise is standing to the right to give it scale) 4) The front of an Egyptian stone 5) Arianna admiring a painting in the French wing

Photographs below: 1) Arianna in front of a case full of carvings 2) My three youngest enjoying the airvents that made their hair dance and filled their dresses. This was probably the highlight of their day as they found the airvents in each room, dancing on them and laying on them. 3) The three little girls resting on a bench in the last room that we visited before leaving the museum 4) Part of the Louvre taken from a window inside








Tempted, we walked through a beautiful gift shop full of beautiful overpriced souveniers, but we managed to come away with only some very carefully chosen postcards. A food cart nearby did afford us the opportunity to sit before leaving though so we enjoyed some nice baguette sandwiches and fanta. For someone with a few less children, it would be very comfortable to spend an entire day there with the nice eateries and ample places to sit and rest.

That was the last stop of our day. Everyone had sore feet from so much walking and standing and it was already getting dark. Below are photos of the St. Augustine church, our hotel, and the view from our room window that evening:



Getting back, everyone was tired except me and it was too early for dinner, so I went out for a little walk to buy some fruit and pastries for the next morning's breakfast. The little patisserie around the corner had some wonderful breads including the chocolate filled croissants the girls like and a raspberry cheesecake tarte that was heavenly. The fruit stand sold me fruit for 1 Euro a piece (when the grocery store was only a block away - I found that out later). The chocolate shop around the corner looked good, so I stopped in there and got a few little chocolates to try. One was Earl Grey - my favorite tea, so I was curious to see what it would be like in chocolate. Up the street was a wine shop. The windows were entirely covered on the inside with rows upon rows of wine, cases sat casually outside in the cold, and a large wooden barrel stood just by the door with the words "probst" on it - meaning "try." On the barrel were a couple wine glasses, a baguette and a wheel of brie, and a couple open bottles of wine. It looked delicious, but I didn't try any of it. Arianna had a hard time sleeping the night before, so before heading back to our room I also stopped into the pharmacy there. The two older men working there were very kind. One spoke fair English and helped talk to the man behind the counter who gave me something for her. I was amazed at how warm and friendly they were even with my complete lack of French language skills. There were no medications out where the public could reach them. In the shop were bath salts, cosmetics, and other little things for sale. To obtain any sort of medication you actually have to talk to the pharmacist behind the counter and trust that he's making the right decision - no shopping around and no brand choices. I asked if he had something for my daughter's congestion and cough, motioning to the nose and throat, and he gave me a little white box of pills saying to give Arianna 3 each day. It felt strange. The box had no directions that I could find. I only had to take the word of the man there. German pharmacies are the same.

When I got back we relaxed a little more and flipped through the channels on the t.v. stopping to watch the Circe Du Soliel. One act included a few emu. When Elise saw them, she got excited and said, "Look! Goose!"

At 7:30 we all went to the Petite Carte for dinner. Since our hotel is a military officer's hotel, the meals are not inflated in price like other local restaurants. They have both the Petite and Grand Cartes - the small and large (fancier) restaurants. We dressed nice and went to the Petite Carte which served ample food for us. They seated us in a nice dining room at a big table next to a little one where an older gentleman sat. Our waiter spoke a little English, so he was able to help us with our menu choices.

As with most traditional French restaurants, dinner is served in courses - not ala carte, so we chose our first, lighter course, then our dinner plate, and then afterwards were given the choice of dessert.

The first courses were hard to figure out, so I just ordered a bit of everything spread out over the family so we could try and learn what it all was. Tiara's appetizer was a nice ice-cream-scoop sized ball of very tasty guacamole that she ate with her bread. Kirk had a wonderful strained vegetable soup with a very intense flavor, but absolutely no chunks. The little girls had very nice salads that they ignored, and I had a plate with 4 thin deli-slices of some sort of pork sausage drizzled with a vinaigrette dressing. It was all very good.

For our dinner, Arianna and Luci both had a very good breaded chicken filet with french fries. Kirk and I both chose the salmon baked in foil with vegetables - another great choice. Tiara had ham that was served with the most yummy pureed broccoli. The broccoli had the taste of broccoli, but the consistancy of mashed potatoes. Tiara didn't care for it, but it was wonderful and Kirk devoured it. It's something that is worth replicating at home.

During this time Luci had been picky about her salad and picky about her fries, so the nice man next to us smiled at her and kept giving her little breaded and fried potatoe balls (croquettes?). She loved those and kept smiling back and him and very politely asking for more. That got a conversation going. During at least half of our meal, Kirk and the Colonel (we never learned his name) talked with each other in very slow French and English and drew pictures and wrote notes on paper to try to communicate. The Colonel was very friendly and we enjoyed our little communication with him.

Dessert was next. The three little ones had the most delicious ice cream I've ever tasted. Elise and Luci had true French Vanilla - a flavor different from anything I've ever had with the dark flecks of vanilla bean present. Arianna had the most wonderfully balanced, yet intense dark chocolate ice cream. Tiara and I kept begging for bites. It was all served in chocolate covered ice cream cone bowls. Tiara, Kirk, and I had the apple tart with a rhubarb sauce - very good, but nothing like the ice cream.

By the time dinner was over it was almost 10. Meals can last a long time in Paris.

Below is a great photo from the ferris wheel - click to enlarge it if you can. It shows the Eiffel tower and the Seine River, the Grand Palais, the Arc de Triomphe, and the Obelisk.

It doesn't matter how excited we might be, it still takes absolutely FOREVER to get out of the house on a non-school morning with the girls. The goal was to leave around 10. That should have given us ample time. Still, it was a bit after 10:30 and Stella (GPS) estimated a four-hour travel time from our house to the hotel. How I wish that would have been true!

The drive was beautiful, actually. Belgium is hilly and green and since we were going along a route I hadn't been before, so the villages were unique to me and very nice. One village was deep in a valley surrounded by high green hills. One hill, perfectly centered in the back of the valley, jutted out into the middle of the deep and displayed a beautiful old church sitting up high in the middle of the little houses in the village below. It looked like something out of a painting.

We stopped as we neared the border to get gas in the car and stop at a little convenience store to get some car snacks. It had American stuff - little cans of Pringles, sodas, and other junk food. But - it also had fresh baguettes, yummy turnovers and waffles, and good salamis and cheeses.

Traffic slowed as we crossed the border into France through the old pre-EU check-point, but sped up again afterwards as the buildings spanning over the autobahn were dark and abandoned. A very nice sign just inside the border listed the gas stations ahead with prices of the fuel and distances to the stations making planning easy. We hadn't gone far when we came upon a cluster of large buildings. The biggest one of all was Columbia Sportsware with 85 docks! 3M and Royal Canine housed other large buildings there.

The terrain became flat with fields stretching out as far as we could see with villages built in perfect squares set in among the crops. Most of the small villages that we saw were walled with old stone walls and most had square cemeteries walled and un-walled sitting directly outside the town. Rows of perfectly straight trees marked divisions between fields. The tallest deciduous trees stood bare with short ever greens coming up halfway up their trunks.

This is about the time that I heard screaming and crying coming from the backseat. Luci found a ladybug. Normally my kids love ladybugs, but it apparently disturbed them to have it in such close proximity trapped in the car. Tiara eventually took it from her sisters and after a bit of screeching on her part, managed to let it out the window where it probably landed on the windshield behind us.
Arianna -- "Can I put the ladybug in nature?"
Luci -- "The orange one is the boy one."
Luci -- "I'm mad at that ladybug!"
Me -- "Why are you mad at the ladybug?"
Luci -- "Because he's a boy!"

This is where the fields started rolling nice gentle waves as if frozen during an earthquake, cottony vines appeared on all the fences and trees overtaking things like southern kudzu, and signs along the highway denoted wildlife there like ducks, deer, and rabbits.

We were driving through an area that had been decimated during the first world war, but was now lush and beautiful. The only visible sign of it's past was a very small national cemetery along the side of the highway. A swampy area was off to the right filled with trees boasting big balls of mistletoe. I joked that it was the original Bayou. Truly, I could have been in Louisiana the way that short stretch of road looked.

There were no big towns visible from the autobahn until we reached Paris. Then we drove under a series of runway bridges with airplanes landing on top of us. The kids loved that. I understand that they are structurally sound, but it makes me a bit nervous to see an airplane heading straight down to land on a bridge above our heads.

Getting into the city itself was crazy and I was thankful that Kirk was driving. The roads were wide, but once we got off the highway, there were no painted lanes at all, so we were never really sure how many cars were supposed to be there. I guess that was the point. At times traffic would narrow down to one lane to avoid a double parked delivery truck. Other times two or three lanes of traffic would weave in and out of each other along the straight roads. What our GPS called roundabouts didn't look at all familiar to me and they weren't exactly circular either. Some even had traffic lights in them so you'd get into it and then stop partway. It was crazy and scary. I tried to focus on the beautiful buildings along side the road instead of stressing about the traffic. The shops and patisseries looked inviting and all the buildings and churches that we passed looked impressive.

Just after 4 hours of driving we arrived at the Hotel St. Augustine. It was just around the corner from the impressive St. Augustine church and another beautiful historical building that sat along side of it. The road was narrow with no place to park or haul in luggage, so I ran in to ask where to go. It wasn't our hotel. He said that our hotel was directly behind the building to my right, but instead of listening, I looked up another Hotel St. Augustine in the GPS and we went there. On another narrow street, Kirk went in. It wasn't it either, but he got good directions. This time we drove by that beautiful old historical building right next to the church St. Augustine. It was called the Cercle National des Armées and didn't look at all like any hotel I've ever stayed in. We ended up parking in the garage right next to it underground beneath a nice park and playground, then grabbed some luggage and went in. The lobby was large and luxurious with a crystal chandelier as wide as I am tall a huge ballroom with decoratively painted walls - murals with clouds as in an old church. This was it. Our room wasn't huge, but is was comfortable even with three beds and looking out my window I had a lovely view of the Eiffel tower peering from behind a building lit up with "Grand Marnier" on every floor. I sat just on the edge in the window (there was a very wide ledge there, so no fear of falling), and looked up to take a picture. My view was of a statue and you can see the top of the St. Augustine just to the left.

The kids liked to be out of the car and run around the room jumping from bed to bed. Elise came out of the bathroom with her arms soaking wet. "I like the little sink," she said. Oh know. There was a "how do you spell Biday?" in the bathroom. Thankfully it only took a day to train her not to play in it, but that night, at every opportunity she went into the bathroom and came out with wet sleeves.

Once we were settled, we went out. The Metro stop was just two blocks away just past a chocolate shop and a Foir Gras shop. We bought our Paris Visite passes (very recommended) for five days which allowed us to jump on the Metro whenever we wanted without worrying about paying fares each time. It was very convenient. We took the "Mushy Peas line" (coined as such by Kirk who had just been to England a week before) from St. Augustine to Franklin D. Roosevelt. When we came up out of the tunnels at FDR, we were standing right on the Champs-Elysees with a flock of Christmas trees on one side of use lit up for the holidays and the expanse of road lined with high end shops and lit up trees in front of us. The weather was perfect and clear. The Champs had enough people walking along it to feel fun and festive, but it wasn't crowded, so Kirk walked ahead with Luci and Arianna walking freely on either side of him and occasionally racing up ahead until he said stop. I walked behind taking it all in, carrying Elise, and talking to Tiara.

The Champs-Elysees is nice. I'm sure if I had an endless supply of someone else's money to spend that it might be fun to go into the trendy shops with their beautifully decorated windows and come out like Pretty Woman with armloads of bags, but at that moment, with the kids and an end to the money supply, it was just a overly-famed shopping road. So, I can say with a faux French accent that I've walked down the Champs with the little trees all twinkling with lights and peered into the windows of Louis Vuitton and Cartier, truly, it isn't anything special. San Francisco is just as beautiful. Luxembourg City has better shopping. The unique thing here in Paris is the view. It's looking down the Champs in one direction and seeing the Arc de Triomphe, looking down the other direction and seeing the gigantic Ferris wheel at the Concorde, then looking off to the right to see the Eiffel Tower sticking up over the buildings. That was amazing. (What's not unique is that, yes, here on the Champs, you can also treat yourself to a not-so-tasty Big Mac with fries - blech! And, if you would like to be taken in by the wandering vendors selling tacky plastic Eiffel Tower key chains, you can own one for only 3Euros each!)

The Arc de Triomphe is beautiful. It is smaller than I thought and really is dwarfed by the city around it, but the structure itself is stunning with the roses carved in its arched ceiling and names of towns written on the walls. The flame to the unknown burned in the center of it's entrance with flowers along side it.

We got tickets and though we wanted to walk up the stairs to the top, the man at the counter in French didn't give us the option. He saw the kids, he knew how many stairs there were to climb, and he pointed to the elevator. Irritated at first, I am thankful now. The climb would have been a lot for the little ones.

The elevator stopped shy of the top at a nice open area with the best gift shop I ended up seeing in Paris - next time I'll get souvenirs there. We took the stairs from there to the top where is was very cold, but we had a fantastic view of the city, the tower, and the Ferris wheel. We could even see the Sacre Coure sitting on the hill to the North of us.

Absolutely amazing. It's all beautiful. The tower is stunning and, at the very end of the Champs, you can see in the second photo above, the tiny circle of light that is the Ferris wheel on the Concorde. In person, that Ferris wheel is anything but small.

The stairs down were fun to take. Down is certainly easier than up and looking down into the spiral was cool. The kids got a kick out of hearing voices, but not being able to see anyone ahead or behind in the tight turns of the stairwell.

That was the end of our evening almost. We were cold, tired, and it was late, so we headed back to the hotel. Not knowing exactly what was good or where to go, we stopped at the restaurant right next to our hotel. Tiara got a cheese plate of laughable size - horrible and extremely disappointing given our location. Arianna and Luci split a roasted chicken with french fries that was very good. I ended up eating it also since the waiter brought two of those and not the pasta dish I'd ordered. The food was mediocre, very un-French, and horrifically priced. It is not a place we'll eat again, but it served the purpose. Thankfully, our meals improved greatly by the end of the week.

Today was Luci's last day of school before the holiday break so all the parents and siblings were invited to join her class for a "presentation of songs and cookie party."

It was chaotic from start to end as expected with 18 four-year-old children and their families all clustered into a tiny little room, but Santa came and delivered presents to all the children whose parents, after much nagging by preschool staff, finally managed to find and wrap a gift of 5 Euros or less. This Santa was the same jolly German Santa who had come to see Arianna's class the week before, but he pronounced the names on the gifts fairly well as he handed them out and even got brave enough to talk with the kids a little. His thick accent didn't seem to throw them at all. They all posed as parents played popcorn jumping up and down and moving about for that perfect photo op angle and the kids just smiled unfazed by the craziness - with new gift in hand, it didn't matter how long they had to sit still and smile. Tiara tried to video, but that was difficult with adult heads popping in and out of the view (I could, with this video footage, probably do a very nice report about balding in Italian men).

The singing was audible though barely intelligible and Luci spent the entire singing time with her hands up covering her ears. Do I blame her? No. I would have also if etiquette allowed.

The day was finished off with lebkuchen (traditional German gingerbread-like cookies) including the white frosted ones that my girls like and then we left a bit early needing to pack for Paris. Excited that we're leaving tomorrow? YES!

I'd love to tell you all about the wonderful holiday adventures that we've had this last week, but sadly, I have to pack my suitcases with clothing and presents, tidy up the house a bit, and clean out my car for tomorrow as we're taking a lovely three hour drive to Paris.

Life is rough, isn't it? We're all excited. It will be cold, but hopefully clear and it isn't supposed to snow until Tuesday. We'll be there 6 days and have a list enough for 12 easy that we'll try to tackle.

If I have internet in the hotel, I'll blog a bit from there, but if we don't, we'll be thinking of you all and hope that your holidays are extra special.

Today was Tiara’s first day back to school in a week, a day that she was ready for physically and emotionally. It was also gingerbread day.

I mentioned to Arianna’s teacher about a month ago that we bake gingerbread every year, and I asked if she’d like me to do that for her class too, so she said yes and then ran with that theme for her entire school day.

Before I’d arrived, she’d already read the story of the gingerbread man and then broken it up and had the kids reconstruct the sequence of events. She had the kids work on coloring their own gingerbread man story book while I took them in groups in the other room so they could roll and cut out their own boy.

When they were all in the oven, I carefully took one off the tray – the big one that I’d made special for the teacher and showed to the kids – and went into the classroom to tell Mrs. Jamieson that I’d checked the oven and one gingerbread boy was gone! The kids were so excited. They all ran to the kitchen and peered inside the lit oven. The cookie was gone, but there was a note by a pile of cookie crumbs: “I ran away from an old woman and an old man and I will run away from you too! I’ve gone outside to play!”

So running and screaming with excitement, the entire pack of 26 kindergarten students ran to the playground where they found a similar note. Then to the principal’s office, they all ran with myself and the two teachers trailing in the background. Arianna’s eyes were wide – she was so amazed at the whole thing and she led the pack. Elise was a little overwhelmed by all the commotion, but paid very close attention.The tired cookie ran from the principal’s office to the library according to his note. He just wanted to go home, so in the library, we found a large copy of the story with the gingerbread boy on the cover and that was it. A wise little boy in the class came up to me afterwards and asked, “ok, so where did you put the cookie?”

They all decorated their own later and many parents heard the entire story at home. Arianna told Kirk and Elise told everyone she saw that day about the cookie that “popped out of the oven.”

There is a difference between being an American civilian and being part of the American military when you’re overseas and although I’m a civilian, I’m here with my military husband, so unlike most of the other NATO nations here who rely heavily on their consulates, we only use our consulate for birth certificates and passport issues and most of us never step foot in one.

It was productive and interesting and I was honored, really, to be included.

So, that was my morning, then I ran home, changed, got Elise together, and drove to Aachen to meet the Kohlenberger’s for the day. Kirk was busy. Arianna and Luci were in school and had after-school arrangements made. Tiara was still home recovering from the chicken pox (better, but not ready to face her class with marks on her face). It was a nice outing with friends and with only one child to tote along.

Another photo opportunity – Elise rode the carousel.

We ate traditional market food – bratwurst that’s way too long for the brotchen that holds it, a waffle for Elise, and dampfnudeln for me. Dampfnudeln is a large white gooey dumpling covered in hot cherries and vanilla sauce. I’d never had one before, so this was a new experience and it was messy, but good. The market wasn’t horribly crowded and since I had absolutely nothing to buy, it was easy to just enjoy the ambience stress-free. We wandered down into the main shopping area too and saw some areas I hadn’t seen before – nice large pedestrian only shopping areas that I’ll return to for the January sales.

I wasn't out that late, but by 4 it's getting dark here, so there was an opportunity to get the night shots of the market. It really is beautiful with the rathaus in the background. The giant cookie boy is a printen - the cookie that Aachen is known for, the cookie that adorns it's windows all year round.

Today was sunny and beautiful, a big change from last year’s winter of snow and ice. Last year we decided, one morning, that it would be a good day to take the train and we did it, just like that with no planning or forethought. This year I’d checked online and noticed the increasing days where the train rides were completely sold out. I think word has spread well on how special the St. Nikolausbahn is and people are coming from quite far to make it part of their Christmas tradition. It will be part of ours while we are here.

Last week I stopped at the little ticket office by the train station and bought tickets for all 6 of us. It was a good thing. This train today was sold out too.

The little steam train is only a five minute walk from home. It was returning from the Schierwaldenrath station as we walked down, so we stopped to see it go by. The kids get exited every time they see it and since we can hear it and see it from our house, they have plenty of opportunities to jump up and down and yell “The train is coming, I hear the train!”

The train had just arrived, but people had already begun to pile on it. A little building sold gluwein and hot cocoa. Another had sold wooden cutouts the week before, but wasn’t there today. An older man stood on a really tall ladder changing the lightbulb in the street lamp above while three men stood below watching and down by the train a tall slender woman in tall black boots and a long red dress coat was boarding the train with her tall slender dog.

We walked towards the front of the train and boarded car 6 which is a dining car. It still had the little fireplace in the middle on one side that a couple kids sat on while the train was stopped. We sat down at two tables. On one side of the train was the huge grain mill at the Gruenwarenhaus and on the other, a vast green field dotted with yellow rape (horrible name, I know, that that is the name of the flower that they grow here for oil).

Each train window had little paper ornaments hanging in it that the school children had made.

A nice lady came around taking orders. Kirk and I had gluwein, the traditional hot spiced wine served here at Christmas, and the girls had fanta and cocoa.

The train started up and the kids were excited and happy. We saw our house and crossed the main road. A man with a little flag waving stopped traffic even though there is a railroad crossing there.

About 10 minutes into the ride, I spotted the old black carriage that we’d seen last year. The train slowed and stopped and I hopped out just to the little platform at the back of the car to take photos. The driver wore a black top hat with his grey sweater and a white scarf. St. Nikolaus and Black Peter sat in the back and men dressed like the conductor walked behind the carriage with sacks of goodies. Everyone in the car was buzzing. Parents stood ready with cameras all pointed at the door waiting for the anticipated knock. Kids squirmed in their seats. I also had my camera ready, so I didn’t notice Elise disappear.

Soon the train started again and then we heard the knock. St. Nikolaus came in with Black Peter carrying a large burlap bag. He went from child to child, shaking their hands and handing them little plastic bags with the traditional weckmanbrot (bread), a clementine, a printen cookie, and a chocolate santa. I ended up getting stuck behind St. Nicolaus so I couldn’t get pictures of my girls, but Kirk had a good enough view to notice that Elise wasn’t there to get her goodie and before St. Nikolaus left the train, Kirk told him (in German) that there was another one under the table. Elise “hat angst,” so Tiara took her goodie bag for her.

On the rest of the train ride the girls nibbled on their goodies and Elise and Luci played house with their chocolate santas.

This year we knew what to expect, so we were ready to jump off the train at the end and find our places in the big building around the corner. We sat at a long table near the front. A man on stage played the piano and sung traditional Christmas carols in both German and English. Kirk got in line to get waffles covered in hot cherries and whipped cream, cocoa, and bratwurst in brotchen. I got out a couple euro for coffee. The tent filled up with people and soon St. Nikolaus and Black Peter walked in and took their places onstage. Then the line formed and children went up one at a time to tell him their name, age, and to perform their talent. Some young ones said their ABC’s and counted. One girl played the recorder. But, most kids sung songs including what I thought was “glowstick,” a song that both Arianna and Luci learned in school and sung a lot at home. Kirk told me later that it wasn’t “glowstick,” but “lustig” meaning happy. Either way, it's a cute song and we've all been singing the tune most of the month.

When it was time to go St. Nikolaus and Black Peter made their way from the stage stopping to shake hands with the children as they left. Arianna and Elise were both happy to shake “Santa’s” hand and Arianna also shook hands with Black Peter, but when Black Peter turned to shake Elise’ hand, she turned away and hid. He is a pretty scary guy and rightly so, as the bad children are supposed to be beaten with the sticks that Black Peter usually carries.

The ride back to Gillrath was nice and uneventful. The kids and Kirk sat inside sipping cocoa and Tiara and I stood freezing in the back taking pictures of the billowing loops of steam spilling into the air as the train went by.

Nikolauslied is the name of the wonderful song that Luci has been singing. The lyrics are below. For more wonderful German children's songs, here's a great site to find them: http://www.kinderreimeseite.de.

Nikolauslied

Lasst uns froh und munter sein
Und uns recht von Herzen freu'n!

Lustig, lustig, trallalallala,
Bald ist Nikolausabend da!
Bald ist Nikolausabend da!

Bald ist uns're Schule aus,
Dann zieh'n wir vergnügt nach Haus.

Lustig, lustig, trallalallala,
Bald ist Nikolausabend da!
Bald ist Nikolausabend da!

Dann stell ich den Teller auf,
Niklaus legt gewis was drauf,

Lustig, lustig, trallalallala,
Bald ist Nikolausabend da!
Bald ist Nikolausabend da!

Steht der Teller auf dem Tisch,
Sing ich nochmals froh und frisch.

Lustig, lustig, trallalallala,
Bald ist Nikolausabend da!
Bald ist Nikolausabend da!

Wenn ich schlaf, dann träume ich.
Jetzt bringt Niklaus was für mich.

Lustig, lustig, trallalallala,
Bald ist Nikolausabend da!
Bald ist Nikolausabend da!

Wenn ich aufgestanden bin,
Lauf ich schnell zum Teller hin.

Lustig, lustig, trallalallala,
Bald ist Nikolausabend da!
Bald ist Nikolausabend da!

Niklaus ist ein guter Mann,
Dem man nicht g'nug danken kann.

Lustig, lustig, trallalallala,
Bald ist Nikolausabend da!
Bald ist Nikolausabend da!

Usually we like to do crazy shampoo hairstyles in the bath, but today, with especially high bubbles, Arianna decided to make a bubble hat. I can still fit three kids in the bath, but it's all legs and they're starting to get squished, so another month or so and we're going to have to split them up.

Tonight was the IWC Italian night at the Frisbee Club.

Italian colors hung from the ceiling, music played, and an elaborate stage depicted a table at a traditional Italian restaurant. In the background throughout the evening, a slideshow of the Italian Air Force ran and many of the Italian ladies wore their countries colors.

The tables were set beautifully with candles and the lights were dimmed a bit for ambiance. The ladies served us themselves with large silver trays of bruchetta. Then we were each served our own individual small margarita pizza. After we ate, they brought out more pizzas and then foil so we could take some home. The food was great.

Music played - music from Italy, Spain, Brazil, and the U.S. and the ladies danced. We danced to Camisa Negra, La Bomba (different one), Prince, Beach Boys, YMCA, Black Eyed Peas, and a lot of other tunes. It was quite a mix, but all the ladies knew the moves and they knew the American dances better than the Americans did. If you don't want to dance, it is wise to stay in your seat and look completely engrossed in conversation, because those that were up or looking around were led to the dance floor. We danced a lot and had a great time. I stood in a circle of Spanish and Turkish ladies - the only American dancing - looking out into the room of tables. The right side of the room where the Turkish, Greek, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese ladies sat was almost completely empty. They were all on the dance floor. The left side of the room sat the Germans, Dutch, Norwegians, Canadians, and Americans. Those tables were almost completely full with onlookers unwilling to dance.

I really think that the cultures are affected a lot by temperatures. The warmer climates tend to produce friendlier, "warmer" people. They are outdoors more talking with their neighbors and interacting. The women are confident and dancing is part of the party. The people from colder climates tend to be more reserved. They are friendly, of course, but not as outwardly open until they know you very well - and they don't dance much. I suppose the cold keeps people indoors and more to themselves.

After the prizes were rewarded, coffee and cake were served and people began to leave, but the dancing continued. When I left the only people left were the Italians. They all had an Asti toast and started singing with the DJ. It was the own private party then and very fun to see.

I took Tiara to the doctor today, but we entered at the end of the building and were met there and led into the first room by the door so Tiara wouldn't contaminate anyone. One look at her and, "yep, those are chicken pox." One of her friends said she only got 7 spots. Seven! What a lucky kid. Today I counted 42 just on her face and neck. There's at least that many more on her back and torso... poor thing.

But, she's my fashion diva and wearing them well. Tiara, the queen, is donning beautiful pale cream skin dotted in a lovely shade of calamine pink. Each center of the large pale pink polka dots has a pretty red spot in the middle just like a posy. For her hair, she's chosen to highlight it in large oatmeal chunks like dandruff gone wild. It's quite a fashion statement. Walking around in baggy shirts to prevent itching, she is something right out of the latest hobo fashion mag. I'll have to send her photo into the editor.

She's really a trooper and hasn't scratched. Benadryl is helping more than calamine or oatmeal baths.

The good news is that the doctor thinks that we'll still be able to leave for Paris late next week.

I would like to be relaxing with a cup of tea and finishing up the blogs of last week with cute pictures of the kids with Santa, but instead I am in full mother mode with Elise on my lap at 10pm since she's apparently inherited my night-owl gene and would prefer not to sleep. I know that if I cuddle with her, she'll fall asleep, but then, so would I and that defeats the whole night-owl thing that I so love.

There is a certain insane satisfaction in filling up my outlook express calendar. I thrive on back-to-back activities and love knowing that my day is jam packed with stuff to do. This week has been full throttle with a lot of stuff to accomplish and no decent block of time left to squeeze anything else in. I love that. But today I was horribly tired and decided, for once, to shift some stuff around and give myself the morning off. I laid on the couch, put on a movie, and pretended not to know that Elise found the candy in the snack basket (it's put up, but she knows how to scoot chairs and climb), so I had a couple hours rest. Good thing. Tiara's got da pox.

I arrived at the school for a yearbook meeting and saw a bunch of Tiara's friends walking past. "Tiara's sick." Ahhh... so I found my drooping daughter at the other end of the school with her friend who looked equally ill. They were troopers through the meeting, but Tiara was shivering by the end and then I noticed the spots. By bedtime tonight the spots had increased and the itching intolerable. We'll see how this goes. I've never had the chicken pox, nor have her sisters. We've all had the vaccine... but, obviously, that isn't a guarantee for pox-free living.

Kirk arrives home tomorrow after a week long "work" trip in Lincoln, England. So the question is, how many spotty females will he come home to? Should be interesting.

Between local activities and school activites, we have an entire month of Christmas here. It is wonderful. Today Arianna's class went walked over to see Santa Claus on the base. This Santa was particularly wonderful - a large German Santa with bright twinkling eyes, a sweet smile, and a lovely accent. He was great with the kids and really looked like he'd enjoyed all the cookies set out for him the year before. The kindergarten class posed for a photo, then sung a song for Santa - the BINGO song, but with S-A-N-T-A instead of B-I-N-G-O. They had fun. After the photo session, they all colored. Luci, Elise and I got out photos with Santa too - the first time for me in, well, quite a few years.

Luci is, well, Luci. She is uniquely her and unlike anyone I've ever met. Extremely bright and creative, but strong willed and stubborn. She is both the comic relief and the button pusher, but is sweet and sincere as well. So, bearing all this in mind, I'll share Luci's most recent quotes... she is a fountain. And it seems that the drive to school is when her mind is the most free to ponder...

The other day on the way to school Luci and I were talking about the color of our eyes and she asked who had purple eyes. "I don't know anyone with purple eyes," I said, "people don't have purple eyes." To this, Luci replied, "Jesus gave Mr. Potato Head purple eyes."


Another day, but again, on the way to school Luci asked, "Mom, on Saturday can we go to heaven and play with Jesus?"

Both of these questions, of course, led to lengthy discussions. To the first we talked about what God created and what He gave man the wisdom and ability to create. To the second, she was quite indignant to hear me say no. That started the "it's not fair" style argument that is nearly impossible to win. She obviously cared enough to talk to Arianna about it because the next day Arianna asked the same question that led into another quite lengthy discussion of God's will for our lives and that we really have no say in when we go to heaven to play. Whew. Like a little child takes on a whole new meaning with my middle two.

So, that, and moldy pumpkins. While reading stories to the girls all cuddled up on Luci's bed the other night, Luci reaches down into the crack between the bed and the wall where her most special stuffed animals fall and pulled out a very white fuzzy pumpkin. "It was special." So she put in in the crack to "save it forever." The next day she pulled out another old saggy pumpkin. This one she'd colored a face on. This one, thankfully, did not have hair. Good. I like my pumpkins bald.

Today I walked Arianna to the bus and let Tiara stay home from school so we could have a mother/daughter day. It was the best day since Luci was going to a friend's house after school giving us until 3 to get home to meet Aria at the bus stop.

We drove down to Aachen to go to the Christmas market which is always fun, but the weather wasn't particularly cooperative. It spit cold rain at us and the wind pushed us so hard that there was one time in particular that we couldn't move forward at all until the long gust was over. I felt like I was at the beach during a storm, the wind was so strong. Being early on a weekday, the crowds had lessened a little, but there were still large groups of people at the market in spite of the weather. French and British groups were abundant.

So we walked quickly through the outdoor market area and only stopped where Tiara really wanted to stop - the jewelry stands. It was nice though because the cold wet wind forced us to escape inside the shops most of which I'd never been in before. Some of the windows with the 1800Euro purses and coats are intimidating enough, so I don't ever think of going inside... but today we did. I found a dress that would be perfect for the Christmas party that was only 1900 Euro - the sale price! Tiara found a coat that was absolutely beautiful - a mere 438 Euro at 40% off. We didn't buy anything in any of the shops, but it was fun to go in and dream and a few places were actually affordable and places we'll go back to. The truly great thing about today is that we discovered another shopping area that I'd never been to before. We always turn right at the end of the main street to go to the Dom, but today we turned left and found some beautiful shops including a toy store that Elise would like to live in.

I saw the accordion man again and this time my camera timer wasn't on, so I stopped and caught him on film holding his umbrella while playing Italian tunes. Elise got to ride the carousel again. And Tiara and I got our Starbucks fix sitting back in the large comfortable chairs relaxing with our coffees and pretending, for the moment, that we were carefree. It was a good day.

St. Nikolaus Day is on December 6th and is a holiday both here and in the Netherlands. In fact, on the eve of St. Nikolaus Day, Tiara's ballet classes were cancelled due to the holiday festivities. St. Nikolaus looks like what are sold in the U.S. as "old world Santas." He has a long staff with the beautiful long red robes and tall papal style hat. He is a saint, of course, and is dressed for the part. There are lot of stories about St. Nikolaus. One says that a man was too poor to pay for his daughters to marry, so he was going to sell them into slavery, but on each night before he was about to sell his daughter, St. Nikolaus put a bag of gold in through the window, so that the girls could each marry. Another story is that St. Nikolaus had stopped for lunch in a small village, but the flavor of the meat was not right. He went into the kitchen to see what was happening and saw that they were cooking children, so he put a stop to that. It is said that St. Nikolaus was very good and so when it was time for him to die, he was granted one wish. His wish was that he could return to earth one day each year to do something nice for the kids, so on December 5th, each year, children set out their shoes before they go to bed and St. Nikolaus comes by to fill them with goodies.

Our girls each set out shoes at home and sure enough, St. Nikolaus (i.e. Santa, Easter Bunny, tooth fairy) filled them with pens, games and treats. Poor Tiara. Kirk got the little girls up a little early, so they would have time to inspect their loot before school. They bounded downstairs excited to see what St. Nikolaus brought and then, they all ran upstairs shouting to Tiara, who has long outgrown these things, that she needed to some down right away. "St. Nikolaus was here, Tiara! Come look!"

St. Nikolaus also stopped at the schools. Luci came home with a bag with nuts, a clementine, and a couple chocolates. In Host Nation class, Tiara made a stocking and Arianna made a paper bag shoe. Both came home on Wednesday with their shoe and stocking filled with candies that they shared with their sisters.

Kids get spoiled here. It seems there is no end to special children's days and they give out candy all the time. Tante Tinny gives lollies to the girls each time she sees them, but she says it's grape sugar and is healthy. There is no arguing with Tinny.