St. Nikolaus Train

Our region has one of the oldest working steam engines in Germany, and each year they run a special program during the Advent season for local children which includes a visit from St. Nikolaus while on the train and a stop for hot chocolate, wurst and waffles before returning to the original station. Grams and Gramps Hudock are here visiting and we took them to meet up with the McLallens and Siemanns for our train ride. It was incredibly cold that day, (16F!!) but nice and cozy on the train.



Here are St. Nikolaus, Der Schwarzer Mann with his switches, and a group shot where none of the kids are looking at the camera.



Brennan was thrilled with the train, and hanging out with some of his closest friends and getting goodies from St. Nickolaus is always fun too!

Burg Satzvey Weihnachstmarkt

It's Christmastime in Germany and that means Christmas markets! We recently took a trip with the McLallens to Satzvey castle (site of the previously mentioned Vikingfest) to check out their market. It was incredibly cold and I didn't want to take my fingers out of my mittens to use the camera, so here are 3 shots of our evening.

Brandt and Brennan keeping hydrated while we had a meal of wurst, crepes, fried apples, gluehwein and hot chocolate.



Colin visitng St. Nikolaus, who spoke wonderful English with a British accent once he realized we were not German.



Self-portrait. =)

Duets with Julie

Our friend Julie came to stay with us over Brennan's birthday weekend, taking a little time away from about 2 months that she was spending in Paris. It was so wonderful to catch up with her, as the last time we saw each other I was pregnant with Brennan! She was a huge help during the madness of the party and I'm so glad she was here to help us celebrate!

Brennan loved hanging out with Julie and at one point handed her his recorder and then ran off to find his harmonica so that they could start a band. I was a little jealous because Julie was my duet partner at UVA where we both played French horn, but I guess I can share her with Brennan. Here are some photos of their jam session and a cute video showing just how much fun was being had.

Two!

Brennan turned 2 on the 4th of December. I can not believe that it's been two years. It seems like there is no way that my baby can be two already, and also no way that he's only been around for 2 years since it feels like he's been a part of our lives forever. Here he is getting some fresh air on his birthday and holding out some fingers (ok 5 fingers, we're working on that) and saying that he is "Two!"



We bought a Christmas tree on Brennan's b-day, the day before his party. A house in town was selling them out of their yard and I had picked ours out the day before to be tagged and cut down. We walked in the drizzle and Patrick stood the tree in Brennan's stroller and rolled it home.



Brennan had a train themed birthday party on the 5th. Here are some scenes from set-up, including his very homemade cake.



Here is my good friend Julie, visiting us during a stint in Paris, helping to decorate. All the kids received kerchiefs (and train whistles although those were a parting gift as the kids headed out to the cars... sorry parents!)



The kids loved the cake, especially the German kids who normally don't eat frosting as we know it. As a focal point for their play (and a containment measure for 8 hyped up kids in my small living room) I spray painted some boxes and called it a train. The kids loved playing in it, as did some of the adults.



Happy birthday Brennan!!!

St. Nikolaus

Here in Germany St. Nikolaus still goes door to door, accompanied by The Black Man (either a Moor or a chimney sweep, or both depending on who you ask), delivering gifts to good children and switches to naughty ones. He does carry a binder with specific notes on each child, although this is normally for the older kids. Brennan got to spend an evening with Paula and Katja while waiting for St. Nikolaus to come.



We had a three hour window for St. Nikolaus' arrival, and he finally arrived after two hours. He had four helpers with him and a horse-drawn cart with a boom box playing carols.



I had tried to prep Brennan for a man with a big hat, white beard and candy, but the reality was too much for the kids. Paula and Katja burst into tears when St. Nikolaus walked in and Brennan clung to me with huge eyes and kept saying "no".... until St. Nik started handing out candy at which point he warmed right up. It was definitely a little weird to see all of the helpers in black-face; we aren't in Kansas anymore Toto!



He handed out candy that Christiane had bought and then snuck into the basket, and then some rolls and peanuts as well.



Here are the kids enjoying their gifts.



The license plate on the horse-drawn cart:

Sicily Part III

On Friday we visited Cefalu, a cute fishing village and Rick Steve's favorite town in Sicily. It was ours too, probably because it was sort of a tourist town in the off-season and less dirty than other parts of the island. Here is Brennan racing to check out the church and a fisherman mending his nets.



Here are the Cefalu "boardwalk" and a Medieval laundry fountain. We had a lot of fun wandering around here and all the people we came across were extremely friendly. Of course we ate more pizza and gelato too. =)



For our evening entertainment we drove to tour a Norman castle up in the hills. We got to wander at will, which is pretty much a dream come true for me, except that a lot of the doors were locked and we couldn't get upstairs. I did try every single door just to be sure. We saw a lot though and the castle is currently being renovated and reinforced in places. There are a few furnishings and displays inside, and it looks like it will be a great museum in a couple of years when it's finished.



On Saturday we drove back to the Fringers with a stop in the middle of the island to visit the Villa Romana del Casale, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and contains some of the best Roman mosaics in the world. We were able to see quite a bit even though the main Villa was closed, and we had a very helpful "tourguide" who gave us a wealth of information in speedy English with a heavy accent. My mosaic pictures are not too clear, but they were just beautiful and even though we didn't stay for long we were glad to have stopped. We had dinner at the Fringer's and then hopped a flight back to Germany. It was a great trip and we had so much fun!

Sicily Part II

On Tuesday morning we all went to breakfast in the nearby town of Motto and enjoyed cappuccino, cannoli, and other fun pastries. Tasty but very sweet!

We then split up and our family drove to the city of Taormina, which is virtually hanging on a cliff face above the Mediterranean.



Our GPS had a hard time with the vertical city since all the roads were literally on top of each other. During our 45 min. search for the Greek theater we found a sign pointing to a Saracen castle and detoured. After hiking up to the gates we found it was closed, but we had some amazing views, including one of the theater that we had been unable to find.

We gave it one last shot and finally got to our intended destination. The theater has changed over time as it was used by different groups, and it was totally worth the headache of getting there. Patrick almost ate an olive fresh off the tree, but had second thoughts in the end.



On Wednesday we said a temporary goodbye to the Fringers and headed across the island, stopping in the middle to visit Morgantina. I was especially excited about this archaeological site because the professor who taught my Classical Archaeology class in college digs here and taught primarliy from this site. It was so cool to see Morgantina after having had a semester's worth of slides, maps, drawings and lectures about it, and I actually remembered quite a bit, which made me feel less old. =) I never thought I would ever see it in person, much less watch a child of mine romping through the upper agora, so it was a pretty cool experience for me.





Here are some pictures of our guesthouse in Casteldaccia, just outside of Palermo. One of the showers was a crazy tile jungle, and the kitchen was huge. We found our neighborhood market and made a nice pasta dinner.



On Thursday we ventured into Palermo. One tour book describes driving in Palermo as "traumatic." It wasn't quite that bad, but I think that it would have been if we hadn't had Germany to ease us into European driving. It took us a long time to park, mainly because it was very unclear where the legal spaces are since the Italians park anywhere and everywhere. We did finally park next to a scarf vendor, and when our car was still there a few hours later I felt compelled to buy something from him. Probably misplaced loyalty, but his scarves were cute. Here is the Cathedral in Palermo and some zodiac stonework on the floor which we liked. (Gemini for Patrick, Scorpio for me. Brennan's sign was beyond the plush rope and I wasn't brave enough to go for it.)



Here are shots of some Arabian architecture (I think) and the Capella Palatina which has gorgeous mosaics depicting stories from Genesis as well as the life of Jesus and some of the saints. Not pictured is the fabulous panini that we grabbed on our way back to the car; very reminiscent of something I used to eat in Cyprus and by far the highlight of Palermo!

Sicily Part I

We just spent a wonderful week in Sicily visiting some good friends and touring the island. Here are some photos from the first couple days of our trip.

We arrived on Saturday and were immediately dumped into some back alley of Catania by a bus driver who didn't want to admit that he didn't know where our rental car company was located. We somehow kept our cool and, with our superior pantomiming skills, were able to get assistance from four people working at an auto mechanic shop who were very surprised to see us wandering around with our luggage and a toddler. They called our rental company and then indicated that we needed to travel the half hour back to the airport by bus. Not bad communication considering it was all charades! Here we are getting on the plane, waiting for our second bus ride, napping on said bus and arriving to visit Roger, Leah, Abby and Seth. We enjoyed an early Thanksgiving dinner together on Sunday and were so happy to be reunited with good friends.



On Monday we headed south to Siracusa and visited the Greek theater. We got our first taste of Italian driving (bus ride not withstanding) and it was a little wild. Patrick did great and we found that we did the best when we discarded "rules" and thought of the traffic as more of a flow.



Brennan loved climbing the theater steps and was captivated by the waterfall in the grotto. Here is an inscription that is still readable after all this time, me honoring Coke Zero with a place in a diety niche, and some views from the top of the theater.



We also stopped by the Roman arena, used for bloodier entertainment.



We then headed into Ortigia, or oldtown Siracusa, for some pizza on the go. A nice elderly man stopped to take a picture of Brennan eating pizza from the Ergo backpack, (thanks for the loaner Fringers!) The Italians love children as much as the Germans, and once Brennan picked up "ciao ciao" he was a real hit. He's tri-lingual now! We wandered through town and enjoyed some fabulous gelato in the Piazza Duomo.



We bought a Sicilian wine and called it a day. Brennan slept the whole way back, what perfect timing!



That night Roger and Leah treated us to a fantastic dinner at a local agritourismo. We had the whole place to ourselves. First we were given a tour of the buildings and rooms in a mix of Italian and English. It seems that Richard Wagner's tombstone is there, not sure if he is with it or not though. We were then treated to champagne in a lounge-type room before heading into the restaurant to be fed whatever the kitchen had planned for us. The food was amazing and it was fun to spend some time with our good friends sans children.

St. Martin's Day

Here are a couple of recent photos: Brennan at our local old-time train station and pushing a kid-cart at Daniel's Garden Center in the Netherlands, and then 3 pics from a recent trip into Koeln to hear another Jagdhornblaesergruppe play in the cathedral. The music was great and the accoustics were awesome, but we had to sit through mass to hear them. (Don't worry, that's just milk in Brennan's coffee cup.)



On Saturday we joined our town's St. Martin's celebration. All the kids brought handmade lanterns (Brennan made a ladybug in Krabbelgruppe and one of our neighbors made him a beautiful penguine) and we paraded behind St. Martin and his horse to the accompanyment of the town marching band playing St. Martins songs. The volunteer fire department carried torches and we arrived at the sport field to light a huge bonfire. There may have been a reenactment of St. Martin cutting his cloak in two to give half to a poor man, but it was incredibly windy and we were too busy trying to avoid the heavy smoke to notice. Here are Brennan, Max and Paula.



We ended up back at the firehouse where the kids received goodie bags containing candy and Weckmaenner from St. Martin himself. A Weckman will sometimes have raisin eyes or be holding a lollipop, but all the ones I've seen have included a pipe. They are very cute and somewhat sweet tasting. Here are Paula, Katja and Brennan digging in.