Day 1 - Sunday November 19th - Frankfurt & Heidelberg

Frankfurt

Walking around frankfurt

Julie, Mark, Me





Dinner at the shnitzel house...it was pretty good stuff.

After Frankfurt, we went to Heidelberg...went to church, had dinner at the shnitzel house and then walked around town.





It started poring outside...so we were standing in the doorway of some store waiting for the rain to subside a bit before we walked back to our car...

Day 2 - Monday November 20th Heidelberg, Germany & Strasbourg, France

We woke up in Heidelberg and walked around the town most of the morning....It's a cool looking town. We walked back up to the castle during the daylight and took some pictures. And then we drove to Strasbourg, France a little after lunch. By the time we got to Strasbourg and checked into our hotel - it was dark outside...so there wasn't a whole lot we could do. We decided to walk around the city center for a bit and we got some food. We ended up eating at some italian restaurant (yeah - i don't know Julie and Mark decided to eat Italian in France..i left it up to them) and it wasn't all tha good...oh well. Then we went back to the hotel room...


Our hotel room in Heidelberg



The castle in Heidelberg

Heidelberg was a very cool city...very scenic.

Heidelberg was a very cool city...very senic!









This is a view from up where the castle is on the hill...

This is a view from up where the castle is on the hill..







Some weird statue on the grounds near the castle...very weird statue.

Cool Bridge in the town..

Strasbourg, France


Walking around Strasbourg, France..





I thought this looked cool...

Day 3 - Tuesday Nov. 21 - Strasbourg, France & Luxembourg..

We realized that there wasn't a whole lot in Strasbourg, France to really see....but we wanted to see the city center at night. So - after we got up and ate breakfast (by the way..i love continental breakfasts in france...baguettes and fromage!) we walked around the town again...

Then we drove up to Luxembourg. We had a free place to stay in Luxembourg...some people Julie knew through a friend in Utah. So - we went to the house we would be staying at and then went into Luxembourg and walked around. It is a very cool city and I got a little picture happy as we walked around...The only thing that was crappy was that it was rainy most of the time we were there..


The Church in Strasbourg...



Me...in strasbourg France...Right before we headed to Luxembourg.


Luxembourg


chocolate eclair





Ok - so I got a little picture happy in Luxembourg. I was having fun with the night setting - and thought some of the pictures were turning out pretty good...so here it goes...












































Notice what is different between these two pictures???

Yeah - that's a drop of rain...not the moon. Pretty cool, eh?

Me goofing around...This was at the family's place that Julie knew. It was very nice of them to let us crash at their place...

Day 4 - Wednesday Nov. 22 - Liege, Belgium and a tiny bit of the Netherlands

We left Luxembourg the next morning and headed up to Liege, Belgium. I really wanted to go to Brugge (which is also in Belgium) but it was a lot further away and didn't really feel like wasting half the day travelling in the car....so we hit up the Belgium city that would kind of be on our way. I know Julie and I really liked Liege...I think because there just seemed to be a lot going on. A lot of people walking around and shopping....and a lot of good food. We love the good food. :)
After Liege, we decided that we should drive through the corner of the Netherlands..so we went to Maastricht. We were going to walk around, but had a hard time finding a place to park...so we just drove through the city....basically so we could say we went to the Netherlands. :)
Then we headed the rest of the way to Dusseldorf where we were staying with the Crapo family...They used to live in Montreal about 10 years ago and are good friends with my family. It was soooooo nice to stay with them. They were so good to us. The first night we were there, they made crepes...which was great because it made up for the crappy italian dinner we had had in France! :)


Belgium Fries

Belgium Waffles! Ok - these were Delicious!! I was very surprised at just how good they were!

Walking around Liege





The Netherlands

Then we left for Dusseldorf...but on our way we decided to drive through Maastricht...which is in the corner of the Netherlands.

Julie took these pictures of Mastrich as we drove through the city....



Back in Germany


We arrived in Dusseldorf and stayed with the Crapo family for the next couple of nights...This is a picture of me, Brittany, Jonathan, and Teagan...Just missing Leslie and Brianne. It was so much fun to see them again...(I think it had been about 10 years or so...)

Day 5 - Thursday Nov. 23 - Dortmond, Germany

On Thursday, Leslie was nice enough to take us down to Dortmund to go to the Christmas market there. I LOVED the christmas markets....the food, the christmas decorations, all the people...they were so much fun. And I started buying a bunch of stuff! :) I could have easily bought more. Between the two days (Thursday & Friday) at the markets...I bought quite a bit. :)

After we spent the day in Dortmund, we ended up going to have American Thanksgiving with a bunch of Leslie and Jonathan's friends. A bunch of the American's from church were getting together to celebrate the holiday....so we decided to tag along. And it was a lot of fun to meet everyone. I even saw someone I knew - my brother Steve's friend Gardner and his family who had just moved to Germany a couple of months ago were there. Gardner and Steve used to work together in Madison, WI. It's always a small world in the church...


Dortmund Christmas Market!



They have these very cool nativity things in Germany - which are smaller versions of this giant thing. You light the candles and the things at the top start turning....they are very cool looking - but very expensive. I ended up buying one the next day in Cologne...and I got the cheapest one I could find..and it still was expensive - but I like it.


Me and Leslie

The tree at Dortmund...So this is a bunch of smaller trees all tied together...and apparently there are stairs that you can walk up into it...the stairs were closed off when we were there though.

Trying to get me in a picture...

Some mansion/castle that Leslie drove us by in Dusseldorf. This is a picture of the mote that surrounds it.



Not that many pictures this day....

DAY 6 - Friday November 24 Cologne, Germany

Our last full day in Germany...we decided to go to Cologne to go see the Christmas markets and walk around. On our way to cologne we stopped to see this little Castle. There are castles everywhere in Germany...


Small Castle just outside Dusseldorf...i forget the name of the town.







This is the town the caslte was in...very cute and quaint. I liked it.



"Monkey Trap" tree...apparently it's called this because the needles are very sharp and they are pointed upwards. So, a monkey can climb up it, but can't get back down without hurting itself.

The Cologne Christmas Markets. There were 5 different markets within the city. I think we hit about 3 or 4 of them. They were fabulous!



A few pictures of Cologne...



A didgeridoo!!!

I of course had to try a bratwurst at the market!



We had gone to Cologne with Leslie and some of her friends from church. They were all so nice and it was a lot of fun..

After Cologne, we went back to Dusseldorf and hung out with the Crapo's...we watched a movie on their projector. Then we packed and got ready so that we could head back to Frankfurt first thing the next morning.

It was a fun trip - I'm glad I went! I'm trying to decide where i'm going to go next year! :)