Hello There.

AF Wife & Boy Mom
Jesus - Clean Beauty - Food - Travel - People - Yoga - Books - Photography

Foggy Rudesheim & New Years 2017

Foggy Rudesheim & New Years 2017

While James and Dianna were in town we were excited to show them around a bit! One of our first stops Globus (remember the huge grocery store with the restaurants attached and 2 Euro bottles of wine?) James was in heaven. We loaded up our cart with more wine and beer than Michael and I purchased for his own birthday party... and this was just for an average week of Ceci-Style vacation. #aslongastheyarepaying 

After our shopping we stopped and got 1 Euro brot sandwiches, delicious baked sweets and beer. James couldn't get over the convenience and cheap prices. Its like the 50 cent hotdogs at Ikea... but better, because there is beer. Globus would be the last experience we took them to that would go right... until Prague that is.

Next stop was a day trip to Rudesheim. Remember when I went with my mom? Its was stunning in its fall colors basked in late afternoon sunshine. We took a river cruise and rode the bucket cars up to the statue. I was excited to show James and Dianna around this adorable town! When we left Bosenbach it was a beautiful, sunny day, and the weather apps were calling for the same in Rudesheim. Well they were wrong, per usual. We show up across the river to board the ferry and the fog was so thick we couldn't even see the river around us!

We thought to ourselves, “surely the sun will come out any minute and burn off the fog”. So we headed to the tourism office to buy tickets for a river cruise later in the day. They were closed. “It’s foggy anyways, maybe we just go ride the cable cars…” so we make our way through the basically deserted town where the last remnants of their Christmas market were being slowly cleaned up. We arrive at the cable cars and guess what? Yep, also closed. Apparently they close when the Christmas markets end and re-open in February. Perfect. So now we not only don’t get to go for a River cruise, we also cannot ride the cable cars up to the monument. What is there left to do? Eat and Drink. That’s what. So we introduced James and Dianna to Gluewein at a small roadside stand we found. Then we posted up at a German restaurant James and Michael pick out. As soon as I walked in I realized this is the exact same restaurant I went to with my mom. So much for a new experience! At least the Schnitzel was good. After lunch we decide the last and only thing remaining to do is take a hike through the vineyards. Maybe the fog will have burned off a bit by now? A big fat NOPE. I shall allow the pictures to speak for themselves:

Rudesheim in the Fall...

... and in the winter.

 

So after our thrilling tour of Rudesheim, we decided to make one last stop for coffee and dessert and then call it a day, making the 2 ½ hour drive back home. If only we would have stayed in Bosenbach we could have had a sunny day! But at least it makes for a great story… right?!

The next thing I wanted to take James and Dianna to do was tour the Landstuhl Castle. I researched this one so as not to get caught off guard- they close for the month of December but open again in January! So after the New Year we were off! I told them about the amazing views and how there is a restaurant we could grab a beer at afterwards! We make our way up the still-snowy road and park. There were tons of spaces available! Yay! We make our way around the castle ruins, up the stairs, and…. The door is locked! Did we miss the tour time? We got there later than expected, but we really thought we made it in time! Then a man stuck his head out the window and informed us that they had closed for the day because of the ice. Listen dude, if I just made it up here in my huge 2 wheel drive Nissan Pathfinder which sounds rugged but is anything but, I think the tours could have still been a go. He told us to try again tomorrow, which would have been fantastic! Other than the part where this was our last day to do anything because we left for Prague the next day. Sign. A for effort?

At least ONE thing went right: rewind to NEW YEARS EVE! Ever since James and Dianna started their beach vacation tradition between Christmas and New Years I have come accustomed to ringing in the new year with them, and I really enjoy it! James normally cooks a delicious meal and we pop some champagne while we watch Dick’s Rockin’ New Years Eve and make tons of noise as we watch the ball drop and toast to a new year! Nothing extravagant, but special nonetheless. This year we debated heavily what we wanted to do. Go all out and do an overnight in Berlin? Stay close to home and check out K Town? Something in between? Then we were informed that large fireworks are legal on New Years Eve here and many villages light up at midnight, so staying home is not a bad idea! THEN we got invited to our neighbors, Brittany and CJ’s place for a New Years Party! #perfection

We went over around 6 for the “kids friendly” portion where they had fun games set up as well as a recording of the Rockin New Years Eve from last year just to put us in the spirit! (Since we are 6 hours ahead here and unfortunately could not be part of the Stateside celebrations... unless we wanted to stay up all night). The child-bearing families trickled out as the night wore on, and eventually we ended up outside bundled against the 20-something degree weather, shooting off fireworks around a bonfire. By midnight, it was just James, Dianna, Brittney, CJ, Michael and me. And like clockwork, at the stroke of midnight the sky lit up with fireworks from all over the village! It was a foggy night so that combined with the smoke from the fireworks make them hazy, but beautiful nonetheless. We rang in 2017 with a toast and a kiss, marveling that we just rang in the new year in a small village, our HOME…. In GERMANY. A reminder that we are so blessed to be here and experience the culture and adventures that come with it.

Brittney & CJ - Our amazing hosts!

 

Speaking of culture… around 1am as we sat around the fire, a group of young Germany start walking down the road near their house. They shouted their “hallo’s!” and we invited them to come on over and have a beer! Within minutes there were about 15 Germans hanging out with us! We talked for a while about all sorts of things, those that spoke English keeping everyone in the loop. (Our German is still far too basic to carry a conversation). Finally it was time for us to call it a night and walk home, and we waved bye to Brittney, CJ, and their gaggle of new German friends!

It was an awesome night, and so fun having James and Dianna here to celebrate with (per tradition!) We look forward to them coming back in the SUMMER when everything is in full bloom, not just the flowers and plants, but the towns, events, festivals and tourist attractions. Cheers to a new year! #2017

 

Prague- The City of Meat & Beer

Prague- The City of Meat & Beer

Sister Trip to Magical Paris

Sister Trip to Magical Paris