December 2007

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy New Year!!

Can you believe 2007 is over and done with?!!

Like so many other months this year, December just flew by.

Here are the highlights:
* Work Xmas party in the ski town of Harrachov
* Celebrating Mikulas in Prague
* Celebrity sightings and museum runs in Vienna
* Xmas markets and ice skating in Salzburg
* English gardens, pagodas and gingerbread in Munich
* Kindermarkt and gluhwein in Nuremberg
* Xmas and New Year in Prague

Hope you enjoy the photos and videos. It was great to hear from some of you over the holidays. We hope to see ALL of you on this side of the pond in 2008.

Much love,

-Britt, Melinda & Laurence

Old Town Square was in full holiday swing for Mikulas (pronounced: mee-koo-lash) or St. Nicholas Day. On the evening of December 6, the Saint Nicholas trio (Nicholas, Angel, Devil) wander the streets and visit houses, bringing small gifts to the children. Before receiving the gifts, the children must recite a poem and say whether they've been good or bad during the year.

Three cheers for Mikulas!

Daddy's work got creative and sent us all to the town of Harrachov, near the border of Poland, to spend a lovely weekend in the snow. Mommy and me took turns counting the snowflakes out the window of the train.

Here we are at Harrachov's "train station," a.k.a. The End of the Line.

Instead of calling a taxi to pick us up, daddy had the bright idea of walking 4 kilometers on icy mountain roads to our hotel. If looks could kill, daddy would have been a dead man.

A pretty view on the bridge between our hotel and the ski resort.

I thought it would be easy to walk on the hard, icy snow but it turned out to be really slippery so daddy was there to help out.

Some of the cute homes near the ski resort were picture perfect.

That's mommy and me sitting at a table with Natalia, her daughter Alice (remember them from my Halloween party?) and their family.

From left to right: Jana, Lucie, Marie and their entourage.

I read all of my favorite books on the way home, including The Little Red Hen.

It snowed on the day we left Harrachov for Prague. From the train window it looked like all the cute villages were trapped in one big snow globe.

That's me and Vinson hanging out under the kitchen table while our mommies baked Christmas sugar cookies. Vinson said the star-shaped cookies tasted the best but I prefer the snowman-shaped ones.

Yippie, our family vacation is finally here! We left Friday evening for Vienna from Prague's Holesovice train station. Mommy's best friend forever, Vanessa (a.k.a. Meemaw), flew in from her new home in Switzerland to spend a couple of days with us in Vienna.

After a 4-hour train ride we finally made it to Vienna. Let the fun begin!!

A look down on one of Vienna's Christmas markets from the top of the Kunsthistorie Museum.

Enjoying the freezing conditions at Schonbrunn Palace's Christmas market. Which way to the gluhwein?

Let's play a game. This one is called: how many chocolate kitty fingers can I stuff in my mouth?

"I knew we should have taken a left turn at Albuquerque."

Since 1633 The Imperial Crypt in Vienna has been the principal place of entombment for the Habsburg dynasty.

I was on my best behavior for Meemaw while mommy and daddy searched for lost hats and gloves at the Imperial Crypt.

The Albertina houses one of the largest and most important print room collections in the world with 65,000 drawings and around 1 million old master prints. "The more you know... (dah, dee, dah-ding)".

Smiles everyone, smiles!

Karlskirche (St. Charles Church) is gorgeous! Instead of paying the outrageous entry fee we opted for more gluhwein at the Christmas market outside.

B.F.F.!!

The beginning of a perfect meal, Mozart cake. Mommy says it's made from finely chopped unicorns and rainbows.

After a big lunch at the Belvedere, I needed to stretch my legs a little in the beautiful garden between the upper and lower museums. Daddy came along for the ride.

The Belvedere's Christmas market at night. Try the Christmas train at the far end, it's worth the wait.

Outside our hotel in Vienna, the Wilhelmshof. Goodbye for now, we'll come back and see you in summer '08.

A short 2-hour train ride later find us in Salzburg, Austria, birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, where we quickly made our way across the street to our hotel then a short walk across the Salz river to it's most famous sites and xmas markets.

Mommy and daddy are making plans to move here so that I could dress in traditional Austrian garb year-round. Look how cute the clothes are!!

We made it!! After winding our way through the maze of shops and alley's that comprise Salzburg's old town, we found the xmas market in all it's glory! The night was clear and incredibly cold but the wonderful market and moon-lit town was just too amazing to resist. We thawed-out later at the hotel.

The next morning we went back to where we'd been the night before. The moon-lit magic had faded away but the sun and ice skating put a smile on everyone's face. Mommy and daddy promised me that soon I'll be able to ice skate just like the kids in Salzburg. I can't wait. It looks like so much fun.

The novelty shops in Salzburg offered all the best Xmas handicrafts.

The beautiful Salzburg Cathedral, built in the 17th century, is the site of Mozart's baptism.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in the house behind mommy in 1756.

Bye-bye, Hotel Europa, we enjoyed your American-style pillows. On to Munich!

Only a 2-hour train ride separates Salzburg from Munich. Mommy is definitely pleased:)

Once we arrived to Munich, we quickly found our hotel, checked in, dumped our luggage, and went off to find the xmas markets in Marienplatz (Mary's Square), a central square in the city since 1158, before it got too dark and cold. This is the New Town Hall at the northern part of Marienplatz. It served as a wonderful backdrop to the xmas celebrations in the square. A huge tree, lots of lights, great food, creative xmas handicrafts, and of course gluhwein!!