Day 6 - Bratwurst and Snow

We woke up really late this morning after a night of dining and dancing and I went into full panic mode!!!  One of the only things I wanted to do in Germany was go to the market in the square on Saturday morning and eat a bratwurst from Frau Stich!  We almost got up too late!  I rushed everyone out the door and we arrived at the market.  Frau Stich looked right up and recognized us immediately!!  She is the sweetest lady!  We had our hot bratwurst in front of the church and just enjoyed it even though it was freezing and flurrying!

Marina and Siggi met us there and we first went into the church to see the beautiful nativity scene and stained glass windows.  Each church in Germany has their own nativity scene and each is individual and beautiful.  This one is all hand carved wood.  Each figure is probably 2 ft. tall.  Gorgeous!  We popped into Peter's Backeri for a hot chocolate and berliner donut!  Then we headed back to the apartment to pack up for France.  It was really starting to snow and we were a bit worried about the drive, but reservations were made so we took off.  This was the beautiful view off of our deck of the vineyards.

This was the nightmare scene of our drive through France and this isn't even the bad part!

The roads were horrible and it kept on snowing.  I felt so bad for Tom having to drive in all that mess and then we got to the area where our hotel was... let's just say the signs in France aren't all that great!  Jemma wasn't minding any of it...

Once we made a few circles around Marnee Le Vallee, we made it to our hotel.  I have stayed in this hotel several times, but this was my first time on this side of the hotel.  To my joy and delight, I opened the curtains and there in the distance is the Eiffel Tower!!!!  I swung the curtains closed, told Jemma what was there and informed her that we had to wait for Daddy!  I couldn't let her first siting of the Eiffel Tower be without him!  He came up and I told him what was there.  Jemma was dancing around and we went into full show-stopper mode!  Daddy picked her up, and I flung open the curtains like I was unveiling the Mona Lisa!  Jemma was giddy and kept saying, "There's the Eiffel Tower!  Isn't it beautiful!"  Then I noticed her looking down.  The cries of joy came over the swimming pool under our window.  "Isn't it pretty with the light in it?"  "It's so green looking!"  "Do you think we can go in it?"  I kept going back to the Eiffel Tower and she kept going back to the swimming pool!  I guess that is what you should expect from a four year old!  Priorities, you know!

Here is a horrible picture of the Eiffel Tower from our room.  There is a sad story that goes with this.  I love photography.  I love to take pictures.  I have a big Canon, big flash, big lens, tripod and all that good stuff.  The BHW gets frustrated sometimes because he says that I miss what is happening because I am always behind the camera.  I agree to a point, but I do love to capture it in a good picture.  With that said, he somehow convinced me to just take his Kodak point and shoot.  I kept thinking... I lived in Germany for almost 3 years and got beautiful pictures with a point and shoot... I won't have to lug the camera all over (even though I do like to consider it a bit of exercise!)... It holds a ton of pictures, and so on.  We get there and after the first day or two, I say, "We better charge the camera so we are good to go."  The BHW starts digging through bags.  Guess, what... NO CHARGER!!!!!   I almost cried.  I knew then that my pictures would be very limited.  I got some nice pictures, but I didn't take as many as I would have.  I must admit... it was nice to be an observer and not worry all the time about pictures!  Don't tell him I said that!  So here is the too far away picture of the Eiffel Tower!

See what I mean???  Hey, we know what it is and that is all that matters!