Weekend in Alsace

Napa is off the radar for now!  We just touched the tip of wine country in France heading to the Alsace Region.  We didn't really have any intentions of going to wine country per se. We are still living in a flat in Luxembourg and can't move into our house til later this week, so why not get away on a hot weekend?  Off we went, with no expectations of how the hotel would be except that there would be a pool for the boys to play!

 

Our first stop was in Strasbourg, where we parked and headed straight to the "La Petite France" area of town.

We hoped to take a canal tour, but it was hot and we never did find the boat tour entrance.  We did see a tour boat going through the locks which was cool!  Instead we ate ice cream and enjoyed the German influenced architecture in the area and decided it was too hot to stay any longer!  Strasbourg was cute, but not so nice and clean like Luxembourg or The Woodlands :)

It was time for naps, so it was a great time to drive!  South of Strasbourg, it turned quickly into farm country.  Each little village had a grouping of red tiled roofs and a beautiful cathedral steeple that stood out.  It was a beautiful drive, one that I couldn't really capture in a photo for you.

Here was our first glimpse of Obernai...

Le Parc Hôtel in Obernai was our next destination, but with kids sleeping, we kept driving and found the town of Ottrott.  Gorgeous!  We decided that a souvenirs from a local testing room was in order, so we stopped there.

After some more driving we returned to our hotel and went out to watch the Equestrian competition across the street.  Blakely told me that he wants to do this when he grows up!

 

The swimming pool was very refreshing and fun, but a bit more 'adult' than we are used to with the boys ;) 

We enjoyed a traditional Alsatian style dinner here... Jeremy had the traditional braised pork ribs with sauerkraut and boiled potatoes.

After (9:30 pm or so) the town square was busy with people and the carousel was unavoidable!

Our beautiful Hotel as we returned from dinner.  Definitely a place that we will return and recommend to couples or families traveling in this area.

The hotel even had an old single lane bowling alley that was fun for the boys!

Rather than returning on the highway route through Strasbourg, Jeremy took us through the country for a lovely drive on Sunday. 

The boys had a bit of fun as we stopped when we found a park and a village fête along where we found more carnival rides.

Finding Our Way Around

Jeremy is back to work and no longer escorting us around to appointments, so we have to start figuring out how to get around!  I only drive an automatic car and with everything else being new, trying to learn that with 2 kids in the back isn't really a great idea.  Not to mention that a car gets us somewhere, then we have to find a place to park it! 

Fortunately, we have a bus stop at either end of our street that can take us various directions... so the kids and I set out to find a park to picnic in and then on to another area of town for our final medical appointment of the week.

This was just one area of the gorgeous park that spans between some of the major roads entering the downtown district of the city.  I will definitely be back to this park with a book or a café on a cool day.

Along the way, we found this elephant and made a new friend who told us about the park and pizza shop that we ate at the night before.  We hope to see our new friends out playing at the park soon!

On the way home, we got to ride our first "bendy bus".  That was quite a thrill for Colden!

Our First Visitors

We have already had our first guests... well, 'guest' might be a stretch as they had to afford their own hotel room :) Either way, they came to visit!  We were so blessed by a visit from my parents.  Fresh off a Viking Cruise on the Rhine, they came to Luxembourg to see where we would be living.

Elephants have invaded Lux since our last visit.  I do not know why the elephant is significant, but expect to see it in future pictures as they are all over town!
                         

I should probably know the name of this square, but I don't.  It sweet and quiet compared to the bustling café filled Place d'Armes and others.

Dad, Blakely and I in Place D'Armes... one of our favorite busy squares.

Jeremy and Dad were going to go drive the Nuereburg track together, but Jeremy got stuck at the office, so Dad went alone and mom stayed with me, which was a treat.  After some time to visit while kids slept, we headed over to our neighborhood where we will move into our house next week.  The neighborhood is called Limpertsberg, just North of the downtown business district.  We liked that area from our first visit, but this time it felt like home.  It felt neighborhood-y and nice.  We walked to the park, just around the corner from our house, played at the park and finished the evening by sharing some pizza at the pizzeria across the street from the park. 

Thanks Mom & Dad for the fun visit!  The boys love the Porsche remote control cars you gave them!!

Residency Milestone and Another Park

In order to become residents, we had to get chest x-rays and a TB test on our arm.  The boys have completed their tests as well as their medical check at the doctor, so looks like we will officially become residents of Luxembourg!

Just down the street from the doctor's office, we visited Parc Merl.  This is one that Jeremy and I had walked through before and knew there was a big play structure, but had not really noticed all there was to do.  

 

The hit of the park was the zip-line! The boys took turns going as fast as they could.  The lines are a good distance and they could make it about half-way back before getting off and running it back to the beginning of the track. 

 

The boys didn't spot everything at the park though... They had a huge trampoline with individual bouncing squares so lots of kids can play in it.  We'll save that discovery for next time!  Also, we'll have to bring our basketball because they have hoops set up at 4 different heights (genius!) for all different aged children can shoot hoops.

Welcome to Luxembourg!

We were welcomed to Luxembourg by the hot midday sun!  We dropped our bags at our temporary flat and headed towards the big grocery store.... we found that even the major grocery store that is just outside of the city is closed on Sundays. So, no food for our fridge today!

Instead we grabbed a bite to eat downtown and spent our afternoon at a really cool park!

 

After some play, it was time for bed.  I'll spare you the details of the first sleepless night.

With a fresh start sometime around Noon, (our latest sleep-in ever!) we made it to the grocery store.  There are specialty food stalls just outside of the main grocery area where you can get both prepared and take-home foods.  Colden and Blakely each ate a Grillinger Original which is the local Luxembourgish sausage.  These are big, full size sausages on a large bun...I'd say the boys were hungry!

A few interesting notes while shopping:

• The freezer food section was surprisingly big compared to the barely bigger than a shoe box sized freezer we have.
• The drink isle with soda and juice was 3 times the size of ours back home
• Very few cereal choices are available... I wasn't expecting our brands, but similar options
• I had heard there was no peanut butter, but REALLY no peanut butter??

This was not meant to be an exploration of the local grocery, just getting some necessities, so as I return again, I'm sure you'll see more on this topic.

Tonight we noted how similar the air feels and the late sunset reminds us of Seattle.  We've just put the boys to bed and are listening to the rainstorm rolling in.