Alsace & Munich

Ok I'm a little behind on my blogging here!  Two weeks ago my Mom came into town for a very short one week visit!  I picked her up at the airport and we spent the first day in Reims, so she could picture my house and where I am living.  There's not much to do here, so we saw the most important thing first, which is the champagne cellars.  The one we decided to visit was Mumm.  We had a nice tour and got to taste THREE different champagnes, a rosé, and two grand crus. After that we visited the cathedral, had dinner, and met up with my friends, who were very excited to meet this Carol Ann that they'd been hearing about!  That just about sums up Reims, not the most exciting city around...

From Reims we headed to Turckheim where we spent two nights with Thibaut's parents, who were awesome hosts as usual.  We visited some of my favorite villages in the region, Kaysersberg, Riquewihr and Eguisheim.  Thibaut was able to come for one of the nights too, so we all had dinner together in Colmar. We were very lucky with the weather, the sun was shining the entire time we were there! 

Kaysersberg 

From Alsace we moved onto Munich.  I had visited Munich a few years back with Shannon for Oktoberfest, but I didn't feel like I really saw the real city since it was during such a crazy time. We stayed in a really nice hotel close to the station, with a HUGE breakfast buffet so obviously I was in heaven.
The first day we shopped and walked around the city, had an amazing lunch at one of the local restaurants (Rick Steves recommendation of course) and just hung out. At night we went to dinner at this awesome little hole in the wall restaurant with an accordion player.  He apparently was hilarious, but unfortunately we had no idea what he was saying!  It was fun anyway and a great atmosphere.

The next day, we had our own personal tour guide, Maryvonne, who is Thibaut's Mom's best friend.  She met us in the morning and showed us her favorite thing in Munich, she's French but has lived there for over ten years.  It was really cool to walk around with someone from there, we got to see different neighborhoods, stores and places that we never would have known to go!  We kind of got more of a feel for the city and were able to decide where we wanted to spend more time over the next few days That night we went to the HOFBRAUHAUS, a must-see for anyone visiting Munich.  So fun. We sat next to some young german guys, and after a few biersteins they of course got brave with their English and started talking to us.  It was funny at first but after their 3rd or 4th liter of beer Mom and I thought that was the right moment to leave!

The next day we decided to get out of town and take a little day trip, and we ended up choosing a town on the border of Austria, called Mittenwald.  It was a few hour train ride away but the scenery was nice and we really didn't have much else to do! It was nice to have a more relaxing day. We arrived in Mittenwald around lunchtime and found our way to the cable car up the mountain to catch a view of the surroundings.  Unfortunately we missed the memo to wear hiking shoes, whoops.  Once we got up the cable car, you needed to climb a little higher to see the view, it was a little difficult to climb up the snow in my converse shoes and Mom couldn't make it at all!  We still enjoyed some views from the top of the mountain and soaked up the 70+ degree sun.  I could have worn a bathing suit and been happy!  It was soo hot. Aftewards we went down the mountain and walked around the charming town of Mitenwald, with painted buildings and a very Bavarian feel.  We got some dessert- apple streudel of course- and hopped on the train back to Munich.  This night we decided to try another brewery, called the Augustiner, great food and a little bit calmer atmosphere than the Hofbrauhaus!

On our last day we decided to go back to visit a few places in Munich that we had seen during our visit with Maryvonne.  The place I was the most intrigued by was the outdoor market, called the Viktualienmarkt, where we saw tons of people outside drinking beer and enjoying the sunshine. We walked around the market, made some cheese and sausage purchases, and enjoyed a sausage and beer lunch outside with all the locals.  I could have stayed there forever just people watching! Afterwards we visited the palace in the city, did some shopping, and eventually ended back up at the market for another beer. That night we decided to go back to the hofbrauhaus, which was a MUCH different atmosphere than a thursday night.  It was so crowded and hot!  The guys next to us were so drunk I almost had a heart attack laughing at them.  

The best part about it all was the excellent company it was nice to spend some mom and daughter time, thanks for visiting Mom!! xoxo

brave man surfing on the river! must be freezing

the town hall

Maryvonne

hofbrauhaus

cable car wayyyy up the mountain

Mittenwald

the outdoor market

Val d'Isère

Last week we were lucky enough to get invited to the alps for a few days of skiing with Thibaut's sister and brother-in-law.  They rented an apartment in Val d'Isère, in the French alps near Italy.  I hadn't been skiing in the Alps since 2 winters ago, so I doubled up on the lunges and squats at the gym to prepare my weak legs!  Wow, I am really glad that I did.  I forgot how long it takes to ski down just one slope, some of them take more than 20 minutes to get down. Talk about a leg workout.  I was pretty proud of myself, I made it through three full days of skiing thanks to the help of tylenol and frequent hot chocolate breaks!  It was nice to take a break now and then anyway, to give us a chance to take in the beautiful scenery.

We unfortunately picked the coldest week of winter thus far to go (down to -4F) but ended up being extremely lucky and seeing a lot of sunshine to keep our spirits up and to help us pretend like we weren't frozen.  We tried to get off the slopes by 4 everyday, since that seemed to be the time that everything got foggy and the snow started coming down.  In any case, we were lucky to have a good balance of fresh snow and lots of sunshine!

At night we usually just hung out in the apartment until we got the energy to venture out into the town, or until we fell asleep at 9pm.  My favorite night was FONDUE night, we had the most delicious cheese fondue I have ever tasted.  I know I exaggerate a lot, but this time I mean it!  A few nights we just stayed in, had dinner, and played games, including Black Stories, which is my new obsession. 

In other news, we also stopped by the "nightclub in the sky" called la Folie Douce, which we also visited back in 2010, only at a different location. Well not much changed, still a DJ, saxophonist, and singer, in the snow and fog of the alps, in the middle of the day.  And of course still the awkward people dancing to techno music in their ski boots.

Overall a great trip, good company, good skiing, and nice to get some sunshine and fresh air!  

looking good in the funiculaire

blue skies everywhere

night out to dinner at the American diner, my surprise from the Frenchies

la Folie Douce.  I'm still trying to figure out how all these people got back down the mtn?

fondue. YUM.

leaving on the warmest, sunniest day we had! 

a little behind here...

Sorry blogger world, I'm a little bit behind on my blogging.  Here's a little recap to catch up to what I've been doing for the past few months:

With the help of the other Americans around Reims we had an amazing and extremely authentic Thanksgiving dinner back in November, even down to a homemade pumpkin pie.  There were 7 of us together, and we ate like kings.

We moved Thibaut into a nice new apartment in the 16th district of Paris.  Finally!! He is all settled in now and it looks great.  It's nice to have a place to call "home" when we are there.

We went to visit Thibaut's parents the weekend before Christmas, and of course visited the Christmas markets in the region (for the fourth time, and possible the last, tear)

I got to go HOME for Christmas for three whole weeks to spend time with my family.  I got pneumonia and had a rough start, but it was amazing to be home regardless!

We discovered a hidden gem in Reims, we have a black light, pirate-themed, mini golf center right outside of town. Lucky us.

Last but not least, we went on a Segway tour of Versailles, and got to wear these awesome helmets.  Segway and black light mini golf, I must say, are tied at the best events of January.

Guess that's about it! I'm going skiing in a few weeks in the French alps, so more to come on that. 

The Beautiful Cotswolds

I saved the best for last for our England trip! For me, anyway.  There is a little area North of Bristol and West of Oxford called the "Cotswolds" which I somehow heard about years ago.  I really don't know how I heard of this, it easily could have been from my grandpa or just from coming across pictures somewhere, but I always wanted to go. This is hands down one of the most beautiful places I've been!  I've realized that I'm not so much of a big city girl, and I absolutely love this little area of English countryside.  This is real England, people.  Doesn't get much more real than this.  Most of the buildings are from the 17th century, including the Unicorn Hotel where we stayed.  This area was built on the wool business, which is why you'll be seeing some sheep here in a minute.  Now this whole area is filled with huge homes and manors, mostly owned by rich people and celebrities, such as Kate Winslet and Hugh Grant.  If I were famous, this is the first place I'd hideaway. 

The towns we visited are : 

Bibury

Bourton-on-the-Water

Stow-on-the-Wold (where we stayed)

Upper & Lower Slaughter

Stanway

Broadway

Snowshill 

Chipping Campden

There's not really much to do in the Cotswolds, except for just kind of hang out, drive around, and soak up the beautiful scenery.  We picked a perfect time to go, since all the leaves were changing.  I of course wouldn't have made it without my trusty driver, who handled himself very well driving on the other side of the road!  I drove for about 20 minutes, and then pulled over before we hit the next roundabout, which would have been wayy too much to handle. 

We drove up from Bristol on Sunday, taking a little detour through South Wales and going up the coast, called the Severn.  We took a quick stop in a town called Chepstow, pretty much just so we could say we've been to Wales.

We visited Bourton-on-the-Water on Sunday afternoon, which was so pretty, and then headed up the Stow to check into our hotel.  I at first was going to stay in a hostel, but once I realized I was the ONLY person staying in a 400 year old house, I switched to my Dad's hotel on the second night. On Sunday night, we had to get our "Sunday Roast" which is a delicious meal usually consisting of a cut of roast beef, roast potatoes (or "chips" aka fries), vegetables, gravy and a roll.  We were lucky to find a great restaurant, the King's Arms, to get our roast. We liked it so much that we went back again on the second night in Stow!  

On Monday we visited pretty much every other town in the Cotswolds, took a little walk from Lower Slaughter to Upper Slaughter (well one of us walked, possibly the one that's 30 years younger), drove through Stanway and Snowshill, walked around in the little shopping town called Broadway, and ended the day in Chipping Campden, which was another old market town.  I loved every minute of it, but I have to admit that after a while they all kind of look the same.  I did however take about 200 pictures this day! 

After our King's Arms pub meal #2, we took a quick stop to the local grocery store to buy out their Cadbury chocolates, and called it a night.  

The next day we got up and headed back to Bourton-on-the-Water, because the car museum there had caught my Dad's attention.  We visited the museum, hung out, and had our last English meal together at a little tea room!  I really enjoyed English food, in spite of the fact that they stereotypically have bad food.  Compared to France, it seemed much more hearty and maybe a little bit American to me, which is probably why I loved it.  After that we drove back to Bristol, gave back our car DENT free, which was unexpected, and Dad headed back to London!

We really had a great trip, the more I think about it and the more I look at the pictures the more I'd really love to go back to England again one day!  Everyone was extremely friendly and nice, and we saw some beautiful places!  Thanks for coming to visit Dad, and thank you to my friend Samir for being such a great host :)

Bibury, Arlington Row

Bourton-on-the-Water

Lower Slaughter

hanging out with some sheep on my walk

upper Slaughter

Snowshill

Chipping Campden

Old taxi in the car museum