Paris!

In Germany, October 3 is Reunification Day, so Benjamin had that day and the 4th off from school. We decided to take the kids to Disneyland Paris, since they've been working so hard at school and being good sports with the miles of walking every day. They were so surprised to see where we were going, which was really fun! We went into the park when we arrived on Wednesday so we could see the Disney Dreams show, which was fantastic and both boys loved that Peter Pan's shadow was the main character. We also learned that we chose the best possible time to go (we had been thinking we would make the trip at Christmastime) - the weather was great and the park was so empty on Thursday morning when we arrived that we got a photo in front of the castle without a ton of people in it with us!

 Waiting for the show.

Store window - Stitch is a big deal in France!

Thursday morning.

The Wishing Well and Castle.

I love Wall-E!

Meeting Jafar.

  With Mickey, of course.

We stayed at the Hotel Santa Fe, which was Cars-themed. This made Benjamin and Noah quite happy!

Friday, trying to remove the sword from the stone!

Meeting Gaston.

In line for Crush's Coaster, such a cool ride!

Sleeping Beauty's castle.

Meeting Daisy in the hotel.

On Saturday we decided to to into Paris to see the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame Cathedral.
The Eiffel Tower was truly breathtaking. It's pretty amazing to see something in person that you have seen in pictures for years! Each of the kids got a mini Eiffel tower keychain, so they were pretty excited about that.

Notre Dame.

This was such a fun weekend, and we can't wait to go see the rest of Paris!

Heidelberg Castle with Grandma J and Aunt Christy

Aunt Christy came to travel with Grandma, and they went with Benjamin and Tim to the Heidelberg Castle last weekend. They ended up with a private tour since no one else was there yet, and it turned out to be great! Noah and Krista missed it since Noah had a fever (which turned out to be an ear infection, poor kid!), but he is all better and much happier with some medicine.

Heidelberger Herbst

On Saturday we stayed in town and went to the Heidelberger Herbst, a big festival with several stages spread throughout town, vendors selling everything from jewelry to clothing to toys, and lots and lots of food.

 Yum, bratwurst lunch. :)

 I loved these dolls!

Noah got into the music:

Freiburg

I didn't get to go on the trip Wednesday since the kiddos had school, so Jack and Janet took me to Freiburg on Friday!

A stand was selling these little wooden boats...

And the kids would float them in the canals along the streets.

There was a market full of produce, flowers, various arts and crafts, and food stands.

We went into the Münster, a large cathedral with amazing wood carvings and stained glass windows.

Then we hiked into the Black Forest.

Grandpa was leaving the next day, so the boys gave him lots of love before he left!

Mainz and the Gutenberg Museum

On Wednesday the group took a trip to Mainz to see some churches and the Gutenberg Museum.

One of our students operating the press.

Walking around Heidelberg

Here are some photos I took when we took Grandma and Grandpa J around Heidelberg on a beautiful Monday!

The place where Martin Luther defended his theses.

 In the University of Heidelberg library there was an amazing anatomy exhibit, including original Leonardo da Vinci drawings.

 The view from the church tower.