WARNING! This blog contains stories of an average girl who
gets an extra special Christmas present! The stories that proceed have happened
in real life and are most probably only slightly exaggerated. This was written
for my pleasure and entertainment.
For Christmas this year I spent it a little
unconventionally. I was lucky enough to have my parents come out to Germany to
see me and take me to a few places! I was able to show them where I lived and
the family I worked for! For Christmas Eve we spent it with my host family. Now
I would like to say that here in Germany Christmas is celebrated a little
differently. You are pretty much celebrating all December and that’s just a
start. The kids have advent calendars where they get a little gift every day! Then
on the 6th of December Santa comes and he brings you little
chocolates, nuts, fruit, and some gifts along with a list of everything good
and bad you have done in the year. And for some people Santa comes to your
house and awards you the gifts and treats and your naughty and nice list for
you! Now back to Christmas Eve. I brought my old family and my new family
together for an amazing Christmas celebration that I will never forget and I
have a feeling my parents wills not either! We started with church and then
when we came home everyone went up stairs (the kids and my parents and me a
little later {the kids LOVE playing with my parents}) Note* No Christmas
presents are under the tree yet or anything! Anyways while everyone is upstairs
that’s when Santa comes and drops off the presents. It’s cool because you could
hear his sleigh bells and everything! And the kids their faces are priceless!
Everything was amazing! Then after the kids opened a couple of gifts my parents
and I experienced something completely new. Meat Fondue. And may I say that
meat fondue is like any meat eaters DREAM! It was so yummy! And we just sat and
talked and ate! :D But by 12 I was so tired and I was falling asleep on the
couch. :) This year will be one of the most memorable Christmases I have ever
had! :) I got the best Christmas present any girl could get. My parents. Now
lucky for me I had the 2 weeks off while they were here so they have taken me
along with them on a small tour of Europe. We have been to Prague, Paris, and
Amsterdam/Holland, plus all the little towns in between because we drove. ALSO
before Christmas we went to Salzburg. So I guess we will start there! J
Salzburg:
Now as some people know I am sort of following my moms
footsteps when I came here to Europe. When she Graduated High school she
started her 1st year of college in Europe. She lived in Salzburg and
is still in contact with the family. So our main reason for wanting to go was
to see her Host Family! Now I had already met the mom because she had come to
America for a visit but this time around got to meet my moms “siblings” while
living in Salzburg she had a brother and sister. For me it was great to meet
them and when I go back it will be nice to know people! J Now I brought Dominik with me
so I was never bored. But I really did enjoy being able to hear the stories
about my moms past! I met the sister who had 2 boys and the brother who had a
daughter. All of the family was so nice and after we had lunch with them they
showed us a beautiful church and a little bit of the Salzburg Christmas Market.
Over all it was a great day being with
friends and family that I love to hang out with and be around!
Prague:
On Christmas day we left my house and headed to our first
destination, which was Prague. Now for those of you who don’t know me very well
or you have never been in a car with my longer then 45 minutes then you don’t
know that for me driving in cars is pretty easy… I get in sit down and a couple
of minutes later I am asleep! Like magic! J
It drives everyone I know crazy! But I can’t help it! But the point of that was
that I fell asleep an hour into our drive and woke up when we arrived 20
minutes before we entered into Prague! So if you asked me if the surroundings
were pretty… I would have no clue! Sorry! But I can tell you all about Prague
once we got there. Now once we got to our little apartment and got ready to go
we went to dinner. We went to a cute place. And while my parents ordered
something that had a very interesting name and had more kanoodle then meat! But
I got duck! And it was Super yummy and that taught me a lesson. Just because it
says # dish of country doesn’t mean its going to be your #1. Anyways after we
ate we went for a walk to the Castle and let me just say… this whole trip that
I have been on. It has been a lot of walking. Just to the castle was a couple
of miles… or maybe it just seemed like that much because it was all up hill and
up stairs! But once we go there it was beautiful! The castle was opened in 870
AD and is still the biggest castle in the world (according to the Guinness Book
of World Records.) The first thing that had me really jaw dropped was the
church! It was HUGE and the details where crazy! Once we walked around the
church and turned around… now that was really what was crazy! There were lights
showing the windows and then the tall spires. Every detail was really just
incredible. After we walked around for a while we had stumbled upon one of the
Christmas markets. We walked around and looked at all the food… and I really must
say ALL the food looked really good! We tried a Cinnamon roll thing that was
like a tube… yah that was actually pretty good! But the real reason that we
walked through the market was because before we left our hotel one of the guys
working told us to go to this really cool Jazz club. Yes I would have to say
that the jazz club was really cool. It was underground and in a cellar like
room. But with that I will have to say that I really hope no guy ever takes me
to a jazz club because YES the music was GREAT… BUT the saxophone player was so
good that every time he played I would fall asleep. So later in the night the
base player happened to look over at me and saw me asleep… and le me explain
that it wasn’t like a AWE she’s asleep look I had on my face… NO it was like head
back mouth wide open… Not Attractive! But anyways so the base player was
looking at me laughing at me… I woke up after the guy stopped playing his
saxophone and I was just so confused. But when we left my parents filled me in.
GREAT! Haha but it was a cool first day in Prague! The second day we went on
what I would consider just a very long walk. We walked through a lot of little
Christmas markets, into a little church, through the Jewish quarter and just in
the streets in general. It was great because it was really all-old coble stone
streets and then the buildings were all different colors. You could just feel
the past as you were walking through the streets. In the center of the town
there was a big clock tower and every hour on the hour the clock rings and then
at the top of the tower someone plays the trumpet on all 4 sides of the tower.
And this happens everyday rain or shine no matter what between 9am and 9pm. The
clock was installed in 1410 making it the 3rd oldest astronomical
clock in the world and the oldest one still working. After we saw this little
production we decided to go up the tower and see out. The site was
indescribable! You could see everything and it was so beautiful. All I could do
was look out and be speechless. Finally when we decided to take a break and have
a coffee and of course we had to get pastry’s while I got a chocolate cake my
mom got her favorite… a Napoleon. And might I say! It was fabulous!!! Every
bite my mom took she would get a little smile on her face. :) Then later that
night we were looking for a place to chill and we happened upon a really cool
bar. It was really all underground. It had 5 different rooms the entrance
drinking area then going downstairs into a foosball area then down more stairs
into a room full of tables but it was silent, so this room was good for
talking. Then into the next room, which is where we sat, and it had a bar in it
and then it was playing really good rock music. The last rooms that we found
was down the hall and it was also silent but it had a pool table and a bar in
it as well. After leaving the bar it was like 11 and we decided to pick up a
little bite to eat and then head home. It was another great night in Prague. I
was happy that we went there first! It was so beautiful and a great place to
start our journey. But after two days in Prague it was time for a little French
influence.
From your Young Traveler,
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