Christmas Eve

Wow, December has sure flown by - it's Christmas Eve already!

I flew from Frankfurt to Madrid a week ago Tuesday, thankfully missing out on all of the snow and wind. I spent one fabulous day in Madrid catching up with old friends, then last Thursday I flew home (just in time for the last choir practice before Christmas... and just in time for the choir Christmas party).

I flew Madrid-Brussels, Brussels-Toronto, and after taking off later than expected in Madrid I was thinking I'd be spending some time in Brussels. I JUST made my connection. I was the last person to board the plane! Hooray! I made it to Toronto as planned, but my suitcase did not. Despite being more than annoyed, I count myself fairly lucky because in all my years of travel, this is the first time that my bags and I have not arrived together.

This week has been a whirlwind of tacky sweater parties, cookie baking nights, tree decorating and Christmas visits, and now it's Christmas Eve. The house is clean, the presents are wrapped, food is ready, cookies are in the oven, the music I'm playing tonight has been practiced, towels have been made into swans for the guest rooms (it's easy!), company is here... now it's time to make the last pot of Advent tea and reflect on the reason for the season.

Merry Christmas!

Top Wiesbaden

I've taken to creating a personal "Top 10" list when I travel somewhere, even if it's just for a weekend. I've been in Wiesbaden since September, so choosing only ten things was difficult and my "Top 10" quickly became my "Top 12". Anyway, here they are, in no particular order:

• hiking along the Rhine River

• year round outdoor swimming at Thermalbad Aukammtal
• Museum Wiesbaden, particularly the current special exhibition Das Geistige in der Kunst, from the Blue Rider to Abstract Expressionism (FABULOUS!)
• grocery shopping at the farmers' market

• the abundance of saunas
• spending time at the Christmas market

• DM drugstores: they have a house brand, organic, natural beauty product line
• the Neroberg park: fabulous views of Wiesbaden, a neat Russian Orthodox church, and Kletterwald!
• German classes at inlingua
• walking in the Warmer Damm and Kurhaus parks
• concerts and organ recitals in the Marktkirche

Number twelve is the weather, or rather the attitude of acceptance towards the weather: Restaurants have year-round patios equipped with heaters and fleece blankets, everyone has an umbrella and a good pair of rain boots, and when it's sunny the parks fill up with people.

Back for a day...

First things first: Emily, you win a German Christmas decoration, congratulations! Or as some, hopefully not many, would say, congradulations...

It´s my penultimate day in Wiesbaden. Where has the time gone? When we came home from London on Saturday, Tall Guy suggested that I finish packing my things. I asked why, and he said, "You´re leaving on Tuesday!" Going home has never snuck up on me this fast. So on Sunday I packed my suitcase. By myself. Without help or meltdowns, AND... it is not overweight! This is a small miracle.

Today I´m organizing the "London" move: three suitcases, two cardboard closet-boxes, and 12 regular boxes, the contents of which are all photographed and listed on an insurance inventory (insurance in case something is lost or in case I loose my mind trying to remember where something is packed!) are just about ready to be picked up.

For my last 24 hours in Wiesbaden, I am planning on doing some last-minute shopping at the Christmas market, tagging along with Tall Guy to his business dinner, spending the morning in a beautiful sauna, having lunch with Tall Guy at Va Piano or cooking sausages and sauerkraut, doing a final bag-check and taking off for Madrid! Phew!

Oh yes, I should mention that... WE HAVE A FLAT IN LONDON! It took a lot of looking and a lot of patience (and I pretty much used up all of Tall Guy´s patience by dragging him to see The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in 3D...), but we now have a lovely two-bedroom flat in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, complete with access to a private garden.

I am excited about going back to London in the new year. Despite two trips, I don´t feel I´ve been there yet - apart from riding a bus, I haven´t done anything "Londony" yet! I basically spent 5 days walking from one flat to another. You can see St. Paul´s Cathedral from Tall Guy´s office, so I know it´s there, and we rode bikes through Hyde Park, so I know it´s there too, but I am just itching to see more.

Have you been to London? Where should I go? What should I see? I´d love your suggestions, and if I take one of your recommendations, I´ll blog about it!

A 6th Car Story (yes, we have another)

I'm off to London to get us a flat for the new year. I hope I have good news for you on the weekend!

Until then, I leave you with Car Story 6

Tall Guy came home for lunch on Friday, and I planned to go into town with him afterwards to spend the afternoon at the museum. When we got to the car, we were sort of boxed in again.

An angry girl who was parked beside us started talking. "Is one of those yours!??!" (I think) she asked, while pointing to Cars 3 and 4, who were parked behind us. If we had been in a parking lot, we would have driven out just fine, but we weren't. The building was in front of us, and the recycling shed to our left. The girl's car was beside us, and there seemed to be a car barrier behind us. 

A car was directly behind the girl's. With the building in front of her and a restaurant patio beside, she was completely trapped, too close to everything to be able to move. She had been stuck for a while and wasn't very happy about it. She told us she would go into the restaurant again to try to locate the owners.

Meanwhile, Tall Guy got in the car, and I, having seen this before, headed in between the two parked cars, pushing the side mirror of one car in on my way. The girl's car wasn't going anywhere, but we would have better luck. I had to try not to laugh while I was directing Tall Guy; Angry Car Girl's boyfriend was standing nearby, watching us with a look that changed from curious to completely flabbergasted as he realized what we were doing.

Tall Guy started the car, and the boyfriend jumped nervously.

Tall Guy started backing up the car, and the boyfriend started biting his thumbnail.

Tall Guy stopped, and the boyfriend sighed with relief.

Tall Guy rolled down his window, reached out his arm and closed the mirror on the car to his left. The boyfriend almost fainted.

Tall Guy finished backing out of a space barely eight centimeters wider than the car and the Angry Girl's boyfriend's eyes fell out of their sockets.

I got in the passenger side, and with a wave to the boyfriend, we were off.  

A Walk in the Woods, or A Car Story 5

Today we wanted to get away from the boxes, bubble wrap and tape that fill our apartment and have some fun instead. We headed to the woods above Rüdesheim, one of our favourite little villages along the Rhine. As soon as we glided pulled into the parking spot, we knew we were in for some trouble:

"You know you're going to have to push the car when we leave, right?" Tall Guy asked me.

"Yeah, sure" I said.

"No, I mean really, with strength, push the car".

"Ok... let's get walking, it's cold!!"

So, we got walking. We walked for nearly two hours, and it was wonderful.

No more grapes

Defending my fort

Once we were back at the car, Tall Guy tried to back out of our downward sloping parking space. The car didn't move. He waved me over, and I started pushing. Cars are heavy, but I managed to move us back a bit, and just then a group including two strong(er than me) looking men walked by. Then they noticed what I was doing and the men came over to help. Soon we were out of the parking lot.

We drove down from the woods into Rüdesheim to have a bite to eat in the Christmas market. I had clementines and almonds in my back pack, but who was I kidding? It might have been our last opportunity to pig out in Germany. So, we had sausages and saucy mushrooms, and a giant cone of fries. Mmmmm!