Butterfly Gardens

I know it has been quite a while since I last posted. Things have been quite busy around here as of late (which is for another blog post)!

Yesterday, I had the privilege of being a chaperone for C's class on the field trip 3 of the Kindergarten classes took together to the Butterfly Garden. It was so much fun!!! We piled the kids onto 2 buses and drove over to Luxembourg! They had been studying butterflies and insects in school, and this was a great way for them to finish that section.

A kernel representing a butterfly egg

A piece of uncooked spiral pasta representing the caterpillar

A piece of uncooked shell pasta representing the cocoon/chrysalis

A piece of uncooked bowtie pasta representing the butterfly

It was about a 45-60 minute drive, and we were asked often "Are we still in Germany?!" (I guess that's marginally better than "Are we there yet?" LOL) I got to be in charge of the orange group (which included C) and was shown by these really cool foam butterfly name tags that his teacher made.

When we got there, we got the speech about not touching the butterflies' wings (which anyone that has studied butterflies in school knows about the oils on our hands damaging the wings and causing them to break and render the insect unable to fly, thereby killing it). There was also a lot of moisture on the ground that they were trying to drink, so we had to be extra careful to watch where we were stepping so as not to crush any underfoot. (And when you're talking about a large group of 5-6 year olds, that's no easy feat!) But C's class, at least, did very well in following both instructions. (There were kids from one of the other classes that I repeatedly was reprimanding for trying to touch the butterflies. I don't know WHERE the adult was...)

C & his classmates huddled around a butterfly on the ground

The butterfly on the ground

The room was pretty warm and (to me) extremely humid (70%, I think it was?), but it was a lot of fun to be in there (in spite of feeling like I was slowly melting!). The butterflies fly free in the building, and they landed on quite a few people. C's teacher had at least 4 different ones land on her, and one even tried to get nectar out of her leg! LOL

1 of the 4 butterflies to land on C's teacher

A butterfly that landed on a classmate's head

A butterfly that landed on a classmate's arm

C's teacher pointing out a bird to C & his classmates

Case of chrysalises & newly hatched butterflies

Fish pond!

Turtles in the pond

A chameleon in a tank

After the kids were done looking at the butterflies, the case of chrysalises, the occasional display of other varying insects and chameleons, and the fish and turtles in the pond, we walked down along the Mosel river to get to a nearby park for the kids to play and have a picnic lunch.

C playing at the park

 

C keeping busy (& staying awake) by playing a game on my phone on the bus

By the time the trip was over and we were loaded back onto the buses and headed back to the school, the kids were soooo wiped out! At least half of the class fell asleep on the bus ride. As for me, I managed to stay awake (and knit) the ride back, but after I got home and had dinner, I laid down to take a little cat nap...and ended up sleeping through the whole night! LOL

I definitely want to go back and take the boys to the Butterfly Garden (and get to peruse the gift shop this time around!)...

Après Montmartre

Before we left the Montmartre district altogether, we made one more stop: the Moulin Rogue! We didn't really have the inclination to spend the Euro to go in, and it was conveniently right next to a Metro stop, so we snapped some photos from across the street and then continued on our way.

At that point, we'd mostly exhausted our list of "must see"s (minus going into the Louvre for her, which she chose to save for when her husband takes her to Paris, and Versailles; it was too far out of the way to make it down there and back in decent time, even by way of the Metro system), so we decided we should eat dinner, go up the Eiffel Tower, and call it a night.

We ended up eating across the street from the cafe we ate at the first night, and after eating, we went back to that cafe so I could buy a bottle of wine to take home. Then we went back to my favorite Parisian landmark...

Approaching the line to go up the Tower!

We stood in line for probably about an hour...shuffling forward ever slowly...

Bust of Gustave Eiffel, beneath the Tower

Unfortunately, we found out, as we got to the checkpoint where security checks bags for weapons and such, bottles are not allowed up the Eiffel Tower. I mean, I guess it makes sense, as they don't want anyone dropping them from above, but it wasn't anything I thought about, prior to getting in line. (They really should put that out there...) Even worse than that? They have no place to check your things at. So my options were to throw the expensive bottle of wine I'd just purchased into the trash, or leave the line. Disappointed, we left the line. :(

Instead, we went across the Seine and took some tourist-y  photos of the Tower from the Palais de Chaillot. as there wasn't anything else we could think off the tops of our heads to go see and the day was quickly winding down, we started back toward the hotel. On our walk, we came across a landmark that surprised us both...

Flame of Liberty

It's an exact replica of the flame held by the Statue of Liberty in New York, and it ended up turning into an unofficial monument to Princess Diana, as this was the tunnel in which she died. I hadn't looked up that information at all, so I didn't even think to look specifically for it, but we happened across it, and I'm glad we did!

From there, we went back to our hotel and slept hard after all that walking about, and set out to return home the next morning.

Aside from my iPhone getting stolen (due to my own oblivious nature), the weekend was absolutely amazing, and I wouldn't trade that time there for the world! And I will, one day, return...in fact...

In the car, driving back to Germany, I told Misha that what I want for my 10-year wedding anniversary is to renew our vows on a boat on the Seine in Paris. I even told her that if I got that, I would consider letting The Instigator upgrade my ring (which he's been pestering for since we got married!). Naturally, she told him nearly as soon as she could, and he has evidently not only already set up a plan for saving accordingly (one year for the ring, 2 years for the trip), but also dragged me into the jewelry store to narrow down options as to how large of a stone I'll let him get me...and for anyone that knows me, knows that to accept a larger diamond in my ring is a huge deal! LOL

So, Paris, until we meet again...J'adore!

Continuing the saga...

You may remember, back before my mom came to visit, that I was once blogging about my trip to Paris...well, I figured it was high time (and then some!) that I wrapped that one up so I could move on to blog about my BFF's wedding (which was in September) and my birthday (which was in October)!

The last I left you with was Misha and myself making it to the Place de la Concorde. From there, we hopped on the Metro and zipped up to the Opera National de Paris Garnier. For those of you that may not know, this building has a specific literary (and Broadway musical) significance that drew me there: it is the setting for The Phantom of the Opera.

I was sadly disappointed, though, that it looked nothing like the opera house in the recent film adaptation (though that could have easily been due to the fact that there are far more buildings around it now than there were when the film was set). As there was an admission charge to enter the opera house, we stuck to simply taking photos of the exterior (I'll go back with The Instigator and take a gander indoors!) before hopping back on to the Metro and shooting on up to our next destination: Sacré Cœur.

On our way uphill, Misha's poor feet were hurting horribly (she hadn't really worn hiking/heavy walking appropriate shoes), so we stopped in a shoe shop we passed. Unfortunately, the prices were far too high to comfort her sore tootsies. So instead, we pressed on.

Up-close view of the facade of Basilique du Sacré Cœur

I love how white the stone is, even for how long ago the church was built! (Which is really just the properties of the travertine stone at work...so fascinating and breathtaking!)

We didn't take the time to go up into the dome (though I hear you get an amazing view of Paris from up there!), but we did go down into the crypt below, where we came across a super creepy statue that I would have believed to have been once human and turned to stone through supernatural means, leaving a soul trapped inside to leer at everyone. (It was seriously creepy!) Also in the crypt was a little chapel which houses a stone urn containing the heart of Alexandre Legentil, a Parisian layman that made a vow with Hubert Rohault de Fleury to build the basilica.

Since Sacré Cœur is at the highest point of the highest butte in Paris (Montmartre), we got an amazing view of the city. The stairs in front of the basilica are quite popular, but given all our walking up to this point and knowing we weren't done yet, we opted for the tram that runs up and down the hill and bypassed the stairs altogether! :)

View of the Eiffel Tower from near Basilique du Sacré Cœur

On our way back downhill with the Metro in our sights, we came across a small tea shop. I asked about the kind of tea I had at the cafe before, and bought some from the shop owner, but I found out after I got home, while the tea had the same name, the taste was completely different. :(


TO BE CONTINUED...AGAIN....

Trier & Kinderspiel!

Being as I was sick the first part of the week, our original plans spread out over the course of the week leading up to my mom's departure were thrown off track. The problem was, I couldn't not go to any of the places we'd planned to! So we squeezed it all into her last two days with us. Thursday we went to Bischwiller, France, and on Friday we went to Trier and met up with Misha and Kristin.

I had to take The Instigator to work so that we would have the car, but he went in a little later than usual, so we didn't get as early of a start as I would have liked. Thankfully, Trier is only about 20 minutes away! I've only been to Trier once before (about a year ago) when I met up with a friend (and German native) from the Harry Potter knitting swap (HSKS) I'm a part of. My only goal at that time was to find the massive, 3-story craft store; and since there was snow everywhere last year and I had Batman with me, sightseeing was not exactly on the priority list. All I did on the last visit was pick up Yvonne from the train station, find the craft store, have a snack at a cafe (where I opened my package from her, as she was my spoiler for that round of HSKS), take her back to the train station and go home. This time, however, I went as a complete and total tourist! LOL

House of the Three Magi (Dreikonigenhaus)

Porta Nigra from the direction of Hauptmarkt

Passing through Porta Nigra

Porta Nigra from the "outside" of the old Roman city limits

Hauptmarkt Square and St. Gangolf Church

Batman & Superman checking out the Lego display in a store window

Mom and the boys at St. George's fountain in Kornmarkt

St. Gangolf's Church

Grave markers at St. Gangolf's Church

Unfortunately, we didn't get to seeing any more of Trier because of a combination of two pairs of little legs, shopping that my mom needed to get done for everyone back home, and still needing to meet up with my friends down in Kaiserslautern. (Which just means I'll have to go back another time! :D )

After leaving Trier (where I found a pair of winter boots for me!), we had about 30 minutes to get to Kinderspiel (an indoor play area in Kaiserslautern) to be there on time. Luckily, I figured ahead of time that we'd run behind (and warned Kristin & Misha of that the night before, lol), so the fact that it actually took us an hour to get there wasn't too big a deal. For dinner, though, I wanted to get Schnitzel at Kinderspiel...but they were out! :( Sad panda. But the kids had a blast and mine were upset when we had to leave (they were closing! LOL), and we all ended up going to base at Ramstein and met up for dinner there after mom & I took the boys on a detour to a local grocery store so she could get some German chocolate and kuchen to take home with her. Then it was time to come back home...

Strolling Through Spangdahlem

I am finally over whatever that stomach/flu/virus thing was that took me down! I actually didn't have it as long as the boys did, so I should be grateful for that at least...

We didn't end up really going anywhere today, though, because after my middle-of-the-night wake-up last night, I went back to bed and crashed HARD! The Instigator woke me enough to ask me if I was going to need/want the car today, but I was so out of it, that it was pretty well out of the question. Instead, I slept until noon. I evidently needed it, though, because when I woke up at lunch time, I was able to eat and shower and feel pretty much my normal self.

I do feel bad, though, that half of my mom's vacation has been spent home-bound (when she's wanted to come to Germany since she was little, and this is her first time overseas!) because we were all a bunch of sickies. So once the boys were dressed (they go about the house half dressed ALL the time...it must have something to do with making for a quicker changing time when they need to don their superhero outfits... ;) ), we went for a walk around Spang-Town! :) And I do mean literally "around." We may not have walked the entire perimeter (we skimped by a couple streets due to short legs that went with us), but it was pretty darn close. :)

A & C walking towards the tower in the distance

The wall up by said tower

A close-up to show the detail on the wall

The tower that we saw from a distance turned out to be what appears as some sort of chapel...as it's right next to a cemetery. And it's a pretty new one, too. I saw dates of death as recent as 2006.

One of the headstones

Part of the cemetery overlooking the town

We walked from the cemetery on the hill down to the main street of the town and went all the way to the street where the church is (yes, "the," not "a"...Spangdahlem is too small for more than one church...and as best as I can tell, it even shares it's priest with 3 other towns!).

St. Nikolaus' church in Spangdahlem (taken by my mom)

Looking back at the church's bell tower above the rooftops of Spangdahlem

It was nice to get out of the house and walk around a bit (and the boys got to burn off some energy, too!)...now if only I could get to sleep tonight! Tomorrow's plans include a 3-hour drive (one-way!) to the town of Bischwiller, France, to see if/what we can dig anything up in the way of ancestral information. :D

Christmas Fun

Unfortunately, the couple of days leading up to Christmas, A & C were battling a stomach virus (which seems to invade a body and make them vomit over the course of a 48-hour period, back off for 24 hours and then rear it's head again one last time), which they passed on to The Instigator (he was sick on Christmas Day and the day following).

The boys' big gift was a Kinect system for the XBox (though it's not working properly...it won't find the floor...we'll try again once we get the stand or clip to put it on top of the television...). Santa left me Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 and The Instigator got me Apple TV! :D

Then it was my turn to be sick. :(

Last time all 3 of my boys got sick, I got by without catching it myself. Unfortunately, I wasn't so lucky this time. And it ruined our travel plans a bit. We were supposed to go down to Bischwiller, France yesterday to see what we could track down about my mom's paternal grandfather's family (who immigrated to America from that town). Unfortunately, my bout with this stomach virus kept us home. I guess it worked out in favor of The Instigator, though, as today was his birthday, and this way he got his birthday meal (and cake!) on the day of instead of the day after his birthday (though he's not one to be a stickler for celebrating it on the day of...). But now we've been stuck in the house for 6 straight days (What a way for my mom to spend half of her vacation!!! I feel awful about that!), aside from the walk that my mom and A took (he showed her where his bus stop for school is), so maybe we can get out somewhere today...It's too bad I woke up at 2am! I don't know how long I'll make it today before needing a nap! I should probably get back to bed for a couple hours and see if The Instigator will let me drive him to work so I can have the car...

Here We Go A-Wandering...

After spending a day home-bound (which entailed a dusting of snow and the boys playing games with Grandma), my mom and I set out to see a bit of Germany. Our destination in mind was Mandersheid and it's castle ruins, but anything in between here and there was fair game. :)

While on our way to Mandersheid, we happened across something that I had seen signs for on the Autobahn and had been meaning to track down and see: Abtei Himmerod! As best I can tell, it's an active Abbey, but we only went into the little gift shop (where I got a schnitzel recipe book...It will be worth it to translate it to cook!) and the church part of the Abbey.

The facade of the chapel section of the Abbey

Nativity scene set up inside the Abbey

Close-up of the background of the Nativity (it's a painting of the Abbey!)

The organ in the Abbey's chapel

We continued on to Mandersheid, and got there only to discover that Neiderburg (the lower ruins) were closed. That didn't stop us, however, from going around and hiking up to Oberburg! (We got a nice view of Neiderburg from up there, too.)

View of Neiderburg on the hike up to Oberburg

Neiderburg and the Lieser(?) river running by

My mom at Oberburg, looking down upon Neiderburg

Me standing in front of Oberburg (and yes, my pant legs are rolled up...it was a muddy hike!)

Random tree-lined pathway off the road between Spangdahlem & Manderscheid

On our way back home, my mom's eye was caught by a random building in the town of Eichelhütte. Turns out it was a hotel! We went inside to try and find the cozy-looking restaurant we could see from outside, but had no luck. (I did, however, happen upon what appears to be an old yarn swift, used as decoration!)

But the building and setting were very pretty, so we wandered about and took photos until it got too dark to do so.

A fountain and the entrance to the hotel

Mini-windmill and swan on the pond behind the hotel

The pathway was literally the tree roots covered by dirt!

All-in-all, a laid back day, compared to the time spent in Frankfurt. (But then, the smaller places have a completely different feel to them. Much more relaxed.)