Where Did December Go?

December just flew by for me!  We were super busy trying to visit as many Christmas markets as possible since James will be deployed again for the holidays in 2011.  So we made the most of the time we had and spent as much time together as we could possibly stand :-)  We went to Esslingen and Ludwigsburg, both near Stuttgart, at the beginning of the month.  Followed by a weekend trip to Oberkirch, a small town near the French border, so we could drive to the Strasbourg, France to see the city and their Noel market.  Finally we returned to Prague to check out the  market there as well.  Prague still remains one of my favorite cities even though the market was smaller than we expected it to be.  The city itself is romantic, has gorgeous architecture and easy to get around, either by foot or by using public transporation.

Esslingen, Germany

Ludwigsburg, Germany

Strasbourg, France

Prague, Czech Republic

The weather was cold and snowy all month with a record 32 inches of snow in Ansbach in just December!  I generally don't mind the snow too much because I don't have to drive in it every day but 32 inches is a crazy amount of snow.  The snow banks at the end of our driveway are insanely high and James and I were concerned that we were running out of places to put all the snow as we shoveled the driveway. 

Our Christmas was perfect this year because James was home!  Aubrey loved all things Christmas and especially the music with Jingle Bells and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer being her favorites.  Lolo was excited but she most loved making cookies for Santa and sprinkling some reindeer "food" in the snow on Christmas Eve. 



That is our December in a nutshell.  Today will be spent packing up Christmas until next December and getting my house back in order.  I had plans to take it all down this weekend but the pleas of Aubrey convinced me to wait.  I told her it was time to pack up the tree and she said "but I'll be sad" and it just broke this mommy's heart!  I am such a sucker!  She seems to be ready for it to be packed away now so off I go. 

Happy New Year and best wishes for a happy, safe and prosperous 2011! 

Prague, Czech Republic

I can't believe we returned home from our Krakow and Prague vacation just over a month ago!  I have been procrastinating on my blog (and many other things) lately and just finished editing and re-sizing my photos from the Prague portion of the trip. 

Prague is an amazing city.  It feels old.  It looks old.  It is old.  I loved it!  There is something about this city that had me wanting to return before we even went to bed on our first night there.  I just can't explain the feelings that washed over me as I have never falling in love with a city instantly until then. 

Prague is very walkable and if you don't want to walk you can easily access public transportation.  We took the subway to Hradcany (the Castle Quarter) and walked down to Charles Bridge where we wandered around on both sides of the river.  Here are my favorite photos from the trip...

These first three were all taken around the castle and cathedral.  The cathedral is very gothic looking and it looked stunning against the blue sky.  The girls started holding hands on this trip and they look sooooo cute when they get along.  James snapped that picture just inside on of the gates into the castle grounds.  And finally a beautiful mosaic located on one of the churches. 

This is one of the towers located on the end of Charles Bridge.  The bridge is pedestrian only so artists set up along the top hoping to entice tourists into buy paintings, jewelry and other gifts as they stroll across.  There is some beautiful statues along the top of the bridge as well.

I have no information about these odd but great baby sculptures located in a park near Charles Bridge.  I found the tourists posing with them almost as funny as the sculptures themselves.

The Lennon Wall is a good sized section of a wall that was painted after John Lennon died.  The graffiti was painted over every day until the authorities finally gave up and left it alone.  Now it is an interesting bit of art.

I hope you enjoyed my very brief tour of Prague.  We will be returning in a few weeks with the hopes of sunny skies and new photos.  Thanks for stopping by.