Frohe Weihnachten

Even though we weren't able to physically be with family this Christmas, Daniel and I were able to Skype and/or FaceTime with so many of them on Christmas or soon thereafter. It wasn't the same & there were moments it was hard being separated by a screen more and than a few miles, BUT being able to see them and be a part of their day, even through an iPad screen was somehow meaningful. AND, at the end of the day, Daniel & I were together.

Merry Christmas from the Langstons.



Daniel & I enjoyed a quiet morning together, exchanged gifts & consumed Daniel's delicious sausage gravy and biscuits. Have to thank my father-in-law for the recipe on this one.

Later in the afternoon our neighbors joined us for a full fledged turkey dinner. I successfully cooked my first Christmas turkey AND had waayy too much fun with all the fixins to accompany the main attraction . . .we've been picking at the leftovers all weekend.

 

As we do not yet have a kitchen table or chairs, we were able to barrow a folding table and five metal chairs from Daniel's office. Folding metal chairs are far better than no chairs.

 

We finished our night with Skype "dates" with both families and a final Christmas movie, snuggled on the couch. The time difference worked in our favor this time around as we were able to "do our day" before most of our family & friends in the states were even awake.

Friday we got up and drove to Bamberg, Germany. A small town about three hours away, know for its half-timbered buildings, hills and narrow, cobblestone streets.

 

Bamberg's Old Bridge Town Hall. Legend has it that the citizens of Bamberg asked the bishop for land to build a town hall. The bishop would not grant such a request so the citizens rammed stakes into the river Regnitz to create an artificial "island", on which they eventually built the town hall you see pictured. 

 

 

 

St. Peter & St. George's Imperial Cathedral - 1012

 

 

"New Residence" in Cathedral Square

 

 Old Court

 

 

 

St. Michael's Monastery. Sadly, we couldn't go inside because of restoration work, but enjoyed walking around the outside, admiring the architecture and grounds just the same. 

 

 

Our final stop, Altenburg Castle.

 

 

Perched on top of Bamberg's highest hill, Altenburg Castle is one of Bamberg's major landmarks. You can't see it too well in the pictures, but at this point on our hike up the very steep hill, it started to flurry.

 

As the snow started to come down harder, we decided it was best to start the drive back. We stopped back in town for a quick bite to eat and hit the road.

 

Oh what a trip! What should have taken us an hour to drive, took us F O U R   H O U R S. That's right, in 4 hours we had driven less than 120 klm. Between the weather & the traffic because of the heavy snow fall, what should have taken us just over 3 hours to get home took us right at 8 hours. Silver lining is that we were home and we were safe. Daniel deserves some kind of award after a drive like that. Thanks for keeping us safe baby!

 

Tomorrow is back to the grind for Daniel. For me, un-Christmas-ing the house?  . . Otherwise known as packing up the Christmas directions and taking the lights off the tree.