Traveling with Family in Germany

After our conference, our family, along with my (Kristen's) parents and sister took a week to visit a few different cities in Germany before we headed back to India (thank you dad for blessing us:). We had such a great time together! 

The first city we visited was Koln. It's a big city with a huge historical cathedral. This was the main reason dad wanted us to visit this city. 

This was the first place where Neal ate some German bratswurth, which is basically the best hot dog sausage ever. Elijah, who's come to love hot dogs since being in the states, thought it was really good as well...he wanted to eat the whole thing:)

The next city was Koblenz. This is where the two rivers, the mother river and the Rhein river meet together at German point. Here, at this famous place, there are flags that line the edge of the river, which you can see behind Neal and Elijah. 

 This monument is also at German point. It's hard to see though because of the position of the sun. However, Neal, Lauren, and I went up to the top of the monument to overlook the rivers. It was a beautiful sight!

This picture shows mom and Neal walking along the sidewalk by the river with the cool German architecture to the right. Isn't it so beautiful! I loved exercising on this path!

Then we went to Trier, which is known as a very old historical town that has the last standing, intact, Roman gate called the Porte Nigro.

There were many interesting things in this city, one of which was a lot of elephants all around the city. I'm not sure why the elephants were there, but Elijah really enjoyed them. He would see an elephant and then get real excited and point and say, "look another elephant."

Here's the Porte Nigro at the edge of the city. 

Our hotel was just two doors down from the gate.

It was so chili while we were out eating that Elise needed her little jacket and blanket. She tends to get cold pretty easy, so we always made sure there was extra layers for her since it was colder there than in America (and for sure India).

The palace for the emperor was attached to the double Cathedrals. In front of it was a beautiful garden area with a walkway, beautiful flowers in an array of colors, statues, and lots of green grass. After living for 15 months in India I appreciate the lushes grass every time I see it. I've always loved it, but especially now...it's something I often long to see and have Elijah play in. 

Behind the gardens was part of the original rock wall that was there during the time of the Romans. Dad especially loves the wall! He talks about it and wants a picture of all his kids that he brings to the wall. He's just a huge fan of the history that it represents and how long it has been standing.  

We drove from Trier beside the Rhein river all the way to Heidelburg, which is mine and Neal's favorite city that we visited (Trier being the second favorite). Heidelburg is right on the river, which we love, and just a neat historical town. 

This is the gate that is the entryway to the bridge that goes over the river. 

The panorama from the bridge shows the tops of some of the  cathedrals, as well as the victorian style houses and hotels on either side of the river. It was amazingly beautiful. I can't imagine living there!

Our hotel we stayed in was the pink building to the right of the bridge in the panorama.

This panorama was taken on the opposite side of the river from where the main city was. Thank you God for places that show your beauty...help me to find your beauty when I return to India, and especially Kite City. 

Lauren helped us with the kids often. While we were packing our bags she came to the room to hold Elise for us. Isn't this just a sweet picture of the two of them. Elise looked so cozy:)

This is in front of our hotel. All the streets not only in this city, but in basically every city we went to was made of stone. It looked so neat...wasn't really made for the stroller though:)

Our last evening in Heidlburg we ate some mega German food. Neal and Lauren both wanted to eat something that was very authentic, and Dad knew just the place. The restaurant attached to our hotel had some crazy menu items. There was stuff like goose drippings (what the mess, literally, is that?), wild boar, which is what Neal and Lauren ate, lots of animal livers, etc. It was another chili evening so dad borrowed one of Neal's new German scarfs, which I think looks really good on him, and the rest of us wore the blankets they provided for us. 

The last city we went to was Meitz, which is a short train ride from the airport. Dad and my brothers have stayed there the last night as well in order to head to caught the plane the next day. Typically they just eat and sleep in the hotel instead of exploring the city because they usually don't have much time. However, since it was Elijah's 2nd birthday, and the place to eat in the hotel only had an hour window open, we decided to go out for dinner. We were so glad we did because we discovered all the beauty my dad and brothers had been missing.

Right as we walked outside in the gentle rain we noticed something that's always beautiful...a double rainbow painted across the sky. What a precious reminder from the Lord of His promises...and such a sweet time and day to remind us - Elijah's birthday, and our last day before returning to India.

Although we didn't end up eating at this place, I thought it was really cool with all the grape vines growing on the front, and over the terraces to the side.

My precious boy loved running around on the open cobblestone chasing the birds...or the "la-la" as he calls them.

I can't believe it was two years ago that he came into our lives. Thank you God for Elijah!

Here's some cool pictures that I took around the city. It was a really historical and beautiful place.

For dinner we found a pizza place since Elijah Loves pizza. By the time we found a place where we didn't have to use Euros to eat, it was pretty late and we were all really hungry, especially Elijah. While we waited to the food he got to open a couple of presents. He's a huge fan of bears, so one of the gifts my parents bought him was a little bear that was wearing a hoodie that says, "I love Germany."

Elijah had seen the same bear a couple days before in the market and wanted to hold it while I looked around...he was thrilled to have one of his own:) He gave him the biggest hug, and kept wanting to hug him through the night.

He loves getting into daddy's wallet and playing with his business cards and money. So, Neal and I got him a little wallet of his own with a key chain on top. Keys are another one of those things he loves.

He really enjoyed his birthday presents and pizza!

Here we all were back at the hotel for one last picture all together before flying out the next morning.

Lauren, Elijah, Elise (in the pouch) and I on the train riding into the airport. It was Lauren and Elise's first time on a train. Elijah had ridden one in India before, but this was the first time he knew what was going on, and he was so excited. He kept on telling Lauren and I, "I train, I train." He says everything as "I ...." He's gotten to where he's trying to speak in more sentences, but tends to leave out just a couple of words. He always includes the important stuff though:)

It was a great trip! I'm so thankful we had this time with my family...such a blessing!