First Cy-Hawk game

Addison attended her first Cy-Hawk game this winter. We weren't planning on taking her, I was going to stay home since I had just gotten home from Germany the day before. But we couldn't sell my ticket, so Addison and I ended up going until half time. That was all she could handle sitting still and it was bedtime! 

BUT we did watch the rest on TV when we got home and ISU won 84-78. Uncle Landon says she needs to attend all games from now on :) 

And speaking of getting home from Germany, I got home at midnight and had to wait till the next morning to see Addison. It was hard! She was not mad at me (I probably couldn't handle it if she was). But I was warned she could be. Thankfully she was excited and clingy :) 

This photo looks odd, but at the time, Ryan and I were laughing pretty hard. She was yelling at the guy on the ladder to "get down". She has authority in her voice and yells it. We didn't know who she was yelling at at first, but then saw the guy. It was pretty funny (to us anyways). 

That smile. What a little stinker. She was wearing Makena's outfit that day and my necklace. She was running around 100 mph and I told her to smile. She actually did it. ha! 

Nuremburg

Here is a photo of the Gluhwein, aka hot wine. It's not just wine, I can't remember what else is in it, but it's quite delicious! Each city had a different version and different cup. Many people collect the cups at each city, we did not. 

I sent this photo to my parents, these figures look exactly like all the Christmas towns my dad and I used to buy for my  mom for Christmas. I LOVED when my dad and I would drive to Fort Dodge to Hallmark and pick out the Christmas town. I spent forever looking at these things and planning which ones I wanted to buy for her. I just thought it was funny they were at the holiday markets too! 

Tracey in one word :) 

We had to send these photos to Conner. He loves waffles and would be jealous. There was SO MUCH food at these markets, but we ate so much at the boat, we didn't need to buy anything at the market. But on the last night, we thought we needed to buy something. We chose a waffle, it was pretty good!

Check out this birthday candle!! This was one of my travelers, Ron. He would be celebrating his birthday the day we were leaving. So the last night, the crew brought him a little cake. I think I definitely need to find one of these candles for Addison's birthday :) 

Bamberg & Nuremburg

Here are a few more photos from Bamberg - we were stopped on a bridge on our tour and the history was boring us, so we took pictures :) 

Yes I quietly tried to get my group together for a photo during the tour. They ended up stopping for us. Oops :) 

We found a manger in Nuremburg. You could get unbelievably close to the animals.

We actually saw the camel swing his head and wrap his neck around a girl.....Yea I didn't get too close after that! 

Photos of the markets

These were some of the trinkets they sold. Hand-craved wood pieces that people went crazy over. One of the travelers has a whole scene of wood carvings at her house that she showed us a photo of. Her and her husband have been to the markets 11 times and know what they are looking for each time! Crazy. 

Had to take a picture of the Tesla store.

Everyone loved to see the Holiday Markets at night when it was all lit up. Nuremburg was one of the biggest markets and it was our last day. We liked it because there were tons of other stores in the area. It was a really nice city. It's so weird to be in cities where the streets are pedestrian and many don't allow vehicles. I was amazed at how clean every city we visited was. The buildings may have been old but they were very well taken care of and restored. Another big difference was that we had to plan potty breaks accordingly as you had to pay for restrooms :) Thankfully we never had to use the public restrooms - ha! 

Bamberg

We went to a restaurant on a tour to try some smoked beer and German sausage. Tracey has the pilsner above. It was drinkable but I made a face. 

But that pilsner was WAY better than the smoked beer - yuck!!

They told us we were going to bakery - here is the one we thought we were going to :) 

But this is where we ended up. It was a chain bakery. They had gingerbread and some kind of chocolate bar. We would have liked Dunkin' Donuts better. We did go in to see if they had a lemon powder donut, they didn't :( 

We just thought this gingerbread house was cool. So I made Tracey take her picture by it. You know, the tourist thing to do. 

Waiting to get on the boat, it had snowed a couple inches that day. 

The whole group before we docked one day. 

Rothenburg

They had a tree decorating contest on the boat. The ISU Group was embarrassingly enthusiastic. Tracey and I thought they were kidding when a few of them told us their ideas, we just laughed and agreed. Little did we know, they were completely serious!! It was a little ridiculous!  

Rothenburg has a wall around the city. It was pretty interesting. Rothenburg was one of our favorite stops but we were there for such a short time. We didn't get time to do everything we wanted to do. There was a path at the top of the wall that went around the city and only took about 45 minutes to walk. We really wanted to do that but didn't have time! 

Ryan asked me what the Holiday Markets were selling or what they looked like. So I took a few photos. 

Rothenburg was known for their "Schneeballs" they were a flaky pastry, like a pie crust, and could be coated with a topping. 

Germany is famous for their nutcrackers. This was outside one of the big chain Christmas stores.

Here we are with our Gluhwein and Schneeball. Yes it was cold out. That's why we had to find a bakery and hot wine!! 

I bought Addison a doll in Rothenburg. I really struggled to find something for her, but I was happy with my purchase. I will see if I have a photo of her with it. She was TERRIFIED of it at first, but she will at least touch it now :) 

Wurzberg

When in Germany, you get beer and pretzels for breakfast :) 

\

The whole group!! Here are our amazing travelers. It was such a great group! This was at our ISU party one of the nights. 

Just a photo of the landscape along the Rhine River. Some of the hills were SOO steep I'm not sure how they farmed. I'm not sure if the ropes going up and down the hills were for the crop they were growing or for people! 

One of many castles we passed. Tracey and I wanted so badly to go in a castle. We never got to. Guess we need to go back now. 

The Residence - it was a palace where the Prince-Bishop lived. It was pretty cool. Although they only let you go through part of it, I of course wanted to see the whole thing. They talked A LOT about the artwork which Tracey and I didn't care less about. We wanted to hear more about the parties they hosted and how the rooms were used. We did get a little of that. Part of the palace was destroyed in WWII but they then restored it. They didn't let us take photos inside. :( One room had artwork on the ceiling in stucco where it looked like people were coming out of the ceiling - ha! 

Miltenburg

In our very limited free time in Miltenburg, Tracey & I wanted to see the castle. We REALLY wanted to go in a castle, but it wasn't open. We hiked the cobblestone path (and realized how out of shape we were) up to the castle. It was still cool to be outside of it.

The view from the castle. 

"knock knock...anyone home??" 

Going back down the steep path to the city. This was one of the gates to the gated area around the castle. 

Another view from the castle. 

City of Miltenburg - I just loved the buildings and look of the cities. So different from we are used to. Many of these buildings were from before the war but some were after. I love how they have appreciated and preserved the history of the towns.

Most streets are pedestrian only or have only certain hours that vehicles are allowed. Apparently it's an unwritten rule. And the natives get made when people disobey :) You can see the hills in the distance, it was a very pretty town!