The Happiest Place on Earth

On our last morning at Disneyland, we woke up early so we could fit in everything the girls wanted to do one last time. At breakfast, the girls told us what rides they wanted to go on, so Eric and I mapped out a plan for our last day in the parks. 

Our morning began in Discoveryland and this time Eric won the family challenge by getting the most points on the Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast. Our time was then spent in Fantasyland, sailing on the Peter Pan ride and the other ones we did on the first day. Eric took the girls for a Carousel ride, while I waited in line for a visit with the Disney Princesses. 

 The Princess Pavilion was not scheduled to open for 30 more minutes and then the Princesses would not arrive for another 20 minutes plus when I got into line. This visit would be our longest wait time for an attraction at the Park, but it was still shorter than any of the previous days' waiting times of over 60 plus minutes. While waiting to enter the Pavilion which looked like a mini castle, we learned we could visit with either Snow White or Cinderella and the girls would not get to choose who, but this did not really seem to matter to them as they were just excited to visit with a Disney Princess. They opened the doors on time, so we could wander through the decorated queuing hall with the various Princess's castles and their respective identity item. As we walked through, the girls were quick to identify which Princess belonged with each picture and item. When it was our turn, the girls asked  if they would be visiting with Snow White or Cinderella, but the attendant did not reveal who and motioned for them to enter the gallery. 

In the gallery, the girls smiled and conversed briefly with Cinderella before having their picture taken. Afterwards, the girls were very happy they had the opportunity to meet Cinderella and talk with her during their visit. Even though it was about a 45 minute wait, the smiles and happy chattering were priceless as we left the Princess Pavilion.

We worked our way again around Disneyland riding on the requested rides. The timing was great as we got to see many of the smaller performances throughout the park while enroute and we ended at Autopia in the late morning. 

The car driving experience would be another long wait time of about 45 minutes. When it was our turn, the girls were our chauffeurs. Emmie was very serious about driving the car, while Adeline was all over the track. It was a fun time for all of us. 

We took a lunch break at Annette's Cafe where we dined on cheeseburgers, french fries, and milkshakes. The meal was overpriced, but we enjoyed a taste of America.

Our day continued at Walt Disney Studios. The Disney Royal couples were in the courtyard, so we walked up to Snow White who was dancing with her prince. She extended her hand to Adeline who was then dancing with just the two of them for a minute as Emmie became shy and did not want to and before other children joined in. Eric and Emmie proceeded to the Tower of Terror as Emmie requested to go on this ride again. This time Emmie happily screamed with the rest of the riders when the doors closed and the elevator dropped.  Afterwards, Eric took the girls on the parachute ride. 

We returned to Disneyland to get our spots on Main Street for the Parade. The girls loved being so close to the colorful floats, dancing performers, and characters as they passed us by. They were filled with glee as they named all of the characters that they saw and super excited when some of them waved to them.

When the parade was over, we dodged the oncoming crowd and had one last ride through the Haunted Mansion and on the Mine Ride.  Our final time at Disneyland was spent watching Mickey's Magical Celebration. The show fascinated the girls and watching Rapunzel and her Prince appear in the middle of the dancing Royal couples was an enchanting moment for them.

We joined the crowd in exiting the park and began our four hour plus evening drive home. This surprise vacation to Disneyland was filled with many magical moments for our family and was the happiest place on Earth for Adeline and Emmie during their three day visit.

Another Magical Day

This morning we took advantage of being able to get into the park early. Before heading to the park, we asked the hotel to make a dinner reservation for us, but they could not get us a table anywhere in the Disney Village for that evening. We stopped at Cafe Mickey on our way to the park and they magically made a reservation for us at 7:15pm that evening. 

We happily continued to the park and were on our first ride by 9am. We started the morning off in Discoveryland on Buzz Lightyear's Laser Blast. I accumulated the most points out of everyone on this ride. Eric wanted to take Adeline on Space Mountain, but she was a few centimeters short, so they could not go on it.

We journeyed back to Fantasyland and rode these rides again. Adeline and Emmie had even more energy and enthusiasm since they were already familiar with each ride. By 11am we had walked through the entire park and rode the rides we did not get to yesterday and took another ride on ones that were operating before the normal park hours. 

Since we had just gotten off of the Star Wars ride, Eric tried again to get Adeline on Space Mountain. This time Adeline walked past a few operators on her tip toes and through the queuing and then asked Eric if she could stop walking on her toes as they were starting to hurt. The plan worked and they had a fun time on the ride. Adeline thought it was so cool daddy snuck her on the ride. 

We spent the afternoon at Walt Disney Studios. We first watched the Animagique show before going on the rides in Toy Story Playland. The girls liked the parachute ride when it dropped down. While Eric and Adeline went on a ride, Emmie and I grabbed a bite to eat. While we were waiting in line, we watched the Disney's Stars in Cars Parade. It also started to sprinkle, so we found a covered area while we ate lunch. 

After lunch, we all went on the The Twilight Zone Tower of Tower. Emmie just made it on the height requirement for this ride. We took our seats on the elevator and waited. The girls intensely watched the story of the hotel and then were silent as the elevator moved to the next few floors. The doors opened one last time for us to look out onto the park and then they closed and we dropped. As we exited the ride, Adeline was one ride was enough for her as this was not her favorite. Emmie commented on how everyone was screaming after the doors closed the last time and was ready to go on it again as it was now her favorite ride.

We were on track for seeing the stunt show, Moteurs Action. The timing was great as we were in the grandstands while it was raining again.  The girls thought it was neat to see the cars and motorcycles drive so close to each other and at high speeds, and the guy catch on fire and then get extinguished. A trip on the Studio tram tour was fun as our tram shook from the Canyon flooding. We made it just in time to be one of the last riders on Crush's Coaster to end our day at the Studios. 

Since it was sprinkling and windy, we passed the time shopping in the Disney Village. We had to wait a few minutes for our table, but we ended up with a nice table for dinner at Cafe Mickey. The place was great for seeing different characters while we waited for our meal to arrive. Chip and Dale stopped by and Pluto tried to take Eric's beer, but the highlight was Mickey Mouse's visit.  Adeline's Disney shaped noodles were a treat for her pasta meal, too. 

We headed out in the rain back to our hotel. Unfortunately, Eric slipped with Emmie on our way back, but nothing too serious that will not heal in time. The girls did a quick recap of the day's events for us and listened to a princess story before falling fast asleep.

Disneyland

Monday morning traffic in Paris and we started our left turn as the navi told us to do at a circular intersection in the one lane marked for turning left. We were now stuck in the middle as the light changed and instantly had cars coming at us and still unsure how we were to get to the street we were supposed to continue on. Amazingly, we made it across three or four lanes of traffic with numerous horns being honked, but onto a different street. It did not matter the route was changed as we were unharmed and were heading in the right direction out of the city. We were looking forward to our next destination, which was a surprise to Adeline and Emmie.

We arrived at the hotel and checked in. The girls thought we were staying at another city, New York, for  a few days, due to the decorations in the lobby; however, upon returning to the lobby, Mickey and Minnie Mouse were spotted. Adeline hugged Mickey, but Emmie was shy around the big mouse. This clued Adeline in that we were at Disneyland.

Upon entering the park, Emmie discovered the huge castle. She was very excited about visiting the princess's castle. While we waited for the train, the girls looked over the map and instantly became our tour guides.

We started in Fantasyland with Alice's Curious Labyrinth. It took a few rides before the girls realized we would be going on all of the rides and not just a select few like at the festivals. They were curious about what each ride was and a little hesitant about how it was executed, but always had tons of excitement and glee after exiting the ride. Their favorite ride was It's a Small World. The girls were mesmerized by all of the dancing dolls and their outfits. They did their best to try and capture everything that was occurring around them.

Exploring Adventureland went quickly as some of the rides were being worked on, but Adeline and Emmie had a good time exploring with Eric. 

We lucked out in Frontierland as someone gave us fastpasses as we were about to get in the 45 minute waiting line for the Mine Ride, so our wait time was reduced to under 10 minutes. This was Emmie's first roller coaster ride and she had a great experience.

Our timing was perfect for seeing Disney's Once Upon a Dream Parade. The girls watched from our shoulders as the floats passed by. They shouted with excitement when they spotted a character. After the parade, we finally toured Sleeping Beauty's castle. Emmie was thrilled about this as every time she spotted the castle throughout the afternoon, she would inform us.

We exited the castle in time to get a good spot for viewing Mickey's Halloween Treat in the Street. It was a nice rest to watch the characters and dancers perform a halloween show with themed songs and dances. Mickey only spoke French, but the other characters spoke English and French throughout the show. Afterwards, the dancers handed out gummi candies to the children.

The show ended just before Mickey's Magical Celebration at central plaza began, so we found a spot and waited for the performance. The show dazzled us all, but the finale with the dancing princesses and their princes was the perfect ending to Adeline and Emmie's first day at Disneyland.

We stopped in the Disney Village for dinner; however, the earliest we could get a table at any of the restaurants was over 45 minutes since we did not have reservations. We opted for the picnic lunch I had packed just in case a situation like this might occur back in the hotel room.  It took the girls a little while to unwind from the day's excitement, but eventually we were all resting up for our second magical day.

Paris

Sunday morning we drove to Paris to avoid the major city traffic jams. We arrived at our hotel safely after Eric navigated through the one way streets wide enough for two to three cars with no defined car lanes. We had a quick lunch out on the hotel's terrasse before venturing out into the big city.

Our first stop was the Arc de Triomphe. We walked around and under the huge arc monument amazed at the size of it and the detail contained on it. Our journey then continued to the Eiffel Tower.

The train stop was a few blocks away from the tower, but it allowed us to enjoy the Eiffel Tower's elegance. At the nearby plaza, there were also many street entertainers, but we managed to weave through the chaos and find a good viewing area. We strolled through the park on our way to the tower. While admiring the Tower's beauty and size as we stood underneath it, we debated about ascending it, but the lines were too long to waste a warm sunny afternoon waiting to go up.

Another short train ride through the city and we were at the Notre Dame Cathedral. It is a gorgeous church on the exterior as well as the interior. There was a service going on, so the organ was playing during our visit.  

We stopped for a Nutella crepe break before strolling over to the Louvre. We walked around the Louvre, admiring the glass pyramid and the surrounding buildings. From here, we went to dinner as we needed to take the train to get to that part of the city. 

The recommended restaurant was closed, but we did find the Hard Rock Cafe and then a corner cafe for dinner. Unfortunately, the food was not superb as known by the French, but it filled us up. 

In the early evening, we strolled back by the Eiffel Tower to see it all lit up. It was an amazing sight and the girls loved when it glittered on the hour. 

We ended the evening with a stroll down Champs- Elysees Avenue. 

Herbstferien- Woche 1

After a slow Tuesday morning, we headed into Wiesbaden. The weather has turned cooler and is windy, so it was a good day for shopping and having lunch out. Sarah recommended a little Italian restaurant to dine at, so we found ourselves a table amongst the lunch crowd. The spaghetti portions were huge, but the sauce was tasty and overall it was a delicious meal. 

We spent Wednesday playing games and relaxing as it was cool and windy out again. My parents also packed up their clothes and souvenirs as they were flying out early the next morning .

Early Thursday morning, I dropped my parents off at the airport while everyone else was sleeping. I returned home and we had the place cleaned and back in order before lunchtime. In the afternoon, the girls participated in a Nature class together. It was nice weather for walking in the forest. They had a good time going together.

Friday afternoon, Emmie attended a friend's birthday party, while Adeline went to the Nature class again. In the evening, we had a pizza party with the Lotz and Simone families. Us gals then went to church to play Bunco while the guys talked and the kids played.

On Saturday, Sarah and Jorge came over and we strolled through the Gallusmarkt in downtown Hofheim. The festival has grown since last year, so there were new vendors and new areas to chieck out. The weather was good to be out and strolling in the late afternoon and we even managed to obtain a table for all of us in the small wine area they had constructed. 

The first week of the girls school vacation went fast, but my parents two week visit seemed to go even faster. We had a great time sharing with them our current lifestyle and having them experience the different foods and treats we so much enjoy, plus touring around with them. We may scramble the days we did stuff, but the moments of being together are priceless memories .

Daytrips

Tuesday morning, Adeline's class walked to the local farm to see how fresh apple cider was made. After the tour, the kids got to taste of it before visiting the farm animals and returning to school.

When she returned home, we began our day trip on the Rhine River. We arrived in Rüdesheim in plenty of time to catch the boat. We ate our picnic lunch while we waited to board. The weather was a little windy for sitting outside, but the sunshine and clear blue skies made the journey wonderful or maybe  it was the wine we sipped along the way, too. We disembarked after a few hours at St. Goarshausen and caught the train back to Rüdesheim. We wandered through the little town and found a traditional German biergarten for dinner and then shopped for a few souvenirs before heading home.

Wednesday, my Dad and Denise ventured downtown while we were all in class. They had a good time enjoying the cafe, although I forgot to tell them there are no free refills on coffee here, but they eventually figured it out when the waitress did not come back again offering a second cup. 

Thursday afternoon we visited Mainz. After a visit to the church, we came across the town's little bakery. With one look at the various tortes and cakes in the display case, my Dad did not hesitate in his answer to what our afternoon treat was going to be. There was even a table in the front window for all of us to sit at and enjoy our variety of selected sweets as we watched the activity in the town square. Afterwards, we strolled through the streets and of course when we were furtherest from the car, it started to pour. We waited for a few minutes in a store, and then just started making our way back through stores as we tried to dodge the rain drops. 

The girls loved having their grandparents take them and pick them up from school this past week. Adeline did a good job introducing them to her teacher and giving them a tour around her school to the point she  asked the secretary to open up her classroom from last year as it was locked.

Friday afternoon, we took the train to Frankfurt. Even though there was a slight drizzle, the pedestrian area was still full of people shopping. We toured the modern and historic areas with a break for ice cream and then walked over to the bridge on the Main River. The weather was cooling down quickly as it got later in the afternoon, so we headed for home.

Cannstatter Volksfest

Saturday morning, we took the train to Stuttgart. When we got off the train, we were surrounded by crowds of people in their dirndls and lederhosen going to the Cannsttater Volksfest, the second largest beer festival in the world,  to work and hang out with friends. 

We spent the early afternoon touring Stuttgart. We then gathered our luggage from the main train station and went on to our hotel which was closer to the festival. The exact route from where the train stopped to our hotel was not clear, so we lugged our suitcases through the festival as the path ended and we were not close to the street anymore. We did get a quick glance of what we would be experiencing on Sunday.

After a little rest, we then walked to the local train station and caught the train to Esslingen. In Esslingen, we  met up with the Dageförde family. We toured Esslingen before heading to dinner in a quaint restaurant.  We had a great Swabish meal and tasty local wine to end our day. It brought back some good memories of when we lived in the neat little town. For our return journey, we took a different route back to the hotel as we exited the train at a stop which was closer to the hotel; however, it took us along the less traveled path, but by the large soccer arena. 

We spent Sunday at the Cannstatter Volksfest which has been held since 1818. Marcos and Isa met up with us and the kids had fun going on the rides together. Eric and Adeline went on a really high swing ride that overlooked the entire area while Emmie and I did the normal swing ride. 

After strolling around, we rested in the Klauss and Klauss  Dinkelacker Beer tent. The atmosphere was quite festive and the band was playing nonstop. We dined on the traditional roasted chicken and fries accompanied by a Mass. The girls, including Denise, had fun chanting and singing while standing on the benches with the rest of the crowd. 

We continued our day at the festival with some more rides, including bumper cars where Eric and Adeline bumped Emmie and my Dad throughout the session. We then discovered a Bavarian themed outdoor tent area for a late afternoon break. We found some tasty fair treats to take back to the hotel with us for the evening. Later in the evening, we woke the girls up from their sleep so they could see the fireworks show as we could watch it from our hotel room. This was perfect as it was drizzling out and we were already in our pajamas. It was a great family day at the fair.

Monday, Eric had a conference to attend, so he left us on our own for the day. When he was at the train station, he called to inform us there were no taxis so plan accordingly for getting around. Our plan was to take a bus to the train station so we did not have to haul our luggage; however, when no buses were seen on the street, we were hoping a taxi might show up along our route. Fortunately, a taxi rounded the corner just as we were about to start walking. We took the short taxi ride to the train station and learned the bus and street train workers were on strike. We packed our luggage in a locker at the main train station and hopped on the train to Ludswigsburg. 

In Ludwigsburg, we visited the Ludwigsburg Palace. We decided on the tour through the apartment area to  see the magnificent decoration and then enjoy the rest of our time wandering about the grounds. We stopped for lunch at McDonalds before heading back to Stuttgart. Since we had time to spare, we enjoyed the sunshine in the park and then an ice cream treat overlooking Stuttgart's residence palace. 

Our train arrived a little late in Frankfurt, so everyone was hustling to catch our connecting train to Hofheim. We made it just in time, so we were on track to be home soon. By the time we arrived back to the apartment, our legs needed the rest after a fun and eventful long weekend.