To Ed and Europe. Finally.

On Sunday, August 23rd we all woke up happy and excited that we were finally headed across the pond. Of course, no family trip would be complete without an ear infection, so we spent a couple minutes after church at Uncle Ben's office getting Abby's ears checked and some medicine so she at least wouldn't suffer too much on the airplane.

She doesn't seem too sick, does she? Sometimes I swear she just want medicine for the sugary taste. It's helpful that Uncle Ben's homeopathics don't taste so good--then I know if she's willing to take them that she's actually sick.

We had lunch, packed our last few belongings, said goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa, and drove with Uncle Ben to JFK. The day before, I had made the kids practice going through TSA by setting up a pseudo-security station in the kitchen, complete with boxes and Grandma as the screener.  The practice paid off, and the kids sailed through skycap and security to the gate.

Luckily for them, the airport TV had one of their favorite shows on: Teen Titans, Go! It's definitely not my favorite, although the "Leg Day" sketches are pretty funny.

The flight went by fast and everyone but Mary and I slept for at least 3 or 4 hours. The worst part was passport control after we landed--it was crowded and the kids were so tired they kept trying to sit down while I was trying to muscle our way forward. It took so long that Ed had to wait for us for almost an hour. There's no way to say it without sounding cheesy, but we definitely had a joyous reunion when we all finally saw Dad again. (The kids wore stick-on mustaches, just to be funny.)

We flew into Frankfurt, but our first leg of our Grand Tour was in Gries, France, which was two hours away. We wouldn't be able to pick up our rental car for two more days, so I had previously called my friend Jolynn, who is currently living in Frankfurt, to see if she knew anyone with an 8 passenger car that we could pay to drive us to Gries. Gratefully, and surprisingly (since she only has 2 kids), Jolynn has one, and bless her heart, she spent the whole day picking up Ed, then us at the airport, then driving us and staying with us until we could get into our house at 3:30. We knew the Williams family in Jerusalem, where Jolynn had been my sightseeing buddy, her husband Jay had served with Ed in the Branch Presidency, and their son Ivan and our Isaac were best friends. It was good to see her and catch up on the last two years. I'm hopeful that we'll be able to stay in Frankfurt for two weeks in October while Ed's in Turkey, just so we can be close to them.

All of our lodging for this trip has been booked through airbnb.com, and although it is reputable and Ed has had good experiences in Switzerland and Turkey, it's not like a Marriott where you know exactly what you're going to get. Our house in Gries, though, was better than we had hoped for. Gries is a tiny, picturesque, quiet town where the only grocery store and gas station were going out of business the week we stayed there. The house itself was an old wooden structure renovated with red Alsacien hearts and folk drawings and stocked with everything we needed.  It had a back courtyard for eating outside, a small yard with grass (which the French call a garden) and a game room with pool, ping pong, foosball, and countless board games and books. The house inside had plenty of space for us with a large living area and three bedrooms plus a loft where Linda often slept when she got too hot. I didn't take many pictures, but here is a link to the listing on airbnb, if you want to see more. It really is an wonderful place. (The first two photos are courtesy of Google Maps.)

Playing Foosball in the game room.

Ping pong is popular enough over here that there are permanent tables installed in the city parks. The kids decided they love the game.

The view from the backdoor of the kitchen. The house went around the courtyard in a U-shape, with two or three other rental apartments connected and sharing the space.

The view toward our part of the house.

This is the minivan we have leased for three months, a.k.a. our mobile home. It's about the only thing that will remain constant throughout this trip.

We had planned to spend this first week in Europe getting over jet lag and getting reacquainted as a family, reintegrating Dad into our day to day routine. We didn't want to be in a place like Paris, where we would feel guilty not sightseeing everyday, and we hoped to find a home where there would be enough to keep the kids busy without constantly resorting to screens. This was the perfect place. And while we did do some sightseeing on Friday and Saturday, we hardly left the house at all from Monday afternoon to Friday morning.  We also had to recover from more ear infections, a UTI, and a moderate allergic reaction to a bee sting, so we were doubly glad to be settled in such a good place.  We also discovered that doctor visits in the Alsace are incredibly cheap--they cost in total what my copay costs at home in the States. And the doctor was very nice. (Traveler's Tip of the Day: the US embassies often publish lists of English-speaking medical facilities and personnel in their respective countries, and they can usually be found on Google.)

An aside about the Alsace region: although it is currently French, this area has been German at various times in the last thousand years, and thus many of the town names are "heim" and "burg." Also many of the residents speak a dialect called "Alsacien," which is a combination of French and German. Since I don't know a lick of French, I was grateful when the locals were willing to listen to my remedial German or struggle to figure out enough English for me to get by. I loved speaking German, and it made me excited for three weeks in Germany in October.

It was such a relief and so much fun to have Ed back with us again, but both of us were used to doing things our own way without having to communicate our motives or reasoning--or even intentions--to anyone else. It only took a few days to get back on the same page, but we had a good laugh at ourselves and each other as we bumbled a bit and tried not to get frustrated. The kids were oblivious, of course, and just happy to be in the land of baguettes and pastries and Nutella.

By Friday, Ed was itching to get back to work,  and I was itching to get out and sightsee, so I left Linda and her slowly recovering foot home with Ed. She had stepped on a bee on Tuesday night and had a significant enough reaction that she didn't get around much for a few days.

Poor Linda's foot was so swollen and itchy, she kept putting it into a pot of cold water every hour or so, whenever it got too bad.

I took the other four kids into Strasbourg for a few hours. The first thing we learned is that our minivan (which Ed had traveled to pick up on Wednesday morning) doesn't fit in French parking garages, and the second thing we learned is that Mom's recent visit to Chicago helped hone her latent parallel parking skills. We made it into the city center in time to see the astronomical clock presentation, then we explored the cathedral and climbed the tower to the top. (We also learned that Mary is not a fan of steep spiral staircases.) I had meant to take them to the medieval art museum right next to the cathedral but forgot completely as everyone was clamoring for lunch. It was 2:00, they had eaten all their snacks and the bakeries were closed for midday, so we decided to call it a day and head home. It was a good day, and although we didn't see as many things as I could have on my own, I had reconciled myself to that regime long before I left the States. I think Ed described it best shortly after we arrived in France when he said, "Traveling in Turkey alone I was like Jason Bourne, slipping in and out of places quickly with very little notice. Traveling with you guys I feel like Jason Bourne in a fat suit.

Waiting for the astronomical clock to start its show.

The clock, built in the 1840s, has a procession of the apostles around Christ, and when Peter goes by, the rooster crows. We were somewhat underwhelmed after the build-up video and wait time.

At the "top" of the cathedral, or at least as far as the stairs would allow us to go. The kids didn't venture too near the edge. 

Goofing around in Strasbourg.

More goofing around with the public art installation.

Saturday was all about Mom. The swelling in Linda's foot had subsided and she could walk, so we planned to go out, and while I was doing internet research on local points of interest, I discovered that Grunewald's Isenheim Altarpiece is on display in Colmar, a picturesque village my friend and European traveler Jill Cluff told me I must visit. It was a little more than an hour from Gries, but after I showed Ed pictures of Colmar on Google, he was game to go. On the drive south we saw ruined and renovated castles all along the mountain ridge to the west, with the mountainsides and valleys dotted with renaissance and medieval churches and half-timbered homes. And boxes and baskets of bright flowers everywhere. 

Colmar was as lovely and postcard perfect as all the pictures say. We started with a boat tour through the middle of the old town; our tour guide had entertainingly broken English.

Joe has turned into "Mr. Silly" and he can't take a normal picture anymore. He's always trying to get me to laugh at his twisted lip and wonky eyes. He gets it from Isaac.

The kids have to hold their breath through every tunnel, whether we are driving, walking, or in a boat. I like tunnels because they aren't making any noise for those few short seconds. 

A few views from the boat:

We walked from the river to the Dominican church to see the Altarpiece and gave the kids a beginning lesson in medieval religious iconography and symbolism.

The Isenheim Altarpiece, by Matthias Grunewald. Created for the local hospital for patients suffering from skin diseases, Grunewald painted a Christ with sickly, spotted skin undergoing a torturous death on the cross, which art historians believe was an attempt to give solace to the patients as they pondered how Christ understood their suffering.

The Dominican Cathedral was built around 1300, but by the early 1800s it had been abandoned and converted into a granary. The windows were removed and stored in a warehouse until the 1920s, when they were rediscovered, restored and replaced. They are absolutely stunning.

Abby and Joe were fascinated with the confessional, and they took turns in both the priest's and the confessor's booth.

The kids at one of the portals of one of the many churches in Colmar.

We sat and ate lunch listening to some street performers, used some disgusting public toilets, and stopped at a playground for a few minutes.

At one point, there was an entire ensemble playing some pretty hopping music. I wish I knew what this instrument was. 

This is pretty much what we look like when we are out traveling each day--each of us with our own backpacks, lunch, water and cameras, trying not to trip each other as we yo-yo down the narrow streets.

It's not often we get such a happy picture of Mary. Isaac was gaga for the the red Ferrari.

We bribed the kids to walk back to the car with the promise of treats, and I bought the best pastry I've ever eaten in all my life. I wish I had a picture: fresh berries and fruits resting on a vanilla eclair-sort-of-filling in a semi-crispy shell with the bottom dipped in chocolate. It was a stop-me-in-my-tracks moment, the likes of which I've only had once before: the first time I tried gelato in Florence.

After buying pastries, ice cream, and a crepe to share, the kids all seemed to believe they deserved more than they got, so we left Colmar on a sour note. After getting gas and using restrooms again at a rest stop, I told Ed I really wanted to stop at Koenigsbourg Castle but figured we should give it up with the kids being so ornery. That's when he gave me a stern talking-to about not letting the children destroy my European Tour. Of course he also lectured the children about being kind to their mother, and then we headed up the hill toward the castle. Let me tell you, one of the best things about being back together with Ed is having someone on my side who fights for what I want, even when I'm too tired or frustrated to fight for it myself.

I was delighted to be going to the castle, and it only got better as we got closer.

A fairytale house we saw in the town of Hippolyte on our way up to Chateau de Koenigsburg.

We wound up the hill through beautiful little towns until we entered the national forest and the castle grounds. The kids didn't want to go in, or even to walk up the trail to the entrance, but I wanted to go on a full tour. It would have taken too long and the fee was hefty, so I just walked up the trail with Abby and Linda to take a look around. It was everything Hollywood tells us a castle should be--I hope to go back someday and take the entire tour. Ed and I decided that when we get older we'll spend month-long writing/work vacations in the Alsace with a two-seater sportscar so we can enjoy the windy roads. Here are various views of the castle:

 

This is the medieval garden along the outer wall of the castle. 

Linda and Abby, being goofy.

Playing on the trail.

Ed took a nap, Mary read her kindle, and Isaac and Joe wandered around on the rocks while they all waited for Linda and Abby and I to come back.

Sunday we went into Strasbourg to church, and everyone was very kind there and helpful. Not surprisingly, a good percentage of the members were African expatriates, as is common in wards and branches around Europe. Church was in French, but the kids all seemed to enjoy Primary anyway. By the time Sacrament was over, they were definitely ready to go. We went home, had lunch, and Ed and I napped while the kids played in the game room. It was a very nice Sunday, and a nice end to a great week in Gries.

A parting note from Gries: this painting is on the side of a building housing a Boulangerie-Patisserie (bakery). The kids called it "The Creepy Baby" and we promised them we would get pillowcases with this photo printed on them so they'd have nightmares.