Munich! (Beer!)

On this day, the 27th, after staying the night in Landshut we drove to Munich. There we visited the Deutches Museum, a HUGE science museum. Down in the basement there was a large, very long mining exhibit. You have to walk through the entire thing to get out again, it took almost an hour! Jasmine was not too happy about being in such a small, dark, creepy place for so long. 

Then we found a little cave to rest in. 

Jasmine and Stef tried working in the salt mine. 

Here is one of the many signs showing the way out. It just went on and on and on! We decided to try to walk like the little man in the sign. 

And then we were FINALLY back above ground we went to the opposite direction...air planes!

Then Daniel tried to sail a boat!

After the museum we went to a beer hall!!!

It was called the Hofbrauhaus, it was the oldest and largest beer hall in the whole city.. it seats 1,300 people!

They brewed their own beer right there in the building. It was HUGE! and so tasty! It was so good Daniel's mom decided to have a beer too!  

The Food was amazing too! They had huge pretzels and these special white sausages that you can only find in Bavaria. 

They even had an full German Tuba Band!

Driving to Deutchland!

On this day, the 26th, we woke up really Really early! We lest the house in Paris around 8am, but the of us kids slept until about 1pm. We were staying at a friend of the family's place in Landshut, Germany. 

Landshut is a very cute little town, here is the town at night

And during the day!

That night is was sooo cold, so Daniel's dad was running/jumping/ kind of doing a dance to stay warm. 

So all Jasmine wanted was real German beer and sausages! We looked all over for this restaurant the Gomez's friend recommended, and after searching and searching we found it... but it was closed :(. At that point we were all so cold we found a restaurant that was open and looked warm. We thought maybe it was German... until we got an English menu and realized it was really a greek place. 

When we got inside Jasmine had some trouble getting her hood off. She is still not used to this cold. 

It turned out to be wonderful! And Daniel and Jasmine got their beer too! 

Christmas Day Park Adventure!

It’s Christmas morning! Today we decided to go on a walk to a nearby park in Vaucresson. We were searching for swans. Here is a picture of one of the trails we followed.

 

Jasmine best impression of a tree.

 

Jasmine also found a ‘house’ and decided to pretend it was her home.

 

 

More trees, but this time with cuter decorations. :)

 

 

Weee, or since we are in France Ouiiiiii!!!!

 

Daniel pointing out on the Vaucresson map where the Gomezs live… see that red dot, we were far from home :D

 

Jasmine excited to be home, down on the right where the two cars are is the Gomez Residence, you can tell by the look on her face.

Christmas Eve

We did a lot of cooking

Here is Jasmine’s French Apple Tart, the Tart Tatan. She was not used to the gas stove so the first try was a bit black… Daniel’s dad was nice enough to take her back to the grocery to get more apples and try it again. It was much better the second time.

After dinner we went to an English mass in a church right down the street from the Arc de Triomphe.

And then back home to open gifts at midnight!
Here’s Jasmine and Stef all dressed up by the Christmas tree.

In this picture Daniel’s mom is laughing hysterically because Daniel’s dad accidently opened one of Jasmine gifts…little grey tights. He held them up and said he wasn’t sure if they would fit but he liked them.

Daniel’s parents got us these wonderful aprons from Belgium!

Here is Daniel’s dad learning how to use his new i-pod.

And to end the night, here we are, with all of our new French clothes on, trying to look as French a possible. 

More Paris

This day in Paris started off a bit more challenging. After waking up too late again, we rushed to eat breakfast, and realized if we missed the next train to Paris we would have to wait over an hour for the next one. So that’s when we decided to run. It normally takes about 20 minutes to walk there, we ran there in about 8 minutes. As we ran we became further and further spread out on the sidewalk, so imagine you see one person run by laughing, and then 3 seconds later another, and then another… people were staring. One man said bonjour to all three of us, and Jasmine yelled bonjour back as she ran past. 
So we got there just in time, rushed to buy tickets, and realized that the train was not coming. It just never came… a strike or something was happening. Everyone was very annoyed, and they were all making the “French Face” as Stef calls it. It’s like you’re staring into the sun while smelling dog poo. Here are our attempts at the French Face. 

Daniel is still working on perfecting his French face. 

An hour later the train came and we took it to La Defense to go shopping in a little Christmas market. Jasmine over estimated her hunger and accidently bought 9 Euros worth of potatoes a-gratin, which the three of use slowly forced ourselves to eat over the next 2 or 3 hours. 

Then we went to Sacre Coure!

There were lots and lots of steps!

But what a beautiful view!

At the top everyone sits on the stairs, looks out over Paris and listens to live music. 

On the way down Jasmine was tired to Daniel dragged her back down the stairs. 

Then to Moulin Rouge!

Stef and Jasmine stood on this grate that had air from the metro shooting up out of it. This was an interesting pose. 

Daniel tried it too!

And again, we ended our day at the Eiffel Tower!!! This time we actually went to it, and all the way to the top!

From the second level

Going up!

From the very top!

so romantic…

Then we climbed back down…

…just kidding.
we took the stairs

On the first level they had little things build out of compact snow. Here is Daniel inside the mini-ice Eiffel Tower. 

We ended the day the way it started… at the train station waiting for a train. We soon realized the trains were still not running correctly, but this time the text train wasn’t coming for almost 3 hours! So Daniel’s dad was nice enough to drive into town and pick us up. We came home to an amazing dinner of wine, cheese, bread, and meats!

 The perfect ending to a wonderful day in Paris!