Strasbourg, France

On Saturday morning we got up and ready to go to Strasbourg. Sofia's headache was still not gone though and she complained that it only hurt on one side and when she shook her head. We were a bit concerned that maybe it had something to do with the tubes that had been put in her ear. We also didn't want to get to France only to have it get worse so instead of heading to Strasbourg we headed to the ear doctor. After waiting we were able to see the doctor and we were happy to hear that her ears were fine and her sinuses weren't showing signs of being clogged. It appeared she just had a cold. It was amazing that she could have a cold without an ear infection! After getting the all clear that there wasn't something majorly wrong we dosed her up with motrin and headed to Strasbourg. Of course the doctor had said to stay home and rest but we decided the fresh air of France would be a good rest! Once she had the motrin she was fine and happy that we were continueing on to France. The ride was very snowy for the first 3 hours but the remaining two and a half hours the ride was fine. We arrived without any problems to our hotel. We had dinner in the hotel restaurant which was surprisingly good and since it was a Holiday Inn the kids ate free. The girls were both exhausted though and we all headed up to bed.

In the morning we went to breakfast in the hotel. The breakfast was buffet style which is always nice with the kids. If they don't like something they can just have something else. Yes, it is incredibly wasteful but as a parent it is much easier! After breakfast we bundled up and headed outside. We knew it would be cold so we brought the kids snow pants but we just didn't realize how cold it was going to be. Unfortnulatey for us Strasbourg was having an unusual cold snap and the temperatures were about -13 celsius (about 8 degrees fahrenheit)!!! Who knows what it was with the windchill but it was down right freezing!! We had to buy new boots for Sofia and my feet were so cold I had trouble walking. After a stop for hot chocolate and a stop for crepes we decided to head back to the hotel to warm up and regroup. We bundled the kids even more with tights, pants, turtlenecks, hooded sweatshirts (with the hoods up), hats, jackets with hoods up, kneck warmers, scarfs, snowboots, snowpants and gloves and we put vaseline on their faces. I changed my socks so my feet would stay warmer and I changed my scarf to my giant thick scarf. I put my hood up on my long down coat and wrapped my scarf around my neck and face . Jason put on an extra layer as well and we were ready to brave the cold again. It was more enjoyable this time around. We were able to take a little more time to look at all the stalls and stop for waffles and hot wine/ hot apple cider. Since it was now dark we also had the chance to see the city lit up with Christmas lights. We found and bought a nativity that we really liked and then had to go in for dinner to warm up. Since we had just had waffles and pretzels we didn't need a lot for dinner so we stopped for crepes. While in France I find it completely acceptable to have crepes for breakfast, snack, lunch or dinner! The kids love this as it is such a treat. Little do they know that I enjoy it as much as they do!! On Sunday we headed out again, of course well bundled, to check out a couple other markets before we headed home. It was a fun weekend but I think we need to go back to Strasbourg again when the temperture is a bit warmer. I think it is probably a cute city but since it was so cold we couldn't lazily look around as we strolled to sightsee. Luckily it is a easy drive to get there so who knows maybe we will find outselves there again soon.

Since we have been home we have been enjoying the nativity that we bought and put on our mantel as well as the "biscuits" we bought. In the Alsace region they make bredle which we thought was gingerbread but isn't gingerbread at all but rather small cookies or "biscuits" as they call them. We stopped in a shop to buy some and we saw a tin that was very cute. We decided to get the tin since it was only 5 euro. We didn't realize that to fill the small tin it would cost us 26 euro! So we are enjoying our 31 Euro biscuits and laughing about how silly we can be while on vacation.