Erin's visit

Our last visitor, before the baby arrives, was Nick's sister, Erin. The day she got here, after a little afternoon siesta, we headed out for a fest in a nearby town. It was a harvest fest, so they had a lot of fresh produce, and even a booth with things made from pumpkins--wine, liquor, pumpkin seeds of different flavorings, etc. They had wasabi pumpkin seeds, which Nick enjoyed. Erin was very happy to have here true bratwurst with a glass of beer, at an authentic festival no less. It was a lovely evening, and we enjoyed some Flammkuchen (a pizza like thing with onion, bacon/pork bits and a cream sauce. Yummy.) and neuerwein (new wine). The only detraction from the evening was when Stella went wandering. This was our first true "fright" we had with her wandering off. She had been playing on some big rocks next to our table, and they were taller than she was so she would be out of sight for a little bit before she climbed back on. Well, it had been a couple minutes since I last had eyesight of her, so I went around the rocks, and there was no Stella. I couldn't see her anywhere, so called to Nick, and we started looking. He immediately headed for the parking lot, ready to fight to the death if need be, and the rest of us spread. I assumed she either wandered toward the corn maize, since she had been asking to go in there, or over to another play area full of hay that kids were flinging around (driving my allergies royally bonkers!). Sure enough, our friend Melody, along with Erin, spotted her over in the hay. She was quite upset to hear that she had scared Mom and Dad, and after a stern talking too looked like she was about ready to cry. At least we know she had good intentions, and didn't mean make Mommy and Daddy worried. You never can be too careful, unfortunately, but we're thankful that she was alright.

The next day was Sunday, and we were in town so we went to church that morning. Erin said the service was similar in style to hers in NY, and we were glad that some of our friends there were able to meet her. It's nice to have your two worlds (back in the States and here) collide and actually get to have everyone interact. The rest of the day we rested, as all good Sundays should be.

Monday we headed up to the Mosel, in the hopes of catching a wine fest that was mentioned in the paper. It turned out that the fest was actually to be the following weekend, but the day was so nice it didn't really matter. We decided to catch a cruise on the Mosel, which we hadn't done yet. Stella was quite excited to get to ride on a boat! While we waited, she was entertained by a fairly large group of swans that were hanging out by the river. The ride itself was beautiful. The river is flanked with hills on each side covered with either vineyards or forest, with towns every few kilometers. The sun was shining and there was a light breeze, so we sat up on the top deck and enjoyed a nice lunch and a bottle of local wine. We took the boat to Bernkastel-Kues, which Nick and I had visited the weekend of his birthday. We spent a couple hours wandering the small, crooked little streets, bought some wine to bring home, and ate some yummy crepes and ice cream. As we were headed back to the boat, we could see some pretty serious rain clouds a comin', so decided to stay below deck this time. A good decision, as it soon began to rain pretty steadily. Stella had fun playing with the table decorations, and was treated to chocolate from the Germans sitting at the next table. I think German folk must walk around with some sort of candy always at the ready, because people give her some all the time! By the time we got back to the car the rain had stopped, though it was a bit cooler. It was a very nice way to spend the afternoon. I must say it would be really fun to get a bunch of friends and ride the boat on the whole route. I'm sure you can rent them, too.

Tuesday we weren't planning much. Erin watched Stella while Nick and I went to a Drs. appointment (starting the last month of pregnancy!). She said she read the book she brought to Stella about 10 times, played with her Russian nesting dolls (a baby, mommy, daddy, baby sitter and I don't remember what she calls the other ones), and answered about a million questions. Typical morning with Stella. Our appt was all good, we came back for lunch and decided to take a little trip to France that afternoon. A friend had recommended a town called "Bitche," and yes it is pronounced that way. It's a little town just over the border, and it's where the French have a huge old citadel. They would retreat there when they were at war and it wasn't looking good, mainly when the Germans were whipping up on them pretty badly. It sits at the top of a hill overlooking the town. It's a pretty impressive building/fortress. They have an automated audio tour that you can follow through the whole thing, explaining what went on where. We didn't do the whole tour, just because we got there a little late to be able to do the whole thing, but it was a really cool place. It was really sunny and the view was amazing. There's also a really cool garden at the bottom of the hill, called the Peace Garden, that we were only able to breeze through before it closed. They had a bunch of really cool garden art/plant sculpture stuff that would have been fun to spend more time enjoying, or to picnic there, but we'll have to save it for another time. We also managed to find a bakery that had my favorite French dessert, mille feuille (sorry if it's spelled wrong!), and it was very tasty. After a simple dinner at a place on a lake, we headed home.

Wednesday Kent, Erin's boyfriend, arrived. It was a treat to be able to meet him and get to know him a bit, since they've been dating for a while now. We really enjoyed our time with him, and I think Stella did even more. She's always thrilled to have someone new that will play with her! We appreciated it, too, of course. We went to a castle and wildpark nearby for the afternoon, even though the weather wasn't ideal. Kent was welcomed to Germany with steady, grey rain and about 50 degrees F. Can't have sunshine every day, I suppose! Thankfully the rain stopped so we could go and enjoy the animal park. Stella LOVES this place, we've been there a couple times, though she didn't want to go in the petting zoo this time. Last time we made the mistake of bringing the boxes of animal food in the pen with us, and were practically stampeded. A 2 yr old doesn't stand much chance against a fleet of goats, and she was pretty freaked out. I was angry because they kept jumping up on me and pointy goat hooves don't feel very good on a pregnant belly! Stella was satisfied by feeding the goats through the fence this time. This place also features a variety of birds of prey, and has a falconry show daily. Unfortunately the weather prevented the show from happening while we were there, but we still got to see all the birds out on their posts. Stella loved that. They have the names of the birds on plaques in front of them, and she kept asking what their names were. It think her favorite was Alfred the vulture. Let's see...we also saw a lot of deer, some really shaggy ox/cow things, elk, very stinky boars, a variety of chickens and geese, bunnies, guinea pigs, and some extremely fat pigs. Oh, and a few ponies whose offspring was running around the pen trying to get its mom and dad to play with him. It was quite entertaining.

That evening we went out to eat at our favorite restaurant, treating Erin for her birthday. The place is great for many reasons: excellent food, excellent service, they have a toy box for kids, they take credit cards, speak English, will give you tap water, and it's reasonable pricing! Can't go wrong. We enjoyed a relaxed meal, and I had some very yummy pumpkin soup, although I couldn't fully taste it as I was coming down with a head cold. It was a very nice evening.

The next morning, Erin and Kent were headed for Austria. Erin works for the magazine, Town and Country Travel, as the editor of their online edition, and so they sent her to a very posh new hotel in Austria to review it. Sadly, it took Kent and her away from us, but we are thankful for the time we were able to spend with them. And who could say no to an all-expense paid weekend at a REALLY nice hotel? Judging from their pictures, it was a lovely time. We were not able to see them again before they left, and look forward to seeing them (or at least Erin, and hopefully Kent) when we're back in the States this winter.