TolsmaFamily: Mom and Dad came to visit!!! Part 1

Sara's Mom and Dad came for a 10 day visit! We had such a great time! We took them to our favorite Heidelberg places, tried out some new things and saw some new things, showed them our daily routines, but most of all just enjoyed each other. Thanks for coming Mom and Dad! We love you! Here are some highlights of our time together - I may post this in two or more parts because we packed quite a bit into 10 days!

Day 1. Mom and Dad flew into Frankfurt about 7 AM on Friday morning. Jeff went to pick them up while I got the kids off to school. They had traveled all night and were pretty tired but got an adrenaline kick upon arrival. We gave them a tour of our house (mom counted our steps and confirmed that we do have 50 steps to our front door), got them unpacked and then took them to Gundel for coffee and kuchen. After a little nap we drove to pick the boys up from school.

From school we drove to Heilegenberg to show them the ruins of the two monistaries and the Nazi outdoor ampitheater.

It was getting dark (it does that so early in Germany in the winter) so we went home. Ellen was just home from basketball practice so we were all together! We headed to the Heidelberg Weinachtsmarkt - the Christmas markets for something warm to eat and drink.

We all enjoyed gluhwein or kindergluhwein depending on our ages...

and brats or soup. The markets, as you can see, were full of lights and activity!

After this, mom and dad fell into bed. We closed the shutters, making their room essentially a cave, and they slept well! They needed it!

Day 2. Saturday Ellen had a basketball game at Bitberg. We took her to the bus, came back home and the rest of us ate breakfast and left for Strassbourg, France. We thought it would be fun for mom and dad to visit another country and dad really wanted to ride a glass boat but the ones in Heidelberg do not run past the end of October. In Strassbourg they run year-round. We also wanted to see the Strassbourg Christmas markets.

The sights, sounds and smells of the Christmas markets were almost overwhelming.

Mom especially loved the meat booths here in Strassbourg :) !

And here is the Strassbourg Munster (cathedral) in the distance! Notice how the streets are decorated for Christmas with lights that span across in a spray of stars and light - really cute!

We went to the Munsterplatz and looked at the cathedral from the outside. But, since the crowds were growing we decided it would be wise to get our boat tickets while there were tickets left. Here we are waiting to board the boat while Jeff is grabbing some pastries to hold us over until after the ride.

And here is our boat!

We were almost first in line and got great seats! The headphones told the history of Strassbourg

and stories about some of the buildings, etc. in the language of your choice.

Here are some pictures of Strassbourg from the boat. We all thoroughly enjoyed the 90 minute tour and learned a lot!

After our ride on the river we went back through the markets and to the Strassbourg Munster. In the Munster is the famous astronomical clock. I have lots of pictures of the Munster on our previous post entitled "Strassbourg".

Here are some people dancing traditional dances in traditional costumes.

We had some crepes and mom and dad got to try a Doner.

Ellen sent us a text message to say that the Heidelberg Lions won their game by one point on a last second shot. Ellen started and played well.

Day 3. Sunday we got up early and took a tram to the Hauptbahnhof (main train station in Heidelberg). I had train tickets to Ludwigsburg. We had never taken a train outside of the Heidelberg area before (with the exception of the boys who had taken S-bahns for school field trips) so this was a new adventure for all of us!

Here we are on the train!

The train was really fun and relaxing!

Asleep or faking??

Ludwigsburg is a town just north of Stuttgart. It is named for Duke Eberhard Ludwig who built the Schloss. It was originally planned as a hunting grounds and retreat but turned into so much more! We heard about Ludwigsburg for its wonderful Christmas markets and its Schloss which is more of a palace than a castle. The Christmas markets were beautiful and crowded! The Schloss was wonderful - far exceeding our expectations!

Our first stop (of course) was for a little coffee and kuchen :) ! Mom and Dad had their favorite kuchen of the whole trip at this bakery/cafe just a block or so from Ludwigsburg's Hauptbahnhof.

Daniel's bottom was pretty much glued to Grandpa's lap all week!

Joseph got in his fair share of "lap" too!

After our relaxing "second breakfast" we headed for the main platz and the Schloss. The main platz was full of Christmas market stands just starting to open. At one end of the platz was the large Protestant City Church. The service was in process and we decided to slip in the back for the rest of the worship service. We all enjoyed singing in German and Jeff and I were surprised and pleased with how much of the sermon we actually understood!

Then we headed for the Schloss. The Residenzschloss in Ludwigsburg was inspired by Versailles. It consists of 18 buildings and about 450 rooms, 75 of which you can see on a palace tour. Construction of the palace was begun in 1704. It was originally intended to be a place to come to hunt but became something much much more!

The English tour started at 1:30 so we first toured the gardens. They were nice but we imagined they would be nicer in spring and summer.

Rapunzel's castle.

Before our tour started we watched a video on the palaces, castles and gardens in Baden Wurttemberg. This little break also provided some much needed rest for our legs!

The tour of the Ludwigsburg Residenzschloss was well over an hour. Our tour guide was wonderful and we all felt the time just flew by! We decided that, although there certainly were perks to being 18th century royality, that most of us would pass it up. The once-a-month baths, marriages for any reason but love, power games, etc. were not too attractive! The living quarters, however, were beyond description! Here are some highlights... (all pictures had to be taken without a flash so some are blurry - I picked out a few of the best).

Joseph and Daniel got to learn how to enter the King's throne room, bow properly and how to leave the King's throne room.

The King's bedroom where members of his court could watch him be undressed by a servant, dressed in his nightclothes, get into bed and "fall asleep", after which they all aplauded politely and left. Then the king got up and went through a secret door next to his bed that leads to another bedroom where his mistress was waiting. Hmmm...