France for the Fourth and Thank God for our Blessings

We ventured two and a half hours to Colmar, France for the 4th of July, and really enjoyed exploring this quaint and beautiful part of France. The drive out there and back was half the fun; we passed some cute villages and enjoyed seeing houses such as the one above and below. As Zev would say, "so French!" The French do have style!

Every day, we thank God for His blessings. Living in Germany has helped me be more grateful and humbled for the gift of life. Europeans like to stop and enjoy life (French like to REALLY savour it!), so I like to say thanks and hope that we can share our experiences and joys with you, our family and friends. We are also thankful for the little things, like our TomTom. That little gadget has gotten us around Europe- even the tiny, one way cobblestoned streets. Amazing.

Colmar is in the Alsace region of France, a region renowned for excellent food and wine. Colmar is in fact considered the capital of the Alsatian wine-region, and the little villages along the wine trail are too beautiful for just pictures; you really have to experience this magical region to believe it.

Colmar is also special to Zev and I, because one of our dear friends here in Germany, Romain, the husband of sweet Adele, originally comes from Colmar.

We drove out to Colmar on Sunday, July 4th, which was quite appropriate really, considering that this town is also the birthplace of Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, the sculptor who designed the Statue of Liberty. Because we visited his museum on Independence Day, entry was free into this interesting collection of Bartholdi's works.

Colmar is a wonderful town to enjoy on foot. It reminded me a lot of the town we live in here in Germany, because of the medieval buildings and cobblestoned streets. Do you like this life-size replica of Miss Statue of Liberty's ear?

It was cool to see the many casts and moulds that the sculptor went through, in preparation for the final model which stands in New York today. I would love to visit New York city some day. Yes, although Zev is from NY, I haven't had a chance to visit the city yet. No rush though- I know when the time comes, we will really enjoy it! 

Summer time is a lovely time to visit little European villages, because all the flowers are in bloom and one can sit and dine al fresco and the days are light until late at night. Very romantic actually ;-))

We took a short "cruise" on a small boat through the "Little Venice" part of Colmar, which ran along some gorgeous old restaurants and hotels.

It was fun going under the little bridges and looking at the pretty Alsatian houses along the canal.

The canal cruise made me think of our previous home of Louisiana. The swampy parts of the canal and the architecture of some of the houses really reminded me of New Orleans. Must be that French influence, huh!

We even saw boudin sausages in the store!! And storks- the "state" bird of the Alsace region. They reminded me of Louisiana pelicans. I know they are not the same thing....but they do look awfully alike from a distance! A shout out to all our darling Louisiana friends reading this blog! We miss you and love you!!

Of course, when in France, one must try the local specialities! We visited a couple of places actually- had an appetizer of warm Camembert at one place and then (more cheese!), a gratin dish with a side salad and some Pinot Gris. I had the chevre, tomato and onion gratin (very delicious, very rich but very enjoyable!) and Zev had the "Colmarian" gratin which included ham.

The next day, we headed home via the "Route du Vin" where all the wineries and vineyards were located and the Alsatian pottery towns. We do get a kick out of the importance placed on regions here in Europe. For instance, if you want to buy pottery from Alsace, you go to the little tows where all the potters are located house after house on a street called Potters Lane (Rue du Pottiers). In the pottery town of Betschdorf for instance, although there were many potters on this one road, they all had the same last name- Schmitter! Guess pottery is the family business in this town! Likewise, if you would like to try a special wine or cheese, you go to that region where they stock their particular speciality (in Alsace, the regional cheese is the Munster cheese).

Although we didn't end up buying Alsatian pottery, we did enjoy checking out these storks nesting on a roof in the pottery town of Betschdorf. Their nests are HUGE! The cool thing about these storks is that they traditionally symbolize pregnancy/ upcoming motherhood. (The image of a stork carrying a baby in a bag).

In honor of Romain's Alsatian heritage, a family relative even dressed up as a stork at their wedding last year!

Zev was happy with his little afternoon treat- Chocolate Eclair!

Hope that you had a lovely weekend and a fun Fourth of July if you are reading from the US!

"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." Romans 12:12.

Blog Make-Over giveaway!

You guys need to go check out my friend Laura's Blog Make-over give-away on her awesome blog, "Our Crazy Adventure" at:

http://www.ourcrazyadventure.com/2010/07/blog-makeovers-and-giveaway.html

Laura is seriously talented and very creative, so I think it's great that she is venturing out into a blog make-over business! Her blog speaks for itself- she chronicles the travels and life adventures of her and her husband, Ryan, in such an interesting and colorful way! She is hosting a blog make-over giveaway on her blogspot! I hope I have a chance of winning, but you should enter too!

All the best,

Love, Fifi

Australia!

We can't believe that it has been almost 3 weeks since we departed Germany for our trip to Australia via Egypt. As they say, time has flown by. We have really enjoyed spending quality time with our family and friends. We spent most of our time in Sydney with a long weekend in Melbourne, to visit Fi's brother, Mario, his wife Gabby and their three gorgeous kids (under the age of 4- the youngest being a 4 week old baby girl.) Mario and Gabby, you guys are amazing! We constantly pray for your sweet family! Aside from catching up with family, the highlight of our trip was driving down to Canberra to visit our dear friends, Danny and Tracy and their adorable kids, Grace and Eli. Zev and I also drove to our old stomping grounds of Glenbrook, in Sydney's Blue Mountains, where we caught up with our old colleagues, Raelene, Janet and Ian, visited our old house and went for a romantic dinner and a movie in the historic Glenbrook cinemas. What an awesome day. Glenbrook is where it "all began"- where Zev and I first met; where I lived as a young Australian Air Force Officer and where we had our wedding reception.

Fi's dad, Mario and his wife, Ceci, picked us up from the airport on the day we arrived. We spent the next day visiting Bondi Beach and Watson's Bay- two of Fi's favorite places in Sydney. The weather was lovely. A little chilly but the sun was shining. 

Dad and Ceci hosted a party for us on Saturday. Dad ordered Uruguayan catering and it was great to catch up with friends and family, especially the kids of our cousins.

Sunday, mum and Howard hosted a party at mum's house and again we caught up with our family and ate some delicious food. Eating has been a major theme during this trip so we are going to go back to some healthy eating when we return home!

On our second week in Oz, we headed 3 hours south of Sydney, down to Canberra, to catch up with Danny and Tracy and their kids and also our dear friend, Brooke, who has just bought a lovely house in Canberra. Little Grace stole my heart, as did my little niece Isabella. I hope God blesses us with a baby girl one day. I do love the color pink!

After we got back from Canberra, we drove up to Glenbrook in the beautiful Blue Mountains to catch up with our old colleagues. RAAF Base Glenbrook still looks as beautiful as ever. It is a shame to think that the military will probably be shutting down this historic base in the near future. We really enjoyed walking down our old driveway and then heading to a favorite "crunchy" restaurant in Glenbrook which was formally called the Blue Tongue Lizard. We then watched an awesome Australian film about WWI called "Beneath Hill 60" in the little Glenbrook Cinemas. The film is based on a true story. If you liked "Gallipolli" you will like "Beneath Hill 60." We highly recommend that film! I feel so proud to have served in the Australian military.

We headed into downtown Sydney the next day and walked around Darling Habour and the Rocks area of Sydney. We even stopped for a pint at the historic Lord Nelson Hotel in the Rocks and grabbed some take out to eat across the harbour from the Opera House. Life was very good on that day! 

The next day we flew with mum and Howard down to Melbourne to visit Mario, Gabby and their two boys and a new baby girl who was Christened that Sunday. Melbourne is a pretty city. We stayed in St Kilda, which is right across from the beach and Luna Park. It was especially fun to play in the park on the Queen's Birthday and to enjoy hanging out with our nieces and nephews. The highlight for me was when my baby niece fell asleep on my chest after I fed her bottle to her!

We got back from Melbourne on Monday night and headed out to dinner with Auntie Ana-Maria on Tuesday night.

We feel so blessed to have spent time with our family and friends and pray that everyone has a great year. We wish we could live closer but are so grateful for this opportunity to see you all! We are admittedly very excited to be heading back home to summer in Europe!!

Hasta la proxima, Until next time, Bis naechstes mal, Australien!

Fifi and Zev xoxoxo