Murnau Weihnachtsmarkt

Steve and I decided to spend our Sunday afternoon German style - outside at a Christmas market. My friend Terry had recommended this market and we were not disappointed.

Beautiful Bavarian Sign - so much detail

The street was filled with unique vendors selling their wares and of course we had a gluhwein while we strolled along. One of the best things on a cold day while you're outside is hot drink of mulled wine. There was even a sweet live nativity performed by local children. German children also learn to play the recorder, it was so cute.

Madonna AND London!

Missy, Jasmin & Lana

We will start with this: I am a very lucky girl. Very, very lucky. For the past five days I escaped all grown-up responsibilities for a long weekend with some girlfriends in London. The catalyst for this weekend was the Madonna concert.

Dinner on Carnaby Street before the concert

Missy, Lana & Jasmin

Most of you know I am a huge Madonna fan and was really disappointed when I missed her last tour because we had just moved to Germany. This year my friend Lana was moving to London and we decided the Madonna concert was a great "excuse" for a visit. My friend Jasmin and I headed to London for her Rebel Heart tour stop and I'm so glad that we did. We had such a fabulous night and of course Madonna didn't disappoint. Well, I shouldn't say "of course", I was disappointed with one of the eight tours I have seen but the other seven have been spectacular! I'm so glad we made this trip! Madonna is still an amazing performer with an incredibly entertaining show.

1989 - I've been a fan for a looong time!

Jasmin the jetsetter had to head out the next day for a birthday party but as she left our friend Wendy joined us and the three of us spent the rest of the weekend in London. Before Wendy arrived Lana and I did a Blitz tour with London Walks. This was an interesting and informative tour and Lana and I both learned lots. We also explored a little of St Paul's Cathedral since the tour was near there. It is a beautiful cathedral but we were too late to climb the dome, next time!

St Paul's Cathedral

Original London City Wall

We of course spent a fair amount of time shopping, drinking coffee and tea, having lunch and walking Lana's dog Blue. Lana lives near Hyde Park so we enjoyed long walks exploring the park every day!

Lana, Wendy & Missy

We also went to The Book of Mormon. It was absolutely hilarious although it pummels the Mormon religion and there is an argument that it is targeting religion as a whole. However, it is wildly entertaining and very well written. If things that make fun of religion offend you, don't see it, but if you can view it with an open mind by all means check it out.

La Bodega Negro - Hans, Wendy, Missy, Lana & Marc

We spent our last evening in Soho which is just an entertaining maze of streets. We had terrific Mexican food at La Bodega Negro with amazing margaritas. Our friend Hans is also spending most of his time working in London so he and Lana's husband Marc joined us and took us a to a hole-in-the-wall jazz bar - Blues Bar -  that was just so cool and the band playing was awesome.

On our was to the Blues Bar

Fun, FUN weekend for me. I told you I was lucky! And I'm ever so grateful to my great hosts! Lana & Marc!

SOLD!!!

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This summer Steve and I made the difficult decision to sell our house. It was a wonderful place to live while our kids were growing up. We will miss our neighborhood and friends but look forward to where the future takes us!

Happy Birthday Steve!

Steve had a relaxing birthday today! He took the day off from work since we had our big Thanksgiving Feast yesterday. That was a great idea! The girls treated him to breakfast in bed which he of course loved. He got to spend day with his best girl (me) and ended with a steak dinner at a fabulous restaurant in a neighboring village. Oh and of course Apple Pie for birthday cake!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gertrude the Gratitude Turkey

We celebrated Thanksgiving this year with a HUGE group of friends. 35 of us gathered at our house for a Thanksgiving feast! It was truly a collaborative effort - everyone contributed to the "fixings" and three of us cooked turkeys. Our us was Steve - he impressed all our friends with his turkey fryer! No one had ever had a fried turkey but they all thought it was incredible!

Seating for 35

We moved the furniture in our house and added two biergarten tables so we had seating for everyone. And even though my family was a bit skeptical it could work, it was perfect.

Cornucopia Favors

The Fixings

The make-up of our group was - German, Swedish, Danish, Canadian, Mexican and of course American.

All the kids

And the adults

Stef's the Real MVP

Stefanie & Joe

Tonight was the fall sports awards ceremony at MIS. This year Stefanie was captain of the varsity girls volleyball team and Rachel was the only ninth grade member of the girls varsity soccer team. At the awards ceremony only two awards are given per team - Coach's Award and Most Valuable Player. Stefanie was psyched to win MVP for her team this year! We of course think it was well deserved! For a little added fun her boyfriend Joe won Coach's Award for the boys varsity volleyball team.

Herzogstand Hike

Although it is November the weather is  unusually warm. Steve and I wanted to take advantage of it so we drove down to Herzogstand.  This the same mountain I took our parents to in May but instead of riding the cable car we hiked. It was a good two hour hike, not impossible but a steady climb. It was a beautiful day and the bonus was we felt like we had really earned our lunch when we got to the top.

We did take the cable car back down and when we got to the bottom we were shocked by the number of people. It turns out everyone wanted to enjoy this beautiful day.  The parking lots were full, the line for the cable car was enormous and cars were parked haphazardly all along the side of the road.  We were grateful we had headed out early before the crowds.