We're Back

This time, we'll be home for awhile. Some day trips, maybe a short weekend away, but we have no long trips in our immediate future. We have been on such a roll since early August that I'm looking forward to having a solid week that does not involve any unpacking, packing, or trip planning. What on earth will I do with my time? [said sarcastically]. Oh how I long for those early days in Italy, where I had time to actually sit in the Glass House with a book and enjoy the warmth and the view!

I have much to catch up on here. I'll head back to Paris with you, and then on to Germany, where we spent eight days exploring the Christmas Markets throughout Bavaria. We ate wonderful food (hearty meat and potato meals), saw pretty things (but I still don't know the name of those wooden, turny things - the ones where you put four candles in the holders and the candle heat creates an updraft that turns some blades, which then rotates some sort of center scene such as a nativity or some deer in the woods or some angels flying around - anyone?), visited a couple of palaces, and capped off our evenings with a nice cup of gluhwein (hot, mulled wine) in the market. We based in Munich and took day trips to Salzburg, Nuremburg, Augsburg, and Oberammergau, and spent half of our week with a German friend whom we met many years ago. We shopped, ate, toured, and barely escaped from the Krampus, but not without some wounds. Don't know what the Krampus is? Neither did we. I suppose I have a busy week of writing ahead of me.

I found it impossible to go to the top of Notre Dame and not take a gargoyle photo.