Koln, Germany Christmas Market

The Cologne Christmas market was laid out in the shadow of a magnificent medieval cathedral resulting in a very "non-American" experience.

Highlights: Just being together!The Christmas ornament shops, old world street alleys, the street musicians, the local craftsman, and the food stalls.

Jesse and Rose introduced us to mulled wine to start the Christmas market tour! 

Steve and the boys were in heaven with these vats of potatoes, bacon, and meat.

Jesse and Rose enjoying the chocolate laced, cream topped waffles.

Once we had Chad in the Cathedral, it was hard to get him out! We had to drag him away from his Cathedral "meditations".

Six of us crammed into one cabin. God's grace at work in all our lives :)

European Christmas First Stop UK

Well it wasn't what we planned!  Two feet of snow dumped on DC pushing our flight back a day, while snow in France shut down the Eurostar, our next connection to Belgium.  Rose's excellent itinerary had to be immediately modified. We skipped Belgium to meet Jesse and Rose in London.

More delays brought the plane to London near midnight - but we were able to catch a 1 am bus to Stansted airport.  But - no bus to the hotel!

The shuttle bus driver created a special stop for us. We felt like Polish refugees as we had to hike through the snow, over wired fencing, and down hilly banks with backpacks to the hotel.

With 30 minutes of sleep, we were overjoyed to finally meet up with Rose and Jesse.