Grandma and Grandpa B's visit and Milan

It's been way too long since I've last blogged!  And now I have a lot to say:)  Mom and dad arrived on the morning of the 20th for ten fun-filled days of game-playing, spiderman-, batman-, elmo-impersonating, tower-building, ball-throwing, book-reading and movie-watching.  I'm sure they left more exhausted than when they got here, and now need a vacation-from-their-vacation, but we sure had fun.

We left the afternoon they arrived for Trier, Germany, which is in the Mosel Valley - a beautiful part of Germany surrounding the Rhine River.  We chose Trier because my dad's side of the family hails from near there - and, in fact, we were able to meet up with his cousin's wife!  Trier is Germany's oldest city and an ancient Roman capital.  All the major sites are within walking distance of their city square, which was right where we stayed.

Porta Nigra - the only part of Trier's town wall gates that still exists

Site of the Imperial Baths - one of the most intricate baths of the Roman world

Inside Trier's St. Peter's Cathedral - started by Constantine in 326 A.D. 

We took a little car trip to Fohren, about a 20 minute car ride from Trier, to try to find dad's cousin's wife.  I'm sure Renate was more than a little surprised to answer a knock at the door and be greeted by six long-lost Breitbach's (or two Breitbach's and four Millers, but still...), but she was more than gracious and invited us in to her home where we got reacquainted and shared two bottles of wine...such is the German way:)  Her husband, Ewald, passed away about two years ago, and she hasn't made a trip back to Balltown since, but hopes to this summer as there are three Breitbach weddings coming up.

Cheers!

So cool to see - 4500 miles away from home!

The day we were leaving Trier happened to be the first day of their local Christmas market.  We'd heard a lot about German Christmas markets, but didn't really know what to expect.  Basically, they have a bunch of 'chalet's' that they place in the town square where they sell local trinkets, food, hand-made goods, etc.  It's very quaint - I couldn't help but feel like I walked into the middle of a Dicken's setting.  

That afternoon we drove the VERY windy road along the Mosel Valley to Cochem, a sleepy little town along the Rhine that has a very pretty castle which, unfortunately, happened to be closed.  We still made the walk up the incredibly steep hill to the castle and got a view from the top, as well as walked around the town, in and out of shops, while dad searched for the perfect bottle of wine.  I would love to visit again in the summer.  

View from the top

Not the easiest walk with a stroller and a 3-year-old

The rest of the week was spent just hanging out around Brussels - showing mom and dad the sights and relaxing.  The partner from the PWC U.S. office was kind enough to invite all of us over to her apartment for Thanksgiving this year .  I was also able to find a live-stream on-line of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, albeit at 4pm, but Thanksgiving wasn't so bad after all!  

Hanging out with Grandma in the morning

Checking out the first snow flakes of the year - didn't turn out to be too much more than you can see!

Will with his 'turkey'

 Brussels also has a big Christmas market in St. Catherine's Square, as well as a light show, giant Christmas tree and live Nativity scene in the Grand Place.

Mom and dad getting their first taste of Belgian fries at the Brussels Christmas market

Will and I on the 'luge'

Giving it a go by himself

Bo in the violin - craziest. carousel. ever.

Will on the t-rex.

Enjoying a wonderful Italian dinner near the Grand Place

Grand Place Christmas tree

Live Nativity scene

Christmas light show - it's beautiful and coordinated with Christmas music

 Will turned four on December 1st, so we celebrated his birthday prior to mom and dad leaving.  The one thing he requested was a Spider Man birthday cake.  Although I looked high and low for some type of Spider Man cake decorations, I couldn't find a thing, so I just made it myself - but cheated with a toy we already had.  Although it didn't turn out half bad, the entire bottle of red food coloring could still not make the thing look anything other than a dark pink - so we ended up with a sort of gender-confused Spider Man cake, but Will didn't seem to notice...

Birthday 'spankings' from Grandpa

Bo got a present too...

Opening his Spider Man jammies - present from his friend Carter

Alas, ten days went way too fast and before we knew it, we were saying our goodbyes.  Luckily, we had a trip planned to Milan and were leaving the same day, which made things easier.  Scott, and his co-worker Brent, had to go to Milan for a conference, so his wife Rachel, the kids and I decided to tag along.  

Milan is a beautiful northern Italian city, probably most well-known (at least by me:) for it's shopping and being one of the most famous fashion meccas in the world.  Although, I can't say I did a whole lot of shopping while there!  Scott and Brent had meetings and dinners throughout, so Rachel and I just took the kids and did some exploring.  Certainly the coolest thing I saw there was Da Vinci's "The Last Supper" in the monastery Santa Maria delle Grazie.  It was amazing!  Unfortunately, no pictures are allowed.  I was actually lucky to get a ticket - I only booked mine a week in advance, and often times, they're sold out months ahead of time.  A major 20-year renovation was completed in 1999, and since then, visitors are only allowed to be in there 15 minutes at a time, and the whole thing is sealed completely tight - there's a series of doors that only open one at a time.  Although I've obviously seen prints of "The Last Supper" all over the place, it was incredible to see it in person.

Milan's Cathedral - Duomo di Milano - by night

Will checking out the Galleria at night - home to lots of expensive shops

Happy Birthday to Will in Milan!

We took the kids to an indoor playground for Will's birthday

Will's birthday meal:  pizza - had it for every meal but one...delizioso!!

Milan's Castle - Castelle Sforzesco

Cathedral by day

Galleria by day

Will and me spinning on Milan's Torino Bull at the Galleria - tradition says that if you spin on the hole where the bulls 'nethers' are supposed to be, it will bring you good luck.

Rachel the 'bird lady'

Our flight home from Milan was delayed because of snow and ice.  Apparently we brought a little of Minnesota with us...Brussels set record lows for the first few days of December!  Now, though it's back to the upper 30's, lower 40's, and the snow, for the most part, is gone.  We've now settled back into our routine and are in the full swing of the Christmas preparations here - I'll update soon with some more pictures!