Alsace

After heading west the first weekend of the kid's break (they are off of school for 2 weeks every 6 weeks throughout the year) we went east for the last week. Strasbourg was a lovely city, although we only spent time in the Old Town and old town's are always great. I have no idea what the real city is like! But what we saw reminded me of Amsterdam; canals and lots of people on bikes.

 

The cathedral was impressive, even if it only had one spire ;) It was too tall to get the entire thing in one shot!

Some people are reluctant to pose for a picture.

Up 332 steps to the top of the cathedral where a view of a rainbow awaited.

Both the astronomical clock in the cathedral and the boat ride on the canal were highly touted by several travel books and travel blogs. Theo, Sam and I all thought they fell a bit flat. The clock itself was spectacular, but the presentation that we spent an hour waiting to see was a little bit disappointing - the rooster crowed and the 12 apostles went around in a circle and that was about it. I found the baby turning over the hour glass every 15 minutes to be more interesting! The boat ride was warm and cozy on a rainy day, but after a while the boys became bored and I became claustrophobic. It was very informative, however. Theo learned that back in the middle ages they would take "criminals who killed their parents or their children and lock them in a cage and dump that cage off the bridge into the canal." This prompted a lot of questions from my 7 year old. Matt and I were nonplussed by how many times syphilis was mentioned in the audio portion of the tour!

The clock!

Inside the boat. This was at the beginning of
the ride before he ended up in a pile
of boredom slumped in his seat.

The favorite ended up being the carnival rides in Place Broglie, of course.

We didn't think Sam would like to get hit, but he enjoyed crashing into Theo too much to care.

Yes, we got his other boot back.

After Strasbourg we headed to a little town in the mountains so we could visit Haut Koenigsbourg castle. It's a medieval castle fully restored by Kaiser Wilhelm at the beginning of the 20th century and it was super cool. You could wander from room to room and get a feel for what it was like to live there way back when.

...still reluctant to pose.

En garde!

This was before the big snowfall, in the park across from our apartment

The town we stayed in was called Le Howald and it was lovely. We were up at a high enough elevation that there was a little snow when we arrived and on our last evening there was a big dumping of new snow. As a Minnesota transplant to Seattle I miss snow every winter so I was ecstatic. Theo and Sam were psyched to have lots of snowball fights with us. I was less excited as Theo's aim has gotten too good and I had one too many snowballs hit me in the face ;)

The kids quickly had the advantage in our snowball fight when they found higher ground.

Sam proudly displays his snow baby.

....and Theo his snow tortoise.

Mont Saint-Michel

Years ago Matt and I spent a lovely time in Normandy, and had planned on visiting Mont St. Michel while we were there. As it happened, we ran out of time and didn't make it, even though we were about an hour away! For 12 years it has vexed me that we missed seeing it - we we so close! So for our first trip away from Paris, the Mont was at the top of my list. It was pretty impressive and well worth the wait. It still feels weird that we were able to do this as a weekend trip and not as part of some colossal trip that took months of planning. I don't think it's sunk in yet that we are actually living here ;)

Selfie with Mont St. Michel.

Don't let the drawbridge close on you!

The kids were fairly impressed with the Mont. Sam dubbed it "The Fairy Kingdom" and it inspired lots of sword fighting during the climb up to the abbey.

It was a long climb to the top!

Theo draws his sword.

Some of the favorites included being able to stand upright inside an old fireplace and seeing how supplies were once loaded up into the abbey (by a giant hamster wheel attached to a pulley) when it was made into a prison after the French Revolution.

Room for everyone in the fireplace!

The giant wheel. It took 6 men (prisoners)
to get inside and make the wheel turn.

A long way down.

As impressive as a 1200 year old abbey built on top of a rock in the sea is, it was no match for our next destination....

Yay, we're done!

The alligator farm! Yes, there is an alligator farm just outside Mont St. Michel. I'd say this is pretty random except we see this kind of thing all over the French countryside!

Theo still hasn't learned not to stick his head inside an alligator's mouth.

While I feel like we see a LOT of zoos, I have never before seen one with PILES of alligators and crocodiles. It was a little creepy.

It is best not to fall in here.

Enthralled.