Helminski Elders in Europe!

We're back from our snowboarding trip to Switzerland. Here's a little taste:

This was the view from our apartment. Words don't do it justice.

Yeah, it was like that. Zermatt is a pretty magical place, and it was a fantastic trip. More to come on that soon. But first, we take a step back to the end of 2013...

Just a few short weeks after Gloria's parents visited, my parents came town to spend Christmas and New Years' with us. Obviously we were excited to spend the holidays with them. But this visit was extra special, because my parents hadn't seen Gloria since our wedding.

They're heeeeeeeeere!

Their trip started with a week in London, followed by a few days in Germany, and a big finish in France. Off to London we go!

We toured all around the city, doing the typical touristy things (Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Big Ben, riding the tube, seeing the Crown Jewels, etc).

Adventures in London, Helminski style!

We also went to the Churchill War Offices, which I hadn't done before. Those are really cool, especially if you're at all interested in history. I highly recommend a visit.

A Christmas visit to London isn't complete without seeing Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park (which is a huge Christmas fair smack in the middle of London).

My Mom and Gloria found fur head rings. They're all the rage!

Kinda sorta accurate?

But wait, there's more! Not only is Winter Wonderland a Christmas fair, it's also a full on carnival, complete with games, and rides with questionable safety standards. Those carnies. Such scamps.

Classic carnival game ball-rolling form. Notice the intense concentration of the pursed lips.

Ok I know what some of you are thinking: all Gloria and Brian seem to post about is cheesy touristy stuff in London. Is that all they do? What about the glitz and glamour? Where's the Queen? Do they drink tea? Wait, did you say tea? Well do I have a treat for you! Oh yes, we went to afternoon tea. But not just any tea. We took my parents to tea at The Ritz.

For those that are not familiar with it, The Ritz pretty much invented luxury. Ever heard the term "putting on the ritz"? This is where it comes from. It is a ridiculously nice hotel, and it was an amazing experience. My Mom kept saying that when she's old and senile, she can always tell people about that one time she had tea at The Ritz.

Champagne before tea? Don't mind if we do! 

Happy ladies

My Mom was in heaven

Quite a snazzy crew

Our other big event in London was Christmas. You know, that holiday with the fat guy and the gifts and stuff. Well we certainly did have Christmas, complete with a big ol' dinner & everything. The clincher on it though was Gloria's brilliant idea to get us all Christmas pajamas. Matching pajamas. It was glorious.

We also introduced my parents to the British tradition of Christmas crackers. In true American fashion, they decided that the proper use of the crackers was as weapons.

Hiya! Take that!

Having dispensed with the touristy stuff, conquered the carnival, and celebrated a proper Christmas, we headed off to Germany.

In keeping with the theme of especially meaningful visits, this was another big one for my parents. They hadn't seen Sven or his parents since our wedding, and they hadn't seen Miriam in much longer than that. Add in the fact that this was also their first time meeting Sven & Miriam's new baby Carla and they were over the moon. After a few days there we hopped on a train and cruised on over to France. Gotta love the European rail system!

Early the next morning my Dad and I left to drive up to Normandy to explore some of the WWII battle sites. This was a really special trip, because my Dad used to be a high school history teacher, but he had never seen these places in person. So it was a real treat for me to take him there.

Due to a little whoopsie with the GPS, we ended up taking a bunch of back roads. Despite the extra driving time it was actually really cool because we got to see quaint little towns like this:

But that wasn't why we were there. This is:

This is Pointe Du Hoc. It's where the Army Rangers scaled treacherous cliffs to battle the Germans in WWII and helped turn the tide of the war. The site has been preserved in largely the same condition as it was during the war, so the bunkers and bomb craters are all still there. It's a surreal place and you can definitely imagine a war being fought here.

The weather was terrible while we were there, which seemed appropriate for the setting

We also visited the American cemetery, and Omaha Beach.

This is a truly sobering experience. It definitely felt like we were on sacred ground.

Omaha Beach was quite a contrast to Pointe Du Hoc. Here, there aren't many reminders that it was a major battle site, and it appears to be a beautiful sandy beach. It's hard to imagine what truly went on here.

In the end, the trip up to Normandy with my Dad was awesome. In the true sense of the word. We were both awestruck by the meaning and power of the places we saw, and I am really fortunate that I was able to experience it with my Dad.

With that, we headed back to Paris to cap off the trip in style! Once again, we hit up a lot of the touristy sites (Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, etc). But the cherry on top of this trip was to ring in the new year in the city of light! And not only did we spend the new year in Paris, we actually stood in front of the Eiffel Tower as the clock struck midnight. I actually got really lucky and recorded a video just as the clock struck midnight:

Woo hoo sparklers!

It was fantastic having my parents visit and to spend the holidays with family. We are truly thankful for the wonderful parents we have and feel so fortunate to be able to share experiences such as these with them. What can I say....life is great...

The Matterhorn!

Tomorrow morning, we are getting on an early plane to go see the Matterhorn. Typically, that would mean this:

But, this time is different. No, we're not going to Disney to see the Matterhorn, the ride. We're going here:

Yuuuuuup!

We're trading jolly old England for the snowy peaks of the Alps and all the snowboarding we can handle in Zermatt, Switzerland. We haven't been snowboarding in a couple years, so needless to say we're just a bit excited. Game on!!!

6 Week Parental Visitation Rights

It's an old axiom in American culture that a visit from the in-laws is usually something to dread. 

Luckily, in our family that does not hold true. Gloria and I are extremely fortunate to have two sets of wonderful parents, and everyone gets along brilliantly (that's British for "really well"). And no, I'm not just saying that because they read our blog (hi Mom!). It really is true.

So when Gloria's parents told us they wanted to come visit, we were excited....even when they said they were coming for over a month. Yep, you read that right. They came to London and stayed with us from the end of October until the first week of December - 6 weeks in all. We had a whole mess of fun adventures, so let's dive right in!

Naturally, we start with their arrival. Gloria's parents were a bit jet lagged, so they took a nap. Gloria immediately reverted back to her childhood and crawled into bed with her Mommy & Daddy.

We did all the typical London touristy stuff:

Took an open-top bus tour

Fun fact: The dragon marks the border of the City of London. It's basically the city boundaries from ancient times. Pretty cool!

Big Ben & Parliament

Trafalgar Square

Why yes, that is a giant blue chicken. Why do you ask?

Tower of London & Tower Bridge

Covent Garden

We even made our way down to the Old Royal Navy College in Greenwich. It's actually a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is a really beautiful place.

In addition to the touristy stuff, we had a few fun other happenings as well. First up, Gloria's Mom's birthday! We celebrated with a delicious breakfast cooked up by yours truly (thankyouverymuch).

We also had the chance to visit with Gloria's Dad's cousin who lives in London, which was great. It was the first time they've seen each other in many years, so we had a nice reunion and dinner.

Being the huge nerds that we are, Gloria's Dad and I went to a gadget show. We got to play around with all sorts of stuff, including the Occulus Rift.

The Occulus Rift is a virtual reality rig that you wear (as you see in the pic). It's hard to explain, but when you're wearing it you really do feel like you're moving. As you look around, your view changes and it's a cool/dizzying sensation. I highly recommend trying it out if you have a chance.

All in all, we had lots of fun with Ma and Ba Ba in London. Oh, also one other thing I forgot to mention. While they were here they pretty much rode all of London's public transportation. Seriously. When they arrived they bought a one month pass, and then set out to get their money's worth. Overground, underground, bus... you name it, they rode it.

Some days they would leave the apartment in the morning and just take the tube out to the furthest station they could, and somehow they'd come home with bags of fruits, veggies, and other various items that they got for about 50 pence. It was glorious! By the time they left London we had our very own in-house transportation experts. Score!

In addition to our fun in London, we also took a few side trips to Germany, Bath, and Paris. Giddyup!

GERMANY

We went to visit Sven's parents Maria & Gert in Frankfurt, touring around the area and checking things out.

Gert leading the way into Frankfurt

Atop a skyscraper overlooking the city 

Those Germans apparently love their Jagermeister!

Downtown Frankfurt

 We also went down to Heidelberg to visit Sven, Miriam, and their new baby girl Carla. Such a sweet little girl, and always great to see Sven & Miri.

For those who have never been, Heidelberg is a quintessential German small city, with a castle and everything!

In the castle courtyard 

The view from the castle

This is the view back down the train tracks up to the castle. I just thought it was a cool pic.

As a special treat, Sven's Uncle took us to Mainz for a day to check out the city and see the opening of the Mainz Carnival. Mainz is known for some beautiful churches,

especially St. Stephen's church and its blue stained glass windows.

But more than the churches, it is known for the annual carnival. (Per Wikipedia), The Mainz Carnival is a months-long city-wide carnival celebration featuring celebrations, parades, and jollity which are typical of carnival traditions in many countries, with a special emphasis on political and literary humor and commentary. Oh those Germans and their political and literary commentary. They are the life of the party. 

From what we saw, the carnival was kicked off by a parade of freaky giant headed costumed people, 

the crowd was all dressed up as well, 

and it all centered around a big gathering in the town square with singing, dancing, and other frivolity.  

Despite not understanding the words to any of the songs it was a neat experience and we're glad we saw it. And with that, it was time to bid Germany farewell...

A picture I took while walking along the train tracks in Mainz. I really like this one.

BATH

Bath is a really neat city located a couple hours West of London. It is most well know for its natural hot springs, which is why the Romans erected thermal baths there (hence the name of the city), and for the unique (within the UK) Roman style architecture. Oh, it's also a UNESCO World Heritage Site, so there's that. Let's check it out!

The city is filled with cool architecture and churches all over the place.

The ancient baths are right in the center of town, and are amazing well preserved

These are the original Roman baths. There are new, modern thermal baths, which we also checked out. Sooo worth it.

The bathstore! In Bath! Get it???

On our way back to London, we made a pit stop at some fancy rock pile or something.

Possibly the greatest of all henges

Stonehenge was interesting. Nothing terribly exciting, but it is for sure worth seeing. Oh, also another UNESCO World Heritage Site. I've lost count, but I think we're at around 10 or so now. Pretty cool!

Paris

Ah Paris. While nothing can ever compare to the sweet bromance John and I shared in this fine city, this trip was another good one. Our first trip to Paris with parents. As you would expect, we hit up the usual sites:

The Louvre

The Love Bridge

Notre Dame Cathedral

The Eiffel Tower

Gloria's Happy Place (Moulin Rouge)

Champs-Élysées

Arc de Triomphe

And last, but most interesting/creepy, The Catacombs of Paris

The catacombs are a really interesting place. Basically, back in the late 1700's Parisians were running out of places to bury the dead. So they decided to build the catacombs and started burying the dead there. Today, the catacombs hold the remains of over 6 million people, and they are a tourist attraction. We walked the length of them and it is an interesting place. Kind of creepy, almost sacred feeling, and definitely worth a visit. I highly recommend it.

After Paris, it was back to London. Just in time to celebrate Thanksgiving!

Nothing says 'Murica like celebrating the pilgrims fleeing England to the new world. In your face London!

All joking aside, we had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner. Gloria's Mom made the turkey & gravy, Gloria made the sweet potatoes, and I made the stuffing, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie. It was a great team effort!

Alright, that's about it (phew, that was a long one). We really enjoyed having Gloria's parents here to visit. So many adventures and so much fun. 

Coming soon: Our final visitors of the year help us close out 2013....

Until then, cheers!