Tourism 101

It's hard to believe we've been here for almost 4 months.  In a way it seems like much longer and in others it feels like we just arrived. I feel like I have just started to get my bearings around the town which has been helpful in making me feel at home. However, over the last week, I have taken one massive step in my acclimation to life in France.

One week ago, we welcomed our very first house guest - my little sister Stefanie.  Having her here has caused an huge transformation for me since I have now gone from tourist to tour guide. We've shown her some of the best Alsace has to offer - medieval towns, scenic villages in the heart of wine country, castles, cathedrals and even a tour of a sauerkraut factory (yah, that last one wasn't as glamorous as I thought).

I also figured a trip to France for her wouldn't be complete without a stop in Paris.  So earlier this week Stef and I spent a couple days in the city of lights. I was a bit worried since it would just be her and myself and I'd be the one who'd have to navigate the city.  I am proud to say that we didn't get lost once and saw an incredible amount of sights in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

In the course of 36 hours, we:

climbed the Eiffel Tower
checked out the gargoyles of Notre Dame
visted Sacre Coeur and wandered around the streets of Montmatre
enjoyed a scenic boat ride of the Seine river
took and evening stroll down the Champs-Elysees
saw the famous Christmas window displays in Galeries Layfayette
took in the incredible art at the Orsay museum.

Phewww...needless to say we were both pretty exhausted by the time we got home.  I walked away with an incredible confidence boost to have been able to lead someone around in a country that I now call home.  It seems as if this was a fairy pivotal point in my stay here, and one that I will remember for quite a while.

So, any takers for house guest number 2??

Waking up in the dark

So, this blog title can have a couple of meanings.

I could be talking about how the recent time change has us waking up in complete darkness. Nope...not the topic I'll be discussing.

I could also be talking about how our kids are not the greatest of sleepers, a somewhat taboo topic for most parents since its sort of a badge of honor to have children that sleep all night..  Yes- truth be told they both have us "waking up in the dark" more often than we'd like to admit  Again, not the topic to be discussed.

Here's the real story.  As most all of you know, the U.S. presidential elections just took place.  It was a bit anticlimactic to email my vote in weeks before the election, this being my first time to vote with an absentee ballot. Nevertheless, I did feel fairly connected to the presidential race as the internet and cable TV often make you forget that you are not in the United States.  True, I was able to dodge all the annoying aspects that come along with elections including the negative campaigning, relentless television ads and the phone calls, etc. (although I got to hear all about that on Facebook, especially from friends and family in my home state of Ohio!)





We got an invitation in the mail to attend a presidential election breakfast alongside fellow Americans and others who have connections to the U.S. There they would stream the actual polling results as they come in. I was totally psyched until I saw the time of the event - starting at 6am!  Okay, perhaps not totally ideal considering we'll have two kids in tow but still much cooler than just waking up and seeing the result on the news.  Although I mentioned they are not the greatest sleepers, they both are fond of that 4am-7:30am stretch (go figure, right?) .




Both Jean and I really wanted to find out the result at the breakfast event so we had to make sure to avoid any possible information leak as we prepared that morning.  Before going to bed, we put our phones on airplane mode to eliminate the possibility of receiving texts or accidentally seeing it on the internet or Facebook.  When we got in the car in morning, we made sure we had a CD on to make sure we didn't hear any information on the election results on our way to the breakfast.  Just before 8am (I mean who really got there at 6am anyway!) we drive up to the Hilton hotel where the breakfast is taking place.  Mission accomplished - we were able to essentially wake up in the dark with no idea of who had won the election.

The next memories are ones I don't think I will ever forget.  Walking down the carpeted halls of the Strasbourg Hilton, I hear the bellowing voice of Obama.  I've got my youngest in my arms, my toddler holding Jean's hand right beside me.  I don't even have to listen to the words to distinguish between a victory and concession speech - it was evident in the tone of his voice. We make our way to the room to see a good two hundred people sitting, their eyes glued to the massive projection screen at the front of the room. We are just in time to catch the last 5 minutes of the speech being broadcast live from his campaign center in Chicago. Somehow I feel that I was even more moved since it was an incredible sense of connection watching this from thousands of miles away.  Although I know the kids didn't get the importance of that moment, I think it speaks to our ability to be able to keep them connected to both cultures - witnessing the live victory speech of our newly re-elected president while munching on a perfectly flaky pain au chocolat.  The best of both worlds!