Surprise! Take Two

Surprise!

Crystal and Kevin's friends set up a surprise going away party for them. It actually took place the night before our Thanksgiving feast. Here we are after dinner before the party. They had no idea it was planned.









They got matching sweatshirt hoodies that had RSB 29 (their address).












Snogging...

The Feast

We borrowed a table and put it into the family room so that everyone could eat together. Emma, Mark, Barry, Stephi, Pascal, Crystal and Marianne.










Every Thanksgiving I have ever been to seems to have a kid's table. Here is Ick Ick and Kevin at the kid's table.











After dinner we played bingo and Kevin gave away prizes from his house i.e. a power drill, lamp, ikea shelf

Thanksgiving Prep

Crystal and Kevin decided to wait and have Thanksgiving dinner this year us. So, only a few weeks later than usual, we made our Thanksgiving feast. It was quite an undertaking and more than once did we each wish we had our Mom's around for consulting.








This is an apple pie that I made for the event. Not my best work but I figured after a few beers, who would notice?











Marianne putting cloves on the ham while Crystal watches on in a more supervisory role.

Crystal was definitely in charge that day. Marianne and I chopped, washed and baked according to her instructions.








Marianne stirring the pie filling.













Kevin carving up the turkey.

So, presentation might have been a little off because the legs sort of fell off the bird when Marianne and I dropped it in the oven but it all tasted great.

Luxemburg

Luxemberg had a cute Christmas Market too. Can you tell that we really liked the markets in each town? Oh and the mulled wine (Gluwein) it keeps you toasty and it is quite tasty.










A Luxemberg traditional snack: fried potato cakes












Random shots of the city...

Freiburg, Germany

If they tell you it tastes just like Jager...













... Just say no thank you.













One of the things I love about european towns is that their buildings are all so different yet completely mushed together. This is in one of the main plazas in Freiburg.










The Christmas market here was packed. We had to fight our way between umbrellas, strollers and drunken Germans.











Marianne enjoying some Gluwein and a pastry.

Geneva, Switzerland

We took another overnight train to Geneve. It was cold in Switzerland to say the very least but the city was really fun to walk around.











Here is a picture of the famous jet spray that spurts up in Lake Geneve. You aren't missing anything by the way... as it turns out the jet isn't turned on in the month of December. Some touristy things just weren't happening while we were there. I guess December isn't the main tourist season. Who knew?





















The Christmas market had a makeshift cafe that served fondue. We sat for lunch and had swiss fondue and some wine. It was sleeting a bit but we were covered by an overhang and the server gave us blankets for our laps to help against the cold.








Marianne finally did some laundry while we were there and was very excited about the prospect of having fresh socks. I decided against clean clothes and instead bought new socks. Who needs a clean shirt anyway?

Vinyard tours and wine tasting

Chateau Pedenclaux was our first stop on the vinyard tour. I got the feeling that it was a younger operation than some of the other vinyards but the tour was pretty interesting. The wine was okay.









Four different labels for the vinyard.













Marianne and I tasting our Bordeaux.













Vinyard #2 Chateau Kirvan. Lovely wine and the guide was really incredible. Below is a picture of the actual chateau on property. The family that owns and operated the vinyard still lives in it.

Bordeaux, France

After an overnight train from Porto we found ourselves in Bordeaux, France. We spent the first day walking around the Christmas Market and flea market. I contemplated this wooden penguin but alas there was no place to put it in my luggage. Its a shame too because I'm sure any of my friends and family would have been pleased to receive a large wooden pengiun for Christmas. Sorry guys!





To get out of the rain (again) we found a small cinema that played movies in English. Our one and only choice was A History of Violence; not recommended but it certainly helped pass the time.









The Christmas Market was hands down my favorite section of the city. It was right down the street from where we were staying. Here I am eating a solid breakfast of espresso and seared fois gras on a baguette. So good.









This St. Someone's Cathedral in the downtown area. They have officially all begun to run together. I can't for the life of me remember the name but it was really very pretty and below is a picture of their giant organ.

Porto, Portugal

We arrived in Porto and the weather was really nasty. The first night we packed it in early because neither of us felt like wandering around in the pouring rain. We stayed in our pension, watching television, drinking wine and eating snacks.








The next morning we headed out into the town and visited the Wine Museum. It logged the evolution and popularity of the Port wine.











After the Wine Museum we went on a Port Cellar tour in the Calem cellar. The wood vats were humongous. Here is Marianne trying to give you a little perspective on the size. The port is actually stored in the city away from the actually vinyards.








We met a few people on the tour from the States. Afterward we all went for a few beers to wash the taste of port from our mouths. Port was not a favorite beverage of anyone in our group. This is myself, Chad and Marianne in the local Irish pub. His friends had already gone home for the night. We all muscled through the evening with a few Guiness, some whiskey, a little Jager....

Sintra, Portugal Day Trip on Thanksgiving

On Thanksgiving Day we took a short day trip to Sintra, Spain just outside of Lisbon. It is a small cute town only about an hour away with a few museums and beutiful surrounding area.










We toured the Toy Museum in Sintra. This is a picture of a giant leggo car in the museum.












We also went hiking a bit up toward the palace and Moorish castle. It was a beautiful day away from the big city.