The hardest thing about studying French in France is not being able to see all the amazing places in Europe. Seriously, who goes all the way to Paris, France and doesn't see the Eiffel Tower? Our family! The picture above is from a year ago, when we visited my brother's family in Paris, Tennessee. (I thought I'd throw it in for fun!) Anyways, we found really cheap tickets and took the TGV (the fastest passenger train in the world) from Albertville to Paris Easter weekend to go to church, but there was no time to "see" Paris before coming back to Albertville for classes.
I think most people would think that's a little crazy. Yet, even though I would have loved to "see" Paris, I am not at all disappointed with our trip to Paris. We were truly thankful to have the chance to receive and celebrate Holy Communion on Easter Sunday with our fellow Lutherans of a sister church body in France (and to go to a French potluck was just icing on the cake; think potluck and 5 course meal all in one).
Europe is full of amazing places to visit. I'm not going to start naming them, because I'll just long for them even more. So when one is given a window of opportunity to travel a little, one should do so, and so we were determined to go somewhere! Yet, we did not have much spare time to plan a route. So what is one to do? Well, decide on a destination. We decided to visit Luther Land, also known as Germany.
Back in the states, we did not take many vacations, but when we did, I would spend a lot of time researching all the possibilities of places to go and things to do. We never tried to make it up as we went along and we always had our lodging set and a few coupons printed off for here or there. Well, not this time.
I did not have much time at all to research places to go. On the nights that I didn't fall asleep after putting the kids down, I had the choice to study or plan for our vacation and even though I'd rather have been planning our vacation, I chose to study. That left us with very little information to go on for our trip and no lodging booked for the last 3 nights. Some how we made it around Germany with 3 little ones and very minimal Internet though. I've never stopped at so many tourist information places before in my life!
Back in the states, we did not take many vacations, but when we did, I would spend a lot of time researching all the possibilities of places to go and things to do. We never tried to make it up as we went along and we always had our lodging set and a few coupons printed off for here or there. Well, not this time.
I did not have much time at all to research places to go. On the nights that I didn't fall asleep after putting the kids down, I had the choice to study or plan for our vacation and even though I'd rather have been planning our vacation, I chose to study. That left us with very little information to go on for our trip and no lodging booked for the last 3 nights. Some how we made it around Germany with 3 little ones and very minimal Internet though. I've never stopped at so many tourist information places before in my life!
We started our spring break near Strasbourg, France (Wœrth, to be exact) going to Sainte Trinité, a congregation in fellowship with the LCMS. We were so thankful for our time there, to visit with fellow Lutherans and have The Lord's Supper again. It was a great start to our spring break.
We ventured on to Luther Land. We visited Heidelberg, Worms, Eisenach, Erfurt, Weimar, Wittenberg, Leipzig, and Nuremberg. And of course, since we had to drive through Switzerland to get back to Albertville, we had to stop at both a cheese and a chocolate factory.
As we look back, it wasn't just a sight-seeing tour for our family. Many of the places also provided a chance for Micah to strengthen his future classroom discussions of our Lutheran heritage.
You can see more of our trip by clicking this link to my pictures on Facebook. A new window will open and you can click on a picture to scroll through all the pictures with captions.
We ventured on to Luther Land. We visited Heidelberg, Worms, Eisenach, Erfurt, Weimar, Wittenberg, Leipzig, and Nuremberg. And of course, since we had to drive through Switzerland to get back to Albertville, we had to stop at both a cheese and a chocolate factory.
As we look back, it wasn't just a sight-seeing tour for our family. Many of the places also provided a chance for Micah to strengthen his future classroom discussions of our Lutheran heritage.
You can see more of our trip by clicking this link to my pictures on Facebook. A new window will open and you can click on a picture to scroll through all the pictures with captions.
