All by herself

 

 

 

 

 

Look who can finally ride a bike on her own!

Here's what's up

I've been pecking away at blogging again because it feels like I should be writing stuff down.  Stuff like "hey - we had a 3rd kid" or "guess what? we moved to Europe".  Little things like that.  The last handful of posts come after an almost 2yr gap of nothing!  Not that nothing has happened because, oh lord - that is definitely NOT the case.  I'm attempting to put together a post that fills in the gap, but time doesn't allow me to finish that project in one sitting. 

I started a new blog once we got to Germany, but I hated having two separate places to maintain and it was hard to let go of the 'old' blog - there are too many years of memories there.  So, as jumbled as it seems, I moved all of the posts from the new blog over to this 'old' blog.  They are out-of-order and the dates of when they were written are wrong, but they're here.  And that's a good first step. 

Before our furniture arrived...

No bed? No problem...

Daytrip in Deutschland

Well, we got crazy and did it again...

We ventured out - all 5 of us - in the car for a little sightseeing here in Germany.

Destination - Burg Eltz, a beautiful castle approximately 2 hrs away. It's one of the best preserved castles in Germany and has remained in the same family for over 800 years. It's current owner represents the 33rd generation. We were told on the tour that the family stays at that castle 1-2 times each month.


Our first peek at the castle:

Walking through the entryway:

A glimpse of the inner courtyard:

No pictures of the interior were allowed but when your husband is a rebel, you might get a few!

This picture was taken in the foyer. Cannons, spears, guns, bows, armor and all sorts of other weapons were all displayed here.

The next two pictures are of one of the bedrooms. The walls, ceilings and window shutters were all intricately painted.

Exploring the castle treasurey...

First Day of School 2012-13

International School of Düsseldorf

Mason - 3rd grade

Natalie - Prep (kindergarten in the US)

 

 

Now you know...

 

 

Düsseldorf is one of the cities with the highest standard of living in Germany and is the capital of North Rhine Westphalia, the most populous German federal state.

Düsseldorf is one of the world’s most prestigious fashion locations.

But Düsseldorf is also considered a city to feel at home in…

It is known as

• the garden city: parks in the middle of town, avenues of trees, well-kept gardens
• a city of culture: breath-taking international architecture, high quality
• performances, renowned galleries, highly acclaimed exhibitions
• one of the finest shopping boulevards in Europe (Königsallee)
• city of sports with extended infrastructure
• culinary city with hundreds of trendy pubs, restaurants and traditional brewery outlets in its old town as well as in its modern Media Harbor

Düsseldorf is

• in the heart of Europe
• in the heart of the Rhine-Westphalia area with 11,5 million inhabitants and of one of the largest economic areas in Europe, comparable to London and Paris

Infrastructure

• about one hour by plane from Paris or London
• one of the densest motorway networks in Europe – two hours away from Brussels, Amsterdam or Frankfurt
• Railway network with over 1.000 train connections per day to destinations in Germany and other European countries
• 100 percent mobility at any time
• third largest airport in Germany
• 75 airlines and 180 destinations worldwide
• airport station with over 300 train connections
• 10 minutes from the trade fair location and 10 minutes from the city center

Düsseldorf has

• branch establishments of 5.000 foreign companies
• an international airport
• an important trade fair
• the largest amount of Japanese companies in Europe
• more than 70m consulates and foreign promotion organizations for business and tourism

Top branches in Düsseldorf are (besides fashion)

• fair (more than 40 international trade fairs)
• trade (center with 2.500 wholesale and 4.000 retail houses)
• ITK and media (leading hub for the information and communications sector)
• advertising (Germany’s number 1 advertising center)
• life sciences (biotech and research)
• consulting (legal and corporate)

(adapted from: City of Düsseldorf, Office of Economic Development, publication “Düsseldorf, Your base in Europe”)

Now you know a little bit about where we are!