KATE CAME TO VISIT

Kate, Noa, and Noel feeding the very eager ducks and swans in downtown Hamburg.
The Alster Lake in the middle of downtown...very fun to shop while surrounded by water and boats!

The kids and I by the fountain in the parliament building, our daily outings keep us happy and joyful (can't you tell from Noel's tired little face?)
Noa took this photo of Kate and I--pretty impressive for a 3 year old?!?!
Prost (cheers)!
David with his plate of mixed sausage links and a beer--his favorite meal!
Saying good-bye to Kate outside of our front door.


Sorry we have been a bit slow in our communication this past week…we have had such a nice treat…a visitor from home…Kate Wilson. She is in Europe with her mom for 2 weeks on vacation and took a few days out of their trip to catch a quick flight from Amsterdam (where she left her very sweet mom looking at museums) to see our lives here in Hamburg.

Kate and I took the kids to downtown on the Wednesday to feed the swans and ducks in the Alster (the big lake in the middle of Hamburg) and we enjoyed the Chinese festival that is happening this week—Hamburg has a different festival happening EVERY weekend—it is amazing how enthusiastic these Germans are about anything and everything that you can think up! After Chinese food we ventured into the parliament building and found a fountain and atrium in the middle—it was pretty impressive.

For dinner David and I took Kate to a true German restaurant to eat sausage and drink beer—it was very yummy food (we finally ate some wiener schnitzel) and really strong beer—it was a terrific evening.

Then today Kate and I took the kids to the Harbor. It is the second largest port in Europe and it was very impressive. No pictures because we forgot the camera—oops—but we will be going back there and we will send pics because it was great fun for all of us.

Then our 2 short days were over and very sadly we sent Kate back on a plane to meet her mom so that they could explore the world of tulips and clogs. It was wonderful to have someone from home here and to have a familiar face to laugh with…of course we were never laughing at silly things that Germans do…of course that would never be the case!

Tomorrow night (Friday) David and I will be boarding a night train (thanks Nonnie for making it possible) to go to Munich for the official Oktoberfest. Should be a blast and we will have photos and crazy stories up on the blog next week.