Never a Bad Time for a Parade

Right? So, yeah--these photos are from our town's Fasching parade back in, um, February. I just kept forgetting to blog about that day--and in the past month or so, I've come down with quite a case of Spring Fever and made a brief, impromptu trip to the States. I'm back to my blog now, and I thank you for sticking around.

General frivolity, bad costumes, tractors, Germans smiling at strangers (!), friends dressed as Hot Potato Queens, cough-syrup-ish liqueur a-flowin', and a freak snowstorm: not a bad couple of hours.

Back soon with some spring-y photos and tales of not getting stung by stinging nettles! Oh, and don't forget to come see me on Pinterest--I'm around there quite a bit!

The World at Home

I like the idea of things that show your travels around the world--show your life. And I enjoy the idea of all the different cultures meeting here. Japan meets Peru, Peru meets America, America meets England, England meets Denmark, Denmark meets France, you know. Total integration of cultures. I guess it's the future, no?--Mario Testino

Thanks to renegade interior designer Abigail Ahern for bringing this quote to my attention. Mario Testino's self-designed home was recently featured in Vogue US, and I love that it's not the typical Los Angeles "loads of money but little taste" abode, as Abigail says. Testino has chosen to enrich his home with items he's found in many places--not to impress others, but to bring himself joy and give himself a sense of his own personal history.

My own home integrates elements from the USA, Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam, the U.K., Germany, France, and other countries.

I love looking around my house and being reminded of the places we've been. Also, I really do like and value each item. 

Daytrippin': Metz

Maybe I have mentioned that we live about an hour from the French border. Several days ago, The Husband and I left the kids to relax, do homework, and fend for themselves at home (you can do that with teenagers), and we took off in the Mini to Metz, an hour and a half away. Our main destination that day was the Centre Pompidou-Metz.

This was our first visit, to Metz and to the museum itself, which was designed by Shigeru Ban and Jean de Gastines. It looks pretty cool, don't you think?

The Husband did a self-portrait inside one of the Wander, Labyrinthine Variations rooms.

Part of the Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Bivouac design exhibit, this divider is made out of styrofoam.

Off to the right, you can make out Metz Cathedral.

I shot this through a divider made up of little plastic "branches" that clip together.

After a couple of hours in the Pompidou, The Husband and I were quite hungry, so I managed to take just one photo before we stopped off for lunch in a Japanese restaurant (with French-speaking Chinese waitstaff). And apparently I was too famished to remember to photograph our sushi and gyoza.

I did manage an interior photo of the Cathedral, our last stop before leaving Metz. Actually, our last stop was at a popular bakery, for tartes au citron and bread to appease our junior connoisseurs des baguettes. They (and we) were happy.

A Few More from Colmar

I know, I know--I've already shown you plenty of pics from our January day-trip to this cute little French town. But I can't help it--I just have to share a few more before I move on to something, somewhere, else (I promise, I will!).

Seriously, so sweet I could just eat it up! I'll leave some for you, though.

Happy Valentine's Day

This little Scottish dude brings heartfelt wishes from me (and him) to you for a lovely day. Wish I could give you some Belgian chocolates, too. We could, you know, share them, if you wouldn't mind taking all of the caramels.

But I'll just be here keeping warm and watching large snowflakes fall in my little corner of Germany, with a cup or three of tea and a snoozing lap-dog as my daytime companions.

Sunday Afternoon in Colmar

As promised, more pics from our recent weekend trip to Alsace:

Weekend Away: Strasbourg and Colmar

We spent a recent long weekend in Strasbourg, which is less than three hours away from our home. We'd been to Strasbourg once before, back in 2010. We stayed in the same Hotel Ibis both times (they have reasonable prices and allow pets). That was our home base, and we day-tripped to nearby Colmar. It took us about ten hours (give or take 8 hours) to get into town to the hotel and find a parking space in one of the garages. Saturday afternoon was super-busy due to major January sales all across France, and our hotel is attached to a mall!

Once we got settled in, we walked for about ten minutes and arrived at the famous Cathedral. The Boy kept wanting to climb to the top again, but we didn't get around to doing that. Plus, it was too cold!

Here we are (three out of four), having a bit of fun outside an adorable brasserie across from the Cathedral. We ate dinner at another traditional Alsatian place a couple of doors down. Ho-hum food but "maximum quaintness" (Audrey, European Vacation).

On Sunday, we took a local train to Colmar. It was our first time there, if you don't count a 30-minute drive-through back in 2010.

Colmar is so terribly photogenic.

Pretty cute, non?

We couldn't resist stopping for lunch in this café. More adorableness and quaintness. I want one of those enamel pots!

We didn't try any of those huge macarons, but we did have some apple cake and a piece of a fab lemon tart.

I'll be back soon with more Colmar pics--I took quite a few!