After some crazy-tight train connections leaving France, we arrived in Wiesbaden, Germany.  My friend Diana met us at the station with German beer and pretzels, and I swear it was the best thing ever!

We have had the BEST time here in Germany.  Our first night we tried pork knuckle and sauerkraut for dinner (best sauerkraut I have ever, ever eaten) with German beer.

The pork knuckle was fit for a medieval king!

Apple strudel.

We spent the day walking around downtown Wiesbaden yesterday, exploring the area before heading out to the festival in the evening. It was such a wonderful, wonderful day. Neve absolutely loves it here, and we do, too.

There are thermal springs here in Wiesbaden (“Baden” means “bath”), and we *may* have put Neve in the “healing waters”.

The world’s biggest cuckoo clock!

Yummy Kaffe Crema!

Berry waffle bowl

Diana and I.

The festival was an absolute blast. The street food (and alcohol! Everywhere!) was incredible, and the atmosphere was impossibly friendly and fun.

Neve and Maddie’s favorite night of the trip, so far.

Okay, confession time.

Paris was a bit of a downer point on this trip. We had only one day, really, and Neve was still not back to herself so we couldn’t explore as much as we had planned.  Basically, we didn’t give ourselves time to really adjust to it and get into it, and navigating the Metro with our luggage was quite a challenge (all stairs, all the time, everywhere. This is why the French are so fit.)

Next time?

We did, however, manage to get a fabulous hotel room thanks to the many, many points my husband had saved from years of work travel, and we had a great neighborhood base from which to roam a bit.

We were located in Trocadero, which is to the north, and practically under, the Eiffel Tower.

The one thing Neve rallied for was The Paris Catacombs. This was the thing that she had picked herself,many she was NOT going to miss it.  The wait, unfortunately, was a little over an hour long in the hot Parisienne sun. We kept ourselves amused remembering the wise words of my friend Aurelie and her boyfriend Paul, “We French enjoy waiting in lines. We wait all the time.” So we stood there, waiting, feeling ourselves we were truly French now.

The Catacombs did not disappoint (aside from the typical American tourists we encountered who were loud and disrespectful in their comments. Jerks. Quit making us look bad!)

They say there are more than 6 million skeletons in the Catacombs. I can believe, after witnessing its staggering vastness, there are many more than that.

As you may imagine, it is very dank and wet down there. There was a lot of dripping water from the walls and ceilings, and some of the bones were molding.  We all had what we’ve been calling “Catacomb Crud” on our shoes afterwards.

And then, at the very end, Neve coughed so hard she threw up. In the Catacombs.

Sigh.

We made our way out, stopped at a Monoprix (an excellent grocery/everything store) to buy fruit and wine, and dropped Neve at the hotel for a bit. Maddie and I explored the neighborhood a little, found some chocolates, and picked Neve up again for dinner and the lighting of the Eiffel Tower.

It it was hard to capture the sparkle effect!

Trocadero

I will say say this for Paris: it is STUNNING at night. They don’t call it the city of lights for no reason!