I can’t believe we’ve hit 5 months in Prague! Everyone says the first six months are the most difficult of any transition, from moving abroad to moving back home to starting a new job, etc.
I admit I’m feeling very good about Prague right now, and I’m looking forward to seeing what month six has in store!
But first…
(please excuse the length, this month was a big one!)
FIVE MONTHS IN PRAGUE: BY THE NUMBERS
TWELVE Christmas-themed English lessons. If you have to work, might as well continue to be festive, right?
ONE EVENING at the National Theatre for the Nutcracker!
THREE HOURS of chocolate overload with Andrea at the Choco Cafe.
2.5 WEEKS (and counting…) of the cold that won’t go away.
NINE Christmas movies watched to fully embrace the season.
FOUR Christmas packages received! Thanks to all of our fantastic family and friends for those, they are so appreciated! I love it all so much I’m hoarding it in one spot so I can look at it all…
ELEVEN Christmas Markets in total. Two in Prague, one in Valkenburg, one in Bruges, one in Brussels, one in Ghent, one in Paris, and FOUR in Germany. They all had their charms, but the markets in Cologne, Germany were certainly my favorite. Especially the Heinzelmännchen market, or the “Gnome Market” as known to us.
SEVERAL HOURS in Cologne hanging out with Jessi & crew and Sara & her Dan! I love spontaneous blogger meet-ups. (how did I not take any pictures of this??)
THOUSANDS of festive lights seen–on Christmas trees, adorning streets, in light shows, sparkling on the Eiffel Tower.
ONE water bottle full of champagne for New Year’s Eve in Paris. Nothing but class up in here.
SEVEN incredible, busy, overwhelming, crazy, confusing, beautiful, wonderful days in Paris.
400 STEPS up the Tours de Notre-Dame for my favorite view of Paris, and to visit the Chimera gallery, where I learned that the statues I actually thought were gargoyles are actually called chimeras. Gargoyles are actually the ornamental rain drains. Who knew? We had to wait in line for two hours, and we were supposed to be heading to the airport any minute, but I am so glad we made it up into the towers. I cried when I saw the chimeras and the incredible view of Paris.
45 MINUTES in a Christmas market cave.
SIXTEEN DAYS traveling through Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and France.
EIGHT cities/towns visited during these sixteen days–Charleroi (Belgium), Cologne, Valkenburg (the Netherlands), Brussels, Bruges, Ghent, Paris and Versailles (which is also a city, not just a palace).
SEVENTEEN PEOPLE talked to via FaceTime in Texas on December 27…I missed a family reunion on my mother’s side, but I was happy to be able to see everyone this way!
THREE Christmas phone calls. We missed our families and friends but it was great to see their faces on the holiday.
FIVE NIGHTS with a view of the Eiffel Tower from our flat (since it was a studio, we had a view from the table, bed and kitchen! #winning #smug).
TWO NIGHTS in a horrible flat in Paris with no heat and a moldy shower…we earned those five nights with a view and that smugness!
TOO MANY STAIRS to count. Paris especially seems to be the land of stairs–we walked up and down in the Louvre, up three spiral staircases to our flat, up and down in Versailles, up and down the Arc de Triomphe, up and down the Tours de Notre-Dame, up and down to the river…
POSSIBLY ONE MILLION MILES walked on our Christmas trip. Despite the amount of food and beverages we consumed (see below), E and I both lost weight because we were on the move so much!
A RETURN VISIT to our favorite bar in Belgium, Café Terrastje, for some of my favorite beer, Kasteel Donker, and some ham & cheese pasta.
EIGHT HOURS in the Louvre.
ENDLESS amounts of good food consumed, from potato fritters to waffles to fries (oh I love my Belgian fries!) to crepes to raclette to croissants to chips to macarons to salmon to steak to duck to lasagna to pasta to na’an to curry.
TOO MUCH glühwein, wine, champagne, coffee, cocoa and beer to count. Not that I’m complaining…
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QUESTION:
Even though it’s halfway through January, how was your December??
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Linking up with Nicole.
What an epic month… have you finally caught your breath from all these travels? I liked that you put all your Christmas goodies in one place… I do that every year just ’cause I like to look at it for like a week or so before putting it away 🙂 I am a bit curious about that Christmas cave…. is it like a long tunnel, or?
I like that you put all your Christmas presents in one spot and just look at them, too 🙂 especially now that it was so much harder for me to get any this year they feel really special haha, even if I’m acting a bit like a hoarder!
The Christmas cave is a long series of tunnels–there are actually two sets of caves in Valkenburg full of Christmas markets, but you can also see them year-round. They weren’t my favorite Christmas markets, but the caves were so interesting, full of old art and important crypts.
Unfortunately I’m still sick so I still feel pretty tired from our travels and don’t feel like doing much haha. The perils of working with kids!
I hope your January is going well 🙂
Wow! What an exciting 5 months! So jealous to go to experience so many Christmas markets! That’s definitely on my bucket list! Here’s to the next 5 months 🙂
Yes the ones in Germany are a MUST! I want to go every year!! 🙂
This is amazing, what a wonderful month you had! Your Christmas trip sounds epic! If your going to spend the holidays abroad you might as well go all out right!
Haha that’s what I thought! We definitely went all out 🙂 I need to blog about it but I don’t even know where to start lol.
So glad you guys had an amazing time on your Christmas holiday!! I love all the photos! Would love to hear more about fantastique Paris (said in a proper French accent). 😉
Looks like you had a fantastic time 🙂 Nice! My December was filled with lots of celebrations which I am thankful for.
Aww that’s the perfect way to spend December 🙂
7 days in Paris and a night in a Christmas Cave…well I like to think of it as a night in a Christmas Cave even if you just shopped for a bit! Looks like things are going well and I can’t wait for month 6!
Haha that’s funny, my grandma thought we camped in a Christmas cave! I totally would have if they allowed it 🙂
What a December you had!! Did you get a chance to watch the light display in Brussels? I’m guessing so as the building is green haha. We went went again last Christmas and the Christmas before, it’s always really lovely. Although, very very cold.
I think I’m going to arrange a little travelling trip for next Christmas, just to decide where to go 🙂
Yes! That was my favorite part of our trip–the Grand Place was the best light show I’ve ever seen, I think 🙂
I think Christmastime travel is so fun! Good luck choosing, though, it’s SO hard! I always take too long deciding where to go and the prices go up, ugh!
Wait a minute! The Louvre has fountains in front of it now?!?! When did that happen? It looks beautiful.
Okay, now I definitely must go back for a visit! You can’t possibly see the whole place in a day, but I bet you came close! 8 hours?!?
V
Life+1
Haha have those not always been there?? I loved what they added ambiance-wise 🙂
I don’t think you can see the whole place in a week–there is just too much!! Even in 8 hours we had to rush through a lot of sections. We might have seen more if there had been fewer people, though!
No I don’t think they were there when I visited years ago.
Did you have time to visit the sculpture garden? That was my favorite part. I still can’t get over how a person can manage to carve such detail out of solid rock!
V
Life+1
We did see the sculpture garden! We didn’t spend as much time there as I would have liked. The Winged Victory of Samothrace was absolutely incredible, I couldn’t believe it. Also, we saw Venus de Milo as the sun was rising–wow! One of the highlights of our day there for sure.