Collage of Christmas vacation begins:

Ok, I'm currently in the middle of winter break. I've already done so much, and there is much more to come, so these next posts will probably be mostly just pictures with brief descriptions. They are a few of the highlights so far.



Michaela sitting in the hills above Bullay


I spent the Christmas holidaywith Michaela in her little town, Bullay, on the Mosel River. It is actually more like three holidays here: they celebrate mainly on Christmas Eve (Heiliger Abend). then both Christmas day and the following day are holidays. Her town has somewhere around 1000 people and is one of a series of villages along this river. Its very hilly here and famous for the wine grown on the sides of these hills. Perhaps one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. If you've ever seen a model train set, with the tunnels through mountains, the bridge over the river, the cute little houses, and all that stereotypical pictureseque stuff....it is based EXACTLY on Bullay. It was an absolutely wonderful Christmas.



A shot of Alf, the village across the river from Bullay.



A castle in the hills across from Bullay. Michi can see this from her bedroom window.