DC Mom in 'da house

As some of you may know, my mom flew to Germany early this week. We are very happy to have her with us and she will be here until the 30th. During her stay, we plan to daytrip around Germany, travel to Switzerland for hiking, and fly to Ireland for a long weekend. All in all, it will be an action-packed, fun-filled two weeks.

Mom landed Monday morning and after she took a brief nap, I took her on a walking tour of beautiful Wiesbaden. Justin joined us later for an evening of Bavarian food (read: meat and beer). Justin got to fullfill his latent carnivorious tendencies by splitting a dish chock full of meat with my mom. They had pig knuckle, leberkäse (liver cheese, but don't ask me what it actually is), and some other pork products. Needless to say, jet lag could not keep Mom from sleeping after that meal.

On Tuesday, Mom and I headed to the city of Mainz for a day of enlightenment. First, we were spirtually enlightened during a self guided tour of a Catholic cathedral. Actually, the cathedral was perhaps more depressing than enlightening as most of the art in the cathedral was morbid and focused on skeletons opening coffins and saints holding their heads under their arms.

Feeling satisfactorily Catholic, we decided to enlighten ourselves about the exciting life of the printing press. Gutenberg, father of moveable type, was from Mainz. In his honor, Mainz has a Gutenberg museum that is devoted more so to printing than to Gutenberg's life. We spent about two hours looking at old printing presses and prints made from old printing presses. We even got to learn a bit about book binding. All in all, it was exhaustive and exhausting.

And, yes, we forgot to take the camera.

Mom and I returned to Wiesbaden where we had a nice family dinner with Jay (Justin's Dad), Linda (his wife), and Baci (their dog). It was the first time Justin and I served dinner to guests in our new apartment and it was very exciting. However, it was not as exciting as Pecos trying on his new Halloweenie costume. He wants to bite, I mean thank, Jay and Linda for this wonderful gift.

Today, we remembered the camera!

Mom and I headed up the Rhein on a driving tour. We passed many castles on the way to our turn-around point at the Lorelei. After gazing at the big rock for a bit, we were fortunate to leave Lorelie unscathed, though a bit damp from the intermittent showers. We then ventured to the town of Oberwesel which has the most (18!) intact medeival lookout towers of any town in Rheinland. In Oberwesel, these towers are so prevelant they have been incorporated into people's houses and churches, as pictured below (and no, I am no where near as good at perspective pictures as Justin is). The town was cute-ish, but the cuteness is more condesened in the nearby town of Bacharach.

Once we arrived in Bacharach, Pecos got to play in the Rhein for the second time in one day. We then headed into town and up to the castle above Bacharach. The walk was wet and the castle was pretty. After a slippery descent we strolled through picteresque Bacharach and headed to the car as the rain hastened and our clothing went from damp to wet. It was a fun day, though I hope the weather clears tomorrow.

Now, the exciting part of the entry, for Carole. Here are some pictures of the 98% completed living/dining area of 'da house. The pictures don't do it justice, of course, so you'll just have to come visit to see how beautiful the room is.