Christmas Vacation

The Smiths arrived on Friday, December 19th ready to experience Christmas European style..."Look kids. Big Ben, Parliament!" As you can see, we were ready for them with the Apfelwein!
Don't worry; we saved some for when you get here.
So, the itinerary for their stay included eating and drinking as much as we could, going to the Frankfurt Weihnachtsmarkt, side trip to Heidelberg to see the castle, and experience Christmas in Rome.
Check...check...check...check...and, check.
First up the eating and drinking!
The first night the Smiths got here we took them to a traditional Frankfurt/German restaurant...weinersnitzel, potatoes, apfelwein. When the "bembel" of apfelwein arrived (seen above), everyone was poured a glass, and the look on their faces said "wow"...not exactly Juicy Juice we're dealing with here. They followed the Keller's guide to apfelwein, powered on to glass number two, then...well, you know what happens with glass three.
Everyone really enjoyed the food and atmosphere, and Rob (Shea's dad) made sure we had that place (or one like it) on tap for at least one more visit during their trip.
On to the Weihnachtmarkt for bratwurst! Seth (Shea's brother) was ready for a brat the second he got off the plane, but we kept him in suspense. Finally, on Saturday the 20th, we unleashed him and don't think he was disappointed. Later, while inspecting all sorts of foods and desserts at the Christmas market we came upon an interesting grill over an open fire (pic above). They were serving up steaks on a bun, and I think between Rob, Seth, and myself, we polished off at least 2 a piece. Yumm....meat.
We all enjoyed some German beer and warm gluhwein. I think we all concurred that the gluhwein with the melted sugar in it took first prize. We ate waffles covered in cream and dipped in chocolate, fruits covered in chocolate, chocolate covered in chocolate (not really, but probably a good idea), and maroni. Maroni was the only food mistake of the entire trip. It is a nut that is warmed and tastes like roast- not what you’re expecting and certainly odd- must be an acquired taste and not one I will work to acquire.

Then it was on to Rome and to try some different cuisine in a land where every word ends in a vowel. We arrived and were pretty hungry, so what else is there to do but to get some pizza. We quickly learned that when each of us ordered "one"...they took that as "one pizza" and as the pies piled up in front of us, we knew we were going to have some leftovers. We headed out for some sightseeing (Rome recap to come) and later that night we had a very nice dinner at a restaurant Seth was familiar with. It was very nice, we all enjoyed some authentic Italian food and Chianti. Shea and I continued our quest for the world's best ice cream and enjoyed gelato in its birthplace (see above). We had some espresso and did our best to eat our way through Rome. On Christmas day, Seth had gotten us an invitation to the North American College located next to St. Peters. They served us a wonderful 4-course dinner with flowing red and white wines. We had more food than we could eat including a nice prosciutto salad, manicotti, lamb, and a tasty fruitcake like dessert. Buon Appetito.

We returned back to the land of pork and potatoes and managed to cleanse our palettes of the Italian food with some good ol' German fried goodness. It is cold here, so some hardy food is appreciated.
All in all, we had some really good food and drink during our little trip and I will move on to our other experiences with the folks.