A Long Night Flight into Frankfurt

I'm always nervous about any flight with Elowen, and finally she proved me right! We got to the airport four hours early just in case, since the security line when we to Florida was hundreds of people long, but this time we breezed right through and headed to the Flagship Lounge to wait. The international first-class lounge is much nicer than the international lounge--a buffet with all kinds of delicious things like Szechuan green beans and Caprese flat breads, plus big glass jars of Jelly Bellys and shortbread cookies. You could also pour your own wine and liquor, which seems...dangerous? 

Elowen's travel suit 

Handed me all her chewed licorice jelly beans

Elowen really enjoyed her bowl of jelly beans, though the woman sitting near us was clearly annoyed her existence and kept sighing loudly and glaring. Perhaps she doesn't like loud, off-key renditions of Twinkle Twinkle. 

Getting on the plane was also very easy, since you can get on even before first-class with an infant/toddler--but it turned out they'd sat us all three apart, which clearly wasn't going to work. Eventually, they put Elowen and I next to each other and Taylor about seven rows back. 

Unfortunately, that's where the ease ended--Elowen didn't sleep for the first seven hours of the nine-hour flight, and screamed in periodic bursts throughout, squirming away into the footrest and just HOWLING. When Taylor tried to help, it made it worse since she wanted to just sit on me. At one point a flight attendant gave me a full flute of champagne and patted me, another one came by and said "yeah you should drink that," and then a third one also patted me and said "my heart goes out to you." When she finally fell asleep, it was breakfast time on the plane, and I may also have wept a little. 

She did discover the animated Illumination Studios Grinch movie though, and has now watched it about seven times. 

Customs at Frankfurt was easy, since there's a family line, and the hotel is inside the airport, so we got there easily too. Since we were spending the night before going on to Siena, we also had time to visit one of Frankfurt's Christmas markets--and despite it being packed, it was the stuff Hallmark movies are made of. There was a brass band playing on the roof of the church, a huge Christmas tree covered in sparkling lights, and booths full of everything you could want--cured meats and sausages, giant pretzels, candied nuts, nougat, crepes, and of course the mulled wine. We tried the regular gluhwein, and then tried mulled cherry and mulled blueberry (the cherry was my favorite). We also tried a vanilla and cherry crepe...yum. 

I wanted a little chestnut person but did I NEED one...no

Clearly having the very best time!

Schneeballen look delicious but it's a trick...just get a crepe

New goal: build a ceramic Christmas village on the foyer sideboard 

Still having so much fun!

The best part, though, was the two story carousel--it was so beautiful. The top level had porch-type swings, so you could swing while you twirled. The worst part was, I think, the raclette hut, where you could buy little loaves of bread covered in raclette. And while raclette is delicious, the smell of that much raclette in one place is kind of like a rotting, dead animal? 

The brass band on the church roof

But Elowen was very tired, and since it was also 20 degrees, we decided to call it a night after a quick walk-through and headed back to the hotel to eat (since my beloved Hans im Gluch, a burger place modeled after a fairy tale about a boy and a goose and decorated to look like a birch forest) was packed. Taylor had venison goulash, Elowen had pumpkin soup, and I had a spicy butternut squash pasta...then we all collapsed into bed for the next day's adventure: the journey to Tuscany. 

The magic that is Hans im Gluck

Happier with a meal coming and sharing a chair with mama

Butternut squash pasta

Pumpkin soup

My dear Bernd das Brot

Excited for Siena!