Quick Weekend Getaway

This weekend, we ventured off to Solingen, Germany; around these parts, Solingen is known as the “City of Blades.”  Since moving to Europe, Matt and I have had a few "must purchases"before moving back to the USA; we both wanted to purchase some quality German knives.  Solingen is filled with knife manufacturers.  After reading various consumer reports, we decided on purchasing Zwilling J.A. Henckels.  Henckels is one of the largest and oldest manufacturers of kitchen knives, scissors, cookware and flatware; they were founded in 1731 (so yeah, they have been around for awhile:).  Matt and I enjoyed looking at all of the selections, while Elle & Britta colored in the small children’s play area.

After purchasing some knives and utensils, we traveled back down to Cologne (Köln), Germany.   Cologne is a city that is famous for it beautiful Dom Cathedral (Kölner Dom).  The Dom took 200+ years to build and thankfully it was not destroyed during World War II even though Cologne endured 262 air raids during that time period.  The civilians of Cologne covered the Dom with a white tarp, making it difficult to see from the air.  It is truly amazing that this beautiful structure was seemingly undamaged.  The Dom was the tallest structure in the world from 1880-1884.   And trust me, the Dom did not disappoint; it was overwhelmingly powerful in appearance. 

Unfortunately, the weather here in Germany remains very snowy and icy.  We intended to tour the Lindt Chocolate Factory Sunday morning, but due to the weather we woke up and immediately got on the road.  We said a lot of prayers while driving, and thankfully, we arrived safely at home 3.5 hours later (usually takes 1 hour and 45 minutes).  Maybe someday we can venture back to Cologne.  But, we did get our knives and saw the Dom.  It was a fun, family get away…even if the snow did get in the way of our sightseeing.  

When we arrived to Cologne, we found a restaurant that said, "Chicago-style dining."  We could even see Michael Jordon decor from the sidewalk.  We were hoping for "Old Chicago" food and instead, got mediocre food.  Oh well...what we were expecting, we are in Germany:)!

Elle waving to me:)!!  The Dom was literally across the street from our hotel, which worked out great since it was VERY cold outside. 

Elle taking a picture of the ceiling:)

Time to go home...you could barely see out of our window is was snowing so hard.