KÖLN

Sooo here we are in Köln. It is a big city and Regans Aunt lives right in the heart of it in a small flat she has lived and raised two children in for 34 years! But let me back track a bit. We just loved visiting with Uncle Tony and Tante Lizzie. I cried when we left,and Ellie was very sad. When I last left you I said how shy Ellie was. Well the next morning ellie and I came to breakfast and Regans cousin, Manfred, and his girlfriend, Andrea, were at the table. They speak perfect English and are very nice and very funny, and suddenly ellie came out of her shell and was feeling much more comfortable. It was hilarious when we got there on the first day as Lizzie is absolutely CRAZY about little kids and she is very very, how shall I say, EXHUBERANT with her affection upon meeting her. It is so funny, but it freaked Ellie out a bit, I think. She swept Ellie up in her arms chatting away in German and then suddenly she whisked Ellie away for her own private tour of her house. Then at one point I was at the entrance of the door inside, and I was going to go outside to the car, ellie was behind me in the doorway, she was framed by the door, and she was just started to say "Mom..." when all I saw were these arms grab her by the shoulders and yank her out of sight. Lizzie wanted to show her something. It makes me laugh so hard just to think of it. One of the funniest things I have ever seen. By the end of the day Lizzie and Tony understood her shyness so they were very happy and surprized when she was laughing and making conversation at the table the next morning! It was awesome! We went into Rothenburg that day along with Manfred, and we had a WONDERFUL time! We all have the same sense of humour and we laughed all day. Ellie was HILARIOUS!!! We were starving at one point and went to an italian resteraunt (Italian food is very very good here) and we were waiting for our food. Ellie had us all laughing in hysterics when she was watching each plate of food go by that was clearly not for us. She was holding out her hands pleading out loud (joking of course) "Pleeeaaase!!! I neeed fooood!!" And carried on very theatrically, we all laughed and she just loved playing it up for us. She was like that all day, very very comfortable around them. For those of you that know her well, you know how shy she can be even around close family members. This is very unusual. We went into the famous all year round christmas shop, and I thought of my sister Kim. She would have loved it. It is exactly like the one in Banff but a little bigger, and the one in Banff is not... well... in Germany! We then went to a small museum with a dungeon! That was cool. There was also a museum of Crime which we really wanted to see, but our hosts were not as into museums as we were so we passed. We then walked the entire wall that surrounds the city. There is also a famous teddy bear shop that went into and Lizzie bought Ellie a teddy bear. Ellie was just crazy about Tony and Lizzie, I am too. We then went back to their house and visited until very late, I kept telling Ellie she could go watch a movie instead of visiting,but she really enjoyed being with us and contributed beautifully to the conversation. The next day when we were leaving, Lizzie took Ellie and I to their church. They live in a small town of about 2000 people and they have an extremely georgous church!!! I was so amazed!!!! Then we had to leave them, and it was sooo sad. Uncle Tony hates flying so they will not be coming to Canada Again.
Then we were on the VERY STRESSFUL Autobaun. I HATE driving on it, and REgan is not a big fan either. The problem is that the right lane there are big trucks going about 80 km, then if there are three lanes, there is the middle lane with people going the speed limit which is 130 km per hour, then you have the "fast" lane with mercedes STATION WAGONS (I am not kidding) going 200 km per hour. Now imagine this, you are cruising along in the middle trying to keep a decent distance between you and the car in front, suddenly a truck going half your speed cuts in front of you to pass another truck.... then you decide "okay Im going to pass this truck" well try to now pass in a lane where the cars are driving at 200 kilometers per hour!!!! I swear to God I almost had a heart attack. I am very very glad that Regan got the GPS (who we have declared as his German Girlfriend, and we named her Karen) because there is no way in hell we could drive on that road AND have me navigate. We would either be divorced or dead... either from a crash or from killing each other from the stress. Let me put it this way... take trying to back your RV into a teeny tiny space in a well treed campsight... at night.... in the rain.... at times it by a million. That was the stress we were feeling. Not pretty.
So today we returned the car and we are done with driving in Germany. YaY! Last night Elke (Marias daughter) and her husband and 6 yr old son were over. I was worried if Elliea nd him wuold play as neither spoke the others language, but they played great! They really loved eachother. So cute! Elke is awesome! I cried when we had to say goodbye to her too. We would love it if they would come and visit. They left this morning for vacation.

Today we went to the Cathedral in Köln where my grandfather was baptized. It is so neat to be in the same city where he was a boy. It is massive! And amazing! But very crowed (of course!) And lucky for me and everyone around me I have WICKED PMS today! (I am sure my Dad just burst out laughing when he read that!) I am not grumpy, just overwhelmed, and a bit weepy. Anyway, the cathedral is georgous and Tante Maria bought us a little book in english all about it which is great! We went to go climb to the tower, it is 509 steps up. This is not the problem for me. The problem is I am extremely claustrophobic. So I contemplated not going as the staircase is very small and it is jam packed with people. So there I was... should I go??? We decided to come back later to see if it was not so busy and we took a little kiddy train to the CHOCOLATE MUSEUM!!!!! Thaaaaat´s right.... an entire museum dedicated to the history and the making of CHOCOLATE... just the perfect thing for a girl in crowds with PMS. It was FANTASTIC!!! We got to watch how they made Lindt chocolate and got to taste a bunch of it. We also bought a bunch, and OF COURSE Tante Maria bought ellie a bunch, and a tshirt from Köln as well. Then we went back to cathedral and it didnät seem so bad. And I had ellie chanting in front of me "Come on MOM, you always tell me to face my fears!!!" So up I went. Now imagine, the stair case is narrow, and we start to climb. There were no people at first, so I thought it wasnt so bad. But then about 30 stairs later we were jammed in there with people going up and down and stuck and not moving. Then we started climbing again. Then I started to think.... okay, people crammed all around me in this small space. I probably have another 10 minutes to climb. What if it is teeny up there and there is still no space. Then I heard Ellie ask Regan how much further, and he says, with me listening, "Oh no, honey, we have barely even made it half way". Well that was it... I flipped out and said, I cant do it! And ran as fast as I could for the 5 minutes it took to get down again. The total time it takes to climb (I found out after )is 15 minutes up and then down again. I cant even think about it, I get that horrible feeling again. when ellie came down she was kind of mad at me in a way, how could you! kind of thing. So I tried to explain about the difference between fear and phobias.. .but I dont think she gets it. Its like being in a coffin, under 20 feet of ground... under a lake .... under ice. That is how I felt. anyway they said it was spectacular and I was so happy for them. I kept saying how lucky they were to not have this problem.. they get to see such cool things! Anyway, tomorro morning we are taking the ICE train to Bremen. Apparently it goes well over 200 km, and we will be on it for 3 hours. It will be SO NICE to just sit and really relax for 3 whole hours!! This trip has been UNBELIEVABLY WONDERFUL but very very busy! I cant wait to show you all our pictures and the little bit of video we took. I just dont have time to write it all down in my blog. Tonight it is just Maria, Regan, ellie and I and she is making us a lovely dinner and we will drink beer (of course) and wine. Maria is staying in Elkes flat and we get her place to our selves for an hour or so before we go to bed.

Anyway, I will try to write from Bremen, but Tante Edith lives int he country and does not have a computer, so when we go into town I will try to catch up with you guys... and see if there is any news on our little baby!!! We are so anxious to know who our baby will be!!!

Take care, and thanks again for everyones prayers ! Everytime we go to a church that has candles here, we light 2.. one for our family and friends back home, and one for Regans dad who is awaiting heart surgery.

We love you all very much!