Visit from my niece

We were lucky enough to have a visit from my niece Lauren and her college roommate Camilla this past weekend. They arrived on Saturday and we toured a bit of Frankfurt, even taking a boat ride on the river Main. Saturday night, after dinner at a local Greek restaurant and some premature birthday cake for Lauren, Lauren & Camilla went out on the town dds #1&2, and tried to get our 15-year-old from getting picked up by an older German man.

On Sunday, we had a fun day that started with a drive to Rüdesheim and then along the Rhine river as far as Köln (Cologne). In Köln, we visited the Dom and walked along a river front park to the chocolate museum. We got to see how chocolate is grown, see it made and even taste some samples. We left Köln and drove back toward Bonn to attend a medieval festival at Burg Satzvey, which was wonderful. Very authentic feel, lots of cool tents, costumes and weapons - dd#2's favorite part! We watched a bit of the jousting tournament and enjoyed performances of period music, as well as some good German sausage. By the time we got home and opened Mother's day gift, everyone was pretty tired.

Monday was a national holiday, but dd#1 had an AP exam and dd#2 had play practice from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., so Lauren & Camilla took themselves to Heidelberg on the train. They came home to a fun dinner of Raclette and some board games at home. Tuesday was back to school & meetings for us, while the girls explored the museums of Frankfurt before their flight back to London. It was a short visit, but very fun, especially since we were the only members of the extended family not to have met Camilla before. All-in-all, a wonderful holiday weekend.