The Palmer's Adventure: Just get me through January!!

I don't like January. I just don't. Wake me up when it's February and I'll be back to my normal, happy, outgoing self. I must have some groundhog in me because I just want to hibernate until the days have more than 8 hours of daylight and the sun likes to come out and play instead of hide behind the clouds.

The good news is there is only 10 more days of January....I think I'm going to make it!

This month has been pretty low key after the highlight of spending Christmas in the states. We did close on the house..woohoo! We are so looking forward to spending many happy years there, when we are done having such a wonderful time here!

Last Monday, Mike and I drove through three countries (not counties...countRies!) looking for snow. He would like to take the scouts sledding. Guess what? Not one flake in three countries! We went from Germany, through Luxembourg and then to Belgium and back.

See...no snow. Pretty sad. Our other plan for the day was to stop in Bastogne, Belgium which is the center of the Battle of the Bulge area. There is so much history around here. If you are interested in a short but very interesting article on exactly what happened and why it's called the Battle of the Bulge go to this link...it's worth it!
http://www.army.mil/botb/overview.html

We drove through the town of Bastogne and then went to the Mardasson Memorial. The memorial is so impressive!

The Mardasson Memorial was built in 1950. It stands as a token of gratitude by the Belgian population for the liberation of the country by the American Army and the allies. By erecting this monument they wanted to remember the young Americans who came to liberate Belgium at the cost of their own lives.

The Mardasson Memorial is a tribute from the Belgian population as a whole to the American nation. Given that the American effort was so decisive here, Bastogne was chosen as the site for the memorial’s construction. For the Americans, Bastogne is the symbol of their legendary spirit of resistance, but also of their sense of judgement in their victorious counter.

Then we headed back into the town of Bastogne to find a place to eat lunch. It's a really cute town and we parked and found a little place with sandwiches and frites (fries) Belgium is known for their wonderful frites and supposedly they actually invented them! Don't ever ask for French Fries..they would be offended.

Center of Bastogne

A butcher shop in Bastogne

Frites ahead!!

This was a memorial in a small village we drove though...warthog!!

I've been in this area a few times before The most memorable time was with Donna, Cindy and Gigi when they came to visit. It was the day of the fateful car meltdown at IKEA and the "nightmare at the truckstop". We actually stopped there to have a snack on this trip...funny, huh?

The Arlon, Belgium truckstop and hotel. Ah, memories!

Today it was raining all morning which makes hanging out at flea markets a little miserable. We decided to stop at the Ramstein Flohmarkthalle. It's indoors, freezing but dry.

The Flea Market Hall in Ramstein

We didn't find anything big, but I found this great vintage photography book of how to take color photos of places around the world. I love it! It has some great old vintage photos of many of the places we've been or would like to go.