In Austria we will tour a few Christmas Markets, attend a performance of the Royal Orchestra and take a private tour to see the Opera House, the Museums of Art History and Natural History, Parliament, City Hall, Hofburg Palace and Belvedere Palace. And anything else we can fit in!
On David's birthday, December 11th, we will fly to Moscow, Russia, and meet our dear friends Mark and Jim. Jim has lived in Russia and speaks the language and he has graciously planned our entire visit to Russia. We feel extremely lucky to have an opportunity to visit Russia with someone so familiar with it. Jim has been planning this trip and making all of the arrangements since last January. Our itinerary is too long to list but suffice it to say it includes staying at historic and beautiful hotels, high-speed train rides, many palaces and museums, and a ballet.
We part ways on December 19th, and although we all fly to Germany, we fly to different cities. David and I fly to Frankfurt and later the same day we will take the train to Stuttgart. We plan to spend two days there visiting Christmas Markets. Then we will take the train to Rothenburg where we will spend six days, including Christmas.
While there we will take a side trip to Nuremberg to see their Christmas Markets. On December 27th, we will take the hotel shuttle to the Frankfurt airport, spend the night in an airport hotel and fly home on December 28th.
As you can imagine, we are VERY excited. We do not normally travel in the winter, especially to such cold, snowy places. This has presented us with a whole different set of packing challenges. We both have down parkas, long underwear (I have heavenly fleece-lined leggings!), and brand new snow boots!
I just checked the weather and it is clear and 34 degrees in Vienna, 30 degrees and cloudy in Moscow and 29 degrees and partly cloudy in Rothenburg. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Many more details and pictures to come.
