tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24169293966063423412024-03-14T04:41:40.630+01:00SláinteSharihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202628714904607855noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2416929396606342341.post-42754207976215769812011-09-26T14:41:00.007+02:002011-10-30T03:18:47.478+01:00We Hiked the Zugspitze!In case you are unaware (as I was before I lived here), the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zugspitze">Zugpitze</a> is the highest point in Germany. It is located in the Northern Alps, and the borders of Germany and Austria actually meet right at it's peak. So, as I mentioned in the title...<strong>we hiked it!</strong> It's certainly not the highest mountain the in the world at 2,962 meters (9,718 feet) above sea level, but it's certainly the highest one I've ever climbed, so I'm pretty excited about it.<br />
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How did this come about, you ask? I've been looking for new things to do lately and I've also been trying to take advantage of this beautiful country we live in. Even though we are civilians, we are able to use some of the services offered by the military. There is an organization called Outdoor Recreation that offers all kinds of opportunities to ski, hike, bike, kayak, camp, etc... They offer trips where they do the driving and the leg work, so all you have to do is sign up, pay your money, and go along for the ride. I saw the Zugspitze hike and after talking it over with Rick, we decided to do it. We have been to the area surrounding the Zugspitze a number of times, but we have never been to the summit. The visibility has never been too good while we were visiting, so we never bothered to take the cable car or train to the top.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>We set out in a van at 5:15 am with 10 other people to make the drive south to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garmisch-Partenkirchen">Garmisch-Partenkirchen</a>. Garmisch is a beautiful town nestled in the foothills of the Alps and it's been one of our favorite places to visit since we've been in Germany. Once we arrived, we parked at the Olympic ski stadium - an impressive complex with huge ski jumps built on the side of a hill. It was apparently built by Hitler for the 1936 Winter Olympics. In researching this fact, I came upon a really interesting website where you can see pictures and read more about it by clicking <a href="http://www.thirdreichruins.com/garmisch.htm">here</a>. (Side note: It never ceases to amaze me how many things that we do and see almost on a daily basis here that Hitler had something to do with).<br />
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<strong><em>Ok, here's some background information that may be helpful while you read about the hike</em>:</strong> The trip is designed to hike 4-5 hours on the first day (Saturday) to a hut or "hutte" where we would eat dinner, shower, and sleep, eliminating the need for us to carry camping provisions with us on our backs (thank goodness). The second day we would have breakfast at the hut and then hike the remaining 4 hours or so to the summit. You can see a map <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Schema_Umgebung_Zugspitze.svg">here</a> of our hike. Garmisch-Partenkirchen is in the top right corner of the map (with the elevation of 705 meters), which is our starting point. We hiked the dotted red line from Garmisch-Partenkirchen to the Zugspitze. Our destination on the first day was the Reintalangerhütte which is marked on the map with a green square at an elevation of 1370 meters.<br />
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So, we took a quick look around the ski stadium and then we started our hike. The beginning of the hiking trail took us through the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partnach_Gorge">Partnach Gorge</a>, which was absolutely <em>gorgeous </em>(come on, I had to say it)! As we followed the walking path above the the rushing river, we tried our best to take in the spectacular beauty while also trying to watch our heads in the many low caves that we were walking through. Just as we made it out of the gorge it started to pour down rain. It was then that I became extremely happy with my waterproof hat purchase I made in the weeks leading up to the hike (even if it did make me look a little like Bob Denver on Gilligan's Island). We hiked through the forest and some beautiful trails (all while raining) for about 2 hours or so before reaching the Bock-Hütte which was our stop for lunch. By this time it had stopped raining and we were all ready to get out of our wet rain gear, take our backpacks off for a little while and have some food.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Partnach Gorge</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another view of the gorge. You can see the trail on the right hand side of the picture.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rick and I looking like drowned rats! My Gilligan hat helped though :-)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Bock-Hütte</td></tr>
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After a warm lunch and a refreshing beer, we donned our rain gear and back packs to continue our hike. It rained off and on for the afternoon, but we were able to enjoy the few hours of hiking following along the Partnach River. The trail had beautiful views with lots of trees, steep cliffs overlooking the river, and a waterfall coming right out of a hole in the side of the mountain. At around 4:45 pm, we turned a corner to see our overnight stop (the Reintalangerhütte) which seemed to pop out of nowhere. I couldn't help but think of the Bugs Bunny cartoon where he's in the desert and he keeps seeing a beautiful oasis that isn't really there. We all joked that we'd better not be seeing a mirage (or mir-ah-gee as Bugs pronounced it). Luckily, it really was there and we were at our destination for the night.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1I4H9-IKw9EittKiLCrY2eqIGN-RfU8ex37gp0-Ruq5HTxNGu0Pj9JzBiWZr44O5i4OzoZW5D-vLNlhZuNoWcDhIQMj2BMbIduOCZS2F7a6AY35jmpV-U_SJX0rF49dRn5RdIa8YgtxPC/s1600/Zugspitze+Hike+103.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hca="true" height="240px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1I4H9-IKw9EittKiLCrY2eqIGN-RfU8ex37gp0-Ruq5HTxNGu0Pj9JzBiWZr44O5i4OzoZW5D-vLNlhZuNoWcDhIQMj2BMbIduOCZS2F7a6AY35jmpV-U_SJX0rF49dRn5RdIa8YgtxPC/s320/Zugspitze+Hike+103.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Group shot on the first day</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Waterfall coming out of the side of the mountain</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw68HBk6FyDH7UEqGTbBirvzk9M_n6wnFheO-24epmRss5n-4OYjF-FEZ6ks-t-doTtNfOJdnUr3QmBysAUiooAw8QA9AwRX1a6ekMji84yypesOGeyVl2lo00xyNcfiIiWQ5CA0qbXcDn/s1600/Zugspitze+Hike+139.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hca="true" height="240px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw68HBk6FyDH7UEqGTbBirvzk9M_n6wnFheO-24epmRss5n-4OYjF-FEZ6ks-t-doTtNfOJdnUr3QmBysAUiooAw8QA9AwRX1a6ekMji84yypesOGeyVl2lo00xyNcfiIiWQ5CA0qbXcDn/s320/Zugspitze+Hike+139.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of our group following the trail</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Reintalangerhütte - our overnight stop</td></tr>
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We waited outside the hut while Zeljko (our hike leader) went inside to confirm our sleeping arrangements and our time for dinner. As he came back out, he announced that we have our sleeping 'places' and that we had some time before dinner would be served. We all had to take off our hiking boots and use slippers inside the hut to minimize the tracking of dirt and mud, which was understandable. I brought flip-flops with me in my back pack but it was a little too chilly, so those won't going to work. That meant I was forced to choose a super groovy pair of slippers from the mis-matched pile that awaited us just inside the front door. We all chose our slippers and tried really hard to block out how many feet (and what kind!) had been in them before us (yuck).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look at all of those fancy slippers (yuck)!</td></tr>
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Before the hike, I had done a little bit of research into the overnight hut (the website was all in German), so I knew that we were going to be in bunk beds and that it was going to be a very 'communal' situation. I was totally fine with that, however I was not prepared for what we saw when we went up to our room on the second floor of the building. In our room sat two huge bunk beds. There was one large frame and little mattresses in the frame with a number above each one. There were 8 mattresses on the top and 8 on the bottom, all in the same frame and right next to each other! No dividers, no buffers, just cozy right up next to someone that you just met this morning. Awesome (that's sarcasm, by the way). <strong>***</strong>I think it's worth saying that I have seen bunk beds of this type once before...on a visit to Dachau Concentration Camp outside of Munich. Really, I'm not kidding. Just think about that for a minute<strong>***</strong> Anyway, by the time Rick and I made it upstairs, all of the good spots on the giant bunk bed were already spoken for. That left Rick and I in the middle of the bottom 'shelf' with people on either side of us. Neither one of us were excited about that prospect at all, but there really wasn't anything we could do about it. I was lucky enough to sleep next to Stephanie who I met for the first time that morning, and she turned out to be a wonderful bunk mate. Rick on the other hand, was not so lucky. He was stuck next to another man that we also met that same morning, who turned out to be a not-so-wonderful bunk mate. More on that later... I should also mention that there was another bed just like ours in the same room. It was about 2 feet away from our set of bunk beds and turned sideways, so the beds made an L-shape and filled up the entire room. There was another hiking party of about 10 Germans that were occupying that space. Also, there were clothes lines hanging in every available space on the ceiling and they were completely full since everyone had gotten rained on all day. This made our room a jumbled mess of giant beds, clothes hanging in your face, too many people, big backpacks, and chaos. Fortunately, the situation actually made me laugh instead of cry so I consider that a blessing.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaTrTKq_sAw6C3otWgPyLiraLRRE482k5S8L14rSWGxmw9YpdAzVEC2rfiHeW45H3OGf7RzqLXz0wiUxUe-I7s_PL8qNijvvmMVJw_3GAOAQ9xerOIoVXSed54KMN88n6vQb3L3ahrhCam/s1600/db_Lager041.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hca="true" height="239px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaTrTKq_sAw6C3otWgPyLiraLRRE482k5S8L14rSWGxmw9YpdAzVEC2rfiHeW45H3OGf7RzqLXz0wiUxUe-I7s_PL8qNijvvmMVJw_3GAOAQ9xerOIoVXSed54KMN88n6vQb3L3ahrhCam/s320/db_Lager041.jpg" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our giant bunk bed. This is a picture from their website so they had different blankets when we were there. Also this is set up for 6 people and ours was set up for 8 people on each level</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikyfgfPum4xYrvfYAkgzXUeYghIrc3PABLQXObyNpZDUdNo-UC-WdwFE91CSgi0FzWq2EykHtnzLtjk-0UrdAJD05uJfs-MzoEwSnSW-UKuMcmQ_YLQ-3HZz3zPAIyNBmzgSBI6P3dyDNi/s1600/db_Lager071.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hca="true" height="239px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikyfgfPum4xYrvfYAkgzXUeYghIrc3PABLQXObyNpZDUdNo-UC-WdwFE91CSgi0FzWq2EykHtnzLtjk-0UrdAJD05uJfs-MzoEwSnSW-UKuMcmQ_YLQ-3HZz3zPAIyNBmzgSBI6P3dyDNi/s320/db_Lager071.jpg" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rick and I were right in the middle of the bottom bunk (again this is set up for 6 not 8 people)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbu_6CLfK3dLt_e8cEVGRO6CTsrif7gkJ5wsQFQXmvjr4_hXDFjImFFGk7r9_W82XCSdMjJtfeEMULaCjd56Etj9KpYuM8HfvklGHS1_g1O00pYGm8NXulXPtatqkpN-K5XG5jUY7H8OLN/s1600/Beds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hca="true" height="180px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbu_6CLfK3dLt_e8cEVGRO6CTsrif7gkJ5wsQFQXmvjr4_hXDFjImFFGk7r9_W82XCSdMjJtfeEMULaCjd56Etj9KpYuM8HfvklGHS1_g1O00pYGm8NXulXPtatqkpN-K5XG5jUY7H8OLN/s320/Beds.jpg" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a picture that shows what we it looked like when we were there. The girl is Jenny-she was part of our group.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The hallway leading into our room cluttered with wet clothes</td></tr>
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We decided to quickly shower and then have a beer before dinner. Teena, Hannah, and I headed to the one women's shower that was for the entire house. According to the website, the house holds about 110 people and it was full, which meant there were people everywhere. Hannah managed to figure out that we needed to purchase a coin for the shower, so you got 2 1/2 minutes of water for your coin. Ugh. After an awkward shower of washing only the important places all while a pushy German lady kept coming in and wondering when we'd be finished, we headed out to the front porch to join our group for a much needed beer.<br />
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After about an hour, our dinner was ready. It consisted of a yummy potato soup, sauerbraten with klösse (German potato dumplings), red kraut, and peaches and pears for desert. At that point most of us would have eaten anything you put in front of us so we were thankful for a hot meal. After dinner some of our party went back up to the room and a few of us stayed downstairs for some more drinks. Those of us who stayed had a great time talking, laughing, and probably having a few more drinks than we should have. We were pleasantly oblivious to what the next day's hike had in store for us!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD1CK3ep9USGnTatezmFTfCbbNPd5s5dSSecamrfMJRyhGj8SyOSbEyCcbx9bP0uNeuHTlg3v0tqaHIK_qyGpPMFFVmGwdhRqVH6GFQymHAmcIhRZS3sOt0VThB0Dt-gc5cPeMmSiQoiaw/s1600/Zugspitze+Hike+161.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hca="true" height="240px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD1CK3ep9USGnTatezmFTfCbbNPd5s5dSSecamrfMJRyhGj8SyOSbEyCcbx9bP0uNeuHTlg3v0tqaHIK_qyGpPMFFVmGwdhRqVH6GFQymHAmcIhRZS3sOt0VThB0Dt-gc5cPeMmSiQoiaw/s320/Zugspitze+Hike+161.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After dinner drinks and laughs</td></tr>
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At around 10:00 pm we all headed up to bed. The room was quiet and pitch dark as we all made our way into our sleeping spaces. The mattress was barely wide enough for me, so I'm still baffled at how any of the men were able to fit on them. I sandwiched myself in between my husband and my new friend Stephanie and I drifted off to sleep pretty quickly. That peaceful bliss did not last long. I woke up around 3:30 and laid there forever deciding if it was worth it to go to the bathroom or not. I finally decided to go, had a heck of time getting out of bed and making my way in the darkness, but I did it. After I climbed back into bed I was <em>wide awake</em>. That gave me plenty of time to lay there and just listen. Oh my. Our bunk beds sounded like some sort of circus. The guy next to Rick was snoring like a runaway freight train and he had lots of other noises coming from him as well. (Most of them are associated with comfortable sleeping, if you know what I mean!). We had other people snoring, people talking in their sleep, people getting up to go to the bathroom, people knocking things off of the top bunk, and even one person clicking in his sleep! As all of this craziness was happening on our side of the room, I was struck by something else entirely. The other set of bunks in our room with the Germans was completely silent! Not a sound. No snoring, no farting, no talking, not even any loud breathing. I actually almost got up to see if they were still alive. Then I had to just laugh. Americans are notorious for being louder than Germans, apparently even in our sleep! What a revelation that was and what a night.<br />
<br />
The next morning the entire house was awakened at 6:00 am by a real live oompa band! Of course I was already awake, so I got up to join the crazy scramble of 100+ people all trying to get ready in the same house with 3 sinks and 3 toilets. We ate breakfast, got packed up, and headed out for our second day of hiking around 7:30 am.<br />
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The second day had a theme...hard. (I really don't think it would have been quite as hard for me if I had a little less to drink the night before and if I had slept more than just a couple of hours). I knew that we didn't cover much elevation on the first day and the hike was easy for me, which meant that we had a lot of elevation to cover on the second day. We left the hut and we started hiking uphill immediately. We took an early detour to hike to a waterfall which was worth it. It was a beautiful view and we got to rest a little while we took pictures (bonus!).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_YNd1EYd40nqimu5EC3_0btL1kia0Zl0DvSOkWkiM32IQq6SrB5Ymqe1rieF1Vhyphenhyphend6kba0hyphenhyphenvZMjl0T0LMy3gCErHf2KXI4puZDpxcQEVyeiRCRBtR1_1Ramb6E9yaA_6xGeSy8oof80I/s1600/Zugspitze+Hike+193.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hca="true" height="320px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_YNd1EYd40nqimu5EC3_0btL1kia0Zl0DvSOkWkiM32IQq6SrB5Ymqe1rieF1Vhyphenhyphend6kba0hyphenhyphenvZMjl0T0LMy3gCErHf2KXI4puZDpxcQEVyeiRCRBtR1_1Ramb6E9yaA_6xGeSy8oof80I/s320/Zugspitze+Hike+193.JPG" width="240px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our group in front of the waterfall</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJd1jWd3WRkyjGK3bRVe6KTf0FiMhTEu3haaeILvcUKanqcVT-O-ecg4hF3omkBeXZ_ssOKHUdPWDBIvKaTrTIg1oVOM9e3ycON-pgd9lhD8ZVxRYylr_BZiK9g19AigkoKcXcbwAy1B55/s1600/Zugspitze+Hike+211.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hca="true" height="240px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJd1jWd3WRkyjGK3bRVe6KTf0FiMhTEu3haaeILvcUKanqcVT-O-ecg4hF3omkBeXZ_ssOKHUdPWDBIvKaTrTIg1oVOM9e3ycON-pgd9lhD8ZVxRYylr_BZiK9g19AigkoKcXcbwAy1B55/s320/Zugspitze+Hike+211.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of the views were just amazing</td></tr>
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After our detour, we got back on course and the real fun started. On our map, we had seen a section of the trail with a lot of switchbacks. Switchbacks are tight zigzags in the trail which mean that a section is so steep you can't climb straight up. As the hike was getting progressively harder and the terrain much rockier, I realized that we were in the middle of the switchbacks. That's when I realized two things-we weren't anywhere close to our halfway point yet (ugh!) and I was going to need more water very soon. Thankfully, we all made it through that tough section (with lots of stopping) and we were rewarded with ice cold water flowing from a pipe in the side of the mountain. We filled our bottles with the frosty goodness and kept trucking along.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMdtqWRpt4s4tf_Cjr2ngaEais8gsz0-3TnSqUGjjuG9RrsrCsTgqty-iCGuNWpqt2nNYlvW40937Izv6-xF21_Zd6Lx5xozIhj0OJ4r_ghmlPadCw3_mBb_OQ01rg8x8qGT2dNSykKO6F/s1600/Zugspitze+Hike+226.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hca="true" height="320px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMdtqWRpt4s4tf_Cjr2ngaEais8gsz0-3TnSqUGjjuG9RrsrCsTgqty-iCGuNWpqt2nNYlvW40937Izv6-xF21_Zd6Lx5xozIhj0OJ4r_ghmlPadCw3_mBb_OQ01rg8x8qGT2dNSykKO6F/s320/Zugspitze+Hike+226.JPG" width="240px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here we go! A very steep part of the trail</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPVpBwPuhRgMtuxgLju-hcj61e1Zchh0zvpKsCEYh39rOImYAuYWsXGHUDVrkKrm0jNzpsbZhES4fvmLjSX6QGk61dhiK2YOLD7RJnR2kZvpfyvLkKKUJAs3NxPHMRlp0rE29vx_8Uj0p6/s1600/Zugspitze+Hike+237.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hca="true" height="320px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPVpBwPuhRgMtuxgLju-hcj61e1Zchh0zvpKsCEYh39rOImYAuYWsXGHUDVrkKrm0jNzpsbZhES4fvmLjSX6QGk61dhiK2YOLD7RJnR2kZvpfyvLkKKUJAs3NxPHMRlp0rE29vx_8Uj0p6/s320/Zugspitze+Hike+237.JPG" width="240px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another challenging part of the trail</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGzydMkKZjTZgRv7MeK723nOpudsHn_0prSCJ5mbA7u7PxA75Q7rfQeGy0NcuAPIbWG9pHGdq8XLJSTosOB7Z_CgCrc0T4QmZmxGPAQj8KIKty5RlqdQaAqdwOLj3C3NjuO1jObds4YZHq/s1600/Zugspitze+Hike+216.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hca="true" height="240px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGzydMkKZjTZgRv7MeK723nOpudsHn_0prSCJ5mbA7u7PxA75Q7rfQeGy0NcuAPIbWG9pHGdq8XLJSTosOB7Z_CgCrc0T4QmZmxGPAQj8KIKty5RlqdQaAqdwOLj3C3NjuO1jObds4YZHq/s320/Zugspitze+Hike+216.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beautiful scenery</td></tr>
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I guess now is as good a time as any to mention that I am afraid of heights. Yep, pretty darn afraid of heights as a matter of fact. That's why this next little event is so much fun. By this time the entire trail had become nothing but rocks. Some parts were large rocks that you just had to maneuver your way up. Some parts were smaller loose rocks that required you to be very sure of your footing because as you stepped, you would slide back down. All of this wouldn't be too big of a deal, but the back pack made it much more of a challenge for me. An extra almost 20 pounds on my back is enough to make it very awkward for me to balance on a rocky and steep trail. As we were on a particularly hard part of the trail, I was doing my best to climb up some large, steep rocks that didn't really have a trail marked on them. You just had to go up any way you could get there. All of a sudden I realized that my back pack had come completely unzipped. Rick was ahead of me and told me to stop before I lost everything out of my bag. I leaned forward with both of my hands on the rocks and waited (and tried not to look down). Rick had to climb back down the scary rocks and balance while he used both of his hands to zip up my bag. I <em>could not</em> have done what he did. There was no way I could have been facing down the mountain staring at the infinite drop below while helping someone else. There are so many reasons why I married that man and his catlike mountain backpack zipping skills are just one of them.<br />
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After about 2 1/2 hours of hiking, we made it to our midway rest stop, the Knorhütte. You can see it on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Schema_Umgebung_Zugspitze.svg">map</a> with an elevation of 2051 meters. This hut seems to be precariously perched on the side of the mountain the middle of nowhere. We could see if for quite a while before we reached it and almost seemed majestic with the clouds rolling past it. It was too early for lunch (we were waiting to eat at the Zugspitze anyway), so we got drinks and enjoyed some of our trail snacks while sitting on the balcony feeling like we were on the edge of the world.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgapzQSjv1amiVH6sHBqCLiZEPiiBnjSXh_rWlhY91iT4Q37TWzDxQ3Jdv8qgz1BZrYEHJ72JkYcOAjkUiOnHC6a-QpuMRLpNmsGn18yTH_ZZev9nHsIQkdmNLe1JXbG6-v16xpkbt7tQ2H/s1600/Zugspitze+Hike+248.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hca="true" height="240px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgapzQSjv1amiVH6sHBqCLiZEPiiBnjSXh_rWlhY91iT4Q37TWzDxQ3Jdv8qgz1BZrYEHJ72JkYcOAjkUiOnHC6a-QpuMRLpNmsGn18yTH_ZZev9nHsIQkdmNLe1JXbG6-v16xpkbt7tQ2H/s320/Zugspitze+Hike+248.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Knorhütte really is in the middle of nowhere (and we were certainly glad to see it).</td></tr>
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Once we were all rested, we got back onto the trail for our last leg. During this part of the hike, I was pretty sure that we were hiking on the moon. It was all granite rocks and very little vegetation and it just looked like what I imagine the moon would look like. As we got up higher, it was so wonderful just to stand on the edge of the cliffs (not too close though-hee hee) and just look around. I'm really starting to love doing things that bring me out of my comfort zone and make me realize that we are just insignificant beings in this universe. Standing in the middle of a mountain with no civilization in sight was an amazing reality check for me.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0SbZe25is4qCs21_8zd1UiWd4brlbPT4NIKbCNv0x-82Erx7KP47Oahg5Xsn3tHrgCAic1CUcRNOZ4rGD1gsK7QMbYdoP-aXkW6-lABY5M_zlv9yMGAtNboMk0CO7aj1ENIHYH9hKJL8f/s1600/Zugspitze+Hike+264.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hca="true" height="240px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0SbZe25is4qCs21_8zd1UiWd4brlbPT4NIKbCNv0x-82Erx7KP47Oahg5Xsn3tHrgCAic1CUcRNOZ4rGD1gsK7QMbYdoP-aXkW6-lABY5M_zlv9yMGAtNboMk0CO7aj1ENIHYH9hKJL8f/s320/Zugspitze+Hike+264.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Heading up from the Knorhütte. It really was a steep climb. (That's my arm on the left side of the picture).</td></tr>
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All along the highest part of the hike we could hear bells all around us. At one point, we looked way off into the distance and we could see sheep. As we climbed, we actually came upon the sheep-lots of them. They were all over the place just hanging out, eating grass, and looking like they were generally perturbed. (I would be perturbed too if I were some sort of mountain animal, for sure). They would give you a loud 'Baaa!!" if you got too close to them. One would do it and then the rest of them would start in and you'd wonder if they were planning some sort of rebellion without your knowledge. Based on my fear of heights, I found this a prudent time to ask the universe to not let me come back as a mountain sheep (or goat, or lion) in my next life. I just wanted to put it out there while I had the chance.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mountain sheep-Baaaa!!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOWpzmTa32S2qnub1MU6sLQq9mbfyYvYmuDT8G6mZsOZ9evYhHoIf2R4XxjKSViAs2qQn_LMkTB7SH7AcqpxWbaTND23xMvcC5Lf_3FdAsvky8YLlgLm3hkohFxABKpTPTV-FyWNYmk963/s1600/Zugspitze+Hike+297.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hca="true" height="320px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOWpzmTa32S2qnub1MU6sLQq9mbfyYvYmuDT8G6mZsOZ9evYhHoIf2R4XxjKSViAs2qQn_LMkTB7SH7AcqpxWbaTND23xMvcC5Lf_3FdAsvky8YLlgLm3hkohFxABKpTPTV-FyWNYmk963/s320/Zugspitze+Hike+297.JPG" width="240px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rick found some snow to play in!</td></tr>
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About an hour and a half after our rest stop we started to see the gondolas at the Sonn Alpin which was our final hiking destination. Of course they were far in the distance and we still had a while to go, but we could see it! After 30 more minutes or so of hiking (on the moon), we made our final steps up to the top! We were not however at the Zugspitze just yet. You can see the Sonn Alpin on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Schema_Umgebung_Zugspitze.svg">map</a> marked by the green square at 2656 meters just to the left of the Münchener Haus. The hike between the Sonn Alpin and the Zugspitze is extremely steep and dangerous and in my opinion, should only be done by seasoned hikers/climbers. We were taking the gondola up the last 303 meters to the summit to avoid that climb, which was more than fine by me!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6A3iItLHmcgHTdkQ3W42r3SEQwStT6X-0nB0yWJGHdXqFC5HxNqiWTAbSM6He8TZxnmh_pcXY_FinnaIPTTg4NI12iYUBF5xEft_wXCWEf29EeP7W8UKUR8lRL2y-W4PAPPTmMfKkkHMV/s1600/Zugspitze+Hike+303.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hca="true" height="240px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6A3iItLHmcgHTdkQ3W42r3SEQwStT6X-0nB0yWJGHdXqFC5HxNqiWTAbSM6He8TZxnmh_pcXY_FinnaIPTTg4NI12iYUBF5xEft_wXCWEf29EeP7W8UKUR8lRL2y-W4PAPPTmMfKkkHMV/s320/Zugspitze+Hike+303.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is where it really looked like we were hiking on the moon. That tiny figure in the middle of the picture is me.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI1QtWoTEmICG6aUlH8kchT6UcjkaPj4YxJRFLJJ_Z3w62BisWpFWePTMswgBp8ZazO9ozH8l-d8VJPG__9BlA5wotCt1kHFslYY_9nlKTVIXNDd2RBeK8wuKT6MtFzd2E66etbfLwThV4/s1600/Zugspitze+Hike+315.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hca="true" height="240px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI1QtWoTEmICG6aUlH8kchT6UcjkaPj4YxJRFLJJ_Z3w62BisWpFWePTMswgBp8ZazO9ozH8l-d8VJPG__9BlA5wotCt1kHFslYY_9nlKTVIXNDd2RBeK8wuKT6MtFzd2E66etbfLwThV4/s320/Zugspitze+Hike+315.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My last few steps to the top (thank goodness!) Notice the patches of snow in the background.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl-q868jKfUTa2006sqO1lBXikQBSBbkyjrkYMVeCpOveJly_rjgfGHBvGS44kWPYGniZ4gA4pdVnuFI5DCB29IphwdvpbqRB-mlAhNF-NHSj6i9NFhW0y0s3i0fRaSMC9DoJpvMEF-Mcs/s1600/Zugspitze+Hike+336.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hca="true" height="240px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl-q868jKfUTa2006sqO1lBXikQBSBbkyjrkYMVeCpOveJly_rjgfGHBvGS44kWPYGniZ4gA4pdVnuFI5DCB29IphwdvpbqRB-mlAhNF-NHSj6i9NFhW0y0s3i0fRaSMC9DoJpvMEF-Mcs/s320/Zugspitze+Hike+336.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hannah, Teena, and I were happy to be finished climbing. The actual Zugspitze is on top of the mountain behind us (in the fog).</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj6xssTXFM2imD2w9-_Za2PEE1Lel0z2I3fTjhY2SEn4tU58DxcL8OrpU6hPu8cssdmhlRUt8miB2tiixbor2hhtWDsgCSkemHLGf6kDVcYcn26CNaFbCX6jvyQiTUgJzmKI1Ys2SvVcn8/s1600/Zugspitze+Hike+338.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hca="true" height="240px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj6xssTXFM2imD2w9-_Za2PEE1Lel0z2I3fTjhY2SEn4tU58DxcL8OrpU6hPu8cssdmhlRUt8miB2tiixbor2hhtWDsgCSkemHLGf6kDVcYcn26CNaFbCX6jvyQiTUgJzmKI1Ys2SvVcn8/s320/Zugspitze+Hike+338.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our group photo to show that we all made it to the Sonn Alpin!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQb9UEMtmHPJeQ9JO0b-yyvzhyRt4jhkfi8nKH17LR54UADW1fBnVFq0Na1s5goEmerKw5SxRKJ0NfsQAB8HRnFb94jmbxuC37hRlRtnW_lK06CCTLBCJRoHesqRddzgYFO9lSjyT5_JRr/s1600/Zugspitze+Hike+334.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hca="true" height="240px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQb9UEMtmHPJeQ9JO0b-yyvzhyRt4jhkfi8nKH17LR54UADW1fBnVFq0Na1s5goEmerKw5SxRKJ0NfsQAB8HRnFb94jmbxuC37hRlRtnW_lK06CCTLBCJRoHesqRddzgYFO9lSjyT5_JRr/s320/Zugspitze+Hike+334.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zugspitze-the top of Germany</td></tr>
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We took some pictures at the Sonn Alpin and rested for a bit and then made our way by gondola to the Zugspitze. Once we were there, we were so excited to see the spectacular views of the Alps, Germany, and Austria. Of course after all of the anticipation, we got up there and we couldn't see our hands in front of our face! Fog, fog, and more fog. Awesome (again, sarcasm). It made things sort of anti-climatic for sure. We were surrounded by signs reminding us that we were at the 'Zugspitze-The Top of Germany!' but you wouldn't know it from our vantage point. We were all so hungry and tired though, so we were happy that we could sit down, have a beer, and a delicious warm lunch all in Deutschlands Höchster Biergarten (Germany's highest beer garden). Due to all of the hiking, I literally ate every single bite of food on my plate and it was huge! <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3IPkUEcOu-hWI3GTQFkNPPKIO_uMUSqOAfArUXcS30Pn8hmqRht6Rr2oAmUFvkhOHVppzSVED3RAnlX4Qf-79jwprL23Eul607obZnJMuDszSgBlGQt_xmTYAQXWgkRGDXdOatdIosDL9/s1600/Zugspitze+Hike+354.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hca="true" height="240px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3IPkUEcOu-hWI3GTQFkNPPKIO_uMUSqOAfArUXcS30Pn8hmqRht6Rr2oAmUFvkhOHVppzSVED3RAnlX4Qf-79jwprL23Eul607obZnJMuDszSgBlGQt_xmTYAQXWgkRGDXdOatdIosDL9/s320/Zugspitze+Hike+354.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That's the marker showing the actual summit of the Zugspitze. Look at the fog!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-ByS0vHPl09g_9YPBsgWGEznDiOQS4kHlEBalpAR2qaTdHsZi2rGhtqK3u7C6XfXo-OIuR3Y_f6UDeujFiWOlvq9B_zH9W1IEEKrsEaD8I2fHlOMBaSyXwwdPn3mhs5BX8m_S7JWC9Vr8/s1600/Zugspitze+Hike+358.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hca="true" height="240px" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-ByS0vHPl09g_9YPBsgWGEznDiOQS4kHlEBalpAR2qaTdHsZi2rGhtqK3u7C6XfXo-OIuR3Y_f6UDeujFiWOlvq9B_zH9W1IEEKrsEaD8I2fHlOMBaSyXwwdPn3mhs5BX8m_S7JWC9Vr8/s320/Zugspitze+Hike+358.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Germany's highest beer garden and we climbed all the way to it! There's supposed to be a spectacular view behind us, but again the fog was way too thick.</td></tr>
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Once we had lunch and had fun chatting about our experience, we made our way down the mountain. We traveled by gondola and the <a href="http://www.zugspitze.de/en/winter/berg/zugspitze/zugspitz-rundreise.htm">cogwheel train</a> all the way back down to Garmisch, which was much easier than our trek up!<br />
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In the end, this was an absolutely wonderful experience that I will never forget. I was so proud that we made it up and it made me feel very strong and empowered. Now I have the mountain climbing bug more than I ever did before, despite my fear of heights. I hope that we are fortunate enough to have many more new and amazing experiences like this one!<br />
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(A special thanks to Zeljko, who was our hike leader and his wife Laura. They are wonderful people and we really enjoyed our time with them. Thanks for all of your hard work to put this trip together!)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong></strong></div>Sharihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202628714904607855noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2416929396606342341.post-42284394589590668402011-08-17T15:36:00.002+02:002011-08-17T15:52:26.663+02:00A Wonderful Weekend in CreteFor the Fourth of July holiday weekend we made a fairly last minute decision to visit Greece. Our friends Danny and Carolee had recently visited a town called Hersonissos on the island of Crete. They loved it so much that they wanted to go back as soon as possible. After some quick planning and some late night phone calls while booking flights and hotels online we had a plan.<br />
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We flew out of Nürnberg airport at 4:25 am on Friday morning (yes, you read that correctly, I said <em>am</em>). For those of you who know me, you know that I don't do early mornings well at all, and we had to be at the airport 2 hours before our flight. Because of this we opted to just stay up all night on Thursday night, which was fine, but it did make Friday pretty much one of the longest days of my whole life. We couldn't complain too much because we landed at the Heraklion airport in Crete and were at our hotel by 9:00 am. The sun was warm, it was a beautiful day, and we were starting a weekend at the beach so we didn't have time to be tired!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from our hotel balcony-not perfect but I'll take it!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from the hotel balcony away from the beach</td></tr>
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We checked into the hotel and then went to find some breakfast. We ended up at a great little restaurant with a balcony overlooking the rocky beach below. Our waitress was soon our new best friend and she gave us a taste of the Greek hospitality that we would see from countless people the entire time we were there. I still can't believe it. Everywhere we went the next person was nicer than the last and it was amazing. The only other place that we've ever encountered such amazing people was Ireland. The Irish seemed to be willing to give the shirt off of their backs to make you feel welcome and the people of Crete were the same way. I know that their business is tourism and that may be why they are so nice, but it always seemed very genuine. We've been to lots of places where tourism is their business and the people weren't even close to being as nice as the people we met in Crete.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO-9bYhVeuxJTCNvsqLt9NKO21tspb0i39HL2RHB1iCJDiGLpjBBmr16Dr2f1-9cTPbn-WzmezL6CqDI2VW_1ZVk5VBOP2KDw2-Ix7ikm3_L5p0jWeKlVFrrQkXyYqv21hLo76S7TzeHEI/s1600/P1040488.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO-9bYhVeuxJTCNvsqLt9NKO21tspb0i39HL2RHB1iCJDiGLpjBBmr16Dr2f1-9cTPbn-WzmezL6CqDI2VW_1ZVk5VBOP2KDw2-Ix7ikm3_L5p0jWeKlVFrrQkXyYqv21hLo76S7TzeHEI/s320/P1040488.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We don't look like we've been up all night, do we?</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHPD0AL_4FPcvNVlJM5OpPqV66eWrh14chVQhNsZDt_jlVv74cgtSj7ZmQ6p6OWJuLRWt84VGlk_nQlKIXWu-uyC0RKILs2w-094K4c9u4HHqDItfXBPD_M8E54THtDrSvmuSGR__IzCIV/s1600/P1040495.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHPD0AL_4FPcvNVlJM5OpPqV66eWrh14chVQhNsZDt_jlVv74cgtSj7ZmQ6p6OWJuLRWt84VGlk_nQlKIXWu-uyC0RKILs2w-094K4c9u4HHqDItfXBPD_M8E54THtDrSvmuSGR__IzCIV/s320/P1040495.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Delicious breakfast (and yes, the omelette came with french fries)</td></tr>
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Our day on Friday was a wonderful start to our weekend. After enjoying breakfast, we walked about 15 minutes to a place called Star Beach. It's a huge complex with water rides, tiki bars, pools, shopping, water sports, games, bungee jumping, and of course the beach. I could have spent the whole weekend there since there was plenty to do and the people watching was excellent. We enjoyed a drink while we waited for our turn on the parasailing boat. When we were ready, the four of us headed onto the boat and Rick and I were first to sail. This was our first time parasailing and I have to say that we are now addicted. It was a beautiful day and the feeling of floating above the water was incredible. Our view was spectacular as we went up and down the coastline of Hersonissos, taking in the contrast of the gray mountains behind all of the brightly colored buildings lining the Sea of Crete. As we floated with the warm sea air rushing over us, we took a minute to reflect on how lucky we are to live in Europe and how blessed we are to have had the opportunities that we've been given. I love to do new things that remind me that we are all just a small part of a huge world around us. This particular moment was definitely one of those for me. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivUDH0mn9PXBpgKFvpuK_12HgIG-YziRidG0_IqZZlIEBtwq1r2ubtYiQSs22aplnO7d3ETQ5uaPVxU4JAqFekSDNyHA8Trt3HnQjODSw4eJiThVraZLrfirn-VtEHsJ7KPhj9XnqrgeaC/s1600/P1040609.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivUDH0mn9PXBpgKFvpuK_12HgIG-YziRidG0_IqZZlIEBtwq1r2ubtYiQSs22aplnO7d3ETQ5uaPVxU4JAqFekSDNyHA8Trt3HnQjODSw4eJiThVraZLrfirn-VtEHsJ7KPhj9XnqrgeaC/s320/P1040609.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The parasailing boat</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWMxe2X2YYlbFdPtGVwSrtUG7iLC4xp29nycxOX9pd6tO9RA_IfNIYu3vBpQRAEtOFo37FHPX3J9IsMpRNaHTYl-Ndbp3r2mFN1gHLtulcA4gfQ-90VOE8ov0Rxk-63jMfDKCB9PhVSOIX/s1600/P1040514.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWMxe2X2YYlbFdPtGVwSrtUG7iLC4xp29nycxOX9pd6tO9RA_IfNIYu3vBpQRAEtOFo37FHPX3J9IsMpRNaHTYl-Ndbp3r2mFN1gHLtulcA4gfQ-90VOE8ov0Rxk-63jMfDKCB9PhVSOIX/s320/P1040514.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rick and I floating above the water!</td></tr>
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After our parasailing adventure we roamed around the Star Beach complex looking at the shops. At one point Carolee and I were separated from Danny and Rick and we couldn't believe our eyes when we found them. They were preparing to put their feet in a clear tank that held a ton of little fish that were ready to give them a pedicure! I've read about this and we even saw it in action through a salon window while in Prague, so I've always wanted to try it. Rick on the other hand is someone that I NEVER thought would try something like that. He and Danny took the plunge (so to speak) and proceeded to giggle like school girls (ha!) while the fish nibbled away at their feet and legs for 10 minutes or so. Carolee and I went next and it was just as odd as I thought it would be. It tickled like crazy and having little fish swimming in between your toes is a very strange feeling to say the least! I spent most of the time stifling the inner scream that was trying to escape, but also enjoying it (weird, I know). In the true Greek spirit, the girl who was in charge of the fish gave Carolee and I a 'gift' of keeping our feet in the water for 3 minutes longer. I'm not sure that's the gift we really wanted, but oh well. Our feet were remarkably soft afterwards, so it was money well spent for the physical effects as well as the experience.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFtkwEwgsITDQwlC1tYTPwbYe018fBq5fqqi359U8HCXpj4daoh6Sk5MuSZFwDNSSbI2z19f00ztxPPsn_7Vc_O1_j8xYfkbMwnrO18ogqZrPGtkDiByVvABh4SvE62VsrPhDyBfUI-_BY/s1600/Greece+2011+055.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320px" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFtkwEwgsITDQwlC1tYTPwbYe018fBq5fqqi359U8HCXpj4daoh6Sk5MuSZFwDNSSbI2z19f00ztxPPsn_7Vc_O1_j8xYfkbMwnrO18ogqZrPGtkDiByVvABh4SvE62VsrPhDyBfUI-_BY/s320/Greece+2011+055.JPG" width="240px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Enjoying the little fish giving him a pedicure (yeah, right)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The fish liked Rick's ankles</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht4F0Wc3WcN1lv1G-XZq_8DV81OcVMzgsWBzM0SxpJ3bIlQsMfoOyDGtj066kpSOgaDKqClxWODTsL_6301zavGmyU_UQygfZMm4s0ZaX9nwBypaxvYXPZ86gKMipejEVhkLsgDndzZZEO/s1600/Greece+2011+072.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht4F0Wc3WcN1lv1G-XZq_8DV81OcVMzgsWBzM0SxpJ3bIlQsMfoOyDGtj066kpSOgaDKqClxWODTsL_6301zavGmyU_UQygfZMm4s0ZaX9nwBypaxvYXPZ86gKMipejEVhkLsgDndzZZEO/s320/Greece+2011+072.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stifling my inner scream</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1OSHrqAGTANDrqRl4ZL4mkC0HJ-mQrww8sLhK5eRRPzU1C1s6KtX_qhdaMUiOeX7uzOmfSRQoXINd_Rlelg5TjazYlI4uKG6iGP6e94tmk2X1Uuh69RGOcTGGPDaTlBkrEYc2jjEeOEdt/s1600/Greece+2011+083.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1OSHrqAGTANDrqRl4ZL4mkC0HJ-mQrww8sLhK5eRRPzU1C1s6KtX_qhdaMUiOeX7uzOmfSRQoXINd_Rlelg5TjazYlI4uKG6iGP6e94tmk2X1Uuh69RGOcTGGPDaTlBkrEYc2jjEeOEdt/s320/Greece+2011+083.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fish in between my toes!</td></tr>
</tbody></table> That night for dinner we went to a wonderful place called Porto Greco. It's a hotel and restaurant with a nice bar and seating area next to the water. Danny and Carolee had discovered this place on their first visit and loved it immediately. Not only was it the best food we had on the island (shrimp saganaki, calamari, and souvlaki-yum!) but the people were SO much fun. Danny and Carolee had gotten to know two guys, Leon and Costa on their previous visit and they couldn't stop talking about how great they were. Leon is half Greek and half South African, which makes for a very interesting combination. We could have spent forever listening to Leon switch from speaking English with his South African accent to speaking Greek and also German flawlessly. He's had a very interesting life and he's very witty, so it was such fun to talk and laugh with him. Costa is Greek and he has a very colorful personality. He knows more about music (American and every other kind) than I will ever know and he's quite the joker. Between the two guys, a very sweet Greek girl named Olga who also worked there, and some hotel guests from the Netherlands, we had three nights of interesting conversation, overflowing drinks, and awesome music that I dare say will probably never again be replicated. (A huge <em>THANK YOU</em> to Leon, Costa, and Olga if you're reading this. Your hospitality was amazing and we hope to visit you again someday soon). <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYcWnp5tlMiJX6dZI4YKjTvsjPWu7llIRa4-8nEa8zhCobKQdL-cq0665EwX-EChwHs-0KKBeFt7Ww-8grxmpVuHQRT9yDzl47Z77idcl7awQYZRpMYGsZoA4WkyHBTHIaJQdYuC3g-TuH/s1600/P1040628.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYcWnp5tlMiJX6dZI4YKjTvsjPWu7llIRa4-8nEa8zhCobKQdL-cq0665EwX-EChwHs-0KKBeFt7Ww-8grxmpVuHQRT9yDzl47Z77idcl7awQYZRpMYGsZoA4WkyHBTHIaJQdYuC3g-TuH/s320/P1040628.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our first night at Porto Greco. At this point we've been awake for close to two days!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtZudioDD0B5XD4DEmFTW0pCATj25yP-6E84Hj-etjXJ1eS1ikBsKqpWC37SCpEhY2SB79JxnWZ9UWqp7Enq2O_EtS4kdRe8R7oHzknXFfYNOiF2VhA1jIw1JP7FAxvTEQPWWuqm5UQ04n/s1600/Greece+2011+133.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtZudioDD0B5XD4DEmFTW0pCATj25yP-6E84Hj-etjXJ1eS1ikBsKqpWC37SCpEhY2SB79JxnWZ9UWqp7Enq2O_EtS4kdRe8R7oHzknXFfYNOiF2VhA1jIw1JP7FAxvTEQPWWuqm5UQ04n/s320/Greece+2011+133.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Leon, Olga, and Costa serving up some drinks</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Our day on Saturday was spent on the beach and in the water-my two happy places! Danny, Rick, and I rented snorkel gear and had fun exploring the rocks on the coastline. The water was clear enough to see the bottom and we had fun seeing some fish and other crazy things (like beach chairs) that inevitably end up in the water. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-GM__elwnNkBfZBOu2oIv2MMNxXiXcOFMb4bO6bxhoKxVFpmrNofdaTfyB-1NNlS8eO1Fx9cApDEBYW2FhfPhDXoprKw6Zpcw1MU75eMss6oTemznawzKT35kvJyzkQ5WZ8OoDIiesHdJ/s1600/P1040661.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-GM__elwnNkBfZBOu2oIv2MMNxXiXcOFMb4bO6bxhoKxVFpmrNofdaTfyB-1NNlS8eO1Fx9cApDEBYW2FhfPhDXoprKw6Zpcw1MU75eMss6oTemznawzKT35kvJyzkQ5WZ8OoDIiesHdJ/s320/P1040661.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Professional snorkeler? I think so!</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi718NEHkvfjHKEBe2olzNCG8Fn7Xo3MRqDx2srtP84SuCYq0ROavoPE0obw8WOw06JkNjvrV6WPNL63n_mCYESoFwx2coCF9eo4mn0-dLMNPJ6t-02HrOLVroqhhE6-kaSk7xvz_QTivb0/s1600/P1040666.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi718NEHkvfjHKEBe2olzNCG8Fn7Xo3MRqDx2srtP84SuCYq0ROavoPE0obw8WOw06JkNjvrV6WPNL63n_mCYESoFwx2coCF9eo4mn0-dLMNPJ6t-02HrOLVroqhhE6-kaSk7xvz_QTivb0/s320/P1040666.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We kind of look like the three stooges getting ready to snorkel</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
Saturday night's dinner was at a place where the locals eat. It's a small restaurant where they cook something different every night. Danny and Carolee ate there a number of times on their previous trip. When we walked in, there were big hugs from the owners once they recognized Danny and Carolee. Once again the Greek hospitality was amazing. We were promptly ushered over to the counter where the owner opened up different giant pots on the stove to tell us what our choices were for the evening. Our choices were fish, chicken, lamb, or beef along with green beans, okra, and rice. The food was delicious, the Mythos (Greek beer) was cold, and the owners were welcoming, so it was a great experience. Of course after dinner in true Greek style, they gave us as much <a href="http://www.sfakia-crete.com/sfakia-crete/raki.html">Raki</a> as we wanted. This is a shot of liquor that is enjoyed in Crete that I came to find out is my <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kryptonite">Kryptonite</a>. I can do shots of just about anything (Greek ouzo, home-made German schnapps, even absinthe while in Prague) but I am definitely not a fan of Raki. Every restaurant in Crete offered this after dinner and it usually flows freely for those who would like. Since it tasted much like I imagine lighter fluid would and I'm pretty sure my car could run on it too, I had to pass - thank you very much.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHgqzRrI3OO9GX_wv0WtlRlY0MnJxY-GtFaylbhv9XRv48m5HhDp94r4tMX9un92W4aIR2kFFmNTweJUYAAhhOpDU3g1hsPPlacUwNH1VKRGq3lcbl4YPfqq462vdpu_ijIRR60KdPky6Y/s1600/P1040687.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHgqzRrI3OO9GX_wv0WtlRlY0MnJxY-GtFaylbhv9XRv48m5HhDp94r4tMX9un92W4aIR2kFFmNTweJUYAAhhOpDU3g1hsPPlacUwNH1VKRGq3lcbl4YPfqq462vdpu_ijIRR60KdPky6Y/s320/P1040687.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Four shots of Raki ready to go...</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
We spent Sunday shopping, eating, and drinking our way though the streets and the harbor of Hersonissos. Of course we had to buy some olives, olive oil, and olive oil soaps to bring home with us. We had dinner overlooking the water and the beautiful lights of the harbor.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH85wRWdfkm2aap6pE3dOf4TPnv7pYUY3QjOGt2vPSLP_CjqH9p-emDAra0-P8uSYFE9OB88oTVQd04T4QJ0bRE2M95MonXUCAUz_N8e-GI9HDK-mKsSekxwI2D5wJ3lfTaAph81Rfw-sZ/s1600/P1040725.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH85wRWdfkm2aap6pE3dOf4TPnv7pYUY3QjOGt2vPSLP_CjqH9p-emDAra0-P8uSYFE9OB88oTVQd04T4QJ0bRE2M95MonXUCAUz_N8e-GI9HDK-mKsSekxwI2D5wJ3lfTaAph81Rfw-sZ/s320/P1040725.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Having fun in the sun</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFwCjP2i_rl6M7XY3qvoxEb7eLvlYSud-8xyQh3vvQ5spqklJYr0v-yGpSWG3DgaKtqRqL187BirOYv0VUDo2sxgOzViG06AI2dcgPYldWZKEGOUBPKmWExVhNxbXVKlJvHp4CkVKtdQQs/s1600/P1040731.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFwCjP2i_rl6M7XY3qvoxEb7eLvlYSud-8xyQh3vvQ5spqklJYr0v-yGpSWG3DgaKtqRqL187BirOYv0VUDo2sxgOzViG06AI2dcgPYldWZKEGOUBPKmWExVhNxbXVKlJvHp4CkVKtdQQs/s320/P1040731.JPG" width="320px" /></a></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beautiful view of the harbor</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNrWsRgACp3OrNKy8to9nV_IR2mw2MyDb1ymkqV_xt_4p1lUIQIW5-n07s-5dgFJZj92K40zXu6-11YCXVJgZl92qntsTaZQ5MiJrTF6OKOx5CcZYqzcRyKg8Mi5O_a2i_7PE82gi6Y2TQ/s1600/P1040743.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNrWsRgACp3OrNKy8to9nV_IR2mw2MyDb1ymkqV_xt_4p1lUIQIW5-n07s-5dgFJZj92K40zXu6-11YCXVJgZl92qntsTaZQ5MiJrTF6OKOx5CcZYqzcRyKg8Mi5O_a2i_7PE82gi6Y2TQ/s320/P1040743.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A giant octopus and some fish displayed by a restaurant</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIQGql454xcNqCyvv9NFfelhF9KEJFAa-z9skJdMHSwag5PikXUN2kOQSRPZpUQjjx-o86p0AjacciAGsQ_RR1lybphbwi3sJ6eDl23-PgwoZZYKZpS2PNdSWuk8173LstRgeHMH3-1zZX/s1600/Greece+2011+162.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIQGql454xcNqCyvv9NFfelhF9KEJFAa-z9skJdMHSwag5PikXUN2kOQSRPZpUQjjx-o86p0AjacciAGsQ_RR1lybphbwi3sJ6eDl23-PgwoZZYKZpS2PNdSWuk8173LstRgeHMH3-1zZX/s320/Greece+2011+162.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The main street in front of our hotel with lots of shopping!</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwqvvzRtYu3y_zZ11KFmUaKpUTgUIIt32uBWz-_ASiVfo4Kd90JeuaRwH1lmbxnneGormAd56-gQALyar1bJ8-z_X5XPg_3zjKY9NGEOmjXW4wrYCs6EAOfQb6xyNrZfOu9mHWY2eSE_NG/s1600/Greece+2011+168.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwqvvzRtYu3y_zZ11KFmUaKpUTgUIIt32uBWz-_ASiVfo4Kd90JeuaRwH1lmbxnneGormAd56-gQALyar1bJ8-z_X5XPg_3zjKY9NGEOmjXW4wrYCs6EAOfQb6xyNrZfOu9mHWY2eSE_NG/s320/Greece+2011+168.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Four different modes of transportation all in one picture</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-yUo01sAdhczw-WQ1GXOKMx_cAeg9rD4fAJzS01CpKwk3252wBDp77WfhfRGFU6_k7-7flAiG4gwehqoIPqW11rbHtKqVAPehkT6xgM8QUThUCVgcgxeF90sZRNoO7wCOC9oGOrIfWrDL/s1600/Greece+2011+181.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-yUo01sAdhczw-WQ1GXOKMx_cAeg9rD4fAJzS01CpKwk3252wBDp77WfhfRGFU6_k7-7flAiG4gwehqoIPqW11rbHtKqVAPehkT6xgM8QUThUCVgcgxeF90sZRNoO7wCOC9oGOrIfWrDL/s320/Greece+2011+181.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Greek food-yum!</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh82CNeEcKA_gHi8dILVEmODHAA170FqjzucYSbhpPu5gkgIt62cfWoNqWk4R4Pg6SAEaW3OpVjsZcrkS8REa8X5wvHI9DFRj8tJh8FYuzYd-vm2qyImn1Bkv73dSGTsCq-DsRYmCtyX6iS/s1600/Greece+2011+159.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh82CNeEcKA_gHi8dILVEmODHAA170FqjzucYSbhpPu5gkgIt62cfWoNqWk4R4Pg6SAEaW3OpVjsZcrkS8REa8X5wvHI9DFRj8tJh8FYuzYd-vm2qyImn1Bkv73dSGTsCq-DsRYmCtyX6iS/s320/Greece+2011+159.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Local beer and olives-two of my favorite things!</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAX-vf13oaKUVn_LAh_s4-zusMId8QZyVVgi_rzoYAOpm9ZqtZFP_MQ9OVvvexdVLNtWA8-4YF0qWk61jfcLj4ptUZc-lOtFsdrnX2BIs6Tg1JvTOQcrWFFLOc45xX4gcTtbZALNB2wuqk/s1600/Greece+2011+317.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAX-vf13oaKUVn_LAh_s4-zusMId8QZyVVgi_rzoYAOpm9ZqtZFP_MQ9OVvvexdVLNtWA8-4YF0qWk61jfcLj4ptUZc-lOtFsdrnX2BIs6Tg1JvTOQcrWFFLOc45xX4gcTtbZALNB2wuqk/s320/Greece+2011+317.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In case you aren't sure how to use the toilet (this makes me laugh)!</td></tr>
</tbody></table> Of course we ended our last night on the island at Porto Greco laughing and drinking while wishing that we didn't have go home so soon.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTx6RUvnK3NH3TSCURPsePaNnTo8wNkQ7CXo1ODHY7szVgEKHEshyphenhypheng-xUThhJk3RtPRphkNW5DYXuC0AxNf2ZMb-vEWrkf18uTEL8WdnmzUnH6ZVatsAslWftcktjWVw06IgMuW1rc9ijR/s1600/Greece+2011+334.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" naa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTx6RUvnK3NH3TSCURPsePaNnTo8wNkQ7CXo1ODHY7szVgEKHEshyphenhypheng-xUThhJk3RtPRphkNW5DYXuC0AxNf2ZMb-vEWrkf18uTEL8WdnmzUnH6ZVatsAslWftcktjWVw06IgMuW1rc9ijR/s320/Greece+2011+334.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Group shot behind the bar on our last night at Porto Greco</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
Until now Spain has been our absolute favorite place to visit, but I think that the island of Crete might be our new favorite place. The beauty of it, the laid back beach atmosphere, and the warm welcoming people all made it a wonderful weekend in Crete!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The End <br />
(Can we go back yet??)</td></tr>
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</div>Sharihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202628714904607855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2416929396606342341.post-49373403409859628532011-06-12T21:09:00.000+02:002011-06-12T21:09:39.174+02:00A Visit to the Black ForestLast weekend Rick, Jersey, and I spent a night in Germany's Black Forest. Known as 'Schwarzwald' in German, it's located in the southwest corner of the country near the border of France and Switzerland. We were there to see <a href="http://www.black-forest-travel.com/places-of-interest/triberg-waterfalls.html">Germany's highest waterfall</a> in the small town of Triberg (pronounced <em>Treeberg</em> in German), which is a short and easy three hour drive from our house. <br />
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As we approached our destination it became very apparent that we were heading into the land of the cuckoo clock. Every establishment boasted that they in fact had the 'Original Schwarzwald Kuckucksuhr' or 'Original Black Forest Cuckoo Clock' for the non-German speaking visitor. It soon became overwhelming and once we started looking it was apparent that they were all extremely overpriced as well. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They really do...</td></tr>
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We had a hotel room right in the middle of town that was on the fourth story above a bank. Rick and I couldn't help but giggle when we had to fit us, our bags, and Jersey into a very tiny elevator. Jersey, being the world-traveler that she is, just took it all in stride while turning her head back and forth trying to figure out all of the noises the elevator was making. For the duration of our stay, we laughed every time the three of us squeezed into the ancient elevator to go up and down from the hotel.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from our hotel balcony</td></tr>
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Upon our arrival, we checked into our hotel and had a quick lunch at another hotel before making our way to the waterfall. The waterfall didn't disappoint and it was breath taking. There were multiple paved walkways and bridges criss-crossing the different tiers of the waterfall. Even though there were lots of people making their way up and down the paths, it was easy to get lost in nature's spectacular beauty. There's something so calming about the loud rush of the water cascading down the rocks and we could have stared at it forever. The air was warm but you could feel the cold from the waterfall and it was such a pleasant contrast. Even Jersey sniffed at the cool air while we stood and took it all in. The forest surrounding the waterfall was also a sight to see, with many different shades of brown and green and trees so thick that you couldn't see the sky above. The dense tree cover came in handy a few times as we tried to stay dry from some rain showers while we were on the mountain. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg40uPpEtxkdrqoLhU-QvjbTeRwHR6SDqcu6q6CkktL3jHwbXNjwaivdwBAcudqscQ0AxibyMKPjh2hKiJdQH9x3G5ZU8wMpI-HWKWXpNiZCd-D3vkftHkRoSD8XHaSZlstPJaPSBiqSINj/s1600/Wurzburg+and+Triberg+080.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg40uPpEtxkdrqoLhU-QvjbTeRwHR6SDqcu6q6CkktL3jHwbXNjwaivdwBAcudqscQ0AxibyMKPjh2hKiJdQH9x3G5ZU8wMpI-HWKWXpNiZCd-D3vkftHkRoSD8XHaSZlstPJaPSBiqSINj/s320/Wurzburg+and+Triberg+080.JPG" t8="true" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ5ivq5PNHIGNhdZBlKD5WjHcHTNDP8SqK_Qo8kIvUNiAFQDmmbWIOs2dlDDFOSYpMSSNxymmjJXOnm7sGWyKqohtgBTjAmx6gSZux-bwrZy6QEDLNG386r4oiG6oiXdguZbUTwV32hmBd/s1600/Wurzburg+and+Triberg+113.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ5ivq5PNHIGNhdZBlKD5WjHcHTNDP8SqK_Qo8kIvUNiAFQDmmbWIOs2dlDDFOSYpMSSNxymmjJXOnm7sGWyKqohtgBTjAmx6gSZux-bwrZy6QEDLNG386r4oiG6oiXdguZbUTwV32hmBd/s320/Wurzburg+and+Triberg+113.JPG" t8="true" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvE4oMzLmHcXZIxjVCsAwde1Rpht4jat7s1EGszPAIg-BtBx2O_Z8RNcgn4MDQfaWDejCwv33-glJbVZhkNKeg5y_uYg6E_DoqqMoYRhqIuUBkei-fnPFg69x3-v3WmE4cYPPqmD2E67dl/s1600/Wurzburg+and+Triberg+127.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvE4oMzLmHcXZIxjVCsAwde1Rpht4jat7s1EGszPAIg-BtBx2O_Z8RNcgn4MDQfaWDejCwv33-glJbVZhkNKeg5y_uYg6E_DoqqMoYRhqIuUBkei-fnPFg69x3-v3WmE4cYPPqmD2E67dl/s320/Wurzburg+and+Triberg+127.JPG" t8="true" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj402qPWROtjqroT94dqUkYU1YHJt9VCJcanZ1Yl99Iluu4HfwVtX-Rx5zOstGr6TtNQiIKsKwr7DRt_Adz9CRtQj0a2EXmlMna9dYJ6Tr2nNqWuy3RcPA4TjBlkTLaqaGvsPOgbfpnpHu/s1600/Wurzburg+and+Triberg+128.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj402qPWROtjqroT94dqUkYU1YHJt9VCJcanZ1Yl99Iluu4HfwVtX-Rx5zOstGr6TtNQiIKsKwr7DRt_Adz9CRtQj0a2EXmlMna9dYJ6Tr2nNqWuy3RcPA4TjBlkTLaqaGvsPOgbfpnpHu/s320/Wurzburg+and+Triberg+128.JPG" t8="true" width="240" /></a></div><br />
That night we had dinner at a cozy place that was having a wedding reception, a high school reunion, and another party all under one roof. We could hear music coming from various locations throughout the restaurant as we enjoyed a Rothaus beer (brewed in the Black Forest) and some delicious food. Jersey was exhausted from the day, so she snoozed quietly under the table. (Side note - I love that German restaurants always welcome your dog. Jersey isn't going to know what to do with herself when we're back in the States and she can't go out to dinner with us-ha!).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3pc5z7rneMvBF7Wl7_uRJgzOPLnd7wVNaoKF3SRfo_aa_de_rR2vYoGDzYsT5kExi0HifXkyJb_H5rKhnJ09wh_xZV4W2aTbWkOCc8IOfzLh4IcQchOZLjs7zsBwJhdHj-J4Yuo24pwlw/s1600/Wurzburg+and+Triberg+211.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3pc5z7rneMvBF7Wl7_uRJgzOPLnd7wVNaoKF3SRfo_aa_de_rR2vYoGDzYsT5kExi0HifXkyJb_H5rKhnJ09wh_xZV4W2aTbWkOCc8IOfzLh4IcQchOZLjs7zsBwJhdHj-J4Yuo24pwlw/s320/Wurzburg+and+Triberg+211.JPG" t8="true" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beer garden next to the stream created by the waterfall</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizqDPFB2O1bNKeL-KMyZP5sgmrHGBmP4s3Uo3NjQH4UC4g8CVEMcx8Bm3h9JSYoXjLQk_BxvMyV1GTYWc2glGBigttV70nN2qz6PXEisr7Ba4fxoDDwMEQneMF1FJp7dmG2u8gFArOIU0V/s1600/Wurzburg+and+Triberg+219.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizqDPFB2O1bNKeL-KMyZP5sgmrHGBmP4s3Uo3NjQH4UC4g8CVEMcx8Bm3h9JSYoXjLQk_BxvMyV1GTYWc2glGBigttV70nN2qz6PXEisr7Ba4fxoDDwMEQneMF1FJp7dmG2u8gFArOIU0V/s320/Wurzburg+and+Triberg+219.JPG" t8="true" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hotel/guesthouse where we had lunch on the first day</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKROMbIlLoNhNZbG9jp7v5XwIT7JKrHoy9Xa62PTDVKd-Rz4RorsaSzsfVxEL4FidfOIGtw8R8M0kpgiMsInFjLAf47Lzq5swI5YYwP_dOcwJFW6eDzvyHHV52JftHdOwZxLr5sNRMRRlT/s1600/Wurzburg+and+Triberg+227.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKROMbIlLoNhNZbG9jp7v5XwIT7JKrHoy9Xa62PTDVKd-Rz4RorsaSzsfVxEL4FidfOIGtw8R8M0kpgiMsInFjLAf47Lzq5swI5YYwP_dOcwJFW6eDzvyHHV52JftHdOwZxLr5sNRMRRlT/s320/Wurzburg+and+Triberg+227.JPG" t8="true" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fun with hats!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2S2j_QPWve1UW3I1PZdS0njQYVLJsvyqL1CAR8queTX2wKq33xWUUJwDkcXMZj2d8-YMDAEe-Tyq8AErWodM3vF-ilBjeTXfRIl7XEzjnNV93zJJSs167gCStG6-wmal71Q87vDCOkAQm/s1600/Wurzburg+and+Triberg+232.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2S2j_QPWve1UW3I1PZdS0njQYVLJsvyqL1CAR8queTX2wKq33xWUUJwDkcXMZj2d8-YMDAEe-Tyq8AErWodM3vF-ilBjeTXfRIl7XEzjnNV93zJJSs167gCStG6-wmal71Q87vDCOkAQm/s320/Wurzburg+and+Triberg+232.JPG" t8="true" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The colors of Deutschland's flag</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYSo0HZl2zPF8GR9XuhQLtAnGbu5QN_QSi1SUMXKkLs4vtXmKc0BQBZqQJ8F4ioV4P7a5mEpFVyRyavgUHuyjElED1_pCLwRP66C3O7ct3tvcxdLyKQx_nSzfj7CSsijdiorUWArMHhPwP/s1600/Wurzburg+and+Triberg+238.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYSo0HZl2zPF8GR9XuhQLtAnGbu5QN_QSi1SUMXKkLs4vtXmKc0BQBZqQJ8F4ioV4P7a5mEpFVyRyavgUHuyjElED1_pCLwRP66C3O7ct3tvcxdLyKQx_nSzfj7CSsijdiorUWArMHhPwP/s320/Wurzburg+and+Triberg+238.JPG" t8="true" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">'Original' Black Forest Ham</td></tr>
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The next morning we climbed back up to the waterfall and this time the sun was shining, which makes for much better photos. We found a secluded area high above the waterfall where we let Jersey off of her leash and the three of us had a blast playing in the stream and on the rocks. We enjoyed a nice lunch at an outside beer garden, did a little souvenir shopping, and then headed home. It was a wonderful 24 hours in the land of cuckoo clocks, ham, and cake!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimIX376Q-F8rKLfvt7wkZ89J0nHImywOdxgD3HLzz3Lr2L7I4G3DVICYf6SSsS7N60Hwk678CqngzBBaO_OAiDHrv3i_FvmJtWZlEJCyVaCorPJ6VkiX0xnP9V_4-GHRvPEkKTsfL1rO3W/s1600/Wurzburg+and+Triberg+153.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimIX376Q-F8rKLfvt7wkZ89J0nHImywOdxgD3HLzz3Lr2L7I4G3DVICYf6SSsS7N60Hwk678CqngzBBaO_OAiDHrv3i_FvmJtWZlEJCyVaCorPJ6VkiX0xnP9V_4-GHRvPEkKTsfL1rO3W/s320/Wurzburg+and+Triberg+153.JPG" t8="true" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Directional signs for the different mountain trails</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinKzOiB1bx4iiZ4c_cGWTp7MzyAjJqfPOTelR_0e7r4iCOUdwM9gdGJZ11bQrEYeXlf7G2A19SdcxbjiwVOq3R7E0b04t2B_U26UwdK2jLLgiZcXbCxYY4BDXA3YcBcbH5PjG_eQHlZljw/s1600/Wurzburg+and+Triberg+173.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinKzOiB1bx4iiZ4c_cGWTp7MzyAjJqfPOTelR_0e7r4iCOUdwM9gdGJZ11bQrEYeXlf7G2A19SdcxbjiwVOq3R7E0b04t2B_U26UwdK2jLLgiZcXbCxYY4BDXA3YcBcbH5PjG_eQHlZljw/s320/Wurzburg+and+Triberg+173.JPG" t8="true" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9kmB5IuM125X8lDtX3fvPjA9zt6VBmWuylkDww1v85C81RbWKL982B2IiJewiBBa21lU-RLv7VLy9-jqgfB9rEcPLO672QFQPFMpmifr5jzDISf_DJ-DKScwUs6h7ow15_LTA-F0zwepp/s1600/Wurzburg+and+Triberg+200.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9kmB5IuM125X8lDtX3fvPjA9zt6VBmWuylkDww1v85C81RbWKL982B2IiJewiBBa21lU-RLv7VLy9-jqgfB9rEcPLO672QFQPFMpmifr5jzDISf_DJ-DKScwUs6h7ow15_LTA-F0zwepp/s320/Wurzburg+and+Triberg+200.JPG" t8="true" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizrVc_Ew_2EFhhp2YHd4oi0oOtH3BgrZp83V3VOu1MOxEVJDXOxCMu8B7bvEmbFTv5110jkO0C_5FfQPXr5v-Dhs4IKY7t-tnVL9ZecDLO-7pBq0rzt-kmqy9qJ0f6Se-cMk8-JDyPgLdk/s1600/Wurzburg+and+Triberg+201.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizrVc_Ew_2EFhhp2YHd4oi0oOtH3BgrZp83V3VOu1MOxEVJDXOxCMu8B7bvEmbFTv5110jkO0C_5FfQPXr5v-Dhs4IKY7t-tnVL9ZecDLO-7pBq0rzt-kmqy9qJ0f6Se-cMk8-JDyPgLdk/s320/Wurzburg+and+Triberg+201.JPG" t8="true" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivwZGeA390wSOBz1OloJLjHue3OOQfPzwkMT6xOFrIn9vmmq5FDLgssoDyL50KB3-q_SwwqllYzAOy4n7gS1Rgp-SDi8j6-EqCQYr8wUsOejXdSbMhyphenhyphen07o4p7Vf0mCdBcM3nx1e4UK7HUo/s1600/Wurzburg+and+Triberg+203.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivwZGeA390wSOBz1OloJLjHue3OOQfPzwkMT6xOFrIn9vmmq5FDLgssoDyL50KB3-q_SwwqllYzAOy4n7gS1Rgp-SDi8j6-EqCQYr8wUsOejXdSbMhyphenhyphen07o4p7Vf0mCdBcM3nx1e4UK7HUo/s320/Wurzburg+and+Triberg+203.JPG" t8="true" width="240" /></a></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIxzgAo2U8CRiKQtFIsXmd3NtqOtnu1bk6KYYko03RjmicPM_U_Am0K0UzTKXgAkM2AbnMkJI_GJgzUOfwYuX44pjaW1f4_kIcGXWP5SQFYyoAUw_ZGQtFdwMpsfmC54Tb8G6Wzf-rTC1Y/s1600/Wurzburg+and+Triberg+199.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIxzgAo2U8CRiKQtFIsXmd3NtqOtnu1bk6KYYko03RjmicPM_U_Am0K0UzTKXgAkM2AbnMkJI_GJgzUOfwYuX44pjaW1f4_kIcGXWP5SQFYyoAUw_ZGQtFdwMpsfmC54Tb8G6Wzf-rTC1Y/s320/Wurzburg+and+Triberg+199.JPG" t8="true" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Self portait with the timer on the camera.<br />
We had a wonderful time on our trip!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Sharihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202628714904607855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2416929396606342341.post-32797176616156086742011-05-17T11:46:00.002+02:002011-05-17T11:54:56.913+02:00Sunny Days in BavariaEver since our first year here, I have been convinced that springtime is the beautiful reward that you get for making it through the impossibly long and cold German winter. As soon as it's even remotely warm and sunny it seems as if someone sends a signal and all of the flowers just pop right up and everything turns green. Sometimes it almost feels like it happens overnight. We have had a good amount of warm and sunny days lately so we've been trying to take advantage of them the most we can. <br />
<br />
Our town had the Frühlingsfest (Spring Festival) a couple of weeks ago. We have a little festplatz (festival area) in our town where they set up rides, booths with games and snacks, and food trailers. You can get many different types of food - bratwurst and sauerkraut, a steak sandwich on a roll, pizza, a half of a roasted chicken with potato salad (yum!), or a whole fish that they serve in newspaper complete with eyes and tail (yuck!). The festival basically looks just like a carnival in America except for one important difference...<em>the beer tent</em>! The fests in our town are sponsored by our very own Bad Windsheim brewery called <a href="http://www.brauhaus-doebler.de/cms2/ver2006/index.php">Brauhaus Döbler</a>. They brew all kinds of beers including a delicious dark Doppelbock that is a strong 8.1% but tastes smooth and delicious. They also brew a beer for festivals aptly named 'Festbier' that we enjoyed at this particular festival. You can always see the brewery owner Willie Döbler (his first name is actually Wilhelm!) dressed in a suit and surveying the beer sales at the festival. I can just add that to the long list of reasons why I love small town Germany.<br />
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We met some friends at the fest on a Thursday night. We took Jersey with us and we had a beautiful 20 minute walk in the warm sunshine from our house to the festplatz. I snapped some pictures as we walked:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rick and Jersey on the path behind our house</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The gas station around the corner from our house. Yes, that is 1,49 Euro per liter! We have no reason to complain about gas prices in the United States</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The German grocery store</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNrJ5WfcIg56pAG63p917f270gdztfK4AGkCAiYmY_pscoenPgKW4L4jDPDxBcoxCqsgtauY6XFEc7SuyCRPp_Z_gZOgtcwW-g_kB-G6dJqdrxMM8ieNd3kuFJ-cVfzH49zrelMUEPNdoB/s1600/April+2011+019.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNrJ5WfcIg56pAG63p917f270gdztfK4AGkCAiYmY_pscoenPgKW4L4jDPDxBcoxCqsgtauY6XFEc7SuyCRPp_Z_gZOgtcwW-g_kB-G6dJqdrxMM8ieNd3kuFJ-cVfzH49zrelMUEPNdoB/s320/April+2011+019.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adorable little garden house along our walk</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqaq2yNATrjwh5F2758hU_zEZkovG3IxYd71o7bP9vsz5RIF2nVahslUzLJP2Zt6MxhrbbpqZEOsFVqrvuyB10DiFcoPD4WjVgv-qmJEcN0NleQpsTNyGmg-80a86PabjXn9eP7bdYnlE8/s1600/April+2011+023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqaq2yNATrjwh5F2758hU_zEZkovG3IxYd71o7bP9vsz5RIF2nVahslUzLJP2Zt6MxhrbbpqZEOsFVqrvuyB10DiFcoPD4WjVgv-qmJEcN0NleQpsTNyGmg-80a86PabjXn9eP7bdYnlE8/s320/April+2011+023.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jersey was confused because she's never come face to face with her favorite food!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFPs9mqZZqe_vT-VDnEfmCPsBnk0VM5ub5QkM3UVVJyGMYGsX5jQsx9a3q2NbUKsCgqZPZshPH0lZHpojGc14zfQWkSF2wUvMFbJcZtdaCa25F41gECjeq7hGqnkzwkHVey6vIGDklUbPn/s1600/April+2011+041.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFPs9mqZZqe_vT-VDnEfmCPsBnk0VM5ub5QkM3UVVJyGMYGsX5jQsx9a3q2NbUKsCgqZPZshPH0lZHpojGc14zfQWkSF2wUvMFbJcZtdaCa25F41gECjeq7hGqnkzwkHVey6vIGDklUbPn/s320/April+2011+041.JPG" width="240px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A flyer for the festival</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBubAXR31VbUe9eDUxQc77sy6MHWNp1IROaQV7GmORENMH5zzMeOSkOTtULW7S_5SEh3ggZb-1qDBTq1crvJQXVF_KhYi89ZskIVmiHZrRVJKdmTZx60VgzI63Lz5SFgmjns2HEKaC9Wgf/s1600/April+2011+056.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBubAXR31VbUe9eDUxQc77sy6MHWNp1IROaQV7GmORENMH5zzMeOSkOTtULW7S_5SEh3ggZb-1qDBTq1crvJQXVF_KhYi89ZskIVmiHZrRVJKdmTZx60VgzI63Lz5SFgmjns2HEKaC9Wgf/s320/April+2011+056.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We had food...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0-LCtlVhDO65jyiPIoH29n8vqE8ICsfm-XsSu5vTrhM2KIxD53YK-CMLQ4wHmMHqgSTKlmi2rIW0QN78h95Qa3iW2DbQoy4oYspMA_hYPC775SD9WMxhMzmq6EliCd1eX5oPJcwsjjsxT/s1600/April+2011+036.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0-LCtlVhDO65jyiPIoH29n8vqE8ICsfm-XsSu5vTrhM2KIxD53YK-CMLQ4wHmMHqgSTKlmi2rIW0QN78h95Qa3iW2DbQoy4oYspMA_hYPC775SD9WMxhMzmq6EliCd1eX5oPJcwsjjsxT/s320/April+2011+036.JPG" width="240px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More food...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtpxn1GL5RYe2AGiUy2Cy99h-y_Wj7F77-zNvj89-t8UsWfVYbXUzhy28sRcpOUTlNWzxs-PdjCYJAwubZS9PeSJIqa4vZWaGEZGxdpGc-wYsc2EjVBtOjl2yRQbLXk2wb4A3t3ElLuswg/s1600/April+2011+050.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtpxn1GL5RYe2AGiUy2Cy99h-y_Wj7F77-zNvj89-t8UsWfVYbXUzhy28sRcpOUTlNWzxs-PdjCYJAwubZS9PeSJIqa4vZWaGEZGxdpGc-wYsc2EjVBtOjl2yRQbLXk2wb4A3t3ElLuswg/s320/April+2011+050.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">and beer!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Too much fun for one night</td></tr>
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We met our friends and enjoyed a fun night with good friends, good food, and good beer.<br />
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The next day my girlfriend Teena and I took Jersey for a hike up a nearby hill/small mountain called Petersberg. The hike is a nice mix of wooded trails and wide open fields where Jersey loves to run free. There's a beautiful wooden cross at the top of the hill and I love to stand up there and look at all of the small towns in between all of the farmland. The best view is of the town of Illesheim, which is a town by itself but it also houses the Army base where Rick and I work. Teena and I always have a lot to laugh about so it was a wonderful way to spend the morning. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The sign at the beginning of the walk. I'm not sure what the witches are all about, but they are all over the signs on this hill.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilWxewG1p1IcvEsl4RONc-tbr0Zhdgh0S1wdM8O2wo5aqDKoTAMVQrbN79Rz2_znmBCMpHUEbNmpqlSDs2PlxzbRDIfR87zXI5Y0mGgtan14bAjzzvcPvJZxjNl0RdMV3Y8cRh3Wa8dwj0/s1600/April+2011+064.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilWxewG1p1IcvEsl4RONc-tbr0Zhdgh0S1wdM8O2wo5aqDKoTAMVQrbN79Rz2_znmBCMpHUEbNmpqlSDs2PlxzbRDIfR87zXI5Y0mGgtan14bAjzzvcPvJZxjNl0RdMV3Y8cRh3Wa8dwj0/s320/April+2011+064.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is my favorite part of the trail-it's so woodsy and beautiful</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilnjcziaC-2Ly9QfUzoX7wA58c2WEbxe6H9iRa8o_-tPBicxl73oiqyYv4q2D3GSpRPQK0E12CwPYBG2A-sq46nrgf5pTQVGHd9St2qlzJu1L3kqoj0YpgKjQLMRDpU6vlJLJ6eabwWG8j/s1600/April+2011+068.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilnjcziaC-2Ly9QfUzoX7wA58c2WEbxe6H9iRa8o_-tPBicxl73oiqyYv4q2D3GSpRPQK0E12CwPYBG2A-sq46nrgf5pTQVGHd9St2qlzJu1L3kqoj0YpgKjQLMRDpU6vlJLJ6eabwWG8j/s320/April+2011+068.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jersey loves to hike</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcYZo1ar6qrXXqfa61SXuoYsWKkFUY6L0IzzITudiONyOL-SfhwoP7dUhKmhgBIViVWY6xQOuGPfN0je8pnTFneYHOksREnsk23hhGaPmvF_j8UWX3WoL1-3SCsNs7kHHe88F8zqQdYXPN/s1600/April+2011+074.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcYZo1ar6qrXXqfa61SXuoYsWKkFUY6L0IzzITudiONyOL-SfhwoP7dUhKmhgBIViVWY6xQOuGPfN0je8pnTFneYHOksREnsk23hhGaPmvF_j8UWX3WoL1-3SCsNs7kHHe88F8zqQdYXPN/s320/April+2011+074.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our destination-the cross on top of the hill</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKA9vUQeDnfofeP_0Fg9Gbs_ZYfSv99TDiA6o9nU2z1rstoo65rt_M6t_DnLNIOvVfVMEpi6Gwthat3-OYZUodN5NbmFrMAVvtPgWGpkqifnXaFYeybRsSefnNE5oRrdyYSfBou8OFR6Dl/s1600/April+2011+075.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKA9vUQeDnfofeP_0Fg9Gbs_ZYfSv99TDiA6o9nU2z1rstoo65rt_M6t_DnLNIOvVfVMEpi6Gwthat3-OYZUodN5NbmFrMAVvtPgWGpkqifnXaFYeybRsSefnNE5oRrdyYSfBou8OFR6Dl/s320/April+2011+075.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of Illeshiem. The red and white tower is right next to my office on the Army base</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt_ojzxPwxkjzxwuYcOUbsZSIxJWlJ-6oc3_ZquCInQikFWrCzRmwy9u4p3AeMRIW8uiV6-n5FEXE3q_TnXD_aPPX3rJ8uKSA2HZYM0eAVkWHRytNi-5InZyBSQnTDU1TmOYUGoJg20qHA/s1600/April+2011+078.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt_ojzxPwxkjzxwuYcOUbsZSIxJWlJ-6oc3_ZquCInQikFWrCzRmwy9u4p3AeMRIW8uiV6-n5FEXE3q_TnXD_aPPX3rJ8uKSA2HZYM0eAVkWHRytNi-5InZyBSQnTDU1TmOYUGoJg20qHA/s320/April+2011+078.JPG" width="240px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We made it to the top</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMyycvYt35zNzq969akoWYf3Zw5_I9pPKAOfJHlZjYMwe_lZkyD-tX4y6mcfolwxuERkc3IkIz9j7NWi2cYanE8tcav5xlweOIYppNiNMizKJKazzLaQKidbr_zJe7mhk86fnuSbWbSJpG/s1600/April+2011+081.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMyycvYt35zNzq969akoWYf3Zw5_I9pPKAOfJHlZjYMwe_lZkyD-tX4y6mcfolwxuERkc3IkIz9j7NWi2cYanE8tcav5xlweOIYppNiNMizKJKazzLaQKidbr_zJe7mhk86fnuSbWbSJpG/s320/April+2011+081.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of another town from the hill top. I love all of the red roofs.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_DebavqBZZ3ylPvFZjYHTfy0S9S16_q-fF8SzxuBcURm6j-IehyphenhyphenEEDmvpTO8WlvHe3H2DXM_xGdPKToLjfVnDqPOV9opS8rWU8VTUlZUmoeaQ446Vwh0qpNDgQDMmcg8RPSDn4jwbDn8W/s1600/April+2011+083.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_DebavqBZZ3ylPvFZjYHTfy0S9S16_q-fF8SzxuBcURm6j-IehyphenhyphenEEDmvpTO8WlvHe3H2DXM_xGdPKToLjfVnDqPOV9opS8rWU8VTUlZUmoeaQ446Vwh0qpNDgQDMmcg8RPSDn4jwbDn8W/s320/April+2011+083.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Posing with Jersey and my beautiful friend Teena</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtKTA0pfmhpipBkS4toZrqQx6dftoQfRhCHl_x4XwcnK2x-tFphfWgeINs9w1tg3lOM0GQpdaFaUntVfJwEF43qRpXltqqBL1PY3NMLq3z4QOYFx4AV0sg5SXy-zseKBH0bJMJYwIcqXYc/s1600/April+2011+090.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtKTA0pfmhpipBkS4toZrqQx6dftoQfRhCHl_x4XwcnK2x-tFphfWgeINs9w1tg3lOM0GQpdaFaUntVfJwEF43qRpXltqqBL1PY3NMLq3z4QOYFx4AV0sg5SXy-zseKBH0bJMJYwIcqXYc/s320/April+2011+090.JPG" width="240px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another cool part of the trail</td></tr>
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The following day was Saturday, so Rick, our friend Joel, and I took the train to Würzburg. It's a gorgeous city that sits on the Main River and it seems to be made for warm weather. I will write another post dedicated entirely to Würzburg at another time. This post is all about sunny days, so I will just say that we thoroughly enjoyed our day that included Spanish tapas for lunch and our view from a patio overlooking the river and the palace while sipping Cuba Libres (rum and coke with a lime).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3PNXj8doWR5bsh15qnWrkqE9mu8IlVQLz4BFtIg8QurNLvHIC6mLYKf5ss0WU7yugFfwa2Z-6LoRy0iTqhrd0cqg2VTkRZG0pTKewUY8tKAz1c82VpYTl3qexvHP-S0Tyjr_xS62mQ3_r/s1600/April+2011+113.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3PNXj8doWR5bsh15qnWrkqE9mu8IlVQLz4BFtIg8QurNLvHIC6mLYKf5ss0WU7yugFfwa2Z-6LoRy0iTqhrd0cqg2VTkRZG0pTKewUY8tKAz1c82VpYTl3qexvHP-S0Tyjr_xS62mQ3_r/s320/April+2011+113.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A view from our table of a boat on the Main river</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Z4mcwAkV9qVJMVcIdaWEjcxSIrj_1KhuPUwMti5C9PzCYtTwB318d2Ia4F2JIM1HZy5qaodrM6jl5oXV-LbEdLhAP8zjh6sG7bHT5oGgrPBgaktiv4NBmYow8gTL4oWOkLk6ePjGfgPZ/s1600/April+2011+127.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Z4mcwAkV9qVJMVcIdaWEjcxSIrj_1KhuPUwMti5C9PzCYtTwB318d2Ia4F2JIM1HZy5qaodrM6jl5oXV-LbEdLhAP8zjh6sG7bHT5oGgrPBgaktiv4NBmYow8gTL4oWOkLk6ePjGfgPZ/s320/April+2011+127.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Enjoying our Cuba Libres in the sun</td></tr>
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This past Sunday was another sunny day (well, it turned out to be anyway) and I took a bike ride with the girls while Rick played golf. We rode our bikes to Ipsheim which is a few towns away from us. We rode part way up the mountain (which was quite a challenge) to a little outdoor cafe that features a different wine family each week. We enjoyed a refreshing 'weinschorle', which is wine mixed with bubbly water. It may not sound good, but I promise you it's the perfect drink on a sunny bavarian day. We rode our bikes back down the mountain (much easier than climbing up!) and then stopped at another cafe at the bottom of the hill. We all had a great time laughing, talking, and being silly while soaking up the sun and sipping another weinschorle. It was just the girly afternoon that we all needed!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBRP0WGtt1QDSoSpNwDpbi_w8mWRHQU4usLAR0WcXIAPgQdD8Uhexw3CqzAj0sopmcYdO9C2WAE62IqG92szsoS1zkdDzKBKBH9iCJfwu5PpoMm78GxI9RhJ6IO4IoS1Ovoq05V5IrCBq9/s1600/Ipsheim+Bike+Ride+and+BBQ+at+O%2527Connell%2527s+005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBRP0WGtt1QDSoSpNwDpbi_w8mWRHQU4usLAR0WcXIAPgQdD8Uhexw3CqzAj0sopmcYdO9C2WAE62IqG92szsoS1zkdDzKBKBH9iCJfwu5PpoMm78GxI9RhJ6IO4IoS1Ovoq05V5IrCBq9/s320/Ipsheim+Bike+Ride+and+BBQ+at+O%2527Connell%2527s+005.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Being silly with a statue in Ipsheim</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOuaU_CUyti39Rj-CNMBHRUMqvh5zBjEWQ5ffggC7Bx68se_JV2eBzmP7h7m-SCS0ZLZUQCMi43CghA3BPGdoT22VlYiPRt2_i7r9C2CiSWejJuqn9TcGH9ia57-mURpNbyw1JbBrY_-UC/s1600/Ipsheim+Bike+Ride+and+BBQ+at+O%2527Connell%2527s+006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOuaU_CUyti39Rj-CNMBHRUMqvh5zBjEWQ5ffggC7Bx68se_JV2eBzmP7h7m-SCS0ZLZUQCMi43CghA3BPGdoT22VlYiPRt2_i7r9C2CiSWejJuqn9TcGH9ia57-mURpNbyw1JbBrY_-UC/s320/Ipsheim+Bike+Ride+and+BBQ+at+O%2527Connell%2527s+006.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Heading up the mountain</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBliYmaK1WaIVIjtwhk7lWGlqeMcGGl7IdlwT-ypExv-jHFpLI5JQQKHcdptoARttAxCFnThs3BnGtGa7OElSiekR5wQUBEGAayPvVHPiXXr9VphdIY5N4WMAjI20wlURjnQBfPrnJh7Yr/s1600/Ipsheim+Bike+Ride+and+BBQ+at+O%2527Connell%2527s+018.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBliYmaK1WaIVIjtwhk7lWGlqeMcGGl7IdlwT-ypExv-jHFpLI5JQQKHcdptoARttAxCFnThs3BnGtGa7OElSiekR5wQUBEGAayPvVHPiXXr9VphdIY5N4WMAjI20wlURjnQBfPrnJh7Yr/s320/Ipsheim+Bike+Ride+and+BBQ+at+O%2527Connell%2527s+018.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Teena took this of me through her empty glass. I love the way she sees the world ;-)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr3em27HB0gkGz-B_ZxDzbGV9bFRx4iXufWKtTvqrC8Os2tF_u8_QXBWFz17d5LDZZG64XCFtXgK85U7GUYLNM6FKSCiadh3YO-OxuRAz06eZYTWxHindwEPE01L8t7T1h6UuXbdTjw0Ig/s1600/Ipsheim+Bike+Ride+and+BBQ+at+O%2527Connell%2527s+022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr3em27HB0gkGz-B_ZxDzbGV9bFRx4iXufWKtTvqrC8Os2tF_u8_QXBWFz17d5LDZZG64XCFtXgK85U7GUYLNM6FKSCiadh3YO-OxuRAz06eZYTWxHindwEPE01L8t7T1h6UuXbdTjw0Ig/s320/Ipsheim+Bike+Ride+and+BBQ+at+O%2527Connell%2527s+022.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our 'biker gang' with the vineyard behind us</td></tr>
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Luckily, we're having some great weather, so there will be many more sunny days to enjoy. Check back soon for more pictures of our Bavarian springtime!Sharihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202628714904607855noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2416929396606342341.post-11073309101765737522011-03-29T21:31:00.002+02:002011-05-17T14:48:13.461+02:00Sicily-The Good and The BadTwo weeks ago Rick and I took Friday and Monday off from work to visit the island of Sicily, which is off the coast of Italy. The reason for our trip was to meet Rick's brother Ron (who was there working for a couple of weeks), his wife Kim, and her mother Mary.<br />
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We flew out of Nürnberg airport on Friday morning to Catania on the east side of the island. We were very excited for a number of reasons-the warm sunny weather, the prospect of some delicious Sicilian food, being able to explore another new place, and getting to spend some quality time with family. We haven't seen Ron and Kim together in at least a few years and it was wonderful to see them after so long.<br />
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The first place we visited was a city called <a href="http://www.thinksicily.com/guide-to-sicily/towns-and-cities-in-sicily/taormina.aspx">Taormina</a>. My first impression was that the city could only have been settled by a herd of mountain goats. It's perched on top of an extremely steep, rocky peak high above the ocean. It's an ancient city with it's supposed founding in 392BC. I can't even fathom that time frame, so for the sake of argument, I'll just refer to it as 'really old'. From what I've read, it has been ruled/inhabited over the centuries by Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Swabians, the French and the Spanish. Once you witness this unusual city and the breathtaking views of the ocean and Mount Etna (an active volcano) one can completely understand why so many people have tried to conquer this place. We enjoyed some window shopping and some coffee while wandering the small cobblestone streets. One of the unique things about the city is all of the stone staircases. Since it is built on a mountain, it does make sense that there would be a need for so many stairs. Each one is different and beautiful and they all seem to be leading to some enchanted place. Upon further inspection, most of them led to a hotel, a shop, or a restaurant, but they were still something to see.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beautiful Taormina</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiODioAlO3ouPNMqmyKK-Igp5feq8ePfnF9rSrvz77V9CIGSYKZd3w_C_wNmpQ5h4Fx8BJgg-HK39-MV6HIotFdLvWl013xFmE_bgwkfCp5wif7UW-4U054l7aSd5jDVeLF-CKvnVN5zKj/s1600/Sicily+2011+042.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiODioAlO3ouPNMqmyKK-Igp5feq8ePfnF9rSrvz77V9CIGSYKZd3w_C_wNmpQ5h4Fx8BJgg-HK39-MV6HIotFdLvWl013xFmE_bgwkfCp5wif7UW-4U054l7aSd5jDVeLF-CKvnVN5zKj/s320/Sicily+2011+042.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gorgeous ocean view</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxTrK3uVerxOgKR0CvZL0ZNBmoxdwByCf6GE_tQCGMMu8ywlUT4ejfO0US9W-ZicwKdogoEDPs9k59to-KquxtZX5GernVOIbdlz7YqqFBvoAT-sRN0K3KSpdBENDnb8fsH5JDFZTEzJRz/s1600/Sicily+2011+061.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320px" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxTrK3uVerxOgKR0CvZL0ZNBmoxdwByCf6GE_tQCGMMu8ywlUT4ejfO0US9W-ZicwKdogoEDPs9k59to-KquxtZX5GernVOIbdlz7YqqFBvoAT-sRN0K3KSpdBENDnb8fsH5JDFZTEzJRz/s320/Sicily+2011+061.JPG" width="240px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of many unique stairways</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOVVZc2InLnS6uqJI8nhSbNyfcqfp2Yd4GQdSuVyaEs-81qhvlmKFXVpQlHu68OqVA_sI8UVCrW__dxo3-YbxB1kiliI8GTPv2PUaQR11qtCdzYjn16O_cRB0X04WiyBaxnnnNYD8g1kTZ/s1600/Sicily+2011+159.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320px" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOVVZc2InLnS6uqJI8nhSbNyfcqfp2Yd4GQdSuVyaEs-81qhvlmKFXVpQlHu68OqVA_sI8UVCrW__dxo3-YbxB1kiliI8GTPv2PUaQR11qtCdzYjn16O_cRB0X04WiyBaxnnnNYD8g1kTZ/s320/Sicily+2011+159.JPG" width="240px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stairway lined with orange trees</td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEIfl2Joy1kbZ2WgJQPxfY_GK-iqeHMTUIVe3HMZ4zAI_rWyxMDg4TUPZvUHZSbeP_YLFPQpfrQCZklznaLv-OquLPD4mnVgrZxGk0KLJ-apOvv1YqT-GaJszmR5_yoBW5cxyGcqDQU9dl/s1600/Sicily+2011+082.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320px" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEIfl2Joy1kbZ2WgJQPxfY_GK-iqeHMTUIVe3HMZ4zAI_rWyxMDg4TUPZvUHZSbeP_YLFPQpfrQCZklznaLv-OquLPD4mnVgrZxGk0KLJ-apOvv1YqT-GaJszmR5_yoBW5cxyGcqDQU9dl/s320/Sicily+2011+082.JPG" width="240px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Enjoying my favorite sport-shopping!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxJL-plbqOH9E0S0r3wWiFpzPCw8ZXhTt3YtsTcw0jy-3cNlUxdlxFLjAeCoR98mZASPpbgefPL62JHRTkGBn1aefwP70C6ryfP4QCWHouuAuVZdk-JQuV7kcnDTuVkcIzH3hZzRf9u4ts/s1600/Sicily+2011+169.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxJL-plbqOH9E0S0r3wWiFpzPCw8ZXhTt3YtsTcw0jy-3cNlUxdlxFLjAeCoR98mZASPpbgefPL62JHRTkGBn1aefwP70C6ryfP4QCWHouuAuVZdk-JQuV7kcnDTuVkcIzH3hZzRf9u4ts/s320/Sicily+2011+169.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Colorful fruit stand with some of the biggest lemons I've ever seen</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTpULvSebDuNylL_Ix3f-zxVmRVdByq3O7cfBY2yhehSrUjcNdSmhO5LMl3Cv4GpAIM3Yu6pfZyFud1bCBiuJOofIPqdYtgSa36ImauJPFFpFmjrHq6o7Z4oczgod6f7tm5MpLxowJpfyA/s1600/Sicily+2011+172.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320px" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTpULvSebDuNylL_Ix3f-zxVmRVdByq3O7cfBY2yhehSrUjcNdSmhO5LMl3Cv4GpAIM3Yu6pfZyFud1bCBiuJOofIPqdYtgSa36ImauJPFFpFmjrHq6o7Z4oczgod6f7tm5MpLxowJpfyA/s320/Sicily+2011+172.JPG" width="240px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fresh herbs, spices, and oils for sale on the street</td></tr>
</tbody></table> It seems that the biggest tourist attraction in Toarmina is the Greek Theater or 'Teatro Greco'. It was built by the Greeks in the 3rd Century BC and added on to by the Romans. It is an open-air amphitheater with one of the most spectacular views I've ever seen. You can see the ocean on two sides and snow-capped Mount Etna in the distance. If you close your eyes, you can almost feel the city inhabitants sitting and watching a play centuries upon centuries ago.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjppEwlienunKL-CTK9SmdcoRAGfleEVe_g7gAzTSSVSMh5dRcnq_PcAOx4Ygz2RtXNOLVa2cIyPCFuHkvi28aXX6AVZN3BxdZys61TWzhSmhpommzbBvNYjA908YiLcNo_HeoaFA2hM2h-/s1600/Sicily+2011+092.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjppEwlienunKL-CTK9SmdcoRAGfleEVe_g7gAzTSSVSMh5dRcnq_PcAOx4Ygz2RtXNOLVa2cIyPCFuHkvi28aXX6AVZN3BxdZys61TWzhSmhpommzbBvNYjA908YiLcNo_HeoaFA2hM2h-/s320/Sicily+2011+092.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Amazing view from the Greek Theater</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVSsI6jxwJVfZaCxLStKAOwSSrOZm7-g6yZE2heoibtUg2ELnhd9YoX8rdTEU-7HOOm-rHqfozmpHevdxuIp4D4uZggn_UzFTrI1X0cByFZDDUzji8M4ebwRCn31apHaiYfOrVzJF3pGP2/s1600/Sicily+2011+095.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320px" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVSsI6jxwJVfZaCxLStKAOwSSrOZm7-g6yZE2heoibtUg2ELnhd9YoX8rdTEU-7HOOm-rHqfozmpHevdxuIp4D4uZggn_UzFTrI1X0cByFZDDUzji8M4ebwRCn31apHaiYfOrVzJF3pGP2/s320/Sicily+2011+095.JPG" width="240px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rick holding up the wall of the Greek Theater</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6i8dKf9URW2uB0hDeV28wx2W97LwlSN3V5IIh-q3TbptsrXPsKav4n_1mXzdlkQ8Ce99rMU0oySsnsdCkQyJPW8mes8IBdZpDme73Etx_IqJkh05UiHKbirVmjqjDF4ZIEU1dxlfCphb1/s1600/Sicily+2011+110.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6i8dKf9URW2uB0hDeV28wx2W97LwlSN3V5IIh-q3TbptsrXPsKav4n_1mXzdlkQ8Ce99rMU0oySsnsdCkQyJPW8mes8IBdZpDme73Etx_IqJkh05UiHKbirVmjqjDF4ZIEU1dxlfCphb1/s320/Sicily+2011+110.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The city still uses this venue for events. How much fun would it be to see a play there?</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
That night we ate at a very unique restaurant in the city of Catania. It was in the basement of a hostel, which doesn't sound very nice, but it had a great atmosphere and the food was quite good. The attraction of this place is that a river flows through the stone basement that houses the restaurant. The river and the cave were formed over 300 years ago by a volcanic eruption from Mount Etna. We ate a wonderful Sicilian cheese appetizer and we all ordered our respective dishes. I had a fabulous cous cous with chicken and chick peas that had just the Mediterranean flair I was looking for. Rick and Ron opted for one of the local Sicilian specialties-<em>horse meat. </em>I know that this is nothing strange to the Sicilians, but needless to say, I wasn't too keen on the idea. Ultimately Rick concluded that even though the meat was good, it wasn't something that he would order again. At least one of the two of us is adventurous enough to try things like that!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWf-7AkQPajY7y9RQkZUZsW_f4fd72CEwleXfEvOuz9sKIC29SY9BfIfn3iF6LJvKGqfBSbyuaehENMMEq6g44eqN_MZvXOqyfuYjmo0SJXpYFj1gGwXQSr5dtzpipobUpKLP_atdUNKPh/s1600/Sicily+2011+213.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWf-7AkQPajY7y9RQkZUZsW_f4fd72CEwleXfEvOuz9sKIC29SY9BfIfn3iF6LJvKGqfBSbyuaehENMMEq6g44eqN_MZvXOqyfuYjmo0SJXpYFj1gGwXQSr5dtzpipobUpKLP_atdUNKPh/s320/Sicily+2011+213.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Next to the river/stream that runs through the restaurant</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdiQ8qvM7kfLlXPpkU0GSP0YdA-dvpzaegZv8lWw4vPaGhasjkpYBw2VOSnJ2VYYz-7Z1ZyHsJBCJ2OTjDAIIz0UzOTMV7ggffie_FzRTGtPkAPYI3cP_yq-6ryV8nmiX8lInMbT81_cR3/s1600/Sicily+2011+216.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdiQ8qvM7kfLlXPpkU0GSP0YdA-dvpzaegZv8lWw4vPaGhasjkpYBw2VOSnJ2VYYz-7Z1ZyHsJBCJ2OTjDAIIz0UzOTMV7ggffie_FzRTGtPkAPYI3cP_yq-6ryV8nmiX8lInMbT81_cR3/s320/Sicily+2011+216.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hmmm, is that Mr. Ed you're eating??</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglgvYGywzLyl62hWsZmHbrsaK2z-hmwk3A_3j2A0HEiOy3kS5q8OhWpADblhISbO1RTuhAmDTtq2HKYTV4hQf02xHxQokAuIfMFBp6VWPpaIvkyRPxVIrrUGR7s17RGISyDHw1TummGos7/s1600/Sicily+2011+217.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglgvYGywzLyl62hWsZmHbrsaK2z-hmwk3A_3j2A0HEiOy3kS5q8OhWpADblhISbO1RTuhAmDTtq2HKYTV4hQf02xHxQokAuIfMFBp6VWPpaIvkyRPxVIrrUGR7s17RGISyDHw1TummGos7/s320/Sicily+2011+217.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Enjoying a fun meal with Ron, Kim, and her mother Mary</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
Before I continue with our weekend, let me explain that driving/riding in a car in Sicily is one of the craziest things that I have ever experienced. It's almost like being right in the middle of a real live video game. Most of the roads are old, full of potholes, and very narrow. The Italians seem to have an extreme lack of patience and are fairly oblivious to any normal traffic rules, plus they all seem to be very acquainted with their car horns. Add to that a million scooters and mopeds darting in and out of traffic any time they like and you are faced with some very unnerving road experiences. Ron and Kim both shared the driving while we were there and they proved to be rock stars in my book since we all lived to tell the tale!<br />
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Our next trip was to the top of Mount Etna, which is one of the world's most active volcanoes. In fact, it's most recent eruption was on January 13, 2011. We made our way up the incredibly steep and winding (can you say carsick?) road to the top. There was still snow at that elevation and it was very sunny, so the sun gleamed beautifully off of the snow. We walked around the rim of a crater at the top of the mountain that was being used by some daring people as a hill for their snow sleds. We stood for a long time to take in the view and admire Mother Nature's spectacular beauty. We were so high on the mountain that we were above the clouds, which was a sight to see in itself. We had some lunch at a little cafeteria/gift shop and looked at all of the colorful pictures of the different eruptions over the years. Our lunch consisted of two foods that we saw a lot of in Sicily: pizza with french fries on top (surprisingly good and it saves you a step!) and something called 'arancini di riso'. This is a ball of rice filled with a spaghetti type meat sauce and then fried. It's said that in eastern Sicily they are fried into a cone-shape to resemble Mount Etna, so it's very fitting that we enjoyed one while on top of it!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfGPmITqgnayQKR7v5bN85EVBZwa37-JGsULZPJ_9eOCIYnTdjAFK1lepdgyn7ftNZky4XqcZ8LcfGHXxFKe_eEYBRptU3wlD9pR9NZ4qrqsmHNOjN6Q5b5ljQGr-6yp4eH3D11C3wuCZE/s1600/Sicily+2011+262.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfGPmITqgnayQKR7v5bN85EVBZwa37-JGsULZPJ_9eOCIYnTdjAFK1lepdgyn7ftNZky4XqcZ8LcfGHXxFKe_eEYBRptU3wlD9pR9NZ4qrqsmHNOjN6Q5b5ljQGr-6yp4eH3D11C3wuCZE/s320/Sicily+2011+262.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was taken with the timer from the roof of the car ;-)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLNlolzNwnPU_fcF1diGETobKb_GwXNvvcEZCgdUQJfG2qYJrnUypKkZkgBbc7_dDyM-Ss9Y63mGQrque7KYBa-WP8Hi5JFeBAk_rIXYDhFo6aPolOH87HEtVpcxyRwPVuQZCGNDJTs3Xe/s1600/Sicily+2011+308.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLNlolzNwnPU_fcF1diGETobKb_GwXNvvcEZCgdUQJfG2qYJrnUypKkZkgBbc7_dDyM-Ss9Y63mGQrque7KYBa-WP8Hi5JFeBAk_rIXYDhFo6aPolOH87HEtVpcxyRwPVuQZCGNDJTs3Xe/s320/Sicily+2011+308.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fun Sicilian food -pizza with fries (yum) and an 'arancini di riso'</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwtT4SNYY4cbb84rYh7cGrired-OGwKejXi0xwXPX60A1QlssnTh4u3CEWh1N0a-5YyFzGBRMFhnF0CkgLXdQXi-twTJdDxojn-Y-UCa8rREMprcXtBPZNKUr7BwbATx-OAWhcUzB7t4En/s1600/Sicily+2011+313.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwtT4SNYY4cbb84rYh7cGrired-OGwKejXi0xwXPX60A1QlssnTh4u3CEWh1N0a-5YyFzGBRMFhnF0CkgLXdQXi-twTJdDxojn-Y-UCa8rREMprcXtBPZNKUr7BwbATx-OAWhcUzB7t4En/s320/Sicily+2011+313.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sledding into the crater</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk7h4QNhEAZGSyaqtGxqaCqgqauogbKhSMEeigE6haYy3xDutKms_kpYq6DXZ7FtlSVJXWV0B80xAQgNqL1twEnz7sVIKkJ54_g_iZOc7NgbDsbUqQSLzOOK58u3aGnvOVQZkySFQ0i2c5/s1600/Sicily+2011+377.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk7h4QNhEAZGSyaqtGxqaCqgqauogbKhSMEeigE6haYy3xDutKms_kpYq6DXZ7FtlSVJXWV0B80xAQgNqL1twEnz7sVIKkJ54_g_iZOc7NgbDsbUqQSLzOOK58u3aGnvOVQZkySFQ0i2c5/s320/Sicily+2011+377.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lava trail left by the recent eruption</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
After all of the natural beauty on the mountain, we decided to partake in another type of nature's beauty-<strong>wine! </strong>We made our way back down the snake trails from the top of Mount Etna in search of the small town of Linguaglossa. This proved to be no easy task and we spent a couple of hours winding around and backtracking through some very small villages on the side of the mountain. We stopped to ask the locals on the roadside for directions which was futile since it always ended with them speaking very fast in Italian and a lot of pointing and hand waving. We would just reply with a hearty 'Grazie!' and zoom off in the direction of the most hand waving. We <em>finally</em> found the <a href="http://www.vinigambino.it/e_index.html">Gambino Winery</a> perched atop the city of Linguaglossa. We were greeted by a man in the little gift shop that we later found out was named Fabio. He was nice enough to give us a tour of the winery and he explained in detail the process from growing the grapes all the way to bottling and selling the wine. It was very interesting and it got us ready for the important part-the wine tasting. We were given a table in a room that was all windows on one side overlooking the vineyard and the city in the valley below. It would have been a spectacular view in the summer, but since it was a little overcast and the vineyard was bare, we had to use our imaginations. We tasted 2 whites and 3 reds and they all had a unique flavor. My personal favorite was a white called <a href="http://www.vinigambino.it/pdf_08/TifeoBianco.pdf">Tifeo</a> that comes from the grapes grown in the volcanic soil from Mount Etna. Rick's favorite was a red called <a href="http://www.vinigambino.it/pdf_08/Alicante.pdf">Alicante</a> which used grapes that were brought to Sicily from Spain many years ago. As we sat with our wine and chatted about our day, we enjoyed two large platters with typical local cheeses and finger foods such as olives, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, and sun dried tomatoes. Of course we ended our tour in the gift shop where we started; we all purchased some of our favorite wines and we thanked Fabio for his generous hospitality.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5ZxnYnd3Us60R8i3inGeqwkl0VYb6MdXk3g0P2USuDhX0jaMowuU7kTHc8x1MZ5uFWgaClFZzeaXiTVH6ltrLnhXA8WljVrYoJQ38XiiYIAEPmlgPfNT18VySh6TO9XMANWFWzVPG1shq/s1600/Sicily+2011+414.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5ZxnYnd3Us60R8i3inGeqwkl0VYb6MdXk3g0P2USuDhX0jaMowuU7kTHc8x1MZ5uFWgaClFZzeaXiTVH6ltrLnhXA8WljVrYoJQ38XiiYIAEPmlgPfNT18VySh6TO9XMANWFWzVPG1shq/s320/Sicily+2011+414.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We were so happy to FINALLY see this sign!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA-ZM9wyXtpEwFgF9p5jP5SGdmpLGAnsxVuBsGx8nRl0_C4eMWQNuzjLBMPwVM3UV9wkUeUnZfHgQnrOO4AMJ5Kpph_2Q3fB8fPycQ7HpyuDRh2zieSS3kZYhoX4_sN1hJAP_6epEpYFqj/s1600/Gambino.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320px" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA-ZM9wyXtpEwFgF9p5jP5SGdmpLGAnsxVuBsGx8nRl0_C4eMWQNuzjLBMPwVM3UV9wkUeUnZfHgQnrOO4AMJ5Kpph_2Q3fB8fPycQ7HpyuDRh2zieSS3kZYhoX4_sN1hJAP_6epEpYFqj/s320/Gambino.JPG" width="239px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Apparently my artistic side comes out ofter a few glasses of vino...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYM8376GUX93PiKmwmQgV8eadBrZ9jm-wJVVhTIE0BR5a8he9G71QpjCUEpt5wmgsLchWykfVzN5YlwrN7Qq18nw4BZEHcpAhEnu8VV0vMXqUhleiJPAe-Dh5SlrrLtZ4UwxQdMv-QAwxc/s1600/Sicily+2011+408.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYM8376GUX93PiKmwmQgV8eadBrZ9jm-wJVVhTIE0BR5a8he9G71QpjCUEpt5wmgsLchWykfVzN5YlwrN7Qq18nw4BZEHcpAhEnu8VV0vMXqUhleiJPAe-Dh5SlrrLtZ4UwxQdMv-QAwxc/s320/Sicily+2011+408.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Enjoying wine with our tour guide Fabio</td></tr>
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On our last evening in Sicily, we had the good fortune to visit a restaurant in the nearby city of Motta Sant'Anastacia called the Spaghetti House. Rick's brother Ron and some of his co-workers had become friendly with the owner of the restaurant during their time working in Sicily. He is a very colorful Sicilian man by the name of Salvo (short for Salvatore, of course). He was celebrating his 43rd birthday and we were there along with Ron's co-workers and Salvo's family and friends to celebrate. He proceeded to give us an amazing meal that was he deemed as 'family style'. What this meant was an ungodly amount of food was about to ascend upon our table. The Sicilians are very into eating their meals in courses. The first course consisted of huge platters of cheeses, meats, bruschetta, vegetables prepared many ways, and an endless basket of bread. The second course consisted of pasta and lots of it. Salvo asked all of us what type of pasta we liked and that's what he served us. We had angel hair pasta with huge chunks of different types of seafood and next to it was bow-tie pasta with a delicious pistachio cream sauce. I hope to try to re-create said pistachio cream sauce in my own kitchen one of these days, but I know that I won't come close. We all sat devouring our pasta and drinking our wine blissfully unaware that there was actually a third course coming. This was the meat course which was a piece of chicken (yay for me!), a piece of steak, and a sausage like none I've ever seen before. As we all sat staring at our plates since we were already full, Kim and I announced to our husbands that they were going to responsible for eating our steaks and sausages too. The boys gave it the old college try but in the end it was just too much food. Salvo was then presented with his birthday cake. In true European style, the cake had a picture of a naked woman on it, designed by none other than his 15 year old son. Viva la Sicily! (or something like that)... Anyway, we all ate cake, drank a cinnamon type of schnapps courtesy of Salvo, and enjoyed a wonderful Sicilian evening with family and new friends.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The amazing first course</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rick and Ron with the birthday boy, Salvo</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stuffed and happy!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Ok, so the title of this post is "The Good and The Bad", so we unfortunately have discuss the bad part of the trip. On Monday Rick and I were flying out in the evening, so we had time for some lunch before we had to head to the airport. We were driving in the city of Catania with our suitcases and with all five of us crammed in our little tiny Fiat Punto (translation: Matchbox car) when we got stopped at a red light. We were about the 5th or 6th car from the light on a very crowded and hectic street. We were lost so all of our heads were on a swivel, looking here and there for a street sign that might point us in the right direction. Earlier in the week, we had discovered something about the rental car-there were no buttons or knobs to lock the car from the inside. The only way to lock the car was to use the remote control that was attached to the keyring. Well, as we all sat at the red light looking like tourists in our unlocked car, a man came running up to the front passenger door of the car. I saw him out of the corner of my eye, but my brain wasn't fast enough to register what he was about to do. He yanked open the door, ripped Kim's purse from her hands and took off running. Before Kim or Rick (he was in the back on the passenger side) could get out of the car, the thief had already jumped on the back of a waiting scooter/moped and was long gone. Needless to say, we were all in complete shock due to how fast everything happened coupled with the sheer boldness of the thief. I have never even heard of something like that happening before, so shock doesn't actually even cover what we were all feeling. The police came to the scene and rode around on their motorcycles in the hopes that thieves might have taken what they wanted from the bag and then discarded it, but no such luck. To make a long story short...Kim was able to cancel her credit cards, and with the help of the Navy, she was able to get back home to America in spite of her stolen passport. I imagine however, that the feeling of violation will stay with her (and all of us) for a long time to come.<br />
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The events of the last day unfortunately (yet understandably) put a damper on our overall impression of the island of Sicily. We learned a number of valuable lessons, including the fact that you should always be vigilant no matter where you are, even riding in a car packed with 5 people. The island was beautiful and I can see how many people have fallen in love with it's splendor, however I think our next vacation will be spent in a place where we feel a little more safe. Sorry Sicily, but as the saying goes, you only get one chance to make a first impression...Sharihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202628714904607855noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2416929396606342341.post-5606442034482046062011-03-02T11:34:00.002+01:002011-05-17T14:39:17.345+02:00A Cold Weekend in PragueFor President's Day weekend, we decided to drive to Prague in the Czech Republic (or Praha as it is known in Czech) with our friends Joel and Shea. There were also about 8 other friends from our area that were heading to Prague the same weekend. It's only about 4(ish) hours away and it's almost a straight shot from our house, so why not? We set out around 4:00 pm in Joel and Shea's car and we were armed with the 3 M's - munchies, magazines, and music. After sitting in a small Stau (the German name for a traffic jam), some crazy weather (it was literally snowing snowballs at one point!), and some fun detours due to the GPS, we made it to Prague around 10:00 pm on Friday night. As soon as you cross the border into the Czech Republic, you immediately notice that all of the road signs are different, the words are certainly not written in German anymore, and they contain many more consonants than vowels (much to our amusement). They also have strange little accent marks on many letters that I don't think I'll ever know what to do with. It's hard to explain, but it always amazes me that you can tell a difference the minute you cross the border from Germany into any other country. Obviously, the geography is very similar at the borders, but somehow it immediately feels different sometimes even before you notice the signs. (I hope you all have a chance to experience what I'm talking about for yourselves one day).<br />
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We easily found our hotel, checked-in, and headed out to explore the city in the 20 degree weather-brrrr. We walked for what seemed like miles around the old town in search of a restaurant that was inviting and that was also still serving food at that late hour. We stumbled upon a restaurant (or 'restaurace' in Czech) called <a href="http://www.restauraceuvejvodu.cz/?page=home&lang=EN">U Vejvodu</a> which met our criteria. The Plzeňský Prazdroj or <a href="http://www.prazdroj.cz/en/about-the-company/products">Pilsner Urquell</a> (one of the delicious Czech beers) was cold and plentiful and the menu had something for everyone, ranging from traditional Czech food to chicken wings and chili con carne nachos. We were happy to be out of the car and happy to be exploring yet another new country. The conversation between the four of us is always lively and comes easy, so it was a wonderful evening eating, drinking, and laughing with good friends.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Czech beer and pretzels</td></tr>
</tbody></table> The next morning we had our free hotel breakfast and headed out to explore the Golden City. Our friend Adam joined us for the day of sightseeing. We all walked across the Charles Bridge (Karluv Most in Czech) that leads up to the Prague Castle and the Saint Vitus Cathedral on top of the hill. The Charles Bridge is the oldest bridge in the city. The foundation stone for the bridge was laid on the 9th of July 1357 at 5:31 am. Why do I tell you this? Because they planned it that way - it's a palindrome: 135797531. I thought that little tidbit of information was very interesting and I also find it amazing that it's still standing today. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of Prague Castle from the Charles Bridge</td></tr>
</tbody></table> By this time we were completely frozen and it was very gloomy-not the best day for picture taking. We made it up what felt like a million steps to the castle grounds and walked around taking in the sights. We opted not to go in to Prague castle or the cathedral (I'm still not sure why), but it was enjoyable anyway. We headed back down the massive stairway and found some yummy pastry treats along the way. They were called 'Trdelnik' and they were pastry dough that was wrapped around a tube and then baked. (I made up my own word and called them 'turtlenecks' since the Czech language seems to be lacking in it's vowel usage. You won't find that in any guide book though, just the one according to Shari). They remove the tube once it's finished cooking so you end up with a hollow tube of dough that they roll in a flavor or flavors of your choosing. We chose cinnamon and almonds and it was a much needed warm, delicious treat on our cold walk. The next stop was a medieval pub before we crossed the bridge which boasted that it was the 'oldest medieval pub' on their sign. I couldn't help but think there was a pub out there somewhere boasting to be the 'newest medieval pub' which made me laugh. It was warm and inviting and we enjoyed a beer there before continuing on with our sightseeing.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">St Vitus Cathedral</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">St Vitus Cathedral</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joel, Rick, Adam, Shea, and I making sure the castle guard doesn't smile</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipjNDE0tpifdERIm4bVo38enaFDKXAe9Fr5VlLRjotMRnSIIHmM33Y0A5eMkFSGM7Bombz7b21tPHtCJW4yWYSk82XdndJGcWAy-LkQAZD0cYsfqk1_U4uRjfY_ELUrOwnRMmZ9vyh6TRe/s1600/Prague+090.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320px" l6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipjNDE0tpifdERIm4bVo38enaFDKXAe9Fr5VlLRjotMRnSIIHmM33Y0A5eMkFSGM7Bombz7b21tPHtCJW4yWYSk82XdndJGcWAy-LkQAZD0cYsfqk1_U4uRjfY_ELUrOwnRMmZ9vyh6TRe/s320/Prague+090.JPG" width="240px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking down the long stairway from the castle</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiozkHfdRXaTAgHN7r8xwGZwcyCJkoafkOBvXuUCOyYKtTdsrs7cVddZ1tVFckquS9fhDrZS8E6r4nKXPRSkPEwb30saplz7D_i_c5zAAMFRkxyG608nlvO0PBLeMKLdjU5Oft_-Pi6zfbL/s1600/Prague+098.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320px" l6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiozkHfdRXaTAgHN7r8xwGZwcyCJkoafkOBvXuUCOyYKtTdsrs7cVddZ1tVFckquS9fhDrZS8E6r4nKXPRSkPEwb30saplz7D_i_c5zAAMFRkxyG608nlvO0PBLeMKLdjU5Oft_-Pi6zfbL/s320/Prague+098.JPG" width="240px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rick and his Trdelnik snack</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSVMcVOkmz8m6yWqOyoYhH8QIE3MfLm5ERIekasstYsQOLHrLMWAYaiylQYZq8pjayJv4NQAVqUgJWmkaHWP0cY1b5_dYVHqpjYLAfIqLxVG5Li2FWwKhoXrEv7aGtKsplvRvmVilhIJLz/s1600/Prague+105.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" l6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSVMcVOkmz8m6yWqOyoYhH8QIE3MfLm5ERIekasstYsQOLHrLMWAYaiylQYZq8pjayJv4NQAVqUgJWmkaHWP0cY1b5_dYVHqpjYLAfIqLxVG5Li2FWwKhoXrEv7aGtKsplvRvmVilhIJLz/s320/Prague+105.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rick and I with Adam, Shea, and Joel enjoying the warmth inside the "Oldest Medieval Pub'</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhyphenhyphenK_lT7aHkRJzkocnX67Z1ls67CLetUbqqtyHZq7cpG06G3EwvW0xdiwmVtNRUY3IRy5gEs7zemJYMvImD8X1vOloZa6VL6rOfW18eG7dzNqoYTOWl7xUrd-g4_DoazSXG3tZ4Lv71fbX/s1600/Prague+123.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" l6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhyphenhyphenK_lT7aHkRJzkocnX67Z1ls67CLetUbqqtyHZq7cpG06G3EwvW0xdiwmVtNRUY3IRy5gEs7zemJYMvImD8X1vOloZa6VL6rOfW18eG7dzNqoYTOWl7xUrd-g4_DoazSXG3tZ4Lv71fbX/s320/Prague+123.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of Prague from the Charles Bridge</td></tr>
</tbody></table> We toured the <a href="http://www.muzeumkomunismu.cz/">Museum of Communism</a> which was a bit dry in presentation, but very interesting and informative. It displayed the utter turmoil of every day life in Czechoslovakia and how cut off they were from the rest of the world. I still can't fathom that the beautiful city we were touring was under Communist rule until 1989. It puts it into perspective for me to think that I was a sophomore in high school, enjoying all of the freedoms that America had to offer, before that country was finally freed from it's oppression. Wow, I was apparently extremely oblivious to the world back then! Touring that museum made me incredibly thankful (even more than I already was) to have been born an American.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg-9lzpFHGQdtHuOUvAmObMEiuGZhV41KSCBQ1tHog-MObFUQLcl6X1ROG_ogUSW0bEuKnPYad47D4zBKJ92axLTao8h1ZrFbXtrbLRyTtaEwFysYLW8PubpoK5QHa74h8TR6q_wmKyuNT/s1600/Prague+126.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320px" l6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg-9lzpFHGQdtHuOUvAmObMEiuGZhV41KSCBQ1tHog-MObFUQLcl6X1ROG_ogUSW0bEuKnPYad47D4zBKJ92axLTao8h1ZrFbXtrbLRyTtaEwFysYLW8PubpoK5QHa74h8TR6q_wmKyuNT/s320/Prague+126.JPG" width="240px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Astronomical Clock</td></tr>
</tbody></table>We continued our sightseeing in the Old Town Square (Staroměstské Náměstí in Czech) which houses the <a href="http://www.prague.net/astronomical-clock">Astronomical Clock</a>. For some reason, I could not remember the name of it so I continued to call it the anatomical, astronomical, or any other kind of 'omical' name that would pop into my head. The clock keeps different versions of time, one being Bohemian time. We learned that this region of the Czech Republic is known as Bohemia. I think that I've been on some sort of Bohemian time for most of my life (I'm sure my family agrees), so this clock seemed to be made just for me. It was beautiful with gold discs, colorful celestial symbols, and long sweeping hands. We enjoyed the rest of our afternoon and night having dinner and then relaxing in a few pubs.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3995jOFstBTU-rs9izk0SOplki1IHLghfvtIWC6RYH67hBeJYqqoYuwkboAJU3llJPoAgmd9_DlZRY4J5eKQg_nfQHqlZBN3vUDoE8xWH1qbscwhPtGue18HYWB1shJDcQLMYl_Jlop8u/s1600/Prague+137.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" l6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3995jOFstBTU-rs9izk0SOplki1IHLghfvtIWC6RYH67hBeJYqqoYuwkboAJU3llJPoAgmd9_DlZRY4J5eKQg_nfQHqlZBN3vUDoE8xWH1qbscwhPtGue18HYWB1shJDcQLMYl_Jlop8u/s320/Prague+137.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Delicious avocado shrimp soup with a fun presentation</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwGZypg6-kEpbvNfKtDn7Lzxr0rjp4TZxai1Qy9KFALFaACVK0k5AAbHm2ztdpRJbcAEswl17dpy_dRD2wS5qZ6WjcBc4VhmxwbYY8PfQqe7bI_HnqgO_TBz9jlg7QnU_7UCn6HpWm7_MS/s1600/Prague+138.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" l6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwGZypg6-kEpbvNfKtDn7Lzxr0rjp4TZxai1Qy9KFALFaACVK0k5AAbHm2ztdpRJbcAEswl17dpy_dRD2wS5qZ6WjcBc4VhmxwbYY8PfQqe7bI_HnqgO_TBz9jlg7QnU_7UCn6HpWm7_MS/s320/Prague+138.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pretending that we're rich with all of our Czech Koruna (equal to about $114 in this picture)</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The next morning (Sunday) we drove about an hour outside of Prague to the small town of Kutná Hora . It is the sight of the <a href="http://www.sacred-destinations.com/czech-republic/sedlec-ossuary">Sedlec Ossuary or the "Bone Church"</a>. I had to look up the definition of an ossuary - it's a 'depository for bones of the dead'. This particular building was a monastery founded during the 12th century. The ossuary was in the basement and it housed bones from victims of a plague in 1318 and then others throughout the years. Due to the large number of bones, a monk in the 1500's started stacking them in towering piles. In 1784 after the monastery was abolished, the church and surrounding cemetery were purchased by the Schwarzenberg family. In 1870, they commissioned a wood carver named Frantisek Rint to make some sort of order out of the multitudes of bones. Instead of just piling them neatly, he started making decorations. He created a large chandelier made from every bone in the human body that hangs ominously in the middle of the room. There are skulls and bones lining the walls in beautiful designs and he made a Schwarzenberg family crest. He created a large chalice that is on one wall and he signed his name in bones along with the date (1870) on the opposite wall as his last project. It is estimated that the remains of 40,000 people were used to decorate this small space. It was simultaneously one of the <em>most haunting</em> and one of the <em>most beautiful </em>things I have ever witnessed. It was exceptionally cold outside and the door to the ossuary was open, so it was freezing inside as well. As I stood there and quietly took it all in, I couldn't help but think that you would still feel an intense chill inside this place even on a stifling hot August day. You are surrounded by the bones of all of those lost souls and there is something profoundly eerie and serene all at the same time. I am so glad that we made the trip to see this once in a lifetime display.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm9rt37f9gqzYBnKDPqo3Exhyphenhyphen1e0OXQj0VaQAAgOb8t-RuYVmKsqKbS77SENPY6SD4tXGrv97mN47mQNPMONjX1eMSTFi5kOOKNgJgChZADqr40o-iFRMYIWckybYnLiLJHoRPky9qrnwQ/s1600/Prague+179.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320px" l6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm9rt37f9gqzYBnKDPqo3Exhyphenhyphen1e0OXQj0VaQAAgOb8t-RuYVmKsqKbS77SENPY6SD4tXGrv97mN47mQNPMONjX1eMSTFi5kOOKNgJgChZADqr40o-iFRMYIWckybYnLiLJHoRPky9qrnwQ/s320/Prague+179.JPG" width="240px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The church and part of the surrounding graveyard</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYbzyUDRp7_4uwAR5nGn06YNmUFkGfjPkKRC1i1TjulaJmLVspFoOdMKkjxB1OIwe1oAHEkfonyCZ5Ezw85wrRob_fc-P1k4Ycx4_WuKtPXyyeLDUPlRkuepFG4O0ZVVLIdU5UXa3Jp3W2/s1600/Prague+193.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320px" l6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYbzyUDRp7_4uwAR5nGn06YNmUFkGfjPkKRC1i1TjulaJmLVspFoOdMKkjxB1OIwe1oAHEkfonyCZ5Ezw85wrRob_fc-P1k4Ycx4_WuKtPXyyeLDUPlRkuepFG4O0ZVVLIdU5UXa3Jp3W2/s320/Prague+193.JPG" width="240px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The chandelier made with every bone in the human body</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGHQPCGNOgMLDHZgy5mdyar-2SzPh_r2llYU3D4vp8y94iGhcuGDf8VWE82DutEhLb-52ccV6CO8Dt2g0Lti49n1JoGScDzD_BgxatzIslZQpFAoqtDucVptifYOsFtZIR0SZ4jV4Dfm7C/s1600/Prague+198.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320px" l6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGHQPCGNOgMLDHZgy5mdyar-2SzPh_r2llYU3D4vp8y94iGhcuGDf8VWE82DutEhLb-52ccV6CO8Dt2g0Lti49n1JoGScDzD_BgxatzIslZQpFAoqtDucVptifYOsFtZIR0SZ4jV4Dfm7C/s320/Prague+198.JPG" width="240px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Schwarzenberg Family Crest in front of a pyramid of bones</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigwVQz6M_h8OcAHhmwyIpoVFOaagPK1Kn3IUm5sVMjFUom1Hcw3GeA-VkDj4eRUggiPkhmmCSSzN_kHC-kAzHefYFoBlNojxpZwlwsvb0MUYQg3iw5-VZU5gXpNfGPPVKWHU25W3T-uTqO/s1600/Prague+214.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320px" l6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigwVQz6M_h8OcAHhmwyIpoVFOaagPK1Kn3IUm5sVMjFUom1Hcw3GeA-VkDj4eRUggiPkhmmCSSzN_kHC-kAzHefYFoBlNojxpZwlwsvb0MUYQg3iw5-VZU5gXpNfGPPVKWHU25W3T-uTqO/s320/Prague+214.JPG" width="240px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bones and skulls up to the wall to the ceiling</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgClsKB48RakcORERXBd2F0m6ejCOzgi6-ctPbOYFFN4BcGGUkYZX9vr_sBmKgWqG7625xoj2Hdj4HBFK3cVuNrknYWdgxMioQawi4q70NSJ1QoD5_8XrqtOKSajuC_l8Xbvmls_mIBLDjw/s1600/Prague+216.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" l6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgClsKB48RakcORERXBd2F0m6ejCOzgi6-ctPbOYFFN4BcGGUkYZX9vr_sBmKgWqG7625xoj2Hdj4HBFK3cVuNrknYWdgxMioQawi4q70NSJ1QoD5_8XrqtOKSajuC_l8Xbvmls_mIBLDjw/s320/Prague+216.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking up to the ceiling</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixH0kyvCY_p6iXoiR3UzpwBZPA53mII2oeFr9vE9GplKxBTVrFgKRIpvMSCkT3wXvmJAv7gwYNzgft5AFHmwz5pf_UiVwIQwdg47mMi3QGFhpUGjLuaZwMXLT4gyDSofz-k5KtvpyDRgf4/s1600/Prague+184.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320px" l6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixH0kyvCY_p6iXoiR3UzpwBZPA53mII2oeFr9vE9GplKxBTVrFgKRIpvMSCkT3wXvmJAv7gwYNzgft5AFHmwz5pf_UiVwIQwdg47mMi3QGFhpUGjLuaZwMXLT4gyDSofz-k5KtvpyDRgf4/s320/Prague+184.JPG" width="240px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Large chalice</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil8YFjhT36z_ZQ0o_xq08O-XIwkO9UI3SeGc8Sy6NJWn5-TedyNOBNooDRhgGlELT03HJAOB5LmKwfyXKTp_lzWW1HW0OyCPElLWjhZwIsivm-atmVN7lqAdEuDJWUp0IqfbdBbjvLscpl/s1600/Signature.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320px" l6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil8YFjhT36z_ZQ0o_xq08O-XIwkO9UI3SeGc8Sy6NJWn5-TedyNOBNooDRhgGlELT03HJAOB5LmKwfyXKTp_lzWW1HW0OyCPElLWjhZwIsivm-atmVN7lqAdEuDJWUp0IqfbdBbjvLscpl/s320/Signature.JPG" width="239px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The artist's signature</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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So, what to do after looking at all of those bones? Eat, of course! We found a Bohemian tavern/restaurant in Kutná Hora called <a href="http://www.dacicky.com/en">Dačický</a> and it didn't disappoint. The atmosphere was wonderful as we tucked into a cozy corner booth. We ordered our beer and a giant platter of pork, potatoes, and sauerkraut and discussed the events of the day. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-F9MJhslunlmEB_EO-KvX7NDT-wcuE8FT44OObTbAj5uCSsBGAX5EyOwVmMpHW0sfD4TZ-u_lHtzQubwkP_bfJqEmUMQzAwblfF0mdrwuAvN0Gp6JrbGGPXWzheyQfJtt8idnRb6o9Z87/s1600/Prague+269.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240px" l6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-F9MJhslunlmEB_EO-KvX7NDT-wcuE8FT44OObTbAj5uCSsBGAX5EyOwVmMpHW0sfD4TZ-u_lHtzQubwkP_bfJqEmUMQzAwblfF0mdrwuAvN0Gp6JrbGGPXWzheyQfJtt8idnRb6o9Z87/s320/Prague+269.JPG" width="320px" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pork knuckle, ham, sausage, sauerkraut, potato pancakes, and pickles all for us!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">We had a wonderful time in Prague and it is yet another city that we can't wait to explore when the temperatures are above freezing. I don't think that's asking too much, do you? We didn't even hit the tip of the iceberg (no pun intended) of the beauty and history that Prague has to offer, so we will be going back! </div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Sharihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202628714904607855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2416929396606342341.post-28338731444160672972011-02-08T20:39:00.000+01:002011-02-08T20:39:02.321+01:00The Not So Super SuperbowlWell, this past Sunday was part recovery (we had a big birthday celebration on Saturday night) and part anticipation, on my part anyway. The Pittsburgh Steelers were playing in the Superbowl and I was very excited. For those of you who don't know...I was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and I lived there until I was 12 years old. Even though we moved to Florida and I went to middle and high school there, I still have a strong allegiance to Pittsburgh. I guess part of the reason is because my whole family is from there and I was the only one to grow up outside of Pittsburgh. This allegiance is especially true when it comes to professional sports teams. I love, love, love the Steelers, the Penguins, and the Pirates and I never considered rooting for any other football, hockey, or baseball team in my whole life. I have very fond memories of watching all of these teams play on TV with my dad in our house in Pittsburgh and it just reminds me of my childhood. There's just something about all of that black and gold that I can't get enough of!<br />
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Since we have the lovely time difference to deal with, Rick and I took a nap and set the alarm for 12:15 am so we could be up for the 12:30 am Superbowl kick-off. As we settled in and started to watch, we weren't sure what happened to poor Christina Aguilera who decided to forget the words to the National Anthem (!) and then it was time for the coin toss. For Pittsburgh's past 2 Superbowls I have worn my Roethlisberger jersey with pride and it seemed to help because the Steelers won. This year however, I opted for my Steelers sweatshirt instead just out of comfort. I have been (secretly) hoping ever since that I didn't single-handedly bring down the Steelers since I wasn't wearing my lucky jersey! I certainly hope that is not the case because that is just too much guilt for me to carry around...<br />
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As we watched the game and watched my poor Steelers not quite getting it all together, we lamented over the fact that we don't get to see any of the fun Superbowl commercials here. We get our American TV from something called the Armed Forces Network (AFN). It's satellite TV that is operated through the Armed Forces and it's available to soldiers and some civilians (like us) in countries around the world. We have about 5 channels and we get sports, news, and TV shows from the United States. Since it is operated by the Armed Forces, they are not authorized to play commercials from advertisers in the States. So, we have commercials that are produced by the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines and they are some of the worst commercials ever known to man. They range from topics like not getting yourself into gambling debt, not drinking too much, and don't shake your baby, to don't tape the pin on your hand grenades and how to get down and cover your head if you think that your building is going to be hit my some sort of incoming explosive. I wish I was making all of this up but I am not. We endure the painful commercials so we can actually watch some television shows from the States. We have the option of German cable which involves having MTV and CNN as the only English speaking channels, so we end up watching alot of AFN.<br />
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The lack of Superbowl commercials led me to think about some of the other things that miss from the good 'ole USA. There are things that you would never think you would miss while living in a foreign country. Of course there are the usual suspects like Target, Macy's and Publix grocery store that just the very thought of can make me sigh, but I'm talking about strange things that you wouldn't automatically think about. Things like:<br />
<ul><li>Drive-up ATM machines-I don't consider myself a lazy person at all but there is just something about staying in my car to get some cash when it's freezing, snowing, and/or slushy that very much appeals to me.</li>
<li>Food delivery-There are times when we would pay a million dollars (or Euro) to have someone bring some take-out food to our house. Chinese food, pizza, chicken wings, salads, anything! We have one restaurant in our town that will deliver. Their menu is supposed to be Mexican food, but corn, green beans, peas, and carrots are not necessary in my chicken burrito, thank you. As you can probably tell we don't frequent that establishment too often, so there really is no need for their delivery services. </li>
<li>Automatic garage door openers-This wonderful invention doesn't seem to have made it's mark in Germany quite like it has in the States. Again, when it's snowing, raining, sleeting, freezing, or any type of inclement weather, I would love to just drive into a garage without having to get out of the warm car to unlock and open the garage door. We only have a one car garage, so a two-car garage can also be added to this list (that's not really a Germany-wide problem though, it's just our house, so I won't put it on the list).</li>
<li>Stores open on Sunday or past 8:00 at night-I have gotten used to this one, however it doesn't mean that I still don't miss having the option there in case I need it. There are times on a Sunday afternoon when I would love to just stop by the grocery store and buy a few things, but that just isn't going to happen.</li>
<li>Picking up the phone without thinking of the time difference-If we are going to make a phone call to anyone in the States, then we are forced to do math. I hate math. Even if it's the simplest of equations to figure out what time it is in a certain part of United States. I usually end up not calling because once I've done the math, I realize that it's either too early or too late.</li>
<li>Round door knobs-This one sounds crazy, but it's true. All of the door handles here are flat levers instead of round knobs. They are actually helpful when you have something in your hands because you can use your arm or your elbow to open the door. In our house however, they are not helpful since we have a dog that is like the great <em>Harry Houdini</em>. She is smart enough to open the door handles while home alone. Because of this we have to lock the kitchen door since she will simply help herself to mass quantities of any food she likes and she'll make quite a mess while doing it. We also have to double lock the door to our apartment because <em>'Jersey Houdini'</em> will let herself out of the house and wait for us or the family that lives downstairs out in the hallway. All of this could be avoided with round door knobs.</li>
</ul>As you can probably tell, I could go on with list forever. I will stop complaining because there are many more reasons to be thankful that we get to live here than there are silly things that I miss having.<br />
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We have some fun trips planned in the coming weeks, so keep an eye out for more posts with pictures from our adventures!Sharihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202628714904607855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2416929396606342341.post-27819628880845333832011-01-19T21:43:00.001+01:002011-01-22T11:14:03.846+01:00Nürnberg for the New Year!So here we are in 2011! We are beginning a new year which always makes me full of hope for good things to come. Like most people a new year always gives me a nice feeling of renewal. I've never really been a person that partakes in resolutions. I just believe in having a new mindset that comes along with a new year. Besides, I wouldn't stick to resolutions anyway because I don't like being told what to do (even if I am the one doing the telling-ha!).<br />
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We enjoyed ringing in the new year in Nürnberg. We spend a lot of time there on the weekends, but we've never actually celebrated a New Year's Eve there. We took the 2:00 pm train to Nürnberg on New Year's Eve. The train ride is almost an hour with one stop to change trains in a nearby town. The train from our little town was late getting to the stop where we had to change, so we had to wait about 30 minutes for the next train. There is a little tiny bar/Italian restaurant in the train station that is run by one of the biggest Greek men that I've ever seen (yes, I know that's weird), and he was nice enough to accommodate us with a beer while we waited. There were 7 of us all together and we arrived in Nürnberg just a little bit later than expected.<br />
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We hurried through the slush and snow to check into our hotel, stopped by the Irish pub to drop off a gift, and then headed to the steakhouse for our dinner reservation. We were very excited to try this particular restaurant (a place called Eku Inn) since it has been recommended to us by more than a few people. We were very happy to be out of the cold and snow as we settled into our seats and perused the menu. At this point I started to panic slightly because all I could see were beef, bison, and lamb. (This is where I might need to give you some background...I am <em>extremely</em> meat weird. I really don't know why or even when it even started, but I cannot even think about eating a big slab of beef in the form of a steak. I will however eat a McDonald's cheeseburger or an occasional hamburger from the grill, but only if it's cooked to resemble a hockey puck. I have never claimed that there is any rhyme or reason to my meat weirdness and I don't judge any one else for eating it. I'm not trying to take some social stand or make any point whatsoever with my aversion to meat. I'm just a weirdo, that's all!) Anyway, on the menu, all of the fish choices were covered up with a 'specials' card that was just more meat choices. The waiter was nice enough to inform me that the fish dishes were not an option for the evening. So, I ended up eating meatball soup (I ate the broth and Rick at the meatballs), a very delicious salad with a skewer of grilled shrimp on top, and more garlic bread than any one person should ever eat. It actually turned out to be an excellent meal. Rick had a bison steak that <em>looked </em>nice to me and Rick confirmed that it was absolutely tender and delicious.<br />
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After dinner, we headed back out into the snow storm to head to O'Sheas Irish Pub. This is one of our two favorite Irish pubs in Nürnberg. We had a table reserved and we were planning on spending the evening tucked into a fun round table in the back of the pub. We decided however, that since they weren't going to have any live music that we would make our way over to Finnegan's Irish Pub to spend the remainder of the evening. The two pubs are owned by the same people and we always have a welcoming waiter or waitress that we've come to know well through all of our time spent there. We got to Finnegan's and found that our three favorite people were working. John and Niall, who are two cousins from Ireland (and two of the skinniest boys you will ever meet!) and Monja (a fiesty yet wonderful girl from Poland) were there for the night. There was a small band (2 guys) set up in the corner and they started to play around 9:00 pm. We had a wonderful time drinking and dancing the night away!<br />
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Midnight came and we all hugged and kissed and kept the celebration going. Monja grabbed me and said "let's go outside-the bar is closed for 5 minutes!" and we ran up the stairs leading to the outside to watch the fireworks display. This was not a city-sponsored fireworks event or anything close to it. Here's a fun little tidbit about Germany-New Year's Eve fireworks are insane! This is the only time that fireworks are legal for the general population and the Germans buy them up like they're lives are depending on it.. At midnight they proceed to shoot them off all in the same place which ends up making any city that you are celebrating in seem like a war zone. This is precisely why I got hit with a bottle rocket last New Year's Eve and caught on fire. Maybe I will tell that story in a future post.<br />
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All in all we had a wonderful time and I'm very happy that we were able to ring in the New Year with good friends in a city that has come to feel like home. I'm looking forward to 2011 and all of the opportunities that it may bring.<br />
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Happy New Year everyone!Sharihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202628714904607855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2416929396606342341.post-56911085669697523442010-12-28T21:18:00.002+01:002011-01-13T15:44:45.942+01:00Christmas, Snow, Snow, and More SnowWell, Christmas came and went this year and was very quiet for us. None of our gifts for each other or our packages from our families (with the exception of one-thank you Pam!) made it in time for Christmas morning. I was sick on Christmas eve and Christmas day so it wasn't too exciting in the Brown house this year. We did manage to have turkey, stuffing, and green bean casserole, so at least it tasted like Christmas. I attempted a sweet potato pie that didn't bake too well in our lovely German oven. We had chocolate covered raisins for desert, which was actually fine with us. We're hoping that all of our packages will arrive this week and we'll be able to celebrate Christmas by the time New Year's Eve arrives. <br />
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Truth be told, I had trouble finding my Christmas spirit this year. Normally I have no problem being the happiest, Christmasiest (I made up that word!?!) person around so this is new to me. The holidays were made for me - I love to entertain at our house and of course I love to go to parties, so I'm used to having a warm, fuzzy feeling in my soul during this time of year.<br />
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Germany is always beautifully decorated and brimming with Weihnacht (Christmas) cheer, we have plenty of good friends to celebrate with, we have a million things to be thankful for, and my husband is home which warms my heart in every way. So, for all intents and purposes, all of the ingredients of a good Christmas were there. It just seems as if something or someone was <em>missing</em> this year. My normal warm, fuzzy feeling was hiding somewhere and I wasn't able to find it. If you see it, please return it to me as soon as possible because it feels terrible not having it!<br />
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I do realize that lack of Christmas spirit isn't exactly the worst thing that could happen to a person in life, so I'll move on ;-) My outlook has already improved and I'm looking forward to a wonderful New Year's Eve celebration. We will be spending it in Nürnberg this year. We have hotel rooms booked, reservations for dinner at a highly recommended steakhouse (of course I'll be eating something that either flies or swims), and reservations at our favorite Irish pub with some good friends. I am so much more excited about our plans this year than I was last year. Our plans fell through at the 11th hour last year and that set off a chain of events that culminated with me flaming up like a Roman candle after being hit by a stray bottle rocket just after midnight. NOT this year, I promise you!!<br />
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On to the second part of this post...SNOW! I recently found out the meaning of snow. It apparently stands for <em>S**t No One Wants</em>. Ha! I knew it! We have more snow this year than we've had the whole time we've been in Germany. There's more than a foot on the ground and it just keeps coming. In the past years, it seems like the cities/towns cleaned the roads quickly any time it snowed and there really wasn't any problem. This year, however (I've heard rumors of budget cuts in the towns) they just aren't clearing the roads very often. It's been quite a lot of fun sliding all over in the car (that's sarcasm in case you were wondering).<br />
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Yesterday I made it home from work only to discover that the little bit of snow the city did plow was now piled up at the entrance to our street. My car with the supposed 'all season' tires decided that was too much snow and proceeded to get stuck. I called Rick at the same time two of our neighbors came out of their house to help. I told them in my best Deutsch that my husband was coming down the street to help. This apparently gave them the impression that I am a fluent German speaker and the older of the two men proceeded to yell directions in German while they tried to push my car. I made a futile attempt to explain that I could only speak a little German and he needed to speak slowly so I could understand. As this was taking place, I looked up to see Rick running down our street in his slippers (that are decidedly not meant for running through snow) and Jersey galloping along next to him to my rescue. The German man was still yelling his indecipherable instructions at the top of his lungs, so in my brain, the only logical thing I could do was get out of the car and tell Rick "you're driving"! Jersey and I then stood in the neighbor's driveway while his wife told me in German that they saw me having trouble through their living room window and that's why they were so quick to help. (As a side note, I understood everything she said because she wasn't frantically shouting it at the top of her lungs. See how that works?) As the men were pushing the car, Rick tried backing up across the main road to get a running start at the snow pile. Well, that didn't work, so now he was stuck cross-ways blocking both sides of the main road. That of course made traffic on both sides of the road come to a stand-still. Enter random motorist who had to stop in the middle of the road to avoid hitting our stuck car. He joins the push (begrudgingly of course) and Rick jumps out of the car and commands me to get back into the driver's seat. Jersey and I comply and Rick joins in the push. That's when the Little Maxima That Could decided to finally cooperate and start off down the road to our house. Needless to say, I wanted no part of driving the Maxima to work this morning, so Rick took it. I was happy as a lark (apparently larks are extremely happy) in our old 1991 BMW with the barely working heat and defrost this morning because it's 'all season' tires actually work.<br />
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If there is more of this in store for us this winter, we might be in some trouble So far, the only plan I have is to look online for a nice, gently used dog sled team that needs a good home for the winter. Do you think I'll be able to find one on eBay?<br />
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I will leave you with some photos of the beautiful, yet highly frustrating white stuff.<br />
Happy New Year everyone!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyBwoG2GfGdCkLc0MNCZR-gNtg617safrmo9NUK3Ni6GDY9vi43WsuA749HXkraCuWErClKBjaJcMyzOqX6u-490s6LQQUUgiFl4wT8bf1WkENLIiwoFSGccAmdO9H2aQ9y3GFt7t0pbRQ/s320/Snow+Dec+25+004.JPG" width="320" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Jersey might need some longer legs!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg7-Vre5se0tzLgiwy3J5k-PxubgFcnrGsbju-R9GfSR7JKfF6M-QbibMQFDV3H0Nnht89asZMg0RYZXn0zAHrFQQGIO5yyYtMJXWLPUBS0BWFq4h3LOF9a4FfqtN0y5l2S6Yk1nbJ0FWC/s1600/Snow+Dec+25+012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg7-Vre5se0tzLgiwy3J5k-PxubgFcnrGsbju-R9GfSR7JKfF6M-QbibMQFDV3H0Nnht89asZMg0RYZXn0zAHrFQQGIO5yyYtMJXWLPUBS0BWFq4h3LOF9a4FfqtN0y5l2S6Yk1nbJ0FWC/s320/Snow+Dec+25+012.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div align="center">The Maxima buried in snow across from our front door</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw76IepVb-b0lbb9GYZtGKzuGMxMcWXekphDErIKnieqSYorgTMNsanndun5S-8tz6YCbDE7YG4iAf-xZiCU7gM5vz70ZnAX2SHepV2pCC38Q828dJbPsFJQfHggQXa9Tpq9OXv7s6bt8t/s1600/Snow+Dec+25+013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw76IepVb-b0lbb9GYZtGKzuGMxMcWXekphDErIKnieqSYorgTMNsanndun5S-8tz6YCbDE7YG4iAf-xZiCU7gM5vz70ZnAX2SHepV2pCC38Q828dJbPsFJQfHggQXa9Tpq9OXv7s6bt8t/s320/Snow+Dec+25+013.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div align="center">Our house</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR6v3JDQ61RHzp_8nIzmE5fIS8rv4S-5_5ikm43B_Ou41P1RgbcK1xrhYSv4GTHCztkyHXSb0d5sZpJXLTfwdKIw6EfW4RySUsRkcHNohxM3QfGwg546mS2f_mujns9w6rNNeNOQ2ldPmJ/s1600/Snow+Dec+25+017.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR6v3JDQ61RHzp_8nIzmE5fIS8rv4S-5_5ikm43B_Ou41P1RgbcK1xrhYSv4GTHCztkyHXSb0d5sZpJXLTfwdKIw6EfW4RySUsRkcHNohxM3QfGwg546mS2f_mujns9w6rNNeNOQ2ldPmJ/s320/Snow+Dec+25+017.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div align="center">I don't think I would sit in the snow, but she doesn't seem to mind</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL_2SwRsRnZ1d9hVeFqHOwFIU7d4EEaxe1Qd5Cg44SzXYeGgIG3vVukXqieK2cTlyJskMUrmD-n_bZe1pS1RWirar-wpLI_EfznwBRyv05QVlgkM0N5M5wcn21VD49N8n9VD6SeYzXM4UT/s1600/Snow+Dec+25+018.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL_2SwRsRnZ1d9hVeFqHOwFIU7d4EEaxe1Qd5Cg44SzXYeGgIG3vVukXqieK2cTlyJskMUrmD-n_bZe1pS1RWirar-wpLI_EfznwBRyv05QVlgkM0N5M5wcn21VD49N8n9VD6SeYzXM4UT/s320/Snow+Dec+25+018.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Day dreaming about chasing snow bunnies...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFJeuoComklqeVVB3I29IbAdQXugdiqOTsElsmlU2GFie3JwUvsL94T-2p09AkZmNYz7hxItuszSsBmQZ0yfbNL6yTmAvXXuvyIBI76gbFW0Xn-RUIWqbmCOFNacBx5TJEdyz_hw45Bc0D/s1600/Snow+Dec+25+019.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFJeuoComklqeVVB3I29IbAdQXugdiqOTsElsmlU2GFie3JwUvsL94T-2p09AkZmNYz7hxItuszSsBmQZ0yfbNL6yTmAvXXuvyIBI76gbFW0Xn-RUIWqbmCOFNacBx5TJEdyz_hw45Bc0D/s320/Snow+Dec+25+019.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The walking path behind our house</div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMK8aj1G3Z4uPbHDJhW6E1549UBC81pHAuUcb5D2TJDK8ah1seYF0hnaTTtL4krSfM6QiqlTPE9VPir8WmiXSeUP9i4s0GqC0Tb3mjWNXuo-sY5SMIDpCYb1cNUMV2mMUvrS2AxcvqXZ3y/s1600/Snow+Dec+25+027.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMK8aj1G3Z4uPbHDJhW6E1549UBC81pHAuUcb5D2TJDK8ah1seYF0hnaTTtL4krSfM6QiqlTPE9VPir8WmiXSeUP9i4s0GqC0Tb3mjWNXuo-sY5SMIDpCYb1cNUMV2mMUvrS2AxcvqXZ3y/s320/Snow+Dec+25+027.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNi1OufBtmpc7Z8tC7494taDan9RvL3IMAaYnzSKcH0izHBEbGn_e6qGJ3fMSLsE2kYmid1bZZEIYbEBsrHlPkN5BWW1wRpHwXej41g95VhB8tE9wUOrw3lDvuNBnamcb-_ycBMLpuNrOJ/s1600/Snow+Dec+25+030.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNi1OufBtmpc7Z8tC7494taDan9RvL3IMAaYnzSKcH0izHBEbGn_e6qGJ3fMSLsE2kYmid1bZZEIYbEBsrHlPkN5BWW1wRpHwXej41g95VhB8tE9wUOrw3lDvuNBnamcb-_ycBMLpuNrOJ/s320/Snow+Dec+25+030.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div align="center">I almost lost my feet in the snow!</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdnRXQFhUAvxyn9pf34gL5xXhrfV7AZMDTCg3s2f5bgq66os9bxYHAg4rpZsU0OZJEC4RD4pOCZZ8ps18doVqe8AV78PVRMlKgMVU6ss1h5pgeUzh9dpk7RUXaxHGza52jVmMMYGCgwCM5/s1600/Snow+Dec+25+028.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdnRXQFhUAvxyn9pf34gL5xXhrfV7AZMDTCg3s2f5bgq66os9bxYHAg4rpZsU0OZJEC4RD4pOCZZ8ps18doVqe8AV78PVRMlKgMVU6ss1h5pgeUzh9dpk7RUXaxHGza52jVmMMYGCgwCM5/s320/Snow+Dec+25+028.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjECu9GjrYmreZGUpLTOhoVk9sTRVj0XPwNfrZ4c59I7h40CR64ZCvQJeY3ardjtDQlg7GHscLtSVhxZSvOKE4OXiHAQ0J0424R86WTqKbOEo9Cb7rNuEJ4-nFYJlGO1jUgFS8ceVcVJ2vb/s1600/Snow+Dec+25+036.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjECu9GjrYmreZGUpLTOhoVk9sTRVj0XPwNfrZ4c59I7h40CR64ZCvQJeY3ardjtDQlg7GHscLtSVhxZSvOKE4OXiHAQ0J0424R86WTqKbOEo9Cb7rNuEJ4-nFYJlGO1jUgFS8ceVcVJ2vb/s320/Snow+Dec+25+036.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Standing at our front door looking to the right down our street</div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_-DC0FlhBqWfh8HMLufR7Qz8Nf1IYPi1lm5VS-ckTpVVhYg6fGhvzEyZ7cEbCV0UGIZKpSEUcJLGyxOYEXgNSt2N3pTLBVxcLfViQ2b9vRrVYHfjWwDaQQ6Rmhs106jEXKBryKilNuz-f/s1600/Snow+Dec+25+037.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_-DC0FlhBqWfh8HMLufR7Qz8Nf1IYPi1lm5VS-ckTpVVhYg6fGhvzEyZ7cEbCV0UGIZKpSEUcJLGyxOYEXgNSt2N3pTLBVxcLfViQ2b9vRrVYHfjWwDaQQ6Rmhs106jEXKBryKilNuz-f/s320/Snow+Dec+25+037.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Our house is on the left</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMJ7mlgxFDpiM8t_vj160I274Dhx6aYlfVNG4M32p02SE9gaOlZpm2fhcIx5nWklo4khRfZ7Z7zekBMYXIHRILg1D4yLy2ADhitNJ7eCB1qdEvrxhCQ-LVj9EDbGy7acJ_ifCGdDD0t1IZ/s1600/Snow+Dec+25+038.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMJ7mlgxFDpiM8t_vj160I274Dhx6aYlfVNG4M32p02SE9gaOlZpm2fhcIx5nWklo4khRfZ7Z7zekBMYXIHRILg1D4yLy2ADhitNJ7eCB1qdEvrxhCQ-LVj9EDbGy7acJ_ifCGdDD0t1IZ/s320/Snow+Dec+25+038.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Looking down our street toward the main road</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div align="center" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Sharihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202628714904607855noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2416929396606342341.post-80884797784774029642010-12-06T23:05:00.002+01:002010-12-07T09:56:08.178+01:00Switzerland and France for Thanksgiving!<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Well, it has been a while since we got to take a vacation, so over the Thanksgiving break we decided to go to Switzerland and France with some good friends (Shea, Joel, Hannah, and Trent).</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKh9z6mWBFkwqp5TeMkVKnkK3yAw9cYRkNoY77EwnEVHYx7QN8cfnSEsxszuCY0qyca0v2wuyzUV8SW4t0KtHkM-oDqQysAO_Hc7WWxj5XM-JpsrXdZscNl0hUjimUC2LLAlXPzbtPsuXC/s1600/Switzerland+021.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKh9z6mWBFkwqp5TeMkVKnkK3yAw9cYRkNoY77EwnEVHYx7QN8cfnSEsxszuCY0qyca0v2wuyzUV8SW4t0KtHkM-oDqQysAO_Hc7WWxj5XM-JpsrXdZscNl0hUjimUC2LLAlXPzbtPsuXC/s320/Switzerland+021.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: left;"> Trent and Hannah on the left and Shea and Joel on the right</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"> </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">We set out on Thursday morning to<strong> </strong>Zürich, Switzerland with the girls in one car and the boys in the other. Of course it was freezing and snowing but that didn't stop us (the girls anyway) from chatting away and eating all of the yummy car snacks that we packed. After a few GPS related mishaps we made it to our hotel just outside of the city of Zürich. We enjoyed a few glasses of wine in our hotel before making our way to the tram/streetcar stop that was about a 10 minute walk from our hotel. Let me say that I am in love with any city that has some sort of organized, easy to use, public transportation and Zürich did not disappoint. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjH7CGm26NukYpoXH4vfWasNZnq-pKTkjL7erMvf4YlcPaCe04Ej8SXEJbnzaQCdOQTHyjRqb5GnP51HTc1RvlOlJSVWAm68TTyysW5fh_daqxRyHtrkCtQYPDOm-dXpF2e88ap4lqpEcV/s1600/Switzerland+024.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjH7CGm26NukYpoXH4vfWasNZnq-pKTkjL7erMvf4YlcPaCe04Ej8SXEJbnzaQCdOQTHyjRqb5GnP51HTc1RvlOlJSVWAm68TTyysW5fh_daqxRyHtrkCtQYPDOm-dXpF2e88ap4lqpEcV/s320/Switzerland+024.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">It was extremely easy to navigate the city while our cars stayed in the hotel parking lot. We had a wonderful dinner (for Thanksgiving) at <a href="http://www.diningcity.com/zurich/restaurantreithalle/index_eng.jsp">Restaurant Reithalle</a> which used to be a horse stable. The walls are still lined with the feeding troughs for the horses. I had an amazing gnocchi with pumpkin sauce which I will dream about for years to come. Rick had a seafood linguine which ended up being a lot of work to pull the mussels out of their shells, but well worth the effort. We ended our evening at a cozy bar that served us some nice cold Heineken while we watched the snow fall outside (wishing that we didn't have to go back out into it)!</div><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The next day (Friday) we toured around Zürich and visited the <a href="http://www.zuerich.com/en/page.cfm/zurich/culture/design_architecture?category=ZurichZH&subcat=Churches&id=5009">Grossmünster Church</a>. Before we went into the church, we stopped out by the river to take some pictures and it really started to snow. As we were standing there looking at the river and the beautiful old buildings in the middle of the blizzard, someone (I think it was Hannah) said that she felt like she was in a real life snow globe! It couldn't have been more true. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">We climbed the church tower and took some pictures. It was beautiful but very snowy, so I would love to do it again in the spring or summer. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">That night, Hannah and Trent headed off to meet her college friend and her husband for dinner. Rick and I along with Joel and Shea jumped on the train to a city called Winterthur to attend the Taste of Chaos concert. It was 4 bands-Halestorm, Buckcherry (my favorite!), Papa Roach, and Disturbed. We had a great time at the concert and we even got to meet Buckcherry and take a picture with the lead singer (Josh Todd)! </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">On Saturday we shopped around Zürich at little bit more and then headed off to Strasbourg, France. We took the snowy drive through the mountains fairly slow and ended up getting to Strasbourg after dark. We were staying in a hostel that turned out to be not so easy to find, so it took us a lot of driving back and forth from Germany into France and back again before we actually found it. Luckily we met an American guy at our hostel who was nice enough to show us the bus and tram to take us into the city. We walked around the Christmas market and then found a wonderful Italian restaurant for dinner. It was warm and they had plenty of wine, so we were happy! The only unfortunate event involved Hannah's white coat. It was redesigned with red wine spots thanks to a lovely French family that was completely oblivious to the fact that their toddler was running loose in the restaurant wreaking havoc. Ugh!</div><br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">We made it back to the hostel that night and we were split in two rooms-the boys room and the girls room. It really felt like we were at camp, so Hannah, Shea, and I had a good time giggling like we were teenagers before we fell asleep. We could hear lots of snoring coming from the boys room across the hall, so we were very happy to have a room all to ourselves!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSmNHTAONtC7Om1S_76LpN17ophiH6SN0UUimQBv5Fl497_PnaGOglITAJ18LUUpCcJYEQngjtdLGkPP8kIfVnlfDrKh_zLX589kOkh5x1fJukPeedktTtbwaWC9HA5YjJZXjWh5-JZGek/s1600/Switzerland+161.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSmNHTAONtC7Om1S_76LpN17ophiH6SN0UUimQBv5Fl497_PnaGOglITAJ18LUUpCcJYEQngjtdLGkPP8kIfVnlfDrKh_zLX589kOkh5x1fJukPeedktTtbwaWC9HA5YjJZXjWh5-JZGek/s320/Switzerland+161.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The next morning we went back into the city of Strasbourg to shop a little more in the Christmas markets and explore the city. It turned out to be an absolutely beautiful city that we will be visiting again. It's only about a 3 hour drive for us and I can't wait to see all that the city has to offer when I'm not frozen to the bone! I am happy however that we did get to see it at Christmas time. I'm fairly sure that Christmas was invented in Europe. I say this because it's so beautiful with the snow and the Christmas decorations are always so beautiful and tasteful-just like the pages of a story book.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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To sum it all up, Zürich was incredibly amazing and also incredibly expensive. We won't be able to visit there very often, but I'm glad that we were able to experience it. Strasbourg was a beautiful treasure of a city and we will be going back there for a visit as soon as Spring comes along! We had such a wonderful time enjoying new places with good friends. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I will say that I am so very thankful for my family, friends, and the amazing opportunities that I've been given in this life...<br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Sharihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202628714904607855noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2416929396606342341.post-25866008591277016602010-11-09T21:25:00.005+01:002010-11-10T11:07:03.453+01:00Technology<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The other night as we were sitting at home on the couch (in Germany, of course) watching some TV, my phone chimed telling me that I had a text message. It was my brother Doug sending me a picture of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. A few minutes later another message came through and it was a picture from Doug of the Eiffel Tower. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIOylPtVN2c0obomvwbhRj93r-V7xEx4ywIu_xnd159C6EV2m_RUg7gAo-FQykC9kmG6ftIU_uMJ38OGJ-KiQ7daZzSQBhLwPGvBVOA2sUcH7EuCZxdqdylZDU-Bn2UzWXzfu8BGLAw9HH/s1600/Pictures+683.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIOylPtVN2c0obomvwbhRj93r-V7xEx4ywIu_xnd159C6EV2m_RUg7gAo-FQykC9kmG6ftIU_uMJ38OGJ-KiQ7daZzSQBhLwPGvBVOA2sUcH7EuCZxdqdylZDU-Bn2UzWXzfu8BGLAw9HH/s200/Pictures+683.jpg" width="200" /></a> We visited there a few years ago and it was one of my favorite vacations since we've been in Europe, so I was happy that my brother was getting to experience the wonder that is Paris. We exchanged some messages about how beautiful the city is and how lucky he was to be settling into his dinner and drinks in the City of Light. </div><br />
<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPj0JeIkHocxqkKme9PbkiwhVxVvljN0UeIF7CQJn-t4qogeNKCM98y-6FLzWZm9IVtuIrUc2YteyzRCRTtQRgoB4LlyVlT9NVla8AcS0AG-9QtDBSDBMXBjESr-tMX5fK9jmtShijbI6Y/s1600/Pictures+703.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPj0JeIkHocxqkKme9PbkiwhVxVvljN0UeIF7CQJn-t4qogeNKCM98y-6FLzWZm9IVtuIrUc2YteyzRCRTtQRgoB4LlyVlT9NVla8AcS0AG-9QtDBSDBMXBjESr-tMX5fK9jmtShijbI6Y/s200/Pictures+703.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">The following weekend, as Rick and I sat with some friends in one of our favorite Irish pubs in Nürnberg, my phone chimed again. This time it was Doug sending a picture from the Sting concert in Madrid, Spain. I immediately expressed my envy (via text) and we had a fun exchange of messages involving some of the silly things that my brothers did with the lyrics of a few Sting/Police songs while we were growing up. Even from a young age, I remember bonding with my brothers over music, so I had to text my brother Butch to let him know that he should be jealous of where Doug was at that moment. Butch was traveling somewhere in the States and we exchanged some funny messages at the exact same time I was also texting with Doug in Madrid. I did all of this while sitting in a cozy pub in Germany on a random October Saturday night. Crazy, isn't it? </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzJ1NUhB4MBPP0cfueSi_hXUfOWkfzZlgnSLGRemsPoaRAhmjuTtQVYL9WZtHKIg-_6NUTmqJMRdySbN21WpzB4Tyblijogs52x0cWV9dCNJuN92n8Q8t2dD1mhfi_77_NH_dm7u6wviaJ/s1600/Pictures+701.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzJ1NUhB4MBPP0cfueSi_hXUfOWkfzZlgnSLGRemsPoaRAhmjuTtQVYL9WZtHKIg-_6NUTmqJMRdySbN21WpzB4Tyblijogs52x0cWV9dCNJuN92n8Q8t2dD1mhfi_77_NH_dm7u6wviaJ/s200/Pictures+701.jpg" width="150" /></a>This past Saturday, as I sat in the same Irish pub in Nürnberg (yes, we spend a lot of time there-don't judge) my phone chimed again. This time it was a picture from Butch. It was my cousin Karen and her dog sitting by the lake in her small town in Texas. I responded with a picture of Rick and I holding up our pints of Guinness and we chatted via text about him coming to visit. I told him to give my love to our cousin and her husband and enjoy relaxing by the lake.<br />
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</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I say all of this because if you sit back and think about it for just a minute, technology is amazing. We use it so often that it is just second nature. We don't even blink an eye when we get a picture from across the world on something so small that it fits into our pockets. It keeps us connected with our family and friends in a split second even though we are all worlds away from each other. </div><br />
I do realize that things were just fine before we had all of this technology at our disposal. I remember when I was a senior in college, I went to visit Doug and his wife Susan while they were living in Tokyo, Japan. This was before I even had an e-mail address, let alone a 'smart phone', so those were not among our communication options. I still have the actual letter that Susan wrote and mailed to me before my visit outlining everything I needed to know before and after I arrived in Japan. I doubt that I would have kept an e-mail after all of these years, and it's always so much fun to reminisce when I come across that letter.<br />
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However, since I do live halfway across the world from my family and most of my friends, I am <em>very</em> thankful for the technology that we have at our fingertips. I can't imagine being so far away and not being able to communicate in the manner that I've become accustomed. So thank you iPhone, e-mail, Facebook, Skype, and Blogspot for keeping us in touch with all of the people that mean the most to us. I will continue to use all of you wonderful inventions until something new and improved comes along!Sharihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202628714904607855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2416929396606342341.post-50245195198012202042010-11-01T21:51:00.014+01:002010-12-22T09:31:45.910+01:00October RecapIt's already the first of November. Where has this year gone?<br />
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October was a pretty eventful month for us, so I decided to write a little recap:<br />
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We went to Oktoberfest for the third year in a row!<br />
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2008 2009 <br />
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We celebrated our 7 year wedding anniversary (wow)! It sure doesn't feel like it's been 7 years. Rick would say that he's sure it's been at least 7 1/2 (he thinks he's funny)! <br />
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One of my top five favorite bands, Kings of Leon, released a new album which makes me very happy!<br />
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I went to see the movie 'Eat Pray Love' with my girlfriends. I read the book a few years ago and I really enjoyed it and the movie did it justice. I always worry about that when I see a movie after I've read the book.<br />
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We celebrated our friend's birthday (and the fact that he's home from Iraq) with a fun night at the Irish pub in Nurnberg.<br />
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We got the WONDERFUL news that Rick will be working near home for the first time in a whole year!! We also got the news that someone would like to rent our house in the States which feels like a huge weight has been lifted from our shoulders.<br />
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We ended the month by having a BBQ and lots of laughs with some good friends.<br />
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Speaking of laughs, Jersey gives us plenty of them, so I wanted to share some videos with you.<br />
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She LOVES our landlord's German clothes dryer. When it's running she rubs herself all over it and we've seen it about a hundred times and it's always funny. We call it 'dog nip' which is the equivalent to cat nip in our book!<br />
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She also loves to play with Rick and she yells at him every night until he plays with her. It looks like this. Make sure you have your sound on!<br />
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</div>Sharihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202628714904607855noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2416929396606342341.post-33647606283859522982010-10-21T19:24:00.004+02:002011-01-03T09:46:58.893+01:00Reflections<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I sat in my office at work today, looking out at a cold blustery day, I couldn't believe that it's the beginning of our fifth winter in Germany. Here's the view from my office window:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This led me to think about what a crazy four (+) years it's been...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Since we've been here, we have been through so many things that I never could have imagined before we came. Here's a sampling of some of the crazier things:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. Surviving with only one car for more than a year. Try doing that for more than one week in the States!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. Walking three+ miles through the middle of town carrying a toilet seat and riding my bike in the freezing rain to four different grocery stores just to find celery! (See #1)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. Having my hair catch on fire/my scalp and hand burnt by a stray bottle rocket. For some reason New Year's Eve in the town square feels more like you are somewhere on the Gaza Strip instead of a small farm town in Germany.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. Smelling enough smelly people to last a lifetime and realizing that there is no such thing as 'personal space' when you are in line at a German grocery store.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. Driving 15 miles in a blinding snow storm at 2:00 am. Keep in mind that I might have been born in Pennsylvania, but I learned to drive in Florida! Now I know why there are poles with reflectors lining both sides of the road.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6. Seeing, all in one day, in Amsterdam: The Anne Frank House (which was such a moving experience), windows full of legal prostitutes, and countless "coffee shops" where you can legally buy pot in any way, shape, or form that you would like. Talk about a city of contrasts!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The crazy things then led me to think about some of the absolutely wonderful things that we've been able to experience since living here:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. Seeing the snow capped Bavarian Alps and discovering that Rick and I both could live our whole lives without ever going on another gondola ride up a mountain.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. Taking Jersey on the train, into bars and restaurants, and walking her anywhere we would like to go without a leash.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. Standing in front of the Eiffel Tower with my husband's arm around me and never wanting to leave.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. Riding on the top of an open air tour bus down the Champs-Élysées in Paris singing the Champs-Élysées song that we learned in high school French class. (Props to Mrs. Hoctor for that one).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. Climbing the Leaning Tower of Pisa with Rick and laughing the whole way because it really does lean!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6. Experiencing Oktoberfest 3 times (and counting).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7. Driving as fast as you can or want on the Autobahn.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8. Not getting even one call from a telemarketer in the last four years.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">9. Meeting such an eclectic mix of people and making life-long friendships that we never would have been exposed to in the States.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">10. Traveling all over Europe and discovering that I have a favorite city in just about every country.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">11. Experiencing all that the life and culture of Europe has to offer. It has opened my eyes in such a way that I am very humbled and grateful that we've been given this opportunity of a lifetime.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm just happy that my list of good things is longer than the list of crazy things!</span>Sharihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202628714904607855noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2416929396606342341.post-67932153286123918152010-10-14T15:35:00.001+02:002010-10-19T13:11:12.480+02:00I'm giving this a try!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, I've decided to create a blog. I've avoided it for quite some time now and I'm not sure why. If you know me, then you know it's not as if I don't have anything to say. In a way I'm kicking myself that I haven't started this much sooner. I've lived abroad for four years now so that has given me an endless supply of interesting things to write about.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've decided to call my blog Sláinte. It's pronounced 'slawn-cha' and it's Gaelic for cheers. It's used as a drinking toast in Ireland and it literally translates to the word health. In the years that I've lived in Germany I've come to discover many words for cheers (prost, salute, cin cin, jamas) but Sláinte somehow stands out to me. I think it might have something to do with my love for all things Irish (including the beer), but I'm not exactly sure about that! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We'll see what this blog brings. I'm thinking that it will be an random mix of things that happen in everyday life while living abroad and the crazy thoughts that run through my mind at (what seems like) a mile a minute. Maybe I can capture all of that and I'm hoping that it will at the very least be an entertaining read.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Enjoy!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">~S</span>Sharihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04202628714904607855noreply@blogger.com0