A Cold Weekend in Prague

For 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).

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 U Vejvodu which met our criteria.  The Plzeňský Prazdroj or Pilsner Urquell (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.


Czech beer and pretzels

 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.


View of Prague Castle from the Charles Bridge

 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.


St Vitus Cathedral





St Vitus Cathedral



Joel, Rick, Adam, Shea, and I making sure the castle guard doesn't smile



Looking down the long stairway from the castle



Rick and his Trdelnik snack

Rick and I with Adam, Shea, and Joel enjoying the warmth inside the "Oldest Medieval Pub'



View of Prague from the Charles Bridge

 We toured the Museum of Communism 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.



The Astronomical Clock

We continued our sightseeing in the Old Town Square (Staroměstské Náměstí in Czech)  which houses the Astronomical Clock.  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.







Delicious avocado shrimp soup with a fun presentation

 

Pretending that we're rich with all of our Czech Koruna (equal to about $114 in this picture)

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 Sedlec Ossuary or the "Bone Church".   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 most haunting and one of the most beautiful 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.

The church and part of the surrounding graveyard



The chandelier made with every bone in the human body



The Schwarzenberg Family Crest in front of a pyramid of bones



Bones and skulls up to the wall to the ceiling



Looking up to the ceiling



Large chalice



The artist's signature

So, what to do after looking at all of those bones?  Eat, of course!  We found a Bohemian tavern/restaurant in Kutná Hora called Dačický  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.  

Pork knuckle, ham, sausage, sauerkraut, potato pancakes, and pickles all for us!

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!  

The Not So Super Superbowl

Well, 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!

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...

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.

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:

• 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.
• 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.  
• 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).
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 Harry Houdini. 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 'Jersey Houdini' 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.

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.

We have some fun trips planned in the coming weeks, so keep an eye out for more posts with pictures from our adventures!

Nürnberg 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!).

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.

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 extremely 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 looked nice to me and Rick confirmed that it was absolutely tender and delicious.

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!

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.

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.

Happy New Year everyone!

Christmas, Snow, Snow, and More Snow

Well, 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. 

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.

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 missing 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!

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!!

On to the second part of this post...SNOW!  I recently found out the meaning of snow.  It apparently stands for S**t No One Wants.  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).

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.

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?

I will leave you with some photos of the beautiful, yet highly frustrating white stuff.
Happy New Year everyone!

Jersey might need some longer legs!

The Maxima buried in snow across from our front door

Our house

I don't think I would sit in the snow, but she doesn't seem to mind

Day dreaming about chasing snow bunnies...

The walking path behind our house

I almost lost my feet in the snow!

Standing at our front door looking to the right down our street

Our house is on the left

Looking down our street toward the main road





Switzerland and France for Thanksgiving!

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).

                Trent and Hannah on the left and Shea and Joel on the right

                                                                

We set out on Thursday morning to 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. 

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 Restaurant Reithalle 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)!

The next day (Friday) we toured around Zürich and visited the Grossmünster Church.  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. 

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.

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)!   

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!

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!

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.

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...

Technology

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. 

  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. 

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?

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.

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. 

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.

However, since I do live halfway across the world from my family and most of my friends, I am very 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!

October Recap

It's already the first of November. Where has this year gone?

October was a pretty eventful month for us, so I decided to write a little recap:

We went to Oktoberfest for the third year in a row!

           2008                                                2009             

                  2010 

 

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)! 

One of my top five favorite bands, Kings of Leon, released a new album which makes me very happy!

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.

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.

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.

We ended the month by having a BBQ and lots of laughs with some good friends.

Speaking of laughs, Jersey gives us plenty of them, so I wanted to share some videos with you.

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!

                                                              
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!

Let's hope that November is as much fun as October has been!