Sunny Days in Bavaria

Ever 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. 

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...the beer tent!  The fests in our town are sponsored by our very own Bad Windsheim brewery called Brauhaus Döbler.  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.

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:

Rick and Jersey on the path behind our house



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



The German grocery store



Adorable little garden house along our walk



Jersey was confused because she's never come face to face with her favorite food!



A flyer for the festival



We had food...



More food...



and beer!





Too much fun for one night


We met our friends and enjoyed a fun night with good friends, good food, and good beer.


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. 



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.



This is my favorite part of the trail-it's so woodsy and beautiful



Jersey loves to hike



Our destination-the cross on top of the hill

View of Illeshiem.  The red and white tower is right next to my office on the Army base



We made it to the top



View of another town from the hill top.  I love all of the red roofs.

Posing with Jersey and my beautiful friend Teena



Another cool part of the trail


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).



A view from our table of a boat on the Main river



Enjoying our Cuba  Libres in the sun


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!



Being silly with a statue in Ipsheim



Heading up the mountain

Teena took this of me through her empty glass.  I love the way she sees the world ;-)



Our 'biker gang' with the vineyard behind us


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!

Sicily-The Good and The Bad

Two 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.

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.

The first place we visited was a city called Taormina.  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.



Beautiful Taormina





Gorgeous ocean view




One of many unique stairways




Stairway lined with orange trees





Enjoying my favorite sport-shopping!



Colorful fruit stand with some of the biggest lemons I've ever seen



Fresh herbs, spices, and oils for sale on the street

 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.



Amazing view from the Greek Theater



Rick holding up the wall of the Greek Theater



The city still uses this venue for events.  How much fun would it be to see a play there?

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-horse meat.  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!



Next to the river/stream that runs through the restaurant



Hmmm, is that Mr. Ed you're eating??



Enjoying a fun meal with Ron, Kim, and her mother Mary


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!

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!


This was taken with the timer from the roof of the car ;-)



Fun Sicilian food -pizza with fries (yum) and an 'arancini di riso'



Sledding into the crater



Lava trail left by the recent eruption


After all of the natural beauty on the mountain, we decided to partake in another type of nature's beauty-wine!  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 finally found the Gambino Winery 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 Tifeo that comes from the grapes grown in the volcanic soil from Mount Etna.  Rick's favorite was a red called Alicante 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.



We were so happy to FINALLY see this sign!



Apparently my artistic side comes out ofter a few glasses of vino...



Enjoying wine with our tour guide Fabio


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.

The amazing first course



Rick and Ron with the birthday boy, Salvo



Stuffed and happy!

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.

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...

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!