Visitors, Present and Future

For the past weekish JM's parents have been here and it has been great. It is so nice to have them here period but the extra people here to watch LM and all the good grandparent stuff they love doing has been super helpful. JM's dad also bought a drill at the OBI (Germany's version of Home Depot) and has been helping us hang stuff left and right. We finally got our cuckoo clock hung up and it makes our house sound so homey with it's charming tick-tock and, of course, cuckoo-ing. Thankfully, we can turn the bird off at night.

Today it's just me and LM (the grandparents just took off for two nights in Budapest - jealous!) and he's currently asleep in his bouncy chair. He's pushing 10lbs these days and fitting into 3 month onesies. He's making all sorts of sounds (happy and otherwise) and sleeping for longer periods of time at night (3.5-4 hrs).

JM's parents are here until the weekend and then my mom arrives early October! LM is enjoying having his oma and opa here and I have no doubt he will enjoy having his grandma here soon too!

It's been gorgeous weather lately - 70s and sunny, very un-German - and yesterday KE and I took LM for a walk in his stroller. He liked it up until the last 5 minutes and then he was ready to be done. Today it's grey and looking to rain but hopefully it reverts back to the unusually nice weather we've been having.

As winter draws nearer and nearer my urge to research plane tickets home grows. I've been keeping an eye on prices and so far they seem pretty standard aka expensive. We'll be home for actual Christmas Day this year and all of us are very much looking forward to being home. It'll be interesting to fly with a baby and by interesting I mean "could be a disaster" but yah gotta do what yah gotta do and we will definitely be home for the holidays.

I just started a new book, "Cutting for Stone" that KE brought over and I literally mean just started (I'm on page five) but so far it is very well written and the synopsis on the back has my interest piqued. I'll let you know what I think.

Vacation and more

First and foremost I must mention that I am writing this while a thunderstorms brews! Hooray no more heat wave!! Knock on wood. It has been 70s for the past four days and it is forecasted to stay this way for the rest of the week. I am so hoping it stays this way and that summer in Germany is over. I was told that "summer" (highs in the 80s and 90s) typically last 3-4 weeks here so it SHOULD be done and I am so glad. Never again will I complain about the grey rainy weather here.

JM and I just got back from our big vacation - we took a long road to Prague (Czech Republic), Bratislava (Slovakia), Budapest (Hungary), and Vienna (Austria). It was a lot of fun and I got to put two more pins in our map (Slovakia and Hungary)! It was really hot everyday (high 80s, low 90s) but that didn't stop us from exploring, we just frequented the 24 hour marts where they sold water "without gas". Carbonated water is definitely not a favorite of mine. We took Stanley and it's a good thing we did too; we saved Veronica about 1,000 miles and a lot of jostling to her suspension (lots and lots of cobblestone streets). There was also one parking garage in Bratislava that Veronica would not have fit into, we barely got Stanley out of it. The drive times weren't too bad, about 2 hours in between each city with the exception of driving home from Vienna (5 hours) and they were made fun by the ridiculous Czech and Slovak radio stations we found and the many bags of Haribo we ingested.

Budapest was by far our favorite city out of the trip - very very cool, very friendly, and cheap! One USD gets you about 220 Hungarian Forint (HUF) but of course a pizza costs you like 1700 HUF but still, not too bad. Our hotel was relatively cheap (75 euro/night) but super nice (I think it was a 4 star) and we were easily the youngest and most underdressed couple there. It also had air conditioning!! It was so glorious to return to that hotel (we stayed two nights) after walking around 90 degree Budapest all day. Our hotel in Prague said it had air conditioning but it failed to mention that it only had AC in the main areas (lobby, breakfast room, etc etc) and not the rooms. Wtf. That's false advertising! Our hotel in Bratislava had AC in the rooms but it was barely functioning but still, better than nothing. But Budapest...glorious...our hotel room was a cooler. Vienna was very pretty and VERY expensive. Our hotel had no AC (and no parking) and it was sooo hot. Our hotel was also pretty much a remodeled office building but it was the cheapest one I found (75 euro/night) -- I didn't fancy paying 220/night (that was the next cheapest I found and they quickly escalated from there up to 500/night ). I think we were both kind of travel weary too since it was the last city on our trip but we still enjoyed seeing it.

We got home Thursday night and just lazed around. It was hot but at least we have fans here (no fans in the Vienna hotel). We went to Burger King for dinner (nom nom nom) as we had no food in our house and we finished up watching the first season of Nip/Tuck. I rented it from the library so we'd have stuff to watch at night on our trip. Friday was a full day of being lazy - we certainly needed a few days off after a week of exploration. We did go see a movie on base that night but that was the extent of our exertion. Thankfully, by Friday, the temps had dropped to 70s because the movie theater had no AC. On Saturday we finally went grocery shopping and rented "Hot Tub Time Machine" which I would recommend - very funny.

Now it's Monday and everything is back to normal, JM is at work and I am putzing around the house. Cleaned a bit, going to pack some bags for the inevitable hospital trip that is hopefully happening sooner rather than later (c'mon August!). I am absolutely loving this weather. I can drink coffee and tea again and actually enjoy its warmth and I can use the oven without hating myself for making the kitchen that hot. I made lasagne last night and I am thinking of baking cookies this afternoon.

I am getting so excited for the coming weeks! C'mon baby. Andddd JM's parents are coming in a month! Can't wait to see them!

Heat wave

I certainly have a lot I could blog about. Had an awesome baby shower a few weeks back and then EK was were for two weeks and we traveled around quite a bit. Dresden, Munich, Prague, Krakow. Her arrival coincided with a pretty decent heat wave around these parts of Europe and it hasn't let up. It was 93 yesterday and it's looking to match that today. It is unbearably hot outside and barely bearably hot in our apartment. Third floor, no air conditioning, totally sunny. Terrible. Yesterday JM and I just sat around doing absolutely nothing but sitting in front of the fans. It was Sunday so everything was closed but even if anything was open very few places in Germany have air conditioning so no chance of escaping the heat by going out to dinner or anything like that. Very few places in Europe period have air conditioning. Including public transportation (like trains, EK and I found that one out the hard way). I take back every time I complained about the cold, grey, rainy German weather. I would like that back please, now.

I am just going to sit here, in front of the fan, drink ice water, and plan our roadtrip vacation. =)

Things I Miss

(Ticket and Ranger)

Dogs. I have come to realize that canines are very multipurpose. Not only do they provide the obvious companionship but they keep your kitchen floor crumb free! Seriously! I miss it. Yesterday I caught myself wondering, "how in the world does this kitchen floor get dirtier faster than the floor at home which stood up to more people and more pets--" and that's when it hit me. Our springers do many things well (chase cats, retrieve things, bring in early morning presents in the form of squirrels, moles, and the occassional oppossum, and leave nose prints over every window-y surface) but one thing they, as all dogs, are quite skilled in is licking crumbs off floors. I'm convinced my kitchen floor would stay cleaner longer if only we had a canine companion. However neither JM nor I want to put a dog through a trans-Atlantic flight and quarantine upon our return to the states so we are waiting till we get back. After that I have no doubt 'dog' will be the third thing on our 'to buy' list right after a truck and a place to live.

In other news - my mom comes on Friday! HOORAY! I am taking the train to the airport to meet her since she'll have two biggish suitcases and I just bought my ticket today. The train station is about a 10 minute drive away from our apartment so that is super convenient and I finally found a really easy to use Deutsche Bahn website in English to buy my tickets at! Babybarth kicks so strongly these days you can actually feel his feet (I am guessing it's a foot? Maybe an elbow) on the sides of my stomach sometimes. JM and I are pretty set in our idea to go to Norway this July to see the fjords for 5 or 6 days. Plane tickets are pretty reasonable and we'd either rent a car or get around via train and there are tons of websites devoted to booking English speaking fjord cruises that vary from 1-3 days in length. The Norwegian Krone is pretty decent compared to the USD too although I'm sure, it being a Scandanavian country, everything will be more expensive regardless but it's our "big" summer vacation so that's okay by us.

Definitely looking forward to this upcoming weekend/week with my mom - we are going to do lots of projects, putter around downtown Weiden, go on base a few times, and maybe take a daytrip or two! And at the end of the week I fly to NC for a family wedding I am standing up in so I will get to see a bunch more of my family! I will surely post pictures of all our adventures.

Pin #5 and List #80

#80 - Cross off more places in my "1000 Places to See Before You Die" book

It appears I am getting a good start on my 101 things already! This weekend we traveled to Innsbruck, Austria and on our way home stopped at Schloss Hohenschwangau and Schloss Neuschwanstein. Surprisingly, Innsbruck isn't in my book but I am still counting it and I think it should be. Easily one of the prettier cities I've ever seen. The road we drove from Innsbruck to the castles is in the book though (it was through the Alps) as are both castles. I'm not sure if it was the pregnancy, the constant switching back and forth, or the altitude but I felt a little sick on the drive to the castles; nothing bad at all though and it stopped as soon as we left the mountains. Going to Austria also allowed me to put another pin in my map of the world! So we are up to five countries we've visited together. My travels as a single lady (Ireland and Spain) and JM's travels as a bachelor (if we can call Iraq and Kuwait "travels") are not included because I wanted it to be only traveling we did together. I briefly considered getting three sets of pins, each a different color, to illustrate my travels, his travels, and our travels but figured it'd get too confusing and it would cease being aesthetically pleasing.

The time we spent in Innsbruck was definitely, definitely needed. We didn't even know it but I think Germany's grey, grey weather was getting to us. I was definitely feeling grouchy, sluggish and bored. I can't say enough how pretty Innsbruck was and how breathtaking the mountains were. Would you agree?

(view from the Old Bridge)

We got really lucky, there was 60 percent chance of rain both days we were there but it was sunny and almost hot each day! I got a slight sunburn on my face. Also, Austrians are SO nice! I know it was a touristy town and the economy there depends on customer service but they were above and beyond nice. We've visited touristy towns in Germany and the people there are still German in personality. Also, I didn't feel stared at the whole time which made me so comfortable for once. What a reprieve. They were also ten times more willing to speak German with you. The guy working at the souvenir shop we stopped at asked JM if we were from the Netherlands. When we told him we were from the states he started speaking (pretty much) perfect English and told us he was from Chile studying political science at the Innsbruck university. He and JM chatted briefly about the GOP (the guy even said 'grand ole party'), Afghanistan and Senator McCarthy and Lafayette. Dude was informed about US politics, let me tell you. The girl at the wine shop and our waitress also spoke German to us.

The castles were also beautiful (sorry, no pictures allowed inside either, lame!) and hearing about the history of them was very interesting. Apparently this family's main residence was in Munich (these were their summer/holiday castles) but JM and I didn't see it when we were in Munich in 2008. After both tours we walked a little bit further up the mountain (only about 5 mintutes) to Marien's Bridge and was granted this gorgeous view of Neuschwanstein:

(Neuschwanstein, view from Marien's Bridge)

The bridge moved slightly and it was PACKED with other tourists (which made me a bit nervous about it supporting all the weight) but it was totally worth it. Postcard perfect dontcha think?

We got home around 1900, had a dinner of soup and sandwiches and lazed about watching 'Mr and Mrs Smith' which was actually really good. It's not an Oscar winner but it was funny, really entertaining, and original. I'd recommend it if you're looking for a movie for a lazy night. My legs were definitely sore from all the walking we did and the fact that we walked down the mountain (after our Neuschwanstein tour) so I was more than happy to take residence on the couch for the rest of the night.

I have emailed a few people about cars they have for sale so keep your fingers crossed something actually happens this time! One is a Peugot and one is a Honda. Peugot is manual, not sure about the Honda just yet, assuming it's automatic since it's a civic but who knows. The weather appears to be changing here in our little town, it is 62 and sunny today. PLEASE Germany stay this way! I can't handle any more dreary-ness that forces me to turn the lights on in the afternoon!

Two more pictures for your viewing pleasure, the gorgeous Dom St Jakob in Innsbruck:

(view of the catherdral from the top of the Stadttum (Old City Tower))

(the ceiling of Dom St Jakob)

Dresden

This past Saturday JM and I went to Dresden. Plans to go to Neuschwanstein were put on hold because it turns out it's a lot farther away than we originally thought (4-5 hours) which kind of puts it out of the "day trip" category. That is still on our list however, it'll just have to wait until we take an overnight trip.

At first I was bummed about not going to see Neuschwanstein but Dresden was absolutely gorgeous. Easily one of my favorite cities I've ever seen. Up there with Prague and Dublin. Here are some pictures (also, I want to apologize for the fact that no matter how hard I try I cannot get my pictures to go where I want them to go in this blog. They just format themselves wherever they damn well please. Oh well.)

(Haus am Zwinger, from the courtyard)

(Haus am Zwinger, from the top walkway)

(The Catholic Church (L) and the Residenceschloss (R))

The only mistake in our plans was we inadvertantly chose to visit on the first day of their Christkindlmarkt. "Busy" is an understatement and finding parking was a whole 'nother thing. But we prevailed and were walking around by noontime. It was such a beautiful city. The first thing we saw was the Haus am Zwinger. It is HUGE with tons of gold leaf (like that tower) and statues everywhere. It'd be cool to see in the summer when the fountains in the courtyard are actually on. Then we toured the Opera House (bad choice, admittedly, my choice) -- the tour was in German. The only thing I got out of the whole 45 minutes (looong tour) was that they talked about art a lot. It was a beautiful building but I would've been happier to simply wander it myself. From the Opera House we grabbed some wurst at a stand at the Christkindlmarkt and then set off to explore the other sites. The church pictured up there on the left was cavernous (and like the one in Regensburg, cold inside) and beautiful. The main room opens up all the way to the top and is filled with stained glass. This is a city I'd definitely like to visit again, mainly because the Frauenkirche (another church) has this amazing observation tower but we couldn't go into it because the church was holding a concert. I did get a picture though:

(Frauenkirche)

Doesn't it look cool?! Damn that concert.

This weekend JM and I are just staying home, doing whatever. I realized today that both JM and I have been here for a little over a month now. Hard to believe that a whole year without him has passed but I am so glad it has. December will be a very wonderful month for many reasons: household goods arriving, one year anniversary, seeing family. =) So many things to look forward to! I can't wait!

Regensburg etc

This Saturday JM and I went to Regensburg which touts itself as one of the oldest medieval towns in Germany. It was only an hour away and was a great way to spend an afternoon. The weather was nice, kind of chilly but perfect for walking around sight seeing. Here are a few pictures, there's a
bigger album on facebook. To your left is St Peters Cathedral. It was gorgeous inside too, high high ceilings and every window was stained glass. It was also very chilly inside, they don't heat these big old churches, ever. From the church we wandered down to find the Alte Rathouse (Old Town Hall) and then went over to the Steinere Brucke (old stone bridge, above picture). During our wanderings we stopped into a shop called Boston Coffee Company for a cup and some warming up and we grabbed a hot salty buttery pretzel from a bakery on our walk down to the bridge. I do enjoy the food here.

After we got back from Regensburg we walked down to the gasthaus near our apartment and had dinner. This particular Saturday was a special one for the gasthaus as it was the day they had in some locals (I'm assuming locals) to play (and sing) traditional German music. We're talking three accordians, a guitar and some lederhosen. It was awesome. I also saw a nun in full habit drinking a beer. We stayed a bit after dinner to listen and drink. When the men first started playing they went around asking people where they were from JM said they were probably going to ask us. They never did, but I think they probably didn't have to...

This week should be a busy one. It's Thanksgiving on Thursday (which I keep forgetting) and we are going over to a friends house for a big pot luck style dinner and on Friday we are having dinner with more friends. This Saturday, weather permitting, we are going to visit Neuschwanstein, the castle that inspired Cinderella's.

Differences, but this time, ones I enjoy:
--Apfelschorle: carbonated apple juice. Delicious.
--Hot pretzels, so, so good.
--Men with accordians playing German music at the local gasthaus
--(Wo)men of the cloth boozin