Click on the album below to see pictures from our trip!
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| Valentine' |
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Prague, Czech Republic
We spent Presidents' Day/Valentine's Day weekend in Prague. Kurt planned the trip for us as a nice, relaxing get away weekend. Prague is a beautiful city with a pretty skyline, lots of shopping, and a slower pace - we both looked forward to just relaxing for the weekend. Prague is only about 5.5 hours away so we left Saturday morning and arrived in town early in the afternoon. We crossed the Charles Bridge right around sunset and were amazed at the beautiful view of the castle and other bridges on the river. After a traditional Czech dinner of Czech beer and goulash and dumplings, we headed back to the hotel for our complimentary drink at the hotel bar. On Sunday, we climbed Petrin Hill to the Observation Tower, a replica of the Eiffel Tower for an amazing panoramic view of Prague. Afterward, we toured the St. Vitus Cathedral inside the Prague Castle wall. We both agreed that the stained glass in this cathedral was probably the most gorgeous we've seen. Unfortunately, after lunch, Carrie came down with a mild case of food poisoning, and after a long, messy walk back to the hotel, we just rested and relaxed for the evening. Monday morning, we had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel and a nice walk around a nearby mall before beginning the road trip home.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
1 down, only 2 more to go!
It's hard to believe that we have lived in Germany for a full year! Time has flown by! We accomplished a lot in the past year, from getting by in a country that speaks a language we barely know to meeting wonderful new friends.
We took a poll of the Kurt and Carrie Household and this is what we found:
Top 3 reasons we don't Always love Germany:
1. Language - Not knowing the language is definitely a trial. We struggle through and know basic "restaurant German." Unfortunately, we haven't been at all diligent about learning German. It's actually pretty easy not to, when the Germans are eager to practice their English on you.
2. European inconvenience - Most specifically, stores close at 8 pm and are closed on Sundays. This definitely takes some getting used to. There just aren't enough hours in the day! And it's always fun (read with sarcasm) when you wake up on Sunday morning eager to bake only to realize you don't have a key ingredient!
3. Being away from family and friends - Although the internet has made keeping in touch at least 100 times easier and better, it's still hard to be away from all our family and friends at home. We miss you all a lot!
Top 3 reasons we love Germany:
1. Food is better here - from Italian, to Greek, to Gyro stands on the corner, to McDonald's (seriously, it tastes different here!)
2. Travel - We're very fortunate that travel here is so easy. In the time it would take us to drive from Maryland to North Eastern PA, we can easily drive to either Belgium, Switzerland, The Netherlands or France...and we have. Similarly, in the time it takes to fly to Atlanta, Georgia, we can fly to Italy, Ireland, or France.
3. New friends we've made - The friends we've made out here quickly became our family away from family. We've made wonderful memories with many people out here and we look forward to continuing our friendship for the rest of our tour here and when we move back to the States.
Based on the past year, it seems as though the next 2 years will be over before we know it. We hope we can keep up the same travel pace. And we're going to try to keep our posts as current as possible...so check back often for updates!
Thanks to everyone for your love and support over the past year! We hope to catch up with you soon!
Kurt would also like to add: "Ich liebe meine frau!"
Tschüss!
We took a poll of the Kurt and Carrie Household and this is what we found:
Top 3 reasons we don't Always love Germany:
1. Language - Not knowing the language is definitely a trial. We struggle through and know basic "restaurant German." Unfortunately, we haven't been at all diligent about learning German. It's actually pretty easy not to, when the Germans are eager to practice their English on you.
2. European inconvenience - Most specifically, stores close at 8 pm and are closed on Sundays. This definitely takes some getting used to. There just aren't enough hours in the day! And it's always fun (read with sarcasm) when you wake up on Sunday morning eager to bake only to realize you don't have a key ingredient!
3. Being away from family and friends - Although the internet has made keeping in touch at least 100 times easier and better, it's still hard to be away from all our family and friends at home. We miss you all a lot!
Top 3 reasons we love Germany:
1. Food is better here - from Italian, to Greek, to Gyro stands on the corner, to McDonald's (seriously, it tastes different here!)
2. Travel - We're very fortunate that travel here is so easy. In the time it would take us to drive from Maryland to North Eastern PA, we can easily drive to either Belgium, Switzerland, The Netherlands or France...and we have. Similarly, in the time it takes to fly to Atlanta, Georgia, we can fly to Italy, Ireland, or France.
3. New friends we've made - The friends we've made out here quickly became our family away from family. We've made wonderful memories with many people out here and we look forward to continuing our friendship for the rest of our tour here and when we move back to the States.
Based on the past year, it seems as though the next 2 years will be over before we know it. We hope we can keep up the same travel pace. And we're going to try to keep our posts as current as possible...so check back often for updates!
Thanks to everyone for your love and support over the past year! We hope to catch up with you soon!
Kurt would also like to add: "Ich liebe meine frau!"
Tschüss!
Monday, February 4, 2008
Fasching in Köln, Germany
We traveled to Köln, Germany on 3 February with Melanie and Adam to celebrate Karneval (in Köln), Fasching (in Mainz), or as you might know it: Mardi Gras. We enjoyed the scenery on the short two-hour drive. We even saw some snow laying on the ground...practically a first for us this winter! Since it was Sunday, we knew that there wouldn't be very many things open, but we held out hope that we would get to tour the Kölner Dom. We found out after about an hour of weaving through streets and attempting to dodge a parade, that unfortunately the church was closed. Apparently, they don't want costumed, possibly intoxicated people wandering around inside an ancient Gothic church. But it was fun to see the school groups all dressed up and parading through town!
In our efforts to get to the Dom, we spotted not only 4 or 5 Starbucks, but also people carrying boxes of Dunkin' Donuts! We quickly turned our mission into finding the Dunkin' Donuts. It didn't take too long and before we knew it, we were each enjoying a hot beverage and a favorite donut. While there are plenty of good snacks and sweets here in Germany, it's always nice to taste a little bit of home! "Sprechen sie Dunkin' Donut?"
After a quick rest at the hotel, we went out in search of dinner. Since we can't get Mexican food often, we thought about going to Taco Loco, a restaurant two blocks from our hotel. When we got there though, it looked more like a dance club with loud music and strobe lights. Needless to say, we kept walking. We did find a really delicious Mexican place for dinner...we'd even venture to say the best we've had in Germany yet!
After dinner, we passed time playing cards, then eagerly counted down the minutes until midnight which was when the Superbowl aired here in Germany. I made it to the kickoff before falling asleep. Kurt made it until the score was 7 to 3 - Patriots. We didn't get to see any of the commercials, instead the German sports announcers talked though all the breaks and showed clips from previous games.
After a leisurely breakfast at the hotel on Rosenmontag morning, we bundled up and made our way to the parade route. The parade on Rosenmontag is the climax of the Fifth Season. Everyone gets dressed up in costume to watch the parade and partake in the Fest atmosphere. Unfortunately, it was rather cold and rainy this year in Köln and while we were more dressed for the weather than most Germans, we only made it about an hour in the rain. It was fun to listen to the German marching bands play their folk music and see everyone singing along. Almost every group that marches by also throws candy into the crowd. We were able to catch several pieces that kept us pretty happy on our journey home! We had a bar of dark chocolate, several twix bars, a shortcake snack, and a couple chocolate wafers to share on the way home...slightly better than the cough drops and tissues we got in Mainz last year at their Fasching parade!
We are looking forward to going back to Köln when it's a bit warmer to tour the cathedral and some of the museums.
In our efforts to get to the Dom, we spotted not only 4 or 5 Starbucks, but also people carrying boxes of Dunkin' Donuts! We quickly turned our mission into finding the Dunkin' Donuts. It didn't take too long and before we knew it, we were each enjoying a hot beverage and a favorite donut. While there are plenty of good snacks and sweets here in Germany, it's always nice to taste a little bit of home! "Sprechen sie Dunkin' Donut?"
After a quick rest at the hotel, we went out in search of dinner. Since we can't get Mexican food often, we thought about going to Taco Loco, a restaurant two blocks from our hotel. When we got there though, it looked more like a dance club with loud music and strobe lights. Needless to say, we kept walking. We did find a really delicious Mexican place for dinner...we'd even venture to say the best we've had in Germany yet!
After dinner, we passed time playing cards, then eagerly counted down the minutes until midnight which was when the Superbowl aired here in Germany. I made it to the kickoff before falling asleep. Kurt made it until the score was 7 to 3 - Patriots. We didn't get to see any of the commercials, instead the German sports announcers talked though all the breaks and showed clips from previous games.
After a leisurely breakfast at the hotel on Rosenmontag morning, we bundled up and made our way to the parade route. The parade on Rosenmontag is the climax of the Fifth Season. Everyone gets dressed up in costume to watch the parade and partake in the Fest atmosphere. Unfortunately, it was rather cold and rainy this year in Köln and while we were more dressed for the weather than most Germans, we only made it about an hour in the rain. It was fun to listen to the German marching bands play their folk music and see everyone singing along. Almost every group that marches by also throws candy into the crowd. We were able to catch several pieces that kept us pretty happy on our journey home! We had a bar of dark chocolate, several twix bars, a shortcake snack, and a couple chocolate wafers to share on the way home...slightly better than the cough drops and tissues we got in Mainz last year at their Fasching parade!
We are looking forward to going back to Köln when it's a bit warmer to tour the cathedral and some of the museums.
Just a note, we ran out of room in our 2007 album so here's a link to our 2008 photo album: http://picasaweb.google.com/kurtandcarrie2008
Click below to see our photos from Köln. (Unfortunately, it was raining too hard to get good pictures at the parade)
Click below to see our photos from Köln. (Unfortunately, it was raining too hard to get good pictures at the parade)
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