Carrie's parents came out to visit from 1-9 May. We started off their trip with a trip to Rüdesheim am Rhein. After walking up Drosselgasse and having some gelato, we took the cable car to the top of the vineyard. It was gorgeous day and the view of the Rhein and the surrounding valley was amazing!
Friday evening we introduced Mom and Dad to several friends when we hosted a pasta dinner. The pasta dinner was in preparation for a half marathon in Luxembourg City that Carrie, Ashley, Adam, and Alan were running. Luckily, Mom, Dad, Kurt, Matt, Melanie, and Liz are all very supportive and drove out to Luxembourg with us on Saturday for the race. The run was long and hard...but we finished! It was a pretty warm day, which we weren't really used to and the course was packed! Also, it seemed like the pack never really opened up which also slowed us down. Alan came in ahead of us, but Ashley, Adam, and Carrie finished in 2 hours 19 minutes 42 seconds. Not too bad!
On Sunday, we went to see the Castle Frankenstein ruins near Darmstadt. The ruins were really cool and we had a beautiful view of Darmstadt.
Afterward, we drove down to Heidelberg. We went into the Heidelberg Dom and had a quick lunch on the square. It was a beautiful day and we had pretty views of the castle.
Monday, we went on a Rhein river cruise from Bacharach to Sankt Goar. It was really neat to be able to see the castles lining both sides of the river. Once we got to St. Goar, we got on a little train which took us up to Burg Rheinfels. After lunch on a castle terrace, we explored the castle ruins for the afternoon.
On Tuesday, we went to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a medieval walled city that looks like it's right out of a fairy tale. Mom and Dad had fun shopping for souvenirs while we explored castle gardens. That evening we went on the Night Watchman's tour to learn the history of the city and what life was like throughout the ages.
On Wednesday, we drove to the Hummel factory in Rödental, Germany. We took a tour of the factory. It was really interesting to see all the steps involved in making the figurines.
On Thursday, Dad and Kurt relaxed on his last day of vacation while Mom and Carrie drove to Soufflenheim, a pottery town just across the French border. We had a nice time wandering in and out of several stores and made a few purchases.
Thanks for visiting! When's your next trip Mom and Dad?
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Salzburg, Austria
We traveled with Melanie, Adam, Ashley, and Matt to Salzburg, Austria 18-21 April. It was our first big trip of 2008 and we had a great time! Since there were 6 of us, we caravaned the 5 hour trip with a boys' car and a girls' car. We did get separated a bit towards the end of the trip...but the girls were very proud that we beat the boys to the B & B where Ashley and Matt had reservations. Both the B&Bs we stayed at were just outside Salzburg and had amazing views of the alps. Salzburg is a quaint city that reminded us a lot of Prague.
On Friday, we mostly just walked around Salzburg and took pictures of the beautiful sites like Festung Hohensalzburg, fountain in the Residenzplatz, and the Salzburg Cathedral. On Saturday, we went inside the Salzburger Dom, which was first built in 774. It was rebuilt after a fire and consecrated in 1628. Following WWII, the church was reopened in 1959. Next, we took the funicular up to Festung Hohensalzburg or fortress, one of the largest midieval castles in Europe. From the fortress, we were able to see a beautiful panoramic view of Salzburg and the Salzach river. We were able to tour a set of living chambers inside the fortress including ye old toilet (which 'flushed' out the side wall). The walls were ornately decorated and the lower half was at one time covered with velvet. Also, inside the fortress was a Marionette Museum. Interesting to see, but rather scary at the same time! Also in the museum was a stage similar to the one used in The Sound of Music. Below the fortress is St. Peter's Cemetery, which date's back to 1627. It is also the cemetery modeled in The Sound of Music. It is a very small cemetery with a good number of people buried there; it was interesting to see new graves from 2008 among the ones from many years ago. We read somewhere that if someone doesn't pay the dues for the grave, the grave is emptied and reused by a new patron! After St. Peter's, we walked up a long hill to Nonnberg Abby, where Maria von Trapp lived.
Afterward, we went to Mirabell Gardens where we were able to take gorgeous pictures of flowers and statues and relax a bit before heading to Hellbrunn Castle which is known for its trick fountains. Unfortunately, it was a little chilly so we opted not to go through the castle since we would definitely get wet. The castle grounds were beautiful though. We were also able to see the gazebo from The Sound of Music. The gazebo was donated from the studio where the movie was filmed to Hellbrunn castle after its restoration. From Hellbrunn, we walked through the countryside a bit before finding the house that was used as the front of the Von Trapp family home. That evening, we drove to Mondsee to see the Stiftskirche where Maria and Captain Von Trapp were married. We also played at an amazing playground in the town and took beautiful pictures of a rainbow over Mondsee.
Sunday morning was bright, sunny, and clear so we decided to take a cable car about 1300m to the top of Untersberg Mountain. It was fun to walk on the snow and see great views of the valley below. Afterward, we toured a salzwelten (salt mine) in Bad Durrnberg. Through the tour, we crossed from Austria into Germany and back again. Also, we had to take a boat from one portion of the mine to another. The most fun part of the tour, however, was sliding from level to level on original wooden slides!
Afterward, we went to Mirabell Gardens where we were able to take gorgeous pictures of flowers and statues and relax a bit before heading to Hellbrunn Castle which is known for its trick fountains. Unfortunately, it was a little chilly so we opted not to go through the castle since we would definitely get wet. The castle grounds were beautiful though. We were also able to see the gazebo from The Sound of Music. The gazebo was donated from the studio where the movie was filmed to Hellbrunn castle after its restoration. From Hellbrunn, we walked through the countryside a bit before finding the house that was used as the front of the Von Trapp family home. That evening, we drove to Mondsee to see the Stiftskirche where Maria and Captain Von Trapp were married. We also played at an amazing playground in the town and took beautiful pictures of a rainbow over Mondsee.
Sunday morning was bright, sunny, and clear so we decided to take a cable car about 1300m to the top of Untersberg Mountain. It was fun to walk on the snow and see great views of the valley below. Afterward, we toured a salzwelten (salt mine) in Bad Durrnberg. Through the tour, we crossed from Austria into Germany and back again. Also, we had to take a boat from one portion of the mine to another. The most fun part of the tour, however, was sliding from level to level on original wooden slides!
Before leaving on Monday, we had fun shopping for hand painted eggs in several shops downtown. There were thousands of eggs for every holiday imaginable. It was very hard to choose only a few! On our way home, we made a short...ok long....detour to visit a town whose name caught our eye. It was in the middle of nowhere and we don't even think there was a restaurant there, but it was a fun visit! Check out our pictures to see where we went. Also, on our trip home, we passed by Burghausen, which is a castle almost 1000 m long! We hope to go back to visit it at some point.
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| Salzburg |
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Space Shuttle on the Rhein!
On Thursday April 10th we went on a space shuttle hunting adventure! On our commutes home, we both noticed a lot more people standing on bridges over the Rhein river than normal. After checking the 'local hometown paper' Stars and Stripes, we discovered that a Russian space shuttle was being transported down the Rhein from Rotterdam, Netherlands to it's new home at the Technick Museen Sinsheim & Speyer near Heidelberg. Kurt quickly navigated through the interwebs and found a live tracker indicating the exact place the space shuttle was on the river. We grabbed the GPS and cameras and headed out to find the shuttle!
Unfortunately, we missed it in Mainz and again in Mainz-Laubenheim, but continued driving along the river hoping to catch a glimpse of it. Traffic turned out to be horrendous...apparently, we weren't the only ones out to see the space shuttle. The banks of the river were lined with people and their cars were lining construction sites and every possible pull-off. There were even Polizei on a loud speaker telling onlookers to get off the road. After about 45 minutes of driving, Kurt spotted the barge carrying the shuttle. Luckily, the river split a bit here and the barge went on the side furthest from the road, allowing traffic to pick up a bit. At this point, our goal was to stay ahead of the barge and get to the next town to park and then make our way to the riverbank. We parked in Nierstein, a town known mostly for its wines and made it to the river just in time to take a few pictures of the space shuttle.
Unfortunately, we missed it in Mainz and again in Mainz-Laubenheim, but continued driving along the river hoping to catch a glimpse of it. Traffic turned out to be horrendous...apparently, we weren't the only ones out to see the space shuttle. The banks of the river were lined with people and their cars were lining construction sites and every possible pull-off. There were even Polizei on a loud speaker telling onlookers to get off the road. After about 45 minutes of driving, Kurt spotted the barge carrying the shuttle. Luckily, the river split a bit here and the barge went on the side furthest from the road, allowing traffic to pick up a bit. At this point, our goal was to stay ahead of the barge and get to the next town to park and then make our way to the riverbank. We parked in Nierstein, a town known mostly for its wines and made it to the river just in time to take a few pictures of the space shuttle.
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.
Click on the album below to see pictures from our trip!
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| Valentine' |
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)
Monday, January 28, 2008
Happy Birthday to Carrie!
For my birthday this year, my first outside the U.S., we went out to dinner with a big group of friends. Our friend Ashley's birthday is January 26th and being the nice girl she is, she let me share her day with her! We had a delicious Italian dinner followed by cake and ice cream afterwards at Melanie and Adam's.
On the 28th, Kurt spoiled me and cooked me a wonderful chicken dinner. He also gave me a crystal vase from the Czech Republic and as well as red and orange tulips.
Here are some pictures from both days:
On the 28th, Kurt spoiled me and cooked me a wonderful chicken dinner. He also gave me a crystal vase from the Czech Republic and as well as red and orange tulips.
Here are some pictures from both days:
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| Happy Birthday |
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