Munich & Oktoberfest 2011

We are on the way to Oktoberfest! It is a beautiful morning as we walked to the Bahnhof in Enkenbach where we took the train to Kaiserslautern, then the ICE to Mannheim and now the ICE to München. My first time on a high speed train!

It's a great way to travel, more room than a plane and you get to see more! I love that you don't have to go through security and pack liquids in little bottles. You can bring on whatever food and drink you want and the bathrooms are bigger! Our hotel is just a 3 minute walk from the Bahnhof and the Oktoberfest grounds are about a 10 minute walk from there. We are not far from the city sights either so once we get in we'll figure if we want to see some of those or head right to the fest! There's so much to do and see that of course I didn't sleep well in anticipation of it all. Now time to just relax on our 3 hour ride to the city of the world's largest beer fest....

We arrived in Munich and oh boy what a sight, 100's and 100's of people dressed ready for the fest. We were hit with Oktoberfest galore and we hadn't even left the Bahnhof. Just a few minutes' walk to the Marriott (btw is the first chain hotel we've stayed in so far in Europe!) then we headed out to get lunch and found a fun outside place called Altes hackerhaus where we enjoyed a brew, I had a Caesar salad and Dave had a plate of meat! 

A little potato with a lotta meat!

We were right near the city center, the Marienplatz that is marked by a statue of the squares namesake, The Virgin Mary. This square is also famous for the New Town Hall, like so many other Neo-Gothic buildings we've seen were decorated with 40 statues of royals and nobles. It survived the bombings in WWII. This is also the building that holds the famous glockenspiel that recreates a wedding from the 16th century between a Bavarian duke and a French bride. It goes off every day at 11, 12 and 5.  We missed it Saturday because we were stuck drinking liters at the Hofbräuhaus....

We walked through the Viktualienmarkt which is a large fresh produce and goods market and also has the huge maypole - basically an information post (from the 15th century). This maypole shows Munich's 6 great brews and the festivities & crafts associated with brewing.

Then we made our way over towards the Hofbräuhaus which is the world's most famous beer hall and right next to the Hard Rock Cafe.

We walked through the crazy, loud, oompah band playing hall without really intending to stay but when a table opened up in front of the band we couldn't pass it up and glad we didn't because it was a lot of fun! The table soon filled with fun people including a dad and daughter from CA that were on the last night of their 2 week vacation, a couple from Lisbon, Portugal and a large group of old drunk Austrian men that never stopped talking about Arnold Schwarzenegger! Different tables would start singing songs like "Sweet Caroline", "Country Road Take Me Home", "Come on Ilene" and a bunch of others but the best part was that they had printouts of the words! They were not Americans either! After 2 liters and a big huge pretzel we thought we'd head over to the fest and walk around.

On the way we walked by a pretty sweet Lamborghini parked right across from the -

-Asam Church which was built by the Asam Brothers. It was built in 1740 and was a bit ostentatious to say the least!  It was extreme Rococo style which I guess I've never seen before.  They built it between their homes as a private initiative to basically show off their work but it is now recognized as a place of worship. I didn't take pics inside when we stopped, because I thought it was some sort of sacred worship spot but after reading about it I wish that I did snap a pic or two!
As soon as we came upon the grounds of Oktoberfest we couldn't believe the "brightness" and it was just getting dark.

I think it was a great 1st impression of the fest because of the illumination of everything! We walked around in amazement at the size of everything and the amount of people! There was no getting into the tents unless we wanted to wait in lines and we weren't that eager. So we just took it all in and strolled the grounds since we'd be heading back in the morning.

Slideshow of Day 1 in Munich:

Saturday was a beautiful day! We enjoyed breakfast at the hotel and then headed to the fest, fully Bavarian dressed, shortly after 10 am.

Self pic in hotel

There were mobs of people, and I'm not exaggerating! Polizei were everywhere, security in all the tents and all around the fest grounds. It was unbelievable at how packed it was so early! We went into a few of the tents but each one was harder and harder to move and limited if any seats and neither of us wanted liters at that hour so we decided that stick outside the tents for the time being. 
We took in the atmosphere, major people watched, and avoided getting bumped into from those that were too inebriated! We took a ride on the ferris wheel to be able to get a good bird's eye view of the grounds. It was quite a view, and hardly no pavement in sight because of all the people!

View from the top of the ferris wheel

There were biergartens throughout, including a rotating carousel garden, that were still pretty full but definitely easier to get into plus you got 1/2 liters which was more up our alley :). We chatted with a bunch of Aussies from Brisbane who were just finishing up a 2 month vacation then heading back to their summer. They were fun to talk to and hear about their crazy experiences...they were young guys.

I'm kind of bummed that I lost count at how many other Frau's were wearing the same dirndl :( there are so many unique ones but I didn't care I still love mine! 

All the men look the same in their lederhosen, not as many different varieties to choose from there!  We had some wursts, got a few souvenirs and headed to the hotel to put our feet up for a few before heading back to Marienplatz to see the glockenspiel in action at 5:00. The fest is fun for sure but it was hot and crowded beyond belief and our feet just needed a rest! 

More fest pictures:


Heading back to the city center (still in our super cute Bavarian outfits), we could tell that tour busses were dropping loads off at the same time. Groups and groups of elderly, Japanese, or Italians seemed to be the majority! I guess maybe we've been in our little town too long, not used to the crowds and diversity that was experienced this weekend! At 5:00 the glockenspiel started playing and everyone was ooohhhing and aaahhhing over it with their cameras pointed up high.

Ready to watch the glockenspiel

It was pretty cool to see the life-size figures do their little dances. It's 100 years old and was restored in 2008. 

We left the area with the masses and headed to the Hard Rock for dinner, where we always like to go when we travel. It was fun, good food as usual and very American, except for the beer!

After dinner we did some walking around and sightseeing which I'll do all the explaining in the pictures because I'd otherwise bore you with the details without seeing the pics! 

Sunday morning we had breakfast at the Marriott again then headed out on foot for a little more sightseeing before catching the 12:30 train. Munich is a city of 1.5 million people but it seemed like it was more than doubled! Can you tell that the amount people was a bit overwhelming for me this weekend?! It was a fun time indeed but we really want to go back during a quieter time to see more of the sights in detail. It's an easy train trip away! There is so much history - 853 years - the BMW museum as well as many others, beautiful parks and palaces, Dachau (which we'll see next weekend as we pass through) and of course beer gardens and the Hofbräuhaus, which I have to say was my favorite part of this quick, expensive trip to Müchen!

Wednesday, September 21 - A Fun Hump Day

What a beautiful day! The mornings are now about 4 degrees Celsius but it warms quickly once the sun gets shining and thank goodness the sun is shining! Today I woke at the crack of dawn to take Dave into the office because I had a full day of running around to do and he had a late afternoon meeting.  As much as I don't like to see the outdoors before the sun comes up it was a nice morning and a bit of a change from my normal am routine. I got home, threw in some laundry and enjoyed coffee before heading to the woods with the walking ladies. Only 4 of us today which was a good chance for me to learn German! No good English speaking gals today! I had to quickly go home afterwards to get ready for my first German cooking lesson! Beate invited me to join her while making the Dampfnudeln which is a traditional sweet or salty white roll that is pretty common in this area to eat with potato soup or as a dessert with vanilla sauce...talk about heavy and carbs! Its quite a process too!

From Wikipedia: "Dampfnudeln are made from a dough composed of white flour, water, yeast, salt, butter or margarine, and sometimes also eggs and sometimes a little sugar. The dough is formed into balls about the size of an egg, left to rise and then cooked in a closed pot, preferably a high-rimmed iron pan with a lid, with milk and butter (or salt water and fat) until a golden brown crust forms at the bottom after the liquid has evaporated. The tops remain white."

The Dampfnudeln before and after's

A batch of the "salty" ones!

Beate was a pro at handling all the dough, because her family runs a bakery in Mannheim so she wasn't afraid to beat the crap out of it! It was fun to watch her. Next time she makes homemade spätzle I can join for that lesson and also when she does Christmas cookies which I was so excited about since I don't have the counter space to do a lot at once this year! We made about 30 Dampfnudeln and also made a potato/pumpkin soup. It was ready by the time 2 of the kids got home from school. I met the cutest 8 year old, Tobias, who practiced his English with me because he's learning it in school. So maybe I help him, he helps me?!

They invited me to stay and eat with them but since I had the car I wanted to head to K-Town to a sporting goods store that was having a big sale to see if they had walking sticks....and success! I found a great pair, LEKI, which I had read good reviews about. They only had 1 pair of 105 cm, perfect for me and Dave commented how short they were...the size of his arms! Well I'm short and I think Dave has super long arms! Anyway I'm super excited to try them out.

My new sticks!

It was such a fun productive day, I think it's good for me to have the car once in a while. Got a big load of groceries, case of beer, took our grass clippings to Neuhemsbach where they can be dumped on Wednesday's, got gas for the 1st time by myself, vacuumed the car, and took a nice countryside drive. All things that would be difficult to do on my bike :)

I think the best part of the day was when Beate said that I was not a typical American, I ride my bike and I don't want tv! I got a chuckle out of that :)

Bad Dürkheim's Wurstmarkt, September 17th

Sunday September 18

Another week has disappeared! Nothing too out of the ordinary occurred this week but we rest now on a gloomy afternoon after a fun weekend! I did really well with my borrowed walking sticks too. I have to find a place to get my own though because the ones I've been using are just a bit too tall for me so I will have to get a correct measurement so that they are doing what they are supposed to do for a good workout.


Friday night we went to The Alzenquella with Bonnie and Jeff because of a Zweibelkuchen (onion cake) and New Wine  special they were having. It was pretty good and we were in good company. It's very much a "locals" joint and we spent the night chatting and drinking with the locals. It was fun but what we though was just going to be dinner turned into a late night of wine, schnapps and brandy! Oh well, it was a good time.

Saturday we caught the 12:15 train to the worlds largest wine festival, Dürkheimer's Wurstmarkt in Bad Dürkheim. Literally meaning "sausage market" this fest is over 570 years old, draws in over 600,000 visitors every year, and is the main event of the year in the Palatinate. It was quite eventful just getting to the fest as it was a game day in Kaiserslautern - Fußball - Foosball, football, soccer, whatever may have you - and the trains were PACKED! We made it with all of the people and 5 minute transfer times but luckily none of the Bahnhof's in the little towns are that big.

Bad Dürkheim is a really pretty little spa town and its pretty amazing to see the town transformed into a huge festival. We arrived and hit the bathrooms for .50 which is pretty common everywhere we go! We walked into the fest and it appeared to be like the Iowa State Fair, especially after seeing food on sticks :). We ate lunch at the Dürkheimer Riesenfaß which is the worlds largest wine barrel with a capacity of 1.7 million liters, a bit bigger than the one in Heidleburg! We had a delish lunch, sampled our 1st wine (even though the picture looks like I'd had many more samples!).


Lunch at the WineFest 

Then time to walk the grounds and see what our 1st fest was all about. It was a beautiful day and the place was pretty busy, as we expected but we were pretty excited when we came upon the Schubkärchler (small traditional wine stands with scrubbed wooden tables worn smooth over the years where everyone sits elbow to elbow). We chose this setting because the "oompah" band or die mackenbacher, was roaming up and down the little streets there.   


One of the Schubkärchler



Bonnie singing with the oompah band

Dave and I drank the local fave, schorle, where about 2/3 of the large tumbler is filled with wine and then topped off with mineral water. Now granted if you go this route, you are stuck with a pretty big glass of one kind of wine. At the same time, it's less trips to the counter and longer to hang at the tables and chat :)



Dave & me with my goofy expressions - with our Schorle's.

Bonnie and Jeff chose smaller glasses of regular wine that they'd share. If you leave a tent you turn in your glass for the pfand, which is basically getting your money back and they were 2€ each! We walked around some more and found much much larger tents with bands and bigger tables and dancing.  We heard a lot of the traditional German songs and saw a lot of dirndl's and Lederhosen! 



Traditionaly dressed man!



Group of women in their dirndl's behind me!

 The big tents were a lot of fun and very similar to the Oktoberfest that we experienced in Sidney, NE!

It was probably a good thing that we had to catch an 8:30 train because we'd had enough of the big glasses in the 7 hours we were there. There were still gobs of people getting to the fest as well as gobs of people leaving and the trains were pretty packed again. Everyone was in pretty good spirits, especially coming from Bad Dürkheim but also the people coming back from the game because Kaiserslautern won against it's rival, Mainz. 

We had a good time but agreed that next year we book well in advance and get a hotel in the area for a night. The trains are great but with them being regional and a bit smaller they are pretty hectic from small town to small town for such a big event.  All in all it was another fun adventure, and now we have to prepare for the next big weekend....Munich's Oktoberfest!

Link to Bad Dürkheim pictures

September 6th - September 12th

Friday September 9

Wow, where did the week go? I can't even say that there was anything super fantastic that filled it up! It is really fall like though, but I think we are expecting 70 degrees tomorrow. I woke up this am ready for my Nordic walk but one look at the drizzle outside and I had a hard time convincing myself to go...uh oh...so I grabbed my book and climbed back in bed! The Nordic walks are fun though and the German girls definitely try to teach me words but I think they like practicing their English more. Next week I will try out some walking sticks, Manuela has a pair of short ones that I can sample.   It's just great to go with them because they traipse through the forest and know where they are going so I can just focus on not stumbling over rocks, trees, or wild pigs...hahaha! Yes there are wild pigs in the woods! The girls were pointing out all of the tracks on the sides of the trails where the pigs had come running through, what I would give to see them! I guess they really only travel at night and stay away if people are around. All of the ladies have only ever seen them a few times, if any, and they've lived here forever. I can only hope I will get to see them! There are no other crazy animals in the woods, for those of you wondering, no grizzlies or wildcats. Lots of birds and squirrels and maybe the occasional "Bambi" as the ladies say. What I do find funny though is hearing a rooster crow in town! I ride my bike past a couple of houses where the thing must see me because I hear the "cock-a-doodle-do" and it just makes me laugh!

We are ready for Oktoberfest...outfits are complete! I received my dirndl back and it fits like a glove, I'm so excited! On Wednesday I went with Bonnie to Rammstein where I checked out the dirndl store for some Lederhosen for Dave. I didn't find anything so I had her drop me off at his office on the way home and I ventured out to a little shop in K-town that had a good supply AND they fix cuckoo clocks! So I found a nice pair for his long skinny legs, as well as a shirt and an Edelweiß (the Bavarian flower) necklace to go with my dress. Luckily everything fit Dave so I didn't have to exchange anything and he really liked it! Good work out of me!

There was a craft store in Rammstein which was great because my bead crimper broke! They actually had one, exact same as my broken one, and Bonnie found some beads she liked and asked if I'd make her a necklace out of them. Of course! I'm still having fun making jewelry and figure once I know enough Germans I can sell it to them :).

I've been a good little house Frau this week, cleaning and getting to the bottom of the ironing pile that I've been avoiding. We had a nice long visit with our landlady on Wednesday night as she was out in the yard working. She appreciates how nice I keep the grass, apparently no other renter has done that?! She mentioned again that her son would be calling, sounds like he and his wife would like to have dinner with us! Ok, sure! She also said that she had a present for us and that we would have to go to their house and drink wine...when she was clean...she was decked out head to toe in gardening gear. She's pretty cute and I'd say we lucked out with them being so nice and friendly.

Well I am about to make salami wrapped pickles...thank you Iowans...for an expat party tomorrow. It will be fun to see who has had them before since there others here that are from the Midwest!


Monday September 12

Well I finally talked with my landlady's daughter in law. She spoke very well English and told me everything that Irene had mentioned to me before! Must be she thinks I can't understand her but I can! After the phone call, Irene called me back to talk about a time to pick me up and show me where we take our yard waste to. I thought we agreed on a time for Wednesday and next thing I know my doorbell rings and there she is!  Soooo, I stopped making dinner, left my glass of wine on the counter and went for a nice ride with her and boy I tell you, I'm scared of riding in cars with Germans! She's only 65 years old but her driving....well....I'm just glad I made it back home to my glass of wine! She stopped at her house to show me and what a nice it is! I can see why we have such a nice yard and garden because hers is twice as nice and twice as big! I feel the need to do more in the yard though because they have enough to take care of at their own house. She mentioned again that she has a present for us but when they get back from their holiday they will call us to come over and drink wine so they can give us the present. They are so nice!

The pickle wraps were a big success at the Expat party. A lot of the Midwesterners thanked me for bringing them. The party was fun, a good chance to put names with faces and meet some new ones too. I think they said that there were something like 42 new Expat families in Germany, now that is awesome! A chance to get together with people from all over the world essentially. The rest of the weekend was pretty boring but relaxing! We're saving all our efforts for the upcoming "fests". Sunday we set out for a walk and were greeted with a pretty heavy rainstorm that turned into a heavier thunder and lightning storm but we still managed to have wursts on the grill!

This morning was a fantastic trek through the forest. I really need sticks...all the ladies are pressuring me! More signs of pigs :) but the rooster didn't crow at me on the way or there or home today! After the walk, Beate (bee-ahta) invited me for coffee. We had such a nice chat because she speaks English very well! I'm excited and thankful for this new friend, she might tutor me! She also is a member of the gym that Dave wants me to join and does the classes...well there's the solution to my transportation problems! I got home to Bonnie leaving a message wondering if I wanted to head to REAL with her for lunch and groceries. Of course I did, we love the Modepark Röther store there for European clothes and scarves! I found the perfect scarf to match my new JD Hoodie that I've worn for the past 3 days and will probably continue to wear it until it is super dirty, or I spill something on it, or maybe next time I throw colors in the washer :). I love it!

Thanks for reading this post even though there was nothing too exciting!  But there are lots of great things to come...Bad Durkheim's Wine Fest, Oktoberfest, Southern Germany and Salzburg trip visiting King Ludwig's Castles, Italy and Christmas Market River Cruise on the Danube!  Lots of fun trips in the near future that I can't wait to document and share with you!

Until then ~

A German Wedding

We survived our first German wedding! What a great time. The couple was married last Thursday for the "legal" part of the marriage and then held the church ceremony and reception on Saturday. We checked into our hotel in Bad König - prior to heading to the church in Güttersbach. The man at the desk of the hotel did not speak English and thought it was funny that with a name like Hoffman we did not speak Deutsch! 



Our Hotel in Bad Konig



View of the rest of the hotel from our balcony



View out from our balcony



View from our balcony

We changed and made our way to the church in a very small town about 25 minutes from there. The church was old, and up on a hill with beautiful views of the German countryside. We found a seat in the back and saw a few familiar faces sit near us. There was no processional of attendants or mothers lighting candles. The priest went outside to get Britta (the bride), the organ began, and she followed him inside up to the altar to meet Joachim (the groom). Everything was in German but there were songs in English that we knew..."You Raise Me Up", "A Moment Like This", "Ave Maria."

It was a very nice ceremony and afterwards we gathered in the church courtyard for drinks and mingling. I didn't snap any pictures of this part of the day because no one else was! I didn't want to be the annoying American taking pictures but I did take some at the reception :)

The setting was beautiful, an old farm now called the Burghof the small town of Kirchbrombach.

Huge pear tree at the Burghof

We gathered in the courtyard area for drinks and appetizers and more mingling.

The couple was off shooting pictures and we were busy writing good wishes and advice on postcards that were being attached to red, heart shaped balloons. Joachim and Britta gave speeches (in German and English)

of what to expect for the evening and we all gathered together with our balloons for a large group picture before releasing them off into the universe.

What a cool sight and a great idea! Their address was on the postcards so hopefully whoever finds them will send them off.

Now for a few traditions that were new to us....cutting out a large heart from a white sheet. 

They each took a small pair of scissors and cut away and when they were through, Joachim had to carry his bride through the heart to symbolize their new life together. 

Next they are presented with a log that they must cut through. This challenge is meant to show that they can overcome any difficulty if they work together. It was funny to watch them working so hard when they were dressed in their wedding apparel!

We moved inside an old barn transformed into a lovely reception hall. We were seated with other coworkers and listened as the speeches began. Both of the mothers made speeches and toasts and then did Joachim as well as Britta. All was in German but we could feel the intimacy and emotion of what was being said through the tears. We felt very honored to have been able to share this with a couple that we've only known a short time and we did in fact learn that it was indeed an honor for us to be invited! One of the ladies I was talking to said that it is not very common to get invited to a wedding in Germany. She said that she had only been to a few and she was German! We thank Joachim and Britta from the bottoms of our hearts for letting us take part in such a memorable day for them. We will always remember it as well.

We had a delicious buffet dinner, enjoyed the couples first dance and the cutting of the cake. 

There was dancing, drinking and mingling so basically what we would expect at a reception! Mostly everyone was gathered back outside in the courtyard because it was such a beautiful night. We finally caught a shuttle back to the hotel around 12:30 and it seemed we were one of the firsts to leave! The next morning everyone gathered back at the Burghof for breakfast an we found out that the reception still went on a few hours after we left! We had a nice breakfast...oh the croissants...said our goodbyes and thanks and then headed home on a scenic drive through the German countryside again.

It was another fun weekend!

August 22nd - August 31st

Tuesday August 23
What a hot hot hot couple of days it's been. So all of that complaining about the cold....well I'm pretty sure I jinxed myself! A nice drop in the humidity would be good. It's not the heat that's so bad it is the dew point and humidity levels that are above 90%! That is just too hot when you don't have air conditioning! Sunday Dave left for business for a few days and I headed to the overcrowded pool. I was such a good non-judgmental girl and just read my book and took a few dips. It was all I could handle there a few hours; I was burning over already burned skin. I got home showered and headed to the Alzenquella with Bonnie and Jeff for a nice dinner.

Monday I took Bonnie back to Landstuhl and we made a whole day of it. First she took me to the Volgeweh/Polaski base (to the Vet's office for the dogs ) but it was a neat experience for me because that is the base I was on when I was little! I wish I knew where exactly but hopefully next time. We headed to Rammstein base next so I could check out the PX/Mall and we could shop and get lunch. I made such a great purchase there....my Dirndl for Oktoberfest....and no pictures of it! Don't want to ruin the excitement! I love it! We ate lunch at the Macaroni Grill which was fun and a change from the German fare that I've become so used to. We headed back to St. Johannis for Bonnie's MRI which went good. She spoke with her doctor and is going to need to get cortisone shots so looks like I will be taking her back again most likely. Even though it was blazing hot I mowed when I got home because I didn't want to get off schedule! My grass is dryyyyyyy.....been watering.

Today I went to the big REAL store to be in air conditioning to get groceries...since Dave left me the Beemer...I've been doing all sorts of driving and it's just so fun! The autobahn does scare me a little when cars zoom by so freaking fast, especially since we've seen some scary looking accidents but I just stay in my lane! There are a lot of neat stores right around there where I found some cute scarves and then had a delish Döner- basically a gyro, at a Turkish kiosk outside the store. Again, it was blazing hot this afternoon but I decided to take a stroll in the woods and managed to get a little lost! It was nice though, the shade of the trees and the breeze through there just felt really nice. I found my way to a main road and just went that way back to Alsenborn, I didn't want to get "re" lost in the woods again. It turned into a nice 1 1/2 hr hike though! Well my Rick Steves' Ireland book came in the mail so I have some planning to do now!


Sunday August 28

Some cooler weather has come upon us, yippee! The week continued to be pretty warm but we welcomed the rain too. There was a pretty vicious thunderstorm on Wednesday as I was in Dave's office meeting with the HR rep to complete my residency paperwork. I ran to the car, getting drenched, and made my way downtown to buy a raincoat. Sure it was a little late for that day but it will surely come in handy! I had time to kill before picking up Dave from work and I also found a store to take Dave to get his Lederhosen for Oktoberfest! I can't go dressed up all alone! My dirndl is getting altered for the perfect fit! I went with Bonnie and her friend Doris on Thursday to a seamstress that does the alterations for the clothing store in town. She doesn't speak English but is super nice and is making my dirndl just right, she said it was a perfect dress for me, I'm so excited! She said that she could see me carrying 6 mugs of beer in each hand! Well I don't know about that but it will be fun to be all "authentic" for our Oktoberfest experience!

Doris wanted to take us to see her house in Enkenbach so we headed over there, met her husband Rudy, and shared a bottle of Sekt (champagne) with them which was what I thought was in honor of their 50th wedding anniversary that day but no, it's pretty typical for them to sit on their patio sipping champagne or homemade schnapps and enjoy their beautiful gardens! It was fun to talk with them because they are from the area and worked for Sembach for 40 years in various Military jobs, they had some good stories. When I got home from my afternoon happy hour I found that the Internet and phone lines were not working.....ugh. And it is still NOT working. That definitely is where life gets frustrating here with the language barrier. It's not like we can just pick up the phone and make a call to Telekom, we have to email the person who set it up, she contacts Telekom, they say everything is fine, she tells us that, well we then have to say that it's really NOT fine and that there is nothing else we can do. That is where we currently are, hopefully she can arrange for someone to come out and see what's wrong with the lines. What stresses me the most is that my blog post gets delayed!

On Saturday we headed a small town called Erbach where we stayed the night because we had a party to go to in Hiltersklingen for one of Dave's colleagues. It was a pre-wedding party for people who are not able to go to the wedding or were not invited. This is custom, which we thought was interesting! The party was at the groom's family farm. It was in a courtyard right next to the barn full of cows! They had a large beer tent and another party tent with a DJ and food (wursts, pretzels, brotchen and cheese). It was fun and we were able to chat and mingle with other team members from the office too. The most interesting part of the party though was another German wedding tradition of breaking china. When we 1st arrived we heard the sound of dishes breaking and that is exactly what it was...throwing old porcelain and china on the ground to wish the couple good luck! It is the couple's responsibility to sweep up all the broken dishes until midnight, which can be a bit of a challenge because once a pile is swept up anyone can come across and spread the pile out again! It was funny to watch, and I wish that we had some dishes to break!


After Joachim was done sweeping, someone cleared out his pile!

The town of Erbach was very cute and our hotel, Hotel Wappenstube, was right next to the town's castle. It was rainy when we arrived and the castle and museum were just closing so we walked around a little bit and found a quaint little pub for a light bite to eat before heading to the party.



This little man was too cute not to catch a photo with, I couldn't figure out what he was looking at though!



Part of the castle and courtyard in Erbach.



Castle tower in Erbach.



Hotel Wappenstube in Erbach

The hotel room was very interesting, 2 levels balconies on both, with the bed downstairs and a spiral staircase going up to a living room and bathroom. It was a nice setup! Sunday morning we enjoyed a really nice breakfast there and then headed to the city of Heidelberg.

On the way we stopped quick at a Naturpark on the Neckar River where there were some castle remains above. We didn't climb up to them but they were pretty cool to see as we're just leisurelydriving along!

Trail map of the area we stopped at.




Small castle ruin in the naturpark.

Another part of the naturpark trails.

The main goal was to explore the castle in Heidelburg. Dave had been to it prior to me getting to Germany but was definitely open to going back because it is a pretty cool castle! It has been preserved as a ruin and attracts over a million visitors a year even though it didn't even make Rick Steves' top 10 list! (probably because it is so touristy). Heidelberg is at the end of the Neckar Valley and the castle sits high above on a terrace of Königstuhl Mountain. We climbed the steep road and entered through the gate when I noticed that the castle seemed more modern and very well preserved. Later on the tour, and through the book we bought, we learned that many parts of the castle were destroyed by lightning fires and during the Thirty Years' War. Most of it was reconstructed in the late 1800's and shows different styles of Renaissance, Romantic and Gothic. We walked through the gardens and took in the panoramic views of the town from up high. We timed it just right for an English tour and were lucky that only about 10 people were on it. The tour guide was a lovely little German lady who did a great job as she took us through different buildings and explained the amazing architecture and statues that are everywhere on the grounds. The captions in the pictures have more details and explanations. We headed back down the hill to the town square that surrounds a church and is lined with shops and restaurants. We enjoyed a nice lunch outside (our fave Flammkuchen and Nizza Salat) then headed to the old bridge to get another view of the castle. It was a fun trip and only about an hour away from the house.


Heidelburg Pictures



Wednesday August 31 - DISCONNECTED

Ugh, the battles of the Internet and phone here! We still do not have a connection and Telekom has finally agreed that it is a problem on their side as we have NO DSL connection or phone connection and we didn't do a thing to cause it! So, thankfully we have a tech coming out to the house on Thursday between 9-2...good thing my schedule is pretty darn flexible! To top off the frustration of no connection to the outside world, my Sim Card did not automatically replenish so I have no minutes and no cell phone either! Eeeeeck! Did we mention how things are just a bit slower around here than what we are used to? Oh well, more time to find other things to do and babble on my blog.

It's hard to believe it's the last day of August, that we've been here for 2 months almost and that summer is about. It has still been nice and sunny but it is definitely cooler in the evenings and mornings. Tuesday I walked up to Enkenbach to the Rathaus to see about the different clubs in town that I could get involved with. It doesn't sound like volunteering is going to be as easy as I thought - plus I have a bit of a language barrier! I talked with Andrea at the TI about classes and activities that I could join and it sounds like we are getting a Zumba class, yippee!! There is a German class offered in a town nearby that I could do for a cost but hopefully we can get lessons set up through Dave's office...for free! Andrea was also nice enough to give me her # and invited me to walk the Nordic Trails with her and her friends. They go every M,W,F at 8:00. Today I joined them and it was fun. I rode my bike up to the meeting point at Andrea's friend Manuela's house. There were 6 of us total, them all with walking sticks in hand! We did about 5k through the woods and it was nice not to go through with my map or get lost. The others don't speak much English but that would surely be the way for me to learn German by joining them every week! It was fun to listen to them when Andrea and I weren't chatting. It was a good workout through the woods and they were all super nice. They even invited me for drinks on Monday night. I don't know if it is routine for them or if it's because there is some festival going on here this weekend? I thought that was really nice and I'm sure it would be fun. Well time to vacuum up all the debris that blows in the windows and hunt for the source of a weird smell downstairs!

And we're obviously connected again, yippee! Telekom managed to slice our line last Thursday, just our line!  Ok so I survived a week, moving on again!