I'll keep this brief

because I'm watching Ben Hur in German. And tonight they are showing The Ten Commandments, in true Easter weekend fashion. We'll also catch up to you American clowns this Sunday and finally spring forward one hour.

Easter is a HUGE deal here, and basically everything shuts down for the weekend, so we'll have to find other ways to amuse ourselves, including Monday.

But anyways, it's been four weeks since we got here and I still like it, even though I've probably only learned 50 German words. At least I started Rosetta Stone this week, so I just have to keep chugging along. We had an outstanding dinner last night at this steakhouse with some South American influences (including Chilean wine, mmm!) So very good - I had the filet merlot.

I'm jealous that I didn't get to see the Syracuse game last night.... tipoff was well into the wee hours of the morning here, but I was really pleased to see that we made the Elite 8! 

Also - here is our newly arrived car! Love our new license, yay! 

In honor of Easter I won't be posting anything on Monday, but look for a new entry next Wednesday, April 3!

Das Auto ist hier!

The car has arrived after spending a 1.5 month long Atlantic cruise! Hubby went to pick it up yesterday, and today I'll get to see it with its spiffy Euro license plates. We're keeping it at his work since it costs extra to keep it at the hotel (and we really don't need it at the hotel). Our drivers licenses arrived in the mail so we don't have to carry around our temporary ones anymore.

Also, we are close to finding an apartment! We haven't heard back from the first one we visited, and when we inquired about another unit (with another realtor) in the same complex, she informed us that the landlord didn't want to rent to Americans. (Grr, some stupid Americans probably ruined it for us!)

So, I found a REALLY great place and told the hubby I wanted to go look. I won't share the details just yet, but suffice it to say that although we wouldn't have a river view, we would have multiple balconies with city views since it's close to everything. They call it a duplex unit, but it's definitely more like what we think of as a townhouse. That's really the only thing I don't love - there are a LOT of stairs. Bright side: I guess that means it's less time I'll need to spend on the elliptical.

I'll keep you posted.

Sunday = stuffed day.

On Sunday, hubby and I took a train to Frankfurt for a mini trip. Even though it was nice and sunny outside, the cold air did almost nothing to help. Brr!!

We train-ed into the main Frankfurt train station:

Since most of the country shuts down on Sundays (it's family day), I was careful to make sure that our main attractions would be open. We hit the Natural History Museum first, and I'm glad we did - as we were leaving around noon, the line was snaked outside the front door and the place was crawling with kids.

The museum itself was really nice - it opens up into a large room with huge dinosaurs!

Supersaurus!

They had multiple floors and multiple rooms that we hit - all but the room with the insects. Gross.

After leaving, we were starting to get hungry so we went on a lunch hunt. We finally settled on Das Wirsthaus, and it was an excellent choice (thanks to hubby). Our server spoke to us in English and recommended something that wasn't on the menu. I should have taken a picture of our food, but it was essentially a German sampler plate for two - three kinds of sausages for each of us, a schnitzel each, fried potatoes, mashed potatoes and sauerkraut, pork - and a tiny German flag on top. Oh my goodness all delicious! We also got to drink what Frankfurt is famous for, Apfelwein.

It looks like a beer, but has more of a cider-like taste, and it was really, really good. So good in fact that we had quite the buzz going when our server came to take our plate away (which we couldn't possibly finish), and hubby said, in German, that everything was wonderful but it was just too small.

He made a joke. In German. And our server laughed and said he will make sure it is bigger next time. So funny.

The place itself seemed to really get packed for lunch. Soon after we got our food, it began to fill up with mostly elderly friends who I can only assume were there post-church. A much better decision than just grabbing something at the McDonald's down the street.

Oh- and we got some apple streudel for dessert - hubby said it was the best he ever tasted and I have to agree. The layers of apples were paper thin and perfectly spiced. We'll have to go back.

After eating, we walked over to the two churches I wanted to hit. This was the more impressive, the Kaiserdom:

It was built in the 14th and 15th centuries and dedicated to St. Bartholomew. Emperors of the Holy Roman empire were elected here and for a time, they were also crowned here. There was a fire that destroyed it in the 19th century and, obviously, it was rebuilt to what it is presently.

The inside was lovely:

When we got back to our hotel, we had a chance to rest for a bit before meeting our friends for dinner across the river. They wanted to take us to a restaurant called Okinii.

What a crazy place.... I'll try to explain.... when you think of Okinii, think Asian tapas. Now supercharge it, because what you do is order five dishes during each of up to eight different rounds. They have loads of sushi, noodles and rice, meats, eggrolls, dumplings, you name it. All delicious, and probably one of my new favorite places to eat.

Oh yeah, and you order each round on a iPad that are at each table. Neat!

I think we'll take it easy on the food today, we're still pretty full...

tegut and beyond

After having a quick dinner last night, hubby and I walked around in the chilly weather for a bit. I wanted to go see what tegut, an upscale grocery store, was all about. We seemed to go the roundabout way to get there, but we found it and it's definitely nice. Tons of great looking dairy, including cheeses, packages of meats for said cheese, bags of small blood oranges (which we totally forgot to grab before checking out, grrr!), alcohol, juice - you name it.

The hubby picked up a box of hot chocolate mix (one thing our hotel room was lacking), so I made him one last night. Yum! We also got him a blood orange juice (his favorite) for work, a Ritter Sport bar (new flavor - cookies and cream), and got me some chocolate cracker/biscuit things. Even their reusable bags are nice.

I've been to one of the other grocery stores, Rewe, and they're also really good. With the few apartments we're looking at right now, I could walk to either of these pretty easily, though I'm sure I'll supplement these visits with trips to the commissary for all the typical American stuff, like peanut butter and frozen pizzas... However, thanks to Pinterest, I've been slowly collecting recipes to make-my-own whatevers, such as salad dressings, laundry detergent, salsa and other various condiments, English muffins, and even yogurt. While yes, it would be easy to just buy these, what's the challenge in that? I could probably do better.  Especially since I'm in charge of food budgeting, the more I save the more we can spend on fantastic trips around the continent.

Speaking of trips, I have been flying through Rick Steves' Europe through the Back Door. It's full of great travel tips for the first half of the book, including suggested timelines, and the second half is a bunch of places that are off the typical travel hit list. Thank goodness our other book arrived in the mail, Rick Steves' Best of Europe. That clearly contains every place that you think you have to go to before you venture into the smaller towns. My brain is on overload with ideas of where to go!

Alright - for the first time in awhile, it's sunny outside, so I think I'm feeling well enough to go to the gym, shower, and then walk around for the afternoon. I also got on Instagram earlier this week and have been posting random things, so if these blog entries aren't enough (you stalker, you!), feel free to check out some more pictures.

I've been sick...

I usually don't get sick, I swear. Last Thursday I started feeling icky after being at the gym (dangerous places, those gyms!) and began with a sore throat, then got the congestion, sinus headache - the whole deal. Bleh.

I've been feeling slovenly since I haven't been up to going back to the gym, or doing any Rosetta Stone, or really doing much of anything but laying around like a slug. Luckily I'm finally starting to feel better, and hope to be back at 100% in the next few days.

Also (and here's the princess in me coming out), it's hard to be sick when you're living in a hotel. I mean, at home you could lay around all day and not have anyone interrupt you but here, you kinda have to leave the room so they can clean it and bring you more tissues and tea. There are plenty of couches to hang out on in the building, but still - nothing beats a bed with the windows closed when you're constantly blowing your nose. Another thing that's difficult is wanting medicine on a Sunday, because nothing is open.

Since we don't have any food, we have had to eat out everyday - another thing that you don't want to do when you're sick. Not only do you not want to infect your table mates, you also don't want to try to speak in another language with a stuffy nose. Pretty difficult. We did go to a Chinese restaurant one night though and I got to have soup so that was welcome. Mmm, soup.

I managed to get a few things completed though - I found a great looking German language course to take during August. Why so late? Well, the course is in the mornings for 5 days a week for 5 weeks, and August is the earliest I can commit to being here for 5 weeks uninterrupted. I'm flying to speak at a conference in April, hopefully moving into an apartment either immediately before or immediately after, and I just booked my ticket in June/July for my friends wedding where I will fulfill my bridesmaid duties with pride.

Side note: since I'm married, does that make me a brides matron? Because it sound like I aged 25 years...

So yes, August for some hardcore German-learning. The plan from there is to start grad school in the Fall, so that's next on the agenda to get squared away. I also got a great travel book I've been reading, so that will come in handy as I plan our trips.

Maybe today while they're cleaning the room, I can concentrate on reading more of my travel book and writing some wedding vendor reviews :-)

Just another Friday night, hanging out with a winemaker.

Many of you have had the pleasure of visiting a winery on a sunny afternoon, perhaps in Virginia, the finger lakes in New York or Napa Valley. You probably stood around a table, paid a few bucks and tried maybe four or five types of wine. Maybe there were crackers or pretzels there to nosh. As pleasant as that might have been, I'm here to tell you that you were missing out on the German experience.

Sure, there are plenty of those kinds of winery visits you can do here - and I intend to do those when it gets nicer outside - but have you ever gotten to sample an entire winery in the vintner's house?

That's what the hubby and I did on Friday night, and wow oh wow was that an evening.

It was organized by the hubby's boss, and the long table was comprised of his work colleagues and spouses/significant others, totaling about a dozen or so people. They've done these many times in the past but obviously it was our first time going. The idea is to taste everything and then submit an order form at the end of the night with the bottles you'd like to purchase.

When we arrived, we were greeted by our host and made our way to the dining room, where the table was covered with glasses, bottles of water, and plates upon plates of food - deviled eggs, trays of sausages, ham, and prosciutto, cheeses, breads and more. Our host's wife replenished the nibbles during the night, and even brought out some warm ham and cheese spirals.

Once everyone was seated, we dove right in, and our host kindly spun around the table pouring wine in our glasses, sat back down and explained what we were tasting. (As the evening wore on, the wine began to slosh and spill as it was poured, probably because our host was also sampling right along with us). Most of the selections were white, as the Rhine river valley (and really, Germany in general) is known for the Riesling grape. This versatile grape runs the gamut of varieties of wine it produces - you'll find it in dry, semi-sweet, sweet, and sparkling wines.

For those that know a little about wine, when I say Riesling you might immediately think of wine that is overly sweet and a week ago I'd probably say the same thing. Doing this tasting made me truly appreciate the grape because I could taste the differences between them.

It also made me realize that I know jack about wine.

Our host, the vintner, was a walking encyclopedia on wine. As he should be. The winery, Weingut Eugen Wehreim, has been around since 1693. (That's older than the United States, people. By like a lot.)

Anyway, I can't tell you how many wines we drank - somewhere in the 12-18 range probably. I tried to keep drinking everything in my glass but gave up about halfway through when some of the samples turned a little too sweet and I realized that I should probably pace myself a little.

Although I never considered myself a white wine gal, the hubby and I found many of these to be delicious. We could definitely see ourselves sipping them on a balcony with some cheese. We even liked the Eisewein, or Ice Wine, which is a super sweet dessert wine. It gets its name because the grapes actually end up freezing on the vine before they are picked (which doesn't necessarily happen every year), and the result is a more concentrated and sweeter flavor.

At the end of the night, we got to try their non-alcoholic grape juices, both the white and red. I don't think I've ever had small-batch grape juice like this before and it did not disappoint. So delicious - we bought a few bottles of this to break out when we have a fancy fancy brunch.

Once we have all of our stuff, I can't wait to pull out our wine aromas kit and go back through these wines and get into it a little more. Maybe then I'll be ready to go back and do another tasting and actually ask some  intelligent questions to the vintner. It was a really great way to get to know some of the hubby's coworkers, who were full of travel adventures and tips, so I look forward to hanging out with them soon.

Our first snow day in the "Maryland" of Germany

Not sure if you noticed this week, but Europe got a dumping of snow. When I say dumping, I mean that it was enough for France to freak out (ahem, insert joke about France here), Frankfurt airport to close, and for the hubby to be dismissed early from work.

Frankfurt Airport is a major travel hub here, since it's essentially in the middle of the continent. Unfortunately, on this particular day, our friends were trying to fly out on vacation and escape to a warmer climate. No such luck - although they were able to get to the airport prior to the trains, roads and taxis stopping, all the flights ended up canceled. Boo.

But for those of us with nothing else to do but sit back and watch it come down, it was an AWESOME snow day, especially when the hubby came home early! I spent the morning with this view from the hotel room:

I spent the morning enjoying tea and watching the news in bed. Soon, the hubby sent me a message saying that he's coming home. I didn't realize it was that bad, but apparently the roads were not great because although the drivers here are excellent for the most part, this is when everyone puts their summer tires on, and remove the winter tires. Ooops.

Thus, the "Maryland of Germany" comment. If any of you know the hubby, you know he has a particular distaste for the state of Maryland due to its lousy drivers, the area's overreaction to winter weather (There was even a BuzzFeed article that was SPOT ON explaining this), the phenomenon known as car fires, and for its rude and inconsiderate population.

Since moving here, we've seen the overreaction to weather. I would argue, however, that we are definitely not in the Maryland of Germany because the reaction to weather was only because the drivers had already removed their snow tires, and work closing? Well, who is in charge of that, the Germans or the Americans?

Exactly.

Anyway, with the hubby being home around lunch time and the weather conditions keeping us inside, we decided to try out the hotel lunch buffet and it did not disappoint. We didn't think it would, since we adore the breakfast so much. There was hardly anyone in the restaurant so we basically had the entire buffet for ourselves - salad options, cold meats, an array of breads, fish, steak, lamb, ravioli, gnocchi, veggies (!!!), cheeses and certainly desserts.

We were seated by the windows with a great view of the Rhine, nice and toasty by the radiator. Obviously we ordered beers with lunch, which was the perfect complement to our pretzels and dips. (I have to say, if you're not enjoying a beer with lunch with a view of the Rhine on a snow day, you're doing it wrong.) After stuffing our faces we enjoyed some TV (the original Star Trek in German, American sitcoms in German, BBC news, etc) and also had a great nap. Just how a snow day should be.

Rheinstein Castle

Our first castle visit happened this past Saturday, when the hubby and I caught a ride with a friend who had been there before, but in the time since initially going, he had purchased a new camera and wanted to go back and get some additional shots.

Now we're talking! A castle with a drawbridge!

According to our little English Guidebook (purchased for the bargain price of 3 Euro), the earliest mention of the castle was in 1323, as it was built in the early 14th century. It was built because there were arguments over two other castles (Reichenstein and Sooneck) between the Archbishopric of Mainz and the Palatinate.

I'm guessing because it was situated at such a lovely spot along the Rhine river, it was a popular residence of the archbishops of Mainz and other hoity-toity people of importance.

Just kidding, the guidebook said that.

Eventually it declined in importance and in 1823 it was bought by Prince Friedrich of Prussia for 100 talers (whatever those are)

At this time, renovations and improvements were made on the property, including building a chapel (below) and crypt. It was Prince Friedrich who really grew up here and due to his interest in art, antiques and weapons, collected such items and some are on display today (below the chapel shot, a picture of suits of armor he had in his collection room). Later in life, he and his wife used it as a summer home and then when Prince Friedrich passed away in 1863, he was buried there as he wanted.

The last owner of the castle, Barbara, Duchess of Mecklenburg, sold it in 1975 to a former opera singer who preserved it and renovated it so we can enjoy it today.

Here we are exploring some of the outside grounds. As we walked around it the clouds were coming in and out, but we managed to get a few sunny shots.

Obviously, it's right on the Rhine river, which as you climb higher, offered some impressive shots.

More shots of the river....

And here's me!

And the hubby!!

Eventually we started going inside to see all the ornate articles, visit the various rooms, and try not to fall as we ascended the teeny tiny staircases throughout the castle.

I'm a sucker for spiral staircases....

This is the dining room, probably the most heavily decorated room in the house. The ceilings and walls were painted to show perspective.

Eventually we snaked our way back outside and up towards the tower for additional pictures:

It was getting pretty chilly up there and the clouds had overtaken the sunshine, but it was really neat to be up so high (even though the staircase seemed to be the width of a laptop).

All in all, a fun way to spend a Saturday. 

Watch out, Autobahn....

I passed my German driving test today! Totally NOT prepared to drive when the car gets here!

You guys... there are so many signs....these are only a sampling....

There are very rarely stop signs, but rather four signs at each intersection or zero signs at all. Totally strange. I have a much better appreciation for people who are new drivers in the US and contributing to the screw ups on the Beltway and beyond.

And the rules! So many rules, so many sensible, reasonable rules... I wish I learned this way when I was first learning to drive, I'd feel much more confident. This is going to take awhile before I invite anyone with me :-)

Hopefully, we end up with an apartment that's close for me to walk most places. We saw a GORGEOUS place on Friday afternoon so we're hoping to get it. Will keep you posted.

Stay tuned in the next few days for pictures of our first castle visit, to Rheinstein Castle!

One week down

It's unreal to think we've only been here for one week, we've gotten so much done. I'm finally getting my head clear and starting to think ahead about the things I need to get going. Things like:

• Taking that German driving test on Monday morning (and studying for it)
• Looking at apartments and picking one
• Researching which German language course I can take (I'm already tired of relying on our friends to explain what the menu items are, and I'm not quite brave enough to play menu roulette, nor do I want to cave and ask for an English menu; the hubby has been doing SO GREAT speaking German at restaurants so he is definitely my hero in that respect)
• Applying for grad school
• Lining up all of our side trips (day trips, weekend, longer, etc)
• Decide on wedding photo prints/albums/etc
• Actually reviewing my wedding vendors

More than these, I need to get myself into a routine. The hotel/room service/daily dinners aren't helping me get out of vacation mode, nor are they good for my waistline. I'd like to work out more, but I've never been a gym person, and I'm way too far from my favorite Jordins Paradise classes. There are some classes available, but we're still without our car and there isn't a good way for me to get over there yet. After posting this though, I will be doing some things I've been pinning on Pinterest.

I think I'll try to do a posting each Monday, Wednesday and Friday, since that seemed to work well this week. Maybe that will center my week with something to complete (for all you fans of course!)

I really want to keep up the momentum of the last week! Wish me luck.

Rhine River Walk

While our hotel room doesn't face the Rhine, the restaurant where we eat our breakfast each morning does. On Tuesday, it was shimmering and bright outside and, after my self-proclaimed day off on Monday, I decided some fresh air was in order.

The hotel is situated right next to the Theodor-Heuss-Brucke (a bridge) that links Mainz and Wiesbaden together. After exiting the hotel I first turned north to get a few pictures:

The bridge is both a pedestrian walkway and a main artery for traffic. Haven't crossed it yet on foot, but will probably do that fairly soon.

Then I decided to turn south, where there are some really nice walking paths along the river, and even a few little play areas for kids.

Eventually I came to another bridge, this time for a railroad. I decided to get some more pictures up there... and it was pretty high, so I hope you enjoy them:

It was flipping scary up there! Since it's also a pedestrian bridge, there were people jogging and walking along this narrow area with a rail that was barely to my chest. I totally could have walked across and gotten some better photos, but I felt much safer just inching out to get those and getting the heck out of there. Perhaps another time. I was off the bridge and on my way back when a very loud train went by... so glad I wasn't still up there.

Even though this is where I turned around, sometime soon I'll have to venture past this bridge because just beyond that there is a Volkspark (park) that is sure to be a good time in nice weather.

Clocked from the hotel and back, the walk was 4km round trip, so I managed to squeeze in about 3 miles if you count my initial trip in the opposite direction. While not bad, I'm going to have to get some better exercise options going if I want to continue eating all this yummy food. 

today is my day off

We landed on Friday morning after an 8+ hour flight. For the week leading up to this, there were loose ends to tie up, work to leave, going away parties to attend, and favorite restaurants to patronize. Prior to that, there was packing to do, thank-yous to write from the wedding (oh, did I mention, my wedding was a month and a half ago?!) and travel plans to finalize.

Since arriving, hubby and I have gotten a significant amount of our task list completed. For example, within two hours of landing, I got my ID card (and considering the fact that my body thought it was 3am, I really like my picture). Later that day we picked up our mail, signed up to take the German driving test (which I need to study for), got German numbers and access for our cell phones, visited our friend's apartment, and checked into our hotel. It wasn't until around 3pm that we finally stopped to nap and when we woke up we went out to dinner with some new friends. Was there beer? Yes. Schnitzel? Absolutely. Spundekas? Uh, yes and how terribly delicious as a dip for the pretzels. (For the schnitzel, I got the beer/brown sauce and hubby got a Gorgonzola cheese sauce). Amazing - and then we went to sleep again.

On Saturday we slept until around 11am and ever since, we've beaten jet lag. I think the key for us was to power through the first day until nap time and since we were still tired, we were able to sleep that night as well. Anyway, on Saturday we missed breakfast at the hotel so we rolled out of bed and out into the city center of Mainz in search of lunch and to get data access for our phones. (Since here it's much more prevalent to have prepaid plans versus traditional plans, all we had to do was go to a store and buy the little cards and then add them online.) We stumbled upon the open air market, full of fruits, veggies, cheeses and bread, apple cider, everything. We ended up nibbling on quick service pizza.

Around that time we met up with our friends who traveled with us across the river to Wiesbaden, a similar yet sleepier city to see the apartment of a co-worker who was leaving soon. We also walked around Wiesbaden, got some cappuccinos and waffles (with nutella, mmm!) as an afternoon snack, and then drove over to the commissary for a quick look around. Soon it was time for dinner when we met up with yet more people we know and had some delicious flatbread pizza-type things.

Yes, I realize that's pizza twice in one day and that I now live in Germany - but aside from the schnitzel, pizza will probably always be my favorite food. The tummy wants what the tummy wants.

Sunday - hubby and I finally get a chance to eat the (included) hotel breakfast. It's stupidly good. I don't think I can recall all the items they have but I'll try - pancakes, porridge, eggroll-type things, mini omelettes, beans in tomato sauce, meatballs, two kinds of sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs, hard-boiled eggs, cereals and granola, four kinds of yogurt, rice pudding, huge variety of fruit, cold cuts, an assortment of cheeses, an endless amount of breads, pastries (hello chocolate croissants!), mini smoothies and fruit compote, juices, sparkling and still water...

As I said, stupidly good.

What did we do the rest of the day Sunday? Oh, just hiked 13 kilometers! This equates to approximately 8+ miles. We go big or go home - considering I've never been on an actual hike, I think I did quite well. (I think exercise like this will be essential looking back on the meal options in the country) It was pretty cold without the sunshine, and unfortunately pretty muddy (not super for the only sneakers I have for now), but who gets to hike along the hills adjacent to the Rhine river?

It's going to be super pretty when the green returns (and the mud goes away), and the vineyards have grapes on them.

Sorry these aren't edited as nicely as I'd like; when I have my better computer setup going they'll look even better.

But getting back to the title of this - It is the first day I've been on my own and allowed to do what I want.  I've been really busy. It's been insane to leave and arrive and to just be around so many people, let alone push my brain to learn key phrases (I'd like this beer, please). I love hanging out with everyone but am definitely the kind of person that re-charges when it's just me. 

Today I get to hang out in the hotel room, start this blog, order room service for lunch, and lounge in pjs and terry cloth robe. I may or may not wash my hair. We won't be getting fresh towels today because I am not leaving until hubby gets here, gets home.

Today is my day off.