An afternoon walk through Neustadt in Mainz

We were fairly laid back and lazy all weekend, but it started out a little bit active with a walk. I know that sounds boring, but here walks are actually really great because there are so many pedestrian-only areas. Combined with nice sunny weather and a gentle breeze, you've got the makings of a relaxing and cheap outing.

On Friday afternoon, Matt took advantage of the pretty weather and joined me for a walk around neustadt (new city), an area of Mainz we usually don't go to that much. We actually live on the edge of the altstadt (old city) but neustadt is just across the bordering street.

The bordering street is called Kaiserstraße, and this is one of the main features - plenty of grass, flowers, and a church. Behind me is even more grassy area enclosed by trees on both sides and if you keep walking, you run into the train station. One of these days we'll bring a frisbee out and run around, I hope.

After crossing over, we saw how much more industrial the area was. Like many cities in Germany, it has that dour and drab construction that in some cases, is just ugly. Very gray and uniform, whereas the altstadt area of Mainz seems to have a little more color and variety. However, there were a few gems, like this beautiful synagogue. What awesome architecture!

Matt even found the oldest thing in the area, ruins. He gravitates to them. And to statues.

We also didn't realize how many parks were in the area. I didn't get a picture of it, but one had a great big kid's area, complete with crazy jungle gym, climbing stuff, and a mini water park! (We didn't want to be creepy adults taking pictures of children...)

After resisting the urge for ice cream, we walked home and continued to unwind on the lounge chairs on our balcony.

...and I made an Aperol Spritz for each of us as a pre-dinner drink.

This week is going to be semi challenging as I get the bulk of my final project ready for my grad school class. During the weekend I won't have any time - it's finally Johannisnacht time! On the way to the gym earlier today I saw them starting to set up, it's going to be a great festival!

And then my sister visits next week, wahoo!

Am I one of "those" people now?

For the past month I've been going to the gym 4-5 times a week to hit the treadmill. To run.

I'm running on the treadmill. I'm a runner. Sort of. Kind of. I can do it for three minutes at a time before I switch back down to a power-walking speed. I've been going back and forth between 6 or 6.1 mph and 3.5 and I'll do that for 30-45 minutes. No incline because I'd like to work on speed before I work on hilly-ness. Does that make me a runner? How many consecutive minutes do I have to run to be a runner?

I love it when I am done for the day. I'm a hot sweaty and gross mess of a thing. And then I walk home.

I hate it while it's happening. Like a lot.

I never learned how to run. They don't teach you how to breathe and pace yourself and where your arms go and your form. In the county where I went to high school, gym class was only for one year, and during that year there was only a few weeks where we had to run a mile. It didn't have to be fast or pretty, and it certainly wasn't either. But that's the extent of my (formal) physical education as far as running is concerned.

Pole dancing, yoga and other assorted dance classes is so much more fun for me. But I'm away from DC and all my favorite dancing and yoga people, so I find myself at the gym trudging along on the treadmill. I do have a barred window to look out of, though. Too bad it's facing the rest of an ugly army base.

That's right - I'm not even running outside. Germans are super fit and active, and I'd probably embarrass myself at the very least, and at the very worst I'd fall over and injure myself and all of a sudden not run at all anymore. And that's a shame, because I'm living in freaking Europe, next to the Rhine river. I'd love to be someone who could trot outside in the morning and join the secret club of all the people who run and jog along the leafy path next to the river. I hate those people. They seem to have their stuff together.

(Plus - where does one carry all of the things when running outside?! I have strategic locations on the treadmill for my water bottle, small towel, phone and headphones - and next to the treadmill is my purse with keys, cash, ID, etc - there's no way to carry all that when you're outside!)

Why in the world am I running you might ask? What would possess you to do this insane and ridiculous thing that so many people apparently enjoy? Are you constantly being chased by a large animal of some kind?

1. It's mentally challenging. Aside from grad school class, it's been difficult for me to keep my brain active on a regular basis, and I need some consistency in my day. I've been improving each week and it makes me happy to find that I'm not completely out of breath after two minutes (I can get up to three + now, yay me!). I'd love to be able to get to a point where I CAN go out for a run in the morning and knock it out really quickly and be back home having burned off enough calories to enjoy my drinks and meals the rest of the day.

2. Wine & other alcohol. Drinking can really make you sluggish, and the cardio of running has been helpful to combat the slow feeling.

3. Food. I've got to get the calories off because I get to eat so many amazing things here. And I'd like for my clothes to still fit me.

Seriously, I don't know if I'll ever like running but I like food too much not to run.

Isn't that why everyone else does it?

On that note, it's time for lunch.

How to prepare and have a blast at Weinwanderungs (Wine Hikes!)

A weinwanderung is a great outdoor activity they have here in the spring and summer months. Some towns that have a lot of vineyards host the events, which consists of setting up tasting booths all through the vineyards as well as some food stands. Sometimes you pay a fee upfront so you can taste at each station, sometimes it's pay as you taste.

On Saturday, Matt and I went with a group to one we had hit last year. We paid a fee upfront and got a little glass. The glass held .1 liters, and there were 10 stands setup. Let's do the math together...Since a bottle of wine only holds .75 liters, it means we could drink more than a bottle of wine for 12 Euro. And have a cute glass!

Preparations
Things to bring:

• Water bottles (it's a good idea to fill up that .1 liter glass between stands. This saved me, especially when everyone started taking turns buying bottles...)
• Sunscreen (you're walking through a vineyard, where obviously there are no trees. The summer sun in Germany is vicious! Matt and I lathered up before we left the house.)
• Hand sanitizer or towelettes (the bathrooms are porta-potties at some of the stands)
• Extra snack (I had a nice Larabar with me in case a stand didn't have something I wanted to eat)
• Extra cash (for snacks at the stands - Matt and I had a delicious spundekas and pretzels, and a cake at another stand)
• Hat and sunglasses (to go with the sunscreen- it was quite hot on Saturday so the hat was especially useful)

Enjoying the day
At the start you got your glass and your booklet. At each stand when you pick your wine they stamp it, so at the end you feel like you accomplished more than drinking more than a bottle of wine.

 Pretty sweet dragon planter there.

 View from one of the stands.

 This kid had the right idea to cool off in this box of water. Plus he had his own lounge chair.

 Luckily, at most of the stands there were tents to shade us temporarily before we ventured on further.

 Here's me! I really like wine hikes when the weather is this good.

 Pretty!

Even if you're starting to get a little tipsy on the hike, just look for the bright colored signs to show you the trail. Otherwise you'll end up walking aimlessly around the vineyard.

 Hey, goats!

 I very much enjoy unicorns, so I was quite excited to see a bottle featuring one.

 Always a fun time :-)

It's always busy here.

You think winter is a time for relaxing, kicking back with hot chocolate or tea and catching up on Netflix?

Wrong! We don't even have any snow!

Just because we aren't traveling or actively preparing for trips doesn't mean anything. We are constantly juggling the preparation for those upcoming trips for the next several months, checking and double checking prices for plane, train, and hotel tickets, dreaming up fun things to do when people visit, and scheduling upcoming events around the region. Next up? Fastnacht, which is essentially a crazy Halloween-style Carnival, the largest one being right here in Mainz. Think dressing up in outlandish costumes, parades, drinking nonstop, all over multiple days.

All the planning is actually pretty stressful.

More importantly, we're also trying to work out. Because when we go do something fun, it almost always involves something incredibly delicious to eat and drink. And I don't know about you, but I can't eat everything I want and still have all my clothes fit.

Well... that's not totally true... they'll fit, but they won't fit well and I'll be uncomfortable. Thus, working out is the answer. I haven't made it to the gym in a long time though, mostly because I despise the gym. It's too boring for me. Instead, I signed up for a free trial of online classes and ordered a super cool workout DVD that my DC yoga instructor (and others) have raved about. That should get here soon. I don't know how they do it, but the bulk of Germans you see walking around are terribly fit. It boggles my mind.

Staying in shape is incredibly difficult when traveling but also just living here, as Germany produces half a bazillion kinds of bread, not to mention filling beers. Also, the potatoes are incredibly delicious. We try our best to just not buy the bread, but we certainly can't escape it if we're out to dinner. I was pleased to get my food processor/blender combo contraption a few weeks ago, though. So far I've made homemade hummus and next I'm going to try baked falafel. We've also experimented with a ground beef and mushroom combo for burgers to up our veggie intake. (The results have been surprisingly tasty).

It slices, it dices, it does it all.

 Hummus! Next time I'll use less lemon.

Oh - and I'm also doing all those "normal" everyday things like house work and homework. The dust bunnies are forming an army as I type. Unfortunately sometimes I have to spend more time doing homework depending on the assignment which leaves precious little time for anything else. I can only assume other people in my program who have full time jobs and tons of family obligations are either really fast readers or are doing really poor work. This degree is a full-time job.

On the plus side, our dinosaurs are keeping well-dressed thanks to new outfits sent to us:

Alright - back to the grind. Everyone enjoy watching gentle (or not-so-gentle) snowflakes fall in the U.S. We'll look out the windows here at the gray sky and dream...

Weinwanderung in Rüdesheim

"Weinwanderung" or wine walk/hike/wandering, is a fine way to spend a Saturday. Hubby and I joined some friends on the second Saturday in June to attend one at a nearby town. It was a good deal, too - 12 Euro gets you a 0.1 liter glass and a sampling at 10 stands over a 5k walk.

Here's the glass:

You even got a yellow card to take to each stand for a "stamp" so it was a clever passport-stamping system.




















Although rain threatened, it never came, and the weather turned out to be pretty perfect. Hubby and I made sure to have on plenty of sunscreen (since last time I got a pretty great farmer's burn-tan going on), and also bring tons of water.

(We also didn't bring the camera, so all the pictures here are from my phone.. in some shots you can still see how swollen the Rhine was from the flooding.)

We got plenty of snacks along the way as well. Here's hubby coming back with a bratwurst and roll.

Just relaxing and enjoying the day.....

We were all doing just fine until we made friends with a few Germans at stand 9. All of a sudden there were more glasses of wine and that's when things got a little hazy.

For instance, I have very little memory being inside this building (that church from an earlier shot) and taking this picture:

Oh well. We were hydrated and fed, and hubby and I decided to hang back afterwards and have dinner next to the Rhine before taking the train home to Mainz. We had grand plans to do this during the day (we started at 11:15am) and then hit up a festival in the evening, but, after about 7-8 hours of drinking, we were pretty spent.

Maybe next time...

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.