After almost seven months of living in Germany, I was having major cravings for Panera and desperately needed a trip to Target. More importantly, Dan and I really missed family and friends! Our week-long trip home for the holidays couldn’t have come at a more perfect time. Our flight to Toronto was interesting (we were put on standby because of a “snow storm” in Germany the day before, barely made it through security in time to board, and then spent 2 1/2 hours sitting on the runway because of a medical emergency) but eventually we made it!
We had a great time visiting with family and friends in both Buffalo and Erie and made sure to soak up all of the things we love about home while we were there. Christmas is such a special time of year, and we’re so glad we got to spend it with the people we love the most.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Christmas Markets!
The more time Dan and I spend in Germany the more convinced we are that Germans know how to celebrate better than anyone. The latest example is the German Christmas market. Christmas markets begin in late November every year and run right up until Christmas. Cities big and small usher in the holiday season with the opening of “Weihnachtsmarkt” – an outdoor celebration where stalls full of decorations, ornaments, and toys line the streets, and people brave the cold to enjoy bratwursts, candied nuts, and warm drinks. This is one German “fest” where beer is not the drink of choice; Eierpunsch (a warm egg-based alcoholic drink) and Glühwein (hot mulled wine) are extremely popular. Most markets have a giant Christmas tree, a life size Nativity Scene, and live music.
This year we visited markets in five different cities: Wiesbaden, Frankfurt, Rüdesheim, Mainz, and Cologne. They were all so festive. We had a great time trying different types of Glühwein (and collecting the mugs!), stuffing ourselves with German Christmas cookies, and shopping for gifts.
We definitely need to find a way to bring Christmas markets back to the States!
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Thanksgiving
Dan and I spent this year’s Thanksgiving feast in Wiesbaden with 30 of our closest new friends. Kim and John were awesome hosts, and everyone brought something delicious to share. We stuffed ourselves with turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, pumpkin soup, and all of those other traditional Thanksgiving dishes. My favorite was definitely Kim’s homemade cranberries. Have I really been eating cranberry sauce from a can my entire life? We ate until it hurt, enjoyed some great company and conversation, and of course Dan’s pumpkin pie was incredible!
We were sad we couldn’t be home with family for the holiday (we missed everyone!) but we are so thankful that we have such great friends to celebrate with in Germany. Thanks so much to the Marshalls and to everyone else for making the day so enjoyable!
Paris
We spent a long, romantic weekend in Paris in early November but we’ve been so busy with the holidays (more to come on Thanksgiving and the Christmas markets later) that we haven’t had a chance to update the blog!
Instead of driving to Paris we decided to kick back and relax on the ICE train. We got up bright and early (4am) and left Wiesbaden at 5:22. It was more than worth it though; we made it to our hotel in Paris at 10am and had the whole day to sightsee!
Our first stop that morning was a crêperie where we enjoyed the most delicious apple/caramel/almond and banana/chocolate/almond crepes. Yum. Next we headed to the Pantheon to see some crypts and then to Notre Dame to check out the gargoyles that protect the cathedral from up above. In between we stopped for the “most potent hot chocolate in Paris”. Let’s just say it was thick. And delicious.
The next morning we stopped by the Eiffel tower to get some amazing views of the city (that’s when it hit us that we were *really* in Paris!). We stopped by a street market for some French bread and cheese and then got the most of our museum pass by checking out the Arc de Triomphe and the Musée du Louvre. We made sure to get a few pictures of the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo to prove that we do get a bit of culture on these trips. After another crepe and a delicious Indian dinner we went back to the Eiffel tower to see it all lit up at night. It was breathtaking.
We packed as much as we could into Friday and Saturday and by Sunday we were exhausted. We managed to visit Sacré-Coeur and get another crepe (naturally) but most of the shops were closed that day. We saw almost all of the sights in Paris that we wanted to, but we were always on the go. Next time we are in Paris we can relax at a cafe and pretend to be sophisticated like the rest of the French.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
A visit from the Robertsons!
My mom and dad traveled to Germany recently to visit Dan and I and to experience Europe for the very first time. They were a little nervous about Euros and the language barrier and what to pack but they survived the long flight and the jet lag, and we had a great time!
No trip to Germany would be complete without an introduction to German cuisine so we stuffed them full of schnitzel, bratwurst, and beer and did a wine t
One day while Dan and I were at work, my mom and dad took a river cruise on the Rhine. They braved the bus and the train all by themselves and even stopped in St. Goar to visit a castle. I was so proud of them!
The highlight of the trip was probably the Cannstatter Volksfest in Stuttgart. It’s the second largest beer festival in the world, second
We are pretty sure Mom and Dad learned a lot about Europe while they were here. They discovered that sometimes you have to pay to use the bathroom, showers don’t always come equipped with shower curtains, and Germans really like to party! It also came as a surprise that quite a few people “speaka d’ English” over here ;o). We had so much fun giving Mom and Dad a little taste of Germany (and France!), and we hope they enjoyed themselves as much as we did!
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Eins, zwei, g’suffa!
Every year for sixteen days in late September, the city of Munich expands from 1 1/2 million people to over 6 million. Seven million liters of beer are consumed, and the Australians set up a temporary embassy because so many of them lose their passports in all of the fun. Amusement park rides, food stands, and beer tents pop up all over Theresienwiese, and people from all over the world come together to celebrate Bavaria's greatest tradition. Oktoberfest!
Dan and I were there this year, amongst all of the chaos and excitement, for the 199th anniversary of Oktoberfest. It certainly lived up to the hype!
The first day, after desperately trying to get into the Hofbräu-Festzelt and failing, we found seats in the beer garden of the Augustiner tent. We squeezed into a table of rowdy 
The next day we managed to squeeze in a 2 1/2 hour walking tour of Munich, a visit to the English Garden to watch the surfers, and a quick climb up to the top of St. Peter's Church. Then it was back to the fun. We dressed up in our dirndl and lederhosen and met a bunch of friends from work at the Ammer tent, where we had tickets for the evening. After a huge German meal of pretzels, brats, cheese, half chickens, and German potato salad (not to mention some chocolate lava cake) we started in on the beer drinking and danced and sang the night away. I can't even count the number of times we sang "Ein prosit". It was quite the party!
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Our first visitors!!!
After living in Germany for 101 days we finally had our first visitors! My mom, Don, Uncle Jerry, and Cheryl came to visit us.
It was so nice to see them and show everyone around our new town. We tried to show them as much German stuff as we could in the few days that they were here. This included going to a couple of fests, seeing the view from the tallest building in Frankfurt, checking out the Saturday morning market in Wiesbaden, touring a castle, and of course eating some schnitzel.
I think that we wore them out by making them walk so much. I didn’t think that the hill up to our apartment was that big, but maybe we are just used to it. So they took a break the next few days and explored Wiesbaden while Marissa and I went to work. Don had a trade show in London so we met up with him there and spent the weekend.
London is such a big city and there is so much that we wanted to do. So it ended up being a very busy weekend. 
We took a tour of the Tower of London given by a Yeoman. The Yeoman are appointed by the queen to guard the crown jewels and give tours, so they actually live there. Marissa was mainly interested in seeing where Anne Boleyn was beheaded so we made sure to check that out while we were there.
They have the coolest urinals in London. Nowhere to wash your hands though.
We also made sure to ride the London Eye and see the changing of the guards.
After all that we were exhausted so we stopped at an English pub for some warm beer and fish and chips.
It was so nice to see everyone. We had a great time. Can’t wait for our next visitors in 3 weeks!
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