Bonnie, Kristin & Liz’s visit!

Two days after my parents left we got a new set of visitors!  My college friends Bonnie, Kristin, and Liz came to visit after spending a week in Paris and Bruges.  They were anxious to see where Dan and I have been living for the past two years so I showed them around Wiesbaden and took them to some of my favorite restaurants.  We checked out the Saturday market, visited the park, wandered the pedestrian zone, and climbed to the top of Neroberg for great views of the city.  On Saturday night the Lesters joined us for dessert, drinks, and board games at our place.  We had lots of fun catching up and spending time together.  I’m so happy I got to see my girls!

   

Mom & Dad’s visit – Germany, Belgium & Andalucía, Spain!

My parents came to visit for eleven days in early May.  They weren’t able to visit last year so this trip was long overdue, and we were excited!  We spent the first weekend exploring cute Mosel River towns, shopping and sampling goodies at the Wiesbaden Saturday market, and baking together.  We also went to Oppenheim with some friends from work for a cathedral tour, a tour of the town’s underground network of cellar tunnels, and a wine tasting.  We even got to celebrate Mother’s Day with my mom which we haven’t been able to do in quite some time.

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While Dan and I worked for a couple of days, Mom and Dad took the train to Brussels, Belgium, and explored the land of chocolate and beer.  They enjoyed Belgian waffles, saw the famous Mannekin Pis, and did lots of chocolate shopping for me (thank you!!).

Upon their return we set off for the Andalucía region of Southern Spain.  We spent two full days in Sevilla, touring the cathedral and the Alcázar (a beautiful old Moorish palace), strolling along the River Guadalquivir and through the Santa Cruz district (a maze of narrow lanes and whitewashed houses) and trying our hardest to find good Spanish tapas (not so easy!).  We relaxed and cooled down with a pitcher of sangria or two (it was 85 and sunny the entire trip!) and saw an authentic flamenco show.       

Next we headed to Ronda, a White Hill Town in Andalucía and the birthplace of modern bullfighting.  Ronda has a spectacular gorge-straddling setting with beautiful panoramic views.  We wandered the busy pedestrian shopping streets and visited the oldest bullring in Spain.   

Our trip coincided with Alicesara and Brandon’s trip to the same area, and they graciously invited us to stay in their timeshare in Marbella with them on our last night.  Mom and Dad dipped their toes in the Mediterranean, and we relaxed with the Lesters at the resort pool before we enjoyed an awesome home cooked meal on their balcony.

We had a great time with my parents and are so glad we were able to experience some new and exciting places with them.  Thanks so much for visiting, Mom and Dad!

Our First Visitors of 2011!

Two of my good friends from college, Matt and Beckie, came to visit us for a weekend in mid-April.  They are living in London at the moment and decided to take a road trip through Germany, stopping in Wiesbaden along the way.  We hadn’t seen Matt and Beckie since our wedding almost three years ago so we had a lot of catching up to do!

We took them for a traditional German meal at Weihenstephaner, enjoyed a wine tasting in Rüdesheim, spent a couple of hours relaxing and watching castles go by on a Rhine River cruise, and gave them a little tour of Wiesbaden.  It was so great to see them.  Thanks for visiting, Matt and Beckie!

St. Anton, Austria

Dan and I took our second Frankfurt Ski Club trip of the year the first weekend of April.  This time we headed to St. Anton am Arlberg, Austria, a world famous ski resort in the Tyrolean Alps.  After a week or so of gorgeous spring weather in Wiesbaden, I thought we were completely nuts for heading towards snow and cold temperatures.  Unfortunately for the skiers (but lucky for me), it was just as beautiful in Austria!  This meant less-than-ideal conditions for skiing and snowboarding, and it also meant that I should have packed t-shirts instead of snow boots and hand warmers!

I spent the mornings at the local gym and wandering around the pedestrian zone while Dan snowboarded on what little snow St. Anton had.  We then met up with the rest of the ski club at the Krazy Kanguruh, an après ski bar in the mountains with a sun terrace and a great view. 

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Perhaps the craziest thing to happen all weekend came around 7pm on Friday evening when we realized we had missed the last bus down the mountain and into town after dancing the afternoon away at the bar.  Not a problem for most, who can just ski down, but as far as I could see I was stuck!  My attempt to sled down on Dan’s snowboard failed horribly; I only made it about 10 feet before I went flying off.   So after lots of protesting from me, Dan threw me over his shoulder and snowboarded the rest of the way down while I screamed and laughed and prayed he didn’t fall.  Fortunately, Dan has some serious skills (and strength and coordination and balance), and we made it down in one piece.  I was completely terrified but now I know why Dan loves to snowboard so much – what a rush!!  Dan was met with applause at the bottom, and it was well deserved!

On our last day we went up to Valluga, the highest point in the Arlberg region.  The view was incredible, nothing but snow-capped mountains in every direction.  We could even see the highest point in Germany from there.

We had a great trip and hope to go back next year when the weather is colder and the snow is deeper!

Dolomites Ski Trip

Dan and I took our very first Frankfurt Ski Club trip over Presidents' Day weekend.  We boarded a bus with approximately 50 other skiers and snowboarders (including some friends from work) and headed to the Dolomites, a mountain range in the Alps in north-eastern Italy.  We stayed in the small town of Villandro, Italy, where most of the population speaks German, and the architecture looks like it came straight from Bavaria.  Needless to say we didn't get the authentic pizza and Italian gelato we were hoping for.  That's ok though, because the area was beautiful, Dan had a great time snowboarding at Val Gardena, and we had a lot of fun hanging out with friends at the après-ski bar after the last run of the day.

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We are definitely looking forward to our next Frankfurt Ski Club trip at the end of March!

Christmas Markets 2010

My mom has been wanting to see the Christmas markets in Europe for years so she came over with Don this Thanksgiving to experience them.  We had the pleasure of taking them to a few different markets and Kloster Eberbach for a quick tour and wine tasting.

First stop was the Wiesbaden Sternschnuppenmarkt.  We walked down to the market the day they arrived and got some Glühwein and potato pancakes.

The next day (Thanksgiving) we drove to Nürnberg.  The Christmas market didn’t start until Saturday so we just walked around the city and grabbed a nice German meal for our Thanksgiving dinner. 

After that we headed to Prague for a few days to enjoy their market and try their local specialties. 

On the way home we stopped in Nürnberg to visit the market, try its world famous gingerbread, and pick up some last minute gifts.

 

It was a short trip, but definitely nice to be able to spend Thanksgiving with family.

Cape Town, South Africa

As if the opportunity to travel all over Europe isn’t amazing enough, in early November I was sent to Cape Town, South Africa, for work.  Dan and I had never been to Africa before so we decided to extend the trip and make a vacation out of it.  It was awesome!!

Cape Town is surrounded by immense natural beauty, located on the shore of Table Bay with Table Mountain providing a dramatic backdrop to the city.  The working harbor is lined with amazing restaurants and shops, and there are endless things to do in the surrounding area.  Since November is the end of spring in the southern hemisphere, we had perfect weather and got to escape the chilly German autumn for a week.

    

On our first night Dan and I experienced a “taste safari” at a local African restaurant.  We were given a wide range of dishes from all over the continent and were entertained by dancers, drummers, and singers performing traditional African dance.  We had a great time throughout the trip trying new cuisines like Cape Malay, and we even got adventurous by eating ostrich and springbok!

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Our first tour was to Cape Point, a mountainous and very scenic mass of land that stretches for about 18 miles at the extreme southwestern tip of Africa.  We stopped at various points along the way to get out and enjoy the view and ended up seeing a lot of wildlife: penguins, whales, ostriches, and even baby baboons playing on the side of the road!

 

The next day we loaded onto a bus with ten other travelers for a day trip to the Cape Winelands, South Africa's largest wine producing region.  We visited three different wine towns, stopping for tastings (wine, cheese and chocolate!) at wine estates in each.  We had a traditional African meal for lunch and quickly got to know our new friends from Australia, Germany, Austria, and Holland.  It was lots of fun!

  

Our last tour was an African safari.  We drove two hours to a private game reserve called Aquila and then rode around in a converted land rover spotting buffalo, hippos, rhinos, elephants, and lions!  I couldn’t believe how close we got to all of the animals; it was pretty exciting!

On our last full day we hiked Table Mountain by way of Skeleton Gorge, which we later found out was the most difficult way up!  The hike took 3 1/2 hours and has us climbing ladders in the forest and scrambling up rocks in a stream that flowed down the side of the mountain.  The view from the top was well worth the effort!

 

Our trip to South Africa was an incredible experience.  If we ever get the chance to go back we definitely will!