Just Another Average Weekend... Or Not...

Hey all! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend! Ours went by very quickly, but it was definitely full of some excitement! :)

On Friday evening, we opted to go out for a drink at Papala Pub, which is located around the corner from our apartment. When we walked in the door, we were quite surprised by what we found. They were celebrating the 5 year anniversary of Papala Pub. The owner, Peter, had decorated with streamers and balloons and the theme was "Black & White", so many of the customers were wearing black and white clothes. There were huge platters of food on all of the tables, there was music and dancing, and all drinks were 2 euros. Brian and I found a table to sit at, and within minutes, Peter brought us a platter of sandwiches, a bowl of gummi bears (which are extremely popular here, considering the Haribo brand of gummi bears is from Germany...), and a big bowl of chips and pretzels... The best part being that it was all free! Yes, that is correct... all the food was free!! How often does that happen?! :) Brian and I commented that if a bar in the U.S. was celebrating a 5 year anniversary, everyone would still have to pay for food, but it would just be at a slightly discounted rate. Needless to say, we picked a rather good night to go to Papala Pub. :) And, of course, I had my camera with me, so I took some pics so that you could all share in the excitement too. :)

Here's the sign announcing the "5 Year Anniversary Party"... Can you translate what it says? :)

Here's all the food we had at our table... yikes! Let's just say that we definitely didn't finish it all!!



This is a shot of the inside of Papala Pub... It's pretty small, but he had it decorated so nicely. :)

After we had been there for about an hour, an older man from the table next to us approached Brian, and said something to him in English. We quickly found out he and his wife are native English speakers and they live down the street from us... So, we spent quite some time chatting with them. They were a very nice older couple, and it was great to be able to speak English with them.

Saturday proved to be a pretty low-key day. We ran some errands, and Brian packed for his trip to New Orleans. We stopped and wandered through the Christmas Market while we were in Ravensburg... That was pretty fun. The Christmas Market consisted of tents lining both sides of the streets, and there were a variety of crafts and other items being sold. Many of the items were hand made. There were also food tents set up that sold food that is common to this part of Germany... e.g. kasespatzle, dennete, scharf nudeln with sauerkraut, etc... There was a nativity scene set up in the center of the market, and the figures had been hand carved from wood... Pretty impressive. Walking through there definitely helped me to start getting into the Christmas spirit... They had Christmas music playing, and all of the storefronts were decorated for the holidays. Brian and I felt very "German" when we ordered rote bratwurst on a roll (this is very common around here... you can find it everywhere!!). We then proceeded to eat it while we wandered through the Christmas Market... We finally felt like we were starting to fit in with the natives. :)

Sunday proved to be a rather interesting day! It started VERY early... around 5 a.m... yikes! Brian had to get up early so that he could be at the ferry by 5:30... He was supposed to take the ferry across the lake to Switzerland, and then from there he was going to take the train from Romanshorn to Zurich, and his plan was that he would arrive at Zurich Airport around 7:45 for his 9:30 flight to New Orleans. It was all figured out... My job was to drop him off at the ferry, drive back to the apartment, and go back to bed... It sounded pretty easy. :) Well, we arrived at the ferry around 5:15, and it was rather dark. So, we waited for a few minutes.... and it was still dark. Brian was getting kind of anxious at this point, so he went to check the schedule posted by the ferry.... And, low and behold, he found out that the ferry wasn't scheduled to run until 7:45 a.m.!! Uh, oh! He quickly ran back to the car, jumped in, and informed me that we were going to drive to Zurich Airport... at which point, I instantly went into panic mode, as I knew that I would have to be the one to drive the car back to Friedrichshafen (and we all know how well I do when it comes to driving around here!)!! So, we hurried back to the apartment so that I could get my passport and phone, and then we headed off to Zurich. The drive to Zurich consists of driving for about an hour and a half, through three different countries (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland), and on three different Autobahns (the name of the major highway here that has an unlimited speed limit in some areas... lovely!)... During the entire trip there, I was a nervous wreck just knowing that I had to drive back!! I questioned Brian on everything that came to mind in regards to driving, and he ended up giving me a crash course lesson about the car and driving in Europe. Fun, fun!

We managed to get Brian to Zurich with plenty of time to spare. Before he left, he got the car all ready for me and he set up the navigation system (Thank god for the navigation system!! We all know how well I do when it comes to directions. :)). We then said our goodbyes, and I was off. The first few miles were quite interesting... I managed to stall a few times, go the wrong direction (even with the navigation system telling me the correct way to go!), reroute my way around the airport, and then gun the engine at a green light... But, once I got onto the Autobahn, things seemed to go pretty well. After the first 30 minutes, I finally got comfortable with the car... And I actually realized how much I missed driving. :) I realized that not driving for so long (and relying on Brian to get us everywhere) had started to take it's toll on me... I had started feeling as if I had lost a little of my independence. But, after I started driving, I felt that surge of independence start to come back... mile by mile... and it felt really good! :) After a while, I had the radio cranked up and was singing along to some REALLY old American music (I heard "We Built this City on Rock and Roll" about 5 times, and can we just say that they LOVE Lionel Ritchie in this country... ugh!). I felt just like I was driving back in the U.S.... Well, except for the fact that I didn't quite understand some of the street signs, and I was able to watch the sunrise over the Swiss Alps, which was absolutely breathtaking!! After about 1 1/2 hours, I arrived home safe and sound, and I even managed to park the car in our tiny little garage... yay! Needless to say, I was a very happy camper for the rest of the day. And I felt so proud of myself at the same time... I had managed to overcome my fear of driving in this country (as well as Austria and Switzerland... :))! Bring on another road trip!! :)

I'm definitely adding that experience to my list of milestones... the list just keeps getting longer and longer. :) Now I can't wait to see what else I can add to the list... :) On that note, I'm off to the gym. I hope you're having a great day! Miss you much!