Strolling Through Meersburg...

Brian and I woke up to cloudy skies, light rain, and just plain dreary (and cold... cold being the low 50's!) weather on Saturday morning... Sadly, that's been pretty typical weather for this area all summer... Grrrr!! So, instead of sitting at home and feeling sorry for ourselves, we decided to be "tourists" for the day... And, we headed off to Meersburg, one of our favorite little towns around the lake! We spent the afternoon strolling through the town, checking out the sights, and having a very typical Swabisch lunch (I had some very yummy Kasespatzle and Brian enjoyed a tasty meal of linsen beans and sausage!)... Meersburg is such a colorful town that you can't help but to smile while you wander through it! :) It was definitely the perfect way to spend a dreary Saturday afternoon!

Checking out the local art, with the Meersburg Winery behind me...

Downtown Meersburg... I love how colorful the town is! :)

This is one of my favorite views in the town!! :)

Brian was trying to take a "senior photo" style picture along a very old wall running through the town... I then found a cool program on the computer and played with it a little and this is how it turned out! :)

That's the side view of the Meersburg Castle (the building in the middle)... It's one of the oldest castles in Germany!

And, there I am just hanging out and enjoying the view of the castle and town while I waited for Brian to finish taking all of his pictures... :)

Cool door!

My favorite building in Meersburg! No matter what time of year you go, this building is always a highlight of your visit! :)

So pretty! :)

Pfander Recap...

Hey all! I realized that I kind of left you hanging last week... My last post informed you that my goal was to take advantage of the nice day we were having so I headed out to hike up Pfander in Austria with my friend, Tanya... And, since then, I haven't had much of an opportunity to fill you in on that hike... Oops! :) Well, you can all breathe a sigh of relief... We made it up and down the mountain safely! :) And, it was a beautiful day for a hike... Clear skies, not too cold, not too hot... Pretty much perfect hiking conditions! :)

And, even better, it was a very big day for Tanya. It was her second time hiking Pfander (and her 4th time hiking in total), and this time she made it all the way to the top... Yay for her! :)(Just an FYI... My friend, Tanya, is a fellow American who's living over here. She's never hiked before, but she always had an interest in trying it out... So, once I found that out, I kind of took her under my wing and I've been showing her the different places around here for hiking... And, she's really enjoying it! :))

So, here's a quick recap of our hike up Pfander... Enjoy!

Halfway there... Love the view!! :)

Almost to the top...

We made it! :)

I love the view from up there! :)

The view from the Pfanderbahn on our way down...

Brian and I went down to the lake to watch the sunset after I got home that night...

Gorgeous! :)

Gone Hiking...

I'm determined to take advantage of what is supposed to be a nice, sunny day today!! So, after I finish enjoying my tasty cup of coffee, I'm off to hike up Pfander with my friend Tanya... Yay!! :) Here's a sneak peak of the view from the top of Pfander...

And, we're off... Have a great Wednesday everyone!! :)

Dirndl's, Monkeys, and Sunsets...

I can't believe that it's already Monday! Between dirndl and lederhosen shopping, grilling out with fellow Americans, visiting the monkeys in Affenberg, strolls along the beach, perfect summer weather, and watching some gorgeous sunsets, our weekend simply flew by! But, thankfully, we were able to capture some moments on film (of course! :))... So, here's a few snapshots of our weekend...

Shopping for dirndl's and lederhosen with Katrina and Benjamin...

Trying on my new dirndl!! :)

This was a long time coming!! I've only wanted one since we moved over here two years ago! :)

Brian and Benjamin trying on their lederhosen... Love it!! :)

(I'm still in shock that Brian actually broke down and tried on lederhosen... Let alone, buy them!! He claims that he did it for me... He's so sweet! :) But, deep down, I think he had a secret desire to own his very own pair of lederhosen!! :))

At home with our new purchases... I love Brian in his lederhosen!! :)

(And, yes, my dirndl looks a little different than the original one I tried on... I had to buy a different white shirt with mine, as the other one didn't go with my dress... )

We now feel like an official German couple! :) Oktoberfest, here we come!! :)

We headed to Affenberg on Sunday. When you enter the park, you come across a colony of White Storks... They breed and raise their young in Affenberg during the spring and summer, and then they migrate to Africa for the winter...

Another highlight is the troop of Fallow deer that live in Affenberg...

Look at the size of that buck!!

I found it interesting that the adult deer of this particular species keep their spots...

And, on to the monkeys... Yay! :)

This little guy was so cute! :)

Affenberg is special in that it is home to about 200 Barbary Macaques that roam freely through a forest area of about 20 hectares. There are no barriers and you can literally meet the monkeys face to face. You basically walk along a footpath throughout the forest and the monkeys stroll around or sit on the fence and watch you... The park also distributes popcorn which you can feed to the monkeys.

Just hanging around... :)

This guy was my favorite!! I love how he's just sitting on the fence with his feet dangling... Too cute! :)

This one is clearly contemplating life's biggest mysteries! :)

Love it!! :)

We also watched a couple of sunsets over the past weekend...

Stunning!!

Sunset over the Bodensee...

What a perfect end to a great weekend! :)

And, after a beautiful weekend with perfect temperatures and lots of sunshine... We're back to rain... Ugh!! Here's hoping that the sun will decide to come back for next weekend, at the very least. Fingers are crossed!! :)

Feeling Hops, Hops, Hops! :)

It's that time of year again... The long, hot days of summer (or in our case, cold and rainy) are coming to an end, you can smell the hint of autumn in the air (or, again, in our case, you can feel it and see it in the changing leaves already... grrr!), Oktoberfest is right around the corner, the apples are close to harvest, and the zwiebelnkuchen (onion cake) und zwetschgenkuchen (plum cake) is making its way into the markets... Yep, it's official, fall is quickly approaching... Yikes!

And, since moving to Germany, another reminder of the season is seeing all of the hops fields in full bloom... That's right, the hops are just about ready to be harvested! For those of you unfamiliar with hops, they are one of the main ingredients in a very popular beverage over here... You guessed it... Beer! :) Hops are actually small flower clusters and are used as a flavoring and stability agent in beer... They add a slightly bitter or tangy flavor to it. And, being that Germany is very well known for their beer intake, I'm sure you can imagine just how many hops fields you can find growing around here! :) Literally, you find them everywhere! Just the other day, as we drove into Ravensburg (a 20 minute drive away), I counted about 30 hops fields on the way... Crazy!

(On a side note, after my sister's trip over here last year, I view hops fields in a different way... While she was here, I was trying to point out hops fields as we passed them, and I would get so excited trying to get her attention, that I would yell "Hops! Hops! Hops!" like a crazed woman and point out the window as we drove by... So, to this day, I still can't go past a hops field without wanting to yell "Hops! Hops! Hops!", and most often, when I do, Brian (or whoever else is in the car with me) usually looks at me as if I'm a complete lunatic! :) I know, I'm a dork! But, at least I feel safe in knowing that my sister still totally gets me! :))

Being that next year, Brian and I will officially be living back in the States during hops season, I wanted to share the hops season with you, my dear readers, this year... So, Brian and I headed out to the fields the other day to capture the true essence of hops season... It'll make you feel almost as if you're here experiencing it with us! :)

These little flowery bulbs are what give beer its delightful flavor! :)

A typical hops field... This one still isn't fully matured...

(And, just to clarify, the hops don't actually curve towards the top... That's result of Brian's crazy fish-eye lens! :))

I learned from a friend that the hops only grow one direction up the wire... And, if you try to reverse their natural direction to force them to grow the opposite way, they'll simply stop growing... Sounds like they're rather finicky! :)

A more mature hops field that was located down the road...

Hops! Hops! Hops! :)

There are just row and after row of hops plants here!

Pretty soon these lovely little plants will be put to good use at the upcoming Oktoberfest celebration in Munich! :)

Dancing in the Rain...

Based on recent events that have taken place on both sides of our family (i.e. my dad and Brian's dad), I saw this "blinkie" and it just seemed so fitting... It never ceases to amaze me how quickly life can throw a curveball at you... And, for those of you that know me, you know that I have a tendency to worry about the littlest things... I sometimes need a reminder to stop worrying so much and simply make the most of each and every day... It's definitely easier said than done, but nonetheless, I still keep trying! :)

Have a wonderful Wednesday, everyone!! :)