A Ski Trip to Remember...

Hey all!  I hope you had a wonderful weekend!  Ours flew by very quickly!!  We spent all day Saturday packing things up and moving them into our new apartment... yay!  I don't know how many trips we made just driving things back and forth between the two apartments, which are conveniently on the opposite sides of town. :)  Either way, we're both pretty excited about moving into the new place... It's definitely a step up from where we're currently living! :)  

On Sunday, we decided to go skiing in the Alps.  We met up with our friend, Cornelius, and a couple of his friends early Sunday morning, and headed out for a fun-filled day of skiing... or so we thought! :)  Let's just say that it was a very memorable ski trip!!

Now, for those of you who know me and understand my skiing philosophy, you probably realize that I tend to ski down the easy level/medium level slopes... I like to ski at my own pace, and I'm definitely not a daredevil on skis!!  My sister, Stacy, and I were always the perfect skiing partners... We took our time skiing down the slopes, all the while chatting away, or laughing at each other when one of us just so happened to ski directly into a fence every now and then. :) After spending a few hours in the cold, we would always head up to the Lodge for some hot chocolate.  After spending some time getting warm, we would head back out into the cold for a couple more hours of skiing, after which point we would head back into the Lodge to warm up, and the cycle would continue throughout the day... It always made for a very fun day of skiing!  

Well, let's just say, that Sunday's ski trip was not so much like the ski trips I used to take with my sister... This time I went with four guys, three of whom have grown up skiing in the Alps, and Brian who has skied all over the place... Meanwhile, there's me, who likes to ski on the easy hills, at a very leisurely pace, and who has grown up skiing in Michigan... And, let's just say, the hills aren't quite so big in Michigan. :)  I was pretty nervous at the thought of trying to keep up with all the guys for the entire day!!  But, they promised me that they would find the easy slopes for me, and that they would stick with me...  

They kept their word for the first half of the day.  We found an easy slope and we pretty much stuck to it for the first few hours of the day... And, I was having a great time!!  After the first few runs, I became comfortable with the hill, and I felt pretty confident with my skiing... I was also getting acquainted with my new skis and how they handled... and I must admit, I'm quite pleased with them!  :)  Well, after a few hours of skiing the same slope, I realized that the guys didn't quite share my skiing philosophy with me...  The philosophy that after a couple of hours in the cold, you go in to the Lodge to drink hot chocolate and warm up, and then you head back out for another couple of hours... Well, we ended up skiing for almost 4 hours before they finally decided to stop for lunch! Yikes!!  And, of course, when I think of taking a break during skiing, I envision sitting in a lodge, in front of a fire, and warming myself back up... Apparently, that's not what they envisioned... Instead, we sat outside, on a picnic bench... So much for getting warm! :)  And getting something to eat proved to be rather interesting as well... There was a huge line, and the only menu they had was typed up in a very small font, directly in front of the cashier, and written all in German (of course!).  I noticed that potato soup was on the menu, so I got to the cashier and ordered potato soup... She looked at me strangely and then mumbled something back in German, to which I had no clue what she was saying, so I simply smiled and nodded... Not such a good move on my part!  I ended up getting Split Pea Soup... eeew!  Needless to say, the lunch experience was quite interesting!!

I'm not sure what caused it, but after lunch, the day went from being very fun to absolute chaos!!  After we finished lunch, we decided to head back out to the slopes.  At this point, I was feeling very chilly, seeing as how I didn't exactly get a chance to warm up at lunch!!  The guys wanted to ski once more down the slope we had been on all morning, and then they wanted to head to the other side of the mountain to see what slopes were over there... All the while, they claimed that there were easy slopes on that side too!  Wrong!!  When we finally got to the other side, we start heading down a run, which appeared to be quite easy at first, but once you turned the corner, it was quite a steep drop off!!  Yikes!!  Needless to say, I was definitely not confident in my abilities as a skier to be able to ski down that slope... So, I stood at the top, legs shaking, trying to figure out where to go from there... The problem was, that slope was the only way down... Not good at all!!  Now, this slope looked like a "black diamond" slope that would be found in Michigan, and we all know that I avoid those slopes at all costs (the guys originally told me that this was an "easy" hill, but we found out afterwards that this was considered a "difficult" hill)!!  As I stood at the top, looking down the slope, I just kept thinking about the fact that I was so close to coming home to the U.S. , and knowing my  luck, I would have tried to ski down, and then seriously injured myself, making it impossible to go home!  Thankfully, I didn't end up skiing down that slope... at least, not all the way.  Brian convinced me to walk halfway down, and then from there, we put our skis back on and skied the rest of the way down... 

At this point, I told the guys to go do their own thing, and I would go back to the easy slope from the morning.  But, they were determined to find me an easy slope.  So, we headed back up to another slope that they wanted to try... This time, instead of taking the gondola up, we had to take a "T-Bar" lift to the top... This apparently is another version of a chair lift, and it was my first time experiencing this type of lift, so I wasn't quite sure how it worked.  It's a bar that is shaped like an upside-down "T" that hangs from the cable above.   When it comes up behind you, the one portion hooks behind you (under your butt) and propels you along.  Now, you must hold onto the bar that is connected to the cable, and you can't sit on the bar as it's very narrow and doesn't hold your weight.  Meanwhile, your skis are on the ground... So, you're basically skiing up the hill and the bar, which is under your butt, is pushing you forward. And, as I found out the hard way, it's very important to keep your balance!!  It's definitely not a very comfortable way to get up the hill!  So, after my episode at the previous hill, all I wanted to do was get back to an easy slope.  So, Brian and I hope onto this "T-Bar" lift... He's on one side of the cross bar, and I'm on the other... We get about 20 feet out, my ski catches in the snow, and I fall off the thing.  Brian, on the other hand, proceeds to hang on to the bar and continues riding up.  So, I'm left to go back and try it again by myself... Which I did, and this time I managed to get a little farther out, before I completely fell again! Ugh!!  This time, being that I was farther up the hill, I had to side step my way back down the hill... Once I got back to the bottom of the hill, I attempted to try the lift for the third time.  This time, I got settled in pretty well, and after making it further than I had in my previous two attempts, I got quite excited!  That is, until my ski caught in the snow, yet again, and I flew off the lift!  This time was a bit scarier though.  I had tried to come up with a way to ride the lift without falling off, so I had attached both of my poles around my gloves and I was hanging on with both hands.  So, when I fell off, the bottom of the pole caught on the crossbar and it wouldn't let go.  I was basically being pulled by my wrist (as the poles were still connected to my glove) up the hill.  Let's just say that it wasn't a pretty site!  I was screaming and flailing about and trying to get my glove off... Finally, after being dragged about 20 feet, my glove finally flew off and the poles broke free of the crossbar. At that point, I scrambled to stand up and get out of the way of the rest of the people going up the lift, and as I stood up, I got beamed in the head with  "T-Bar" that had been coming up behind me... ouch!! 

So, I was basically standing there, trying to figure out if I should walk the rest of the way up the hill or if I should hike back down the hill for the third time.  Well, me being me, I ultimately tried to hike uphill,  but after 20 minutes of going nowhere, I finally gave up and headed back downhill!  The hike back down was not fun! Every step I took, I managed to posthole myself... meaning, everytime I took a step, I would step into waist deep snow... Not fun!  So, I would step down, get stuck in waist deep snow, dig/pull myself out, take another step, etc.... All the while trying to carry my skis and poles... ugh!  In the meantime, people were going up the lift and staring at/laughing at/pointing at/singing to me, and Brian was nowhere to be found... Needless to say, I was not a happy camper!  I did feel better at one point, when another guy fell off the lift, and he ended up walking down with me... It felt good to know that I wasn't the only one that did that! :)  So, after about 45 minutes of walking back down the hill, I finally got to the bottom, and found Brian.... and I immediately informed him that I was ready to go home... Unfortunately, I wasn't that lucky.  Brian then informed me that the only way to get out of that particular area of the mountain, I had to take 2-3 more "T-Bar" lifts... ugh!!  We managed to get up the next few lifts with no problems.  I then found an easy slope to ski down, and we headed back down the mountain.  Once we got to the bottom, we decided to call it a day... Thankfully! 

Overall, the first half of the day was extremely fun, and I'll just say that the second half of the day proved to be quite memorable! :)  On that note, I'm off to bed... I've basically written a book today! :)  I hope you're having a great Monday!  We look forward to seeing you soon!  I'll leave you with a couple of pictures from our "memorable" ski trip!! :)  Miss you much!

Sunset in the Alps... This was our view on the way home from our day of skiing! 

A view from the top of my favorite slope... very pretty! :)

Brian and I after the first run of the day...

Brian and Cornelius...

My new skis, poles, and boots... Aren't they cute?! :)  And they handle well too!!

Birthday Shout Outs!!

Hey all!  We have two very important birthdays to celebrate in our family today...  

First, I'd like to wish my little sister, Stacy, a very "Happy Birthday!"...  I know that I'm not there to celebrate on your actual birthday, but I will be home very soon, and I promise that we'll make up for it then!  I hope you have a wonderful day!!  I love you, kiddo!!

Today is also Brian's brother's birthday... Happy Birthday, Bob!!  Brian wants you to know that he's glad that "despite the wife and kids, you've made it to another year!" :)  Hope you have a fabulous day!! We look forward to seeing you very soon!! :) 

 

Christmas Markets, Sheep, and Book Exchanges...

Hey all!  I hope you're having a good Thursday... Only one more day 'til the weekend!  I'm really looking forward to this coming weekend... We're supposed to be moving into our new apartment, and we've also got plans to do some skiing in Austria... woohoo!  But, to be honest, the reason I'm most looking forward to the weekend is because it means it's one more day closer to us coming home for the holidays!!  And, after the day I've had, I'm very much looking forward to coming back to the good ole USA!!  

This afternoon, I had the opportunity to walk around downtown through the Friedrichshafen Christmas Market... Let's just say that it didn't quite compare to the Christmas Market in Nuremburg. :) But, it is a nice little set up...  I enjoyed just wandering through and looking at all of the different displays.  I was particularly impressed with the nativity scene they had set up... It was quite original, to say the least. :)  I took a few pictures so that you could see for yourself...

Yep, if you look close enough at the pictures, those are actually real sheep wandering around through the nativity scene!  Now that's something you just don't see everyday! :)  

Yesterday was quite fun... I attended an English Book Exchange.  It was hosted by an American woman who has lived here for over 20 years.  She has a huge collection of English/American books, which she sets up as a "library" downstairs.  She then invites people over to "check out" the books, and you're also able to donate any old books to the "library".  It was quite fun... And I got some new reading material out of it... yay!!  There were about 10 women which showed up for the book exchange, so before we visited the "library", we sat for a bit and chatted over coffee... I always find it nice to be able to talk with these women, as we can all relate to each other... We may all be at different stages, but we're all just trying to adjust to life in a different culture, which I might add, is NOT always an easy task! :) 

Well, on that note, I'm going to head off to bed... It'll probably be a long day tomorrow, as I have to start packing up the apartment so that we can get ready to move everything on Saturday... Wow, I feel like I basically just unpacked everything, and now I'm repacking it to move it again... Fun, fun!  I hope you're all having a great day!  I'll leave you with a couple more pictures of the Friedrichshafen Christmas Market... Enjoy!  Miss you much!

Not all of the stands were open yet... And, yes, it was raining yet again... 

Definitely not as big as the Nuremburg Market... :)

Quarter Call Out...

Hey all!  I'm taking a break from studying German... where compound words are on steroids, and there are waaaaay too many words that have the same meaning... ugh!  

I realize that I sometimes have a tendency to blog about the less desirable aspects of the German culture (e.g. the mean people I dealt with 2 weeks ago, the crazy bikers, etc...).  So, today, I thought I'd change it up a bit, and blog about something more positive... Our upstairs neighbor. :) Our upstairs neighbor is an older gentleman named Dieter.  He has made himself available if we should have any problems, and he stops in every so often to chat (as well as to check up on us! :)).  For Thanksgiving, he stopped by and dropped off a bottle of wine, and wished us a "Happy Thanksgiving".  He then explained that he knew how difficult it was to be away from home during the holidays, and he just wanted to make sure that we were able to celebrate and enjoy the day... How sweet was that?! :)  And just this evening, he stopped by to drop off some Christmas treats for us that he and his wife had made... He told us that his wife had wanted to make sure that "the young couple downstairs" was "well-fed and taken care of now that winter was upon us"... Too cute! :)  Needless to say, he's been great to have as a neighbor... Our apartment may not be the greatest place to live, but we definitely lucked out by having him as a neighbor! :)

At some point, Dieter mentioned that he collects the U.S. "50 State" Quarters.  He told us that he was just missing a few of the states, so we've decided to try to help him complete his collection... Being that he's been so nice to us, we wanted to do something nice for him... and now that the holidays are upon us, it seems to be a perfect time to help him out! :)  So, when we come home for the holidays (in 8 more days... yay!!), we plan to search for the quarters he needs to complete his collection.  This is where I'd also like to ask for some assistance... If you have any extra quarters laying around, would you please look through them to see if you have any of the quarters we're looking for... If you do find them, would you please set them aside, and when we get home, we'll swap quarters with you... The list of quarters that we need is as follows...

2006 Quarters 

Nevada 

South Dakota

North Dakota

Colorado

2007 Quarters

Washington

Montana

Idaho

Wyoming

Utah

2008 Quarters

Alaska

Arizona

Oklahoma

New Mexico

Hawaii

Again, any help would be greatly appreciated! :)  Well, on that note, I'm off to study some more German... Fun, fun!  I'm doing a little better at reading German, but speaking it is an entirely different story! :)  I hope you're having a great day!  And thanks, in advance, for the help with the quarters... We will see you soon... Yay!  Miss you much!

German Holiday Traditions...

Happy Monday!  I hope you all had a great weekend!  I have to apologize for my lack of postings over the past few days.  As you know, I was waiting for a decision from City Hall last Thursday... If it was good, I was going to head to Nuremburg to the Christmas Market, and if it wasn't good, I was going to have to stay in Friedrichshafen... Well, after waiting for an answer for about 4 hours on Thursday morning, I finally decided to contact City Hall around noon to find out what they had decided.  To my dismay, I found out that they didn't reach a decision as they claimed that they simply didn't have time to look into the situation last week.   At that point, I was informed that nothing would be decided until the following week, so I was free to go to Nuremburg... yay!  (I understand that you're probably wondering what this "situation" is... However, due to the nature of it, I don't want to discuss it too much until it is completely resolved... I'd rather be safe than sorry.  But, I promise to fill you in on all of the details once everything gets figured out! :))  Once I found out that I could head to Nuremburg, I had to hurry and get ready to head out... Which, ultimately, didn't leave enough time to blog...  Sorry!

The trip to Nuremburg was great!  Being that we went to Nuremburg specifically for the Christmas Market, we didn't get to see much of the city.  We stayed in the "Old City" and we spent the majority of the weekend in that area.  The Old City is absolutely gorgeous! Most of the architecture in that area is Gothic/medieval style.  Much of Nuremburg was destroyed during WWII, so, after the war, most of the city was rebuilt and many of the buildings were restored to their pre-war appearance.  Here's a few pictures just to give you an idea...

Nuremburg is considered to be the home of Germany's largest Christmas Market... and I have to admit, it was definitely the largest Christmas market that I've ever been too! :)  They had over 100 stands set up, and each stand displayed items such as traditional Christmas treats, handmade ornaments, etc.  There were many items on display that were significant to that part of Germany.  (If you're interested in learning more about the Nuremburg Christmas Market, check out this website... www.christkindlesmarkt.de/english/index.php?navi=1&rid=2.  It does a much better job of explaining the Christmas Market than I do! :)) 

Overall, Katrina and I had a great time wandering through the Market.  There was so much to see!!  My favorite stands were the ones that displayed the handmade Christmas ornaments... They were gorgeous!  I also found it interesting to walk around and to fully experience the German culture.... There were so many little things that I saw that were significant to their culture... Things that we just don't have in the U.S.  For instance, we walked by many stands that were selling "Plum People".  At first, Katrina and I didn't think anything of them... But, as we started seeing more and more stands that sold these "people", we decided to get a closer look... And, sure enough, they were little people made entirely out of plums, raisins, walnuts, and figs, and they're held together with toothpicks... How odd!  Apparently, they're all the rage at the Christmas Market in Nuremburg!! :) And, since it is part of the German tradition, we decided that we just had to purchase one of them!  Well, Katrina wanted to get one as part of the tradition... My reasoning for the purchase, was that I thought it was great blog material! :)  I mean, just take a look at this little guy... How often do you come across something like this?! :)

Not only did we learn about some of the Christmas traditions here in Germany, but we also sampled some of the traditional German Christmas delicacies!  As we walked around, we noticed that there were alot of stands selling Lebkuchen, so we decided to try it.  It's a traditional German style cookie that is baked for Christmas.  It kind of reminds me of a Gingerbread cookie with chocolate icing... Pretty tasty!  But, I quickly learned that a little bit of it goes a long way!  As I was eating it, I felt like it was expanding in my stomach... so, you definitely don't need a very large portion when eating one! :) We also took part in another popular German tradition, and we sampled quite a bit of gluhwein while we were wandering through the Market.  Gluhwein is a type of red wine, which spices and honey are added to... They then serve the drink warm.  I have to admit, I had my doubts about it at first, but after a couple of sips, I decided it was quite good! :)  And, being that it was so cold outside, we thought it wise to keep ourselves warm by drinking a little gluhwein... He,he! :) 

Overall, the Christmas Market was a great experience!  I was able to learn more about the German culture, plus I got alot of my Christmas shopping done... yay!!  (Now, the only problem is figuring out how to get everything back to the U.S... oops! :))  I look forward to having the opportunity to go back again sometime...  

On that note, I'd better get going.  It's time to get dinner ready, and then we're off to the gym... I hope you're all having a great Monday!  Oh, and my countdown is officially on now... Only 9 more days until we get to come home to the U.S. ... yay!! :)  Miss you much!

A view of one aisle in the Christmas Market...

A traditional German holiday decoration... They sell a much smaller version in all of the stores... 

Posing with "Santa" and his dog... :)

My favorite Christmas tradition... The Nutcracker!! :)

Cardio Kickboxing: German Style...

Hey all! I hope you're having a great Wednesday! The day seemed to fly by for me...
I spent the first part of the morning cleaning the apartment. After living in a house for the past couple of years, I had almost forgotten how quickly a small apartment can get dirty... ugh! But, I must say, that all of the hard work paid off because the floors are now clean and mopped, the laundry is all caught up and the last of it is currently drying on the drying rack, I'm not seeing dust bunnies flying all over the place, and the bathroom virtually sparkles... yay! :)

After my cleaning frenzy this morning, I headed into town on my bike (what a brisk ride that was! :)) to meet Val for coffee. She realized that Brian is out of town this week, so she sent me an email yesterday asking me to join her for coffee so that I wouldn't have to feel lonely... Very sweet! :) We ended up having coffee and we spent a couple of hours just chatting away... We then decided that since it was such a clear day outside, we would take a walk by the lake. This is what our view consisted of...

Breathtaking, isn't it??

I headed to the gym this evening. I decided to be adventurous today and change my routine up a little, so I decided to participate in one of the group fitness classes... After trying to read the schedule (which is all in German), I finally opted for the TaeBo/Kick Boxing class. Let's just say that it was definitely quite an experience. I was a little nervous at the beginning of class, as I don't speak German, and I was concerned that I wouldn't know what was going on... I quickly found out that I didn't necessarily need to know German in order to follow along. :) The class, in itself, was great! The instructor was really good, and he really worked us out... yay! I'd say he definitely gave my favorite kickboxing teacher at my old gym a run for his money! :)

The people watching was a story in itself... During the class, I watched one girl take off her sweatshirt like she was doing a strip tease, and then throw it across the room. She then proceeded to yell or scream whenever she punched or kicked for the entire class session... How irritating was that?! :) If I didn't know my German numbers before, I definitely learned them during this class... They counted backward from 10 to 1 (all in German) for every different punch/kick routine we did throughout the entire class... And it wasn't just regular counting. No... They yelled it at the top of their lungs... Crazy! The music was quite a treat... I think they played every hip-hop/dance hit from the 80's and 90's... MC Hammer, C&C Music Factory, Beastie Boys, etc. The cool down at the end of the class consisted of us doing the "Shuffle" (a.k.a. the Grapevine/Electric Slide) to the song "Soul Man"... And can I just say that I've never seen so many people without rhythm in one place before?! Very funny! :) I have to admit, I do plan on going back and taking that class again... I mean, how often can you combine a fantastic workout with such great people watching?? It makes for some outstanding blog material! :)

On that note, I'd better get to bed. I have a big day tomorrow. I'm waiting for some rather important news from the City Hall here... It's a long story which I'll explain at another time. If the news is good though, I'll be heading to Nuremburg with Katrina to see Germany's largest Christmas Market. How fun! But, if the news from City Hall isn't good, then I'll be staying here in Friedrichshafen for the time being, and waiting to see what happens from there. Let's keep our fingers crossed that I get good news tomorrow morning!! I'll keep you posted on the outcome... Miss you much!

Crazy Americans...

Happy Tuesday! It's been quite a busy day here today... but since it's kind of quiet around here with Brian gone, I'm definitely not complaining about staying busy! :)

I met up with Amy (she's the American I met a while ago... she's been over here for 2 years now.) for lunch at Pizzeria La Perla, which is Brian and my favorite restaurant here. They have the best homemade pizzas... yum! After lunch, Amy and I ran some errands around Friedrichshafen. She was really helpful and she gave great advice about where to find things that are similar to what we would find in the U.S.... She realizes how difficult it can be to move over here, and to be surrounded by so many unfamiliar things... So, she told me that she'd like to share what she's learned with me... Which I think is great! :) She told me that she's learned alot through trial and error (which Brian and I have too... Does everyone remember the Apples and Oatmeal incident?! :)), so if we have any questions, we can definitely ask her. :)

Spending the afternoon with her, I realized how nice it is to hang out with people from the same culture as me... Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy spending time with people from other cultures, and I've met alot of great people here. But, sometimes it's nice to spend time with people who speak the same language, who understand your "slang", who you can relate to (she understands the difficulty of living in another country, and not having the same things here that you would have in the U.S.). Amy and I basically spent the afternoon talking about different aspects of living in Germany and the U.S., as well as all of the things we miss about home... It was great! It wasn't a depressing conversation by any means... Instead, it was a way to get a little taste of home while living in another country... And that's always a good thing. :) I think the best part of the afternoon, was when we were driving in her car, with the radio cranked up, and singing "All I Want For Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey at the top of our lungs! It's definitely not something you see everyday in Friedrichshafen... And I guarantee, anyone that saw us driving by was probably thinking... "Those crazy Americans!!" :)

After I spent the afternoon with Amy, I then took the train to Ravensburg to meet up with Maike... We spent the evening shopping and walking through the Christmas Market. I actually tried my very first chestnut this evening... and I have to admit, it was quite tasty. Maike was quite shocked when I told her that I had never actually eaten a chestnut. (I've always sang the song, "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire", but I've never actually eaten one. :)). Apparently, eating chestnuts is a very popular tradition around here. I also learned that another popular food tradition around here is waffles. Around here, they eat waffles for dessert, with powdered sugar on top. Interesting... I always thought they were a breakfast food. :) Oh, and this time I actually brought a camera with me so that I could take some pictures of the Christmas Market...

This is the nativity scene that is hand-carved from wood... Each piece costs about 1200 Euro...

This is one section of the Christmas Market... Sorry that it turned out so dark, but I couldn't use the flash, otherwise it would get too blurry. :(

Well, I'd better get to bed... It looks like it's going to be another busy day tomorrow... yay! (I'm doing all I can to stay busy while Brian is away, as it just gets too quiet and lonely in the apartment when he's not around). Have a great day! Miss you much!

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!