The Hoffman's European Adventure Part II

Starkenburg Castle

2021-03-30T21:21:00.000+02:00

Located up on the hill in the Odenwald of Heppenheim is the lovely Starkenburg Castle.

It was built to protect the Abbey of Lorsch in 1065 (like many of the castles along the Bergstraße-Odenwald) and was one of the earliest castles. It was owned by the Abbey until 1232 and then by the Archbishops of Mainz. This castle protected the people of Heppenheim for 700 years until it was abandoned in 1765 and today serves as an operating Hostel. We see this beauty every time we drive up the A5 and finally too the 20 minute drive to explore.

It was more impressive than I had imagined up close! We parked about 1/2 way up the hill so that we had a chance to walk along the stone road up to the castle. The kids couldn't believe there were so many stones laid to make the road, hard work they said!

One of the best parts about hiking up to a castle is the view of the

quintessential German and picturesque town that lies below.

On the flip side it's a bummer to see a lovey beer garden that

cannot be taken advantage of during this pandemic :(

It was a sunny morning but a little chilly. We had fun walking around the grounds watching the birds floating in the air, as if they were having fun just staying stationary while the wind kept them afloat.

We climbed the spiral stairs to the top of the little tower.

Table tennis for the guests of the Hostel

Carving of die Maus, like in Weinheim!

There was a small kinder spielplatz with some really cool swings (according to the kids) that we spent some time of before the rain started and we made it back down to the car.

We all had a try at the swings.

We may not be able to travel still in Europe/Germany but we can take advantage of these neat places that are close to home. It is Easter Week here and unfortunately we had to cancel our rental house in the Black Forest. We were all looking forward to it and are now keeping our fingers crossed that lockdown restrictions do not keep us from our upcoming rentals in May/June. We need a change of scenery around here!!

Frohe Ostern und bis zum nächsten Mal!

Tschüss!

Closing Out My 42nd Year

2021-02-08T16:54:00.001+01:00

It’s 2021. Germany continues to be in a lockdown status until ??? Thankfully our COVID numbers have been trending downward and I can only hope and pray we resume some sort of normalcy in the foreseeable future. KITA - Kindergarten remains to be closed until possibly February 21st (but likely the end of the month) so keeping my two engaged in something other than Netflix or YouTube videos is a daily challenge. This does not help with their German language development- they NEED to interact with the kids at school. We’ve discontinued lessons for the time being because their attention is next to null when virtually learning. Sometimes I switch their shows to German audio and it lasts for a little while before the begging and pleading to change it back to English kicks in 🤦‍♀️.

If you’ve kept up with us on Facebook you’ve seen our frequent trips to the alla hopp playgrounds and local parks. Thank GOD for the outdoors during this pandemic. We’ve had a lot of rain but we fully take advantage of any breaks and get out and about when we can. Otherwise we find a fun project to do inside or make a Magic Mirrors Episode on YouTube. All in all life is good, most importantly we are healthy and we will continue to take it one day at a time until these restrictions are lifted and we can interact socially and hopefully see our families! Not that boarding an airplane anytime soon sounds great.

I’m turning 43, that’s actually hard for me to say out loud because I don’t feel like I’m “that old.” It is more of the general aging process that has been on my mind over the past couple of months. 2020 was hard, emotionally and physically because I let myself go more than I normally would’ve. Oh maybe that had a tad bit do do with moving internationally during a world pandemic 🤷‍♀️ 🤣. I’m turning over a new leaf, better nutrition, better fitness, for a better me.

I have a doctor here that I LOVE. Dr. B. and her Cardiologist husband run their practice out of their home. She is warm, friendly, patient and super thorough. I went for a checkup in late fall and she ran the whole gamut of tests on me. Did I mention she's German and super thorough?! haha. In conclusion I’m doing pretty good! Not news to me - my cholesterol continued to be high (due to high LDL at 161 😳 total is 244) and always has been, and I definitely needed to shed some stubborn weight. My proteins were low though, that was interesting so I’ve upped my amount daily. She ran an InBody scan which was really cool that showed me my legs do not have as much muscle as other parts of my body. Interesting, so she prescribed daily squats and lunges!! (Which are my least favorite part of any routine I do.) I’m doing them anyway 😉. She also “prescribed” me to stop eating carbs - we don’t need them she says. Ok I liked her till now 😂 All joking aside, this is something I know - my love of sweets has to get under control.

Here’s what I’m doing about this:

10,000+ steps a day
Intermittent fasting
100+ ounces of water a day
Counting calories/watching macros
Cutting daily carbs in half and doubling up protein

Elaborating on these a bit more...I’m currently at a 135 day streak of over 10k steps/day. I average ~13\14k mostly because I LOVE to trek through the forest here! When I can’t get out of the house I have to get creative, run/walk in place, take laps on the terrace while listening to a podcast, or just about everyday I incorporate one or two of Mrs. Sporty’s live workout videos. Side note - thank goodness for this gym I joined in October. We were still able to access the studio to workout before tighter lockdown restrictions but have no fear there are still many ways to accomplish my daily fitness goals with a closed gym. With their app I’m able to access my own personal training plan, as well as receive 1 on 1 coaching sessions from the trainers, join live zoom classes with our club or access daily live videos and archived videos from the headquarters in Berlin. Needless to say I’m 💯 happy with this membership, there are so many options to keep me going everyday.

Intermittent fasting: I have not mastered but have incorporated this new way of life since November using the Fastic App. I toyed with the idea a year ago or so but never fully committed. I read The Obesity Code by Dr. Fung over the summer and gained some great knowledge. In December I followed the 16:8 pattern to see if I could “do it” without really changing my eating habits. Happy to report no weight gain over the holidays 😉. Now I fast at least 16-19 hours a day, it’s not 100% clean as I do splash some cream in my coffee most days but my body is used to it now. Some people jump on this train and drop tons of weight but not me (thank you Hypothyroidism, weight loss for me is suuuuuuuper sloooooow) I am happy to report looser fitting clothing and an all over better sense of well-being. I will say, once I start tracking my fast in the app it makes it pretty easy for me to not break it because the clock is ticking and I don’t want to start over!

Calorie counting: I did not want to do this but have recently been tracking because I “needed” to know. I’m addicted to my Fitbit and using My Fitness Pal, such great apps for tracking. I started with the TDEE calculator to find my maintenance calories and then compared it to Fitbit where I try to stay in at least a 500 calorie deficit everyday. Do I stick to this 100%? No, but you bet I track everything I eat down to those 5 M&M’s that I sneak. My doctor told me not to go crazy with it but until I have a really good grasp and comfort level on what’s what I am tracking it all. I shoot for 1800 calories a day. It is literally a game for me to see how I can add up to that. Whatever motives me I guess?! 🤷‍♀️

Macros: I’m just getting into tracking macros. Again I loosely use MFP and Fitbit as my guideline to stick to 35/30/35 carbs/fat/protein. I try not to eat more than 100g carbs and eat more than 125g of protein. I incorporate Collagen daily in shakes and foods. I’ve looked into IIFYM and almost ordered the blueprint but I want to make sure I’m ready to commit! My Chiropractor in DSM swore by the “if it fits your macros” way. With this I’ve also incorporated drinking at least 100 oz of eater daily, on top of my normal coffee and tea. I do make frequent bathroom trips but it’s amazing how much different I feel when I don’t get the water in my body!

These are changes that are working for me. I feel that if I can do this and stick to it, anything is possible! I’ve read, researched, and used the knowledge from numerous fitness and nutrition references from over the years (Curves, CCCC, working with various trainers, WW, Orangetheory) to help me execute what is currently working for me right now. I know my body and I know what works for me. Sometimes I join a group on Facebook but then get so overwhelmed with all of the info, comments and recommendations that it is best for me to just figure out what works for me, everyone is different.

I had another appointment with my doctors husband, the cardiologist and after the exam we decided to start on Atorvastatin to help lower the LDL due to my family history. I’m not taking his recommendation to eat a vegetarian lifestyle but I am definitely incorporating more plant based eating into our lives. I use lots of spices and I’m enjoying creating new favorite foods. I could literally eat falafel everyday. I’m also not taking his recommendation to split a cookie with my spouse, nope, cookie is all mine 😆.

At a follow up blood work appointment 8 weeks after my 1st appointment with Dr. B and she was so happy to tell me I’d lost over 2 kilos and decreased my LDL to 84 and total cholesterol under 200! It was the first time my cholesterol had been that low since I ever started getting it checked. I asked her how much of that had to do with diet change and how much had to do with the medicine and she said it was a definite a mix of both. I felt so good about that and am excited to keep it all going. I’m actually excited to go for a follow up in March for the InBody scan and bloodwork. Again, whatever motivates me I will take it!

I feel sort of vulnerable writing a post about this personal journey but I wanted to be able to share my positive vibes and small successes and look back on it for accountability in the future if I need to. Plus I’ve not had a lot going on over the past few months so obsessing over this has been pretty easy! So if you’ve read through it all so far I applaud you, and thank you!! This blog hasn’t blown up with all of our travel adventures as I’d planned but this is another type of adventure. It’s not just for me, it’s an adventure for the whole family. Dave has been running more too! It’s important for everyone to have healthy food options and see the fun in being active. (They do anyway, but I like setting the example!)

We do have some VRBO houses booked this year. We know the date that we can get fully refunded by in case COVID restrictions do not allow us to travel to them. Fingers crossed we will be able to go and we’ll look forward to sharing them with you.

The past year has certainly been an adventure. Not one that I’d care to relive. Therefore, I truly believe that my 43rd year is going to be a whole lot better than my 42nd! Unless this pandemic takes an unforeseen turn?! Good God, please no.

Stay tuned 😉

Cochem and The Mosel

2020-11-02T12:03:00.006+01:00

The fall break (Herbst Feiern) in Baden-Württemberg started on October 26th.

We booked a VRBO house in the Cochem area for a few days so that we could explore the beautiful Mosel region and show the kids some of our favorite castles. Evie finished school on Friday the 23rd and we headed out for the 2 hour drive west. The house was part of the Ferienresort Cochem - a Golf Resort just south of Cochem. It was a really cute cookie cutter type neighborhood with tons of rentals packed right in. It is in a really great location with access through the winding hillside roads to the small quaint towns on the Mosel. The weather was iffy with rain predicted so we didn’t have a concrete plan of activities and planned to to take it day by day.

Our rental is a dopplehaus - double house, only a few in the complex

Saturday we decided to head to Burg Eltz about an hours drive from where we were. The distance isn’t so far but taking into account the winding roads that take you up and down the hillsides of the snake shaped Mosel adds on time. It was beautiful with the changing fall colors and vineyards. Once we parked in the lot we were instructed to walk a different way to the castle than we did when we visited before. Everything is now different with Corona, one way footpaths marked to avoid too many people in one place. Our walk took us through the trees on a nice little hike to the castle. It was the best to turn a corner and see the Burg a Eltz standing tall and alone in the middle of the forest under the shining sun. My favorite castle!

It couldn't have looked more perfect!

We purchased tickets to do the tour so the kids could see inside, they loved it! There were quite a few people touring but only a max of 12 were allowed on each tour. After the tour we grabbed a bite at the Imbiss right on the property and then made the steep climb back up to the car. We were happy to have gotten there early because the line of people to get in at 2:00 was very long! Here is the link to the Burg Eltz pictures on the picture tab of the blog.

That was a lot of walking for the kids so we stayed back at the house for the night. We made homemade pizza and William joined me in the sauna for a little bit.

Sunday we decided to go into Cochem and take the 1 hour panoramic river cruise on a KD ship. We took the KD Cruise line many times before on the Rhine and it was always a nice time. We boarded early, got the kids some ice cream and Riesling Schorle for the grown ups. It is interesting to see the towns from the vantage point of the water.

Cochem Castle

There were barely any people on board. The captain was telling us how all of the river ships have suffered during the Pandemic. The river cruise boats were only running at 1/3 of their capacity and the day tours as well. So the kids were excited to have the boat as their "playground" and no one seemed to mind. Here is a link to the picture tab on the blog of the Cochem pictures.

After the boat the kids wanted to ride the little green train that we had seen from the boat. It was a bit rainy so not a bad idea to ride around and see Cochem through its narrow crowded streets.

The ride was short, all in German but a nice chance to get out of the rain and see the town. Afterwords we walked the streets a bit to find some food. Evie found a cake shop that she needed to go in so Daddy took her and I took William to get lunch and we met back up at the bottom of the hill to head home. Everyone was content to stay in and warm up the rest of the day. That meant sauna time for mama :)

Monday morning Daddy and Evie took a long walk through the resort and William and I met up with them a little later. We were planning to visit a theme park but it was closed. So we decided to hop in the car and drive along the Mosel figuring we would hop in and out of the car at different stops.

Our house was where the blue dot was. We drove North to Cochem and followed the river along to the East before stopping in Ellenz Poltersdorf.

We walked along along the river front of the town. It was just so adorable, as all of the towns are that line the Mosel. The vineyards, winerys, quaint buildings and fresh fall air made it such an enjoyable walk.

Across the river we could see the Burg Metternich sitting atop the town of Beilstein. It was so picturesque. I can remember reading about Beilstein before in Rick Steves Germany book but we never visited. He said it is nicknamed the "Sleeping Beauty of the Mosel" because until about 1900 it was inaccessible except by boat. There are less than 200 residents and about 30 guesthouses!

This doesn't even do the scenery justice, it was so beautiful!

We had walked pretty far, almost to the next town but William wasn't having anymore of it. Dave took him back to the car and Evie and I enjoyed the stroll by ourselves. We encountered a little farm that had sheep and goats that came right up to the fence. She was in heaven! We came upon the next town where Dave had already found a playground for William.

Daddy and William waiting for us at the playground.

The kids were content as could be to stay at the playground the rest of the day. I took the time to walk through the little town, climbed up to the top and into the vineyards to have a look "down" and as you see below, it was quite pretty! Ellenz-Poltersdorf is not big, in a country like setting and surrounded by the beautiful vineyards and Mosel. On my walk it seemed like every other house I passed was a Ferienwohnung or Holiday House.

A view of Burg Metternich

After a good long play at the spielplatz we got back in the car and made our way to the house. We stopped at Kalle's Imbiss and grabbed an early dinner to eat at the house.

Looking across the Mosel from Kalle's Imbiss

We had a great mini-vacation. It was only 4 days and the kids wanted to go back home of the 1st day but they managed just fine and were definitely happy to get home to their rooms, beds and toys! We got home on Tuesday and has the remainder of the week to relax. The weather was not super great (lots of rain) for the fall break but Evie said it was nice to have a break from school.

This will be our last trip for a while. We are hesitant to book a house during the Christmas break because we don't know what the Covid situation will be like. Currently as of November 2nd, Germany is in a partial lockdown to help control the rising cases of Covid. We can only hope this will help to ensure we are not in full lockdown and quarantine during the winter. That just means we will have to keep it fun close to home!

Be sure to click on "The Hoffman's 2nd European Adventure - The Pictures" tab at the top of the page. The pics from the trip have been uploaded to Shutterfly. I've also been trying to put the videos on the YouTube channel as well. Here is the link to our YouTube.

We wish you safety and health during this crazy Pandemic we are all living in!

Bis zum nächsten Mal,

Tschüss!

Evie's erster Schultag

2020-10-21T15:32:00.000+02:00

Our baby girl was off to school! Officially starting school is a pretty big deal to every kid and for our kiddo it meant skipping over the traditional Kindergarten that she would have been starting in (America) Fall 2020 and going right into the 1.Klass in Germany.

Children in Germany go to "Kindergarten" from age 2-6, basically their days are full of fun and play with no major school structure, so to speak
After Kindergarten they are off to the Grundschule (Primary) for Classes 1-4

In the states Evie had the opportunity to attend an awesome preschool with great structure, many learning and growth opportunities, a loving environment and fun activities. After pre-school she attended Transitional Kindergarten, which we sometimes referred to it as Kindergarten for kids with summer birthdays! It was a wonderful small class from 9:00-3:00 everyday with wonderful teachers and Evie really loved it and learned a lot. Now, a month into German school we are feeling very thankful for what she has already learned and experienced because her current curriculum is mostly review but now it is all in German!

Our week leading up to the first day of school was pretty busy.

Tuesday, ElternAbend - this is the parents information night for everyone in Evie's class. My friend Monica went with me that evening to help translate all that was being said. After 2 hours of introductions from the Director, Teacher and parents along with a quick glimpse of her classroom my head was about to explode. I spent over an hour after I got home translating the pile of paperwork I received, preparing anything I needed to hand in by the end of the week.
Thursday, Ökumenischer - Schulanfangsgottesdienst für die 1. Klasse - This is a wonderful church service the night before the 1st day where the priest blesses the children and families and offers words of encouragement through prayers and songs. Granted it was all auf Deutsch but I got the gist of it.
The erster Schultag - Friday, September 18th we presented Evie with her Schultüte and big backpack and marched off to join the other 21 children in welcoming them to the 1.Klasse

The Schultüte is an old German tradition, a symbol of tradition filled with goodies both sweet and useful in school or anything special to give the children on their 1st day. Evie had a new umbrella, 1st Day School book, German workbook, stickers, erasers, things she can use in school and a few sweet treats.

The enrollment ceremony on Friday morning was quite the event. Two parents were allowed to come into the Schulhof to sit (at 1,5 meters or more apart from the others) to hear a few words from the Director, the teacher Frau Thomas and watch a welcoming song presentation from the 2. Klasse. After that, each child's name was called to join the teacher and go to their classroom. Evie ran like the wind when her name was called! The kids spent about a half hour with their teacher while we waited on the other side of the school (William played and ran around the playground). When the kids rejoined I looked out for Ev so that she could see me and when I saw her little face there was this look of panic, fear, confusion - I think all of the above. We knew she was going to be confused not knowing anything that was being said but we tried to keep it as positive as possible telling her it's only going to get easier!

Pictures from events of the first week.

Evie was pretty happy after we were home and discussed everything about school. She seemed excited to start fresh on Monday. It is also traditional to have a family dinner on this night with the school child deciding what to eat and finish off with a cake or something to celebrate. Well we had already done the cake at the beginning of the week - Evie couldn't wait to make it :) Since we had that to finish up she decided on pizza for dinner!

After a good, fun weekend our little Smurf was ready to roll into her first week of school. (She is in the 1c. Klasse and they all (1a. & 1b.) had a theme - Evie's being the Smurf/Schlumpf Klasse!)

The first full week was great. There was homework to do! It was/is definitely a tough transition and information overload on a daily basis we are sure. Six year olds do not know quite yet how to handle their emotions so there were some tough moments out of sheer exhaustion where she had to let some of it out. Overall she has done really well. I often explain that how she is feeling is exactly how it was for me when I attended the Volkhochschule every single day for hours a day back in 2011. I didn't know anyone or have any idea of what was being said but it got easier day after day.

By the second week Evie had caught the "welcome back to school cold" but it was accompanied by a fever and cough so it was best to miss two days and recuperate. It was during these 2 days I realized the major struggle to get the school work done at home. Part of it was because the material she was learning in school is "stupid and for babies" she said but really what that meant was that she has learned it already. That is great though! The struggle is with the language so the challenge for us is to keep it positive and tell her that she needs to review what she has already learned but this is in German. We encourage her to write the letters and numbers and color the shapes as good as she can so that Frau Thomas knows she can do it!

It got better, the 3rd and 4th weeks were good. Full weeks and a happy school girl. She loves making friends and everyday has a new best friend. She loves recess of course because it is her social time. She likes to give "English lessons" on the playground and collect Kastanien (chestnuts). We try to make the Hausaufgabe (homework) fun each day - for example I will do it with her, we make copies on the printer of whatever it is so that we can all do it or daddy does push-ups while Evie writes her rows of 1, 2, 3, etc.!

Week 2 - Here we go!

Week 3 - Here we go!

On to week 4!

The walks to and from school are great (as long as little brother is being cooperative - ugh!) We have a Laufgruppe (walking group) that we meet everyday to walk to school. There are a few others in our neighborhood and it's wonderful for the kids to walk together and for me to chat with the other parents. (Great for my German speaking especially :)

We are now in the 5th week and next week is the Herbst-Ferien (fall break) which will be a good time to rest her brain for a bit. So far it has been going really well. Evie is happy and excited to go to school each day. We don't ask too many questions to frustrate her and let her discuss whatever she wants to discuss about school. I do communicate with the teacher through an app called SchoolFox and she agrees that Evie is doing well. She is adjusting and certainly needs time to learn the language, but it will be so neat when she really gets it! Evie has already corrected me a few times with my pronunciation of certain words!

I swear, she seems a year older to me only after a few weeks right now. Maybe because this new experience has forced her to mature a little bit. I don't know, but she is in good spirits regardless of the language barrier and continues to go with the flow. Fingers crossed for our good roll to continue. We know there will be ups and downs. This is a really great and exciting opportunity for our kids and I'm happy they are experiencing another culture and learning another language at such a young age. Now hurry up and learn so you can translate for us hahahahaha!

Bis zum nächsten Mal,

Tschüss!

August and September - what have we been doing?!

2020-10-16T09:52:00.002+02:00

I have not been in the mindset to write this blog. I started the last post when we got home from vacation in early August and never finished it until October 11th! I had envisioned writing our daily trials and tribulations and while I have to a certain extent I thought I would be more into it. This year with the move, stress, uncertainty, pandemic etc. it has taken a toll on me mentally. Life is good - don't get me wrong! We are healthy and so are our families. We are happy and have taken each day as it comes, some with more challenges than the others but we carry on. This expat experience is far different than I ever imagined. My expectations were shot when I really realized that this pandemic was going to have a bigger impact than I anticipated. We would NOT be traveling like we planned. We are NOT taking the public transportation like we planned. We ARE being cautious and careful and respecting the rules set forth. We ARE finding fun things to do around home keeping the kiddos busy. The past 5 months have really flown by and honestly have been really great. I just have to keep an open and positive mindset that this IS going to be different than what I anticipated and to make the most of it (as I always do in our numerous moves)! Obviously if you follow us on Facebook I post a lot of pictures and keep tabs on what we are up to on a regular basis. In a nutshell this post will have some videos of the past 2 months and what we've been up to.

After our vacation we spent many days in August at the lake, we are so lucky to have that here. The kids love it, it is safe and clean and fun for everyone. We had some really hot days and used our terrace with the little pool to cool down too. We finally got an enormous umbrella for the terrace to help shade the living room without having to draw the shades. There were so many beautiful sunsets we captured off the terrace as well. We ate lots of Eis, climbed back up to the Windeck Ruins, played at the Schloßpark and walked through the forest-the Odenwald- next to the Schloßpark. We went to the Weinheim pool for the first time with our friends and had a blast. There was a huge waterslide that William must've went down 25 times.

A collection of the August pictures.

We continued to visit our favorite alla hopp playgrounds and finally visited the Heidelberg Zoo. The Zoo is not far from our house and really nice. It was a bit rainy the day we went but we still had a great time and look forward to going back when it's a bit warmer.

The Heidelberg Zoo

The first week of September was supposed to be our “before school” trip to France, just across the border to the Mosel River area but we decided to cancel at the last minute because the Corona numbers were on the rise and we were afraid they were going to put restrictions for quarantine upon us crossing the border back into Germany. It was a beautiful house with a lovely garden and we were really looking forward to it but better to be safe than sorry. This is the time it sort of slapped me in the face that our travel plans were/are being interrupted by this pandemic. I get it, I do but it still has gotten me down in the dumps. So, we carry on and fill up the days with “fun around here” activities. As I looked back over the pictures we really crammed a lot of fun into a few weeks.

Our anticipated trip to Miramar the indoor water park on September 2nd left me with zero desire of returning! It was fun, Dave and the kids had a great time but not so young me somehow managed to flip off my tube going down a fast water slide, slammed my head on the side and landed upside down on the head- then continued to fly down the spiraling slide like a dead fish in the water. I had an X-ray on my neck at the ER because I was in a lot of pain but thankfully no fractures. Just rest and heat! Luckily daddy took the kiddos to the Schloßpark and the lake over the next couple of days.

A few of the highlights over the month:

We visited the original alla hopp in Schwetzingen- another super fun one of course!
Another bus trip to the Waidsee (lake)
Made homemade pizzas and Evie’s 1st day of school cake
Lots of walks to the playground by our house and the Schloßpark
Wonderful day trip to the beautiful Luisenpark in Mannheim
First trip to the dentist- Dr. Silke Buck (such a fun name to say!)
Elternabend (parents night) at Pestalozzi Grundschule and preparation for Evie’s Erste Schultage (1st school day is in a separate post)
First trip to the Rhein-Neckar-Zentrum shopping center in Viernheim (kids and I took the tram for the 1st time!)

A collection of the September pictures

On a very sad note we once again had to deal with losing a pet. Our beloved Marley was failing very fast, just as her sister did just 4 months prior. It was so hard to say goodbye to our other fur baby from so far away and not be able to hold or pet her one last time. (Clearly this did not help with me feeling the blues.) We were thankful once again to Grandma for taking such good care of her and being with her in her final moments. At least Marley and Kensie are together again.

Another positive note for me is that I found a new gym! I always feel better with a fitness routine. It is called Mrs. Sporty and it is a lot of fun. It is a small environment, with super friendly and helpful staff. The functional training concept workout can take only 30 minutes but I like to stretch it out. There is an online booking system to reserve my time (due to Corona social distancing restrictions of course) and with a key card I can access the studio when it's closed as well. There's a little play area that the kids can sit at while I work out too.

September was also very exciting because Evie started school - more to come about that in the next post. It's a pretty big deal and warrants its own exclusive blog post ;)

The weather is turning into fall for sure. The days are getting darker earlier and we are (not so much welcoming) the fall German rain season. Time to get out the hats, scarves, mittens, boots, ramp up the Vitamin D when we can and stock up on Elderberry!

Bis zum nächsten Mal,

Tschüss!

Our First Family Vacation

2020-10-11T15:51:00.001+02:00

Taking a vacation during Corona times is honestly less than desirable but we wanted and needed to for our family to regroup and have some fun and get out of the house for a while. We knew it was going to be a driving vacation - to avoid all airports was a must - and there are a bazillion places to go in driving distance from our home base. Heading to southern Bavaria to see the fairy tale castle Neuschwanstein was a must do for the kids so we planned the trip around that.

Planning a trip with kids is completely different than the last time we lived in Germany! Researching kid friendly hotels, areas, parks are all part of the agenda. I learned that Germany has tons of fun amusement parks so we narrowed it down to what was in our path.

Day One:

The excitement had built for days and the kiddies were so excited for vacation. Saturday morning we were off!

The first stop on the trip was about 1 hour and 45 minutes away at the Ritter Sport Shop and Factory in Waldenbuch. The factory was huge and the shops was a chocolate lovers dream come true.

The workshop to make your own candy bar was already booked which was fine, we spent about €13 on pick-your-own boxes and everyone was as happy as a clam.

Next we were heading to the Metzingen Outlet Center, a huge collection of stores including Birkenstock!

The plan here was for me to do some shopping while the family ate some lunch. That all changed when we got into the town and saw that there were lines to get in all of the stores! It was a very warm beautiful day and TONS of people were out so they dropped me off at the Birkenstock Store, William fell asleep, Dave drove through McDonald’s and I met them when I was done. That was all I could manage for one day. It was so hot, mask wearing and heat and lots of people does not equal a great mix. So we went on to our hotel for the next 3 nights.

The Achalm Hotel sits way up high on the hills in Reutlingen, Germany. The rooms have beautiful views and there is a large infinity pool. We chose a Junior suite where we all stayed in the room together and played musical beds till we found the perfect sleeping spot. We watched a wedding while waiting to check in, swam in the pool, enjoyed a nice dinner at the restaurant, and watched the most amazing fireworks display right in front of our balcony.

Day Two:

On Sunday we visited the Lichtenstein Castle an awesome castle perched atop a rock on the edge of the hillside. Sometimes it’s just amazing to see these and wonder how in the world they were constructed!

We walked around the courtyard and hiked down to the original castle ruins dating back to 1300. We didn’t go into the castle because Ev did not want to walk the bridge up to it! We had lunch at the nearby restaurant and headed back to the hotel for some pool time. We booked the pool 2 times that day, because of Corona only a certain number of people were allowed in every hour. It was much cooler this day and rain was in the area but it didn’t stop the kiddos who insisted on swimming!

Day Three:

On Monday we set out for Traumland Freizeitpark Adventure Park. This is a wonderful amusement park nestled in the forest about 30 minutes south of our hotel. We couldn't say enough good things about this park. It was fun, clean and not too big at all. We spent over 1/2 a day there, arriving as soon as it opened and had a great time. It is definitely recommended for kids 3 and 6 (even younger and older too!) The rain held off until we left!

Day Four:

On Tuesday we hit the road to Schwangau to see the fairy tale castles that Evie wanted to see since our move to Germany. Driving along and seeing the Alps in the distance was absolutely beautiful. The to pull into town, look up and see Neuschwanstein - WOW!

The next 3 nights we stayed in The Chalet which is part of the Hotel Villa Ludwig at the base of the mountain where King Ludwig's castles sit. The Chalet did belong to the Royal Family years ago as their hunting cabin. It has a lovely garden and views that are to die for!

The weather was a bit chilly on our first night there so after getting some groceries and venturing through the house and yard we enjoyed a nice warm fire and got a good nights sleep so that we could explore the next day.

Day Five:

Wednesday, August 5th we walked into town which was just a short distance from the Chalet. We went through the main tourist area (the Alpseestrasse) en route to the Alpsee (lake). It was a beautiful morning and we decided to take a paddle boat out on the Alpsee for an hour. It was tons of fun and quite the leg workout!

After the Alpsee we walked back to the Chalet for lunch and a break before hiking up the Pöllatschlucht Gorge. We didn't take this hike before to get to Neuschwanstein but it was practically in our back yard so we packed up and set out to see what we could see. I wasn't sure if the kids would be able to make it but much to our surprise they were quite the trooper and had a great time. The best part was the flat, beach area that we stopped at for a while to let the kids play, stick our feet in the water and enjoy the sun.

Awesome view of the Marien Bridge!

A video of some of the day's highlights is below.

Day Six:

On our last day in Schwangau we had tickets to tour Neuschwanstein. We were interested to see how this played out during Corona because the last time we toured it was a very large group and there were just tons of people everywhere. The kids wanted to hike back up the Gorge again to the castle so we headed out early and made it in plenty of time. They did awesome hiking that Gorge 2 days in a row!

We waited outside the castle with others, you could only enter the grounds within 5 minutes of your tour time. They had a pretty good process with letting people in and social distancing. There were only 8 people on our English tour! Last time we think it was about 60 people. Pictures were not allowed inside the castle but the kids were in awe at the interior and the huge chandeliers and paintings. After the tour we took the horse drawn carriage back down the hill, another fun experience for the kids!

That afternoon Evie and I walked around Schwangau looking in on a few little shops and enjoying the beautiful architecture of Bavaria. We grabbed some Eis and bought some hats.

It was a great trip away. We needed to get away. We had about a 4 hour drive home that actually took 5 when you count in the numerous bathroom and food stops! We were happy to get home on a Friday and have the weekend to recoup. The weather was looking great for the weeks to come and we knew we had days to spend at the lake and pool and parks around. We had a house booked in France for a week in September but you'll read in the next post how those plans went down the toilet - darn CORONA! Our first getaway was a success and we will look forward to future trips and experiences for Evie and William.

Bis zum nächsten Mal,

Tschüss!

Bus Ride To The Waidsee

2020-07-14T19:06:00.000+02:00

We’ve been in Germany 2 months and taking the trains, trams, busses is all the kids have talked about before the move till current. The ever present Corona Virus has not made me want to test out public transport by any means but it really does limit our daily adventures. After himming and hawing about it I finally decided to take the kids to the lake by bus. I mapped the route - no changes en route, walked to the closest stop, pre-packed so I knew what I was dealing with in case of a melting down child who couldn’t walk 🤦‍♀️ and seriously was nervous about the adventure. It is super easy - I know very well - to take public transportation here, even more so now than it was before because there’s an APP for travel! But to do it with the kids made me nervous.

I figured they’d be up at 5:30 ready to go but thankfully they both slept in a little. Evie did NOT want to be late for the 9:36 bus so we headed out 15 minutes early for the 4 minute walk!

As of the night before they were more excited about the bus than they were the lake! Then the bus was about 5 minutes late and they were getting very worried!

Kids 6 and under aren't required to wear masks but my kids don't mind it at all.

In the back, in the very back they picked and

I do not do well in the back of a bus even at only 20 minutes.

It was nice to ride around on Bus 631 and see a few spots in Weinheim that we haven’t seen before. We made it to the Miramar/Waidsee stop in no time at all and walked about 4 minutes to the lake. At 10:00 it was VERY quiet which is a bonus in Germany doing things in the morning - our experience is that this culture doesn’t get around very early in the day! We had our pick of a spot and the kids couldn’t wait to get in the water.

The best part is we were so close to the water, it is not that deep and they could get right in and play while I set up and organized. They swam for about a 1/2 hour before getting out for snacks and playing in the sand.

We were in the water A LOT! It was a beautiful day. People came but it was not crowded at all. We had our little picnic lunch and played on the playground in the hot hot sand.

We were there for 5 hours, we honestly could’ve stayed longer. Evie brought up the fact that people were naked (kids mostly as well as a few adults with thong bottoms and older women changing tops) so we had a discussion about how that is different here and it’s actually ok for all of the kiddos to be naked or change their clothes out in the open. It certainly didn’t take my kids much time to get comfortable with that - as they changed in and out of their suits a few times right on our blanket.

Seashell Scavenging

William was playing with a little boy in the water who was wearing only a Paw Patrol swim top and arm swimmies. The grandmother that was with him talked with me for a long time - some German - but she was also a very good English speaker 😉 She was very impressed that William was just a little older and so brave in the water! All the while my kids are staring at the little half naked boy wondering why he doesn’t have bottoms on. I think this is great exposure for them and hopefully after a few more trips no one will think any differently. A naked body is a body and there’s nothing taboo here about that. Now let’s just see if I feel the same and carry on that confidence at my next spa/sauna visit!! 😳

It was a great day. NO meltdowns made it even better. The kids had an ice cream right before we needed to leave which enabled me to pack up since they were preoccupied. We still have nearly 2 months left till school potentially starts so now that we've figured out how easy it was to get to the lake via the bus we will be doing it a lot more. It's only about 10€ for transportation and entrance to the lake so definitely doable!

We have a road trip coming up in a few weeks to Southern Germany which the kids are super excited about. It should be a fun get away.

Bis zum nächsten Mal,

Tschüss!

alla hopp!

2020-06-24T14:24:00.000+02:00

Searching for fun playgrounds is something that would never have crossed our minds the last time we were in Germany. This time around we have a little different agenda! alla hopp facilities were first introduced in 2015 in the Rhein-Neckar Region to promote healthy and fun movement in both young and old. They are huge outdoor park/recreation centers created by the Dietmar Hopp Foundation. Dietmar Hopp is the co-founder of the Company SAP and has donated 19 of these facilities to date. They are free to visit and loads of fun.

We visited the one in Hemsbach just about 10 north of where we live. There are a handful more that are not far either. We could easily have packed a picnic and spent all day there. We spent about 2 hours and that was enough for our first visit!

They called this a mini ninja course

At the dead end of a maze we found cool mirrors

Careful on the beam

Log swings

Taking a break from the sun

Having a snack

Mommy could do about 2 jumps max, darn bladder!

These two could've jumped all day!

We will look forward to visiting more alla hopp locations to see how they differ. Next time we will take a blanket, food/drinks and sand toys to be able to hang out a little longer. The bathroom facilities were nice and there is a kiosk for drinks and snacks. There were quite a few people there but with the park so large everyone was easily spread out - except at the large sand pit - that was packed quite full especially with super little kids. It was also a Sunday morning so I'm sure a weekday would be a lot less busy. The Hemsbach location is nice because it's right next to the Freibad Weisensee which looked like a nice little swimming area. That would be convenient as long as we plan ahead because pre-purchased tickets are required to get into the swimming areas now, as per the Weinheim website I believe to control the amount of people on a daily basis. Oh thank you Corona Virus for always keeping us on our toes!

Bis zum nächsten Mal,

Tschüss!

Almost 6 Weeks Into The Move

2020-06-21T22:43:00.001+02:00

It’s hard to believe we’ve been in Germany over a month now. Sometimes it seems like it has been longer and other days not. After our quarantine time we’ve been able to settle in, venture out to walk among the people (while wearing masks of course), go into stores and most importantly get Eis.

We’ve gotten all of our furniture needs (thanks to multiple Amazon/IKEA orders!). It’s been a lot of putting stuff together but I think we are finally complete. Everything is relatively organized. The only item left will be a sun umbrella for the terrace. As the summer gets hotter we need it! We will just put it out of our minds that mostly all of it will have to be sold before we return to the states since we would be way over our original container weight.

The kids love exploring, although we need to build up their stamina a bit to endure the amount of walking we do. The big challenge I feel for the kids is the street safety. The streets are narrow and the sidewalks small, cars drive so close to where you walk and pull out of blind drives every next building. Every time we are out we have to keep a careful eye and be very cautious at our littles who like to race ahead. Now we are incorporating scooters for the kids when go out to help them keep up a little longer.

Well it helps a little bit.

The kids love window shopping and looking around in stores. We need to learn that we can’t expect to go into to a store and buy things. It’s just fun to browse! It has been so fun going back into the supermarkets to see all of the things available. I’ve taken the kids a few times but with their short attention spans it’s usually a quick trip and not one for browsing. Half the time we are checking out from someplace I end up finding things that mysteriously ended up in the cart i.e. Smurf gummies, Spider-Man collection cards, dino shaped puffs- the list goes on but it is fun to try new stuff.

It is overwhelming with the amount of yogurts, cheese, meats, bratwursts and breads to try! All so good, still trying new ones and finding favorites. Some of the small wursts the kids have found they like to eat them cold, a mini frankfurter like a hot dog! We’ve definitely found some of our favorites like cheese sticks, Danimal (like) smoothies, different chicken nuggets and of course tons of pommes frites - french fries!

No Iowa State Fair this year? No problem!

We can still eat on a stick!

Coming back to Deutschland for me did not seem strange by any means, there are so many things I just need to get used to again.

Heavy wallet - with 1¢, 2¢, 5¢, 10¢, 20¢, 50¢, 1€, and 2€ coins it adds a lot of weight to the zip portion of the wallet or god forbid you don’t have a change pocket you need to carry a change purse too! It takes time to dig through all of those coins, and you MUST have patience in stores because as fast as the clerk speeds through your order it takes a while to find the EXACT change. Or use your card - cards are widely accepted more now than when we were here before.
Quiet Hours - yeah, hard to do sometimes with a 5 & 3 year old.
Recycling - How many bins? What goes where? Oh my, the first week was a brutal reminder of ultimate kitchen organization to accommodate all of the different garbage bin!
Cleaning - If you know me you know I’m a clean freak anyway. It was a good thing we used the shower squeegee everyday in our last house because it’s a must here. With the hard water you basically have to wipe down the entire shower, glass, walls and fixtures or the residue is super hard to remove. We don’t have screens and half our wall space is usually open to the outside so cleaning the floors almost daily is a thing now. I have a great steamer!
Traffic - I remembered why I liked walking/taking the train everywhere because it just seems to take so long to get anywhere in a vehicle!
Little darkness - in the middle of the year the sky is still light at 10pm and the again at 4:30! We had complete blackout (manual) shades before so our rooms were always pitch black but our electric shades now do not block all the light and that makes it hard to fall asleep some nights and hard for some little people in our house to stay in bed!

It’s been so lovely to hear the church bells ringing everyday, the peacefulness and quietness of our penthouse is wonderful! We do get quite a lot of traffic on the street below but it’s not bothersome, in fact sometimes it’s fun to to listen and people watch! We are right next to a doctors office and high school as well as many businesses on the Bismarckstraße so there are quite a few people around all the time.

We’ve also experienced the ease of delivery - something we definitely didn't have before. Lieferando is a food delivery service that offers over 25 different places we can order from. From a Döner to Schnitzel to Pizza, Gyros, or a delicious Salad - we can get anything. Honestly it’s the best thing. Ever. We loved dining out before but remembered that service was so terribly slow and with two small kiddos it’s just not as peaceful to hang in the bier garten any longer with impatient/hangry littles! Plus we save a ton of €€ not ordering drinks 😉.

AND grocery delivery - REWE service is wonderful and again so easy!

From Janni - right around the corner 5⭐ yum!

From Pizza No. 1 - really good!

Gyros Salad from Hellas - SO GOOD! I💗Greek Food

We’ve met the neighbors (3 families) that live on each floor directly under us on our half of the building plus a few more from the other side. Below us is a very nice elderly couple that brought us a box of chocolates to welcome us. The neighbor below them is also from Iowa! He is married to a German Frau. The ground floor family has boys around the same as Evie and William so we are excited to have some playmates! Their dad is an engineer at JD - such a small world in our little building! There are two apartment houses in our complex connected by the parking garage.

Our balcony (3rd floor), two balconies below (floor 2, 1) and Erdgeschoss (ground floor)

View in the other direction of other building and where the Saturday night concerts took place.

We’ve had a great couple of weeks settling in. Still finding our groove really and I'm sure we won't be in any major routine until we start schools in August. The COVID has put a bit of a damper on some travel plans. It's sad that our first house guests would've been here in a few weeks but had to postpone their trip till next year (fingers crossed!). We do have confirmed guests of Grandma and Uncle Mike for Christmas time and can hardly wait for that! We're in the process of planning some summer fun trips. There is SO much to see and do right here in Germany. The kids have certain places that they'd like to see based on pictures that they've seen of ours from our previous time here. I don't mind at all going back to places we went before, it's going to be awesome seeing the kids reaction to some huge castles!

Bis zum nächsten Mal!

Tschüss!!

Losing a pet in the states while you’re an expat

2020-06-14T16:34:00.001+02:00

Our fur babies were born in September of 2004 in North Carolina to a stray cat that Dave’s sister was taking care of. She was in the process of moving up to New York (where we were at the time, in Upstste) and had to find homes for the kittens and I said if she couldn’t find anyone there that Dave and I would take them. Needless to say we were parents to two cute little kitties a few weeks later 😻

When we got the sisters they were so little, a calico and a black and white long haired that was a little plump. We didn’t name them right away, they had to have the perfect names. One night it occurred to me in the middle of the night - Jarvis Marylebone and Thistle Kensington - these two strange names of places (hotels) Dave and I had been in London a few years prior. There I knew it, the cats were to be named Marley and Kensie and their names fit them so perfectly.

After we had the cats only a few days we realized they were filled with fleas, so we bathed and bathed them and kept them in our laundry room while we tried bombing the house. I remember going to bed one night and actually asking Dave if we could get rid of them because I was so grossed out by the fleas! I feel so guilty saying that now as I look back to what a short time that was and what a special part of our lives they were.

Marley (calico) and Kensie (b&w) were my buddies the first few years because Dave was so busy working in his Masters/M.B.A. that anytime we were home from work he was locked away doing schoolwork. It was nice to have the girls to talk to or hang out with!

In 2007 we got the opportunity to move to Des Moines, IA and I will never forget that 16 hour drive with the cats in a cage and my mom and brother along for the trip. It was the 1st time they’d been in the car that long since their trip from NC to NY 3 years prior. For the 1st 2 hours before daylight, all we heard was Marley screaming and after a while all it sounded like was, “mom, out” over and over and over! My brother covered their cage with a blanket to block out the sights and that seems to do the trick. They weren’t happy about the ride but they tolerated it.

These were the most well traveled cats you’ve probably ever met, in 2009 we moved again to Sidney, NE an 8 hour drive west of Des Moines. Then in late 2010 we moved to Shawnee, KS another 8 hour drive away. They have always adapted very well to their new surroundings. Exploring a new house, finding their new favorite hideaway. Only 6 months later we were headed over to Germany on our 1st expat assignment but the girls would not be making that trip. Instead they were headed back to NY to live with Grandma while we were overseas.

It was a huge change for my mom who is actually allergic to cats but we were very grateful for her taking them and she did fine with them for the 2 1/2 years we were gone. They had a bad habit of clawing and unfortunately had their way with mom’s sofa so we were happy to replace that when we got back to the states.

After their time with Grandma, Marley and Kensie were off to Bettendorf, IA. We underwent treatments for IVF and soon found out Marley and Kensie were going to have a baby sister, a human one! It was a long road of infertility and the girls were always there with me, comforting me on a negative pregnancy test day or cuddling when they knew they needed to. Well they would cuddle 24/7 if we let them but they seemed to sense when it was really needed ❤️. In July of 2014 Evelyn was born and the girls were certainly curious. I was nervous about having cats around a baby but everything went perfectly fine. They never bothered Evie but were happy to sleep by her and wake when she cried.

Almost 2 years later we were moving back to Shawnee, KS in the spring of 2016. The girls were 12 now and still doing great. We found out that Marley had a thyroid issue so adding in a daily medicine was part of the routine. We were also surprised to find out that we were adding a little boy to the family now too! William was born in January of 2017. The girls did great with both kids, in fact they were quite comfortable to just hide most of the day until the kids were asleep 😊

In December of 2017 we moved 3 hours back north to West Des Moines again. Another new house to explore and find their favorite hiding place. This was a ranch style house with a very large storage area and for the first time we actually had a cat door installed in the basement door so the girls could go in and out and the kids could stay out! In Iowa we went back to the same Vet that we used when we were there 10 years before. Dr. Young remembered us and was happy too see the girls back and doing well. Here we did find out that Marley was in early stages of kidney disease but easily manageable with prescription food. Both girls were not very excited about eating the kidney diet food. It was a struggle to find a combination that they would eat!

At the end of 2019 when we found out about expat assignment we knew that the girls would not be going to Germany with us, they were 15 now. Grandma now lived only 15 minutes away from us and graciously said she would take the cats while we were gone. Our plan was to stay with my mom only a few weeks before going to Germany but when the news of Covid hit we actually ended up being there a little over 2 months. Marley and Kensie always had a quiet hideaway everyplace we lived and being in mom's townhouse with the two kids around them 24/7 might have been a little much. They tried to hide but the kids loved being around them. At night after the kids were asleep the girls would surface for good and look to be comforted by mama!

In April I took Kensie into see Dr. Young because she was very lethargic and could not eat, drink, walk or stand. I was so nervous I thought it was going to be the end but she ended up having an infection and was treated with antibiotics and an IV of fluid and in a few days was back to herself. Dr. Young did say that she had advancing kidney disease and wasn't going to get better, she may bounce back for a while but it was inevitable her time was numbered. Great, we were leaving soon and I didn't need to think about that! Luckily the girls were doing well by the time we said our goodbyes on May 13th.

Only 3 and 1/2 weeks later mom let me know that Kensie wasn't doing too well again. It was very similar to the last time except she lost control of her bladder and was just about completely immobile. Mom called Dr. Young and took Kensie in on Monday, June 9th. It WAS the end this time. And the guilt I felt for not being there was very difficult. It was ALL so difficult, mom took such great care of her and had a very hard time with this. She cuddled her right till the very end. We would just cry to each other on the phone. I cried so hard, honestly I can't remember crying so hard about something. One of my original babies was gone.

The reality of having pets is extremely hard then they get older or sick or something happens to them. It just plain sucks. Knowing that Kensie had a fabulous, very cushy life gives me comfort. Knowing shes not in pain anymore gives me comfort. Now we pray Marley holds out for a while longer, we just can’t go through that again too soon!

Evie wanted Kensie cremated so that she can live with us forever ❤️ we have her in a beautiful little box and even have a plaster paw print that Grandma is making into an ornament for us to hang. We will miss this sweet old girl like crazy and remember all the joy she brought to our lives. Rest In Peace Kens.

The Windeck Ruins

2020-05-31T20:35:00.000+02:00

Long before we moved to Weinheim the kids wanted to see and visit castles. Once we found our place with castle views right outside their bedroom windows it was a MUST that we get to them as soon as possible. There are two castles to the East right outside our windows, The Windeck Castle Ruins and Wachenburg Castle. So, on our 2nd day after quarantine that was the plan. We were hiking up to the ruins.

The kids loaded up their backpacks, Evie surprisingly enough put some Goldfish, Capri Suns, and fruit snacks in hers while William put about 10 pairs of socks, his jump rope, etch-a-sketch, 1/2 of his wooden tool toys, 1 blanket, markers, crayons and I’m thinking that was it. Needless to say he didn’t carry that for very long and I had to hold my tongue - the guidelines for packing for hikes has yet TBD so we just went with the flow as we weren’t even sure we’d get through town to the hillside.

Once you are about 3/4 of the way up there’s a few statues of der Grüffelo and die Maus who are characters in a popular children's book that takes place in this forest. I haven't seen the book yet but all of the local children know it apparently. The book tells the children that it's okay to be afraid of something and that even a mouse can overcome it. These were gifted to the city from the publishing house. This is a YouTube clip I found, just a snippet of something longer I suppose.

We get to the base of the ruins and Evie is just in AWE!

Evies “in AWE” look at the castle 😊

We walked to the center of the ruins where they have an outdoor restaurant set up but we couldn’t go up the winding stairs to the upper level. It is all the kids wanted to do - climb those stairs so we will go back when the restaurant is closed so we can explore a little more.

Such an amazing view of Weinheim!

Snack break on the way back down.

Walking through the streets, admiring the houses!

She was fascinated by the little moat that surrounded these houses.

No doubt it was an ice cream kind of day!

The kids did great for their first castle trek. When I mapped it from the house it said 35 minutes walking time to the ruins and I’d say it probably took us close to an hour. It was steep and I did have to carry my almost 40 pound baby for a bit up the hill. We took the “steps” path back down to the Alt Stadt that were tricky but we made it and celebrated with ice cream. I wish I had recorded William sitting on those steps enjoying his eis- he must’ve said 10 times how good it was - he loves his sweets!

It was early afternoon when we got back home but that was fine, everyone was pooped after our long walk and I needed to run out to the store (Edeka) this time to get some things as all stores were closed the next two days. Stores are always closed on Sundays we have to remember, and Monday is a Holiday which means all stores are closed as well. We remember from before how nice that is to have a family day on Sunday while living abroad but we also remember how nice it is when we are stateside that establishments are open on Sunday if we need something 😊.

We did just that on Sunday, had a lovely day at home relaxing and enjoying the beautiful sunshine our terrace. We took a little walk, spotted some ducks in the nearby river and enjoyed our neighbor give his normal “Saturday night” concert on Sunday at 6pm because he was gone the previous night.

Monday we will venture over to a friends for a BBQ and enjoying the company and more beauty weather!

Bis nächstes mal, Tschüss!

The exploring begins...

2020-05-31T14:04:00.000+02:00

Day 1 post quarantine Dave headed back to the office and the kids and I set out on foot with the City Select Double Monster stroller. Dave assured me it was mostly flat so we headed out to see what we could see!

Excited to get out of the house!

We thought it would be a good idea to walk towards the Pestalozzi Grundschule to see how long it would take. Not even 10 minutes, or pushing the Monster Stroller maybe a few minutes more. That might be the last time I attempt to take that stroller on that particular route - oh the hills!! I had to let Evie out so that I could push it - I sure got a good workout in that morning!

Being a stinker in front of the school.

Next we walked to the Altes Rathaus where Evie was just in awe of how OLD the doors were, and the rust and the clock tower! Click on this Rathaus link to check out the city website with an option to read in English and see all that Weinheim has to offer. It's a great city!

Admiring the OLD door at the Rathaus

Pointing to the clock on the Rathaus

Before we headed out I asked everyone if they needed any snacks or had enough to eat, used the bathroom, etc... 10 minutes into our journey they both said how hungry they were. I think they remembered that we were going to be on the lookout for a bakery anyway - William of course wanted ice cream since we passed about 3 different shops. Inside Riegler, William was determined to get a entire Vegan Chocolate Cake, it is the only thing he wanted. There weren't too many pastry like items that interested him so he decided on a butter pretzel and loved it! Evie chose an Apfel Strudel and she ate mostly all of it!

1st bakery stop!

We went home for lunch and a little rest. It was another beautiful day, we've been so lucky in the past few weeks to have such warmth and sunshine. We do not remember the weather being this beautiful when we lived here before! After a nice video chat with my cousin in Japan we ventured back out for a stroll in another direction where the kids discovered snails crawling up the stone walls. Everything is cool and exciting for them :)

Snail spottings!

Might have to look into this delivery service!

We finally made it to the bouncers behind our building. They played on them for a good 10 minutes before the novelty wore off. It was actually a little bizarre, playing down there surrounded by all of the houses feeling like we were being "watched" from every which direction!

That's something I guess we just have to get used to here instead of our huge private yard that we were so used to previously.

It was a good day. The kids were pooped and I doubled my step goal for the day which was a huge accomplishment after being "inside" for 2 weeks! Dave got home from work, Evie fell asleep around 4:00 and we ordered delivery again - because like we said - it's just so easy!! I took my very first drive all alone to one of the Aldi's up the road. It is connected to an Edeka store, another great grocery, but after spending so much time browsing in Aldi I didn't make it into Edeka. I got home to my deliciously delivered Döner and had to try to get Evie out of bed to eat. Needless to say by the time she got up, ate and bathed she didn't go back to sleep till nearly 11:00! Oh well, fun first day of freedom in Germany!

Tschüss!!

We made it to Deutschland! Now for two weeks of quarantine...

2020-05-29T08:27:00.001+02:00

It was time, our nuclear family needed to be together and on May 14th the kids and I were ready for our flight from Chicago to Frankfurt. We drove from Des Moines the day before and stayed overnight near ORD so that we could have a direct flight into FRA. We had a 4:00 PM flight but wanted to get to the airport early because we really had no idea what it was going to be like flying during the pandemic.

I dropped my mom, kids and the luggage off while I went to park. This luggage was stressing me out - I didn't know how the heck I was going to handle it all and then how the heck we were going to put it in our vehicle when Dave picked us up! I had already gotten rid of so much, donated, sold, left even more behind for mom to donate yet I still had 6 checked bags and carry-ons!

Thank goodness we did get to ORD early, while there were not many people at the airport the line to check in was very slow moving. Once we finally got to the counter, handed over our passports, flight info, lease to our apartment, and a photo of Dave's residence permit I was told that we could not board because we had no proof of residency. The Lufthansa agent made a phone call and used his Google Translate to read the paperwork I gave him but finally said that if he were to allow us to go, once we got to Germany they'd put us directly back onto a flight back to the US. WHAT?! I called Dave, I was about to throw up. I had no idea what to do. The agent directed me over to a ticketing agent and said that I could push the trip out to give us time to take care of the necessary arrangements. Oh Lord, I was about to lose it. I was nearly in tears with the other ticketing agent and she walked over to a gentleman who simply told her that I needed a copy of our marriage license and a printed picture of Dave's residence permit - and that was it?! That was all I needed I asked her?! Perhaps the 1st agent could have asked the same gentleman who was walking back and forth in front of the check in counter and have saved me a million gray hairs and an almost panic attack. Good God we were able to board!

We walked Grandma out to the van, had a snack and said our goodbyes. We knew we'd see her soon on FaceTime! During our prior 2 months I purchased a collapsible wagon from Target that the kids and I used everyday on walks since our double stroller and wagon were shipped. I figured the wagon would be of great use to haul the kids and stuff through the airport and I was right, it really was a lifesaver. We got to the gate and the agent let us stand in the early boarding line as we'd be boarding in 20 minutes but asked that I gate check the wagon because it was just a tiny bit too big to fit overhead - I think I could've made it fit but regardless I'd have it in FRA.

The kids were so excited, saying hi to every stewardess and looking for our row. We were in the 2nd row of premium economy on a newer 747 and had the 4 middle seats all to us. There was a lot of room. I immediately took out my Clorox wipes and got to work. Everyone on board was asked to wear masks and for the most part everyone did. The kids did a great job of keeping them on for quite some time. It was about an 8 hour flight and the kids were excited to get food on the plane, have their own TV to watch and sleep - I knew the sleep part was all talk - but I just let them roll with it 😉 I’d hope they sleep but I wasn't going to force it.

It was a good flight, went relatively fast and the kids did wonderful! They both slept, I woke Evie and she was excited. William on the other hand, was a tough cookie to wake up and get off the plane but we made it. Thank God for that wagon - it was at the end of the jet bridge and I can't tell you how many people asked if I needed help or needed to carry anything for me because they could see the struggle with a super tired 3 year old but I made it.

At immigration a nice man from our flight opened up the rope to let me go ahead with the kids (ahead of 5-6 people!) because I was a super-mom he said. That was a nice bit of encouragement! Only a few questioned asked from the German Polizei and we were on our way to baggage!

I retrieved a luggage cart and we were so close to meeting Dave on the other side!

Finally, to see Daddy after two months! It was so great to be reunited 💗

We walked out to the garage and had to play a game of Tetris to get all of the luggage to fit. I stuffed myself in between the kiddos in back and luggage went every place else! We couldn't have fit one more thing in that Volvo! The kids talked the whole 40 minutes to our apartment, they were just so keyed up. We pulled into our underground garage and rode the elevator up to our apartment, it was all such an adventure for Evie and William. Once inside it was a mad dash to their rooms and reunite with all of their belongings after 2.5 months! Since it was all brand new to them, staying in for the next 2 weeks wouldn't be so bad. As tired as we all were, the kids ran at 90% ALL DAY on Friday while I may have dozed on and off 2 or 3 times 😊

Saturday morning both kiddos woke up throwing up, and it was an ALL DAY event. They could not keep anything down. Thank goodness Dave had us all stocked with laundry supplies and food/drinks so that we had nothing to worry about but making sure they were ok.

We decided that their little systems were super messed up from all of the anxiety that had built up for the trip, the lack of sleep and especially the lack of food in their bellies. While they were running like crazy the day before they barely ate a bite! Evie was able to keep food/drinks down by early afternoon but for William it lasted till the evening. They both were considerably better before they went to bed and by Sunday they were back to their normal selves.

Our time in quarantine went just fine. There was plenty to do to get the house organized and the kiddos kept so busy with all of their “new” toys. We are so lucky to have this wonderful terrace to be out on everyday. The kids ride their bikes and scooters and sometimes just run back and forth - there’s about 50’ on two sides (south and west facing) of the house. The other side facing east has a much more narrow walkway.

This is the west facing side - living room, master bed/bath.

The terrace also made for a wonderful home office for the days Dave had to work. This particular day ⬆️ was right after we washed ALL of the huge windows in the apartment - and by we I mean me and my two little helpers.

We enjoy hearing our Saturday night neighborhood concert and Evie loves dancing!

The kids are always finding something creative to do. Evie drew a mermaid on a box so of course William had to pretend 😊

There were a lot of boxes due to A LOT of Amazon orders happening during the 2 weeks. And sometimes same day deliver?! Come on! I have seen the same guy nearly everyday, I’m certain we will be best friends.

Only one night did we order food for delivery, a combination of Greek and German and it was delicious. There is also grocery deliver, which are both so helpful, easy and amazing! To have everything dropped right off the elevator onto our floor! Still getting used to how cool that is. All this technology though is so so so completely different than it was 7-9 years ago when we lived in Alsenborn. The city of Weinheim is probably close to 10x bigger than our quaint little town from before so there is so much more to offer.

On our final night of quarantine we ate some Würsts, potatoes (loving my German air fryer!) and broccoli. I love cooking in our modern kitchen, the kids have been eating pretty good too. Although when I mentioned that it was going to be pretty challenging to find ranch dressing Evie dramatically asked how she was going to live her life without ranch? We ensured her I stocked up to get us through quite a few months 😉

So, tomorrow we can venture out into the world and honestly that means we will walk around for a bit till the kids start to whine or have to go to the bathroom. I’ve already coaxed William by telling him we’ll go to the bakery. Truly, they just want to play on the bouncers that are right behind our building.

Quite frankly if that’s all that makes them happy, that makes me happy. This adventure will be exciting for them no matter what we do and see, we can’t do it ALL this coming weekend as Evie would like but in time we will. I’m just happy and thankful that we’ve had these 2 weeks as a family, we are healthy and Mother Nature has been very cooperative!

Bis zum nächsten mal, tschüss!

Where has the time gone?

2020-05-21T23:21:00.001+02:00

It’s been 4 months since our last post about how slow the expat process was going and yet with the way the world is currently it seems as if it’s been a whole year.

We are finally together in Germany but more about that to come later!

It’s hard to remember at this point but December was a blur, full of sickness and Christmas chaos! The weather was mild and enabled us to get outside! A new year began in January with the same agenda of getting ready for this upcoming move! We hadn’t locked down dates for the movers yet or done anything more for the move except continued to clean out closets to donate or sell and slowly set aside things we might need for the shipments.

We celebrated Williams 3rd birthday a little early since Dave had to be over in Germany on his actual birthday on the 16th. We secured our pack dates for the beginning of March! That meant the short month of February was going to fly by!

Dave was back in Iowa till February 10th so that we could be together as a family for my birthday. We cleaned out as much as we could for the upcoming pack and sold off as many of our large items as possible that we knew we weren’t taking overseas. Valentines Day came and the kids came down with sickness once again. This was not great timing but we made it through thankfully with the help of Grandma Viv and our neighbor Diane. It lasted almost a good 2 weeks!

March came in like a lion due to our crazy and hectic schedule. Dave flew back to Iowa only to turn around a few days later to drive our leased truck to his parents in NY to keep while we are in Germany. He flew home 2 days later and our movers came 3 days after that.

This was by far the most chaotic move process we’ve ever had. I don’t know if it is because our last international move was quite seamless or putting two more little bodies into the mix, or just too much going on all at the same time did it or what. I’m a super organized person and for the life of me I could not get it together this move! It seemed too much of a task to separate what we were keeping vs. what was going into storage vs. what overseas items were going air shipment vs. what overseas items were going on the sea shipment!! AGH!

The week the movers were there was utter chaos, and I have to say it was not a team I would ask to have again! We took many things down to Grandmas house because we’d be staying there during the transition and then we stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn (because of the great kiddie pool) for a couple nights before Dave headed back to Germany again.

March 8th was a Sunday and little did we know at the time it would be the last time together as a family of 4 for two whole months! Dave flew out on the 9th and the kids had their preschools which meant I was getting the house in ship shape to be listed that week. We moved into Grandma Viv’s on the 11th and the house was listed live on the 12th. After 1 showing that weekend we were hit with the news of COVID-19!!

Now, for anyone who is still reading I would NOT recommend selling your house or making an international move during a global pandemic. Ugh. How would we ever have known?! Timing of everything was completely impeccable! This absolutely changed everything we had planned for the upcoming weeks. The kids were not in their schools and we were basically in a quarantine at Grandmas house. It was very surreal and weird and just emotional. There were so many questions about our process, whether Dave would be able to come back by Easter as planned and not sure if and when we would be able to plan our trip to Germany.

All we could do was take it one day at a time. Dave waited patiently in our empty apartment and slowly started getting furniture delivered and put together and explored our new town solo. Grandma Viv and I kept the kiddos busy with projects and schoolwork thanks to their wonderful preschools for providing it. Dave kept pushing out his trip as the weeks went by, still uncertain of any of our plans. All of our belongings were delivered in Germany and Dave had the super fun task of taking care of all of that by himself :) but he knew full well that I would completely rearrange it all when I got there!

Nearly two months had gone by since we moved out of the house and we watched the Covid case numbers change each day. It always seemed like Germany was a better place to be than the US during this pandemic but there was no easy or safe way of getting there. May finally came and I just couldn’t wait any longer, I booked the very expensive one way flights for myself and the kids to get to Germany on the 14th. I wasn’t sure of all we needed to make the trip but I needed the date set to have a little light at the end of the tunnel.

It was another emotional time knowing our time at Grandmas house was coming to an end. We were so lucky to have been able to have the opportunity to stay with her during this crazy transition rather than have been stuck in a hotel or in our house with only staged furniture! It was certainly a time that we will never forget and hopefully we made some fun memories for the kids while we were “quarantined” for so long. While that whole time period could’ve been a series of posts in itself I just didn’t have the ambition or brain power to execute them. As it is, I worked on this post for 4 months!

Bis nächstes mal in Deutschland!

Processes, processes, processes...

2020-01-24T16:32:00.004+01:00

In limbo, that’s the current state of our lives!! The good news is we DO have our #1 house pick- the Penthouse Apartment in Weinheim!

It is available February 1st and we take residence on the 13th. When I say we I mean Dave will be able to get in because the kids and I will still be in Iowa living our routine life and continue to clean out the house and organize in preparation for the move when we DO get informed on the next steps. We don’t like this part of the transition!

We do not have additional pictures of the inside because the current tenant was there and didn’t allow it. Once Dave is in he will be taking pictures, measurements and FaceTiming it all with us since we couldn’t even open the fridge or cupboards before!

The 1st hold up in the process was whether we were on a 2 or 3 year assignment. It’s been confirmed that it is a 3 year assignment. (We say that loosely as you all know we are NEVER in anyplace for any exact time!) There would have been a big difference in relocating logistics at 2 years because we wouldn’t have had to take any household items with us. Furnishing our apartment would’ve been part of the deal. There are pros and cons to that of course. To be able to store or sell all of our stuff and get what we need in Germany would be a huge stress reliever for me. Less unpacking is a big bonus! Of course deciding what to store or sell is also a stressful process. So, who knows we take it as it comes!

Currently our house is divided into all sorts categories, the back wall of the storage area is definite stateside storage. The side wall is definite cargo sea shipment. One wall of our bedroom is lined with sales on EBay or Marketplace. Boxes are around for things that go to donate, or bins are in the back of the Sienna that have yet to go! Even the pantry has separate shelves for “stocked up” items to take. Once we get details it will be easier to separate the kitchen into storage and cargo shipment as well. I will have to do that for every room. Oye, anyone want to trade places?!

There is a lot to take into account, closet and storage space for example - we had less in our current house than we did the last one and we will have even less in our apartment. German houses do not have closets, we will have to buy storage units. We have one storage area in the basement of our building and I don’t want to fill it up with all of the crap that we shouldn’t have taken overseas so yes I’m putting a lot of time and energy into all of this!

I know how long it has taken me to clean out stuff from previous moves and there is nothing I want to do less than go through all of this stuff again in a few years when we come back to the states. I’m labeling and writing notes so that when the movers do get here they will either be super annoyed at my OCD organization or super happy!

So, we continue to wait. There is so much involved in moving a family overseas and while we understand that it is still frustrating! We have gotten word that we can start the process to have our house listed here in Iowa - um that is the last step on my to-do list! We’ve said that we are not looking to do that right now as we will wait until we have further info about our move.

We’ve been told we would not likely get a school spot for the kids during this school year in Germany so again, are we in a rush to get there? It’s so hard to say. Dave can’t go back and forth every 2 weeks, everyone misses each other - did I mention how we hate this part of the transition?

For now we will continue to ride the roller coaster of emotions that come with this process. Happy, sad, anxious, stressed, excited, tired, you name it we feel it. I’d love to have answers for all of the questions so many of you have asked! Please subscribe and follow along with the blog as it’s the easiest way for us to get info out there. And who knows, maybe by putting this out in the universe we will hear something?!

In the meantime, here are some lovely pictures Dave took in Weinheim the other day! Lovely minus the gray sky of course- oh ich liebe Deutschland auch bei wenig sonne.

Shopping street in Weinheim.

One of the castles in Weinheim.

Playground

Trails in the forest.

Shopping center right behind our house.

Bis nächstes mal! Tschüss!

The Hunt Begins

2019-12-07T19:44:00.001+01:00

We landed in Frankfurt around 8:00 am Monday the 2nd of December after a tiny bit of rest on the turbulent flight overseas. We were able to check right into the Mannheim Hilton by 10:00 to shower and rest. A City Döner was right outside the hotel so we were able to grab an old favorite for lunch before meeting Uli to head to the Heidelberg International School for an appointment. It felt quite “normal” to be back in Germany!

The school was very nice, classes no bigger than 23 children and all classes/grades located in the campus. It was slightly chaotic as the kids were all over the place coming in and out from breaks and switching classes. There is a tram stop right by the school which makes it very convenient if we choose to go there. They also have a drop off option. Evie would be in school by 8:30 and finish up at 3:00 everyday.

We drove through Weinheim and surrounding areas on the way back to the hotel. Uli dropped us off and we walked down to the Mannheim Weihnachtsmarkt for a cup of Glühwein and a bit to eat. It was fun to walk through the market and see all the different shops. We walked back to the hotel and stopped at Lidl for some coffee and chocolate to take home.

We were tired and got all ready for bed by 6:00. We were both out cold by 8:00 and Dave was wide awake around midnight for a bit and I was awake at 3:00. After chatting with people back home, internet surfing and confirming a 9:30 pickup with Uli via email I managed to fall back into a deep sleep only for us to be woken quite suddenly at 9:35 by Uli waiting downstairs for us! We quickly dressed and ran down to meet him and make it to our 10:00 appointment.

The 1st apartment we viewed was something else! A penthouse in Weinheim and very modern with air! This is located NE of Mannheim and North of Heidelberg. It was beautiful, bright with luxurious amenities. It was really outside of anything we had ever seen before. The lift came right to the inside of the house. There were beautiful terraces with castle views! It was conveniently located near the train station and in walking distance to daily needs.

The 2nd house was in Oftersheim SE of Mannheim, W of Heidelberg and referred to as a bungalow. Now this was completely different than what we had seen before. It was on a lovely lot with lots of space backing right up to a field. It was older and bit of an odd layout but more of what we were expecting to see.

The 3rd house was in Sandhausen a smaller village to the south of Heidelberg. It was a double house, with 4 stories total. It was a really nice house but we had a hard time hurdling over all of the “stuff” ALL over the place. The owner had warned us it wasn’t tidy but we’d agree that possibly a tornado had whipped through there?! Well, looking past all of it we found it to be great space and good fit for us. It would be a tad bit more of a commute for Dave to work.

The 4th house was interesting- a house in Mannheim owned by a sweet elderly couple who had a small apartment area downstairs. It was large with a lot of space but very outdated. There was air conditioning in some of the downstairs! The couple was very nice.

The 5th apartment was a penthouse in Mannheim that backed right up to the beautiful Luisenpark. The space was great, tons of light but the bedroom situation for the kids would’ve been a bit of a challenge. Not all the rooms windows had roller shades and it would’ve been hard to try to make them bedrooms. The park was a plus though!

Tuesday night we enjoyed a peaceful dinner right at the restaurant Mister Postman in the Hilton and discussed all we had seen. Great options so far! It was a pretty early night. Dave was going into work the next morning for a bit until we had our only appointment at noon.

Dave walked to his office on Wednesday morning and I stayed at the hotel, worked out and had breakfast. Our noon appointment was another penthouse apartment in Mannheim. This was a brand new building in an area with TONS of new building going on. The apartment was beautiful, bright white and new with nice amenities and tons of light. While we loved the house, we didn’t feel great about the area. The neighborhood wasn’t so appealing. Not as family friendly as others we have been in it seemed.

I spent the afternoon walking around Mannheim, poking through some shops and the Christmas markets again and looking for some treats to take the kiddos back home.

Wednesday evening we met Dave’s new team for dinner at The Rheinterrase Restaurant right on the Rhine River a very nice spot in the warm weather to dine outside. It was so nice to meet the team from all over, Spain, Italy, France, Poland and of course Germany.

Thursday was a nice relaxing day for me, hanging around the hotel to workout and have lunch and then another stroll down through the Christmas Market. I packed up the car and checked out of the hotel.

We had 2 more houses to see before making the final decision. We were hoping for a meeting with the landlady of the Weinheim penthouse (because we put this high on our list!) but she didn’t want to meet with us if we still had 2 more to see. Because the housing market is quite tight we learned that the landlords can be very picky about who they let into their homes and that they could easily refuse us if they didn’t like something about us. Ok we thought, that’s fine we have options!

We saw a ground level house in Schwetzingen which was very nice! We loved the space, the location, the yard. There is a huge castle and grounds right in town about 15 minutes walk to Altstadt that would be a great perk to have close as well as indoor/outdoor pools (schwimbad) and shops and restaurants. It’s a nice location but not really too walkable to school and daily grocery.

The second was a very nice double house in Großsachsen, very spacious with 4 stories again but wonderfully laid out. It was close to the Autobahn and you could hear the noise. Coincidentally, the family was moving to Iowa! Yes weird right?! Der Mann also works for JD so they are going to be doing a few years assignment in Cedar Falls. Such a small world. (And not to mention there were 3 of us wearing Hawkeye gear on the plane home :). This house was not in the best location for Dave’s commute but it was certainly a possibility.

We spent a lot time in the car getting back to the hotel in Mannheim due to accidents and traffic jams on the Autobahn. We had forgotten about all that traffic! And the stau’s oh the (Sh-tau) E.V.E.R.Y. time on the autobahn! I had already checked out of the hotel so we just jumped in our BMW Wagon rental and went up to Frankfurt to stay the night so we were easily there for our flight on Friday morning.

The Hilton at The Squaire is really nice and really convenient in Frankfurt because the airport is so huge and there IS so much traffic. We checked in and went to grab dinner at The Paulaner Restaurant where we’ve been a number of times in Frankfurt.

We were really stuck on this decision of the house. Of course there are pros and cons to every house and we could truly see ourselves in any of them and be happy in any of them. We were glad we had so many options but boy oh boy it wasn’t easy to prioritize them! We told Uli we would have the list to him in the morning.

Right before we boarded we decided on...

#1 The modern and sleek penthouse in Weinheim

#2 The spacious ground floor apartment with a yard and terraces in Schwetzingen

#3 The modern (and messy) Doppelhaushälfte in Sandhausen

Now we wait - these are all drastically different and will certainly impact what we take over with us in terms of furniture and belongings. It was a great week and now back to the grind of our current everyday life and getting ready for Christmas. December will fly by.

Tschüss!

We are moving back to Germany!

2019-11-22T03:38:00.001+01:00

It has been about 6 and 1/2 years and 3 more moves since the last blog post, but we have some news to report.....WE ARE COMING BACK, GERMANY!!!

In October we were offered the opportunity to relocate back to Germany, this time to the Baden-Württemberg state instead of the Rhineland-Palatinate state where we were before. This is on the east side of the Rhine River (a definite favorite area of ours) about an hour or so from our former town of Enkenbach-Alsenborn. Dave will be working out of the Mannheim area and we will be looking for a house in the Mannheim/Heidelberg area. We are really excited about this opportunity and can't wait to see what is in store for us.

Previously this was our European Adventure Blog, for sure. It still will be our adventure but I'm just not sure how it is all going to play out as we are bringing over a few items that we didn't have last time. These new possessions would be Evie and William, our kiddos 👦👧😊. No doubt this is going to be another adventure but I see myself documenting more than our typical plane, train and autobahn adventures. I'm thinking about the adventures and everyday trials and tribulations of taking our kids to a complete foreign (to them) place as well as the actual vacation type adventures of course. We will see how it goes. I feel like technology has expanded so much in the past 6 years and my brain hasn't caught up so please bear with me and my basic blog! Maybe I'll get fancy but I will most likely be looking for the easiest and quickest way to get my posts done. If you have suggestions please comment!

I'll be bringing our trusty guide Rick everywhere we go to help navigate and RE-navigate through Europe. Certainly, he will be as helpful as he was before. We're excited to visit and revisit places we were before, show the kids castles, castles, and more castle! Ride the trains, dine outside, walk through the forests and the markets & fests!

I'm bringing back my mad German speaking skills - right, haha - but I'm sure a lot of it will come back when we get there. When we first got word of this move my brain started translating EVERYTHING into German, I started listening to some German podcasts and I try to review a little bit of stuff everyday as a refresher. The kids will pick it up. We were fortunate to have the kids in a Preschool where the teachers spoke and taught basic skills and sang songs in German! Before starting their Preschool in Iowa they ran one in Germany for 10 years. It has been wonderful for Evie and William and we are very thankful!

Our first step in the process will be a quick house hunting and school visit trip in early December. Since this will be a "new" area to live for us it will be great to get a lay of the land and look at the logistics of the Bahnhof, Aldi and groceries, schools, work etc. From there we will have a better idea of what lies ahead.

Please subscribe, bookmark, or whatever it is you need to do to follow along with us!

Bis zum nächsten Mal! Tschüss!

Norway In A Nutshell Part II

2013-07-10T14:30:00.001+02:00

Hurtigruten is often called the worlds most beautiful sea voyage, and we'd have to say it really was!

The route of our Norway in a Nutshell Tour

We boarded in Trondheim for an overnight voyage to Bergen on the 1000 passenger ship, Midnatsol, and were more impressed with the ship than we originally had thought. We thought it was going to be more like a "cargo" ship with room and board for passengers. It was a really nice cruise ship, minus our small claustrophobic inside cabin, as well as a working cargo ship. It was only 9 floors, our cabin was on the 4th but we spent most our time during the 28 hour trip on the 8th and 9th decks or panorama lounges. It was relaxing and beautiful. I managed to read an entire novel from the ships library while on board. It was a mindless, chick book but a fun way to pass time taking breaks to admire the scenery. We were far north, about the same latitude as Fairbanks, Alaska. Needless to say there was a whole lot of light and beautiful scenery to look at as we made our way through the Fjords down the coast. We finally tried to get some sleep around midnight when we were at the Ålesund port but the noise from the unloading cargo from the floor below and the rocking and rolling of the boat kept me up most the night, thank goodness CSI was on TV. Dave was up around 6:00 for our stop in the Måloy Fjord. We had to be out of our cabin by 10:00 and didn't disembark till 2:30 in Bergen so we had a few hours of more lovely scenery, reading and Internet surfing. The boat was equipped with Wi-Fi so thank you to all who played WWF keeping me occupied! It was a fast, expensive, way to see the Fjords, but well worth it. The pictures really don't do it any justice but have fun scrolling through them!

Once off the ship, we walked to our hotel which was located across the harbor from the famous Bryggen Wharf. Bergen seemed to be going through quite a bit of construction, as did much of Norway. We only had what was left of the afternoon and evening in Bergen so we grabbed a city map and did a bit of an on-foot tour of Norway's second largest city. Our hotel was located centrally so we were able to walk easily around the city.

The very first buildings in Bergen were alongside the harbor called Bryggen. Bryggen has been the nerve center of the city for hundreds of years and the silhouette of its ancient gables is perhaps the most familiar image in all of Norway. In 1360 the Hansas - a German guild of merchants - set up one of their import/export offices on Bryggen and dominated trade for the next 400 years and it is now on UNESCO's World Heritage List.

It was a really lovely harbor. We walked through the smelly but famous fish market on the wharf. We visited the Bergenhus Fortress which dates back to 1240 and is located in the entrance of the Bergen Harbor. Ice cream shops were abundant along the harbor so of course we had to sample some. We continued a big loop around the city, admiring the different architecture, churches and statues before going back to the hotel to figure out our dinner plans. It wasn't going to be a late night since neither of us hardly slept on the boat and the beds were sooooo comfortable at the hotel that I'm surprised we actually made it back out but we did manage. We found a nice quiet restaurant to sample some of the local beer and DH had a Rudolph Burger - well actually it was reindeer meat - but I liked to call it Rudolph. I stuck with the safe Caesar salad :) It was surely the right place to indulge in seafood or whale for that matter but after all our adventures I still haven't gotten any more brave at trying new foods!

Bergen was an "ok" city for us. Granted we didn't give it much time but we didn't feel there was too much there that interested us. It is conveniently located for a day trip from a Fjord cruise ship and quite beautifully nestled amongst the surrounding mountains and Hardangerfjord and Sognefjord Fjords but definitely didn't warrant any additional time for us.

Wednesday morning we took a taxi to the train station for a FULL day of travel back to Oslo. It was rainy and messy but we didn't let that take away from the serene nature that surrounded us on the bus, train or boat!

First we took the scenic Bergen Railway to Voss for only about an hour and 15 minutes.

On the Bergen Railway

Next, we (along with the 100's of other passengers) transferred to buses waiting at the Voss Station for approximately another hour ride which turned out to be extremely beautiful and waterfall filled! One of the better journey's by bus that DH have traveled together :)

On the bus from Voss to Gudvangen

There was about a half hour wait for our ship in Gudvangen that took us on a two hour ride through the Fjords to Flåm.

The ship from Gudvangen to Flåm.

We traveled through the spectacular Nærøyfjord and Aurlandsfjord. The Nærøyfjord, a branch of the Sognefjord, has been included in Unesco’s World Heritage list and is considered to be among the most scenic fjord areas on the planet. Its outstanding natural beauty is derived from its narrow and steep-sided crystalline rock walls that rises up to 1400m straight from the fjord.

Dave chats with our new friends from Argentina

The name "Flåm" means "little place between steep mountains" and this beautiful small town is nestled deep in a tributary of the Sognefjord, the world's longest and deepest fjord, at 204 kilometers long and 1308 meter deep. Once we docked in Flåm we found a quick bite to eat at Café Stationen. There were many shops and restaurants in town, all catering to the cruise passengers. Not only was our ship in town but a very large Cruise Ship was docked as well. Maybe because it was raining but the town didn't feel too crowded. Next to the café was a brewery, Ægir Brewery, which was awarded "Best Beer of the Year 2012" so we couldn't pass the opportunity to try that out :) We had about 2 hours to kill before the 4:00 departure on the Flåm Railway for another hour ride of more beautiful scenery!

View from the Flåm Railway

The Kjossfossen Waterfall along the Flåm Railway

The Flåm Railway stops in Myrdal and from there we had a 5 hour train ride back to Oslo. We were really tuckered out but were hesitant to sleep on the train because we didn't want to miss anything! We watched the scenery though the rain, read, played on the iPad and snacked on FIRKLØVER - a tasty chocolate from the Nordic made by Nestlé. It was after 11:00 when we got into Oslo's Central Station and luckily we stayed at the super convenient Comfort Hotel Grand Central which was directly connected to the station. We had to catch an early train to the airport the next morning and this couldn't have been easier.

Norway in a Nutshell is a great way to explore Norway and the Fjord's. I would suggest taking longer than the 4 days we used to zip through it because it really is no fun moving your luggage from place to place every single night. But, we wanted to see it during our time in Europe and since that is coming to an end we got it done! It is sort of sad to think that this might very well have been our last "big" trip while we live on this side of the Atlantic but for all that we've done and seen I really have no reason to be sad! It has been one whirlwind of an adventure after another and I like to think that we just live waiting for the next one to start!

I hope this blog has been fun and resourceful for all those that read it. I'm looking forward to looking back over my posts, down the road.

Until our next adventure, Tschüss!

Norway In A Nutshell Part I

2013-07-06T14:03:00.000+02:00

Clever title? No, I didn't coin that it's the name of the tour we found to explore what we think is one of the worlds most scenic, peaceful and livable places we've seen so far. The tour took us through Norway's 3 largest cities (Oslo, Trondheim and Bergen) and some of the most beautiful scenery in the Fjords of Norway.

Saturday we flew from FRA to Oslo, which only took about two hours. Once we arrived at the Gardemeont airport we bought tickets for the speed train into the city center and a quick 23 minutes later we arrived at Oslo S. It was pouring buckets! That does not make for fun sightseeing. We walked fast to the Thon City Hotel Panorama which was about a 5-7 minute walk from the main station. We checked in and went back out into the rain to the Hard Rock Café.

There were tons of people lining the streets which was odd because of the rain but then we heard the music and saw the parade, it was Gay Pride weekend and was it ever festive! We had a window seat at HRC and were able to watch the entire parade, a fun experience indeed!

It was still raining so we hopped on the HoHo for a good overview of Oslo since we were only in the city about 24 hours. The entire loop was about 90 minutes and we weren't on it very long before the rain stopped and the weather cleared up. Yahoo!

It is always great to hear the commentary as we ride by all of the hot spots. Oslo is the worlds largest Capitol city by area, with 454 square kilometers (of which 242 are forests) and with about 600,000 people. It dates back to about the year 1000 but is a very modern city and easy to get around.

The Opera House

Cool looking modern buildings

Oslo City

Sunday we had breakfast at the hotel and then hopped back on the HoHo to visit The Vigeland Sculpture Park for a nice walk. The park has free entrance and is filled with more than 200 sculptures in bronze, granite and cast iron from Gustav Vigeland (1869-1943). The sculpture all depict the cycle of life and it's quite obvious that the artist put a lot of effort and emotion into all of his sculptures. It was really interesting to stroll around studying the ideas behinds some of them.

The Vigeland Sculpture Park

We leisurely made our way back through the city on foot, enjoying the residential areas, and reaching the Royal Palace which was undergoing major renovations. We walked back to the hotel where we picked up our bags and walked to the main station for our 7 hour ride up north.

At the Royal Palace in Oslo

The NSB trains are quite nice in Norway, much like our German trains but honestly the scenery is a bit more picturesque during the ride! It did remind us of northern Montana or even New Hampshire in some spots. We followed along a river most of the way and saw so many waterfalls, lakes and lovely little farms on the mountainsides.

Heading North on the train in Norway

It was a nice long ride to Trondheim. The station was right on the water and our hotel wasn't far from there. We made the quick walk over to our hotel and then walked through the city which was filled with tons of people and super loud music. We came to the city center and found a large concert being held. It was the Band TOTO on their 35th anniversary tour. It was fun to hear a few recognizable songs as we walked around.

Trondheim city center and a TOTO Concert

We visited the most iconic cathedral in Norway and it's national sanctuary, the Nidarosdomen or the Nidaros Cathedral. It was built over the burial grounds of Saint Olav, began construction in 1035 and took 250 years to complete! We had the zoom lens on the camera so we weren't able to get a good full picture but the entire Cathedral was really beautiful. Especially the West Front decorated with statues and ornaments.

Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim

Nidaros Cathedral's West Front

We found a peaceful outside spot called Egon's to have a drink and snack. It was hard to believe that it was 11:00 pm because it was still so light out but we thought we better head to bed! From our hotel window we could see the Hurtigruten ship out in the bay and the next morning we walked over to the harbor to board for our overnight cruise southbound in the Fjords!

- Posted using BlogPress from iPad

Location: Norway

We are being repatriated!

2013-07-01T10:57:00.001+02:00

Sadly, our European adventure has come to an end. It is time for us to move back to America and it has come sooner than we anticipated. We will be relocating to the Moline area as DH has accepted a new position starting September 1st. Our emotions are very mixed as we make this transition because our experience has been a once in a lifetime chance during our two years in Deutschland. We wouldn't have traded it for anything in the world!

There are so many aspects of this life that we've had over the past two years that we are truly going to miss. The people and amazing new friends we've made, the different cultures, the food, the beer, the wine, the quaint villages, fast cars and the autobahn....just to name a few! (Although we won't miss those speed cameras!) Every morning hearing the church bells, dining on the streets as we people watch, beautiful (and meticulous!) gardens and flowers around every corner. We will miss the opportunity to travel so easily and so cheaply to so many amazing places and the diversity and history that comes with each new place. We will and will not miss the weather! We are definitely happy for more sunshine in the states, but sure enjoyed the days when it surprised us in Germany. While we are excited to get a big, huge "American" christmas tree, we will definitely miss the Christmas Markets and the non commercialized portrayal of Christmas. And the language! I have found a new hobby and put forth a lot of effort to learn Deutsch during our time in Germany. I will look forward to finding a way to utilize my new skill back in the states!

There are more great memories than we can count that we will be taking back with us as well as 1000's of pictures and a few extra pounds each! We will be looking forward to getting back to a more normal eating pattern. It's not that it was hard to eat smart in Germany, we were always eating and drinking as if we were on vacation :). We will definitely be looking forward to having our own home again with closets and counter space but were glad that we were able to live in a traditional German house with beautiful landscaping. We can't say that that we will miss the unique poop shelf toilet, but it sure is something that we won't forget!

It will be nice to get back to bigger parking spots and wide streets without random cars parking anywhere they want. Germanys concept of stores being closed on Sunday is nice but sometimes we just really wanted to do grocery shopping on that day. We always looked forward to the once a month Sunday shopping days! While we will look forward to the convenience of obtaining the check when dining out in America we will miss the concept of having our "own" table for the evening. And Stella, we are certainly going to miss our Stella. She didn't take the news too well but told us that we can send postcards to each other and that we will always hold a special place in her heart. Awe!

We will be a lot closer to our family and friends in the Midwest which we are really excited about. It will be nice to "stay home" instead of planning a road trip to fill up every weekend and anytime there was a German Holiday! It sure has been fun though.

We are really thankful for the opportunity that we were given and hope that everyone who followed along with the blog posts enjoyed the adventure. Who knows what the future holds but we are quite certain that our adventure is not over. The blog address will remain the same but the title will continue to change with whatever different adventure we may be embarked on at the time. So be sure to subscribe by email! Plus I write this post as we are on possibly our last European trip in Norway so there are still a few more posts to come. We might squeeze in another short trip with what time we have left but will have to see what our moving schedule permits.

Stay tuned and until then, tschüs!

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WWI Battlefields in Verdun

2013-06-15T10:45:00.002+02:00

Driving back across France we decided to make a WWI pit stop at the grounds in Verdun. It is not too far from the German border and only about 2 hours away from our house. Few traces of WWI remain in Europe today, but the battlefields of Verdun provide a glimpse into the horrific battles from nearly a century ago. We drove directly to the L'Ossuaire de Douamont, a tomb of the 130,000 French and Germans who lost their lives in Verdun. The artillery shell shaped tower and cross design of the tomb symbolizes war and peace.

L'Ossuaire de Douamont

The tiny windows at the base of the monument are where you can peek into the tomb of the soldiers.

It was a bit eerie but all the while very moving, after experiencing the film inside and looking through the little picture boxes of actual photos taken during the war. Over 800,000 lives were lost in WWI.

Then we made our way to the nearby Fort de Douaumont. This was the most important stronghold in the network of forts built to protect Verdun. It was built into the hillside and served as a command center for both sides at various times. There are about 2 miles of hallways inside (that we didn't go into) but the Fort was completely useless by 1916 when German shelling rocked it.

Fort de Douaumont

Since much of the land is now covered by forest, only monuments are placed at the sites of former villages that were completely wiped out. Thirteen villages in fact were never resurrected. While there are ruins of shelters in the hillsides, it was really awesome to be driving along and see one of the Trenches along side the road. The picture below was most likely French because it is dirt, while the Germans were built with concrete as in the second picture. Those Germans, always so logical.

WWI Trench with dirt construction

WWI Trench with concrete construction

The Trench of Bayonets is a memorial and tomb of an entire company of soldiers who were buried alive. Here, the soldiers bayonets remained above ground for decades. The concrete monument surrounding it was donated by the US.

Trench of Bayonets

Former site of a village that was never rebuilt after the war destroyed it.

We stayed overnight in Verdun, which really is not a great place to stay overnight in. Our hotel was about a 20 minute walk from the city center where there a many restaurants a few monuments of the War. It was sunny and warm so we sat down next to the Muese River at Viv's Pub for a drink.

Couldn't resist a stop here at my mom's namesake pub :)

We then found a nice French-Italian place where no English was spoken, had a nice dinner and walked back to the hotel. In the morning we checked out and made the short 2 hour drive back home. Had we realized before that we didn't need the entire day in Verdun we probably would have driven home the night before but we didn't know what additional WWII or WWI stops we were going to make on the way. It was a very interesting and historical long weekend as we toured through all of the sights of WWII and WWI.

The Beaches of Normandy at Utah and Omaha

2013-06-10T16:54:00.003+02:00

We knew we were in for a long day and Gott sie Dank it was a beautiful day! After a nice French breakfast we drove about 40 minutes to Utah Beach to the D-Day Landing Museum. We were definitely not going to cover all 75 miles of the Atlantic Coast, just mainly the American sites. We arrived at the opening and were very impressed with the entire complex. It is newly built around the remains of a concrete German bunker and is nestled in the sand dunes on the beach. The museum is filled with unique artifacts not seen at other museums, a lot of war memorabilia and fascinating facts as well as personal accounts and belongings of some of the GI's. It also includes an impressive display of restored vehicles, including the B-26 war bomber "Dinah Might" inside. We really enjoyed the 20 minute movie depicting the D-Day events too. You can read as many books as you like on the subject of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy and watch Band of Brothers 1000 times, but the museum brings to life the experiences of the day and helped fill in many gaps in my knowledge of the events.

D-Day Landing Museum at Utah Beach

Restored B-26 Bomber

Since the museum sits right on Utah Beach, being able to look out the large glass windows through some of the old defenses just added to the whole impression. It certainly brings a sense of realism to the displays, but nothing beats standing at the memorial overlooking one of the beaches where it all happened.

Awesome display in the museum

We walked outside to visit some of the monuments on the beach and then drove into the town of Sainte-Marie-du-Mont. To be standing on the grounds where such a war occurred that changed the course of history...what a feeling.

Utah Beach - anti tank wall

Saint-Marie-du-Mont lies at the end of a long causeway linking the beach to higher ground and was therefore a principal objective of paratroopers of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division. We walked around the town reading the stories that were posted on buildings that had specific purposes back in June 1944.

Shop in Sainte-Marie-du-Mont with a pretend paratrooper!

Next stop was the Point du Hoc Ranger Monument which was the Germans' most heavily fortified position along the D-Day Beaches and it was literally bombed to smithereens.

Not rolling hills at the Pointe du Hoc Ranger Monument

We stood here at the cliff's edge and thought about the US Army Rangers climbing it with borrowed ladders from the London fire department and getting shot at from the Germans. The Monument in the picture below is in memory of the 2nd Rangers Battalion. Commanded by Colonel James E. Rudder of the 1st American Infantry Division, they assaulted and captured La Pointe du Hoc battery; the memorial is built on a control firing casemate where bodies of the soldiers still lie under the ruins.

The little John Deere is doing his rounds around the grounds

We traveled back towards Omaha Beach and had lunch at Hotel Casino on the beach. It was here that the Americans assembled their own floating bridge and artificial harbor. The pontoon bridge was just up the road but we didn't get a picture.

Omaha Beach in front of Hotel Casino

We were just down the road from Omaha Beach where we were the night before but could spend time at now since it was a beautiful day. The highest casualty rates occurred at Omaha Beach, nicknaming it "Bloody Omaha." After all that we had seen that day it was hard not to picture what this scenery was like 69 years ago. The metal sculpture on the Beach rises from the waves in honor of the liberating forces, and to symbolize the rise of freedom on the wings of hope. It was made by a local artist and looked absolutely beautiful.

Finally, we were off to the American Cemetery. We had visited the one in Luxembourg as well almost 2 years ago. There is something so peaceful, so serene, and obviously so sad as we wandered through the 9,300 white marble crosses and Stars of David. My heart felt heaviest as I realized how many of these fallen heroes were the mere age of 18 or 19 and what they had done for our country. I have goose bumps as I write this.

There were so many marked this way.

Behind this statue in the picture below, are the names of the 1,557 soldiers that were never found. A small metal knob was placed next to a name whose body was eventually found but there weren't many.

Statue represents the spirit of American youth

It was a great day. We were just down the road from our Hotel where we went back for a short rest before venturing out for dinner. Port-in-Bessin was a little fishing harbor west of Arromanches in Normandy, it was situated between two landing zones, Omaha Beach the Vth American Corps sector, and Gold Beach the XXXth British Corps sector. We walked along the harbor and found a nice restaurant where Dave could try mussels.

Yuck. But he said they were delicious.

The town of Port-en-Bessin

We were so happy to have been able to experience what we had in Normandy. We were just a few days away from the 69th anniversary of D-Day too! Another iconic piece of American and World history we can check off our list during our time here. We are truly blessed!

Mont St. Michel

2013-06-09T12:13:00.004+02:00

For more than 1000 years Mont St. Michel was a popular pilgrimage, perched high on a tiny island in total solitude. For us, it was a 9 hour journey on the checklist during our Western France and Normandy visit. We left the house on a Wednesday evening with a 5 hour drive in mind to overnight in Saint Quentin, France before continuing onto Mont St. Michel. We knew there might be some traffic issues due to the holiday on Thursday but one very important thing to check before any lengthy car trip is the setting on the GPS. We had no idea that our GPS was set to avoid tolls therefore our friendly female navigator took us through some really pretty French countryside. It turned out to be longer than 5 hours and we cut it pretty close to check into our hotel by 11:00 pm.

The next morning was a bit rainy as we headed to Mont St. Michel. It was really awesome to see it in the distance as we approached.

We parked in a new lot on the mainland and walked into the town to take a shuttle across the causeway. The tide was low so there was nothing to worry about but it was windy and raining and a pretty far walk. Once we were on the small island we stood in awe at this massive construction and tried to image the Monks building it, bringing in supplies and rocks with the tide. Amazing. We walked up to the Abbey along the Ramparts, looking at the little village below and the vast bay that surrounds the island.

"the little tomb" island in the bay

We did a self tour through the grounds and the Abbey (as captured in the pictures) and then ate a traditional omelet and crepes in the village before leaving. The rain had let up and we enjoyed the 40 minute walk back to the car. On the way out we made a pit stop at L'Atelier St Michel, cookie factory across from the Abbey for some free samples and then purchases!

mmmm free cookies

We now were not far from the hotel we chose to stay at to explore Normandy. The Domaine de l'Hostreiere was in an excellent location right down the road from the American Cemetery and Omaha Beach. It was secluded and peaceful and quite large for French accommodations. The staff was friendly and immediately suggested a place for dinner before we had the opportunity to ask. Restaurant L'Omaha was directly across from the war monuments on Omaha Beach and only about 5 minutes away. It was a nice intro to the next few days and after dinner we went back to our peaceful French accommodation and planned out our itinerary for the next day.

Some more Hoffman's to add to the Adventure...Part II

2013-06-03T18:34:00.000+02:00

During the second half of the vacation we focused more on localized day trips because there is so much to cover in about a 2 hour radius all around us! Thursday we drove to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, our favorite medieval city where DH and I had been almost 2 years ago. We'd been meaning to go back for a night so that we could experience the Night Watchman Tour, so now was the perfect opportunity with the family. We stayed at the Hotel Schwarzer Alder right in the old town with easy walking access to everything. Rothenburg is a great town for stein shopping and we found more than what we were looking for at the Christmas trinket empire of Käthe Wohlfahrt store. Mom, Dad and Carli visited the Medieval Crime and Punishment Museum while DH and I putzed around the fun streets of the city. We had a tasty dinner in a restaurant recommended by the owner of our hotel because he owned the restaurant as well! "The best schnitzel in town," he said. Carli said it was pretty good. We headed over to the Markt Square to wait for the Night Watchman Tour to begin. There was an enormous Medieval Festival that weekend and the festivities were being kicked off that night so we saw many people dressed in the attire and bands marching into the Rathaus.

Finally we saw the Night Watchman marching up to the Square. Every night Hans-Georg Baumgartner takes tourists through Rothenburg streets and tells fun stories about history in his dry sense of humor tone. We all had a great time on the tour. There were probably 50 people on it with us! DH and I had a nightcap in a biergarten around the corner from the hotel and the others settled in. After breakfast the next morning we left town. It was a great time in Rothenburg.

On the way back from Rothenburg we stopped in Heidelberg for a nice climb to the castle. The weather was cooperating and there weren't too many people there. We didn't do the English tour inside the castle but spent time walking the grounds and visiting the cellar with the larger than life wine barrels. We went through the Apothecary Museum as well which was really informative and interesting. I had never been through it and after 5 visits to the castle it was about time.

That night we stayed in and checked the weather for the weekend. It was looking the best on Saturday so we decided to do the unforgettable Rhine River Cruise out of Bingen. This cruise will never be boring, even if we've done it a number of times. Where else is one able to float on a boat and constantly look left and right at castles high above the river! We took the train to Bingen to catch the 10:30 K-D boat. Everyone had a great time just soaking in the fairy tale scenery. We had a bite to eat in the restaurant on the boat because we ended up riding it till the early afternoon to Marksburg Castle in Braubach.

Marksburg Castle

We visited Braubach last year with The Mitchell's but weren't able to get up to the castle because of yucky weather. There is a little green train that will take you to the top which we opted for and then only spent about 45 minutes wandering around and taking in the beautiful views of the Rhine Valley. Back down at river level we took the train to Rüdesheim and a ferry across the Rhine to Bingen. The sun was out and it was a nice opportunity stroll along the river back to the train station. We stopped along at a Biergarten for some local wines and dinner.

Sunday was definitely a good day of rest as the weather was less than desirable. We were having marathon viewings of Downton Abbey while taking advantage of the sunless day. I think our guests (well mom and Carli anyway :) were hooked after the first show! By the time they left to go home we had finished 2 full seasons! It was a good day for them to get all of their luggage organized to make room for all of the fun things they had purchased so far.

Monday was a Holiday in Germany and a great day to get one more road trip in. We set out that morning in the direction West with 3 destinations in mind...just that no one could pick which one we should go to! We decided on Strasbourg, France because it was the shortest distance and we had the option of taking a covered boat river cruise in case of rain. While we managed to get a good amount of walking in we did take the cruise in time for rain. Strasbourg is a lovely city with beautiful old houses and history. Even though it was rainy it didn't ruin the day. We chose lunch at Au Pont Saint Martin Restaurant right on the river that was full of charm and ambience. Everyone had a delicious lunch and then we did a little bit of shopping to purchase some Alsace goodies. Our last trip!

The day worked out well and we even got home in time to watch some more Downton Abbey! It was hard to believe that nearly 2 weeks had flown by like it had but we all had such a wonderful time. We hope it was a vacation of a lifetime for Mom, Dad, and Carli as it sure was one that we'll always cherish.

Some more Hoffman's to add to the Adventure...Part I

2013-05-29T16:25:00.000+02:00

Finally...the first of our parents to arrive in Germany! I picked up Mom and Dad H and our adopted Aunt Carli from FRA after their long flight from the states and drove them back to the house on the speedy Autobahn so they could get some rest and freshen up before we started to jam pack their vacation. It was a nice day so to keep them awake and alive I took them on a nice walk in Alsenborn. We introducem them to the Barbarossa Hotel and Restaurant for their first German dinner as well as German beer sampling and came home for some birthday Käse Kuchen for Moms birthday (on the day she arrived!) Everyone sure slept good that night!

The next morning we set out on the journey to North Denmark where Moms ancestors came from but to break up the 11 hour drive we stayed overnight at the Hotel Nordig in the town of Flensburg, Germany which is right on the Danish/German border. It is the innermost tip of the Flensburg Fjord, and inlet of the Baltic Sea. We visited the Glücksburg Castle which is one of the most important Renaissance castles in Northern Europe. It is the seat of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glückburg and was also used by the Danish kings. A great intro into our trip to Denmark! As we made our way into Flensburg for a bite to eat we were lucky to experience a little festival with vendors and food stands. We walked the streets in the old town for a while before heading back to our hotel. Next day we were Denmark bound!

After breakfast at Hotel Nordig we entered into Denmark and drove a few hours to Denmark's second largest city, Århus, for a pit stop on the way to Hjørring. We visited the Cathedral and walked around the city a bit before finding a spot for lunch.   Back in the car we headed north for a short 2 hour ride to Hjørring. We had the name of the intersection of the Jensen Family Farm and drove around a bit in the Denmark countryside before deciding we were at the right place. We parked our German license plated car and started walking around the property. It looked lived in but no one seemed to be around except a friendly cat. Out of all of us, Carli did the most exploring, finding her way into some old interesting barns in the back! It poured rain, we waited. It cleared up, we hung around. A passerby stopped after driving by more than once and Mom and Dad were able to chat with her about the current tenants and explain what we were doing there. It was really extraordinary to be standing on the same grounds of Dave's ancestors! I'm so glad we were able to make it there for his Mom. We visited the beautiful church and cemetery in Tversted where the grounds keeper was really nice and tried really hard to get some more family information for us. We took a lot of pictures and mom even gave them her email in hopes that some more information will turn up for her ancestry search. It was a bit chilly but we still had to visit the beach at the top of Denmark! The water was cold!

We thought there would be more stores and restaurants open in Hjørring but it was actually a Holiday in Denmark so mostly all were closed. We did find a grocery store where we had to purchase some more chocolate. Oh, did I not yet mention the amount of chocolate that had been consumed so far? Well I don't want to point fingers but there was one man, (not my DH), that really has a bit of a sweet tooth and found a big love for the chocolaty sweetness :) There were not too many restaurants to choose from and the place we found was quite busy but luckily we were able to get a table. It had been a long, exciting day so we went to the Hjørring Kro Hotel to call it a night.   There was a large birthday party being celebrated in the Restaurant and since Carli's room was on the main level she had a pretty interesting evening of entertainment but unfortunately not a lot of sleep!

We all met for a delicious breakfast the next morning and after Mom cleaned out the Danish bread basket (she loved the bread!) we piled in the car for our trip back South.   Next overnight stop was in Hannover.

It was approximately a 6 hour drive to Hannover. DH didn't leave us hostage for too long in the car thankfully, he did allow for a nice lunch stop along the way. We arrived into the city center that afternoon and immediately dropped our bags at our hotel, Hotel City Panorama. There is a ton to do and see in Hannover but we only had a few hours, therefore we just walked around the beautiful Old Town admiring the half-timbered houses and catching a glimpse of the River Leine. 90% of the city center was destroyed in WWII bombings but after the rebuild it was still beautiful! We had a great dinner at the Brauhaus Ernst August enjoying it's most festive atmosphere of typical Bavarian décor. Our hotel was situated right in the Stadtmitte and Mom and Dad's room had a broad overview of the busy street below as well as a number of bars and clubs and 1000's of people passing by. It was a Saturday night so it was probably the most restful night of sleep they could have gotten but they will probably remember the experience!

The next morning after breakfast we headed back to the house. I had school for the next 3 mornings and DH had to work. We were happy to stay at the house for some quiet time and be out of the car! It was a jam packed start to our guests vacation but we all had a really great time. Now, they had time to wander around our cute neighborhood and just relax at the house. Tuesday they took the bus into Kaiserslautern with me and all of the 8 year olds. The Farmer's Market is held every Tuesday in the Stiftsplatz downtown so they were able to visit that as well as some of the cute shops, and the library that is in the same building as the Volkshochschule that I attend. We had lunch downtown and then took the train home. I wanted to make sure they experienced the efficient German regional train system while they were here! Wednesday morning DH took them to the John Deere Factory in Zweibrücken where they had a great time touring the facility and learning about the combine manufacturing. I think they might have equally excited about the fancy lunch that was reserved for them in the dining facility there! They said that they really enjoyed that. In the evening we finally made it over to Stella's for some of her delicious Greek home cooking. She was delighted to have our family there and proud to show off her restaurant.

It was hard to believe one week had already passed since the arrival of our guests. We had a few more fun day trips planned so I'll cut this blog in two parts!