It's the little things...

Shea and I were talking the other day and after our first 8 months here we can certainly notice that we are growing more accustomed to German life. Don't get us wrong our German is still terrible, but the differences in culture that were at first so prominent, now are just part of everyday life.
But you find it funny some of the things that you notice you miss. Of course family and friends, but the other stuff you would have never thought of...I'll give you an example. Up until about two weeks ago, we had seen plenty of rain in our time here, but no thunderstorms...no lightening, no rumbling of thunder...the sounds us Texans and Okies are well accustomed to falling asleep to (and blaming for knocking-out our power and explaining why we are an hour late to work...wink).
So, today I am sitting in the apartment 16 floors up and watching a thunderstorm head our way...makes me feel kinda excited, just like it used too. I could see the "Blitz" (German for lightening) lighting up the sky, hear the "Donner" (thunder), and smell the "Regen" (rain). It was a great little taste of home topped-off with a little rainbow treat.
Tschuss for now.

Roughing it on the Rhine

Last weekend was a holiday weekend in Germany with no work on Monday. Some good friends (see same crew as Football Game) plus some additional folks invited us to go camping on the Rhine River about an hour North of Frankfurt.
We got there Saturday night and stayed through about midday on Monday. The campsite was amazing, set directly beside the river, in the mountain valley, with a castle perched above us. It was an ideal scene and the weather cooperated with us...the temperatures warm during the day and cool at night. We did a bit of hiking, rock climbing (Shea made it all the way to the top on her first climbing attempt ever!), and Shea went on a bike ride for several hours into a neighboring town. We had a wonderful time with everyone and really appreciated the opportunity to get out of the city for a bit and enjoy the beautiful surroundings. Here are a few pics to show you what me mean...Enjoy.

Carcassonne, France...Bonjour

So, Shea and I bounced on over to France for a couple days courtesy of Ryanair and their 1 Euro airfare specials. Ya...super sweet cheap airfare...but as we all know everything comes at a price, and in this case it meant a 2:30 am wake-up to make our flight out. Ouch, that's a kick to the oui-oui. (Tasteless pun intended and all comments/remarks can be sent to my editor at sheabey@hotmail.com)
So, we arrived in Carcassonne early Thursday morning. Carcassonne is a town in the south of France surrounded by the Pyrenees Mountains and has been around since before the Romans took over. The small walled-in city sits above the Aude River and overlooks rolling hills filled with vineyards and fields. When the Romans took control in the 1st century, they heavily fortified the city because of its importance along several trade routes. Throughout the next several centuries it was fought over and passed between differing conquerors with each one adding to the fortifications of the city. Starting in 1226, the city was taken over and held through the Middle Ages by the Trencavel dynasty. The Trencavels improved the fortifications, which remain today and provide us a sneak peek at what life was like 700 years ago during the Middle Ages in France. Not one Wal-Mart or 24 Hour Fitness insight...that and the black death, would have been a challenge.
We had a great time and were lucky enough to book a hotel within the walled city itself...no kidding, a Best Western. We toured the castle and wandered the tiny streets of the walled city. We ventured in a grand Catholic church with amazing stained glass windows. Through the morning the walled city is amazingly quiet with most shops not opening til 11:30 but by noon it is packed with visitors. We were shocked by the number of French families vacationing there. In the afternoon, we escaped the crowds and enjoyed a stroll down into the larger city stretching out below the castle and along the river. We headed back up to the walled city for dinner and tried some local specialties, with mixed results. After dinner we headed to our room and got some much needed zzz's.
On Friday, we slept in French style, and then went for coffee and pastries. We took a long walk around the walls and then went down into the lower city again for some French window shopping. We spent most of the day there exploring. The good thing about this trip was it was in a smaller town so we could walk the whole place no problem.
We headed back up by our hotel for dinner and found a great restaurant with a friendly waiter. The food was wonderful there and we had a great time enjoying the cool evening air together.
On Saturday, we woke up and caught our 9:00am flight back to Frankfurt and put a fork in Carcassonne. Au Revoir for now!

Under the Tuscan Sun

Ciao...Buonasera! So, Shea and I celebrated 4 years of wedded bliss on April 9th with a trip to Florence, Italy. It was a wonderful trip that included amazing food, Chianti wine, beautiful weather, and historical sites. Known as the birthplace of the Renaissance, Florence was home to all those famous artists we have all heard so much about (before they were ninja turtles) Leonardo, Donetello, and Michelangelo. It is also known for the Uffizi art gallery, the statute of "David", the Duomo cathedral, and the Ponte Vecchio bridge.
We left Frankfurt on an 8:30 flight direct to Florence and arrived there around 10:30. We took a bus to our hotel, which sat about 100 feet from the Arno River and only a 20-minute walk from the Duomo (their famous cathedral which dominates the city). We were a bit early for check-in, so we dropped off our bags and headed toward the city center to do a bit of sightseeing (via every gelato stand we could find). We strolled along the Ponte Vecchio, which was built in 1345 and was the only bridge spared in Florence in WWII. It is lined with jewelry shops built out over the bridge and is packed with people taking photographs. We then visited the Palazzo Vecchio, which is a fortress turned town hall and in its courtyard stands numerous marble statues and a copy of Michelangelo's "David". Adjacent to the Vecchio hall is the Loggia dei Lanzi, which has a gallery of even more statues. Needless to say, there were marble willies everywhere, and I had a hard time covering Shea's eyes and taking pictures for all of you! Behind the Loggia stands the Galleria degli Uffizi, or Uffizi museum. We waited to tour it until Sunday when we were able to get reservations rather than having to wait then in long lines. We visited the Plazza Repubblica and all its trendy shops and headed to see the Duomo cathedral and its baptismal building. We checked on mass times for Easter and decided we would tour the inside after mass. The cathedral was huge and was unlike any other cathedral we have seen. Florence is close to Italy's marble mines, so everything is constructed out of the stuff. The church gleamed with all its intricate detail and seemed to glow white and green.
We started getting pretty hungry so we ended up in a little side street restaurant that served delicious salads, pizzas, and wine. It was next to the Basilica di Santa Croce, which also has a beautiful marble exterior, library, and plaza. It was great place to watch the world go by. The restaurant had the Father in kitchen, the Mother waiting on the guests, and their little daughter playing around outside entertaining the patrons with her dark curls and pick-a-boo games. We sat at our outside table and enjoyed the slow pace of the city that you can't help but come to adopt. After soaking it up for a while, we headed south of the Arno River to the Piazza (Plaza) Michelangelo, which sits on a hill just east of the center of Florence. From there you get an amazing view of the Florence skyline and the surrounding landscape. Florence is nestled in the river valley but immediately outside starts the Apennines Mountains that run down the spine of Italy. We took way too many photos but couldn't help ourselves!
We bought a beer from a vendor and lounged on some steps cut into the side of the hill. There, we and about 100 of our new closest Italian friends enjoyed a concert by some musicians playing their guitars and flutes through sunset. Great afternoon!
We left there and headed back to the hotel to freshen up for dinner. We had received a recommendation from Shea's colleague that this restaurant served the best meal she had ever eaten...a place called Il Latini.
We arrived at our reservation time...9:30...to encounter a swarm of people outside this place trying to get in. Seriously, it was like a preppy mosh pit outside the front door, so we knew at that point it had to be good. We did out best Posh Spice and David Beckham impersonations and luckily they let us through to our table. This place was great. There are no such things as menus. The waiter brings stuff to you and you eat it. Wine is on the table and you serve yourself. He asks what type of entree you want (...we went with the veal) and they bring you a mountain of it. Each course seems to be followed by different glasses of wine the waiter keeps bringing by. The place was lively and the food was incredible...we had an absolute blast!
We had noticed throughout the night that when it was time settle up the waiters bring the owner of the restaurant to greet the patrons and then the owner himself delivers each bill. So, now it is our turn (mind you it is now getting close to 12:00, we have been indulging at every turn, and we are a bit afraid of what our tally is going to be). The waiter tells the owner what we had...and that it is our anniversary. The owner slaps me on the back and tells me what a lucky man I am to be with such a Bella, and he pulls a number out of his head and hands us a bottle of wine. Simply amazing! We ate like kings for the price of paupers and left with a parting gift to boot. Great anniversary day that we won't soon forget!
Friday, we slept in a bit and decided we wanted to check out some other areas of Tuscany. We took a bus to the train station and hopped on a train to Siena about an hour's ride away. The trip showed us countless vineyards, hilltop towns, forests, and grassland before we arrived in Siena.
Siena is quite a bit smaller than Florence, but every bit as charming (if not more so). The old city sits atop a hill and is surrounded by a great wall. It is one of Italy's best-preserved Renaissance cities and is beautiful in its small, quaint way. You walk down narrow streets and discover amazing views and buildings at every bend. The shell-shaped Piazza del Campo (or town square) houses the Palazzo Pubblico and is known as one of the most beautiful public spaces in Europe. It is also famous for hosting the Palio horse race twice a year. (If you saw the James Bond movie "Quantum Of Solace" it is the horse race Daniel Craig interrupts in the middle of the big chase scene). We took our shoes off and sat around in the Campo with all the locals, licking our gelato, and loving every minute of it. We visited the city's beautiful cathedral and then slowly walked back through the streets doing a little window-shopping. Shea says that Siena may be her favorite place we have been in all our time here!
On Friday night we decided to lay low a bit, so we took our free bottle of wine and went across the street from our hotel to a little cafe that has nothing but outdoor seating on the Arno. We ordered some pizzas and enjoyed a night by the river and our wine. Ahhh Tuscany.
Before we had left Frankfurt, we knew we wanted to do a wine tour. So, on Saturday, we had a little breakfast and then met our tour from tuscantrails.com at 10:15. It was us and 2 other couples on an 8-hour tour of the countryside that included two vineyard tours and tastings. Our tour guide was a woman from California who knew way too much about wine and olive oil, but had a great sense of humor and showed us all a wonderful time. We really enjoyed that day as the weather was perfect and the views and countryside were incredible. We bought two bottles of Chianti and learned how to categorize Italian wines...and yes, we did come home with red stained teeth. A little more pizza and opening up one of our bottles from earlier in the day and we had a wonderful night to polish off a wonderful day.
On Sunday, we woke up early to go to 9 am mass at the Duomo for Easter. When we got there, the police had guardrails up all around the exterior of the church. We finally found our way in and were treated to Easter mass in Italian. The church's dome was elaborately painted depicting God ruling over all creation, and it reminded us a bit of the Sistine Chapel.
We walked outside around 10:00 am and immediately heard the pounding of drums. We looked up a few blocks and found a parade headed straight for us. Men and women dressed in impressive period costume carrying flags and centuries old weaponry. We were soon flooded with onlookers as the parade ended between the front entrance of the Duomo and the baptistery. Come to find out, we had stumbled upon a tradition dating back to the Crusades where soldiers march and have a chariot pulled by two white oxen to the steps of the Church. They then proceed to blow up the cart with fireworks or as it is known in Italian..."Scoppio del Carro". A white dove (read firework) is shot out of the front doors of the church and the chariot starts a firework display. It was pretty incredible and just dumb luck that we ended up with the great spot to see it all. Here is a link to a videotaping of a past event just so you can get a better idea of what went down:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZOqySju-KA&feature=PlayList&p=D88BA6615CC59CBB&index=1
After the excitement of the fireworks, we headed over to the Uffizi museum for or 11:30 reservation. We toured it and saw works by all the masters. We were impressed with the work, but unfortunately a lot of the museum was shut down for construction, so we saw what we wanted and hightailed it.
We still had one more bottle of wine from our wine tour to finish and we had enjoyed the view from the Piazza Michelangelo so much that we headed back over.
We relaxed, laughed, and enjoyed another sunset from there. We left and had a bite to eat and then called it an early night for our early morning wake up call the next day to catch our flight.
All in all Florence was a great trip, and we really had a nice relaxing time for our anniversary!
Ciao for now- next stop in May...the South of France and then in June- Barcelona!
Bring on the beaches!

Das Feuerwerk

So, Shea and I are just chillin' in the apartment over the weekend, and all of a sudden we start hearing these popping sounds.
"Shea, you making popcorn?"
"Nope...Geoff, you sitting on bubble wrap?"
"Nope."
We look out our window and bamm...German fireworks display.
There is a small carnival that set-up shop last week in the parking lot of an arena near our apartment. It must have been opening night because they put on a pretty impressive display to kick it off.
We sat outside and watched for a while and thought about good times on the 4th of July. So, here are some firework photos because, hey, who doesn’t like fireworks.

Rhine Tour

So, everyone decided they wanted to see as many castles as possible and fortunately enough we live super close to the Rhine River where there are around a dozen castles within about a 2-hour stretch.
During the summer months (April through September) you can take a cruise up the Rhine from Frankfurt to enjoy the medieval sites and vineyards. Seeing as though we didn't have that option, we took the next best plan. There is a train that runs along a good portion of the river from Mainz to Koblenz, Germany...about a 1 1/2 hour trip. We saw at least a half dozen castles along the way and vineyards spread across the cliff sides everywhere.
Once you get to Koblenz you encounter the second largest fortification in Europe perched high above the city.
We enjoyed a couple of hours in Koblenz and visited the "Deutsche Eck," which is a giant statue of an early German King sitting atop his horse at the split of the Rhine and Moselle Rivers. There we had a nice late lunch looking out over the river and enjoyed the first warm winds of Spring. So, for those of you coming to visit and also wanting to take in a bunch of wine tours, pretty views, and ancient architecture- come between April and September and we'll do some cruising- German style.

Céad míle fáilte romhaibh

Means "100,000 Welcomes" in Irish, and we would have to say we all felt incredibly welcomed by the people of Dublin on our recent trip. We also felt incredibly welcomed by the weather...nothing but sunny skies and mild temperatures during what is generally a cold, rainy time for Dublin.

Mom, Aunt Marianne, Shea, and I arrived in Dublin about 9:30 on Sunday night March 15th. We all cleared customs and headed to the taxi queue. Our taxi driver loaded our bags and immediately wanted to know where all us "Yankee Doodles" were from...Aunt Marianne said Michigan and we said Texas..."Who killed JR and let me see yer beltbuckles?!" he replied. He kept us rolling on our 25-minute drive through Dublin to our hotel (whilst driving on the wrong side of the car and the road- very hard to get used too). He showed us all the major sites and filled us in on where we should spend our time and how best to enjoy St. Patty's Dublin style.

We checked in to our hotel and were really impressed with our accommodations. Definitely the nicest hotel we have stayed in in Europe. We really lucked out and if anyone plans on going we have a great recommendation.

So, on Monday, we woke up and jumped on a bus downtown. We walked along the River Liffey and made our way to O'Connell Street that runs through the heart of the city. There we jumped on a guided tour bus to see the sites Dublin had to offer. On the tour we would get off the bus and visit the sites we wanted to check out thoroughly.

Just to name a few things we saw Trinity College, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Christ Church Cathedral, the Irish White House, the Jameson distillery, their Parliament house, and the O'Connell Monument. As I know many of you are dying to know...Yes, we did tour the Guinness Factory. We ran through the tour and then shot up to the 7th floor bar that sits atop the factory. From there you get a birds-eye view of Dublin and can see the beautiful old city (without any skyscrapers). We each enjoyed our pint of Guinness with a shamrock delicately imprinted in the foam by the bartenders. Great times!!!!

From there we took the tour bus to Ryan's Victorian Bar (a famous bar in Dublin) where we enjoyed a few more pints and some dinner. Afterward, we headed back down to O'Connell Street where we stocked up on supplies for St. Patty's Day. We bought shirts, scarves, snacks, and beer.

The St. Patty's Day parade starts at 12:00 and we were told that if you want to get a spot anywhere close to the barricades you need to be out there early. So, we packed our supplies and headed to the parade route for 10:00. We scoped out a spot directly across from a grandstand and only had one row of people in front of us. They were super friendly and came down for the parade and to get away from Belfast on this rowdy day. At around 11:30 a couple local personalities started warming up the crowd. They walked around the grandstand and baited people into singing songs from their homeland. We heard the Canadian national anthem, the Swedish anthem, the Yellow Rose of Texas, and of course as he walked past us, Mom grabbed the mic from him and belted out our National anthem. It was great and everyone around was thoroughly impressed.

The parade started and countless bands, bagpipers, floats, clowns, and drunk Irishmen made there way down the route. When it ended we crossed the street into a Pub and got a pint and some hearty Irish stew. From there we joined the celebrations in Temple Bar. Temple Bar is not a Bar, but rather an area, similar to Bourbon Street in NO or 6th Street in Austin. It was packed with St. Patty's Day revelers…most decked out in green and goofy tall hats. We had a great time just watching the celebration. We found a bar and went inside...met some people from Michigan, via London, a couple French guys, and some Aussies. People come from all over for this event just to say they were there...including us!

We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the party in Temple Bar and then along the River Liffey. We saw the Half Penny Bridge and after a big late dinner we headed back to the hotel.

We hit the sack as we had an early wake up call for our 6:30 flight the following morning.

We all had a great time and really enjoyed the city and the people in Dublin. Shea and I would love to get back and explore outside the city and see the countryside of this welcoming "green" isle.