Rudesheim Romantik Tour

Fred was "lucky" enough in that he got to travel alone with David (Rhein River cruise), with our entire family (Stuttgart), and alone with me.  On our day together, we did something called a Rudesheim Romantik tour, which included a gondola ride, a not-so-short hike, another ride in a gondola, a tour of a castle, and a short boat ride.  It was a good day!  I took so many pictures I decided to write a different post.  It was a beautiful day, but it was hot still.  Yesterday, a waiter told us that it is the hottest summer he has seen in 30 years.  Figures!  But the cooler weather is coming, and along with it, my favorite time of year.  On one of those hot days, we also celebrated a birthday.  Time is going by so quickly!

I dropped Fred off at the airport this morning.  It's raining, and that is kind of a good thing for me.  I like it when the weather matches my mood.  But I'm happy to have a Saturday with the family.  I'm completely underprepared for Alex to start school, which means I must go to the store today and buy some pencils. It has been a fabulous week!  I look forward to our next phase of travel, but in the meantime, I am totally enjoying my life with the kids and my life at work.  It's going so well!

This reminds me of Pennsylvania.

Fred!!!!

It all started in my freshman year in college. I was innocently sitting in my chemistry class, trying to listen to one of the teachers' first lectures of the semester, and suddenly I heard this loud, crackling noise right next to my ear. It had been years since I'd last heard that sound, but I immediately identified it as that wonderful, fun candy from my childhood, Pop Rocks. Once identified, I stoically listened even harder to the professor, refusing to react.  Fred called me a bad word under his breath, and after that, our friendship was sealed forever.

Although I lost touch with Fred shortly after college, he has been a bit of a constant in my life for the past 17 years. (Wowza!) He took me to a semi-formal in college with his fraternity just so I could have the experience. After the pop rocks episode, I learned that he was renting a room for the cost of the apartment I was renting. My landlord had a vacant apartment, so Fred became my neighbor for a while. One time, when I was particularly hungry and starting to feel pain in my kidneys, Fred bought a pot roast that I cooked for us. Good-bye kidney pain! (One can eat only ramen noodles for so long, I learned.) Fred is funny and smart and honest and funny (I said that twice intentionally because he is really funny!) and fun to be around. And he came all the way to Germany to visit us!! (Obviously, that means a lot to me!)

We've had such a good visit! Today he's going to Frankfurt while I go into work. Tomorrow we take him to the airport. Two days ago, he went to Mainz by himself, and figured it out even though I had him stay on the train and had him end up walking more than necessary. Sorry, Fred!! The first day he was here, he and David got to do a Rhein River cruise. Thankfully, because I really think David needed to experience that!

But my favorite has been our trip to Stuttgart. We drove straight to the Porsche museum and parked without difficulty. I'm not a motorhead by any means, but it was a really great museum, and I immensely enjoyed myself. I had fun taking different perspectives with my cell phone camera. The kids were moderately good throughout the museum.

Then David drove us closer to the city, and Fred had his first ever döner. Then we went to the main square, visited the Landesmuseum for free (fortunately, because Lilly was not good and I really didn't get to see it). I appeased Lilly with YouTube's BabyBus on my phone, and she settled down enough for me to get a run-through. Then we went to the church, and I was delighted to see stained glass windows similar to the windows in Mainz. Intriguing! Of course we had to get ice cream.

Porsche's 70th anniversary.  I'm happy about this photo.

Griffin is headed for the lock-up.

Lilly intervened and they sped away together.

The museum at the Old Castle

From about 1000 A.D.

Stained glass window in the church in Stuttgart.  Reminds me of the windows in Mainz.  I love them!

Hello and goodbye

When I left last June, I wasn't sure how long it would be until I got to see my friends Nikki and Riley again. I had to face the sad possibility that I might not get to see them until I returned. How could I go two years without seeing her and her sweet daughter?!

Thank God, I did not have to. They came to visit me for five wonderful days this month. It was so great to enjoy their company. While they were here, the Bible app I use had a verse that talked about friendship:

A friend is always loyal... --Proverbs 17:17

I have known Nikki since middle school! That's a pretty good show of loyalty. She has always made the greater effort to stay in touch with me. When I disappeared for the Navy, she was always willing to see me when I came around. And every time we get together, it's like we were never really apart. She's a true friend and a good example for her daughter. I'm so happy I got to see them. We took some lovely day trips, and in general, I just enjoyed spending time with them. It was refreshing for me to be able to visit with them.

Good-bye was very hard. I was so grateful for my time with them, but greedily wanted more. At least now I know I'm on the lesser side of time between visits. It had been over a year this time. God willing, I'll see them again in less than a year from now. And even though I get sad with good-byes, God, in His usual way, takes care of me.

This week, I got a gift from my Rodan and Fields sponsor that was pretty special. Then, I got a text from somebody who is a blast from my past. How exciting that I might get to visit a friend of mine from my first job with the Army! And then, also this week that was otherwise going to be sad, I got another email that one of my friends in MD might be coming to Germany for work, and might swing by my house for a little visit! And to top it off, I'm picking up my one (and only) friend from college on Sunday. God is so good to me!!!

No, it doesn't end there. Because this week, work got even more interesting for me. I've been supporting exercises almost exclusively, but this week things changed, and I get to see new things and take on new projects.

All of this is God's doing. He is so good to me.

Cloudy day on the Rhein.  It was beautiful.

Mainz Cathedral

St Stephen's in Mainz

Wiesbaden Church

At the Weinfest

Bavaria is beautiful

Bavaria is beautiful, and it reminds me of Pennsylvania.

I'm in a different hotel this week because my regular one was booked. I'm a bit far from Grafenwohr Training Area, but in a way, the change in hotel is a bit of a blessing. I have such a lovely drive from the hotel to work and back. I'm only here for three nights because I'm cutting my trip short since my friends are coming. But on the way back to the hotel from work tonight, I stopped and did a very short hike.

It's actually 91° outside right now (at 8 p.m.), and I wasn't carrying water, so I kept my little walk very short. But it was nice! And we're all coming back to Bavaria in October with one of my friends, and I can't wait! It's going to be be so beautiful in the fall. In fact, David and I were in Garmisch in the fall in 2007, and we just loved it so much. I think it's my favorite place in Germany.

Of course, I can't legitimately have a favorite place here. I haven't explored very much of it (not like I have the United States), but of all the places I've been, I think Garmisch is my favorite. Overall, Bavaria is friendlier, prettier, slower, and easier than where I live now. Reminds me of Pennsylvania!

Today was a beautiful day!

... I'm home now, and I think, if I'm not too much of a chicken, I'm going to get a different hotel each time I go to Bavaria from now on. Except if there's going to be snow, I'll just do what's familiar. But I enjoyed myself so much with the newness of the hotel and being even more in the country, I'm thinking I should do it again and again.

Do you think it's a good idea, or do you think I'm crazy?

The In Between

All of those posts about my/our travel with my sister STILL don't cover everything we did together. In between all of that, we also went to Frankfurt, Wiesbaden, Mainz, Burg Eltz, and Opelbad (an outdoor swimming pool with a schnelle slide and a nice view of Wiesbaden).  We also had a birthday, got a mohawk, went to a birthday party, went to a festival, and just in general had a really enjoyable month.

I finally got to go to Wiesbaden when the Protestant church was open. St. Stephen's church in Mainz is still high among my favorites, and Römer plaza is always lovely, especially on a bright day.  I was disappointed with Burg Eltz for a few reasons: it was far away and a pain to get to, you weren't allowed to take pictures inside, and you only got to see about a third of the castle, if that.  The birthday party that Livvy attended was an invite from a friend in her class, where I learned that in Germany, you only invite the kids who you want to come, not everybody in the class, which makes my life much easier when the twins' birthday comes around.  The swimming pool was fabulous and has made me want to visit other similar pools nearby.  Alex is adorable in his mohawk, yet at the same time, getting to be such a boy, as opposed to a little boy.  Soon he will be 7!  The festival we attended was the German-American Friendship Fest, which we had attended last year.  So for me, that really hit home that we have been here a year (now more).  That was a pretty big milestone for me.

Summer is going by so quickly! But I'm happy with the sights I've seen so far and what I have planned (or tentatively planned). It's been a good year, and I'm anticipating more goodness. God willing. He has certainly blessed us so far!

Can't wait until my friends Nikki and Riley come next week!! But I do hope it cools down a little bit. It's been in the mid-nineties for a few weeks now, with no air conditioning (except for me at work and the window unit we put in our bedroom)! Ugh! So much for the weather being milder than Pennsylvania!

Birthday girl turned 2!

I told Michelle this is one of my favorites, and she said something to the effect of, "Too bad it's cracked."

I told her to take a closer look.  This is the window in the Mainz Cathedral.

Our little buddy had been asking for a haircut for a while.

Think he likes it?

St. Stephen's Church in Mainz.  I need to bring my monopod the next time I come.

The Protestant Church in Wiesbaden.  

Stained glass at the church in Wiesbaden.