Friday, December 30, 2011

Nuremberg

We got an early surprise this week when the Jeep arrived six days earlier than expected! She passed her inspection with flying colors and even got some fancy new international plates. Vic is doing pretty well with driving, although I think he's made up his own rules a couple of times. Between Basic Training and AIT, he hasn't really drove for almost a year, so it will take some time to knock the rust off. I am going to attempt my driving test on Tuesday, so we'll see how that goes.
 Yesterday we took a trip to Nuremberg by train. The train system here is amazing, and we have it pretty much figured out. We took the trip with the Logan's, which allowed us to split an all day train pass for 15 Euro a couple - meaning we could technically use the train as many times as we wanted and go anywhere in the state of Bavaria for the next 24-hours. This worked to our advantage as we got off on the wrong train stop on the way home.

We had a little trouble at first figuring out the whole schedule, but luckily we ran into an American who knew the drill, so he pointed us in the right direction. We took the train to Wurzburg first where we had a short little layover (enough time to eat a butter/cheese-filled pretzel) and then we hopped on the train to Nuremberg. Too easy.

Mostly in America we hear/learn about Nuremberg because of the Nazi Rallies and Nuremberg Trials, but there is so much more to see and do - we didn't even scratch the surface in the five hours we were there.

This is the entrance to the city area .... and part of the city wall. I think there were 128ish towers and half of them are still standing. Parts of the wall were built in the 12th century!! Crazy.
Once we got into the city walls we stopped at a steakhouse for lunch. We had the cutest little English waiter (Harry Potter cute, not David Beckham cute) ... when I ordered my water he asked if I wanted it with or without 'gas' ... meaning soda water vs. tap water - I thought that was a funny way to ask.

 This picture is looking back at the train station. We were nearly killed crossing the street, and realized there is a tunnel system during our walk back.
The birds in Germany are HUGE. There are crows on post the size of Lola, and they terrify me. 
St. Lorenz church ... this picture doesn't really do justice - it was gigantic.
Stopping on the bridge on the way to see the castle!
This was the weirdest statue and there wasn't any information posted around it. It looks to be a pirate ship manned by a skeleton, with a naked lady being held prisoner, a terrified dog, a drunk man and a midget holding a knife.  Upon further google-ing I found that it is called the Ship of Fools, apparently based on a book of satire written by Sebastian Brant. Good to know.
St. Sebaldus Church.
This is the Schoner Brunnen fountain ...
There are two bronze rings in the fence that are said to bring good luck to those who spin them. Of course, I had to spin one.
This was the walk we took up to the castle. It may not look like much of a hill from this picture, but at eight and a half months pregnant, I was dying ... BUT not complaining!
Just when I thought the worst part of the walk was over ... I was faced with another cobblestone covered hill.
Vic was full of energy while I was trying to catch my breath, so he ran up to stand next to Sinwell Tower - which we later decided to climb.
Looking down on the city ... I'm sure nobody could tell we were tourists.
Looking over the city of Nuremberg ... I think I had recovered by this point.
Standing next to the castle door ...
This is the entrance to the previously mentioned Sinwell Tower. As we were standing beside it I had made mention that I thought you could climb it (with no intention that we actually would), and the next thing I know Logan comes back with tickets and I am walking my big ass up 200 creaky medieval stairs.
The stairs from the bottom ...
Vic looking out from the top of the tower.
View from the tower. It is a round tower, so you get a full view of the city.
View from the way down ... really scary.
I pretended I needed to take a picture, but it was really an excuse to catch my breath.
After the tower we took a tour of the 'deep well', which sounds lame ... but it was actually pretty cool. A tour guide gave us the history of the well and then lowered the candles all the way to the bottom.
I think it was a little over 50 yards deep - and completely dug by hand over 10 years.
Outside the castle.
Bronze statue of the city ... Vic is pointing to where we are standing.
Turning the ring for good luck!!
After our trek back from the castle we decided to get some sweets. Vic had some sort of a fociccia bread and I had a chocolate-covered, chocolate-filled croissant - amazing. Vic is also drinking a Radler - which is a popular beer in Bavaria that is mixed with either Sprite or lemonade. I don't think this will be his drink of choice.
In the train station they not only sold beer, wine and liquor, but also mixed-drinks in a can! We discovered you can drink on the trains, so that should make for interesting future trips.
We will definitely make a trip back to Nuremberg ... there is a lot more to see and tons of shopping to do!

On the way home we went to Bamberg first and then caught the train home. We weren't paying attention and we got off at the first Schweinfurt stop, which put us on the wrong side of town. We didn't realize this until we got out of the train station and started to look for our car. Lesson learned!

We're going to try for one more pre-baby trip next weekend! Everything else is going well and we are headed back to the doctor on Wednesday. I feel like I can't possibly get any bigger, but I have a feeling that's not the case! We'll keep everyone updated on Baby Eli news :)

Happy New Year!!

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Merry Christmas from Germany!

I'm a few days late, but I hope everyone had a good Christmas. Now that our phones are up (mostly due to my profanity-laced tirade) we were finally able to talk to our families! This was my first Christmas away from my family, so it was a little rough. I have lived away from Indy for almost 6 years, but I have always gone back for at least Christmas Eve and Christmas Day - although a couple times I have made the mistake of staying TOO long. Since I can remember, I have always wrapped all the presents for my mom (even my own at times). While she excels on many fronts, she may be the worst present wrapper of all time, so I'm assuming all gifts were put in bags this year. I definitely missed waking up with my little brother to open presents - he slept in until like 8:30 this year, which wouldn't have happened if I was around. I also missed scratching lottery tickets at Mimi and Papa's ... this year could have been my year to win millions. Aside from missing my family, I couldn't be happier to spend Christmas in Germany with my (new) little family and start our own traditions.

 My face has gotten really fat in the past couple weeks ... not the best picture, but it will do!
 36 weeks!
 We had the Logan's over for dinner and we made way too much food (this wasn't even all of it) ... but it was sooo good, and we're still working on leftovers. This is our loaner table from the Army - which is one of the nicer things they allow us to borrow. One of these days I'll post a picture of the bed/cot that we're attempting to sleep on.

The day after Christmas we decided that we would go downtown and do some shopping, but we didn't realize that it was a German holiday and NOTHING was open. We walked around for a little bit and then noticed a few places to eat were starting to open. We went inside one and I'm pretty sure you had to have some kind of membership or special password to eat there. As soon as we sat down a lady came over and gave us a big speech in German and finished it off with, 'NO EAT!' We promptly left through the crowd of German stares and went down the street to what we know best ... the doner shop ... which was probably better anyway!

Earlier in the week we celebrated our one-year anniversary with dinner at a fancy Italian place downtown. The restaurant is under the town hall building in the middle of the city square.
 The food was pretty good, but very different than American-Italian food. I now know what al-dente pasta tastes like.
Anyway, Vic has another week of half-days and then another four day holiday weekend!! We're planning a day trip to either Wurzburg or Nuremburg ... which will probably be our last one for awhile! Our car is coming on the 3rd, so I'm going to attempt to take my driving test this week ... should be interesting!!!


Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Another Doctor Visit

Yesterday we had our second appointment with Dr. Heinrich at Leopoldina Hospital. Side note, the German word for 'hospital' is krankenhaus ... which sounds really scary when German people say it. Anyway, it was basically the same procedure as last time ... and everything is still looking good! Another side note, our doctor ends every statement with, 'no?' ... basically turning everything into a rhetorical question. The first thing she said to me when I laid on the ultrasound table was, 'wow, you're big, no?' ... not exactly what I wanted to hear, but whatever. She has stopped monitoring me for pre-term labor and said, 'whenever he decides to come, we won't stop him, no?' ... sounds good to me!
 I love this picture ... he looks so annoyed and over it.
Definitely Vic's facial features! Our next appointment is January 4th and then we go to weekly appointments after that. I love the 3D pictures ... most women have to pay for these things! The whole ultrasound set-up and system is so much more advanced than what we had at Fort Gordon.

In other news, we woke up this morning to snow!! Vic was a little less excited, as he had to go to work in this - but I enjoyed it from the comforts of our heated apartment. This is the first time the dogs have seen snow ... Lola was a little apprehensive, but Roscoe didn't mind it at all.
This picture is the view from our back window.

We also scored a free little Christmas tree ... all of our ornaments and other decorations are still en route, so this will have to do to fulfill our Christmas spirit. We got boxes and boxes of presents from my grandparents, mom, dad and Reagan. We've tried to wait until Christmas to open them, but then we get bored and one of us talks the other into opening some ... this is all that remains, and I swear we're waiting to open these!  We really appreciate the presents and cards from everyone ... it makes it feel a little more like home!!
After our doctor appointment yesterday we took the bus downtown for dinner and shopping. We ate at a Chinese restaurant ... I know, I know ... who eats Chinese food while living in Germany, but it was amazing. Very different than American Chinese food - more fresh and less fat/grease. Anyway, we had to stop at an ATM to get Euro and Vic was so excited to get his first 50 Euro bill.
It looks like Monopoly money, and the bigger the bill ... the bigger the size. The exchange rate is not as cool as the bills though ... taking out 100 Euro costs us about 130 American dollars. Boo.

Anyway, Vic has half days all this week so we're going to try to do some more exploring in Schweinfurt and maybe take a day trip by train on Friday. We hope everyone has a very merry Christmas!!!

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Yesterday we took a day trip to the medieval walled city of Rothenburg ob der Tabuer (people just call it Rothenburg, unless you're really fancy). We went with the spouses club here in Schweinfurt, so we had the courtesy of riding in a comfortable bus that was driven by a man named Wolfgang - who even brought along a cooler of beer for his passengers. 
Vic, of course, took part in the bus drinking.

The city was beautiful ... it was like being inside one of those fake villages at Disney World - but the real thing.

 One of the guard towers ... I think it was built in the 1300's - you don't see that kind of stuff in America!
 Houses on the main street.
 The streets were all cobblestone.
 Alley way ... which was a little creepy after dark.


 Town Hall Square ... they had their Christmas Market going on. Surrounding the square are tons of little shops, cafes and restaurants.
Town Hall of Rothenburg.

After getting off the bus, our first order of business was lunch. We knew we wanted to do a big authentic German dinner, so we settled for a small Italian cafe and split a pizza. Vic added a cup of Gluhwein, which is huge at these Christmas markets. It's mulled wine that's served warm - pretty good, although I could only try a sip.

After lunch we headed to the Medieval Torture Museum - which is the largest legal museum in Germany.

 Spiked torture chair ... obviously.
 Real life chastity belt ... woman had to wear these when their husbands went away or if they were traveling somewhere alone.  Gross.
 They had a ton of these shame masks that people were forced to wear if they acted a certain way or violated some law. This was my favorite and was for a 'blabbermouth' woman. The ears were big to hear everything, the eyes were big to see everything and the tongue was big because they told everything. This mask would get a lot of use on an Army base!!
 This is a drunk tank ... weights were attached to the outside and drunk people were forced to walk around in them. I immediately thought of Lee Cleary when I saw this ... I can imagine she would have had to sport the drunk tank a time or two if she lived in the Middle Ages - and I probably would have been right next to her a couple times.
 This is the worst ... you had to sit with your hands shackled at the top and your feet through the holes - then then towns' people could walk by and tickle your feet all they wanted. Give me death before tickling.
 This is a huge rosary that you had to wear if you fell asleep in church.
 Executioner's mask.
 The cage looking thing to the left was for prostitutes, wild men and bakers who made their bread too small ... apparently they took their bread baking very seriously.
Tally sticks ... instead of paying for every drink, the bartender would make a notch and you had to pay when it was full. Kind of like a medieval credit card.
Vic in shackles outside the museum.

After the museum we did a little more sightseeing, shopping and started our search for the perfect place to eat dinner.
 Vic next to the wall that surrounds the city of Rothenburg ... it's huge.
 Christmas Market at night.
 In front of the Christmas tree in the square. It was freezing and this was right before we threw on extra layers, hats, gloves and scarves. I love when Germans notice that I'm pregnant because they always point and say 'zee baby' ...
 Vic in the doorway of some terrifying medieval manhole. 
 This was like a life-size cuckoo clock at the Town Hall.
These are the types of German restaurants that we keep finding ourselves in. This was the whole restaurant - only about 20 - 30 seats and you can see the kitchen from the dining area. Vic and I were the only people eating at this time, but it was full when we left an hour later.
This was our first authentic German meal, and we definitely picked the right place. Vic ordered jagerschnitzel, which is a thin breaded cutlet of meat (pork in this case) covered in mushroom sauce. I got hanchen-schnitzel (chicken) stuffed with ham and a cheese sauce ... pretty much a cordon-bleu type thing. It was amazing and we both had no trouble cleaning our plates. The waitress came over afterwards ... she was very happy that I ate everything and said, 'it is very good for zee baby'. Ohhh, I love zee Germans.

After dinner we met the rest of our group in the town square for the Night Watchman Tour. This was ran by a man in character who took us through town and stopped to explain different pieces of Rothenburg's history from the start to WWII.
Here is the Night Watchman kicking off the tour in front of the Town Hall. He was really in character and pretty funny.
 Here he is on the second stop of the tour talking about the plague - very interesting. 
 This is on the tour, outside the guard tower ... the picture doesn't do justice for how pretty this was!

The tour pretty much wrapped up our trip and we jumped back on the bus - and Wolfgang had even refilled the cooler of beer! We definitely want to head back here for a day trip when the weather is warmer.

Everything else is going well! We STILL don't have phone/Internet service, but it has been promised (again) to be turned on by December 22nd. I was actually thrown out of the shop earlier this week for yelling and causing a scene ... so it looks like Vic will handle all further phone/Internet issues. Our car is still floating on the ocean somewhere, along with our household goods. The Jeep should be here in the next couple weeks, but I can't say the same for our stuff. I'm guessing we won't get that shipment until the middle of February ... which really hurts to think about. Anyway, we have a doctor's appointment tomorrow to check on Baby E ... I'll post pictures if we get any good ones!! Hopefully we will be able to make some phone calls and/or Skype right in time for Christmas!!