Summer Leave {Pt 1} : Munich

Two weeks before Malu departed to mobilize for his deployment, I took some much needed leave time from work so that we could spend some quality time together.  I always return from leave saying that I need "leave from my leave," because it was just downright exhausting.  It was tons of fun though.

 

The first couple days of leave, we drove to Bavaria to visit our friends, the beloved Finch Family, who make several appearances throughout this blog.  This family is near and dear to our hearts and they just wanted to see Malu for the last time before he deploys.  We ended up going to Munich!

 

I'd been to Munich several years ago, but merely passed through in-transit to Garmisch.  What a great city!  We didn't see even a quarter of the city because we were only there for the day.  We hopped on one of those free walking tours and left when the kids got antsy (or maybe when we adults were just plain tired lugging those antsy kids around).  A lot of people freak out in big cities or big crowds.  I love it.  There's always tons to see.

 

 

 

Munich is the capital of Bavaria and is the third largest German city behind Berlin and Hamberg.  It is home to the largest Oktoberfest celebration in the world at which the Hofbrauhaus holds the second largest beer tent.  The Hofbrauhaus am Platzl, located in the city center, is the most famous beer hall worldwide.  Apparently, in 1920, Hitler organized one of his first propaganda events at the Hofbrauhaus.  The place really does serve up some good food, in addition to their beers.  We know because we stopped by there!

 

 

I honestly don't like beer.  These are Radlers.  It's basically beer with sprite or lemonade mixed in.  I can [somewhat] handle the taste.

 

 Like every other German town or city, Munich has a Rathaus, or town/city hall.  The one we saw is supposedly the new Rathaus, although I'd hardly call it new.  It was built between 1867 and 1908.  I don't even recall seeing the old Rathaus.  The building was beautiful.  It has a glockenspiel that tells two 16th century stories. 

 

 

The Munich Frauenkirche, or Cathedral of Our Dear Lady, is a symbol of the Bavarian capital and one of the most famous landmarks in Munich.  The interior of the church highlights a "no-window" effect that is connected to the legend of the Teufelstritt, or Devil's Footstep.  At the nave of the church, lies a footprint on a square tile.  One version of the legend says that the devil made a deal with the builder to finance construction on the church on the condition that it contain no windows.  However, the builder tricked the devil by positioning the columns so that the devil could not see them from where he stood in the nave.  Upon discovering he had been tricked, the devil could not enter the already-consecrated church and was relegated to stomping furiously, leaving the dark footprint that remains today.  Pretty cool, huh?  The first picture below was taken outside the church.  The last picture is of the church standing on the Devil's Footstep.

 

 I think we hit up a palace before we decided to be done with the tour.  I don't have any pictures of the palace though.  No biggie.  But you guys get the gist.

 

Munich = Pretty Cool City

 

Whoa!  It's way past my bedtime!

 

Tomorrow's Friday!  Looking forward to the weekend.  The Finch Family (less Daddy Finch) will be visiting us here in Stuttgart for the Pumpkin Festival!  Yay!

London {Part II} : Day 1

How cool is it that you can get to London in just 1.5 hours?  Way cool.  And guess what?  It only cost us about $80--round trip.  If you're ever in Germany, whether to live or visit, www.germanwings.com is the way to go.  You can do what's called blind booking and depending on what time of the year it is and where you're trying to go, you can get flights as low as 39.99 Euro.  Trust me!  I've seen it.

Anyway...I digress.

London...in one word:  EXHAUSTING

Okay, here's another one:  AWESOME

Our flight took off at 7:00 a.m., so we were up and at 'em at 4:00.  You can imagine how tired we were by the time we landed in London.  But hey, we sucked it up and immediately hit the ground running.

In the essence of time, I'll just let our pictures do most of the talking.  I will link the major places we visited to websites just because I don't have the energy to go into history, facts, details, etc.  Plus, let's face the facts...when you're out and about with a toddler with no husband to help, you're not really listening to the tour guide or reading displays.  You're busy quelling cries and/or screams and trying not to lose sight of said toddler.  It's exhausting.  I always just say or think, "I'll Google this stuff later."  

We took a train from the airport to Liverpool Station.

From there, we took a cab to our 'flat'.  Ha! I still crack up when I say that!  Just a note...lodging in most European cities can be pretty expensive.  When we travel, we almost always stay in an apartment versus a hotel.  You'd be amazed at how many nice apartments are out there...and we've had a few great ones.  If you ever plan on traveling out to this side of the world...www.homeaway.com is the way to go! Our flat in London was just okay.  We were in quite a rush to find a place to stay and settled on whatever we could find that looked decent.  The apartment itself was decent...

...the neighborhood?  Not so much.  Like the art work?  And it's not so much that the neighborhood was bad, there was just a lot of graffiti and bars nearby.  Oh well, it was a place to crash each night!  Plus, there were some really cool restaurants nearby as well.

So I think I can vouch for our whole group when I say that we set out to do some very particular things while in London. 

Take a picture near one of the signature Royal Phonebooths....Check!

Exchange our U.S. dollars for some British Pounds....Check! 
Aren't they pretty?

Do some damage with said British Pounds...Check! 

And did we ever!  Within minutes we found sidewalk sales down the street from our flat.  Everywhere else, it was souvenirs galore!

See cars driving on the other side of the road (and riding in a car on the other side of the road)...Check!

See how they have to put reminders on the streets for tourists to check right before crossing?

Ride the 'tube' or subway in London...Check! 

You know a subway is near when you see signs for the Underground.

See members of the Royal Guard...Check!

Have some traditional British fish & chips...Check!

Yum!

Tour the Tower of London and see the Crown Jewels...Check!

No pictures, but the jewels were gorgeous.  Some serious bling-bling going on, if you know what I mean.



In front of a mural of the White Tower...and Vaiosina playing with her double-decker bus souvenir!

Vaiosina and I going into the 'Bloody Tower'

Go for a ride on the London Eye and get a great view of the city...Check!

What a ride!  When you ask Vaiosina what she did in London, she always screams, "The Eye!"

Great view of London's many bridges spanning across the River Thames

View of Westminster Palace (Parliament Building) and Big Ben

Take a tour through London on a double-decker bus...Check!

After our Tower of London tour, we were absolutely tired and content to just tour the rest of the city by bus.  We got a close-up view of Westminster Palace (Parliament Building) and Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Harrods, Kensington Palace, etc.  By this time, my iPhone gave out and I couldn't take any pictures.  At least I can say I saw mostly everything!

See the Royal Family...Check!

Okay...maybe not quite.  Being in London is as close as I'm ever gonna get to these people.

Would you believe this was only Day 1?

Seriously.  But this knocked out pretty much all of our London wish list!

Thanks for sticking with me through this entire post!  Please stay tuned for Day 2 which entails our trips to Windsor Castle, the Roman Baths and Stone Henge.

Polish Pottery Trip {Round 2}

I first went to Poland last September over the Labor Day weekend.   It just so happened that my BFF Chrissy was visiting from the States, so I absolutely wanted to take her there.  Gosh, I thought I did tons of damage last year. 

Check it out people.

This actually doesn't look so bad....but I must admit that it doesn't count all the dinner and salad plates, glasses and mugs, two boxes full of Christmas and Easter decor, or the big box of miscellaneous gifts I bought to pass out over the next year or so.

  Nope, doesn't include them.

I'm so ashamed. 

Basically...I'm never going back to Poland.  Ever.

It's funny.  I never had an interest in Polish Pottery.  I used to see it all the time at the PX back in the States, but thought it was for old fogies.  Not to mention the fact that I wasn't really into the signature blue color on all the pieces.

Then you get to Poland and into stores just lined with them and you're just beside yourself trying not to buy everything.  It's insane.  What's cool is that you're never alone doing it because you're bound to be dodging other tourists (mostly military spouses from all over Europe) doing the exact same thing.  It's complete and utter chaos.

I went with pretty much the same group of ladies as last year, minus Chrissy and one other person.  We had a great time and I can't tell you how much of a help they were when it came to taking care of Sina (as Malu was gone at yet another drill).  I'm thankful that, for the most part, Sina was well-behaved which made for some enjoyable shopping.

I showed my mom some pieces that I got over Skype today, including a tureen that I bought for her.  She was over-the-moon excited and begged me to take her to Poland the next time she visits.

Looks like I just have to go back one more time.

What?  Who am I to say no to my own mother? 

*Wink, Wink*

Easter 2012

This year, Sina was old enough to actually go out to do an Easter egg hunt.  She could have done it last year (although she wasn't quite walking yet), but we were late to the post-wide egg hunt and missed it all together.  Last year = mega-fail.  We were determined not to make the same mistake this year and actually made up for it!

The Easter bunny visited us twice on Easter morning!

After returning from our trip to Prague (which I'll blog about sometime this week), the adults (we spent the weekend with the Finch Family) stayed up until the wee hours of the morning stuffing zillions of plastic eggs for Sina and Madisen (their  4-year old daughter) to find first thing in the morning.  We also laid out their Easter baskets.

Imagine their surprise to find all kinds of eggs right in their rooms and all over the house when they woke up.  Sina went and grabbed the first egg she saw after I lifted her out of her crib.  As she grabbed the second and third egg, she said (still groggy from waking up) "more! more!".  When we went downstairs she loaded more eggs into one of her Easter baskets with her daddy's help.

I say one of her baskets because she actually had two--one my mom had sent her (this Hello Kitty one) and another one I'd purchased her and loaded with all of the goodies that my mom and Great-Grandma had mailed to her, as well as all the stuff I'd amassed for her.  You really can't tell here, but this basket was overloaded with candies, a stuffed bunny rabbit, Hello Kitty and Dora-shaped eggs, flashcard sets, books and stickers. 

Thanks so much to our families for everything.  I think it's safe to say that this girl is soooooo LOVED.

Madisen was nice enough to let Sina borrow a set of the butterfly wings she'd received that morning so that they could flutter about the house together.

The Finches had some friends over for an amazing brunch.  We had blueberry french toast casserole, a hash brown casserole, baked ham, deviled eggs, fruits, and other desserts.  Yum!

Sina actually managed to wear a dress that day, thanks to Mattie.  The weather forecast called for cold weather, so I didn't bother packing her a dress.  Mattie insisted that I put Sina in one of Madisen's old dresses just so she could blend in :) I really should put Sina in dresses more often because she was the cutest little thing.  I couldn't, however, get her to sit still in said dress to take pictures, but I did my best.  Here are a few pics of her, Madisen and Mackinley.

Sina and Madisen

Look at those big feet!

There's always time to read a book!

Figures that one of the cutest pics I have of her in the dress is in the kitchen.  I think she was looking for a snack :)

When she wasn't looking for a snack, she was playing with the magnets on the refrigerator.

Another favorite.  I should show this picture to people when the few of them try to tell me that Sina looks more like Malu than me.  Are they blind?  This photo screams mini-me!

Sorting some eggs.  We had to take those eggs and re-stuff them for later on.

Sina absolutely adores Mackinley (and babies in general).  It's so cute to see her get in their faces to say hi to them and then caress them so gently.  I'm so thankful that the folks at school taught her early on to handle babies with care.  This will definitely come in handy when she becomes a big sister...whenever that may be :)

Sina, Malu and Madisen, also known as the Scooby Doo Gang.  I can't remember who is what character when they play, but I think Malu is Fred.  I would have made him Scooby, but hey, it's not my game.

Sina and Daddy.

I hate that I didn't get a picture with her that day :(

After brunch, we went over to another house to do another Easter egg hunt.

There were five kids total, but enough eggs for fifteen.  Since it was cold out, the eggs were hidden indoors.  While the other kids (all were older than Sina) ran furiously around the house to pick up eggs, Sina was more preoccupied with the toys.  Malu and I simply scooped up five or six eggs for her and just let her be.

I'd say that all in all, Sina's first official Easter was a hit!

Thank you God for blessing us with so much, especially wonderful times with wonderful friends, and love and support from our families across the miles.  Thank you also for the gift of salvation through the death of your Son, Jesus Christ. 

He is Risen!  He is Risen indeed!