My Sick Girl & Weekend Recap {Ramstein & Tubingen}

I spent today nursing my sick baby girl.  I suspected something was coming.  Over the weekend, she'd started coughing and complaining of a sore throat.  I suspect it's the change in weather (gotta love fall!) or maybe she just caught a bug at school.  Who knows?  All I know is that I was happy to be home from work taking care of her.  After work yesterday, I'd dragged her over to the PX to buy a few things (namely a much-needed pair of running shoes).  As soon as we walked through the door, the grabbed her bear-bear and climbed into her bed.  Shoes and all.  I had to pull her out to give her a bath; poor thing.

 

 

She woke up with a 102 degree fever, which broke by early afternoon.  I'd spent the day pushing tons of fluids and by evening, she was her usual springy self.  She is, however, a bit hoarse.  I'm taking her to the doctor in the morning just to see if we can rule out strep throat.  Let's cross our fingers for that!

 

As I sit here making this post, baby girl is sound asleep and I'm semi-watching the Hunger Games.  I figured I'd tell you guys about our weekend since I've seen the movie a few times already. 

 

On Saturday, I drove out to Ramstein Air Base for a bazaar.  It's basically the same bazaar we have here at Patch Barracks every spring.  The bazaar rotates through all the military bases in Europe (or maybe just Germany) and Ramstein is just a two-hour drive away.  A friend and I just figured that we'd head out there and see what we could find, if anything.  The PX at Ramstein is also tons better than ours.  We had to do the token stop at Johnny Rockets before even thinking about doing some shopping.  Nothing like a good American burger and a strawberry milkshake.  Vaiosina loved it!  After a good hour or so of shopping, we stopped to take a break and a pretty decent picture, if I may say so myself.  Love my little girl!

 

 

What's really cool about that day is that I actually drove to Ramstein and back to Stuttgart without any problems. Not sure if you guys remember, but I got into an accident over a year ago.  Since then, I basically have a stroke anytime I'm on the autobahn.  I finally made an entire trip without freaking out.  Go me!

 

On Sunday, Vaiosina and I ventured out to Tubingen, one of our favorite cities in Baden-Wurttemburg (our German state; of which Stuttgart is the capital).  We'd been to town a few other times and just love going back.  It's a sweet college town just 20 miles away from Stuttgart and is situated on a ridge between the Neckar and Ammer rivers.  As such, the town is very picturesque with buildings dating back centuries (like it's town hall, it's castle, and the University of Tubingen), streets lined with canals, cobblestone streets, narrow alleyways and the traditional half-timbered, medieval houses.  Actually, one of the times I was in Tubingen previously was for the same festival we returned to see on Sunday--the Umbrian-Provencal Market. 

Every year, Tubingen's partner cities--Aix en Provence and Perugia--present their regional and home-grown specialties.  I'm talking wines, cheeses, produce, spices--you name it.  Last year, I took some pictures, but never posted them.  This year, I totally forgot to bring my camera and ended up using my iPhone.  Still got some good ones.  It was an utterly perfect day in every way--the weather, the atmosphere, and the company :)

 

 

 

 Too bad all of this goodness turned sour with Vaiosina getting sick.

Let's hope the doctor gives us a thumbs down on strep throat tomorrow morning!

Have a happy hump day tomorrow everyone!

P.S.  Malu's doing well.  We hear from him every now and then when he has a spare moment from his training.  We'll be meeting up with him this weekend in Nurnberg.  We are very excited!

 

The Best Thing About Prague

By far, the best thing about our visit to Prague on Easter Sunday...

The trdelnik--a traditional cake and sweet pastry native to Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary.  Trdelnik is derived from the word trdlo, which is the wooden stake around which the dough is wrapped and grilled.  Once it's cooked, the hollowed pastry is dusted with a sugar and walnut mix.  We even saw a stand where a guy slathered a generous amount of Nutella inside each trdelnik.  I fell in love. 

You guys, this stuff was amazing.  I think we each had a double serving.

Not sure how trdelnik is pronounced, but we guessed that it almost sounds like "turtleneck," which is exactly what it looks like.  Don't you agree?  I mean, it even looks like a turtle shell!

You really can't just have one.  I mean, look at it.

Look at Sina...she's trying to grab daddy's trdelnik.

Dough is wrapped around a trdlo and grilled to perfection.

Then it's coated with sugar and nuts.

The trdelnik...among many reasons to return to Prague!

Regensburg {Pt 2}: Good Friends, Good Eats

Finishing up on our trip to Regensburg with the Finch Family over the 4th of July weekend....the city sits along the Danube River (in German, it's Donau), Europe's second longest river.  One of the first things we saw as we entered the city, was the Old Stone Bridge (or Steinerne Brucke), which was built from 1135-1146.  This medieval bridge crosses the Danube and is said to have been crossed by knights during the Crusades on their way to the Holy Land.  Interestingly (and kinda creepy), most ancient bridges have devil-related myths or folktales applied to them and are termed "Devil's Bridges".  Click here if you're interested in the tale associated with Regensburg's Old Stone Bridge.

The Danube is also known for its whirlpools, but I forget why.  I think it also has to do with the devil folktale.  We saw the whirlpools too!  Can you see them behind me?

Kinda nervous about falling into the water behind me!

Right next to the Old Stone Bridge is the historical Wurstkuchl, the oldest sausage tavern in the world--500 years old!  You can't really see the sign on top of the building (which isn't all that big either) that's behind Malu, but that place serves up the most delicious wurst (with sauerkraut) that I've ever had.  They even a specialty mustard that is out of this world!

Love the sneek peek of the cathedral behind Malu.

Look at all that wurst (sausage)!

Gettin' our grub on! Love the look on Sina's face. (Me & Sina with Mattie, Eric & little Madisen)

Malu and Mattie.  Delicious!

In the vicinity of the cathedral are tons of shops and restaurants.  Right across the street are these colorful buildings. 

There's an ice cream parlor (or eis cafe) that we just had to stop at.  I mean, what's wurst without dessert, right?  Check these out.  I think I was the most excited about this.  I mean, I. was. in. heaven.

Obviously this one is mine.  It was a whole bunch of chocolatey, hazelnutty goodness.



 Mattie and her Spaghetti Eis...noodle like ice cream with strawberry sauce.  Yum!



The boys and their goodies!

Aside from enjoying the sights, tastes and sounds of Regensburg...we just had a fantastic time catching up with our good friends. 





 Sisters for the weekend!



Thanks to Eric, Mattie and little Madisen Jewel for being such gracious hosts.  We can't wait to go on another trip with you guys!  Where to next?

Another weekend again!  What are you going to be doing?

Brauhaus!

Malu and I were supposed to be at the Stuttgart Army Ball tonight.  Well, it didn't quite pan out.  So instead of spending the day prepping for it, we didn't do much but just hang out.  Malu stayed at home with Sina while I kept a hair appointment that I had in the morning and had a few more inches chopped off.  Now I'm back to an even shorter hair cut I sported almost two years ago and it feels great, especially with how hot and humid it's been (and it's only going to get worse).  Tonight our friend, Lorie, took us to the Schonbuch Brauhaus--a brewery where Schonbuch beer is manufactured.

   

There's a restaurant called the Brauhaus, where we had dinner.

We loved this place.  The set-up was reminiscent of being back home in Old Chicago's.  I loved how contemporary the place was.  You can't see it, but outside there is a huge biergarten.  Apparently, this is the place to be during the holidays and in the summer time...they have the place decked out and usually have a live band.  I know I felt comfortable in there...there were tons of Americans in there, the staff spoke English, and the menu was in English--always a plus.  And the FOOD...was to die for.  At least I thought so.  They served traditional Swabisch cuisine and we ate a buffet-style meal.  Literally, it was a group meal...enough to feed four.  Or, really, a battalion.  It was so much food.  We couldn't finish it all.  We had:

Sauerkraut

Some kind of Brat

Pork Loin with garlic butter sauce

Fried potatoes

Some kind of Steak

Cheese Spatzle (German noodles) 

Multaschen (German ravioli)

Potato pancakes with Applesauce

As I said...too much food.  And Sina loved it too.  She totally digs sauerkraut.

Malu is determined to acquire the taste for beer.  What better place to start than in Germany?  He enjoyed a pils.  Me?  No thank you.  I was just holding up the schnapps shot that Malu was going to have after his beer.  It made for a great photo opportunity though.  How do you like my new hair cut?  Here are two more pics, compliments of Lorie :)

Me n' My Girl

A lovely family photo!

Anyway, I'm glad it was such a relaxing day.  And Lorie is just awesome company!

Hope you all are enjoying your weekend!

I'm trying to get caught up with everyone's blogs and I'll be doing Sina's 10-month update soon!

Normandy {Part II}: The 3 C's

In the weeks before we left for Normandy, people at work gave me feedback on what to do there, since so many have been there before.  One person told me to remember the 3 C's of Normandy...

{1} Camembert

As in camembert cheese, which is very similar to brie cheese both in taste and texture.  Soft, creamy, and delicious, camembert cheese was first made in Normandy in the late 18th century.  This is no surprise as most of the area we traveled through was rolling countryside ripe with dairy cattle.  I'd had brie cheese on many occasions before Normandy, but don't quite think I ever had camembert.  If I did, I didn't know the difference.  Either way, I was dead set on finding and eating some.  Conveniently, Keith & Penny served it to me for the first time at our first breakfast feast!

The cheese plate is smack-dab in the middle of the table.  But what the hey...let me tell you what else they served to us every morning.  In addition to cheese, they served croissants and baguettes, cereal, fresh fruit, deli meats, crepes with strawberries and nutella (my fave!), and even smoked salmon!  Not only that, Penny made the best coffee and English tea and all the jams/jellies were homemade.  We were in heaven!  Here's a group shot of all of us (well, minus one!) at our first breakfast.

From L to R: Reegan, her dad Mat (the Donofrios--minus Brooke, his wife), Me, Sina & Malu, and Eric, Maddie and Madisen (the Finches)

The second time I had camembert cheese was at a restaurant overlooking Omaha Beach, which many of you know was one of the landing sites for the Allied invasion of German-occupied France during World War II (D-Day).  I'll be talking more about that either tomorrow or the over the weekend.  In any case, the restaurant served a variety of pizzas. 

I ordered the La Normandie--it had andouille (French sausage), potatoes, and camembert with a cream sauce.

It was delicious.  Then again, anything tastes delicious to me.  Malu had that salad, also with andouille and camembert, and pears as well.

{2} Cider and {3} Calvados

These are lumped together because that's how we knocked them out--in one shot.  Okay, along with cows, the vast Normandy countryside consists of apple orchards, making it the country's major cider-producing region.  On our way to Omaha Beach from visiting Pointe du Hoc (which I'll also discuss later), we passed by a sign next to an old chateau that said "cidre and calvados", so we pulled in. 

 

Little did we know that this random place we nearly whizzed by was an absolute jewel.  The place is called Le Chateau d'Englesqueville and dates back to the late 16th century.  The place belonged to the family of its current owner, Bernard Lebrec, who produces his own cider (or cidre) and calvados, which is apple brandy.  We were able to sample both!
 
Cider for the kiddos...even Sina enjoyed it!
 

Cider (alcoholic, of course) and calvados (whoa, it was strong!) for the grown-ups!

And more than enough of both for us to buy and take home with us!

I even bought some vanilla apple jelly!  Yum-o!

Bernard was so kind to take us on a tour of the grounds.  The house, which he's still in the process of refurbishing, he says, was headquarters to the 147th Engineer Battalion following D-Day.  The battalion suffered many casualties on Omaha Beach that day.  Those that made it ashore helped clear beach obstacles and helped to get men and supplies off the beach.  Bernard told us that the monument that stands on the property was the first World War II memorial erected in Europe.  Apparently, this isn't common knowledge and we were happy to discover this.

Posing in front of the 147th Eng Bn Memorial with Bernard Lebrec

The memorial has the infamous Army Engineer insignia--the Castle 

Here are some other beautiful things we saw...

A beautiful gate...at least I thought it was

 I believe the soldiers used this to stand guard

Part of the chateau that is being refurbished.  It kind of gave me the feeling of being on the set of Marie Antoinette (Sofia Coppola's movie).

Who knew that some random stop along the French countryside would land us in such a fascinating and beautiful place? 

Coming up tomorrow.....beaches!

Thanks for following along you guys!