Garmisch

The best way to spend a few days around Christmas time? At a place called Edelweiss in Garmisch, Germany. It's clear down in the southern part of Germany by the Austrian boarder. We went there on an all expense paid marriage retreat and are very grateful for the opportunity we were given.

The lodge was gorgeous and the view was absolutely breathtaking. I love mountains! I think one day we'll have to live somewhere, where I can see mountains from my front porch.

The inside of the resort was just as beautiful as the outside and it was decorated for Christmas. We enjoyed spending three days relaxing. Hopefully before we leave we'll be able to go back when the weather is better. We wanted to ride the ski lift to the top of the mountain but it was so foggy that we didn't think we'd be able to see much of the bottom. 

Nuremberg Christmas Market

Christmas markets are easily one of my favorite things about Germany. This year we went to the one in Nuremberg. Most Christmas markets are held in the city center (also known as a town square). It's one of the larger ones in our area and each year it's packed full of people, from opening day after Thanksgiving to closing day Christmas Eve. At Christmas markets you can buy all kinds of food, cider, gluehwein, ornaments, jewelry, and many other Christmas goodies and trinkets.

We spent all day at the Christmas market trying all the new things. Ben bought me a giant gingerbread cookie that said "I love you" and a necklace. I bought him a hat because it was freezing! Neither one of us found gluehwein to be that good but others swear it's delicious. Personally my favorite is the cider and I love the glass mugs that the venders put the hot drinks in. 

I hope that by the time we leave here we're able to go to many more Christmas markets. They are definitely a wonderful experience and are guaranteed to put you in the Christmas spirit.

We got our license!

The street signs can seem a little intimidating at first. When I first started studying for the test I was so worried that I wasn't going to remember any of the signs. But really they aren't too different from the U.S.

The speed limit sign is hands down the easiest to deal with. It's just a round sign, with a red circle, and a number. The only thing you really need to remember is that it's not mph. 

While I was traveling to my new home, I spent most of the five hour bus ride looking out the window. One thing that really caught my attention was that we continuously passed these large blue signs on the right side of the road that said Ausfahrt.

 

 

  I thought this must big a really big city for us to have been passing it for hours now! But guess what it's not a city. This sign means EXIT. 

Even the Autobahn has a special sign. Once you've been on the Autobahn you'll see that the sign depicts the Autobahn really well. 

My favorite sign here (I think because I just like saying it) is this one:

It means one way street!

Nuremberg Zoo

The weather in September is absolutely perfect here. It's not unbearably hot and it's not cold enough to need a jacket. Plus it's end of summer/beginning of fall so it's not constantly raining like it does in the springtime. The Nuremberg Zoo was the perfect place to spend such a beautiful day. It's about 45 minutes to an hour away from where we live so the drive wasn't too terrible. 

I fell in love with the zoo before we even went through the gate. There were was plenty of shade, it didn't cost too much, and well I love animals so I was excited! The whole zoo was basically on the side of a hill so it was all uphill. We went with other military friends and they were so excited to see buffalo. Ben and I found that funny because buffalo are pretty common in Kansas. There were so many animals so see and they seemed to have a lot more space than the zoos we'd been to in the U.S.

One of my favorite parts of the zoo was the dolphin show that we got to watch. The downside of the show was that it was completely in German so we didn't understand a word that was being said. It was still fun to watch all the dolphins jump in the air and do other tricks.

Swimming Pools

Swimming pools in Germany aren't very different from the ones in the US. They have water and people swimming in them. Let me first tell you that when I first told all my friends and family that I was moving over here many of them made comments about how all Germans swim naked. That's not true. Yes there are certain places where bathing suits are optional but you aren't going to see naked people at every pool you go to (I did however see a lot of men in speedos).
The pool we went to is located in the same town we're living in. It was really nice. It had a small separate pool for little kids and a bigger pool for everyone else (the water was freezing even though it was in the 90's). The bigger pool had a diving board and there was a concession stand where you could purchase food and drinks. On there other side of the pool there was a grassy area. It had a few smaller trampolines that were in the ground and a couple of sand volleyball courts.

Our New Home

When we first arrived here a lot of people told us that since it's the middle of PCS season that there was a good chance that we'd be stuck in a motel for weeks. Luckily for us we received an offer for stairwell housing just a few days after I arrived. We were given the keys so that we could take a look and we accepted the offer that same day. Many people told us that stairwell housing was awful but we didn't see a problem. The place came with a roof, bathroom, kitchen, and even a laundry room! The only possible downside that we can possibly think of is that we're on the third floor, that's a lot of stairs, and carrying up groceries is going to be a pain. But we're only here for three years so it's not a big deal. We had to wait a few more days before they'd let us move in because they had to do a walk through inspection with us and then we had to wait for some loaner furniture to be delivered since our stuff hasn't arrived yet. So in the end we were only in the motel for a grand total of 8 days.

Here's a little tour of our currently empty house.

First stop in our house is the laundry room. It's right inside the front door and to the right.

On the left is our rather large living room. 

On the right side after the laundry room we have our kitchen and dining room, which I'm very excited about. There is plenty of cabinet space, a lazy susan, and a pantry! 

Next we have a small hallway. There are two doors on the left and two on the right. On the right we have our main bathroom and a spare bedroom.

On the left we have yet another spare bedroom (that we have designated as Ditto's room) and our bedroom.

Our bedroom is the master bedroom and has a smaller bathroom in it. 

So if you're keeping track... We have been gifted with a three bedroom/two bathroom home. It's complete with a laundry room, has a balcony, and a room in the basement of the building for storage. 

Welcome to Germany!

After a nine hour flight from the United States I finally arrived here in Germany. I was exhausted and I didn't have a clue as to where I was or even where my husband was (he flew two weeks before me). The military put us in a room for the night before our five hour bus ride that we would be taking the next day. 

My motel wasn't at all what I expected. The room was in a different building than the main lobby. I was bused a few blocks away to a tiny building full of rooms. When I finally got my bags all the way up the stairs (because of course there weren't any elevators), I opened the door up and there was literally two steps between the door and the bed. Crammed into my tiny room was a queen size bed, a computer desk, small dining room table, and a TV stand/dresser combo. I could of course reach all of these items from the bed without getting up. The bathroom was a whole other world to me. It took at least half an hour to figure out how to get the shower on and I didn't understand at all why there was two different buttons to flush the toilet.

After freshening up I figured I would try and send a Facebook message to Ben so that he would know where I was (we thought we would be reunited the same day I landed). My phone of course was dead because I made as many phone calls as possible to all my family before I got on the plane. Finding an outlet in my room wasn't very easy. I had to scoot the desk away from the wall and even then I couldn't plug my phone in (I thought since I was staying in a military motel that I would have an American outlet...WRONG).

I accepted the fact that I wasn't going to be making any calls and decided to read a book that I brought with me (it was only 2:00 in the afternoon). I ended up falling asleep though and woke up at 9:00. At first I didn't know if it was 9:00pm or 9:00am the next day, all the clock said was 9:00. I started freaking out and throwing all my stuff back into my suitcase because I thought that I had overslept (our bus was to leave at 9:00am the next day). I called the front desk in the main building in hopes that the lady would stop the bus from leaving me only to find out that it wasn't 9:00am (stupid time difference). The woman was very nice though and scheduled a wake up call for the next morning.

The bus ride from the motel to our new home was long and dull. Most of the scenery was just trees and we didn't go through many cities. I dozed off during most of the ride and was very excited to arrive at my destination. My husband was there to meet me (at I guess you could call it the Welcome Center) and he took me to the motel where I was reunited with our furbaby Ditto. 

We lived in a motel for eight days until a home became available for us and we took the first option given to us (our motel was thirty minutes from Ben's job). I think our home will be a great fit for us for the next three years. It's in stairwell and has three bedrooms and two bathrooms, plenty of room for Ditto to play. I can't wait for our things to arrive so we can make this place our home.