Re-capping...

 

 

 

Today I'm feeling a bit homesick. When I get emails from some of my favorite stores like Target or Rue 21, it really makes me miss home and the comfort-ability. We have been here in Germany for about 3 1/2 months. So we are still in the beginning stages of culture shock I think. We have finally hit that wall where we are past excitement, and now on to trying to function normally. We both don't like being able to understand signs and basically everything. Shopping in our village has been somewhat a negative experience thus far, the German people seem to be annoyed with our lack of understanding and are not nice about it. To be expected i suppose. When we go to the bigger cities, or the towns around the Base, people can understand and speak English well, and they are a lot nicer. We just need to venture out more. But this is a cause of the homesickness. Having the knowledge and confidence to just go somewhere and shop is what I am missing. Seems silly. 

 

Anyway, I would like to combat my feelings today and talk about all the really cool stuff we have done and seen in the short time we have been here. We have been lucky enough to take two different trips and see some amazing things...

 

 COCHEM

 

 For Thanksgiving we took a trip to Cochem, Germany. We went with a tour group with the USO on a bus, 2 1/2 hours from where we live. During the day we set off on our own to explore the town. Aedan and I walked up and down the narrow streets taking photo after photo of the amazing and historical architecture we are not used to seeing. We were simply in aw. We went to a little shop where we did some wine tasting and ended up purchasing one of their award-winning Rieslings. It was so good even Aedan liked it (she is no fan of wine). There were a bunch of shops and restaurants right there along the Moselle River. So we stopped off at a little place that had seating outside where we shared a glass of Riesling and gazed out at the river and did some people-watching. After that we were getting hungry so we stopped at this café called Flair, where we got some delicious slices of pie and some wine. It was so beautiful that we sat inside. This was also across from the river.

After our exploring of the town we had to make our way up, 330 feet above the Moselle River. A very steep walk up to the 11th Century castle. For someone out of shape like me, it was quite difficult. Also should've had my inhaler lol. It was about a 30 minute hike up to the castle. But once we got up there, the view was breathtaking (even though I had no breath left lol) and the castle was unbelievable. As soon as we got up to the gates we noticed the initials LR, which is Aedan's initials of her 'government name' so we thought that was awesome. The souvenir shop was the first stop where we bought a small sword which we  were pretty excited about and of course a shot glass to add to our collection. Then the hour long tour of the castle started. It was so amazing, the history and artifacts, the pictures don't do it justice. After the tour we were sat at the dining hall where we had a very Medieval experience. We sat at long tables that were crowded but we made friends with our little group (wine always helps with that), drank tons of wine (white wine), ate lard on bread (so gross but we wanted to try everything), drank soup from bowls with our hands (soup was so good), ate carrots as appetizer (weird), snorted a tobacco and spice mix (I have no idea I didn't hear when he was explaining it but we still took part and tried it) and had delicious bread and a giant turkey leg for dinner (so so good). All while there were minstrels singing and playing their guitars in the background, the tour guide dressed up as the Lord of the castle and narrated the whole experience. People were chosen to be King and Queen, dressed up, and sat at their own table at the head of the room, shamings for people "committing crimes", I was one of them lol. I had to walk around the room with a metal mask on my face while everyone booed, I was forgiven for my crime at the end. I still have no idea what the crime was but I got a free shot of schnapps for participating so I was happy. The dinner was long, I want to say like 4 hours. But very entertaining! It was quite the experience, and our first CASTLE we got to visit in Germany. Also our first Thanksgiving here in Europe.

The view of Cochem Castle from the 'photo-op' spot before entering the town.

The buildings in the town

The narrow streets.

The Moselle River

The shops and restaurants along the river.

That award-winning Riesling.

Wine and

People-watching

Café Flair

Wine and pie, dessert before Thanksgiving dinner.

Inside Café Flair

Almost (not really) to the top of the hill.

Getting there..

Aedan's initials LR

The view from the top

 

The Lord with the Minstrels in the back.

mmm The soup's real good

Our dinner plates!

Dinner is served

 

Everyone got a bib.

Holy turkey leg!

My shaming

Schnapps! It was a Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

COLOGNE

 

The second trip we took was for our one year anniversary where we went to Cologne, Germany (Koln). Aedan booked the trip as a surprise for me! We (Aedan) drove, about a 3 hour drive. We left in the morning. The drive there was pretty easy, straight shot. But we got to this one part where we were just driving in the clouds for the longest while. Couldn't see anything! Once we got there we checked into our hotel room. Which I have to note (and laugh) everytime we have stayed in a hotel we were on the third floor, with NO elevator. Disney in Orlando, third floor and the elevator didn't work and we were there for a week, with a giant cooler, when we got to Germany our hotel room was on the third floor and we stayed there for about 3-4 weeks, and now the one in Cologne. And its never three flights bc the bottom floor always starts at zero, so four flights of stairs every vacation lol. 

Anyway, we got there around 1 so first thing we did was check out the Cathedral. We parked the car and walked everywhere, nothing was more than a 20 minute walk. The Cathedral was outstanding, one of the most amazing things to see. Took a billion pictures. Aedan was especially excited because she studied the Cathedral in her architecture classes back in Oklahoma. It was a very special experience. That night we had dinner at a beautiful Italian restaurant called Sansone. We ordered one of our favorite appetizers, Bruschetta and it was so so delicious. And of course I ordered mushroom pizza, which here, is the size of small or medium back home. Aedan got lasagna which she didn't like so I shared my pizza, and we still had leftovers! Dessert was so freaking amazing, she got a chocolate mousse and I got chocolate and vanilla gelato sitting on top of some Bailey's! Yum!! We were so tired that we were in asleep by 9 pm.

The next day we were up super early, so we started our day right away, around 8:30 am. We weren't interested in the breakfast the hotel offered which was basically lunch meat, rolls and cheese. So we walked (and it was freezing that day, the coldest day of the trip) to find a breakfast spot. We came across this little place called Kamps, where we luckily got there right in time before the rush where we got a seat at a window with a gorgeous view of the sun coming up on the Cathedral! We ordered croissants that were so good we ordered seconds, and coffee and just enjoyed how lucky we were for the experience.

There were multiple Christmas Markets in this city, the first one we tried the first day was a nightmare, basically inching your way through packed people. But since we were up early we were beating the massive weekend crowd. We were making our way to the Chocolate museum and took an alternate route which brought us to this glorious Christmas Market. Everything was just opening and we were able to shop it. We walked passed a Christmas carousel, a ferris wheel, two ice skating rinks and dozens and dozens of the little huts (I don't know what to call them). It was so awesome.

The chocolate museum was pretty cool, the best part was eating in the café afterwards. Chocolate everything! We got white wine spritzers to toast our anniversary and Aedan got a slice of a really rich chocolate cake and I got chocolate framboise crepes. And chocolate beer. Then we shopped the Christmas market that was near the museum and bought our decoration for our first Christmas in Germany.

Later on that evening after freshening up we headed to the Gay neighborhood of Cologne. We went to Christmas Avenue the gay Christmas market which was lit up in every color and everything was SO sparkly. I definitely expected (and was excited) to see other gays, but they were mostly working the tents, and there were lots of families with little kids. I guess I'm so used to Tampa and it being one way that that's what I expected. We drank some dranks, alcohol beverages that were hot, which was good because it was cold and just people-watched for awhile.

We were getting hungry so we found a restaurant that had steak and walked there. An old but very nice place called Colina Steakhaus. Definitely had a mob/mafia feel to it. The food was SO good, the steaks were melt in your mouth. It was a wonderful dinner. Since it was our anniversary night we wanted to check out the bar scene. We went to this place called Sqweeze Cocktail bar. It was a little place that was lit up with blue lights, it was pretty neat! Aedan got a Jack and Coke (of course) and I got a gin martini. We had some shots I think they were called Jakie-os, Jack and Amaretto and cheersed to our one year being married! After another round of shots we headed back to the hotel, but ended up stopping at this Irish pub right near the hotel. The atmosphere in there was nice, made me think of bar that would be back home so I felt less uncomfortable than I normally would, we took some car bomb shots, and learned there was Karaoke in the back. So of course I had to check it out, and after another wine and shot I was up there singing 'Cradle of Love' by Billy Idol (how appropriate right lol). I wanted to sing to Aedan on our anniversary so that's what I did. Oh god.

The next morning we had to check out, originally we had wanted to spend our last day checking out the bridge and some other sights, but due to my poor decision making the night before, we headed for home. Which is ok because we will go back and see the sights we missed when family comes to visit because the Cathedral is a must see. On the way back home though I was definitely under the weather per Se and my poor wife had to drive the whole way back. The GPS brought us a whole different way, I guess the scenic route which took us up and down sides of mountains which according to Aedan was beautiful especially because everything was frosted over. Definitely an amazing anniversary trip and definitely will go back!

The beginning of our Anniversary Trip

Roadtrip to Cologne!

Driving through the clouds

 

Aedan's moment

The Cathedral

The sun shining on it

 

 

Cathedral selfie!

The stained glass windows were glorious

 I thought of Gramma the entire time

Our first dinner in Cologne.

 

That bruschetta

Dessert YUM

Sweet wine Yuck

Sansone Ristorante

The gold car with wings on our walk from the hotel

Walking to breakfast early morning

Our anniversary breakfast with a view!

Walking through the Christmas Market, some have not opened yet.

One that was open

Wooden carvings

An ice rink in the middle of the Christmas Market

First purchase! Awesome candlesticks

The Rhine River, on the way to the Chocolate Museum

 

 

Inside the Chocolate Museum

Purple cow in the Chocolate Museum (for Aunt Jill lol)

Outside a Christmas Market

"Freshening up"

Christmas Avenue-the Gay Christmast Market!

The hot adult beverages

Looks like daytime but it wasn't!

Walking to dinner

Where we had our Anniversary dinner, Colina Steakhaus

That steak was too good!!

Sqweeze Cocktail Bar

The Irish Pub where I sang karaoke

The reason I sang karaoke.

 

 

I feel better now remembering those awesome times we had so far. And how much more is to come. I love that we have this amazing opportunity and we will continue to take full advantage of it!