Castles, Paris, and Mediterranean Cruise

Wow, I just realized how incredibly bad I am at keeping up this blog! With D being away, I jumped on the opportunity to travel with some of the wonderful ladies I have met out here.

Castles

Germany is covered in castles! In May, I went with a few of the girls to visit two of the castles near us. It is amazing to see how well preserved the castles are and to hear the history behind them.

Burg Eltz, is located in Münstermaifeld, Germany and is about an 1.5 hour from where we live. Unfortunately, there were doing some construction on the castle, so my pictures weren't as pretty as I would have hoped. Part of the structure of the castle that has been preserved dates back to 1157.

Burg Eltz is located in a valley. This picture was taken on our walk down to the castle.

We also went to Reichsburg, in Cochem, Germany which is only 40 minutes away. It located on the Mosel river and is stunning. Reichsburg is assumed to built around 1000.

View of Reichsburg from the Mosel River.

The four of us (Alisha, Michelle, me, and Kelly) in front of Reichsburg.

Kelly and I at the castle looking over the Mosel.

Paris, France

In May, I went to Paris, France with one of my best girls out here, Kelly, and her friend from the states, Alisha. We were only there for 2.5 days, so you can imagine how quickly we moved to see all of the wonderful sights there are to see! Visiting Paris has always been a dream of mine, and I almost had to pinch myself when I was there to make sure I wasn't dreaming! If you're going to visit Europe, you MUST go to Paris!

Seeing the Eiffel Tower was a dream come true!

Notre Dame

Arc de Triomphe

Eiffel Tower at night! Watching it sparkle is so cool; unfortunately, my camera couldn't get a good picture of it, so this is one without sparkle.

The flag is made out of Converse Shoes, and I thought is was pretty cool so I took a picture of it!

Cruise

In July, I went on a 7-day Mediterranean Cruise with 7 other wives from our squadron. The cruise went as followed: Venice, Italy --Dubrovnik, Croatia-- Athens, Greece -- Katakolon, Greece --Venice, Italy.

We flew into Venice a day early so we could explore this BEAUTIFUL city! There I had the best pizza ever, my first Bellini, and my first gondola ride!

Gondola ride with my roommate for the cruise, Becky.

The next day we arrived at the port, checked in and were well on our way to a fabulous girls trip!

The 8 of us (me, Elia, Becky, Susan, Andrea, Michelle, Kelly, and Tara) at lunch on our first day on the ship.

Our first stop was in Dubrovnik, Croatia. I was in awe at how amazing Croatia was. The history and the beautiful scenery is what made this my favorite stop on the cruise. We explored this amazing place and also took a glass-bottom boat tour.

Me in the port in Dubrovnik.

Our next stop on the cruise was Athens, Greece. To say it was hot would be a complete understatement. It was also a bummer that there were a total of 6 cruise ships in port that day, so you can imagine how many people were there to see the same things we wanted to see. We opted to take a double-decker bus tour around the city. Visiting the Acropolis was difficult with the mass amounts of people, but we got there and loved what we saw. It is amazing to me how beautiful the structures are and how they were able to build such massive and detailed structures back then. Also, the view from up there was wonderful, you could see all of Athens! Oh, and I must mention, that if you ever go to Athens, you have to go to Fresko's yogurt bar, it is the most AMAZING yogurt you will ever have!

Some of the girls (Andrea, Kelly, Becky, Michelle, me, and Elia) at the Acropolis.

Our final stop before we went back to Venice was Katakolon, Greece. The main attraction here is to take an 1.5 hour cab ride to Olympia to see where the first Olympic games were held. With 8 of us, that seemed difficult, and there was a cute little beach not to far from the ship, so we opted for fun day in the sun! The beach was a pebble beach (not like the sand I am used to), however, the water was crystal clear which wonderful. We explored the small city of Katakolon and ate at one of the restaurants and did a little souvenir shopping.

Unfortunately, I didn't get many pictures of Katakolon, but this is the beach we spent the day at.

Overall we had a wonderful cruise! The group of ladies I went with were amazing-- all fun and no drama!

In addition to my wonderful European trips, I went back to the states and visited family and friends for 6 weeks! I had a great time catching up with everyone and enjoying the luxuries of being in America, but I am happy to be back home in Germany. The 6 month deployment wasn't ideal, but by keeping busy I successfully made it through! D is home now and we are so happy to be together again! Our next post will be of his homecoming! =)

The Past 10 Weeks..

To say that the past 10 weeks has been crazy would be an understatement... We went to Luxembourg, Belgium, Bernkastel (twice), and have had to say good-bye to each other twice for deployments.

Luxembourg

We went to Luxembourg for the day with a few friends and toured the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial, and walked around to check out the city. The cemetery was established on December 29, 1944, and was so amazing to see. General George Patton is buried there.

This is a picture from their website:

Here are a few photos we took:

Beautiful Luxembourg:

Belgium

We went to Tongeren, Belgium for the day for their Antique Flee Market. Every Sunday during the warmer months out of the year, hundreds of vendors set up in downtown Tongeren and even more people get up early to shop for a good deal (the flee market is open from 6am-2pm). You can find close to anything antique there and bargain for a good price. We have purchased some neat things to help decorate our home. We also had the most amazing Belgium waffles while we were there. A man has his table and sets it up on the side of the street and makes the fresh and they are fantastic, no extra toppings needed. Unfortunately, we have no pictures of this trip, but will post pictures of the things we purchased when we upload pictures of the house once it is all put together (this may be awhile, sorry).

Bernkastel, Germany

Bernkastel is an amazing village off the Mosel river that is about 10 minutes from our house. We have been there twice now and are looking forward to going there many more times. The first time we went to Bernkastel, we went to look around and grab a bite to eat at a place that was listed in the Panther Paws (a travel guide put together by spouses of the A-10 squadron here on base for traveling Germany and Europe). Unfortunately, the place we were looking for was closed, so we parked the car and decided to walk around to check out Bernkastel. It is such a cute place and the food is amazing. We ended up picking the place to eat based on which place Dave thought look the coolest from outside. The menu was in all German, and our waiter did not speak English, which made for an interesting meal, but still delicious.

This is the two of us at lunch that day

The second time we went to Bernkastel was with another couple from the squadron. We went wine tasting at a place called Vino Thek. This was by far the coolest place we had been to to go wine tasting. You pay 15 Euro and they give you glass along with a list of all their wines an information on each of them and you go down into this cellar and taste wine. They have over 130 wines you can taste, and you pour your own wine into your glass. If you decided you like that wine you simply pick up (it's right there next the wine you just tasted) and pay for it on your way out.

Downstairs in the cellar at the Vino Thek

Us wine tasting

On a bridge that crosses over the Mosel River

The Mosel River

Castle in Bernkastel

Bernkastel

Military Life

The military life is always so unpredictable. One minute you can be home, and the next your off at war. One thing is for sure, when duty calls you answer. Our squadron left abruptly with no idea of when they would return, which was not the easiest thing to swallow especially for our first deployement. In the end, our Warhawks returned home safely and were welcomed home with open arms and lots of love!

Here are some pictures of David's return

So happy to be together again!

Our time at home was short lived, as our squadron got ready to leave again for another deployment. Before we moved to Germany, we knew they would be deploying for 6 months starting in the spring, so this one we were more prepared for. Although being separated from your spouse for 6 months is not ideal, it's part of being in the military. We are both doing well, and of course miss each other.

The Lady Warhawks are making a scrapbook deployment calendar for every day that our boys are gone. One of the themes for a page is "patriotic kids" and here are ours!

Hallo Deutschland

Hallo from Germany!

We arrived here on February 28th, 2011. We had a long and bumpy flight on the way here, which did not go over well with the pups. Poor Moose, who never goes to the bathroom in kennel wet himself because he was so scared... needless to say they will never go on a plane unless they have to. Although they had a rough time, they are so happy to be here in our new home. They have so much room to run around the house and a large backyard as well.
They had a little jet lag, but are otherwise doing great!
This is Dave and me in front our new house the day we arrived in Germany! As soon as we get the house completely set up, we will post pictures for y'all to see.

So how is Germany? Germany is amazing! We have yet to explore a lot around us because we have been so busy ever since we got here, but are looking forward to the adventure.

Driving around here is nothing like it is in the USA. It is true that you can drive really fast on the Autobahn, and here the Autobahn is no big deal, it their freeway. There are a few places where there a speed limits, but for the most part, no matter how fast you are driving, a German will pass you. One day we were doing about 90 and someone FLEW past us!!! Also, I have noticed that there are very few stop signs and traffic lights. Almost everything is a yield and there are roundabouts everywhere.

Something else we found interesting is how different the kitchens are here! Our kitchen is very small compared to out last house, but is definitely not small compared to many German kitchens. We also have the SMALLEST kitchen sink you have ever seen!!! Our bathroom sink upstairs is about twice the size of our kitchen sink. Also, Germany does not have garbage disposals, so everything goes into the trash can before dishes go to the sink... This definitely took some getting used to.

Germany is also crazy about recycling! We have a very small trash can and the trash only gets picked up twice a month. If the lid to your trash can does not close completely, they trash people will not take your trash. However, you can place as many bags of recycle out on your curb, and they will gladly pick them up. The downside is that they only pick up your recycle bags once a month... we have probably 10 bags of recycle in our garage right now ready to go out next week. I never realized how much could be recycled. I love that Germany is so green and environmentally friendly! =)

Two weekends ago, we hopped on the train and went over to Trier with some friends. There we met up with other people from the squadron to celebrate Fasching! Fasching is the way the Germans celebrate Carnival. Everyone dressed up in costumes and consumes lots of liquor. Well unfortunately, we did not get the memo that Fasching is not celebrated on Saturdays... oops! We were the only people walking in downtown Trier in costumes. Needless to say, we definitely stood out like Americans, and received many stares and funny looks. Despite that minor detail, we had a great time and are looking forward to dressing up next year for Fasching, and we will make sure we dress up on the correct day!
D and me at an Irish Pub in Trier

Our first couple of weeks have been an adventure to say the least! Everything is so new and we are learning a lot about the wonderful land of beer, Germany! Until next time... xoxo

In Route to Germany

On our way to Germany, were were stationed at Nellis AFB in Las Vegas, NV on temporary duty (TDY) for 6 weeks. While we were there, Dave received intensive training to prepare him for our squadrons upcoming deployment. Initially, we were not the most excited to go to Vegas for that long period of time; we are no strangers to this city because we lived there back in 2007. However, we had an amazing time and were able to meet and get to know many of the people in the new squadron we just joined. I was very fortunate to meet some of the wives from the squadron as well. We thought we'd share a few of the highlights from our 6 weeks there.

There was a Naming Night when all of the new guys (FNGs) had to dress up and go out on the town with the other guys from the squadron. They went to various places where the FNGs had to complete certain tasks assigned by the Warhawks who were already named. At the end of the evening all of them were given their new call sign.

These are all 5 FNGs that were named that night!

Dave was Elvis, and had to sing "I'm All Shook Up" in front of many people at the Hofbrauhaus. His new call sign is "Tripel".

We also were fortunate enough to be able to participate in our first Habitat for Humanity project together along with people from our squadron.

This was Money Night! Basically Money Night is a night where everyone gets really dressed up and spends a bunch of money. All of the guys put money into a pot and then draw names to see who is the lucky winner of all that money (it ended up being $2,000) will be. Then that lucky person picks the casino and the game he would like to play and has to bet all of the money on one hand. If he wins, he keeps his winnings and passes the original $2,000 onto lucky #2. This will keep on going until someone looses the money. During this Money Night, our good friend was lucky #1 and won $2,000 playing roulette. Unfortunately, #2 was not as lucky.

This was our last night in Vegas AND our last night in America! We were so lucky to be able to spend this evening my my sister, Michelle, and her boyfriend, Nick. We went on the Strip and gambled and had a great time, until we lost our money... but that's Vegas!

Overall, we had a blast in Vegas, but we were definitely ready to get to Germany and sleep in our own bed!

Peace out America!