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! =)
