#i didn’t know they had a Chinese theatre replica but on a side note I went there for the first time last year

[thealogie]

Did you know that Disney World in Florida has its own version of the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, complete with celebrity handprints in the sidewalk that are really there during celeb trips to Disney.

Did you know Alan Alda put his face in the wet cement

As if Disney’s other crimes weren’t enough, they made Alan Alda put his face in wet cement??!

[akeightley]

Final Weeks ~ Hallstatt, Clara, Family Arrival, Braunau, Vienna, Aqua Dome, Neuschwanstein, Heidelberg, Köln, Münster, Berlin, Prague, & Frankfurt!!!

atWow, tons has happened in the past few weeks!

On Friday December 16 I went to Hallstatt on my own for a dat trip. I took the train there and then a cute little ferry across the lake to the town. The town and its surroundings are gorgeous! The Chinese like the place so much that they have rebuilt an EXACT replica of it in China. I ate at a hotel restaurant, walked around, look lots of pics, had Kaffee und Kuchen, then headed back home. I had been feeling kind of crummy that morning, so didn’t want to stay too long. sure enough, I ended up with a cold the following day, which has now lasted about 2 weeks.

Saturday and Sunday I relaxed and actually began to pack a little bit. I still wasn’t feeling well, so I also spent some time in bed.

On Monday , Dec 19, I had my last Monday of work - yay! Classes the whole week went well, and everyone at the Gymnasium was really sweet and said they’d miss me. I’ll miss them too!!! Monday night the 6th form, one of Helga’s (my advisor) English classes, performed their rendition of ‘A Christmas Carol’ at the Guge, a theatre-restaurant, in town. It was not the most moving show ever, but for a bunch of teenagers performing in a foreign language (English), it was good. They had fun with it! 

Tuesday morning I got to watch the performance a second time, because most of the school went to watch.

That night Clara, a girl one year behind me from Wofford, came to visit! She and I had a German class together my last semester at school, and she spent this past fall semester studying in Berlin. She was on her way to Vienna and decided to stay a few nights in Braunau. I met her at the bus stop, and then we went and had pizza for dinner in town.

Wednesday, Dec 21, was my last day of work!!! The teachers gave me a few gifts like a mug and playing cards from Vienna and some Christmas cookies. Leaving school that day was strange. I didn’t, and still sort of don’t, feel like my job was done. It simply felt like everyone was leaving for Christmas break, and in a few weeks we would all be back at work again. It still hasn’t settled in yet that I’m not going back. 

That afternoon & evening Clara and I hung out. She had ridden the bus into town with me that morning and walked around some while I was at work, so neither of us really felt like going out in the cold when I got back. We instead watched “Gangs of New York” on Netflix while we waited for my mom, sis, and grandma to arrive. That morning they had landed in frankfurt (about a 5-6 hour drive away) but had had issues getting the rental car. Once they finally got one, they were able to head my way; however, they wouldn’t have any way of contacting me on their way because none of them had cell phones that worked in any European countries - yikes! They projected their arrival would be around 7pm, so about that time, Clara and I decided to go check outside, and, thank God, they were sitting in the car in front of the house!!!! Luckily the car they had been given had a GPS system in it, because the original one they had registered for did not. My mom had been convinced before arriving that they would be able to navigate no problem with an old fashioned map, and that’s all fine an dandy, except for the fact that times have changed and old-fashioned maps are simply much harder and more tedious to use than GPS systems. We were very happy to have the GPS system throughout the entire trip! I was so excited and relieved to see them all! Sarah had said originally that my mom and Cal could stay at her place, and my landlady said that Jani could stay in the spare room at my places; however, that morning Sarah had said it would be better if they could stay somewhere else. It was sort of odd the way she canceled last minute on us, but i think she was jsut overwhelmed with the kids, Christmas planning, getting a new puppy and of course the last week of classes before break. I’m bummed my family never got to meet her family or see the farm, but I also understood, So, I decided that they would all stay at my place. Clara of course was also staying at my place. Jani ended up sleeping in the extra room with the bed, my mom slept on the extra mattress on the floor in the room with Jani, Clara was super fantastic and said she didn’t mind sleeping on my yoga mat on the floor in my room - I gave her my giant maternity pillow to use to make it a bit more comfortable - and Cal slept in the bed with me. Mind you, my bed was only a twin mattress. Both Cal and I on the tiny mattress with my growing belly was not the most comfortable thing in the world; however, it worked! Before we went to sleep, we did go into town for dinner. We ate at a little place called Flair, which is the same place I bought düner in Braunau. We had a good time catching up, chatting and laughing a lot!

Thursday morning we all rode into town and had breakfast at my favorite little cafe there in town, and then we dropped Clara at the bus stop to catch her ride to Vienna. After that we went to the HTL because the English teachers there wanted to give me a little Christmas gift but hadn’t had time the week before. It was nice because Callie and mom came in with me, so they got to see where I worked and meet the teachers. We didn’t have much time in between classes, so the meet and great was quick, but it was fun to see them all one last time! They gave me a nice book about upper Austria and some adorable clothes for little Beanie :D 

After that the four of us drove to Salzburg for the day. We walked around and saw all the Christmas markets, especially the Christkindlmarkt, and we ate lunch at a great little traditional restaurant. Mom, Cal, and I drank the cutest little hot chocolates, and Jani of course enjoyed a coffee with her meal. We saw Mozart’s birth home, dropped Jani at a Starbucks, did some shopping, took lots of pics, and went to another small Christmas market with lots of little local products and crafts. We bought some goodies for dad, and then headed back to Braunau.

For dinner we went to Gerti’s home. She had invited my family over to eat, and she made us pasta and apfelstudel, a typical Austrian dessert. It was nice to have the chance to introduce my famiyl to her. We didn’t stay too long though becuase we were all tired and she had to work the next day. 

Friday morning was very cold and icy as we packed the car. It was such a jigsaw puzzle to get everything into the rental car, but we managed! I still think it’s a bit funny that I have 1 large suitcase, 1 personal item and 1 carry on sized suitcase, and all 3 of those pieces hold everything from the past 4-5 months; and, each of my family members brought the same amount of stuff for just 2 weeks of vacation :P We don’t know how to pack light, but we sure do use everything we pack!!! I double checked the apartment to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything, left the key in the door, and a small gift and note for Anita on my desk. Then we piled into the car with all the stuff and drove to the Gymnasium. Again, it still didn’t feel like I was driving away for good. My mind for some reason has this fuzzy idea that I’m just on holiday and will be back in Braunau and at work next week. Reality will hit soon enough I’m sure!

At the Gym Cal, mom and I went inside where they got to meet Helga, and she gave them a tour of the school. It was nice to get to chat with her one more time and say our goodbyes. I wish I had been a bit earlier so I could have caught all the English teachers during their break to say goodbye, but it didn’t work out. Seeing Helga was the most important though, so it was OK. After that we drove to Vienna, which was about 3.5 hours away.

In Vienna we stayed in an airbnb. It was a very basic one near the Volksoper, but the beds were nice and the rooms were rather spacious. That was the last day the shops were open before closing for Christmas, so we went to Mariahilfestraße, the largest shopping street in Vienna, to walk around and, of course, shop! After spending a few hours walking around there we went to the Christkindlmarkt, the largest most famous Christmas market in Vienna, if not in all of Austria, where we spent another hour just looking at all the little stalls, taking pics and trying yummy food like fresh potato chips and a langos, which is a large, circular, fried piece of bread covered in butter and garlic. My RA from when I studied abroad, Viola, and her boyfriend, Jon, met us there to go to dinner. I thought we were going to go to one of two new places Viola had recently read about, but instead we ended up at Vapiano :D Without fail I almost always end up there at least once when in Vienna! The food was really good, and we had a fun time talking and chatting for quite awhile. The guy making the pizza took a liking to mom and actually made the pizza she ordered in the shape of a heart. It was quite funny, especially because mom had ordered the pizza for Jani, so Jani ate a heart shaped pizza :) At the end of the meal we said our goodbyes, and I told them I hope they come to Texas soon!

After that we went back to our AirBnb, which is around the time we encountered our next issue - the car. Mom and I had parked the car earlier that day when we had arrived in a parking garage. The guy renting the place to us told us that any street parking on our side of the UBahn tracks cost 2 euros per hour (until 10-m cause after 10pm street parking would be free for the rest of the weekend), but any street parking on the other side of the tracks was free. So, we of course tried to park on the other side of the tracks, but when we went to park the car there was a man there writing tickets. We asked him where we could park, and he said street parking, on either side of the tracks, was 2 euros per hour and you had to find a Tabak shop to buy the parking ticket at. Well, we hadn’t wanted to mess with that, so we decided to park in a parking garage; however, the signs for the garage were confusing, and my German failed me :( The sign was split into 4 quadrants. The top right square said something in German that I interpreted as meaning the first hour costs 4 euros; however, it really said that it cost another 4 euros at the start of each additional hour. For example, if you park at 1pm and come back to your car at 2:01pm, you will owe 8 euros, even though you only stayed for the first minute of the second hour. The top left square said “11-24 gratis.” Gratis means “free” in German. Because they use the 24 hours clock there, I took this to meant that from 11am-midnight parking was free, except for the first payment of 4 euros; however, what it really meant was that your 11th - 24th hour of parking in the garage would be free, so you only had to pay for the first 10 hours -_- The bottom right square said the garage was open from 7am - midnight, and the bottom left square had a clause about penalties for damages and such. So, it was a little after 1pm when we got there, and based on what I had read, I thought we would pay 4 euros to park for the first hour and have the rest of the day free because it was after 11 in the morning. Wrong. When we got back from dinner, my mom and I went to move the car out of the garage and closer to where we were staying because street parking was now free. When we reached the garage around 10:30pm all of the entrances had gates down and there was no way to get in. The sign clearly said they were open until midnight, but we couldn’t figure out how to get inside, which I’m not sure would have mattered anyways since all of the gates were down and locked, so how would we have driven out? So, we decided we’ll just have to get the car in the morning. Of course, the next morning we go to get the car, and we are charged 40 EUROS to get it out!!! I was so mad and then jsut angry at myself for misunderstanding the hourly charge thing; however, my Austrian friend did tell me that she thought the way they wrote the “11-24 gratis” thing was confusing and she wasn’t sure why all the gates were locked when we went back. Oh well, not much we could do about it! 

That morning was December 24, which is the day Austrians consider to be Christmas. When someone says “We’re spending Christmas with my grandma,” they are referring to the 24th, which is funny to me sense in the US we refer to the 25th as Christmas. My students found that interesting too! 

Callie and I went to breakfast that morning with my friend Flo at a little cafe not to far away. We enjoyed croissants with nutella and coffee. After that we went back and meet mom (who had jsut tried to get the car out of the garage and realized it was going to be 40 euros!), who was standing on the corner outside of our building because Jani, who was supposed to be up and dressed to let us in, was still inside the building. I was the only one with a phone that worked in Austria, so we had no way of contacting Jani. My mom had specifically told her to be at the door by 11am because that’s when Callie and I said we would be back. It turns out Jani had decided to take a shower and hadn’t looked at the clock. Jani! Again, oh well :P She finally let us in about 15 minutes later. I’m jsut glad we hadn’t frozen in the meantime! After that we headed to Schönbrunn Palace. Jani stayed at a cafe inside where it was warm, and Cal, mom and I walked around the little Christmas market there before heading up the big hill behind the palace to Cafe Gloriette, which is one of my favorites! We had specifically asked at the bottom of the hill how late the cafe was opened. They told us it was open until 4pm, which is also what the website said; however, after we had walked through the freezing wind up the long hill to the door, we saw a sign that they had decided to close at 1:45pm. It was 2pm when we arrived. People were still inside eating, but the door was locked, and none of them would even acknowledge us standing there. To make matters worse, I had to use the restroom :( I was so sad because I wouldn’t be able to share my favorite cafe with my family! I was also angry that I’d taken the time to walk all the way up there and they wouldn’t even let me use the bathroom! We took pictures of the great view on the way back down, and once at the bottom, I told the people in the palace to stop telling visitors the cafe was open! They apologized, which was very nice of them. Apparently the cafe is owned by a third party, so, unless the cafe tells the people in the palace, the palace people don’t know that the times have changed. We weren’t the only people who had walked all the way up there for the cafe though, so I figured the palace people should know! 

Because we couldn’t visit that cafe, we decided to head into the first district to visit Cafe Sacher, which claims to be home of the original Sachertorte, which is the cake of Austria. It’s a dense chocolate cake with a thin line of marmalade in the middle and covered in a thin chocolate glaze. It’s nothing that special in my opinion, but it is the cake of Vienna, so one simply has to try it while there, and, if you’re going to eat it, you might as well go to the fancy cafe and get the whole experience. 

After the cafe, we walked towards St Stephan’s Cathedral, which is where we wanted to attend the 8pm Christmas eve service. Callie and I walked ahead of mom and Jani because we wanted to go the the restaurant we were planning on eating dinner at to get our name on the waiting list; however, once we arrived, the restaurant was actually closed. Another lie from google, and another Vienna favorite of mine I wouldn’t be able to share with the fam! We then tried to find another restaurant close by that Trips Advisor recommended; however, when we followed the GPS to the location, the restaurant was nowhere to be found. At that point Callie and I decided just to go back to mom and Jani, who we luckily found near the church. Jani had gone inside to sit down, and mom was waiting for us outside. At that point a ton of people who had attended the 6pm service exited the church. A man was standing there telling people they couldn’t come back in until the midnight service, I said, “What about the 8pm service? Can’t we come back in then?” To which he gave me a strange look and said there wasn’t an 8pm service. Thank you Google once again - another lie!!! Google failed me more times that day than ever before -_- I even reopened the webpage on my phone later that night to make sure I wasn’t crazy, and it did indeed say there was an 8pm service. Maybe they canceled it for some reason, but the way the guy looked at me made me think there really never was one. Given that we were all tired, hungry and a bit annoyed at that point,w e decided to find food, and the only restaurant we could find was a Greek one. I ordered Wiener Schnitzel. I really feel like the whole day was a bit of a sitcom. Here we were in Vienna, one of the most highly recommended cities for Christmas, having a slightly rough day having paid 40 euros for parking, not being able to go to the cafe, restaurant or church service we had been planning on going to and now we were eating Christmas Eve dinner at a Greek restaurant where I ordered a very non-Greek dish. It was a very interesting experience, and luckily we were all able to laugh. After dinner we had considered going to the midnight church service; however, it was only about 8:30pm and there was no where else to go and nothing to do in town while we waited plus we were all tired, so we decided to head back and go to bed.

On Sunday morning, Christmas day, we got up and around and decided to go to the Imperial Hotel for breakfast because Jani had really wanted to go see the hotel. Well, when we arrived, it was very clear that we were not really dressed the way one “should” dress for eating at the hotel. We were dressed for our long car ride we would be taking later that day, and not for a fancy Christmas morning brunch. It was also by far the most expensive meal I think I have ever eaten. Luckily, the food was very good and enjoyable, but I don’t think any food is worth the price of 40 euros per person. It was Christmas though and the trip was our Christmas present, so we decided to stay and enjoy. It was a very nice experience, and someday I hope to be able to return and enjoy a meal there again!

After that we piiled in the car with all of our stuff and headed to Längenfeld, Austria where the Aqua Dome is located (https://www.aqua-dome.at/en/). It’s a thermal bath of sorts with different pools and saunas, and it was much needed!!! We spent about 4 hours relaxing and enjoying ourselves. Mom, Cal and I even made a few funny boomerangs trying to flip our hair around in the water, and we misplaced Jani at one point. Don’t worry though, we found her before too long! It was a good time :)

After that we drove about 30 minutes to an AirBnb. On the way I looked up a few jokes on my phone, and came across a hilariously inappropriate one that I didn’t realize was inappropriate until I had already read it out loud. All four of us almost died laughing it was so funny at the time. See pic below to read joke :D

At the AirBnb we all crashed pretty quickly cause we had to get up so early the next morning to drive to Neuschwanstein Castle in Hohenschwangau, Germany. The palace was commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria as a homage to Richard Wagner, so it has a fairytale feel to it. It’s known in the US as Cinderella’s castle, but Disney actually used the architecture to inspire Sleeping Beauty’s castle, not Cinderella’s. Anyways, it’s gorgeous! It’s also kind of sad though because Ludwig only got to live there for 127 days before mysteriously dying with his psychiatrist just 2 days after being declared insane and having to give up the thrown. Another strange aspect for me to realize is that this castle was being built during the American civil war. Our two countries at the time seemed to have been living in completely different worlds. Wish we had built a castle or two in the States! The castle is up on a really high hill, and you can only take a bus part of the way up, so Jani stayed down with the car, while mom, Cal and I toured the castle. There’s also a famous bridge near the castle where people like to stand and take pics. It’s a small bridge though and got crowded quickly! 

After we left the palace, we drove a ways to Heidelberg, where we, much to Jani’s pleasure, stayed at a Holiday Inn Express for the night. Something to be said about European hotels, the rooms are very small compared to that of an American hotel. If you say you want to stay in a room with 4 people, they give you 1 double (maybe queen) sized bed and a pull out couch directly next to the bed. There is little to no room left over for bags to sit. They have ZERO rooms with two beds in them. Everything was very clean though, and breakfast the next morning was great! When we arrived at the hotel it was late, and we were rather starving, so we walked a few blocks to an Italian restaurant. The food was very good, and Callie got to keep one of the glass bottles from the water we drank for her collection. By the time we headed back to the US at the end of the trip, I think Callie had more glass bottles to take home than clothes :P

The next day we remember as our “Day of Chocolate.” We did not begin the day with the notion we would have chocolate for almost every meal. It just happened that way! Breakfast was the only normal meal. For brunch/lunch we were in the old city of Heidelberg, and the lady at the tourist center told us about a delicious local coffee house that just so happened to also make their own chocolates and desserts. Mom and I both got hot coco with lots of whipped cream :D Jani had a latte and a coke light, which is diet coke over here, and Callie had a MezzoMix, coke and orange fanta mixed together, because she wanted to keep the bottle! We also tried a myriad of different goodies like a piece of chocolate cake, a cannoli, some other cake, and a few of the home made chocolates. 

That morning, before we had driven into the old city, we stopped at a grocery store for me to buy a new SIM card for my cell phone so that I would be able to communicate with people in Germany, like the Sauerwalds and Funkes, and so that we could look things up as needed. That being said, I needed wifi to register the SIM card, so after we ate, mom, Cal & I walked down the mainstreet of the old city, which was packed with tourist and cute little shops, to go to Starbucks (of course), but only because it was the ONLY place with free wifi!!! The other stores looked really cute, but we didn’t have time to shop because we were trying to make it to Köln (Cologne), Germany, about 5 hours away, before going on to Münster, Germany, where Lennart and his family live, because we were under the impression that we were supposed to arrive that night, the 27th. That’s a funny story :D but I’ll explain more later. We found Jani walking back towards the car. seh was stopping every few feet to take pictures of all of the buildings. We had been pulling over on the side of the road all morning on our way into the old city, just so Jani could take pictures of the houses and streets. She’s going to paint them all she says, and I really hope she does!!! I think she took more pictures of random buildings and frozen landscapes than she did of us the whole trip!

So, we get in the car and drive, drive, drive all the way to Köln. We arrive there around 4pm, and we decided to go to the Lindt Chocolate Museum. Callie and mom really wanted to go up in the tower of the famous cathedral, but we thought we’d have time to do that after the museum; however, we did not :/ I know they were really bummed to miss it, and I feel badly it didn’t work out too! The museum was fun though, and we of course ate more chocolate! The museum is set up to show you the history of chocolate and how Lindt specifically makes some of their chocolates, like the famous truffles. There is even a huge chocolate fountain! They also have a fresh cafe in the museum and a gift shop. We went to eat dinner at the cafe, but the kitchen had closed, so our only options were dessert. Even though we wanted real food, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity! Callie and I shared a large bowl of chocolate ice cream with fresh melted chocolate from the fountain, chocolate cookies, and of course whipped cream. It was way too much and so so rich, but we enjoyed as much as we could :D Mom had a Chocolate Eis Kaffee and so did Jani. We were way overly stuffed on Chocolate! 

It was dark when we left the museum, so we drove by the Cathedral but couldn’t go up the tower. Guess we’ll just have to go back some day to do that! In the meantime, I texted Lennart to let him know we were about 2.5-3 hours away at this point, to which he responded saying, “Wait, you’re coming tonight?” I had told him the day before that we would be arriving the enxt day, but there was confusion in the texting that followed, which lead him to believe we were arriving on the 28, but we thought we were arriving on the 27. We were indeed supposed to arrive on the 28, and due to confusion on our part, we got the date mixed up. His parents are so incredibly sweet though, and they said it was no problem at all to come early. I felt badly though, because, had we not mixed up the date, then we could have spent a little more time in Köln and mom and Cal could have gone up in the tower. Oh well! So, we drove to Münster.

Given that we had basically only eaten chocolate all day, we were hungry for some normal food; however, the autobahn doesn’t have signs posted down the side of the road listing food options at every exit. In fact, there aren’t many real exits because gas stations are connected right to the autobahn like rest stops. Most of these gas station have a very limited food selection inside, which is of course where we ended up stopping for food. Mom, Callie and I each ordered a dish, and Jani said she’d just have a few bites of ours. Well, I’d seen another man order, and his dish came with half a plate of french fries, so I asked the man taking our order if fries were included. I have double checked the way I asked, because I of course asked in German, and my German was correct. I said, “Kommen sie mit Pommes?” (Do they come with fries). To which he replied in German, “You want fries?” and I said “Ja.” So he asked how many orders of fries we wanted. The order I had seen him give the other man was quite large, so I said we’d like 2 orders of fries, because I thought 4 of us could easily split 2 orders. Well, when the food arrived, we got our three main dishes, each complete with half a plate of fries, plus two extra orders of fries. We had way too many fries, and we couldn’t even finish the ones that had come with the meals!!! The two extra orders were never touched, and we got some funny looks from other people :D I have no clue what part of that conversation was lost in translation, but clearly something went wrong. Once again, oh well! 

We arrived to the Funkes about an hour and a half later, to which they greeted us warmly. It was so great seeing them again!!! The date mix up became a running gag while we were there. I don’t think they’ll ever let us forget that we were supposed to arrive on the 28! It’s all in good fun though, and in retrospect it is rather funny. We sat and chatted for a little bit before heading to bed. Callie and I shared the basement room, which is where I always slept when I’ve visited them. In some ways I think of it as my room even though it really isn’t. Heike and Gert insisted that mom and Jani take their room, and we all slept quite well! 

On the 28th, our official arrival day :), Heike made a great breakfast for us before we all went into the city. Heike is a tour guide and works in City Hall, so she gave us a private tour of the city, we also did a little shopping and ate Spaghetti Eis of course! That night Heike made us a traditional German meal. It was of course delicious! We also gave them the few gifts we’d brought from the US, like the bottle of Lone Elm Wheat Whiskey and some Goo-goo Clusters. Lennart was particularly excited about the Doritos though :D Those are his all time favorite!!! I just wish we could have brought more :P

On the 29th we slept in again, had another fantastic breakfast/brunch, and then Lennart went with us to the Their-Galerie in Dortmund, about an hour and a half away. It’s a big shopping center. Jani got her nails done, and the rest of us just had a nice time walking around doing a bit of shopping. After that we walked to a Christmas Market close by that was still open. Mom tried gluhwein, a hot spiced wine, and Callie bought this really cool knitted hat. We then drove back to the Funke’s place for dinner. Both Lars’ and Lennarts’ girlfriends joined us for dinner. Lennart’s girlfriend had also gone through the CYE exchange program to JPII, but she was there after we graduated, so I hadn’t met her before. We knew a lot of the same people though because lots of the underclassmen were still there when she was, so we had a nice time chatting. After dinner we played a dice game where each person rolled their own set of dice, and then we’d go around the circle and each person had to make a prediction/bet greater than the last person’s prediction/bet on how many of a given number had been rolled. It sounds confusing, but after playing for a few rounds the rules are easy to follow. They also tried the whiskey and said they liked it, even though they also admitted to not really being whiskey drinkers :P The night before, they had also given us a few presents. They gave Callie this wooden box that unfolded into a long strand of small wooden cubes, and then she was supposed to put it put it back into the big box shape again. It’s one of those 3D puzzles. She had worked on it all the night before and finally solved it early that morning, so she let me play with it when I had been knocked out of the dice game. It took awhile, but I got it back into its original box shape :D

On the 30th we relaxed a bit and later in the day decided to go back into Münster to walk around, shop a bit, and get coffee. It was just a chill day, and it was really nice. The trip up to our time in Münster had been rather rushed, so it was nice to have a few days without a packed busy schedule.

On the 31st we woke up early, said farewell, and headed to Berlin! I always hate saying goodbye, but I’m positive I’ll see them again some day :)

Once in Berlin we parked in an underground structure near Alexanderplatz and met Kessi at a nearby Starbucks. I mention the parking structure because between the 4 of us we managed to forget multiple things and had to go up and down the elevator I think 5 different times before we had everything. This was also after driving in multiple circles and half way around town in the wrong direction before finally finding the parking structure. Oh the joys of travel!

We left Starbucks rather quickly because we wanted to see as much as possible! First we walked to see part of the Berlin Wall. A few pieces of it still stand right there in the middle of Alexanderplatz. They’re well covered in graffiti now. Then we walked on to Checkpoint Charlie. Walking long distances can be tough on Jani, so on the way there we found her another Starbucks to sit at. We took lots of pictures at the Checkpoint, where there is another piece of the wall. Callie did some crazy tricks in front of it, and lots of people watched :P After that we walked back to Jani and grabbed a cab back to Alexanderplatz to get dinner at a Mexican restaurant Kessi picked out. We had a great time relaxing through dinner and talking. Love spending time with Kessi!!! 

After dinner we walked Jani over to the Marriott. They had a nice lounge area where she could sit, relax, watch TV and/or read for the evening. Mom, Callie and I wanted to go to the Brandenburg Tür (Gate) for the New Year’s Eve celebration. Berlin is basically the German equivalent of New York City on New Year’s Eve, and everyone goes to the gate like they go to Time Square. So, when in Berlin for New Year’s, one must go to the gate, at least for a little bit! Before we headed that way though, we went to a Christmas market right in front of the U Bahn entrance there at Alexanderplatz to get some hot coco! They had these awesome tall frosted mugs, which is the main reason we got the coco, but we also just wanted something hot to drink because the day had been so cold! Also, Kessi had promised her family that she wouldn’t go to the gate this year because of the terrorist attack that had taken place at a Christmas market just the week before, so we had to say goodbye after we finished our coco. She was super awesome though and asked the guy at the coco stand if we could exchange our mugs for clean ones because we had to carry them around all night :)

After that, Cal, mom and I got on the U Bahn to go to the gate. Normally the U Bahn has a stop directly by the gate; however, because of the recent attack, the Bahn wasn’t stopping there that night, so we had to get off a stop beforehand, which of course we didn’t figure out until after we’d gone by the stop so had to get back on and go the other way. Then we walked about 15 min to where we would normally be able to access the gate. Once again though, this entrance had been blocked. For safety reasons the city police had barricaded around the entire gate and everyone wanting to go had to enter from the opposite side from which we were currently on. To be clear, I’m talking about multiple km radius around the whole thing. We could see the back of it from where we were, but we weren’t allowed in. We weren’t the only ones of course. There were tons of people being redirected. After walking for about 15 min, I asked one of the policemen standing by some of the barricade gates how much further the walk was. Being pregnant and tired with sore feet from walking all day already, I wasn’t really in the mood to walk forever. I honestly just wanted to go to take a picture in front of the gate. I wasn’t interested in all the singers, dancing and drinking that would be taking place before the fireworks actually went off at midnight. Well, this guy sort of smirked and said “Not much further.” I really don’t understand why people feel the need to lie. We walked for at least another hour with a mass of people jsut trying to get to the giant line to get into the are near the Brandenburg Gate. It seriously wasn’t worth it, and my feet really hurt! We had to cross over the water, back over the water, and walk by so many buildings they became a blur. We finally made it somehow, and, while going through the pat down to get into locked-down area, mom had to hand over the two frosted mugs she had been carrying because they were glass. Both Callie and I had the other two, which were not found during the pat down. Also not found and NOT confiscated was Callie’s knife she had on her. The police officers doing the pat down were very nice and they were trying to be efficient and get everyone through; however, I think someone could have easily gotten in with a weapon more serious than a knife if they had really wanted to. The guy who took the mugs from mom said he’d set them off to the side, and she could have them back if we exited that way. After that we had to walk about another 10-15 min before we got to the promenade in front of the gate; however, there were so many people crammed together that we could hardly see the top of the gate. It’s a very very large structure too, so I think there must have been thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people there. So, we were cold, tired, and now I had to go to the bathroom, which meant I didn’t feel like sticking around until midnight, especially with the giant amount of crazy people we knew were still entering behind us. Thus, we decided to take some quick pics and head out. Basically we walked all that way for practically nothing. Oh well, it was an adventure, and at least we can see we went! Mom was luckily able to get her mugs back when we left, which was really nice of them :) 

We then quickly found a sketchy bathroom at a gas station before grabbing a cab back to Alexanderplatz. Along the way back we saw many more police barricades blocking various streets. These weren’t little gates, these were giant armored trucks. The terrorist attack that had happened the week prior occured when a muslim man hijacked a truck and drove it into a large crowd of people at a Christmas Market on Breitscheidplatz; therefore, the police were taking extra precautions to make sure people couldn’t drive automobiles into the masses of people. In some cases they wouldn’t even let people walk down some of the streets. The cab was luckily able to drop us off at the Marriott, where we found Jani nice and cozy in the lounge area where we had left her. 

Right down the street from the hotel was a Häagen-Dazs Ice Cream store. Mom, Cal and I decided to finish off the night there, and Jani wanted to continue chilling at the hotel, so we left her there and headed down the street. Once inside, we sat down and ordered at a booth. Then we realized that maybe Jani hadn’t understood that we were going to be sitting and eating, so I decided to run back to the hotel to let her know.  Well, when I went outside I noticed a large crowd had formed in the street. A police barricade had gone up in the past 15 minutes on the road directly cutting off right in front of the hotel. Someone said it was because there were too many people on that side of the city, meaning on the side close to the gate, so police weren’t letting anyone through. Well, that wasn’t going to work out. I was the only one with a working phone, so had no way of contacting Jani at all to tell her to walk down the street a block and meet us. So, I pushed my way to the front, got a policeman’s attention, and explained that my grandma was waiting for me in the hotel, and I asked if I could just go get her and come right back. He told me to call her, to which I explained why I couldn’t, so, thankfully he had a soul and told me I could go get her. The guy to my left immediately said, “Well, my brother is waiting for me in the hotel too!” To which everyone laughed, but he was not let through. I dashed over to the hotel, explained the barricade to Jani, and got her to come with me. I made sure we walked by the same policeman so 1.) I could thank him.and 2.) I was telling the truth. We then found mom and Cal at the ice cream place, got something for Jani, finished our desserts, and headed to the car. Jani was very happy to hear she had missed out on the endless amount of walking!

We drove to our Airbnb, which was about 40 min outside of the city. I thought that would be a pain; however, the drive wasn’t bad and we were all ready to be out of the crowds by then! I was shocked at how many times we had to stop along our drive because people were shooting off fireworks in the street. There apparently aren’t any laws against people shooting off fireworks in residential areas, or, if there are, no one follows of enforces them! I don’t think I’ve ever been so close to so many fireworks going off all around me. It really was something else!

When we got to our place we were able to park right in front, and the owners came outside. They showed us to the guest house in back. It was really cute! They had fresh oranges for us, put a few beers in the fridge, and even gave Callie two fireworks to set off. Jani immediately got ready for bed, Cal and I set off the fireworks, and mom enjoyed a beer while watching us from the second floor. After that we all slept nice and soundly!

The next day, Jan 1, 2017, mid morning we drove to Prague! It was a bit confusing finding the check in office for our Airbnb, then finding the actual apartment, unloading everything, and then parking the car. Callie and Jani stayed at the apartment, while mom and I went to park the car. Prague is technically eastern Europe, so it’s safer to park cars from western Europe in a parking garage rather than on the street. That meant mom and I had to drive a few blocks away before walking back in the cold about 30 min to the apartment. Had we known exactly where we were going, it would have taken closser to 15 minutes, but we got a bit turned around on the way. we also stopped to get a coffee for Jani, and we happened to find a good place for dinner. So, once back at the apartment, we chilled for a minute, but pretty quickly got the other 2 and headed back to the restaurant. This place was on the other side of our building, and it was very tradition. The food was delicious! Mom ordered a garlic soup, but accidently was given this fish soup instead, which took us a few minutes to realize was wrong :D They brought her the correct one though. Callie and I split a meat dish with these potato dumpling things. She was a bit disappointed cause she had been expecting chinese styled dumplings (not sure why cause we were in Prague :P ) but there the dumplings are more like Thanksgiving stuffing in little flat ovals. She still liked it though. Mom got a turkey dish with fresh veggies, and Jani got a salad. Everything was divine! We had a very nice time relaxing, talking and staying warm. I don’t remember what was said, but I know we laughed a lot! When we left it was snowing and there was ice on the ground. Prague is certainly the coldest city we were in no doubt about it! We all slept well that night :)

On the 2nd we walked into the historic district, stopping at a coffee shop for breakfast. We did some souvenir shopping, and then went on a bus tour of the city. I’ve never taken a sightseeing bus tour before. I always thought of them as being too touristy, which they are, but it was actually fun, warm and informative! We were all glad we went.

After that we found a Starbucks for Jani, and then mom, Cal and I went up in the Astrology Tower. It’s a large tower where you can get a 360 degree view of the city, and it has a fancy moving clock on the outside of it. The tower was super packed at the top, but we were able to take some cool photos regardless. Then we decided we should go see the Charles Bridge. My memory of the bridge was it being a large pedestrian bridge with lots of little artist and stalls here and there selling things; however, last time I was in Prague it was much warmer! So, we walk to the bridge, and I’m the one navigating, and, from looking at the map, it seems like the fast way to find the bridge would be to first walk to the riverfront and then turn left and walk along the river to the bridge. Well, that was a bad plan. On the way I did get to stop and buy some Nespresso Capsules for my coffee machine though :) but for some reason the way we went took us about 30 minutes longer than it should have to reach the bridge. At one point we even walked along a walk and jumped over this little irongate. Needless to say, we went the hard way, but we made it!!! Then we walked down the bridge, it was very busy with people, we were cold, and we of course had to go to the bathroom, so we didn’t stay long! We took a few pics and then headed back. Not too far from the bridge we had passed a little shop with fresh baked cookies on the way, so we decided to go back there to use the bathroom. We of course had to get a few of the cookies, which meant we also needed something to drink. We each got hot coco; however, this coco was rather different from any other coco I’ve ever had. It was extremely thick and dark. It looked sort of like black whipping cream. As I’m sure you can assume, it was rather rich. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I could have mixed it with a glass of milk, but it was still very good none the less! 

Then we decided to make our way back to Jani in the middle of the historic old town. I decided we shouldn’t walk back the same way we had come, both mom and Cal agreed. This time I didn’t really use the map, and instead jsut walked in the general direction I thought was correct. That might sound to you like a sure way to get lost; however, it worked out super well and we were back within 10-15 minutes. Cal and mom of course gave me trouble the rest of the night of taking us the wrong way the first time around! Oh, and on the way back Callie threw a snowball at a stranger, but pretended she hadn’t thrown it, and it was rather funny to see his very confused look as to where the snowball had come from! Sounds awful, but she didn’t hit him, and it was funny :P

We grabbed Jani and then walked through the Christmas Market right in front of the astrology tower. It’s a bit odd that all these Christmas markets were still open, but we enjoyed seeing them. We got some fresh made potato chips (YUM!), a couple of small wooden crosses, and Callie bought a fancy little dagger. I decided to get one for Logan too ‘cause I figured if he didn’t like it then I could hang it in the Harry Potter themed nursery :D By then we were well frozen and hungry for real food, so we headed to find dinner. 

On the way we stopped in Swarovski Crystal for Jani. She wanted to buy something for a friend. Then we headed to this mall to go to Pandora, because Jani had been buying a charm in every town/country we’d gone to. I’ve never been in a Pandora store that was so incredibly busy before!!! It was crazy! Jani was really sweet though and got Callie a charm too :)

After that we walked another 10ish minutes to this little mediterranean restaurant called La Bottega. It was fantastic! I don’t even remember what I actually had to eat, but they had the greatest, freshes homemade lemonade I’ve ever had, and the flavors were very unique. The first one I had was orange lemonade = fantastic! Then Callie and I shared a raspberry one, and mom had a mint one. So refreshing! 

When dinner was over we had to figure out how to get back to our apartment. Luckily we had a map, but the problem was that it was freezing outside and we were a good 45-60 min walk away from the place. None of us wanted to do more walking, so we decided to try to ride the Straßenbahn (street train, like a trolley). Once again we were all laughing uncontrollably for some reason and getting lots of funny looks from other people waiting on the train, which only served to make us laugh harder. Callie might kill me for saying this, but I’m pretty sure all the laughing had something to do with whatever she’d eaten earlier that day :D It was hilarious! Anyways, the tram finally comes and we get on. In many cities you can purchase the ticket for the ride directly on the tram; however, we saw a guy getting on before us try to do this, and the conductor told him he couldn’t, sooooo, we decided to get on anyways and pray no one asked to see our tickets. This is called Black Riding or Riding Black. We had to go 4 stops and luckily never got asked for our tickets! We would have purchased tickets, but there simply wasn’t anywhere, on the platform or in the tram, to actually do so :/ Once back, we slept well!

Next morning mom and I walked to get the car, and I asked her on the way if she had the ticket to get out of the garage. We get to the garage, and what happens? She can’t find the ticket. I wasn’t too surprised, and not because I think my mom would lose it, but simply because that is basically the story of my life and the trip itself in many ways. Remember the parking garage in Vienna? Little things here and there going terribly wrong; however, we usually end up laughing about it all later, so it’s ok. I was to the point where I couldn’t even be upset, mom on the other hand was doing quite well at being upset for the both of us. At this point, I read the ticket machine where we were supposed to pay before leaving the structure to validate our ticket. It told us the penalty for losing your ticket, and I don’t remember the exact amount in Czech Crown, but it was about $13 in usd, which seems to be awfully cheap to me. I feel like most places charge you an arm and a leg if you lose your ticket.  There was a guy sitting in an information booth, so I walked over and explained what had happened. He told mom to get the car and then he would manually let us out when she got back. In about 10 minutes she pulls around the corner, and what is she holding out the window? The ticket! She had found it! YAYAYAY! All that emotion and worry for nothing :P At least our morning wasn’t dull. The man let us pay him, rather than using the validation machine, and it actually ended up being much cheaper than we had thought it was originally going to be, which was a nice surprise. Then we headed back and packed up.

After that we drove across the river to check out the John Lenon Wall and the Prague Castle before heading to Frankfurt!

Our hotel in Frankfurt was a bit outside of the city closser to the airport, which was good because we were flying out on the 5th, but that also meant that there weren’t a lot of food options near the hotel, so we decided to stop in the city on the way for dinner. We of course decided to eat at Vapiano! Unfortunately this experience wasn’t quite as good as the first time I’d taken my family there. It all started with the parking. Only street parking was available, and we found a place near the front; however, Jani, even though we’d given her a “10 min till arrival warning” to put her shoes on, of course had not put her shoes on yet. So, mom is stopped in the middle of the street getting ready to parallel park. I hop out to help direct and Callie climbs out cause she’s ready. Jani decides to open her door to put on her shoes, then of course someone pulls up right behind us. Mom’s blinker is on, Jani’s legs are hanging out the door, and this lady is visibly frustrated in her little car behind us. She could have easily pulled around, but instead she sits there for about 5 minutes. In the meantime, another car pulls in from the opposite direction right when the lady in the car behind us decides to go around mom. Well, then of course neither of them can go because their blocking each other and mom is blocking the other side. Jani finally finishes velcroing her shoes together and goes into the restaurant with Callie. I stay to help mom maneuver into the parallel spot. Once again, this is a classic example of one of those frustrating circumstances that we have now come to laugh at. In the moment, it wasn’t funny at all. 

Once inside, we find Callie at a table, and Jani has already gone over to the line for what she wants - cheese pizza and a caesar salad. I go over to her and ask if I can help her order, to which she says she can handle it. She also tells me she is getting this appetizer things that Callie mentioned would sound good. It had beef on it with some arugula and some sort of sauce. I said, “Really? Callie wants that? I’m pretty sure that’s raw meat, or almost raw. Does she know that.” Jani assures me it’s not going to be raw meat and Cal said she wanted to try it. I said “Ok, cool” and walked back over to Callie. I then ask her if she actually wants that, to which she responds saying, “Well, I said it sounded good, but I didn’t know that meant Jani was going to order it.” I told her if she didn’t want it she should go tell Jani ASAP, but Cal says she’ll eat it. I then go to get in line to order a pasta dish I want. I see various commotion to my left, which is where Jani is trying to order, and it’s clearly not going very well. She keeps pointing at the menu and repeating “Caesar Salad” loud and clear like talking to two-year-old or deaf person. I can tell that the lady behind the counter completely understands, but is trying to ask Jani something specific, probably if she wants chicken on it or if she wants a drink. Regardless, Jani doesn’t understand. I move towards her to attempt to help, but a young man behind her steps in before I get there and begins to interpret for her. I quickly turn back to my line and pretend I hadn’t noticed :P Jani jsut laughs and thanks the man after all is said and done. I then order my pasta and head back to my seat with it. I sit down, take one bite, and immediately realize the pasta hasn’t been cooked enough. It was rather disgusting. Callie is trying to stomach the beef plate Jani got her, but of course the meat is actually rather raw, and she looks likes she is choking down slugs like Ron Weasley does in the second Harry Potter book. I laugh and tell her she doesn’t have to eat it. Mom says she can eat it. I go back to ask them to remake my pasta, and Callie resorts to getting some sort of seafood pasta thing that she saw a man eating at the table next to us. His face when she tried to ask him a question in English was rather funny :D His friends made fun of him for not understanding that Cal wanted to know what his dish was, and after a few laughs one of the other guys told her. The dish, whatever it was, actually ended up being pretty good. It had a red wine base though, so the guy behind the counter kept asking her if she was sure she really wanted it because it had red wine in it. I think he repeated his question like 3 times, much to Callie’s annoyance. 

When we finally finished the dinner fiasco, we headed to the hotel, checked in, and tried to go to bed. It was of course a very tiny room once again, so we had basically no walking space. I guess they just assume that families traveling in Europe will get more than one room, but not us. Nope. We like cramming 4 people into a two person sized room with a pullout couch bed and absolutely ZERO place to put all our stuff :D I’m sure the situation would have made a hilarious sitcom if someone had filmed it!

The next day, and our final full day in Europe, Jan 4, mom, Cal and I drove to Maize to meat the Sauerwalds. Lukas, who stayed with us my sophomore year of high school, his sister Lara and his parents drove up from St. Wendel to meet us for the day. Lukas and Lara met us where we parked, and we walked together to the little town center where we met his parents at a cafe. I hadn’t seen them since I studied abroad, so about 2.5-3 years ago, but mom and Cal hadn’t seen them since Lukas had lived with us, so it was a cool reunion. We chatted for a long while just catching up. Then we walked to a church that had really pretty glass windows before going to yet another church that was also pretty, but the glass wasn’t as cool. We did a bit of shopping after that. Callie and I were looking for this specific style of sweatshirt that is longer, almost like a dress sweatshirt, but not quite as long as a dress. Anyways, when we told Barbara, Lukas’ mom, this she immediately went on the hunt going in and out of every store asking if they had something similar. It was very sweet of her, but unfortunately we didn’t find anything. When we’d tiered of searching for the impossible-to-find sweatshirt, we decided it’d be a good time for some spaghetti eis :D It wasn’t as good at this place as the first place my fam tried it, but we still enjoyed it. We sat there for a bit talking some more, and I was able to call dad on wifi so he could talk with Lukas and his family. That was cool! 

We then grabbed dinner at little Mexican restaurant. I wasn’t very hungry, so Callie, mom and I split a burrito bowl and a quesadilla. It wasn’t the same as US Mexican food, queso does not exist there :(, but it was pretty good over all.

We then walked back to our cars. Callie went with Lara, Barbara and Christian, and Lukas went with mom and me, so he could show us how to get to his parents car. We wanted to meet up with the cars so we could give them a few presents we brought from the US. They really appreciated the Lone Elm Wheat Whiskey, and Lukas was also excited for the Doritos :D They were excited to try the goo-goo clusters, and I also left my maternity pillow with them. It was very hard to part with it!!! That thing had seriously been a lifesaver, not to mention it was a super sweet birthday present from Logan and Briana, but there was jsut no way I could get it back on the plane. Saying goodbye also wasn’t any fun. It’s tough when we don’t know when we’ll see them again. It had been basically 7 years since mom and Cal had seen Lukas. There’s unfortunately no telling when the next meeting will be :( I hope they can come visit the US soon!!! 

After that we drove back to the hotel. We did grab a large coffee for Jani on the way though. You know she can’t live without her coffee :P Once back we packed up, showered and got ready to fly out the next morning.

Jan 5th, bye bye Europe! We headed to the airport early, got the car dropped off, but only after we went to the wrong return place first. You know how good our record with the silly rental car has been! I’m just glad we managed to somehow avoid damaging it :D Although we did actually break off this little cigaret outlet cover on accident, but we were able to repair it thanks to Jani’s jewelry glue she brought with her. How many people pack jewelry glue when traveling to Europe? Only Jani, but that’s OK :D

We then headed through security. Jani had a wheelchair to get to the gate, which was nice cause we got to cut all the lines and bypass most people. 

The trip home was an adventure in itself. Callie and I got to sit next to each other on the first flight, with mom and Jani a few rows back. They weren’t next to each other, but we were all close enough. Switching planes in DEtroit is where things go complicated. Jani again had a wheelchair, but the line for customs was ridiculous. Luckily it did slow us down though ‘cause mom had accidentally forgotten the camera bag on the last plane, and thankfully the extremely nice, wonderful, caring flight attendants walked through the customs area saying “Who left a camera bag on the flight from Frankfurt? Row 35 I think?” THANK GOD!!! I can’t even begin to fathom the tears, sorrow, and frustration that would have ensued when mom would have realized she’d left behind our memories from the entire trip, not to mention losing the camera itself. So incredibly thankful for flight attendants who do more than what their job description requires!

We finally get through customs, and the guys pushing Jani’s chair is super nice. He keeps asking other workers to make sure we’re going to the correct gate because all the electronic screens for Delta are down. We’re basically running through the terminals to catch our next flight. When we finally show up at the gate B17, there is no plane there and a lady behind the desks informs us the flight has been moved to terminal A at gate 27, which is exactly where we have just run from basically. Not to mention the gate is closing in 8 minutes. There is no way we will make it. It’s roughly 1pm by now I think, so we head to the help desk, where another lady tells us we can’t get on another flight until 10 pm that night. Oh yay -_- While standing there other people trying to find the same Nashville flight as us come to the desk, they go running off trying to get back to terminal A before it leaves. No clue what happened to them. Clearly someone at Delta seriously messed up and people were not informed about the gate change. Rather frustrating to say the least. Oh well! We headed to our new gate, where we sate, paced, ate, and even slept while waiting for our next flight 8 hours later. Jani and Callie even curled up on the floor at one point. It was rather adorable :P 

We finally made it back to Nashville, where daddy and our luggage were miraculously waiting for us!! We made it safely, and that’s all that mattered :D

For a while it still felt like I was just home visiting for  Christmas break, like I would be going back to Austria, my job, and the kids soon, but of course that’s not what happened. Reality didn’t really set back in until I got home to Dallas, where I was much relieved and ecstatic to see Logan again. We’ve agreed we never want to spend so much time apart ever again, and he likes the baby bump :P 

Part of me can’t believe it’s over. The whole experience is something I had dreamed of doing since I studied abroad in Austria in the fall of 2013, and now it’s come and gone. It was obviously shorter than originally intended, but I truly feel it’s all worked out for the best. God certainly works in mysterious ways, and I jsut feel blessed to have participated at all, 

Now I’m off on the next great adventure - little Beanie’ debut is a month away, I’m auditioning for grad school programs, and of course Logan and I finally really get to live together for more than a few months. Can’t wait to see what God has planned. Here’s to a fantastic 2017 and many more years!