Regensburg Cathedral, Old Stone Bridge, and The Danube River: Regensburg

This weekend we made a trip to historic Regensburg, Germany, which is the oldest city on the Danube River.

Well first, we stopped for coffee.  Evan always drinks "baby coffee" (hot chocolate) so that he can be just like mom and dad.

We originally set off for Regensburg to check out IKEA.  Apparently, we are trying to go to every IKEA in Europe.  Once we were there, though, we remembered that we had to do some exploring because Andy had researched Regensburg and it's very famous.  One reason it is so famous is this huge and gorgeous church, Regensburg Cathedral, which is dedicated to St. Peter. 

The church was built in the year 700 and the details of the structure are truly amazing.

The carvings outside are amazing, filled with angels and saints.  We have seen a few beautiful churches in Germany now, but hadn't yet had the opportunity to go inside of one.  We tried in Nurnberg, and although we couldn't understand that German words being spoken to us, it was very clear that we could not come in with the children's helium balloons.  I'm not taking 2 little boys' balloons away, so we opted out.  In Regensburg, we were balloon-free, so we went inside.

The inside was breath-taking.  We have never been in a cathedral like this before and I was amazed.  There were huge stained glass windows.  There were beautiful altars, and there were even people inside praying.

The part that most amazed me inside the cathedral were these giant organ pipes!  The picture does not do justice to the size of them.  The organ pipes were so massive, Andy and I were convinced that should music come out of them, it could probably be heard throughout the whole city, if not all of Germany!

Evan most enjoyed the statue with the sword inside the cathedral; he loves weapons.

After exploring inside the cathedral, we headed back outside to look for the Old Stone Bridge.  We weren't really sure which way to go because the church was in the center of a big marktplatz (market place).  We kept turning down little alleys because Andy said, "These roads are heading down, and the water is going to be down the hill."

He was right.  We found the Danube River and the Old Stone Bridge!  I was very surprised that you could walk right to the edge and fall in if you weren't paying attention.  I didn't get as close as my boys did; I'm such a baby! 

Seeing the Old Stone Bridge was really amazing because it was built in medieval times and it is still in perfect condition!  It really perpetuates the cliche, "They don't make things like they used to!"

The view from the bridge was really beautiful, too.  You could see the cathedral and all the multi-colored German buildings, which I just love.  It is literally like stepping back in time in most of these cities.

We walked over the bridge and down by the water.  There were a lot of people, but it was still very peaceful.

I was brave enough here to sit on the edge by the water for a picture with Evan, but only because the water was really shallow!

After sitting by the water for a few minutes, we decided to head back.  Andy was sure we would never be able to find our car because we walked through a labyrinth of shops and alleys. 

Walking back through the alleys, I looked up and saw a huge David and Goliath painted on a building.  I find it interesting that there are so many paintings right on buildings, even on houses.  Sometimes they are of people, but sometimes they are just design elements.  It's not something you really see in the states.

While heading back, we made our usual stop for gelato.  I think it's already the start of a tradition for us.  Evan had smurf gelato.  I think it was supposed to be cotton candy flavored, but I have to say it does not compare to UDF!  It's so cheap though, and we love our gelato!

Also on the way back to the car, I saw this amazing door!  I knew we were headed in the right direction, because I had actually taken the picture on the way towards the cathedral.  If you have been reading my blog, you already know that I am becoming obsessed with the doors of Germany.  The craftsmanship is real art!  Some of these doors should be in galleries.  We quickly found the car after seeing this door (I like to think I have a great sense of direction!) and headed home.  We thought we would stop at a market on the way home and pick up something for dinner.  However, we found a McDonald's with a slide, so we went there.  Perhaps that is becoming a tradition for us as well.  German towns, Italian ice cream, and American fast food!

German American Volksfest: Grafenwoehr

This weekend was the German American Volksfest in Grafenwoehr.  Volks means "for the people;" it's basically the English "folks."  So, this was a festival for the people, and although it was on post, it was open to the public as well. 

We were so excited to go to our first fest in Germany.  It was much like an American festival in the sense that it had tons of food, games, and rides.  The food was different than an American festival though, as you might assume.

I was ecstatic to find my first real German potato pancake!  I had to stop everyone when I saw that booth.  If you know me well, you know I love potato pancakes (all my fellow Bearcats will probably agree that Christie's makes them the best near UC!).  I was beginning to think that potato pancakes weren't an actual German food, until I saw them at this fest.  I got my potato pancake with sour cream dip and it was so good, with just the right amount of onion flavor.  This fest was like deep fried paradise for me.  I also tried my first deep fried snickers, and I must admit, it was amazing!  Good thing I don't have a deep fryer.

While the eating was good at the fest, the drinking was even better. Germans know how to do beer, and they do it big!  Andy is with our friend Matt (in his traditional German lederhosen) enjoying a nice, surprisingly cold brew.  He paid a six dollar deposit for the mug and they will fill it up for about seven dollars.  It's quite the deal because that mug holds almost three average sized beers.

We kept the mug!  When in Germany, do as the Germans do.  Those men were sure to get their refills.

Christina and I wanted to join in on the fun, so we posed with the guys' beers for a picture as well.  Christina is wearing the traditional German dirndl.  She looked so authentic, people even stopped to pose for pictures with her.

Christina and Matt even had their boys dressed in the German garb.  They were adorable!  What I found to be hilarious is that so many Americans came dressed in lederhosen and dirndls, while many German came dressed in clothes patterned as the American flag! We were all trying to fit in and be like each other.

The kids were very patient while we ate all of our fried fest foods and waited in line for beers, so we were sure to do some kid-friendly activities after that.  The fest had a German high wire act that was really extraordinary.  I had never seen a high wire act in person, and we couldn't believe it when the performers sat down on the wire and did a backflip!  This act also includes the only man in the world known to be able to walk on a high wire while wearing small stilts.  Even though there was a net underneath, that one made me nervous.

The part of the fest that Evan most looked forward to was going down the giant inflatable slide.  At the bottom he looks a little scared because it was so steep, he almost flipped over coming down it.  Like the dare devil he is though, he hopped right up and said, "I want to go down that big huge slide again!"

We played a few games, then I decided to take Evan on his first bumper car ride.  He thought it was fun, until people started bumping into us with some real force.  When we were finished, he told us, "I didn't like when that car crashed and it hurt me."  He had much more fun on the kiddie rollercoaster, where he got to drive the fire truck, like his uncle does!  The highlight of Evan's evening, though, was the plastic ninja sword he got.  We all had fun at the fest. It was filled with good food, good friends, and great people-watching.  I can't wait for the next one!

The Search for Soccer Cleats: Amberg

The search for soccer cleats led us to Amberg yesterday, where we heard the shopping is good.  The shopping was good and the city was beautiful, of course.  We went with the Burdens again, who needed an auto parts store.  It was closed, though. We should have known, it's the weekend in Germany, lots of places are closed!

This was a building that I thought was cool. Andy and Evan liked it because there were cool lion statues in front of it.

Evan wanted to get his picture with the soccer lion.  Afterwards we walked everywhere looking for cleats.  We went into at least 5 shoe stores.

Although we had fun in all of these cool stores, especially this one with the motorcycle, we couldn't find cleats small enough for Evan.  We did, however, find a cute pair of shoes for him and a cute pair of shoes for me (obviously, I'm not going into 5 shoe stores without buying at least one pair!).

I always feel like we see the most interesting things when we explore new cities.  During this trip we saw this bike vendor.

I don't know how he rides that, I definitely don't have the balance for that!  This was a cart with food in it, mostly breads and pretzels, attached to the bike.  In Germany, they love their breads and pretzels! Andy does, too.  He said he is starting a new "all carb" diet: pretzels and beer only!

We also saw this guy who was putting on a little puppet show. We got a good laugh because the puppet was "singing" in English and Spanish.  This scary looking puppet also jumped up in Evan's lap.  Evan didn't move at all and just stared at it while everyone was cheering and clapping to the music.  Afterward though, Evan said, "I didn't like when that thing got on me."  Our friend's son, Grayson, was scared of the puppet, too.  He didn't want it getting close to him while he was trying to put a Euro in the guy's hat.

After the puppet show, we stopped for lunch.  Andy finally got to try a Doner.  It is like a wrap or a sandwich with some kind of meat and weird sauce.  That isn't a good description, but that's literally the best I can come up with, even after tasting it.  I didn't love it, but Andy, Micah, and Shannon enjoyed theirs! After lunch, we stopped to take a few pictures.

There is always great scenery for pictures.

This is a picture of St. Martin's Basilica, which I thought was so pretty.

This is one of the doors to St. Martin's Basilica.  The doors are so ornate, and I have said more than once now that I could probably create an entire door-themed blog.

In fact, here is another random door that I had to take a picture of.  Even from the picture, you can tell how beautifully carved it is.

Before we left Amberg, we stopped to take a few pictures in front of a fountain.  The boys were finishing up their delicious, melting gelato.

Evan and I always stop to strike a pose.  Well, I strike a pose.  Evan looks away as if to let everyone know he is done with my paparazzi-like antics.

We enjoyed our trip to Amberg and we will most definitely be going back to do some more shopping.  I found a home decorations store that I would like to donate a small fortune to.  After Amberg, we went home and had dinner with our neighbors and played a hilarious game of Apples to Apples.  I also got quite the intersting videos of all of them dancing trying to get the little ones to dance.  Although I would like to share those videos on this blog, I would like to remain friends with my new neighbors.  Perhaps another time!

The Car Arrived: Trip to Weiden

Our car got here today and I was so excited! I literally hugged my cute little Mazda.  Believe it or not, there is not a lot going on in Vilseck (thank goodness for fun neighbors!), so we decided to take a short road trip and go exploring.

We ended up in Weiden, which is about 40 minutes from where we live. 

We stopped at some store that I can't remember the name of, because I am in search of something similar to a Target!  Well, it was no Target, but more of a Lowe's with a furniture store on the top floor.  Not too much fun stuff to look at there, considering we are not allowed to remodel our government housing. So we left Furniture Lowe's in search of something else fun. 

We found this cute little strip of shops.  Germany is cool because it seems there are all these tucked away little places, with modern stores, but in old and beautiful buildings. 

As we were walking, we saw this little restaurant where people were enjoying huge sundaes of Italian gelato (they love gelato here, which is great because so do we!).  Almost every restaurant has outdoor tables so that you can enjoy the beautiful summer, it doesn't last long here apparently.  The funniest part of our adventure in Weiden was when we were going into some of the shops.

Andy looked at one of the stores and said, "What's EuroShop?"  I looked and said, "Oh my goodness, it's like the dollar store! Everything is 1 Euro!"  We thought this was hilarious because just a few days ago, we were joking about how it's too bad they don't have a dollar store here.  What a find!  We picked up some floats for Evan for the schwimmbad (the pool).  After the Euroshop, we enjoyed an authentic, outdoor meal at the local McDonald's, and of course some gelato for dessert.  It was a fun day and so nice to have our car and leave the post! More adventures to come!

Our First Trip: Nurnberg

We took our first trip to Nurnberg, Germany with our new friends Shannon, Micah, and their son, Grayson.  We all took the train, which was a cheap 14 Euros round trip (just over $18 American...the exchange rate is not in our favor).  The train ride was great because we could all talk and enjoy the beautiful, rustic scenery without having to navigate.

We arrived at der Bahnhof (the train station) in Nurnberg and we were immediately impressed with the German architecture.  The buildings are so old and beautiful and in such great shape.  Everything is well taken care of here.  The Germans are proud of their buildings and their country, and it shows.  It is so clean!

The churches are beautiful!






We went to the top of Nurnberg Castle and got to overlook the city. The view was amazing, like nothing we have ever seen before. 

 This was the day we really got excited about exploring Germany and alll of Europe.  This is just one city and look how beautiful it is.