Finally Fall!

Fall has finally arrived! I love this tree, it's on my way home. It is always the first tree to show it's colors and let us know Fall is here. The air has turned crisp and I've been layering up the past few days. I can't wait to hear the leaves crunching under my feet. I was happy to see a line at the grain elevator the other day and to see farmers in the field, even more evidence that Fall is upon us!

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it before but Fall is the best season of all, I dare you to find a better season! Fall inhabits all your senses..

Sight: Farmers in the fields, the colors of the leaves changing, little monsters and goblins running through the streets. The sunsets always seem a little prettier in fall too

Hearing: the rustling leaves across the ground, the sounds of football crowds cheering, the howling autumn wind blowing through the crisp night

Taste: hot chocolate, pumpkin spices, caramel apples, pumpkin pie! chili and soups

Smell: pumpkin pie baking in the oven, the smell of the wood burning on the fire and roasting marshmellows. I can't really explain the smell of fall but I think everyone knows what I'm talking about

Touch: the feel of fleece and flannel, warm blankets in the morning that make you not want to get out of bed

and if you are one of those special people you may even peak your sixth sense on all hallows eve this fall.

Fall is my favorite season and I'm so glad it's finally here. I hope it sticks around awhile before old man winter is knocking on our door. Happy belated first day of Fall <3

Pinterested?

So have you guys heard of Pinterest? I had heard of it but really had no clue what it is (kinda still don't) but a friend asked me the other day if I knew about and sent me an invite. (yeah it's elite, you have to be invited by someone) Like I really needed this, I now feel compelled to break out my inner Martha Stewart and put in some hardcore Internet surfing so I can look cool, chic, and organized.... and I'm still not 100% sure how I'm going to use this site.

But I signed up.

From my understating Pinterest is basically an inspiration board. I've seen a lot of people using it for wedding planning. You can browse websites and 'pin' pictures to different boards on your page. So for example you can have a board for wedding pictures you like, or a board for all the wedding dresses you like. I've also seen it used for different book genre's you might like (Page Turner?) or home decorations by room, quotes, recipes anything your little creative mind needs to organize.

The official 'about me' section of the website explains it like this...

Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.

Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests. To get started, request an invite.

Here's a screenshot of someone else's boards who is clearly been at it a little longer than my bare boards.

Anyone already using Pinterest, how are you using it? Want an invite, let me know :)

TV Talk: Fall Shows

It's only Tuesday and I already feel so overwhelmed by all the new shows. I checked out a few new shows last night..

Two Broke Girls- funny stuff, even gpa was LOL-ing. I'll keep it on the DVR

Two and a Half Men- loved the John Stamos appearance and Dharma and Greg. That was about it, not and Ashton fan will not keep it on the DVR.

Playboy Club- wasn't completely what I expected I'll give it  a few more episodes to see how it goes.

I don't know how much more new TV I can squeeze into my already full DVR. Sons of Anarchy has not disspointed in it's first few episodes. FX seems to be bringin' it. I was always a fan of Nip/Tuck before it got weird it's last couple seasons so I'm excited to see the folk's at Nip/Tuck bringing us American Horror Story in October.

Lot's of shows coming up, what are you watching?

America Land of the Free..

... soft drink refills at dinner
... public restroom use

I missed America. I've been back to work since Tuesday (sadly). You never feel quite as clean as you do in your own shower and you never sleep quite as well as you do in your own bed, so I was glad to get back home.

As much as I loved Germany and the experience of another country, I think I'd still rather travel across the US. We had this discussion at work today. Obviously it's still cheaper to see the US, you don't have to use different money and you can understand what everyone is saying and the US has so much to offer that I haven't seen. I mean for Pete's sake I've only been as far west as St. Louis and I've been to Florida once, my travel bubble isn't that big. I'm not saying that I wouldn't go back given the opportunity and I definitely want to go to Ireland someday but I'm good to travel the good ol' US of A.

It's an interesting thought to think that people come here for their vacations, we don't have the history that European countries have because we are not that old of a country. Everything we have is mostly modern, we don't have royal palaces or historic castles laying around. (I will say that while at Neuschwanstein castle it did remind me a bit of Biltmore Estates in North Carolina, which I love and would definitely go back for a visit. I'd love to go at Christmastime) But it made me wonder what foreign travelers want to see when they come to America and if I'd want to see the same things. So I Dear googled and here is what I found...

The top Five places to visit according to a random website are:
1. Times Square New York City - been there :)
2. Vegas
3. Golden Gate Bridge San Francisco
4. New Orleans
5. Navy Pier (really, not that cool)

Those were lame, I thought Grand Canyon would have been up there and some of our National Parks at least, NYC was a given and Vegas is just as fun I'm sure. But it still makes me wonder, what do people come here to see?

Leave your comments on what you think people come here to see, or places you have yet to see here in the State's.

PS- If you read my Germany posts and you noticed spelling errors and such please forgive me. When I went to use the spell check it knew I was in Germany and thought I should have been writing in German because it highlighted every word and said it was wrong. You'll just have to deal. I'll leave you with a list of a few things I missed while I was away.

My hairdryer- when you turn it on you can tell that's American power in that thing, my hair dried so much faster here :)

American Toilets- because you are never as comfortable on someone else's toilet as you are you own and those toilets were a little weird.

Iced Tea- I don't drink soda so I was bummed that my beverage of choice was not available. I missed you iced tea. First thing I did when we got back was McD's large ice tea :)

Driving- I don't mind driving and having had someone drive me around and all kinds of planes and trains I missed my automobile... good ole Simon.

My TV shows- I'm going to need to weekend to catch up fully but I missed my shows. TrueBlood fans- HOLY MOLY was that an ending and SOA fans what a beginning! I still need to catch up on Bachelor Pad this weekend. And for the first time in awhile I missed the Notre Dame season opener.

Work friends- I missed my work friends too (although I don't know if they all missed me) they are my family away from my family and make me giggle a lot. Do not confuse work friends with work. I did not miss work.

Germany: Final Days & Rothenburg

Yesterday was another lazy sleep in day. We needed it after our hike up the mountain. (PS I'm still sore two days later) We really didn't do much of anything. Just slept in incredibly late (I'm on vacation don't judge) and had our good-bye's to the delish Donner Kebob's that I will miss very very much. My favorite Germany food was a non-German food.

I might actually miss watching television in German, I've grown fond of watching American TV shows and movies with German words, I feel like I'm catching on (nope)

Today we took another easy day of shopping and some sightseeing in nearby Rothenburg. I actually managed to pick up a few things for myself even! Rothenburg is a walled medieval town. I have a few pictures for ya. We also went to a criminal museum that showed torture weapons and laws of the land. They also have a big Christmas store that I had heard a lot about before I left.

If you look close you can see the wall that surrounds the city.



and here's a few pictures from the criminal museum

and when we got back to Schweinfurt a crazy German thunderstorm rolled through and soaked us just in time for our run to dinner.

Tomorrow morning I will get on my second plane ride for a 9 hour 18 minute flight back to the good ol' USA. Germany it's been fun, watch out Ireland! Now that I've got some foreign travel experience it's only the tip of the iceberg.

Auf wiedersehen Deutchland!

Germany: Neuschwanstein Castle

Today was a very long day. Our first train left at 7am and we didn't get back until 11:30 but it was worth it to see the beautiful area surrounding Neuschwanstein Castle. It's no wonder that King Ludwig II chose this area to build his castle.

We actually got to see two castles today as his parents summer palace is located nearby. The area around these castles are indescribable. There are mountains, lakes and meadows as far as the eye can see. I don't think these pictures can even do it justice.

Our first castle, Hohenschwangau Castle is located below Neuschwanstein Castle and in some of the pictures you can see it in the back.

We couldn't take pictures inside the castle but here are a few views out the castle windows and the surrounding views from the castle grounds.

The whole area is very very hilly, it was quite a workout to get up to both castles, don't let the beauty fool you. To get from this castle up to Neuschwanstein castle the map says is about a 40 minute walk up a every increasing incline. We took a horse and carriage up a main stop and then we walked about 5-10minutes to get to the Castle gate. Here's some of the scenery on the way up...

Again we couldn't take pictures inside Neuschwanstein Castle but the pictures of the outside are plenty to overwhelm your senses.

View of Mary's Bridge from the castle gate

After our tour of the castle we didn't have much time so we literally jogged up to Mary's bridge (about 15 minutes from the castle exit) and let me tell you it was not flat. So basically ran up a mountain, biggest inclines I have ever seen in my entire life. On our way up we were able to see the first castle we visited and a beautiful shot of Neuschwanstein.

Once I was able to stop huffing and puffing after we made it to Mary's Bridge (said to be one of King Ludwig's favorite views) (and man am I out of shape) we were able to see the grand castle in all it's glory and the beautiful waterfall.

The parting views from the train on our way back home were just as beautiful.

Germany: Day Off

Today was just a lazy day around Schweinfurt and we got to sleep in too :)

For lunch we went to a little Italian place, I had delish pizza! Then we went on base to see where MB's brother works. Then we went to the mall, they aren't too much different than our malls, except this had two floors. Then back to the hotel for a nap :)

For dinner we went to a Greek restaurant, it was yummy too! Food in general is pretty good here. I think when I get back home I'll have to visit the Bayern Stube to check out it's authenticity.

Amerian TV shows in German are kind of funny to watch.

Tomorrow is an early day, so I'm going to try to get to bed early, sorry no pictures today.

Germany: Nuremberg

Today was another sleep in day and a short trainride to Nuremburg. We didn't have time to do a whole lot but we first stopped for a medieval lunch in the basement of one of the towers. The food (roast pork with spicy bacon sauce) was so amazingly delicious, I almost didn't want to swallow it was good. The door was small and down the stairs we went. Yummo!

After lunch we found another beautiful church and took a peek inside.

St. Lawrence Church

Then after that we headed over to the main Nazi site in Nuremberg. We didn't walk around the whole lake to see all the sites but we made it to Zeppelin Field the site to the Nazi Party Rallies. Most of the site had been torn down over the years but the main pulpit where Hitler stood to give his speeches are still there.

Picture from the past giving perspective

Then we went inside the Documentation Museum which was very eduational and talked about the rise and fall of the Nazi Party and everything in between. It had tons of pictures and the audio guide read us the captions that were in German.

I know there was a lot more to be seen in Nuremberg but we just didn't have the time today. Guess I'll just have to come back!! Tomorrow we have another light day planned around Schweinfurt because Friday morning our train leaves at 7am when we leave for Fussen (long trip) on our way to Neuschwanstein Castle (the original inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland.

Things I learned today:
- 90% of the old town in Nuremberg was destroyed during the war
- While waiting for your friends you may be approached by a Romanian homeless man looking for money and he may or may not sit down next to you and continue to talk for about 7 minutes until you finally just get up and leave.
-I didn't take many pictures today :/