Photo Recap: Days 12-14, Amsterdam (Europe 2008)

From my journal:

We arrived late - many trains seemed to be running behind - and made our journey to the hotel on tram. Immediately, you are in a beautiful town of great old buildings. Picturesque canals and bikes everywhere. You are also in the center for early 20s hostel travellers looking for a good time. Chance brought us to Amsterdam, so we had no expectations really.

We ritualistically dropped off our bags [at the hotel] and in moments were on the streets hunting for food at 10 p.m. There weren't too many options, places were closing, and we were suffering from not having seen the city in the day.

So we settled - and I swear that I am still paying for it - we went to McDonald's for a 15 euro meal that really wasn't terrific and gave me such terrible [stomach pains] for two days. Ugh!

How romantic...our 12 year anniversary and most of it was on a train and dinner the first night at McDonald's and the second night at a Chinese takeout. Very dutch?

Doesn't matter because we found the cutest place for breakfast the next morning (after only one expensive beer on the Dam plaza) and returned there the next day.

Yes, we did the Red Light district - which was just annoying because of the fake drug pushers - as well as the Rijksmuseum, sobering Anne Frank House, and the Heineken factory tour. But our favorite part was that cafe, around the block from our hotel, and the brief break before the day.





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That concludes the photo recap of our 2008 Europe trip! In honor of our friend Silvia, who has transferred to Milan, I've updated my feature door (upper right) to a clean, modern Milanese door. Ciao ciao ciao ciao ciao.

Tschüß!!

Photo Recap: Days 9-11, München, Deutschland (Europe 2008)

More from my journal:

The next day we took the train early to München, found our cute hotel, and set out to conquer the city.

Nothing prepared us for the Jodelwirt - it took two nights to find it - but I am so glad we did. You climb up these stairs and enter a tiny room with a table, a bar, and a man perched in between it all with an accordian in his lap, a microphone stretched out of the ceiling, and the biggest shit-eating grin that you've ever seen that quickly turns to a "howdy" glance and - whenever he finds a moment - a joke - about someone or something - and sure not everyone understood it - and his thick Bayern accent tripped up my poor German - but the room would roar with laughter.

He made fun of us because I couldn't find a place to put the coats and he also asked where we were from and put a few "yippees" in [his songs] for us. How fun, we stumbled home after a bajillion Ayinger [beers].

München is one of those familiar-feeling cities that welcomes every time, puts on a great show, but always has something new around the corner to discover. Two days isn't enough. I doubt even two weeks would be - two lifetimes...maybe.



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Tschüß!

p.s. Life rolls happily by this month, busy trying to stay afloat, and hoping to catch up on the personal life this weekend. Only two more segments of the photo recap to go...Rothenberg is next, then Amsterdam! Thanks for the comments, I'm glad you have enjoyed it!

Photo Recap: Days 8-9, Salzburg, Austria (Europe 2008)

Cute, crowded Salzburg. We arrived on a national holiday and in a successful attempt to keep locals from heading to München for shopping, they put a lot of effort in a huge Christmas market. I think three whole huge city squares had booths setup, plus a few non-official clusters of booths in other streets or hidden squares.



From my journal:

For dinner, the place we wanted to see was closed so we walked up into a tiny street tucked past the crowds - and found a tiny restaurant with Weihenstephaner on tap and insane Goulash. I had the deer, which didn't taste like any of the deer I have had before.

It was a little slow, but we ate early and the early sundown plays tricks with your head. It darkens around 4 here.

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I hope you're enjoying the recap of our trip last month! Tschüß!

Photo Recap: Days 6-8, Vienna, Austria (Europe 2008)

From my journal:

I have mixed emotions over Vienna. The people are friendly, [but it is] not as pretty as Slovenia and definitely more modern, but without the chicness of Germany.

Is it a money thing? At the crossroads of Eastern/Central Europe, it seems like there is a very mixed identity and culture.

The sightseeing was awesome and probably would have been better if we hadn't have had the 6 hour train ride plus a sleepless night above yet another nightclub. I can pick them, can't I!

Seeing the Hapsburg palace and treasury was so neat. We saw crowns, clothing and serviing pieces for centuries of Kings. You could spend days in there.

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Top 3 memories:

* The awful 1st night dealing with the disco - using bathroom fans and all to block the noise
* The Hapsburg palace
* Eating fries at an unnamed institution after a loooooong chat perched at a local bar

Tschüß!!

2008: A year in pictures Part II

July

Ryan moved to a new salon, I focused on my new position...and surely some other things that I forgot to photograph.

August

Ryan turned 30 and we celebrated with our first big party at the house...



...and Grete refined her present-hunting abilities...



September

Travel time! We went to Cancun as Ryan's birthday present for a 5-day relax-fest. Although it was a little windy and rainy from passing Hurricane Ike, we got plenty of sun, beer, and reading...



...and robe/slipper-wearing...



October

We turned over the rent house and gave it a few weeks of solid love before Jeff and Steve moved in - having them around is so wonderful - and I think we finally appreciated the great bones of this house.





...oh, and then Ryan shaved his head!



November

Both sets of parental units in the same month! My parents came down to Texas to visit my brother and me...they finally got a taste of my Rinderrouladen...



...and Ryan's parents joined us for Thanksgiving and beyond...



December

The trip - oh, the trip!













...and then to Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve...



...and to now. It was a very good year.

Tschüß!!

Photo Recap: Days 4-6, Ljubljana Slovenia (Europe 2008)

From my journal:

"Heading here has been the craziest idea since Ryan first popped the, 'Do you want to pick up a BMW in Germany?' back in June 2006. Go to the place Ryan's great-frandfather emigrated from in the 1930s? Heck yeah!

"And as our train enters Austria, I am sad and am missing Ljubljana already. I know we had certainly checked off the tourist sights - but I found myself wanting to start learning the language and not feeling the intimidation I feel with Deutsch. I already miss some of the Jabortnik things, the last vestigates of a Communist era under Tito, but mostly the vivaciousness of the city center - one for the residents, not just the tourists."

Three favorite things:

1) The beautiful Slovenians, especially the Kuhano Vino sellers
2) Buying Ljubljana/Slovenian patches and a pin for Ryan
3) Ordering a wine and lunch all in Slovenian



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Tschüß!!

Photo Recap: Day 3-4, Venice (Europe 2008)

One of the highlights of our trip; an amazing two days and one night with Silvia and her family. We met Silvia at the Hofbrauhaus in München on our October 2006 trip and kept in contact ever since. Going to Venice was a last-minute change to our trip but the best decision we've ever made!

I still can visualize meeting Silvia at the train station, walking through labyrinth-like alleys and streets to find their 200-year old house, petting their beautiful cats (Tommy, Lady, and Tommy II), eating Oreccetta and drinking wine for lunch, enjoying grappa in espresso, the special tour on their family boat, walking through the streets and hearing Silvia's papa singing somewhere in the distance, drinking amazing Cappuccinos, a foggy walk in the morning, pizza with Silvia translating back and forth, hearing "Trinque, Trocque, Balokey" which is used to say "etc, etc, etc" but sounded like she was making fun of Ryan's slavic background, seeing the market full of locals, watching Silvia and her papa saying ciao to others, having Silvia's mama grab my head and say beautiful Italian things that I didn't understand to say goodbye (then hearing it again on the cell phone the next day, "ciaociaociaociaociaociao"), learning how to curse at Berlosconi with our hands, climbing into Silvia's upstairs on a winding wooden stair, seeing groceries chilling on the windowsill outside, walking through crazy alleys to find the beautiful staircase............a dream.



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p.s. This is my 201st post! Thank you for coming along for the ride!

Tschüß!!!

Photo Recap: Day 1-2, Austin to Milan (Europe 2008)

After a busy week getting back to work and cleaning things up before everyone else leaves for the holiday, I'm also diving into our pictures and so happy with the results! I'll be posting them periodically through the next few weeks.




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Tschüß!

Ryan's 30th Birthday Party!

Ryan celebrated his 30th birthday on the 30th of August...and we threw a party! Finally, a party in our house. We didn't even have a housewarming (sort of a tradition for us...it takes us so long to get the house "together" and presentable that we always seem to skip that one). But, we had about 26 people over and it went super well! We catered some Chuy's Nacho Bar, which rocked, and everyone seemed to enjoy the food, beer, and wine...did a mixture of beers and for wine Kris brought over a bunch of whites (Tomeresca Chardonnay) and Ryan had selected the Hob Nob Pinot Noir (a french one) that was super.

Sighh...that's done...next stop, Cancun! We leave in a week and I can't wait to help Ryan celebrate his birthday. LOL! Check out the pictures below...

2008-08 Ryan's birthday

In other news, I've checked out a few hotel options in München and reserved a room at the Zurich Marriott using points (only there for one night). Also did some research in Amsterdam. Last night we watched The Counterfeiters, a sobering and powerful Austrian film that won the Best Foreign Film Academy Award last year...great movie.

Tschüß!

2007 in Pictures

I admit, I am stealing this idea from Jessica...here is a picture per month highlighting our year! It's been a great one!!


In January, we rang in the new year with our friends Melissa, Kirk, and Broc.


In February, we crafted a ton -- scrapbooking and, shown by Scott in this example, pajamas and scarves!

In March, SaraCat helped us clean the closet out in preparation for new bamboo floors!

In April, we celebrated the 30th birthdays of Melissa and Scott! She really knows how to make a good impression...


Also in April, we saw the birth of our new Audi A3!


In May, we took a nice roadtrip to Fredericksburg with Kirk and Ron (sandwiched above) for Ron's b-day.

In June, we lost SaraCat after a very strong fight against cancer...gosh I miss her.


One week after Sara died, the cute kitten Grete came into our lives!


In July, we fell in love with the Hether street house...and put a contract down on it!

In August, Ryan celebrated his 29th birthday with a tower of gifts!

In September, we moved.

In October, we celebrated Oktoberfest multiple times. We even went to Fredricksburg with Kris and Steph. We also hosted our largest dinner party in a loooong time -- it was fantastic!

In November, Scott visited home and had a wonderful time -- we also spent Thanksgiving at my cousin Claudia's house.

In December, Ryan and Scott celebrated their 11th anniversary!

Yeah, it's been an incredibly growing year, both in our careers and personal life. Losing Sara was really tough but we made it through and continued to build a fantastic life in 2007!

Tschüß bis 2008!!

Weihnachten Roundup

Ah...the holidays are almost over and here is a final wrap-up of our comings-and-goings over the holidays.



Tschüß!!

Thanksgiving Pictures

OK, here are the pictures!



Tschüß!!!