Michael and Meghann

London

2009-04-15T00:26:00.000-07:00

Our last stop on our trip in March was London. It was so much fun. I absolutely loved it!! We had perfect weather and got to enjoy 3 days there. We tried to see as much as we could, but with only 3 days we were limited. We had an early flight from Dublin to London so on our first day we were pretty tired. We walked around the center city area and did a lot of window shopping, because everything was so expensive. We then went to buy our tickets for Lion King and there was a show starting in 5 minutes so we went right on in. We were disappointed in some of the cast, but the overall production was fabulous!! The costumes and sets that they used were amazing!! I was just expecting the singers to be able to sing! The next day we explored the city. We started we a hop on hop off bus tour and then went to a few of the sights. Michael loved the War Museums. We of course went to the Tower of London which was awesome. It's so easy to spend an entire day there. There was a huge St. Patrick's Day celebration at Trafalgar Square. It was basically a lot of drunk people dressed in green. On our last day we did more exploring. We went to several parks, which were all beautiful and took tons of pictures. We didn't do the Eye of London because it was so expensive, 15 lbs per person!! On our last night we really wanted to see another play so we saw Phantom of the Opera. It totally exceeded my expectations, it was fantastic!!!! An amazing end to our trip.

Ireland

2009-04-06T12:52:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I know I haven't posted in forever!! Sorry, I'll try to do better. The only thing exciting that's happened lately is our trip to Ireland and London. We absolutely loved both!! Ireland was our first stop and we stayed in Dublin. Michael got to golf a couple of times, which made him so happy!! We explored mostly the Dublin area, which was awesome!! But we also took a day trip to the Cliffs of Moher and Galaway Bay. They were incredible!!! It was my absolute favorite part of our trip!! It was a long day on the bus, but totally worth it. Most the other pictures are from Dublin. We were here for 4 days and then moved onto London.

Switzerland

2009-01-08T08:53:00.000-08:00

Our last stop was in Switzerland. We stayed in a small town up in the mountains, it was amazing!! We wanted to be up in the Swiss Alps and enjoy the beautiful mountains. We absolutely loved it!! It was our favorite place that we went. We went skiing and enjoyed a day playing in the Swiss Alps!! We even skied down to our town at the end of the day. It was the perfect ending to our trip!!

Vienna

2009-01-08T08:42:00.000-08:00

Vienna was beautiful! We went to two palaces, which were amazing!! They were so huge and had tons of treasures inside. We visited the Opera House and I even used the Opera Toilet which played music in the restroom. I was really excited that our Hotel had an ice machine, it was the first place that had ice. That night we left on our first night train. What a horrible experience!! This is a picture of the cart that we shared with 4 other people. We were supposed to sleep like this somehow!! Obviously we didn't get much sleep that night and were glad that we were able to check into our hotel in Switzerland early.

Rome

2009-01-08T07:44:00.001-08:00

Rome, of course, was amazing. We spent New Year's Eve here. Unfortunately I got really sick and didn't feel like doing too much, so we just went to a nearby plaza and enjoyed all the fireworks that were going off everywhere. We didn't get to go into the Vatican Museum or the Sistine Chapel because they were closed!! I was so sad, but we still had so much fun and got to see a lot!!

Florence

2009-01-08T07:07:00.000-08:00

Florence was beautiful!! We just walked around the streets and enjoyed the beautiful city. While wandering around we just happened to run into Kevin from The Office. It was so random. It was on some back street. He was really nice and took a picture with us. It was the highlight of Michael's trip. We also climbed up Giotto's Tower to overlook the city. The steps were so narrow and tight that it made for a difficult climb. And of course there was gelato everywhere. It was so good!!

Venice

2009-01-08T05:48:00.001-08:00

Venice was one of my favorite places we saw. There are no cars whatsoever on the whole island. Everything is transported by boat. There were canals and bridges everywhere. The gondolas were fun to watch, too expensive to ride. The town itself was really expensive, it survives on tourists, but we found some cheap places to eat that weren't too bad. I wish we could have stayed longer.

Milan

2009-01-08T04:53:00.000-08:00

We were only in Milan for a few hours, so we decided to go to this cathedral and walk around all the shops. They really only had really expensive stores, so we didn't buy anything just looked. We fed some pigeons and had locals trying to scam us everywhere we went. It got really annoying so we went back to the train station early to move on to Venice.

Barcelona

2009-01-08T04:04:00.000-08:00

Our next stop was Barcelona. We were only there for a day and it rained most of the day, but we still enjoyed being by the ocean. The Ramblas was Barcelona's most popular street to walk down. There were human statues everywhere, it made the walk very interesting. We came to a huge market where there was tons of seafood, all kinds of meat, and lots of fresh fruit. They had some crazy stuff there. It was definitely an interesting stop. We walked down to the harbor and enjoyed the ocean breeze. It was a short stop on our trip, but worth it.

Paris

2009-01-07T12:38:00.001-08:00

We are back from our 2 week trip around Europe. It was AMAZING!! Our first stop was Paris. We spent Christmas there, which was perfect. Unfortunately, most everything was closed on Christmas, so we didn't get to see everything we wanted to. The Eiffel Tower was amazing as well as the Louvre. It was a great place to start our trip.

Hannover's Weihnachtsmarkt

2008-12-18T06:18:00.000-08:00

So the Christmas Market here started in November and it's been a big party ever since. It is huge!! It's open everyday, all day long!! And it's all over Hannover. They have booths set up everywhere, and all different kinds. Again my favorite booths are the crepe ones, DELICIOUS!! Everything is lit up with Christams lights and Christams decorations. It's so beautiful! I go almost everyday. It has definitely made being away from home for Christmas easier!!

My Birthday

2008-12-12T14:10:00.000-08:00

Sorry this is late, but I've been so busy lately. My first birthday over seas was really fun. We just got a small group together and went to a steak house. It was definitely a lot different then the ones we have back home. Michael was, however, able to get a descent size steak, but my cheeseburger was not really what I consider a cheeseburger. It was a hamburger patty on top of a piece of garlic french toast topped with cheese. There was no top piece of toast for my cheeseburger so I wasn't able to eat it with my hands. But it was actually pretty good. We went for crepes afterwards at the Christmas market. Crepes are my favorite new thing here. They're so good!!! When we got home my friends surprised me with a real Christmas tree for my house. I loved it!!! It might be small, but it is perfect!! It was a fantastic birthday!

A Day in Hamburg

2008-11-23T16:00:00.001-08:00

Last Saturday I went to Hamburg for the day with three of my friends. We had so much fun. It was a long train ride, but worth it. We tried to see as much as we could. We saw the ports, St. Michael's Church, the old town hall, and some of downtown Hamburg. They had lots of canals throughout the city and tons of seafood restaurants. We went to one and I actually tried shark!! It was different but good! They had a volksfest going on so we stopped by there for a little bit. We enjoyed some delicious crepes and hot chocolate. And they had this old school skeeball game. It was really hard to play. We ended the day at the Christmasmarket, which wasn't open yet. But it was still fun to see all the decorations. They really go all out here for Christmas.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!!

2008-11-23T13:45:00.000-08:00

Yes, we had our first snow in Hannover!! I can't believe it! I've been told so many times since we moved here that it hardly ever snows in Hannover, and that it never, never sticks to the ground, so I was definitely shocked when I woke up Saturday morning to this. Even though it was freezing cold, it was so beautiful outside. It's always fun the first time it snows, after that it's just a pain. I guess winter is officially here. It's definitely going to be a cold one!! This week the temperture is supposed to be in the 20s-30s, yuck!!!! The cold is not fun at all, but Christmas here is supposed to be amazing, so I'm really exicted for that. I will definitely keep y'all posted through it all!

Nanny's Weekend

2008-11-06T13:01:00.000-08:00

One last post from my crazy trip back home. So much happened while I was home that I actually ended up staying one week longer than I was supposed to, but I was so grateful I was able to be home for everything. What surprised everyone the most, was our Nanny passing away. Even though we are all so happy that she is reunited with Papa finally, we will miss her dearly. I'm just so happy for eternal families and that we will one day see them both again. It was also so good to see all of my cousins and aunts and uncles, especially the ones I don't get to see that often. We always have such a good, crazy, fun time together (like the firetruck and police coming out to the bonfire, classic) Overall, it was definitely a crazy, chaotic trip (which might even be an understatement) but totally worth all the traveling I did. (I estimated that I spent about 50 hours total flying everywhere, so exhausting!)

Zack and Beca's Wedding

2008-11-04T05:50:00.000-08:00

Well, the main reason I went home recently was to go to Zack and Beca's Wedding. I was so glad that I was able to make it. Here are some pictures of the Wedding in Vegas, the Vegas Reception, and the Reception in Boerne. Everything turned out beautiful!! My mom really outdid herself, but the reception was so elegant and beautiful! But I didn't really expect anything less from my mom, she always does such an amazing job. Even though it might be stressful, it turns out perfect every time. There were so many pictures that I wanted to post that I figured the best way was to make a slideshow. I hope you enjoy.

My Crazy Trip Back Home

2008-11-03T14:55:00.000-08:00

So, I recently got to go home!! I was so excited to see all my family. I didn't realize how much I missed home until I went back to visit. I definitely think it made coming back to Germany a lot harder, but I was so happy to be back with Michael. I missed him so much. I really wished he could have come home with me, but he had finals and then got to go to Romania, so I didn't feel too bad leaving him. I was very jealous that I missed that trip. Overall, it was a crazy trip, but I'm soooooooooooooo glad that I was able to be at home with my family through all the chaos. Here are some random pictures from the trip.

Michael's Trip to Romania

2008-11-01T09:49:00.000-07:00

So, while I was back home Michael went to Romania during his week break from school. He went with some classmates and stayed with Malina's family (she is a classmate). He had a great time and was spoiled rotten by her family. They were very hospitable and fed him lots of Romania food. They took him to see all kinds of things in Romania. Michael's favorite was, of course, Dracula's Castle. Here are some of the pictures he took while he was there.

Oktoberfest in Hannover

2008-10-31T13:28:00.000-07:00

I know these are a little late, but things have been crazy lately. Here are a few pictures from when Michael and I went to Oktoberfest a few weeks ago. We had to at least experience one night of Oktoberfest. It was basically just a big fair, but with a lot more beer than back home. They did have a USA NASA ride that we had to go on, and Michael even got to play a little basketball which he won a little heart for me. Michael was mad that it said "I Love You" in English. We thought the funniest thing was the camel jockies. Michael of course got his all-time favorite bratwurst and I enjoyed a chocolate covered banana. It was a cold night, but all in all we had a good Oktoberfest experience.

Sausalitos & Indoor Soccer

2008-09-08T06:16:00.000-07:00

We actually decided to try this mexican restaurant here. I didn't think it would be very good, but it was surprisingly quite tasty!! The other picture is of Michael and a lot of his classmates playing soccer, which is the main sport here in Hannover. They wanted to get some exercise, since all they do is study. It was fun, however it took us a long time to find the building. We were walking around for an hour before we found it. It did give Michael a good warmup. We've lived here now for 3 weeks and we still can get pretty lost :)

a little of Hannover

2008-09-02T04:47:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures from our first couple of weeks in Hannover. A lot of the buildings have the half timber style, which is quite beautiful. We have been having a lot of fun exploring the city. In one of the pictures Michael is eating his favorite food here, currywurst. He can't get enough!! I finally found a Dr Pepper!! It tasted sooooo good! And the slugs here are enormous. I couldn't believe how big and fat they were. We've also been trying out different restaurants and cafes which has been tons of fun.

First two weeks in Hannover

2008-08-28T14:17:00.000-07:00

Well, Michael and I have been in Hannover for almost 2 weeks. I can't believe it!! Things have been going pretty good. The first week we were here, we both went to orientation to get all the paperwork done, and explored the city as much as we could. We have learned that we really need to learn German (most people only speak a little English) and for the most part how to get to most of the important places. We don't have a car, so we travel everywhere on the bus or the tram system here which is very good!! It can pretty much get us anywhere in the city. It does make grocery shopping hard, though. I have to carry everything I buy back to my apartment which can be a long walk or tram ride, either way the groceries get pretty heavy after awhile. We have made several friends from Michael's school, which has been nice to have other people to explore with and who understand what we are going through.

Michael had his first week of classes this week, and so far I think he likes it. It will, however, keep him very occupied, which leaves me with a lot of free time. But I end up having to go to the grocery store almost everyday, mostly because we don't have a freezer and I have to buy everything fresh, and I can only carry so much at a time. Other than that, I'm trying to learn some german and still exploring the city. So, everything so far has been quite an adventure. We have been having a lot of fun!!