Thanksgiving und Weihnachten

I know, I know, I haven't written a new post since October 3rd!!!!  I apologize profusely and hope you will enjoy this blog post.  We have had a jam-packed fall and holidays.  We have learned how Germans celebrate the season and it is very different from the American way.  But, let me start at the beginning and fill you in on all the things we have experienced since I last wrote.

 In October, Charlie's parents, David and Jayne Shortt, came for a visit.  They happened to come at a time when Nathan had a week off of school, so we were able to do some traveling.  We visited Regensburg which is a very old town on the Danube river.  It has a Roman bridge across the river that dates back to the 12th century.  These next few pictures are of the old cathedral.  It was a very cold day and when we went inside the cathedral, it was even colder!  The entire building is made of stone and it was like an ice cave.  I really don't know how people could attend mass in there.

The ceiling of the church was very high and there were beautiful stained glass windows along the length of both sides of the church.  The light must be amazing on sunny days, unfortunately for us, it was very overcast the day we were there.

This is looking toward the front of the church.  This statue stands at the back of the church as you enter.

Nathan, Charlie, David and Jayne on the 12th century bridge over the Danube river.

Charlie and his dad on the bridge.

This is where we ate lunch.  This outdoor restaurant is a Wurst stand and they are reported to have the best Regensburger sausages and sauerkraut anywhere.  When we heard this, we decided to try it out.  We sat at a communal table with some people from San Diego (small world) and another man who was German and was writing in his notebook the entire time.  We think he was writing a book or some kind of manuscript.  The wurst was really, really good and made sitting outside in the cold worth it.  The lunch came with a basket of yummy bread.  The waitress told us to keep count of how many pieces of bread we ate so she could charge us at the end.  This is typical, only usually it is a basket of pretzels.

 Here is a view of the bridge behind the gang.  To the left of the bridge is the Rathaus.  This is the town hall and the sausage stand is right in front of the Rathaus.

 This is a more up-close view of the sausage stand.  I know I keep talking about it, but it was really tasty.  If you go to Regensburg, this is a definite must-see.

This courtyard in Regensburg is in an old building that is now a hotel.  We saw all the flowers and plants and thought it was a nice background for a family picture.

This is the outside of the church at Regensburg.  You can see that it is very old and the architecture is interesting.  This area was not damaged too much during the war, so it is possible to see more of the very old buildings and structures like the bridge and this cathedral.

After our cold day in Regensburg, we came back to beautiful weather in Herrsching.  We went down to the lake for dinner at this restaurant on the promenade.  You can see the ferry boat in the background picking up passengers to go across the lake.

We were serenaded by these Austrian horn blowers while at the lake.  This was really cool!  When we saw these guys, we all looked at each other and sang out, "Riiiiiiiccccoooooolllaaaaaaaaaaa!"

We decided that it would be really fun to walk over to Andechs the next day.  It is a 5 km hike through the forest.  David was a little nervous to go because his knee was bothering him, but he was a trooper and went along with the plan.  The leaves were falling and were such pretty colors.  Andechs is a town, but also there is the Kloster Andechs where there are a group of monks who brew beer.  They have been brewing beer there since 1455!  Now it is very popular in Bavaria and there are several good places to eat around the Kloster. 

We found these fungi growing on a tree with some moss.

This is part of the trail through the woods.  It is so amazingly pretty and this time of year was so nice.

Right before you get to Andechs there is a small river.  It cuts a gorge that is pretty steep in some areas. One of our friends who grew up in Herrsching told us that there have been several deaths from people walking back from Andechs in the dark after drinking too much beer and falling into the gorge.  She says they are mostly Australian people because they are used to drinking several beers at a time, but the beer in Andechs is much stronger than they are used to and they over-do it.  The beer there is strong because the monks would fast and only drink beer to sustain them for long periods of time.  They got special dispensation from the Pope to make this extra-strong beer so that they could drink it while they were fasting and thus be able to fast for longer amounts of time.  They call it "liquid bread".

You can see the Kloster Andechs behind David and Jayne in this picture.  Almost there!

In front of the Kloster there is a sculpture garden.  This is one of the monks on a long fast.

The Kloster Andechs

The inside of the church is Rococo style and very gaudy in my opinion.

Here is a view of the towns below the Kloster.  

Here's what we came for.... Schweinesbraten with sauerkraut.  This is like a pork roast and very yummy.  I like to eat it with senf (mustard).

 After a beautiful day at Andechs, we were all tired out, so we went home and slept.  Not wanting to waste a day, we decided to visit Neuschwanstein, the Cinderella castle, the next day.  It was snowing when we got there.  We had lunch on the lake at a nice restaurant.

 Nathan ordered cold milk (kaltes Milch), but there was a misunderstanding and he got hot, steamed milk instead.

We weren't allowed to take any pictures inside of the castle and the snow was coming down so that we couldn't get a good shot of the outside.  The castle sits high above the town, so it is very hard to see with a camera, also they had scaffolding around it for repairs, so there was no chance of getting a good picture.  If you want to see a good view of it, click on this link:

http://www.neuschwanstein.de/index.htm

 When we got home from Neuschwanstein it was snowing in Herrsching.  This is the scene we woke up to the next morning.

 Salzberg, Austria is only about 2 hours away from us.  We drove to Salzberg and stayed overnight then the next day explored the old city.  There are a lot of pricey stores and fancy restaurants.  The city is famous for being the home of Mozart.

 Nathan found the "Afro Cafe" and thought it was funny.

Here are the guys on one of the streets in Salzberg.

After walking the town for awhile, we got in the car and drove to Lake Constance, spent the night and then drove through the Black Forest.  The Black Forest is really cool.  I can't wait to go back and spend some time there. In the Black Forest, we visited a cave called Erdmann's Höhe.  This roughly translates to Earth Man's Cave.  Inside this cave were stalactites and stalagmites as well as an underground stream and lake.

In the fall, Bavarians need extra sustenance to make it through the winter, so the bakeries have to make special super fattening pastries to fatten everyone up to make it through the cold days.  This is called a krapfen (yes, we have used this term in many a joke).  It is a light fluffy pastry with a filling, usually jam, cream, or chocolate cream topped with powdered sugar.  It really is good, but I try to stay away.

Nathan and Benny dressed up for Halloween.  The funny thing is that they don't really celebrate it here the way we do in the States.  Most people here have never heard of Trick or Treating.  Benny's mom and I went to our neighbors and gave them candy to pass out when our kids came by to Trick or Treat.  Even so, I don't think it was completely understood.  Nathan came home with some fruit, stickers, and of course, energy tablets.

We had such nice weather in October.  Here I am at dinner on the lake.  

 We went for a hike with some friends to Garmisch.  This is a big ski resort about an hour south of us.  They hosted the winter Olympics in the 1940s and the ski jump is still there.  From here, we took a gondola up to the top and hiked down to a gorge where the water comes rushing though a tiny opening in the rocks.  You walk through a cave along the river and get to see it as if you were in the water.

This is the view at the top of the mountain.  There are the Alps behind.

This picture was taken from the top of the mountain using my panoramic picture app on my phone.  So, picture this view wrapping around about 180 degrees.

Here are Charlie and Nathan at the entrance to the gorge.  The water is really green blue, it is a glacial river and there are certain minerals from the glacier that make it that color.  

The water from the river has to squeeze through this tiny opening in the rocks.  It really gets going fast and it is very loud.

I applied for a position at the Munich International School as the Learning Center Coordinator.  I run the learning center which is there for students who need extra help due to a learning disability, English language skills are lacking, or some kids just move around so much that they have a lot of gaps in their education.  Here is a picture of my school on a snowy day.  This is the junior school, there is also a middle school and a high school.  The administration building is an old castle called Schloss Buchhof.  Nathan will start at the middle school after the Christmas Break.  He is so excited to be in English school again!!!  He has also found a baseball team that he will start in the new year called the Gauting Indians.

Here is my new ride.  I needed something to get me to school and back.  It's only 23 km to school, but the there isn't a good public transportation route.  It was taking me 2 hours to get home from school on the train or 1 hour on the bus.  The bus was a big improvement, but I got car sick every time I rode it.  This is a BMW 118 diesel.  Zippy.

 We decided to make Thanksgiving dinner for some of our German friends to acquaint them with some real American cooking.

You should have seen me in the spice aisle of the grocery store.  Can you guess what these spices are?

 Charlie made his famous apple pie and I made a pumpkin pie.  The German people loved the apple pie (especially the "moisty" part in the middle).  The pumpkin pie did not go over so well.  It is not normal to eat pumpkin as a sweet dish.  And, they do not put nutmeg in sweets.

Our Thanksgiving Table

Christmas in Germany is very popular.  Every town has a ChristkindlMarkt, or Christmas Market.  Our first market was in the small town of Breitbrunn, we went with our friends Dietmar, Michelle, and Jasper.

 Nathan dipped a beeswax candle at the Breitbrunn Christmas market.

 Jasper decorated a Lebkuchen Stern (gingerbread star).  You wear it around your neck like a necklace and eat it when you get hungry.  Those Germans are always worried that you won't get enough to eat to make it through the day.  I can't believe that everyone isn't fat!

It was fun standing around the big fire pits and talking with friends.  We saw several people we knew from our town.

At the Munich Christmas Market Nathan sampled some of the traditional Christmas goodies.  This is a huge marshmallow with a cookie on the bottom covered in white chocolate and chocolate chips.

 Here is a view of the Christmas Market in Munich.

This is a shop shaped like one of those wooden windmills that you see at Christmas time.  You light the candles and the heat rises and makes the windmill spin.  

In Munich there were several areas that had markets.  This one was a Middle Ages Market.

Nathan tried on Medieval hats.

Justin Olivares was in town on business, and was able to spend some time with us.  Justin is an old friend that I met while I was living in Hawaii in the mid-90's, he is from Vancouver and is currently living in Australia with his wife, Christy.  Justin works for Red Bull Energy Drink with headquarters in Salzberg, Austria.

 At the Middle Ages Market, they were serving FeuerZangenBowle.  This translates as fire tongue bowl.  It is hot mulled wine with a sugar cube on the side of the cup.  They pour rum over the sugar and light it on fire.  It was a popular stand.

This stand was selling Christmas ornaments that looked like little fairies flying around.

 Here is another view of the market in Munich.

The Christmas Market in our town was a little more modern.  This is supposed to be an angel and a star.  The angel was a comedian and was doing some magic tricks with the star.  Everyone thought it was a little bit weird.

 For Christmas we decided to go skiing.  It has been pretty warm and rainy recently, so we looked for the highest elevation ski resort we could find.  We found a place called Kühtai, which means cow tail.  In this picture, Nathan is pointing to our hotel in the town below.

 Here we are on the top of the mountain getting ready to take a run from the top to the bottom.

 Charlie and I taking a break on the deck outside our hotel.

 This is one of the views from our drive into Austria.

When we got to our hotel room the first night, we looked out the window and this was our view.  You can see the deck and the ski lift.

Someone had carved the nativity scene into the snow.  It was really a work of art.

In Germany, they open presents on Christmas Eve.  Nathan opened all his presents in the hotel room.  He got a new snowboarding helmet to protect his brains.

Hotel Edelweiss slippers.

Here is the day time shot from our hotel window.

Nathan and Charlie at the top ready to board down.  The snow was pretty good, but a lot more wet than we are used to in Colorado.  

 I couldn't get over the beautiful Alps and we were right at the top of them.

 I took this picture with the panorama option on my iPhone.  This was the view in all directions.

Charlie and Obie relaxing on the deck after a hard day of snowboarding.

Schnitzel und der Blick

Here is a picture of one of our ski passes.  The town of Kühtai has these little cows (küh) all over it.  It's a really funny little advertising deal.

Skiing in Austria is very inexpensive compared to Colorado.  In Colorado, a one day ski pass is about 100 dollars.  In Kühtai, the three of us skied for 88€!!!!  Wow!

Obie went with us, but didn't get to run around too much.  Before we left, he injured his leg and couldn't even put his back, left foot on the ground.  I took him to the vet and he said that his cross ligaments in his knee were pulled.  He gave him anti-inflammatories that he has to take for 10 days and he has to be calm.  The vet said it will take a long time to heal, but if it doesn't get better, he may need surgery.  I would like to avoid that.

On our way home from our Alpine Ski Trip, we drove past the Zugspitze.  This is the tallest mountain in Germany, the "top of Germany" as they call it.  There is a gondola that you can take to the top of the mountain and I hear the views are amazing.  

So, as you can see, we have had an eventful few months.  Charlie got his EU Blaues Karte, the Blue Card Visa for high tech professionals.  This allows us to stay in Germany for as long as Charlie has a work contract and for me to work as well.  It is the best Visa we can get and as some of you know, we were having some trouble getting it because we overstayed our tourist visa.  The government frowns on people overstaying their visa and that put a wrinkle in our plans.  We thought we were going to have to leave Germany for a while and didn't know if we would be able to return.  It all worked out in the end and now we are legal residents of Germany.  Both Charlie and I now have a German driver's license and we are learning to read all the many road signs (there are over 200!).  We are starting to figure things out and although we have had many challenges, I think things are finally starting to get a little easier. 

We are looking forward to doing some traveling in the new year.  In February, we will visit Uli and Renate in Mallorca, Spain and we have a trip planned in July to meet our BFFs from Colorado in Lucca, Italy.  We would love to have you come visit too!