Germany and Super Bowl Weekend :)

February 1st.

Ok so last minute I decided to fly up to Germany to be with Corey for superbowl weekend. I haven't met any Seahawk fans here yet and I had this feeling they were going to win Superbowl...and I wanted to share that experience with my husband! So last minute, Corey's friend Josh's (who is also up in germany) wife also wanted to fly up there- so she contacted me and purchased a ticket on my same flight. The next morning- very early- Hannah and I met on base and took the shuttle to Marco Polo airport in Venice. We arrived in Munich around 10 am, which is a few hours from where the base is. The guys picked us up and we hung out in Munich all day! It was fabulous, loved it! First we saw the "Glockenspiel" which is a giant cuckoo-clock. We arrived just in time to hear it chiming. We thought the people statues in the clock were supposed to move, but they didn't. We just heard music, which was still cool. Then we headed to a restaurant for some lunch because I think it was 12:30 or 1 pm by this time and we were all starving. I ordered schnitzel and Corey ordered some sausages. After that we just walked around. Saw a live performance of a famous song (video of it in my movie :)), and we were in Munich on a day of an anti-war protest (again, I have footage of it) So that was kind of crazy to see. I was standing up on this huge block watching and there was also a woman, assuming shes a newswoman, filming and reporting on the protest. I was surprised to hear her speaking English and only during reporting did she wear this handkerchief on her head. Hmmmm. Not sure why.

Then Corey wanted to go visit some brewery that monks work in. Corey thought it was close to downtown, so we took a train there (see the pic below "snitches get stitches" lol)- we saw that out the train window!  Then the train just stopped (we thought it was just stopping for a minute and would start back up), but after sitting there for about 15 mins we realized it wasn't going any further haha. So we had to walk a little ways to find a taxi. We eventually found the brewery! On our walk up to the brewery we stopped a few times for some photo ops. There were a lot of neat statues and we all know how much I love to take pictures!  We stopped in the souvenir shop and the people there told us the brewery was closed on weekends! what? But the cathedral and restaurant were open. So we bought some trinkets and headed to cathedral first. It was beautiful inside, but all cathedrals in Europe are beautiful I guess. There wasn't a "no flash sign" either so I captured some good pics! After that we headed down to the restaurant for dinner.  I had a huge pretzel and Corey had a big hunk of pork lol and a beer of course! After dinner we took a taxi back to the train, hopped on the train back to downtown Munich where our car was. Then we drove to base which was a few hours away and arrived to our hotel! Nothing fancy because it's on base, but we needed AFN (armed forces network) to watch the Super bowl the next day :)

The next day, Sunday, Corey and I headed to Nuremberg to visit the Zoo and a toy museum. First stop was the zoo, which I absolutely loved. The main reason why it was so cool was because the animals were all very close to us. Most of the fences keeping the animals contained were old and rickety. My favorites were the giraffes, penguins, polar bears and the lion that roared so loud! (i have footage of it:)) I could go on and on about the zoo, but I won't. It was a cool experience seeing which kind of animals they had there and there were a lot! We also went into this rain forest area, which I didn't get great pictures of because my lens kept fogging up haha. But I was able to capture a few good ones and took a video. Again, the animals were in very close reach to us. We spotted a monkey on a tree that was right over our heads! It was pretty cool. We spent a few hours here and I'm very glad I can see that I have been to a zoo in Europe! Woohoo. 

 Ok on to the toy museum. We saw all kinds of toys, dolls, figurines and games. We had a good time exploring and looking at different dolls and toys from the good ol' days- crazy that some of those toys were from the 1800s! It was pretty cool to see what kids played with back in the day. Corey and I were joking a little bit about the doll houses because they were so detailed. Kids would never play with anything like that these days! At the end we bought a few souvenirs and a music box for Grandma Edith. Then it was on to dinner!

Ok for dinner we ate at this cute restaurant that served some American type food, which was nice after eating German food the day before. It was so cute inside and reminded me of something we might see back home. I loved the buddha. I took two pics of it, one with my Nikon and one with my cell phone :) The bartender and waiter were both super nice and helpful with picking out or meals. They both spoke English well which was nice. There was a TV with a "football" game on and one of the commercials we saw was for the Super Bowl! I yelled "Go Hawks" and the waiter knew what I was referring to lol! We told him that our home team from Seattle was playing in the Super Bowl and he could see the excitement coming from us! For appetizers we ordered a platter that had some chicken on skewers, mozzarella sticks, and spring rolls. They were all delicious! Then Corey ordered a burger and I ordered a chicken sandwich (I think). I also had a very yummy cosmo. We had a great time. Then we drove back to our hotel, actually I should correct myself- I drove us back to our hotel because Corey had a huge beer and I didn't want him driving :) So I got to drive on the autobahn! Woohoo! Felt very freeing driving 140 mph. We arrived back to our room and tried to rest and nap a little before the big game! 

Super Bowl!! We rested a bit then woke up right when they were singing the National Anthem- phew! Then Josh and Hannah joined us in our room to watch it together. I brought Lynch skittles with me in my suitcase :) Blue and green baby- all the way! We threw on our jerseys and were ready to go!! 

 NUMBER ONE!! Oh yeah we are the CHAMPIONS! Feels sooooo good too! Go HAWKS!!

The next day I decided to wear my Hawks outfit on the plane- gotta represent the best team!!

And here is the video on our way to the airport :)

Skiing in Falcade

January 18th.

 

Well I'm happy to announce I have now skied in Italy!! Its kind of funny because it didn't feel any different than skiing in WA. Even the drive up to the mountain felt so similar. Windy roads, beautiful green trees, and mountain ranges. We left on Saturday about 1 pm and arrived up to the hotel in Falcade around 4:15. A few of Corey's friends had rented a 2 bedroom apartment so we drove up just for one night. On Saturday we just hung out and Corey and I drove down into town to find some food. Italian restaurants are open at weird times. They were all closed until 7 and then they would only serve dinner until 8:15 or 8:30. I'm still getting used to figuring out what time and days things are open or closed. For example, almost everything is closed on Sundays and during the week a lot of restaurants are closed during the day and don't open until after 6 pm. So if you're out shopping and want to eat about 3 or 4 pm, you're out of luck!  Ok so anyway, we found a little café that was open- it was about 5 pm- we both ordered a Panini and gelato :)

 

 

First a picture by the hotel sign on our way to the café.

 

Then some pictures of our gelato. Corey got some spaghetti gelato- no it doesn't taste like spaghetti ;) They just squeeze it thru a pasta machine thing to shape it like spaghetti. And I got regular caramel gelato. It was yummy!

 

My new snowman friend outside the café :)

Then we went back to the hotel, met up with our friends and walked across the street for dinner when they opened at 7. We had some ok food- not the best, but I have yet to find good pasta in this country and of course there was a lot of wine involved, as usual. I was the only one not drinking wine out of 6 people, but I did have some vodka sodas :) Then we just went back to the hotel and headed to bed so we could wake up at 8 for free breakfast.

January 19th

On our way to go rent ski/snowboard equipment and hit the slopes!

 

 

 

Our first time on the mountain together. Here we are on the ski lift for the first time of the day.

 

Here you can see how difficult it was for us to see. It snowed most of the day which caused our goggles to fog up quite a bit, which in turn made it difficult to see where we were going. Not the best weather conditions for skiing. The last few times I've gone skiing, it has been a clear sunny day, which I prefer :) So we didn't stay out too long plus it was only Corey's second time snowboarding and he was getting tired of falling -poor guy. I didn't fall once though :) I also don't do anything crazy or try to fly down the mountain. I'm a pretty cautious skier.

 

One more of us on the ski lift! This was towards the end of the day when the snow really picked up. We were getting covered just on the lift on the way up to the top.  We also did the bunny slope 3 times which doesn't have a lift- its a rope tow. You just put this disc thing that's attached to a rope on a pully between your legs and it pulls you up the mountain. It was pretty handy!

Last but not least, some pictures I took with my Nikon camera for my photography class I'm taking.

 

 

And here is the video to recap our ski trip :)

 

 

(P.S. I know I blink a lot when I record myself lol. No idea why so don't judge :) )

 

 



Overall we had a pretty good time. Didn't get injured and left with smiles on our faces. The scenery was really beautiful on our way home. I just love all the trees with snow on them. And it really does remind me of driving to Eastern Washington. Oh makes me miss home. We got home in time to make dinner, take naps, then we watched the Hawks dominate the 49rs = Super Bowl bound!! I'm so excited for my home team and so wish I could watch that game with family and friends. But what a great experience to get to watch it with new friends here in Italy. Corey will be up in Germany so we can't even watch it together, which is a huge bummer. Oh well, that's the military life for ya!

My first movie!!

Ok here is the movie I talked a bit about in my first post. I've been filming little videos here and there since I was on my way to the airport. The ones on the plane are quite boring and dark, but I still wanted to update on Rockford and how he was handling the flight. To my surprise he did great. The movie would've been way more interesting if he did something crazy, like escape his "duffle" bag or have an accident. But he behaved himself and barely made a peep. Corey makes fun of me every time I get my phone out to video something, but I think he secretly thinks its cool. I keep telling him we'll be happy to have footage when we're old. Another piece of proof I think he secretly likes it is one time he actually reminded me to take video of something. I cant remember what it was, but it happened! Anyway, here is some footage of Italy. There are a couple interesting things in the movie- a Christmas market, a castle, our trip to Florence and Rockford's first time outside (hehe). ENJOY!!!

 

 

 

 

True facts about Italy and Italians

Ok here are some random facts that I've noticed that makes Italy different than the US.

1. They drive fast. And no one cares. And I have not seen one car pulled over by a cop, nor have I seen any cops out and about. They do have speed traps though- boxes on the side of the road that record your speed and take a picture if you're speeding. And you will get that ticket in the mail!
2. Italians are way better drivers than Americans and they know how to follow the laws of the freeway- get your ass in the right lane if you're going to drive slow.
3. There's not much traffic thanks to numerous roundabouts that keep the cars moving. There's  not very many traffic lights either.
4. I also have not seen many car accidents- maybe 2 so far.
5. You cannot make free right hand turns. That's a hard rule to remember!

Ok enough about cars, traffic and drivers

     6.  They love wine. Of course.
     7.  They love naps- every day from about 12-1530 they "celebrate" riposo, which means "rest".  
          Everything closes during those hours. Its pretty inconvenient.
     8.  At the Italian grocery stores- there is an aisle that's dedicated to just crackers, breads and
          cookies- the whole aisle- shelves upon shelves of just carbs.
     9.  Italian houses do not have carpet
    10. Refrigerators are small because they buy a lot of food fresh for that day. They don't store a    
          bunch of leftovers like Americans
    11. The water is very hard. Dishwashers require special dishwasher salt that you have to pour in
          every few weeks depending on how often you run the dishwasher.
    12.  Most Italian houses do not have closets.  We got lucky with one small closet in our bedroom
    13.  Some public restrooms including ones at restaurants don't have an actual toilet in their
           bathrooms. The "toilet" is a hole in the ground that you have to squat over. It's super  
           uncomfortable and weird. But it does flush- so I guess that's a plus.
    14.  Speaking of bathrooms- some public bathrooms. especially in touristy cities, charge you to use
           it- like a couple euros I think. So be thankful for free toilets back home!
    15.  Yes there are bidets everywhere and yes we have 2 in our house as well. I won't disclose if I've
            used it or not.
    16.  Back to the grocery stores- they don't have huge shopping carts like us. Most of them have
           these baskets on wheels that you pull around. They don't do bulk shopping so they don't need
           huge carts.
    17.  There are several milk station hut type things where you can get fresh pasteurized or
           unpasteurized milk. Some you have to buy the glass bottle and then buy the milk, and some
           have bottled milk ready to go. The pre-bottles ones are pasteurized. Pretty cool.
    18. Parking spaces are teeny tiny- everywhere. If you have an SUV you are screwed. Most people
         drive teeny tiny cars here anyway.
    19. Dogs are everywhere...streets, restaurants, stores, malls...its quite strange going out to dinner to
          a nice Chinese restaurant and the people next to you have a dog at their table :/
    20. Nobody wears helmets when riding a bike....no one. And they drive so close to the cars on the
          street, I'm surprised I haven't seen any get hit yet. Its so scary!

Ok that's all I have for now.