Last Days

I have made it back home from my 30 day trip around the world.  Although I had a wonderful time, it has been slightly challenging transitioning back to the time change and the culture/life here in the Midwest.  But now that I am home, I should inform you about my last few days in Germany and finally get some pictures on my blog.

On Monday, Maria, her sister (Kathi), and myself traveled by train to Innsbrook, Austria.  Innsbrook. Is located in a valley and surrounded on all sides by mountains.  We enjoyed wondering around the city and I was amazed by the beauty of the city.  The buildings were very traditional, but many were different muted colors which made the city seem bright and lively.  While we were there, we also did a little shopping at different stores.  I was able to find some ornaments for my "travel the world" Christmas tree.  We had a ton of fun walking around the river and seeing the city, but were quite saddened when it began to rain outside. Although this cut our trip a little shorter than we wanted,  we were able to find a nice ice cream parlor where we sat down an enjoyed a nice caramel sundae before catching the train back to Germany.

Tuesday, we traveled to castle, Neuschwanstein to be exact.  The castle was built in 1868 by Germany's king Ludwig II.  Although the castle was never completed because the king died unexpectedly, it was beautifully decorated and ahead of its time.  The castle contained a modern telephone for its time and a flushing toilet.  We had a lot of fun touring the castle and learning about the castle.  After spending some time at the castle, we decided it was time to head home.  Maria invited a couple friends over and made homemade pancakes for everyone.  Although it took some failed trails before they mastered the technique, we finally got it figured out.  It was a great bonding experience and we enjoyed working together to make the meal.

Wednesday, my last day in Germany, Maria and a couple of friends and myself traveled to Munich for the day.  We saw were Maria goes to school and an open market that is open every day.  I think I have a love for open markets.  They are so interesting and full of life.  I enjoy knowing everything is fresh and home grown.  I think I could easily get use to shopping at an open market.  We enjoyed some time in a park before we headed to Germany's past Olympic stadium.  That was nice to see and we traveled up to the top of a building where we could see all of Munich.  It was quite the sight to see, especially with the sun setting in the background.  It was a great way to end the day and an excellent way to end my stay in Germany.

Fun in Frankfurt

This past weekend Maria and I took the train to visit Julia Heizinger, a foreign exchange student that stayed with my family when I was in the third grade.  We left Schledorf about 4:00 p.m. and arrived in Frankfurt about 9:00 p.m. on Friday evening.  Julia picked us up at the train station and asked if we were up to seeing some of Frankfurt's night life.  Of course we were up for doing some exploring around Frankfurt after sitting for about five hours.  We were given two options:  we could look around at a carnival that was going around or we could go to a more traditional place.  I decided it would be nice to see a more traditional place, so we went to an outdoor café called the Painted House.  Julia helped us to decided what to order, so we tried a traditional drink called Apfelwein (apple wine) and we ate a green herb sauce with potatoes.  Both were very good and we enjoyed the beautiful weather outside.  After finishing our traditional meal, we headed back to Julia's parent's house where we would spend the next day and a half.  We were able to meet Julia's mother and sister before we called it a night.

On Saturday, we made our way to Mainz, the town in which Julia is currently living.  We walked through the old town and were able to see a couple churches, but my favorite part of Mainz was the open market.  I guess I must love the idea of going to a market outdoors on Saturday morning to buy fresh fruits, vegetables, and cheeses for the week.  I truly wish this was a bigger concept in the United States.  After spending some time in Mainz, we sat down for a nice lunch at a café and took a short break from walking around.  Once we had our fill, we made our way to Frankfurt which was about 20 minute drive from Mainz.  In Frankfurt, we explored a portion of the pedestrian area and walked through part of the carnival we had seen going on the last night. There were so many people in Frankfurt today!  It was almost difficult to get through the crowds.  In Frankfurt we visited another church, a bridge where many married couples attach a lock and throw the key into the river, and the opera house.  There is so much to see in Frankfurt even though it is mainly known for its many banks.  I wish we would have more time here than one weekend.  After seeing a few of the many sites, we returned to Julia's house to prepare for a BBQ her family was having that night in celebration that her sister is home from the USA.  Julia's sister invited a few friends and and her parents had a couple co-works over.  We ate so much delicious food and one of Julia's sister's friends stopped to pick up ice cream at a local ice cream parlor before stopping over.  It was probably the best ice cream I have ever had in my life.  I had three different flavors: pistachio, snickers, and my favorite one a was a cherry flavored ice cream.  We had so much fun sitting around and chatting over the food.  It was a great night that went into the early hours of the morning.

After getting two and a half hours of sleep it was time to wake up and get ready to take the train back to Maria's home town.  It was of course sad to say good bye to Julia, but it had been a great weekend where many wonderful memories were created.  A big thank you goes out to Julia and her family for making this weekend to memorable.  

Made it to My Final Destination!

So I have made it to Germany to visit Maria and her family.  I arrived in Munich around 9:15 on Wednesday morning.  On Wednesday and Thursday, we spent our days lounging by Kochelsee, which is a beautiful lake located close to Maria's town of Schledorf.  The lake was absolutely beautiful.  The water is so clear and a bright blue-green color.  It is surrounded by mountains, which makes it seem remote and relaxing.  On wednesday we drove to a relaxing location on the beach, but on Thursday we rented a boat.  Let me just start by saying row boats scare me just a little bit.  I suppose it is because I have had numerous bad experiences with row boats or canoes flipping over while I am sitting in them.  Luckily this time we made it to our destination and back without tipping the boat over.  It is nice to catch up with Maria and have some relaxation time before I have to head back to the States.

Sorry that this is such a short post, but I am preparing to leave for Frankfurt to visit Julia Heizinger for a day so be sure to check back to see what experiences I have had in Frankfurt!  Have a great weekend!

The Dreaded Good Bye

Well now that I have come to the end of my trip in Singapore, I suppose it is time to write what I have done the last few days while I was there.  

On Monday, I travelled to the civic district of Singapore where all the government buildings are located.  Little did we knew they were doing a lot of construction in this area.  I guess when you need to remodel one government build, why not do them all.  As I was on the tour provided by my trusty guide book, I keeps reading about the buildings, but found it very unfortunate that a could not see a single thing they were describing.  My luck eventually turned around when I got about a quarter of a mile into the mile and a half tour.  Singapore has a very nice Asian Civilization Museum that is located in the civic district area.  I was extremely impressed with this museum.  It had everything from Islamic art and architecture to different things from Asian cultures and religions.  Everything was beautifully displayed and usually had a nice description about the piece.  I spent a large portion of my afternoon in this museum before continuing in the tour.  The guide book lead me past Singapore's fire station and a few churches before ending the tour at the famous Raffles Hotel.  The hotel contained many shops and restaurants that are open to the public as well.  The hotel was huge and the entrance reminded me of the White House.  Once I had finished looking around the the hotel, I grabbed a bite to eat and took a taxi to the Singapore Flyer.  The flyer is the largest Ferris wheels in the world.  I entered an enclosed cab that traveled around the wheel that reached a height of 541 feet.  I was able to see so much of Singapore. I enjoyed seeing the Marina Bay and looking into the ocean where hundreds of ships and tankers sat.  After the 30 minute ride on the flyer, Urs and Rachel picked me up before heading to Sentosa, which is an island that has become a great attraction for Singapore.  We sat down for a nice meal at one of clubs Urs and Rachel are members of before we headed down to the beach to see a water show.  It was call Songs of the Sea.  The music was great and they did everything from water displays to fireworks.  It was a nice way to end the night.  Before we could leave Sentosa though, we had  to visit the Merlion, the symbol of Singapore.  The Merlion was lite up with different colored lights and we were able to take some great pictures him.  We all had an amazing time, but it was time to go to bed because another big day was just around the corner.

On Tuesday, my last day in Singapore, Jean and I went to the Singapore zoo.  Wow was that a lot of walking, but we saw so many different animals.  Jean and I enjoyed our close encounters with the monkeys and seeing them hang from the trees.  We walked through the entire zoo and saw almost every animal they had.  We had so much fun and I am glad Jean could join me on this excursion.  After the zoo, we made one last stop at Lucky Plaza on Orchard Road, one of the first places I visited, because Jean had to run a few errands and I wanted to buy an I Love Singapore t-shirt.  Once we meet back up, we traveled back to Urs and Rachel's house so I could finish packing and get ready for my 12.5 hour flight to Germany.  Jean made us supper and we took a few last pictures, but then it was time to say good bye.  I had to say good bye to Rachel first because my suitcase took up to much space that we all could not fit in the car.  When we got to the airport I had to say the final good bye to Urs.  I just couldn't believe that the two weeks had gone so fast. Why do good bye's have to be so challenging?  I hope I will be able to visit Singapore again soon.