Random

These are more photos that didn't make the cut because I already had so many to share. They also touch more on what we saw on the way, rather than the actual destination.

Here is the drive down from the castle. This photo doesn't really capture it in all it's beauty, but with the sun glimmering across the long and thin trees, it looks like an old school picture film. 

Of course I look silly in this photo, but it's the only one we have of the restaurant that is on the left of the castle. Everything fits in so nicely around it I thought it was pretty cool. On the right, those are the steps to enter. 

Cute German town we passed through to get to the castle. Some buildings are modern, some are  old, but everything is cool. 

This is probably my favorite photo of the day. Not sure why still, but it moves me. The greenery and the hills of trees and the house all alone- it breathes peace into my heart. :)

Aside from all the peace I had with the castle, the soccer games were the heart-racing. I took some videos with my phone of the Mainz game and turned up with some cool stuff. Enjoy! 

This was such a lucky video! I accidentally caught Mainz scoring a goal. :) So proud! 

This is a bit of the cheering that ensued. 

Hello February!

It’s kind of nice now that things have fallen into a pattern. Days are always cold, and sometimes the sun lights up these tree-filled skies so much that it’s like being home again. We’ve even gone out these past few weekends. The first weekend we got our car, we went to Ikea. It was super fun, but everything is still just as confusing as it is at home. We picked out some couches we liked and a table set for the kitchen, buying them in time! Even though we went to “just look”, we walked out with a mini outdoor table and chairs to match, a kitchen rug, a letter tray, and other miscellaneous kitchen tools that just looked cool. Next to Ikea was the most regal looking McDonald’s I’ve ever seen, and I’m still upset that I didn’t take a picture before we left! It’s only 20 minutes away, so next time I guess. 
The entire weekend of the 29th we were all soccer. On Saturday we went to the local team’s game in Wiesbaden. The stadium is down the street from where we live, so luckily we didn’t have to worry about parking. They lost that game, 3-1 and the away fans were ecstatic. They left in quite a fashion in the 30 degree weather as well: in a conga line, without shirts, chanting the whole way out. The game was energetic and fun to watch, but pretty cold. Matt loved the game so much he decided we should watch Mainz play the next day at their stadium for the first match of the season. That game was better all around minus weather and location. It was crazy how packed it was, and the cheering was insane. I’ve never seen so many fans (anywhere), that into their team. All over Europe it’s supposed to be like that, but my mind is blown. Mainz won 3-1 and the fans loved every minute! The weather was awful, and the arena was in the middle of a field so it was a fun mile walk to the car, in the dark, in the cold.  Besides the awfulness of my face and fingers feeling like they were going to fall off, Matt and I bought scarves of the home team at each game. 
The weekend following the soccer games we ventured out to see my first castle. Since Matt found all the details for the soccer games, it was up to me to find a castle, which sounds easy, but isn’t. They are everywhere, but driving to a specific one that you didn’t know the name of was difficult so Katie let me know where she and Jon went, and that’s where we found ourselves. Castle Auerbach was about 45 minutes away, but with Matt’s driving on a sunny day it took us a little over 30 minutes. We drove though a tiny German town to get to the castle, and it was very clean. At one point we passed some construction and saw something totally unimportant but awesome. There was construction going on in the area, and instead of having stop signs out, or a man flagging traffic, they had a mini stoplight! So cool and so German! Don’t make fun of me guys, if you were there you would have seen the awesomeness of it all!
Not much else to report yet. We still haven’t gotten our stuff from home which is a bummer. As I’m writing this, it’s beginning to snow out, which feel appropriate after all that sun we had (cold, but it was sunny).  Every week I can feel myself adjusting just one teensy bit more than the last, so that's good news. I still miss everyone at home, but I'm starting to call the apartment home too. Can people have two homes? Genuine homes? I still get intimidated to be out on the economy too much, not knowing German or common courtesy here has me feeling insecure about anything I say or do. Matt says that it's a part of traveling, sometimes you make mistakes, but as long as you try that's all that matters. My take is that I don't want to be judged anymore than I already am just for being American. Not that they dislike us here, but it's pretty blatant that I don't fit it. Still, I trudge ahead bracing myself to look like a fool countless times before I feel at ease all the time in public. Strange how the safety of iron gates and an entire housing community can make you feel like you never left...sometimes. Besides my Negative Nancy attitude about immersing myself, there are perks still to being here. The most important news obviously would have to be that we are getting our puppy this Friday! Yayy! A blog should come out in the next two weeks welcoming her to all of you! Until then, I hope all is well & let me know if there is anything else you would like to know about <3

Pictures for February.

These are some of the photo's we've been taking. Some are from my phone, others from our camera. 

This is the local soccer game we went to that's down the street from our apartment. Notice how the stands are still kinda bare?

 I wasn't joking about the Mainz team playing in the middle of the fields. Mud and all, we walked the whole way there through this stuff!

 This was inside of the stadium, if it can give you any idea as to how large it was. 

It was pretty awesome to sit this close, but Matt was dying to be in the standing area... I refused to stand in the 20 degree weather in the middle of Germany. :)

Our tickets in!

This was the weekend after the soccer games, and this awesome portable stoplight!!! :D

Entrance to Castle Auerbach. We actually drove through some pretty cool roads to get up here too. 

Matt the dutiful Cameraman of the day. =]

This is what he was taking a picture of. 

 Stairs of death. They were really steep and really close together. Not so great for someone afraid of heights.

 View from the top tower.

 My view from the highest point I would go. :D

  

The construction of this guy started around 1222. "The castle was originally built by King Charlemagne, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire" (Wikipedia). 

Hahah this was awesome, because it got stuck after we took this picture. Muahahha! 

Not uncommon. Please notice where my head is.

Hahahah. Now look where Matt's head is. Bean stalk! 

Queen of the castle!

Scary part we weren't allowed to enter. Not for lack of trying though!  

Just getting some exercise in. Rock climbing... no biggie. lol

This well terrified me. It's not only monstrous and has a large grate, but you can't even see the bottom! 

Remember what I said about those stairs? 

 Matt took these because I was too chicken to go up to the stone steps. 

Paid off for him though, this view looks majestic!

You can see the other side of the town through all the fog on the left side! 

The last look of  Castle Auerbach, before Matt's climb back down to rescue me from the stairs.