Seeing the Light (a post long overdue)

It’s been close to two months since I’ve touched the keyboard. I’m sorry in advance for my negligence. If anything, you can blame Nikki for fully distracting me on catching everyone up! Since I’ve written last, I’ve actually done a lot. Matt and Sabine are doing well, same old same old, Matt works forever and Sabine is still all tails and ears.

I’ve recently gotten a chance to meet and hang out with all my neighbors and it makes being away almost forgotten. They are all really sweet people and I’m thankful that they have touched my life however briefly. Since the weather has been sunny and beautiful, everyone has been our gardening a lot or bringing out their pups, so we congregate and talk dogs and life around housing. Not only have I got a dog pack, my upstairs neighbors came back from visiting home and we recently had dinner with them and their adorable and sweet little boy. I held him, and I totally asked to do it- that’s how cute he is. J  Anywho, that’s the daily life, but it was all stirred up a few weeks ago when one of my dearest friends came out to visit me.

Nikki came at no better time than April 6^th, a drizzly Friday morning where she kept me waiting desperately to see her. For those of you that don’t know Nikki, we met at Starbucks and haven’t quit our friendship even though I left the country. She has been an incredible friend to me since I’ve left, always staying up to talk to me, or on her breaks at work. While she was here she shed a lot of light on what a desirable place Germany can be. Some of the stuff we did together was experienced for the first time by both of us. 

The first night we went out was Saturday, we went to Frankfurt in search of a carnival that was happening that Katie told me about before. With my amazing navigation skills I managed to get Matt lost three times in about 20 minutes, and then I handed the GPS to Nikki. Once we found the place we parked and saw that it was very similar to the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton. It was all lights and noises with the black clear backdrop of the sky as we walked in from our (very far away), car.

We walked in and of course everything was in German. We saw normal stands for food, and instead of popcorn and cotton candy they had these awesome flavored nuts stands. There were also random clothing shops and random huge Easter eggs for the holiday. The best part of the entire experience was this huge tower ride themed after Salvador Dali. Nikki and I are both wimps with anything scary, so Matt led us through it all. Once you got through it all there was a bar at the top where you could hang out and get drinks, which was pretty awesome and a cool place to see the entire carnival. This is a picture of Nikk and I before we entered the scariness of it all, with our super cool 3-D glasses. 

On Sunday we celebrated Easter with a group of our friends here at a barbecue! Nothing too exciting happened but Nikki got to meet all of Matt's coworkers and see some of the grassy area's and playgrounds around here. 

Monday, after Matt got off of work, we drove to Heidelberg. It's a city about an hour away, but well worth the trip for the huge castle we saw. Since everything is in German, I'm going to assume they did a lot of apothecary work back in the day based off the museum dedicated to that particular medicine. The town was almost all cobblestone, and kept pretty classic with it's architecture. We stopped for lunch and then trekked up a very steep entryway to the castle. 

The castle itself was astonishing. I can't really describe how awesome it was without showing you all the pictures, but the beauty was captivating. The idea that it was built so long ago when most pieces were done by hand amazes me. Not only those things, but it's sheer size was overwhelming. 

On Wednesday we did a bunch of stuff. In the morning we went to the local farmers market, and then in the afternoon we went to Rudesheim. We went to Rudesheim the day before but all the stuff we wanted to see and do was closed for the day, so we went back on Matt's day off. Once in Rudesheim we rode the gondola through some vineyards and saw a large monument that was sadly under construction.

Nikki and I in the Gondola over Rudesheim...it was very windy!

View from the Gondola 

Once at the top of the Gondola, there was this temple/gazebo thing that had an amazing view of the city! Nikki and I are checking out the view here just outside of the gazebo.

For those of you who don't know me as well, I love trees, and this was the walkway we could have taken if it wasn't raining.

My friend is so artsy! 

Shortly after this trip, Nikki and I got on a plane to London to meet up with our fellow (ex)barista's. Yes, we are aware of how lucky we are that we had such an amazing opportunity. We got onto RyanAir, which is similar to Southwest but cheaper, and flew out for two and a half days of awesome with a couple of sweet sisters (Steph & Julie). On top of getting the chance to meet our old friends halfway across the world, we got to meet some new friends as well. See, Steph had been studying abroad in Edinburough and while there, made some friends that she planned a trip to London with. Nikki and I were fortunate enough to crash their trip and stay in this AMAZING flat with all 7 girls. Looking back on it, we did and saw sooo much in such a short amount of time. 

This is where I slept. :) Bottom left bunk in the picture. 

Nikki + Big Ben

These are the girls we also met up with! Leah, Kelley and Alex. 

First time I have seen the London Eye. Even though it's scary high (443ft), I promised Matt I would go on this for him....

As of right now, this is my favorite building in the entire world. 

The attention to detail is amazing.

Rain gutters!

<3 Some Julie time!

Streets.

Lol.

I like the guys in uniform I guess?

How come everywhere doesn't have street lights like this?!

Hello, I'm a tourist!

Nikki!

We went to Trafalgar Square and there was a free concert going on! It was freaking awesome! Also, packed.

Street performance.

So lucky to see such cool streets!

Yes, this is happening right now.

No, I'm not ashamed of it. :)

I'M GOING TO HOGWARTS!

So is STEPH!

Hopefully Nikki can get in! lol

Did I mention I'm afraid of heights?

I think the view might have been worth it.

Me, pretending to be fearless.

Nikki, enjoying herself.

Steph, totally fearless.

My real feelings.

:D

Realistically, how safe is this structure? I mean, it looks like an Easter Egg ready to be dropped to it's DOOM.

This might have made up for my irrational fear. 

Totally conquered it.

These gardens were so colorful and plenty that I wouldn't be surprised if it was all plastic! 

No big deal.

I took this for Sabine. <3

This was across a small park from the US Embassy. It is a memorial to all of those who died in 9/11. It caught me off guard, and by the time I had a chance to get close and personal, I left in tears. Also, I'm extremely proud of my husband for choosing to fight for his country. 

Because why not??

This was a once in a lifetime kinda trip and was worth all the packing, weird food, and plane rides. I still have more pictures that I will put up on Facebook at some point, but this is a brief overview of my time in London and my short time with Nikki visiting me. <3