Annie and TJ in Roma!

Rome is so much more than what you would think, and different than you would think. First it is incredibly easy to get around on foot, and you hear Italian, but you do not need to know it. In fact, most of the people that we came into contact with were Americans. All in all we had a wonderful experience there in spite of the unseasonable rain (but you know where ever I go I will bring unlikely weather with me).
We left early Thursday morning, because we flew Ryan Air out of Frankfurt Hahn. For those of you who don't know, Ryan Air is a discount carrier that flys in and out of small airports around Europe. And I mean discount. For TJ and I to fly round trip to Rome it was 130 EUR for both of us. Great deal! Any way we got to Rome around 9 am and took a bus from the airport to the main train station in Rome. This was the downfall of our experience as it took an hour and 10 minutes to get to the station. It really isn't that far...but traffic is a nightmare...you couldn't pay me to drive in Rome! The upside is the public train system that goes through the city. It is cheap and extremely easy to get around. We stayed right off Barberini Piazza in the heart of Eternal Rome, and lucky for us there is a stop there. Our hotel was fabulous, and the location was perfect! I would recommend it to anyone. We stayed at Hotel Ottocento right off Via Sistina. It is a small, sweet hotel that was very clean with amazing staff...and moderately priced.
Lets get to the food...It is very hard to find a bad meal in Rome, and even harder to find bad wine, TJ and I spent at least two hours a night at dinner and then always went for a drink elsewhere afterwards. We stayed in the Roman theme and ate Italien every day and night. FYI, the best pizza is at Pizza Ciro, the best lasagna is at Ciao Bella, and the best Ravioli (and service) is at a tiny restaurant around the corner from our hotel.
We took a tour of Imperial Rome (ruins, etc.) on Thursday afternoon, spent the day in Eternal Rome on Friday (and did a little shopping), and then took a tour of the Vatican on Saturday. It was a great experience! So for the next three days I will blog and put up pictures of each of our three days. For now I will leave you with some pictures we took Saturday afternoon of the city from the capital area.

A view of the skyline from downtown... The old market ruins...

Some ruins...

Skyline with the Colosseum...

More skyline...

The old city...

And one of many sculptures with the Castel Saint Angelo and the Tiber River as a back drop...

Thats all for today, Auf Wiedersehen!

Its Finally Over!

Yes of course, I am referring to my 8 week intensive German language program. Today is the day I get my life back! Of course I am not done completely with the language, but I will be thrilled to have a private tutor with more time to absorb the knowledge. The best part...no more 4.5 hours of class and then another 2 of hausaufgabe (homework). I now have at least 6.5 hours of more time. The first thing on my list would be a long intensive workout at my local Pfitzenmeier. I also am going to give the pumpkin pie baking another chance so TJ can take it to work and share with the Germans. The house is in need of a serious cleaning, and there is always MBA homework, but most importantly we have to get ready for Italy in a day and a half. Yep, for those of you who have forgotten, TJ and will be spending our non-holiday of Thanksgiving in Rome. I am finalizing our tours today and getting the skinny on public transportation there so we don't get ripped by the taxis.
Tomorrow will be the last day of blogging for the week as we will be very busy the rest. Tomorrow's blog will be a guest blog from my hubby. He got a new set of wheels, and there is no one better than...not me...to explain how fun it is to drive a high performance vehicle on a limitless autobahn. I will be back on Monday with fabulous pictures and experiences from our "Roman Holiday"!
Auf Wiedersehen!

Weekend Update

Even though we didn't travel this weekend, it seems as though we did an awful lot. Of course our camera battery died so unfortunately I have not a picture for you to see all the fun we had. Lets rewind to Thursday for the pumpkin pie fiasco of 2008. So I know I have complained incessantly about my oven, but having to cook a pie for two and a half hours is beyond me. I didn't want to mess the pie up, so I did a little online research...which apparrently turned out to be false. Before you cook a pumpkin pie in a convection oven, please consult with me first. It actually turned out to be very good (thank God) for the ex-pat Thanksgiving on Friday night. It was great to get together with other Americans for a traditional meal in a far away land. We started with pumpkin soup (fabulous) and then had your basic turkey, beans, corn, potatoes and gravy. I didn't include stuffing as what was served was not really stuffing. It was more like a sausage meatloaf, according to TJ. I of course, after hearing that did not test the taste buds. Post Thanksgiving we went to downtown Schwetzingen for a night cap with two other couples.
Saturday didn't start well as I woke up to a dusting of snow. I swear Mother Nature follows me around every place I go to hand me the worst winter in years to each place. Last year in Iowa it was claimed to be the worst winter since 1978 (yep, the year I was born), and now we have snow in Mannheim in November. My apologies, Germany. Other than that it was filled with paper writing as my final paper for my current class was due today, and then we went to a party at one TJ's co-worker's flat. That was interesting as we were the only Americans, but thankfully most spoke English. We had a lot of fun with three couples mainly as they were the ones that we went to the Discothek with. Yep, my very first experience in a German Discothek! It might interest all of you to know that aside from the smoke and speaking German to bartenders...it was exactly like a bar in the US. I would say the one we were at, Soho, was a lot like Brothers in Iowa City except maybe a little darker, but pretty much the same environment and the same music. It was fun and I will do it again. The only thing that was missing was my girlfriends...miss you guys!
Sunday was perfect. We layed around! That's all from here...Auf Wiedersehen!

Self-Boarding Video of TJ

Self-video of TJ shredding
Originally uploaded by How I Roll

On all of the snowboarding videos that we have seen, someone always does a self-video. So TJ thought it would be great to do one of himself. What he didn't realize was that he was about to hit a very dangerous area...the slope became uber steep and icy. I think he did great, and the point of view shows you just how fast he was going!
Auf Wiedersehen

Snowboarding Under the Matterhorn

Switzerland
Originally uploaded by How I Roll

Of course I am NOT a dare devil, and relatively new to the sport. Here is a great clip that TJ took of me...not for the boarding...but how I didn't even notice the monsterous site behind me! Enjoy.
Auf Wiedersehen!

Snowboarding

The ski and snowboarding runs were beautiful and wide open. Of course, we were in a dead zone so there were no trees to contend with. The views were surprising and unbelievable...it was hard not to be enchanted by the scenary, that is unless you spent most of your time tumbling. But we will get to that a little later.
I mentioned yesterday that it was a huge production to get up there. We got to the lift and took a gondola to another station, and then from there took a cable bus that lifted us and 123 of our other closest friends to which ever mountain chosen. By the time we got up to the ski area we were starving! So our first stop was the cafeteria. It was surprisingly warm, so we opted for the outdoors and view of the Matterhorn. Here is a peak...

Below is a picture of the open runs. It is all electronic and you can shoose which areas you want to take the lift to. There are so many!

TJ got a great photo while taking a lift. The runs are very, very long and extremely wide...and steep...very steep.

Behing the mountain we were on we saw some more runs below. Without trees you can see forever!

So at the top of the first lift we took, we turned around to find the most amazing views of the Swiss Alps. These are my favorite pictures.

And another one...

And another. We were extremely lucky to have clear blue skies for the best photos

Like I said before, the runs are wide and long, and very well groomed. There is a large amount of powder on each side of the runs and you can go off and carve through it. No body goes really far as their are giant rocks in the midst of them, covered with snow.

TJ is a very good snowboarder and very comfortable on most slopes. As for me...not so much. I really like it and strive to be better, but I am just not there yet as this is my 7th or 8th time. Okay so TJ gracefully motored down the slopes and then waited for me as I cautiously made it down to him. It is safe to say that I was out of my league! It was still fun though, and the conditions were good...warm without wind. Here is a picture of my favorite boarder with the Matterhorn behind him.

And then a pix of us together. Please excuse my giant goggles, they were TJs from last year and mine are MIA.

I wanted to put up some boarding videos of the two of us, but I am going to have to upload them over night because they are so big. Look for them tomorrow!

Auf Wiedersehen!

Zermatt, Switzerland

After hearing the disappointing news about not being able to snowboard we decided to head up to the glacier and the town of Zermatt where people ski most of the year. We had no idea what a production it would be to get there from where we were. It was nearly 80 km to get there but it took far longer than 40 minutes. We had to drive through the Alps (PS it was awesome) to a town called Tasch. This was the last destination you could drive to as you can only get to Zermatt by rail, that would be cognell rail. We parked at the Bahn Terminal, grabbed our gear and headed up. After a slow climb of about 20 minutes, we reached an altitude 1620 meters (or 5314 feet) to Zermatt. The town is so cute and has gorgeous views! Here is a look at the town and its views as we made our way to the lift area...
I mentioned that you cannot get there by car, and there are no cars in the streets besides these all-utility vehicles that look only big enough for someone the size of an Umpah-Loompah. These include hotel shuttles, taxis, and a bus.

And the shops were adorable and extremely expensive!

This area was a small square with a fountain in the middle and hotels and a church that surround it. I promise, there is not a bad view!

The hotel on the left is very charming...and I assume super expensive. I think it is the largest one named as a hotel rather than a Guest Haus like most German places.

Through some of the tiny streets we found these homes. They look like they are crumbling, but are not at all. TJ noticed that the exterior is sided with railroad ties that have been weathered over the years. I saw inside a window and the interiors appear to be updated.

Of course Zermatt would have a babbling mountain brook...

But the best view of Zermatt came from a run high above. TJ caught this one as he was waiting for me to make it down to catch up with him. we basically stared at it with our mouths open...we were not the only ones! FYI, the picture is no where near the way the town looks in person...it looked almost golden!

And then we have the majestic peak of the Matterhorn. It is far more impressive in person standing 4478 meters (14,691 feet) high as the highest peak in Switzerland. You will see more of this tomorrow during the snowboarding blog, in photos and video, as well as other breath taking views from the top.

And a little bit closer...

The day trip from Crans and back was exhausting, but worth it! It is like nothing I have ever experienced and we want to go back to Zermatt and actually stay there. We missed you all and invite you to come next time. The Swiss weekend adventure is not over as we still have two more days of blogs. I am excited to blog tomorrow as those are my favorite pictures, and videos!

Until then, Auf Wiedersehen!

Crans-Montana, Switzerland

FYI, we love Switzerland! We love it so much that we are blogging for four days on all the wonderful places and travels we have experienced. Today will be about the trip to Crans-Montana, tomorrow will be about Zermatt, Switzerland and the Matterhorn, Wednesday will be all about snowboarding, and Thursday will be our trip home.
So we start out with the mess I had in the guest room getting all of the snowboarding gear ready to go. If you look really closely at the picture of my mess, you might be able to see a tiny basenji in the midst of it! Our gear includes exo-skeletons, helmets, wrist guards, super socks, base layers, and a lot of fleece to name a few. We did okay with traffic for a Friday, but we could have had a catastrophic event going through the border as someone (Me) forgot her passport! Luckily we did not get stopped...but Americans please remember that your DL/photo ID will get you nowhere as Switzerland is not a member of the EU and are as neutral as Jedd Moore! Sorry Jedd...couldn't resist :)
We were about an hour and a half away from our resort when we came around a hill and discovered this little gem in Chillon. It is a lake surrounded by the Alps on one side and a beautful city on the other. We actually stopped and took pictures on the way back so you can see more on Thursday.

We got to the hotel after it was dark, so we were unsure of our surroundings until we woke up the next morning. And we were happy to see this beautiful view from our giant window and balcony.

And this was to the right of our balcony...

Tut found himself loving the scenery as well! He loved looking out our huge window to the Alps and wildlife scents below! (Yes, we took our dog, and if you don't like it...I don't care.)

Here are some more views of Crans-Montana...

And then we had a sunrise! It was beautiful!

No matter where you look, you can see for miles...

Now that you have seen where we stayed this weekend, let me tell you about it. First, we thought we would be set in Switzerland with the language...not so much! In Crans-Montana French is the language as are the people, and they are not so great with English. The only person at our hotel that spoke English was the guest-hostess. Everyone else spoke French...not a lick of German! Thank goodness I had TJ as he knows a little and could at least get us through dinner. Dinner was good except for the smoke. There is no such thing as a non-smoking anything in Switzerland. People smoke freely where ever they fancy and there are tons of smokers. We ate at the hotel both nights as there wasn't much around where we were and we were exhausted. We quickly found out during the first meal that a little French town wasn't bad when considering the steak, cheese (OMG the cheese was unreal), and of course the local wine. I should mention that not all the towns are French. There are German ones as well...like Zermatt, but all the signs travel signs are in French, German, English, and some are even in Italian. We were all excited to snowboard at Crans when we were told that there was none, because there wasn't any snow! Apparently the website we were on was still reporting from last season!!! With this in mind we finished our wine and headed to bed to get up early to drive to the tiny and extremely charming town of Zermatt. Zermatt is best known for the Matterhorn as it is right there and can be seen from anywhere in the town. Crans-Montana is beautiful and the people are wonderful, but you will see tomorow why Zermatt is where its at!
Auf Wiedersehen

The Trip Is On!

It is official...TJ, Tut, and I will be leaving for Switzerland in less than 24 hours for the first snowboarding trip of the season! We are so excited! So last night I got out all the gear and laid it out to make sure everyone had two of everything before we head out. Also the clothes needed to be aired a little since they had been in a box since March. TJ will need to wax the boards tonight and then we should be set!
There isn't snow much of anywhere yet, except for the glaciers, and we just happened to pick a spot on the north side of the Matterhorn. How awesome! Every time I fall it won't be that bad as I can just look up at that majestic peak! We are boarding at a place called Crans-Montana and I will be sure to have tons of pictures of it to post on Monday.
The trip shouldn't be that bad as it is only about 5 hours depending on traffic. FYI to all that have never been to Switzerland that my take a trip there by car. You will need to go to the ADAC (AAA of Germany) and purchase a sticker for your car before you can drive on Swiss roads. It is $25 and lasts until January 31st of each year. The same applies for Italy and Austria (except this sticker only lasts 10 days), and for Austria you will need to purchase a bright orange vest to have in your car. You cannot get out of your car by the side of the road unless you have it on (the cost is about 5 EUR).
Any way, wish us luck and say a mini prayer that no one ends up in Swiss ER (TJ) with dare devil board slices! More on Monday...
Auf Wiedersehen!

Just Tuesday

T-minus 2 weeks until full time German is over! Hazel and I are both counting the days down to when we have our freedom back! I actually like learning the language (well today any way) and want to continue, but perhaps not every day. Notice your German lessons have come to an abrupt stop as I don't want to think about it anymore after 4.5 hours of class and at least 2 hours of homework. I'm sorry, or "Tut mir leid" as we say here...so there is a lesson for you!
The cultural issue in class that has been driving me crazy would be the complete disrespect for others. I have mentioned before that most of the students here are from Libya, which is fine and they are nice people BUT I want to take their cell phones and throw them out the window!!! Some of us have been taking these lessons seriously and would like to not be interrrupted by loud and annoying ring tones that are not silenced. Sometimes they start talking right there in class and other times they start talking while making their way out of class, but most of the time they just let them ring. Hello! Turn off the phone, or silence it at least. I haven't exactly figured out why our instructor has let it go on...Hazel and I have just chalked it up to cultural differences.
German aside, we did recieve good news today...we are receiving our new, improved, and road worthy car on Friday at 10 am. What does this mean? Well, it just might mean the first snowboarding trip of the season!!! TJ and I actually watched a super cheesy movie called "Out Cold" last night about a bunch of snow boarders...starring Jeremy London (you may have remembered him from Party of Five). Today, since we still do not have internet at home, I am at school searching for the closest glacier. It will be far, cold and Tut will need to pack his sweaters, but we can't wait!
Finally, I would like to give a shout out to three of the four of my closest friends who will be "hangin' tough" tonight at the NKOTB concert. Carrie, Kelly, and Bec have a fabulous time tonight with former heart throbs Jordan, Jonathon, Joey, Donnie, and Danny. If I could be there I certainly wouldn't miss it!
Have a good day! Auf Wiedersehen

Weekend Update

This weekend was both awesome and then not-so-awesome. Friday was good except for the hair cut thing. Lets not go there! Then TJ, Tut, and I had a nice evening in with my ultimate favorite meal, spaghetti, and of course the Champagne. Saturday was better in that we went to Weinheim to a friend's house where we had a cookout! The food was great in that Debbie brought American steaks from the military base to grill, and then we had a number of sides. It was sehr gut! (Side note...thank you Debbie for bringing me pumpkin filling from the base, now TJ can have his pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving!) Then we headed out to a festival in the Altstadt (old city) of Weinheim for drinks and good fun. First it should be mentioned that the Altstadt is fabulous! There is a tannery district that looks very typical of old Germany. If you have ever been to Epcot Center at Disney World, it is most like their interpretation of Germany. Very quaint and cute! At this festival their were 27 bars with 27 bands, and then also a street fest. Our last stop was a psuedo-mexican place that had an 80's band upstairs. That was certainly TJ and my favorite! FYI, cover bands in Germany generally play American music. Any way here are a few pictures...

Below is where we warmed ourselves as we drank in the street. There were a number of these barrels throughout the Altstadt.
A peak at the cute buildings that are original to the Altstadt...

The street fest at the entrance of the Altstadt...

Going through the entrance...and the last picture is the large entrance to the Altstadt and it is far more impressive in person!

It was a fun night that ended with my father calling us at 1:30 AM to tell us about Iowa's fantastic win! It was a perfect ending to the night!

Sunday was Sunday. It sort of sucked as we have no internet right now. I think something is wrong with the router. For us this is bad because no internet means no vonage telephone, and no slingbox! Oh well, hopefully it will be fixed before long. A day like this gave me the chance to make a fabulous Midwestern dinner, and try out a new dessert recipe. It was very good. We also got a chance to look through some old pictures and videos, and then watched a movie. It was mostly a lazy day!
This week will be normal for both of us, but we really want our new car so we can go glacier snowboarding this weekend, so say a prayer to the big Guy for us to get it, and also a prayer to the snow Gods for tons of powder!

Auf Wiedersehen

Champagne to Forget

I spent the better part of the afternoon in the hair salon getting my hair dyed twice, cut far too short, and then was murdered on my bill. I am now in my sweats with my hair pulled back and a half bottle of champagne in trying to forget about this horrible experience. A couple of nights ago John Stewart was making fun of a woman who had her hair overstyled, claiming she had parentheses around her face. It came back to haunt me as I walked into the house and and my husband said, " WOW! You have parentheses around your face!" Then when I told him how much it cost him he didn't think it was funny anymore! Ha! To make it brief there was a slight language barrier and a large difference in taste. I should have known something was up when you could hear a pin drop in there! All I have to say is thank God for the apprentice who was about twenty who understood what color I actually wanted...too bad she couldn't cut and style me. I am hoping after I do it myself and put a flat iron to it that it won't be that bad. After this experience I am going to wait on the Chiro, I am not ready to trade walking for headache relief quite yet. I would attach a picture but I have more dignity than that, although I am sure you will see some pictures next week as we are going to Weinheim tomorrow for the last festival of the season...until Christmas Markts start in three weeks. I'll let you know how it went on Monday!
Auf Wiedersehen

Sprechen Sie Englisch?

Sprechen Sie Englisch has gotten me a long way. So far I have made it through getting my brows done, getting clothes altered, communicating with a grocers and the schuhmacher, and finding a hair stylist. Sounds pretty good, right? Well I need a chiropracter and that is just one thing that I am a tiny bit nervous about. As I abused my body through my fitness career I always had at least one that I went to that had a good reputation. The latest one I had in the QC was the best ever, he saw that my knee was out of place and after he adjusted it I was a new lady. Seriously I think it was an injury from figure skating and that was done 12 years prior! I became a Monday regular at his office through the spring and summer and was completely asymptomatic. Fast forward three months and I am a mess! I think my atlas is out and I have had a headache for at least five days, and the rib that is always out is out again. What is a girl to do? How do I know if a chiro is good, and I am sorry he/she must speak English! It should be a requirement that if you crack my neck we should verbally understand eachother. TJ said he has heard through the grapevine that there is one in Heidelberg. When I asked him who knows or has been to him he said he was unsure, in fact no one knew the name. Not good. This is one time when I would feel so much better if I either spoke fluent German or was in the US. Clearly both of these things aren't going to happen any time soon! Wish me luck on this one...
Auf Wiedersehen

Obama Wins!

For the first time since arriving in Germany exactly two months ago, last night was the first time I had missed being in the US. I know that had we still been living in the Quad Cities, we would have made the 3 hour trip to Grant Park to witness Obama's acceptance speech. This picture is from our friend, Adam's blackberry. He, as well as, many of our other friends were a few of the quarter of a million Americans who gathered there. Instead TJ, Tut, and I stayed up in our German apartment a half world away to witness American history. The funny thing is that I am sure we were not the only ones. Congrats President-Elect Barack Obama, and Vice President-Elect Joe Biden! You have saved my family from having to return to the same mess we left not long ago. Take a look at Chicago last night... Chicago has seen many great events through out history, so what could be left? Hopefully the Olympics 2016!
Auf Wiedersehen

Election Day

I am really excited about this year's election and have decided to get in the spirit as it is the first in recent years that I haven't had to teach an early morning class. So the first thing I did was make the fabulous decision to skip school tomorrow so we can stay up all night and check out numerous of my favorite news boyfriends...Anderson Cooper (known to me as "Andy), cute little Luke Russert, super funny Stewart and Colbert, and of course the always adorable George Stephanpoulos. I have tried to convince TJ that he needs to take the day off for America as well, but he loves John Deere too much! Good thing he doesn't sleep well and will stay up most the night anyhow. Just in case I have a plan to watch the coverage in the computer room (I love you, Slingbox) and roll out the futon so the man and the dog can take a snooze if needed. We also are having a meal, snacks and many desserts that remind us of US/Iowa. We are having Sloppy Joes, baked french fries, baked apple w/ice cream for dinner and then our late night snacks are my moms taco dip and chocolate brownies. Good thing I am skipping school tomorrow as I will need to hit the gym extra hard! It is also very easy to be excited here as the Europeans are too. They still ask me all the time who is going to win, and today I said..."for the last time I don't know yet". Then there was a debate in class and Riccardo from Italy said, "It doesn't matter if McCain is low in the polls, he will win as American politics is anything but predictable". I had to laugh!
If you haven't voted yet, please do as this election has been the best one yet and we all should be a part of it! Happy Election Day, everyone!
Auf Wiedersehen

Weekend Update

It was so wonderful...we did nothing, well almost nothing. Friday we went to the Mannheim Zentrum and had dinner with some German friends and some of their friends. We ate at this great Italian place called Vapiano. Then we headed out to an old water tower in Ludwigshafen to listen to a band. It was very cool and interesting since it was in a water tower. We met up with some more Deere people when we got there. TJ and I laughed at how we hang out with people from so many different countries and all at the same time. We were the only two Americans, then there were five Germans, two Spaniards, and of course an Irish guy who literally spoke like a leprechaun! I kid him because I love the Irish! Anyway, the rest of the weekend was very relaxing. Except for managing the dog, we didn't leave the house on Saturday and even ordered in from a local take out place. It was actually pretty good, and we were happy just to find something as Saturday was a Freiertag (public holiday) and most everything was closed. Today was a little more productive as I got up early to hit a morning yoga class and completed my homework, Tj cleaned the house and went for a jog, and Tut and I took a super long walk. But the best part about today was dinner. TJ needed a steak so we went to Die Kartoffel (translated it means the potato) in Ladenburg. You might ask why I didn't make one...well I could have but it would have tasted not so good, and the grocery stores have been closed for two days because of the Freiertag and Sunday. The Germans do not raise cattle for beef, rather they have dairy cows for milk and also butcher them for beef. The meat...dry and tough without flavor. This is true unless you go to Die Kartoffel! This restaurant only serves Argentinian beef and it comes out raw on a hot stone and you cook it to your liking. As an infrequent beef eater, I can tell you it was excellent! And it comes with a serious potato cooked to perfection. The best part is this restaurant is five minutes from us in the next town. We will definitely go back! Other than that we were lazy! The laziness only can last a few more weeks as we are in a slow season. The slow season is after the festival season (April-October), and before the Christmas Markets that begin the last week in November and go through Christmas Eve. Lazy or not this weekend was great.
Since our weekend was about food, I thought it would be appropriate to teach you how to order in German.
Ich habe gern eine Kartoffel und ein bier, bitte. This means, I will gladly have a potato and a beer please. Ich mochte die rechnung, bitte. And this means, I would like the check please. Those are the basics so if you come to Germany, Austria, Switzerland, or sometimes Luxembourg you can get by in a restaurant.
Thats all from us, Auf Wiedersehen!