Nothing Special

What's been going on with us lately? Not much.
This is what we have been doing a lot of around here...some of us more than others (Tut).
We haven't been sleeping, but rather taking it easy and relaxing. The three weeks we are in between our trips to Sweden and Belgium have been needed as after next friday all hell breaks loose, in a good way of course. This week has been especially nice (for me mostly) as my life of leisure has led me through my daily workouts and then onto Luisenpark where I have spent most afternoons laying in the sun. Of course I consider this training as well...for our Hawaii trip later this year. TJ has to bring home the bacon...so the nice part for him has been nice consistently sunny weather which has turned out to be a rarity in Mannheim.
I was just thinking about the rest of the year and how it is going to pass us by in a blink. We head to Bruges, Belgium next weekend, then TJ goes to the States for a couple weeks :(, and in the meantime my mom is going to visit me and we are going to Switzerland for a short trip. She will then take our dog back to the US to help us out with the next wave of people that starts on the 14th of September and goes right on through Oktoberfest, and somewhere in there is Madrid trip for me too. A few days after that is my home leave trip filled with family, friends, and a hawkeye game...well and there goes October! We may also have visitors in November...which is also when the Christmas Markets start! And last on the calendar so far is our trip to Hawaii. Busy, right? And to that I will add....just the way I like it!!!
Auf Wiedersehen!

Peddle Boats and Parks

Sunday was gorgeous so TJ and spent the afternoon outside in Heidelberg along the Neckar River. We have always wanted to peddle boat as so many do so we took the opportunity to do so and it was great! My only regret was leaving Tut at home as many people peddle boated with their dogs...and Tut loves a boat ride! It was also so pretty as Heidelberg so often is! Here are some views...

This is the old city and up on the hill is the castle.

After we peddled and worked our butts out in the process we headed down the bank to enjoys the river side park. TJ and I indulged in popcicles and TJ had a nice cold beer as we took our spots in the sun. The parks are so nice here and very well maintained...you can tell becuae tons of people use them! This is down the Neckar from where we were laying.

We hung out right in front of the volleyball and soccer area. FYI, all the people we saw playing soccer were awesome (including the kids) and everyone playing volleyball was horrible. Jeni Kremer could school these people and possibly hustle them :)!

Another great weekend day for us...with plenty more to come!

Auf Wiedersehen!

TJ Rocks O'Reilly's

A little known fact about my husband is that he LOVES karaoke and karaoke bars. So on his birthday back in May, I had magically found one in all of Baden Wurttemburg located in Heidelberg and was going to take him there to surprise him. Well it never happened as he got home really late from a business trip in France and wasn't up for anything so we decided to go on Friday to check it out. Its called O'Reilly's and at first we had dinner in the restaurant thinking it wasn't going to be that big of a deal and boy were we wrong!
This is clearly a place that caters to English speakers and more specifically Americans. And it is not your average karaoke bar...its more like a karaoke night club. Of course there is only one as the Germans would completely hate this place being that it is very loud and can be somewhat annoying depending on the patron, but we had a good time. TJ sang one of his whole favorites, "Faith" by George Michael, and the crowd went wild and the dance floor was packed.
Here are a few not so good photos of him and the dance area.

Its sing-a-long karoke too...so they have a screen for the patrons and one for the singer. And it is a fantastic idea because sometimes the people drown out bad singers. Not the case for TJ though...he rocked and they turned up his microphone!

It was a good time and we will return! Auf Wiedersehen!

Protests in Sweden??

We are no strangers to protests as we have seen a few on our trips and even in Mannheim with everything that is going on in the world today. But the Saturday we were in Sweden we saw a couple of big ones and our first flag burning. TJ and I were wondering the city minding our own business last Saturday when we came upon a strange protest in the one of the squares. Most of the protests we are seeing these days have to do with Iran or the Kurds, but today it was to free Turkistan. TJ and I had no idea what was going on except that the blue flags with star and half moon looked like the Turkish flag except blue and they were burning a Chinese flag (which you can barely see).


Clearly I had to look up what is going on here and come to find out China has controlled East Turkistan since the 40's and have oppressed these people's religious beliefs and way of life for a long time. As I have read at the beginning of this month violence has broken out in this region causing death among East Turkistan's people thus causing a protest.
Just a few blocks away TJ and I were headed back to our hotel to change when we came upon another protest...this one against Iran. We have seen and heard of many of these types of protests but this one was very organized with a large group participation. Note the sign of the current president...


I think TJ and I were a little confused as Sweden is not the place we think of when it comes to protests...and there was a lot of participation.
Auf Wiedersehen!

A Stockholm Night Out

TJ and I hit up the town after our amazing dinner on Friday night and ended up at a bar called the Golden Hits. It was a great place with several different bars in one. There was Swedish karaoke, a techno bar (of course), a bar playing latin hits, and then on the very top floor we hit mecca...a giant 80's bar! Most of the songs we knew although some were also Swedish 80's hits and outside of Roxette and Abba I knew none of them. It was clearly the most popular place in the bar and totally packed...and everyone was pulling out there favorite 80's dance moves. I was in HEAVEN! Not to mention that the place was decorated with posters of your favorites 80's people. Some of the posters include Wham, Madonna, old school Whitney Houston, Phil Collins, and my favorite...Bo and Hope Brady from Days of Our Lives! Those are just a few of the many. The bar also boasted neon spray paint, black lights, and disco balls- so fun! And they make a pretty good caipirinah too :).
We took a few pictures but they didn't come out well do to the lights and fog. Here are a few views...

Anyone wearing white was illuminated...like my husband! You can't really see it but he is sitting under George Michael and Whitney.

It was really fun. I think this is the first place where it felt like going out in the US as there are actual dance clubs rather than local watering hole or bier stube where you just sort of hang out. We have dance clubs too, but they are like mini raves that are techno-ified. If you are going to Stockholm make sure you stop by this place!

Auf Wiedersehen!

Stockholm, Sweden

We had the most wonderful time and the most beautiful weather we could ask for once we finally made it to Stockholm. It is certainly in my top five favorite European cities...but probably only in the summer. I LOVE how it sits on the water in every way...and because Stockholm is made up of 14 islands a lot of people get to live on the water which I think is very cool...in the summer as I am sure they live on the ice in the winter!
We had a little trouble finding our hotel from the terminal because there are three Rica Hotels in the city and we went to the wrong one first, but again once we made it we were so happy with our room. It was a little small but it had a balcony with good views. Here are the street views up and down our neighboring street from the room.

We stayed in the perfect location as we could walk anywhere we wanted including to other islands nearby. This area is primarily a shopping district, but there are very good restaurants and nightclubs here as well.
The first thing we wanted to do was grab a late lunch on the island of Gamla Stan which is the old city center of Stockholm and is where the palace sits. Here is one of the many very cool street views in Gamla Stan.

After lunch we snapped some pictures and stopped to have a beer before taking a boat tour of the area. It was gorgeous and perfect weather! We also got some wonderful pictures from the boat. The first picture is of Gamla Stan.

And this is one of the main islands and happens to be my very favorite street. I want to live in one of the parisian influenced apartments shown below. This area was once the ghetto of Stockholm and then they tore down and rebuilt everything and now it is a premier place to live. The Swedish tore down a lot of the city...they were never involved int he World Wars so Stockholm was spared, but they tore down a lot of older buildings to modernize and make things more efficiently. And the city is very modern with its architecture and very clean too.

This is one of my favorite pictures even though it didn't turn out great...it is simply a row of apartment houses sitting right on the sea.

A little further away there were newer condos...and you can't see it but the residents have lined the water and the docks to sun bath and jump in the water since it was such a nice day. I can't imagine how expensive these are as Stockholm is an expensive city anyway.

Here is one of the harbor areas where are cruise departed...it is right in the heart of things with Gamla Stan on the right side behind me and the Grand hotel off to the left. Behind me you can see a white boat...it is a youth hostel. I hate hostels, but this one is really interesting and in a great location.

Our second day here we wandered the city on our own and visited some of the sights. One of the most visited is the Vasa Museum where the famous war ship is kept from the 1600's. It was built as the premier Swedish war ship and sank on its maiden voyage. It layed at the bottom of the Baltic Sea until it was salvaged in 1961 after 333 years. It is so well preserved because of the cold water temperatures. Here is a look...

And the back. It was so ornate and in its time very colorful!

A lot of famous sites are on Gamla Stan...like the palace.

There is a courtyard in the back with old cannons and guards. The courtyard is huge as you can see TJ in part of it.

While we were in the courtyard we heard a band playing majestically down the street so we ran down to see what the fuss was...and it was the royal band. They played for a while and you could hear them on the nearby streets of Gamla Stan.

One of the best things about Europe...Stockholm included is that people spend a lot of time outdoors in the summer...there were people everywhere and with ample space for being a bigger city. Of course Sweden keeps their parks beautiful as the taxes are so high in this socialized society, but people were always out. This park was huge and had a giant fountain and pool where children were playing and people were just here hanging out...so we did too.

There was also a really nice park on the water and adjacent to the Vasa Museum. People were laying in the grass, picnicing, and getting ready to play Segway Polo!

Here is another view of the park. I actually layed on the bench near the water and waited for TJ to snap pictures...I am so lucky to have my own personal photographer on these trips! And he does a really good job too!

TJ and I were in heaven when it came to eating and drinking in this city. If you are a seafood fan you need to eat here...YUM! First there are plenty of cafes to grab a coffee or a drink, but the restaurants are amazing! The first night we went to the Sturehof on the Stureplan and had an authentic meal. We had lobster soup and then rainbow salmon cooked perfectly with steamed potates, salad, and poached egg. It was fantastic, and the dessert wasn't bad either. The second night we went to The East which had three menus dependent on what you wanted...we of course had sushi. I had something called a maguro cocktail and it is the best thing I have tasted since the tuna tartare I had in Kona two and a half years ago. Other than dinner we had good lunches as well. I also love the water cafes and reatuarants here like these...

This one has my favorite street behind it...isn't it cute?

At one of the cafes I order a mochacchino...we ended up calling it mocha soup as it was huge and came in a bowl.

We had a great time here! I was sad to see us go on Sunday, but it did make me want to visit other Scandinavian cities like Copenhagen and Oslo...but only in the summer!

We did go out one night and it was really fun too...more on that tomorrow!

Auf Wiedersehen!

Ryan Air, Are You Kidding Me?

Sorry it is taking longer to get the Stockholm stuff up but we have been lazy the past couple days. I thought I would start by saying that getting to Stockholm was less than fun. We often fly Ryan Air here as it is very cheap and normally easy to deal with since it is at a small airport. Of course there are cons as well, like crazy flight times and the airport is a ways away...stuff like that. But we have never encountered something like we did this last time. We booked a very cheap flight...about 40 EUR total for us to fly round trip for the weekend, so we were excited that we got a good deal...until we didn't. We get to the airport and found out that booking after May 15 you have to check in online or it costs you 40 EUR a person. We didn't check-in online and thus had to pay an extra 80 EUR...making our flight not cheap. I have never seen TJ so mad...but we got past it. The next hiccup happened in Skavsta airport when we arrived and TJ went to the machine to purchase our coach tickets for transport and they didn't print...but we were charged. So he had to find the transport leader and wait for someone to tell him what to do. This caused us to miss the original coach headed into the city. He was fuming pissed, which is so rare for those of you who may not know him. Thank God that was the last of the bad stuff as the rest of the trip was marvelous. But Euro travelers be advised to study Ryan Air before you book because they will charge you for everything!!!
More on the better part of the trip tomorrow!
Auf Wiedersehen!

Happy Anniversary

One year ago today TJ and I finally tied the knot in Sedona, Arizona and it was perfection. Most of the people we wanted to attend made it and it turned out to be a very relaxing, low stress, and fun weekend. Of course the last year has been pretty amazing by most newlywed standards as it has seemed like one long honeymoon traveling Europe, but we have learned that we enjoy each other and being married that much more as we spend more time together than ever. This weekend also marked the anniversary of when we met and started dating 11 years ago. Two such large occassions were celebrated with a quick weekend trip to Stockholm, Sweden and it was wonderful! I will blog more on that later this week, but we had amazing weather and an amazing time.
I thought it would be fun on this day to highlight our wedding with a few pictures as it was a fantastic day...one of the best ever!

Our small but fabulous wedding party of JD and Laura.

A snap of the ceremony.

Our marriage sealed with a kiss.

Yummy wedding cake...the one thing I remember tasting.

Our first dance to "To Sheila", which had been our song for the previous 10 years.

TJ and the boys...

Me and the girls...my best friends since sophmore year in high school.

My favorite UNI gal pal, Jess dancing to Cher like we do!

A little later in the evening with the husband and girls and a few other honorable mentions, Casey and Kremer. OMG we had so much fun!

It was a great wedding with wonderful family members and great friends! Tonight we are staying in watching movies and drinking a fantastic bottle of champagne in our sweats...which is always good for me. Then tomorrow we begin our second year of marriage which is probably going to be as good as the first or better!

Auf Wiedersehen!

New Bed

A new bed for a sweet and very spoiled Tut that is. He has been banned from our bed for a while now and since has taken up residence on the guest bed. I don't mind that he sleeps there, but sometimes he comes in on the weekend and wants up when we attempt to sleep in and needs a place to crash in our room as well (otherwise I have to get up and take him out and feed him and then no one is happy). This issue as well as the one of when we actually have guests sleeping in there...as I am pretty sure they would prefer to sleep in a basenji-less bed drove me out to IKEA to find a new one or at least an alternative.
I brought it home and set it on the living room rug and when I turned around this is what I saw.

Apparently he knew it was for him! I might be biased but I think he is really cute!
Auf Wiedersehen!

Arena of Pop

Last weekend we were going to attend a Michael Jackson memorial party and see the lighting of the Heidelberg Castle, but we decided to got to an outdoor concert in Mannheim instead. We certainly missed out on the only MJ party I know of, but there will be another castle lighting in September we made a good choice. The concert was free and in open air in front of the Mannheim Palace. Here is a look during the day...

There were tons of people in attendance and it was sponsored by Rothaus Pils...so the music was playing and the beer was flowing from 1 pm into the late night. These two enjoyed it very much!

They also served hard liquor and food...so you really didin't have to go anywhere else. Oh and the bathrooms were plentiful, so much so that neither of us ever had to wait! These little stands were lining the street leading up to the castle and the one that ran in front of it too. Between the bier, bier pretzel, and pommes frites I think I had a carbolicious evening.

It was great fun and the bands were really amazing for the most part. We saw a band called The Hooters from Philly, a German band called Silbermond, and an Irish band called Reamonn. I LOVED the German band and am thinking about purchasing their music to better help me with my German. We left while the Irish band was still playing and you could see and hear them for a long time. Here is a look from a few blocks away.

I think they have it every year and we will definitely go next year too!

Auf Wiedersehen!