Monday, March 22, 2010

Luxembourg

A few weeks back we drove about a half hour to Luxembourg City, Luxembourg...it's amazing it only takes that long to get to another country :) Anyway, we checked out the American Military Cemetary, which is 1 of 14 on foreign soil and also holds General Patton's grave. In fact, one of the villages (only 5 minutes from base) has an arched tower you can drive through. The cement has been chipped from the tower where Genearl Patton rode through and "left his mark"...pretty cool! I don't remember the exact number but this cemetary holds well over 5,000 American soldiers from WWII. It is very surreal and sobering to be living in the place where it all happened.
After visiting the cemetary we took a stroll in one of the city parks and then walked around a part of thte city which is basically set in an old Quarry. It was beautiful!! Enjoy :)







This old church was actually built into the stone wall!




Eve, this is for the two of you!!





Thursday, March 18, 2010

Willkommen auf Deutschland!

So I've finally made it to my first Germany post! (Jess Cameron...this post is for you :) It was a whirlwind getting here with a long delay in the Baltimore Airport, but we were too excited to notice :)





We took off at 1am and landed around 10am in Germany...this was Ty after waking up...such a happy camper :)
Georgia getting settled in at our Temporary Lodging facility on base. She likes to just "watch the world go by" outside so she liked to sit on the balcony of our 4th floor room :)
Ty finding out there is so much space in the cabinets which means more room for him to crawl in :)
After watching Georgia drink out of her bowl, he thought he would try it himself...I know it's gross but he had already dipped his face in before I could catch him, so I thought I might as well take a cute pic of the two of them :)
Andy's Valentine's Day present. We just got here and was borrowing a car so we couldn't go many places so he went to the Base Exchange and got a plethora of gifts (including the discounted Jesus chocolates from Christmas :)...long story...doesn't make sense to many but he had a way of linking all of these together via storyline and just makes me laugh inside :)
Driving through some of the villages off base while looking for houses to rent. I still can't believe we live here!!
Bitburg town centre which is where another base is just 15 minutes from ours. It's not active anymore except for a few places like the commissary and base exchange but many people live in this town and still frequent the base.
We drove to Wiesbadhen to look at a car for Andy...while we were there we caught the tail end of the Fasching parade. Fasching is their Halloween which they celebrate in February...every village celebrates and just like every good German Festival...there is always a party not to mention the beer!!




It was one of the coldest days, maybe 20 degrees. Only crazy Germans would wear something like this in the weather :) Gotta love 'em!
Our first German meal...it was in a remote location so no one spoke English (which is very uncommon here). We had to rely on my German to order and we got by...I was pretty proud of myself for only being here a few days :)
A hidden church we found in the woods
We took an afternoon to explore Trier which is about a half hour drive and the oldest city in Germany. This was so exciting for me since I was here about 9 years ago when I took a month to study in Europe. One of our stops was in Trier at the university :)


The town square




Germans love dogs and in fact, allow them in many shops. They are big fans of Golden Retrievers so Georgia has a fun time travelling with us too...she gets plenty of attention :)
The Porta Nigra, which is over 2,000 years old!


We went to a pizzeria for dinner and Ty wouldnt eat unless we put the food in the bed of his pickup truck :)
Back at the TLF, I turn away for a mere 10 seconds and this is what I find....do you see the grin on his face!?!
We are alotted 14 days to stay in the TLF...if you don't find a home then you go to temporary housing (i.e. furnished apartments) off base....so it was time to pack up again

We LOVE to pack!!! (only slight sarcasm there :)

Tyler doing his part :)

Our new place for the next month: Wiedenhoff Apartments
The decor and furniture looks more like Pottery Barn to me...I guess I was expecting it to have more German flare...silly me :)


Georgia with her Valentine's gift from Grandma & Grandpa L. :)
The Burger King hat gave Andy some extra "speed" during Dance Dance Revolution :) The guy sees one of these things and he absolutely has to play!!! Anyway, more pics coming soon of Luxembourg and Hungary, so stay tuned :)