Deutschland

How is everyone? It feels like we talked just yesterday, right? No? No, of course not. In my defense, Liz and I haven’t traveled anywhere since New Year’s Eve—and that trip was super low-key—so I was trying to spare you from boring Germany stories. You know you didn’t want to hear about our daytrip to the doctor in Ulm. Ugh, Ulm. Language impairment or no, was the most confusing hospital I’ve ever encountered. The highlight of that adventure: I bought a German baby book, though I still haven’t bothered translating it. You see? You don’t want to hear stories like that. You’re welcome.

Honestly, our New Year’s Eve trip was excellent, although I’m confident you’d claim that we did it wrong. We spent 5 days in Strasbourg, which is a city right on the border of France. Very cute city, lots of water, lots of Christmas decorations.




We toured by foot a significant portion of the city and hit a museum, but overall the trip was very relaxed. Liz was tired a lot from baby-growing, and Strasbourg was rather chilly most days (France isn’t particularly sunny in my experience), and yada yada yada… we ate in the AirBnB several times. Like, more than half of our meals came from the grocery. To appease the party gods, I drank a beer on New Year’s Eve, and Liz and I ate 24 grapes. However, that, too, was done within the walls of the AirBnB. Midnight was genuinely entertaining, though. The AirBnB apartment complex was in the center of town, surrounded by numerous other tall apartment complexes, and so we got to watch drunken French residents on their balconies shoot fireworks at each other.

Travel news: I’ll be working in Florence for 2 weeks in mid-July. I won’t have a car, I’ll be staying at the Hilton by Cracker Barrel, and Liz won’t be with me… so, yeah. And I’ll be back again in early October for work. Also without Liz. But maybe with a car? Very little information at this point.

I’ve been reading an unhealthy amount of books lately. No—not books in German. Let’s go ahead and assume at this point that German will never come out of my mouth. Anyway, Liz bought me a Kindle for Christmas and set me loose on the Kenton County Digital Library (with mom’s help). I had serious doubts about owning a Kindle, but—especially considering my situation abroad—it has been a godsend. I still don’t prefer Kindles over paper books, exactly. But I love checking out books from my apartment. For free.

Everything else I have to talk about is babies. The baby is coming pretty soon. Liz has been taking (German) parenting classes in town. She’s been a champ, walking the mile to get there, walking back in the dark. Before you ask: no, I’m not invited. In fact, I’m banned from these particular classes. There are 2 classes I’m allowed to attend next week, the rest Liz must tackle on her own. We’ve accumulated a lot of baby stuff already. However, the room is blah. Apartments, you know. I can’t wait to be home in Florence (typically referred to as “home-home”), where I can go all out designing a baby room. I just need to be patient, I suppose.

Send us a message and let us know how your life is going. And chime in if you have any baby book suggestions (for adults, about babies). I’m willing to give anything a try… as long as it’s at the library.

Another weekend, another adventure.

Thanks to the national holiday on Tuesday, Elizabeth and I spent our 4-day weekend in Rothenburg ob der Tauber. It’s a gorgeous town, only a short train ride north. Rothenburg is known for its well-preserved outer wall and ancient buildings, as well as for its cannonballs… I mean, Schneebälle. Founded in 1274, Rothenburg is 6 years younger than Schwäbisch Gmünd. It’s no wonder that their city walls are still in excellent shape. That half decade makes all the difference.

I don’t want to drone on like I’ve done our past 2 trips, so I’ll stick to the highlights. Relaxation was the objective this weekend. On Friday we picked up 2 books for me from the library. Thank you, Cousin Liz, for the help (not “The Help”, though I actually am reading that, too). We hopped on the train Saturday, shortly before 9:00, and by 11:00 we had arrived ready to party.




That’s a lie. We arrived ready to nap. But we were too excited (and I was too hungry), so we resisted the cozy hotel and dragged our lazy butts outside. After lunch we explored the town. We hit as many of the tiny shops as we could, which triggered a substantial amount of déjà vu, and I’ll tell you why: While beautiful, Rothenburg is not immune to the terrors of tourism… of the 50 stores, there are maybe 3 suppliers. In other words: none of it is unique. Once you’ve been to 3 stores, you’ve likely seen everything.

Of course, shopping wasn’t why we were there. We were there to eat! And Elizabeth is my mealtime good luck charm (Abendessenglücksbringerin), BTW. We are American, so we never reserve tables. Nevertheless, not once in Rothenburg were we denied a table. That might not sound impressive if you’re American. And if you’re German, it probably sounds reckless. Interpret it as you will.

The biggest mealtime fail was Sunday night, when I ordered something direct from the server’s mouth. She kept saying that it was extremely, extremely fresh. I didn’t know what she was saying, obviously. It turned out to be another pig knuckle (like I ate in Berlin). It’s not a matter of taste. It was very good. But I’m not happy to say that I ate the entire thing. Again.




The mealtime biggest win was Monday night (Halloween) at Hell. Hell is a restaurant in a cramped little house along the wall of the city. Its foundation is older than Rothenburg itself – constructed before the year 1000. We grabbed the only non-reserved table in the restaurant. Well, to be honest, it too was reserved beginning at 7:30, but we promised them we’d be gone by then. During our meal, no fewer than 15 parties were turned down at the door. It was great fun.

After Hell, Elizabeth and I took the Nightwatchman tour. It was a late night walking tour through the city with local history, led by – whom we agreed upon later – Eric Idle carrying a very large weapon. All of us in his pack gave him a wide berth, for fear of his halberd which was swinging haphazardly behind him. If you go to Rothenburg, do the tour. It’s short and cheap. No risk.




Anyway, during our stay, Elizabeth and I also walked all the way around the city wall. We explored horrifyingly creepy abandoned churches. We ran away from nighttime Halloween weasels. And we still managed to squeeze in enough down time for me to read “Never Let Me Go” by Kazuo Ishiguro. Very interesting read. But now I feel like I need to read “Remains of the Day”. Or watch it? We’ll see.

We’re back to the routine again. The cats were ecstatic to see us Tuesday afternoon. They haven’t stopped ramming us with their faces since. Now it’s time for me to bug Elizabeth, to ask to use some of her pictures. I myself shot 1.

Hi Everybody,

Elizabeth and I are keeping ourselves exceptionally busy this fall and winter. Two weeks ago we were in Berlin. Still to go in 2016 we have Rothenberg, Strasbourg, Athens, and Kentucky. And we just returned from an adventure in Budapest. I say “just” returned because we arrived home at 2:00am, only a handful of hours ago. After a shower and cat poop cleaning, I got what sleep I could and even managed a productive day at work.

I’m running on fumes at the moment, though, so we’ll just have to wait and see how detailed (and coherent) this post will be today. Let’s start at the beginning…

Mid last week, Elizabeth bullied a coworker of mine into watching Ozzie and Riker during our trip. Or, you know, something nicer-sounding than “bullied.” Sarah stopped by the apartment late on Thursday. She met the boys – who love her – and picked up our spare keys. Sarah was a god-send. We hadn’t found anyone else to look after the boys. Luckily, Sarah recommended for the future a local group of pet-sitters (like Craigslist, I guess), which should help us a lot in the coming months.

I left work at lunch on Friday in order to catch the train to the airport. And to pack. And to go to the grocery (Elizabeth wanted to sample new cereals. She was so excited that she couldn’t wait until we got home). I had practically four hours to kill, actually, which was perfect. After triple-checking the apartment, Elizabeth and I took a leisurely stroll to the train station, and… our train was cancelled. That happens sometimes. It was still the early afternoon, which meant that trains came every 30 minutes, thank goodness. Even so, if Elizabeth hadn’t padded our schedule, we might’ve missed our flight right then and there.

Chug-a-chug-a-chug. We arrived at the airport with very little wiggle room, timewise. We fought our way through security, throwing elbows and pinching babies, and… our plane was delayed. Germanwings(Eurowings), you bastard. We’ve come to expect delays with them. Warning: if you ever plan a layover between two Germanwings flights, go ahead and review the surrounding hotels at the same time. Our delay this time wasn’t bad – maybe 25 minutes. Smart-E (smart Elizabeth. Get it?) pre-booked/prepaid a taxi from the Budapest airport, telling them to pick us up when the flight arrived. Essentially, we were guaranteed a taxi no matter when our airplane decided to show up.




9:15pm or so we landed and found our taxi. The tiny man driver was the most talkative non-fluent person I’ve ever met. I am extremely jealous of people like that. He was well aware that he only had 200 words at his disposal, but that didn’t stop him from rattling them off over the 40-minute cab ride. Compared to my German - I know my German is better than this guy’s English, yet somehow he spoke more English to us in 40 minutes than I’ve spoken German in the past year.

However, no matter how much I admired and respected him, don’t worry: there’s zero chance that I’ll personally learn a lesson or anything. I won’t be speaking to anyone at work any time soon. My vow of silence will prevail.

10:00pm we arrive at the AirBnB. We were exhausted, cold, and smelly. But sleep would have to wait. Our AirBnB host was STAYING WITH US and happened to be SUPER TALKATIVE. Her English is excellent, for the record. During our three night stay, we saw her every evening and every morning (she made breakfast). If I may, I’d like to share some of the more entertaining tidbits. But first, a disclaimer: she is extremely nice and appears to be a fantastic single mother (her 11 year old son stayed with us, too). However, due to an unbelievably difficult decade, she’s grown a little… bonkers.

You know what – never mind. Text cannot do our conversations justice. Seriously, how am I to accurately reproduce the hour-long introduction to her fish? Sure, the conversation began with the understandable difficulties of obtaining and installing a 400 liter fish tank in a kitchen wall and the sexism of the fish market, but it quickly devolved into something much more… Sopranos. Quick summary – her first set of fish were amazing. There was a kingpin who knocked up all of the ladies and cleaned around the tank. He maintained a peace amongst the fish, big and small. Then along came the “gay one” (according to her, 25% of fish are gay). Mr. Gay Fish rallied the other fish against kingpin. They assassinated kingpin, GF assumed power, and then all hell broke loose: non-impregnated ladies, fights, whathaveyou. My words cannot convey the gravity of the tale, so I will cut it off here. Suffice it to say, GF received a sailor’s farewell.

What else? Well, Elizabeth and I could tell you minute details about every surgery and procedure, medical and dental, she had ever undergone. That includes the C-section. None of it needs to be repeated here.

Oh, and her dead cat? Yeah, that was stuffed and sitting in her living room.

Where was I? Budapest! On Saturday, we began with packet pickup. It was five minutes from the AirBnB (thank you, Liz), right at the marathon starting line. Hero’s Square. It was spectacular. Directly behind it was a beautiful castle, surrounded by an active festival (completely independent from the marathon).




Next we proceeded to the two-hour lunch buffet river tour – the most fantastic way to see a city and simultaneously overeat. Elizabeth must really love me. Then we spent the next six or seven hours exploring Buda (the west side of the river) statues and palaces. Of the gazillion statues in Budapest, Elizabeth mapped out a route to walk to all of her favorites. Naturally, Liz’s eyes were bigger than her feet. In the end, it was my task to drag Liz’s tired butt through the woods after her feet and enthusiasm wore down. It didn’t help that I was in a hurry to hop in bed… I had a marathon in the morning!




I’m sorry to say that we kinda spoiled dinner with our big lunch and exhaustion. Instead of something authentic, for dinner we grabbed some street pizza. It was still good.

Marathon day! In case you have wondered: I didn’t run whatsoever after the Berlin marathon. I used the two weeks for complete rest and recovery. Anyway… Sunday. Elizabeth walked me the quick five minutes to the starting line to the super late marathon start (9:30am), after which, I can only assume, Liz took a four-hour nap. The race, in short, was wonderful. It was well-staffed, with tons of support and not too many runners. I’m glad to have added it to my collection.

After the race, Elizabeth and I picked up some festival food before hurrying off to bed. She wasn’t feeling great, and so we both were in dire need of a nap. In the evening, we hit the town again, visited a handful more statues, and then ate a great Hungarian dinner. For easiness sake, let’s call it Terv Bistro.




Neither Elizabeth nor I were feeling much better on Monday. But we fought off our inner demons and waddled to Margaret Island. The island has some neat gardens and ruins. But no food, apparently. Not this time of year, anyway. Once we were good and starving, we rode the tram back into downtown and ate the biggest burritos we could find. Again – not exactly authentic, but who cares.

That evening we took another long taxi ride (not nearly as entertaining as the first) back to the airport. Oh my goodness… our Germanwings flight was delayed? No one could have ever seen something like that coming! The flight was so delayed that they wouldn’t commit to a gate for two more hours. I ate pizza. Liz groaned from her upset stomach. And we both feared the absolute worst… missing the last train out of Stuttgart.

We didn’t miss it, thank goodness. We caught the 00:36 from Stuttgart, We arrived home at 01:30. Though, it makes you think. What will we do on the day we DO miss that last train?

Liz and I have just returned from Berlin. Our first time ever. It was a fantastic, albeit short, trip. Every day the weather was perfect. Jackets optional in the mornings. We carried day-long subway passes, which we used constantly (the subway in Berlin takes you anywhere and everywhere). Best of all, everyone spoke English because of the marathon.

We left Schwäbisch Gmünd at 8:15 am Friday. Liz the tour guide, and me the baggage mule. I packed two randomly selected library books to keep me entertained – partly because our local library has a pitiful English section, and partly because I’m not smart enough to read German – which was plenty for me. Liz used the time to finish off the Codex Alera series, and then was content to watch the scenery pass.

Two trains and a little over seven hours later, we arrived in Berlin. Beautiful city. Even the graffiti was inspiring. But hold the fun - first we had to take care of business. We checked into our AirBnB hotel (we use AirBnB on every trip, and have had great experiences) in a quiet section of Berlin – in Schöneberg. Only five minutes from the subway. Roses were hanging from nearly every balcony. A cute Biergarten, full of trees and cobblestones and enclosed by a rustic metal bar fence, sat at the top of the street. The apartment guy was very nice, and his place was spacious and clean. For me, Liz triple-checked that there’d be a coffee maker (Senseo – the extremely reasonable single-serve coffee that’s common in Europe, at less than 10 cents per cup).

After dropping off our bags, we hopped right back on the subway on route for the marathon packet pickup. As quickly as possible, I got my race bib and t-shirt. Liz and I were hungry, and we have little patience for ploughing through a sea of thousands of people in any case. The race t-shirt fits great! Past races have taught me never to order a medium. It makes me sad. I’m officially a small in those “runner” t-shirts. I have to say, that makes no sense to me. I’m a medium in cotton. If “runner” t-shirts MUST deviate from the norm, they should deviate the OTHER direction, right? For example, if I’m a normal people medium, perhaps I should be a runner people large… considering that people who run 2000 miles per year tend to be smaller overall than those who don’t. But whatever.

Anyway, dinner was planned at Dicke Wirtin (fat landlady). We snuck in just before the evening rush. In other words: we didn’t reserve tables (never), but we promised to eat and run within 90 minutes, before the reservers came. Likely due to having starved ourselves on the trains (we didn’t bring food, and our layover wasn’t long enough for us to buy food at any station), at dinner Liz and I both almost died from overeating. That meal was my first, and probably last, pig knuckle (Eisbein). Holy crap was it tender and tasty. But it’s ginormous – and of course it comes with sides: salad, kraut, potatoes, and mashed potatoes with bacon (Speck). Liz’s plate, too, was epic, but much more sample-y in nature: meatball (Klops), beets, currywurst, more meat, cabbage kraut, potatoes… we’re lucky we made it home alive.



But alive we were.

Our second day in Berlin was, in my opinion, the biggest and the best. Liz and I were both excited to see the city. We bounced out of the AirBnB full of energy. We caught the subway early in the morning to (one of the 3) Berlin downtown, where we met up with a tour group. Surely we had breakfast? Yes! Zeit für Brot. Very busy, very tiny. A tad big for its breeches. But back to the tour.

For five hours, we obediently followed behind John Cleese’s clone, learning about some of Berlin’s history. We saw the wall, the museums, Checkpoint Charlie, the bunker, the imposing Holocaust Memorial. Honestly, we barely scratched the surface, but it was a good crash course. The tour ended at Brandenburg Gate, the massive entryway, and the highlight of the marathon.



Extremely hungry (it was already past 2:00 pm), Liz and I had a late lunch at… lord knows where. I can’t keep up with all of our meals. We took a nap, and then we picked up burritos from Dolores, before going right back to sleep again. We miss our giant burritos. If only we had a Dolores in Schwäbisch Gmünd! Well, no… we’d go every day.

Next was Sunday. Marathon day! The race was great. For me, at least. I can’t say that Liz kept properly busy. There were 40,000 runners from 122 countries, and an unbelievable number of spectators. It makes one feel like they’re in the center of the action at all times. Four or five fire trucks were posted, spraying endless streams of water. Every 20 feet was another form of music – big bands, rock bands, steel bands, Peruvian flute bands – keeping us all entertained as we plodded through Berlin. I passed handmade signs in every language. The best sign that I could read was “If Trump can run, so can you!”



At the finish line, traveling beneath that impressive Gate, I actually saw Liz cheering, which rarely happens. I gave her a big kiss before hobbling the last kilometer. 30 or 40 minutes later, I finally made my way back to her (we kept it nice and American – meeting at the nearby Starbucks). Together we strolled around Berlin a bit, enjoying the race atmosphere and stretching out my legs. But before long I was beat. Back at the AirBnB I took a shower and then we went to that Biergarten. I ate mac & cheese – because I could. And Liz watched, jealous, eating her mouth bags. Nap time again. Then pizza! We didn’t plan anything else interesting for the day. Liz knew from experience to leave marathon day fairly relaxed. Well, that’s actually a lie. We bailed on some dinosaurs (I’m speaking literally of dinosaurs, not derogatorily of elderly people). We didn’t feel bad about it.



Monday was another big day, though I’m afraid neither Liz nor I were particularly up to the challenge. The day started at Flamingos for breakfast. Tasty cakes and sandwiches, really. We toured two museums on our own, with a coffee break in between. It was all we could do to drag our bodies to the end. The museums were quite interesting, though. In the first museum were Egyptian relics. The largest attraction was the bust of Nefertiti. And the second housed brilliant blue reconstructed walls of Babylon.



3:00 pm, famished, we wandered back to Dolores for more burritos. No… wait… first I made Liz sit in a park while I shopped for secondhand English books from a street vendor (rickety tables, blankets, whathaveyou). I walked away with Dresden Files #3. Two Euro, which I was okay with. Then we napped again. You’re seeing the pattern, yes? And then went out for the best vegetable kebab in town. “Vegetable kebab” is a misleading title, considering how much chicken was in it. But there were also so many more vegetables than you’d encounter in any regular kebab. So good.

Tuesday was our trip back, and it’s as you’d expect. It’s always sad, losing the last “vacation” day entirely to travel. Liz and I ate train station breakfast (the breakfast place Liz picked was mysteriously closed) and train station lunch. Our first train was late, which caused us to miss our second train. We waited 45 minutes for our replacement second train, and then our replacement third train was cancelled. Typical train travel.

After nine hours, we were back in our Schwäbisch Gmünd apartment, exhausted but well-read. I finished “On Beauty” by Zadie Smith, and I am currently halfway through “Juliet Naked” by Nick Hornby. Once I’m finished with that, I’ll basically be out of library books that I’m willing to read. Feel free to peruse the Schwäbisch Gmünd library and make recommendations for me (Schlagwort “Englischsprachiger Roman”): http://stb.schwaebisch-gmuend.de/lissy/lissy.ly?pg=login&bnr=guest

Anyway, that’s it! I have a new marathon medal – number 18, if I’m counting correctly. And we’ve crossed another historical European city off of our list. In less than two weeks, we’ll be off again for Budapest. There’s so much to see!

Hi everybody.

On Saturday, Kyle, Liz, and I took a day trip to Freiburg. The first train we caught was before 7:00 am. Met up with Kyle's friend Mitch (an intern, 21 years old) in Stuttgart. And we finally arrived in Freiburg at 10:00.

We started the day at the weekend Freiburger Münstermarkt. Plenty of vendors surrounded the city's most beautiful church. It was very similar to the Saturday market in Schwäbisch Gmünd. Music was everywhere. Our favorite musician was a lone man playing his accordion (right?). In front of him was 10 or 15 stuffed animals that were dancing to the music and playing maracas. We ate some typical fair food - Wurst and the like. And then we headed up into the Black Forest.

"Up" sure is an accurate description. We climbed high above the city. Of course I don't have a picture for you, ha. Here's one of the church:




Beat from the hiking, we stopped at a nearby Biergarten. Because, nothing is better than a beer in preparation for all of the beer! We were seated at an overlook. Liz saw found some lizards. It was a lot of fun.

Before we knew it, it was time for the festival. We hurried across town, maybe a 30 minute walk, to the night club that was hosting the event: Craftival!





Needless to say, Craftival featured local craft beers. They didn't disappoint. There were at least 12 different booths, all with beers unlike anything we can get around Schwäbisch Gmünd. IPAs, Black IPAs, Brown Ales, Pale Ales, Tripels, Lagers, you name it. We tried practically all of the food, too. BBQ, pizzas, fries, ice cream... the Yufkas were disappointing - but at least we ate a giant waffle covered in chocolate. And of course there was live music to top it off.

We had a good time getting to know Mitch. And it was a good way to say goodbye to Kyle. We'll see him a few more times before he leaves (and take care of his little cats), and Chrissy, too!

Liz and I took off pretty early - trying to catch the 8:00 train. I say "trying" because... well... it didn't go so well. We got to the station just in time. BUT not in time enough to realize that our train was moved to a different track.

Yeah. Wrong train. Thank goodness it was going in the same direction. Liz was able to reroute us, and so we hoped off after half an hour and caught the next train toward Stuttgart.

Anyway, we're back to the grind now. Still a little worn out from Saturday. I basically didn't run at all last week (not like I've even started legitimately training), so my upcoming 3 marathons will be mighty interesting. I will walk lots and cross my fingers that I get to each of the finish lines without injury. I might start running again soon. Maybe not.

Liz has a few more weeks off before she starts teaching English again. I hope she relaxes and enjoys her free time!

Alright. That's all I have today. We'll likely have more at the end of September! I hope everyone is doing really well. Always feel free to write us, too. We usually feel pretty disconnected from everybody in the US.

Hi there! Doesn't "ups" look goofy to English-speakers? It's how you spell oops in German. There are a lot of those in German - sounds with the same pronunciation but a completely different spelling. My favorite is, now that our cats our German, they say "miau."

A long time has passed since my last post. Unfortunately, that's because we've done nothing interesting. The only big event was a city-wide festival in July that - there was jousting and general swordplay, lepers marching alongside acrobats amidst archery competitions.




We haven't made any big purchases. We haven't met anyone new. Elizabeth's English classes are on summer break. Our next trip isn't until late September, but I'm sure we'll have fun things to post about by then.

We also haven't had any German language classes in a few months. We prefer it if you don't ask us about it :)

I now work in a new building on the opposite side of the city. It takes a little longer to bike there, but at least there's air conditioning! Too bad we don't use it often enough - people in Germany are accustomed to toughing out the hot temperatures. My department is pretty small, but it's a really good group. Oftentimes at lunch we'll go for a walk outside, giving some of us time to catch some Pokemon. Others of us take naps.

Our closest friends are leaving Germany shortly. One is the German family who had helped us out so much is moving to the US later this month. And a few days ago we learned that our only American friends are also moving to the US, too! We're going to develop some severe abandonment issues.

I read lots of books recently. I started the Night Angel series (though I only have the first book). I read a Book Club book, A Friend of the Earth about how we're going to destroy the planet (it's more upbeat than it sounds). And I read Animal Farm and 1984 - because somehow my education skipped right over that one. Now I'm starting the Lord of the Rings because I've never read those either. That'll likely keep me busy for a few months.

We've heard that this summer in KY has been brutal. Elizabeth and I are happy to report that the German summer has been very mild! Though Germans hate it when we celebrate cold weather - they love the summer heat. more than anything in this world. Last year was absolutely unbearable, and so we were nervous about spending another several weeks in 90-100 degree heat with no air conditioning in sight (so much chocolate wasted!). I don't know if it has hit 90 more than once or twice. Regardless, we still hate you and your cool spaces. On far too many occasions I've had to sit at work at a desk 100% soaked through with sweat with coworkers laughing and teasing. Apparently I sweat more than anyone they've ever encountered.

Um... that's about it. We just started watching Preacher and Mr. Robot on Amazon.com. They are both very entertaining. But at 10 episodes each, they'll only last us a week or two. Check 'em out!

Have fun. Stay cool. See you at Thanksgiving!

Hello everyone

This blog is long overdue for an entry. The past 3 weeks have been exceptionally busy. For the first time, my parents visited our apartment in Germany, and then the 4 of us proceeded to travel together around Italy. Forgive me if I mix some of the days up. It all began Wednesday, June 8th…


Elizabeth hopped on a train that morning to meet my parents at the airport in order to escort them to Schwäbisch Gmünd. Although their original flight was cancelled, they managed to catch another flight a few hours later, still arriving roughly as planned. I worked a half-day, but was able to beat them to the apartment – allowing me to spend a few more moments tidying up.

It was wonderful to see my parents. They were exhausted from the flights, so we gave a quick tour of the apartment, ending promptly in their bedroom for naptime. That’s not to say that they slept the day away. They were too excited for that. Within an hour or two, they were up and ready to see the city. Well, at least a little... for beer.

Dad loves beer, and has made a hobby of trying many varieties. You can find him on ratebeer.com under “rondphoto”. His goal during this vacation was to sample as many beers as possible (within reason). We started early, picking up nearly 20 different beers on day 1. Considering that we had already selected 5 for him in advance, that beer lasted a while.

We ended the day at the most popular Döner restaurant in the area (I asked around), Ali Baba. While taking pictures of the meat tornado, mom was pulled behind the counter by the staff and given a very large knife to wield. Unfortunately, I was in charge of taking that photo, so I’m certain it was blurry and unusable.

Day 2 was even more delightful. We set up a large breakfast buffet in the apartment. There were breads, meats and cheeses, eggs and yogurts – all of the typical breakfast foods provided in the region. We wasted no time and were quickly back out into the town. Elizabeth and I showed them the usual sights: the old towers, churches, ice cream parlors, etc. My parents “ooo”-ed and “aaa”-ed. Dad spent an unreasonable time taking pictures of dilapidated gargoyles.




Later, we bought fancy chocolates, which my parents forgot to take home with them. They won’t ever see those again. We stopped for a beer at the Forum (I did, at least), and climbed the shiny tower in Wetzgau. Mom, while afraid of heights, still made it more than halfway up! That evening, we met our German teacher, Susanne, at Paulaner for dinner outside in the Martkplatz.

Susanne volunteered to watch our cats during in our vacation. We are extremely lucky to have her.




On Friday the real fun began. The entire day was spent on planes trains and automobiles. By some stroke of luck, we successfully made *most* all our connections. One of our planes was the size of a matchbox and had propellers. Mom lost her new raincoat somewhere along the way. I fed 2 vodka-guzzling Germans some apples (literally: standing at the train platform drinking out of full-sized vodka bottles). After our taxi death ride to the hotel in Pisa, dad insisted we experience the town (at 11:00 pm). We wandered through the sea of 20-somethings and landed in a small deli. Using hand signals and apologies, we persuaded the gentlemen to construct 4 unique sandwiches for us. Good times all around.

Before you ask: no, we didn’t visit the tower of Pisa. There was no time to venture to the other side of the city. Early Saturday morning we rushed to catch our train to Florence.

Florence was fantastic. It took a while to learn the layout of the city, and once we lost each other for a good half hour. We also jammed 2 museums into the day – causing Elizabeth to reach her wits’ end (Don’t worry, we all took turns being overwhelmed during the trip). Okay, so maybe the first day wasn’t the best. But it only got better from there. At the end of the day, we stopped at Brew Dog Brewery, which helped us relax a little.

And let's not forget the main attraction at the museum: the real (and gigantic) statue of David!




Sunday was our bike trip! A van transported us far out of the city, into the beautiful surrounding hills. The journey started badly, with rain and hail. We waited out the storm, eating an early lunch and mingling with the other bikers. One family from Florida had family living in Schwäbisch Gmünd! Eventually, the rain stopped and we began biking again. Our trail ended with a steep uphill. Despite everyone’s 5-minute head start, I was the first to the top! Unfortunately, they didn't distribute awards. Afterwards, the guides took us around an old castle/winery, where we sampled fresh wine and olive oil.

For dinner, we found a brewery called Mostodolce. It was great! The food was fresh and interesting, and the beers were different and plentiful. We left with more beers in bottles as well as some of their sticker labels. It was a much better experience than Brew Dog.

Early Monday morning we hopped on the train for Venice. The city is beautiful, despite being an unsolvable maze. We rode in a gondola and visited some old buildings and churches. It goes without saying that the food in Venice was absurdly unreasonable. But that’s to be expected; the tourists are literally trapped. This was the day that dad reached his wits’ end. Don’t ask him about it.




Tuesday we cooked! The group started in the center of Florence, where we were taken on a walking tour of the city. After an hour or two, we, again, were driven to the wonderful outskirts of Florence. An old Italian lady taught us how to cook several traditional dishes, with the help of a few translators. We made bruschetta, pizza, noodles, pork, Bolognese sauce, and two desserts. The class ended at 5:00 pm, but, needless to say, we didn’t need dinner that evening. But we still needed beer! The evening was spent in Archea Brewpub, sampling beer and spectacular 90s music.




Wednesday was yet another big travel day. We took our itty-bitty plane back to Pisa, and then on to Frankfurt, where we stayed for 3 days. Somewhere around here, mom got deathly ill. When we arrived in Frankfurt, mid-afternoon, she fell into her bed and remained there until morning. The rest of us went to dinner at a bar called Naiv. It was just terrible... or so we told mom.

Thursday, mom was still somewhat sick, and Elizabeth was about to join her. Nevertheless, it was a big walking day for us. We toured the city gardens and the Goethe house/museum. Lunch was at a local brewery, BrauStil. We tried all of BrauStil’s beers and ordered wild sausages from a neighboring deli. I can’t remember what else we did. Anyway, we went to Italian for dinner (seemed a bit odd, since we had just come from Italy). Luckily, they offered many “daily” dishes, which were heavily influenced by Frankfurt cuisine. Elizabeth and I tried our first apple wines.

Our last morning in Frankfurt, we toured the old town (south side of the river). We came across an outdoor market. We walked along the river, where I insisted on buying fish from a boat, but that was all. We hurried to the train station and rode back to Schwäbisch Gmünd. I think we ordered pizza for dinner? Something easy. We were all tired.

The next day began at the local flea market! After picking up tasty bakery treats, we headed over. Dad was not nearly as enthusiastic as one would hope. He didn’t buy a single glass, war medal, or beer sign. Mom, on the other hand, jumped right in and began to haggle. We kept the day easy, which was important because the next day was to be another trip! We spent all day Sunday (Father’s day) in Bamberg sampling beers. Bamberg was beautiful, and the weather couldn’t have been better. We stopped at 3 different places for beer (the smoked beer is just awful).

Monday was the last day for my parents. We were back in Schwäbisch Gmünd. Mom was mostly over her cold, but Elizabeth was getting worse. I walked my parents around the city while she slept. We ended the day together with local cuisine from the Forum followed by more ice cream.

Our 2-week vacation was wonderful. It was a nice mix of sight-seeing and travel. The travel gave me time to finish reading “Autobiography of a Yogi” and “Treasure Island”. I decided to refrain from running during the trips, which helped me relax even further. But, of course, now I’m back to the grind of work. Back to no English being spoken around me (which means that I say zero words during the day). I haven’t yet worked up the motivation to run again. I’m a little concerned that I won’t ever – and that I’ll be walking the Berlin Marathon. In any case, Berlin won’t be fast, which is okay.

The hot season has just begun here, with today reaching the low 90s. There’s no air-conditioning anywhere in the city. Please pray for us :)

Until next time.

May 2nd was our 1-year anniversary of living in Germany. One year is a long time (despite the fact that we have another 20 months before we come back to KY), but it's really short considering how much has changed since day 1.

When we first arrived, we were given a company car (which neither of us knew how to confidently drive - something someone should have considered discussing with us in advance) and a short-term apartment 6 miles from the city. We had no cell phones because both of our previous carriers were being overly difficult with regards to unlocking our phones. The apartment was very small, and it included no oven and (virtually) no freezer. We were only given one set of keys, and the closest grocery store was 3 miles from the apartment... which, added to the fact that we spoke 0 German, basically meant that Liz was confined to the apartment all day long.

We immediately tried to buy furniture, but ran into trouble at every turn. No store wanted to accept our credit card(s) or our Paypal. Instead, they wanted our German bank account information. That was less than ideal because we wouldn't have enough money in that account until one month later.

Those chaotic times did eventually end. We moved into our real apartment in the middle of June and slowly began receiving furniture and appliances. Of course there was not a kitchen yet, but we were on top of it. With the help of friends, we ordered a kitchen from Rieger.

Everyone knows this story already. The kitchen was delayed. Rieger told us 2 months later that they never processed the order (even though we paid 800 euro upfront). And they told us that the contract would be cancelled and rewritten because they didn't charge us enough money. Blah blah blah.

Finally, everything settled down on the homefront, allowing us to relax a little for the first time. Our speaking skills were slightly improving with each class (inside of class only - the teacher speaks extremely differently than everyone else in lower Germany... because no one wants us to learn the language that we need?). We lived close enough to walk to the grocery store and bike to work. We even started taking vacations.

First we visited Weiden, Germany, where I ran my first European marathon, and then on to Prague. Beautiful city. Don't let Liz's anxiety regarding large crowds deter anyone. Next we visited the Netherlands, which was also fantastic. It was there, in Spijkenisse, that I ran my 2nd European marathon. Our third vacation was to Barcelona, Spain, where we saw my old boss and where I ran my 3rd European marathon. And last week we visited Chartres, France for the heck of it. Very enjoyable church light shows at night.




Chartres is also the location of the prayer labyrinth - the same labyrinth that Barry drew on our church parking lot 15 years ago.




We found time to visit KY twice - in December, when we also picked up our cats to join in the Germany fun, and in April, in order to meet our newest nephew and friend babies.

And obviously, we enjoyed ourselves closer to "home". I ran a 25K / 15 mile race in our home town with our friend other Kyle. We watched a giant horse parade in Bart-town. We attended Fruehlingsfest, Oktoberfest, and Weinfest in Stuttgart. And we witnessed 10 or 20 marching bands dressed in matching Halloween costumes parading through the streets (in... January?).

In March I transferred to a new department, underneath an old friend. And tomorrow I physically move to a new office on the other side of town. Liz has just started tutoring individual English students as well as teaching full-sized English classes. We've made new friends, while some old friends joined us in Germany and others have left.

We still have so much time in Germany. With our language classes officially over, I realize now that I will never be able to speak it while I am living here (as an extracurricular student for one year, I'm the equivalent of a first-grader), but that's okay. I can't conceive of how our remaining time in Germany will be a fraction as memorable.

Oh, and also, it's our 2-year wedding anniversary today. So, you know - champagne and ice cream.

Alles in Butter.

Greetings, delightful American friends. And big congratulations to everyone I know who was part of either the Derby Marathon or the Flying Pig (or both??!).

May is here. Flowers are blooming. Insects are buzzing. People are constantly outside. City festivals are nonstop.

Quite honestly, I've never experienced a people that enjoyed sunlight more than the people here in southern Germany. When the sun is shining, no one stays inside. The Marktplatz is currently overflowing with people.

I cannot adequately express how completely opposite Americans can be. Especially me personally. I enjoy being inside. Inside is where I do things I deem as "productive" (with the exception of yesterday's 2-hour run and today's 1-hour run). Outside is nice, but it also has annoying bugs and instantaneous sunburn.

Why do they love the sunshine? For one, it isn't as frequent here as it is in Kentucky. All too often are days gray and cloudy. Therefore, when the sun shines, everyone leaves work early and heads outside*. Additionally, people are more relaxed. People can enjoy themselves without "making the absolute most out of every second."**

In short, I'm learning a lot about myself and how I interact with the world. Both good and bad.

[*Side note 1: There seem to be many more convertible cars here than in KY, in order to take full advantage of the sun.]

[**Side note 2: while Americans aim for the feeling of "Cloud 9", the German people are much more practical. They are satisfied reaching "Cloud 7".]

So, I've been alone in Germany for two weeks now. I wish I could say I was productive... but nearly all of my time was spent working, running, and grocery shopping. And yesterday, Other Kyle accompanied me to the "weekly" Flohmarkt. Other than that, I beat NES Metroid and watched "Flaked" starring Will Arnett. I must say - Netflix really knows how to produce good shows. Daredevil, Seven Deadly Sins, Unbreakable KS, Love, Orange is the New Black, Jessica Jones... and several others.

Oh yeah, I also finished "Seven Years in Tibet" yesterday. It was the April (and March, haha) book from Rach's Virtual Book Club. I enjoyed reading about that culture as it was in 1950. But now I must find the movie (with Brad Pitt and Mako). IMDB.com has a pretty good review. As of now, I don't know what the May Virtual Book Club book will be. If we pick one quickly, perhaps Elizabeth can grab a copy for me.

If not, I have plenty more books anyway. "Autobiography of a Yogi" isn't going to read itself. I've never been a fan of reading. It's hard for me to sit down and complete one thing at a time (I'm listening to music right now). Oddly enough though, I've read more books this year in Germany than I have in the past 10 years. If I had to guess: Because I'm so frequently overloading myself, I'm being pulled toward activities that force me to slow down. But that's only a theory.


Let's see... do I have any photos that you'd be interested in? Nope. Only cat pictures. No one needs to see any more of those.

Here. Listen to random German music instead (Sorry if it's region-locked. I tried to check for that):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RveIJFR7LV4

Hello, good people.

I know that it has been too long. Many of you have wanted to know about our Barcelona trip, my marathon, my new nephew, my birthday... so today I'll do my best to get everyone up to speed. And, in a fun twist, I might toss in a little unrefined German. Everything in my head is a jumble of terrible German and worsening English, so it's only fair for everyone to suffer along with me.

First of all, Barcelona was fantastic. We stepped off the airplane to find my old boss, Eva, waiting for us at the gate. It was great to see her after so many years. She took us around her city, showed us the birdseye view, and took us out to an early dinner (9pm) at a favorite restaurant of hers. I must say, she is looking very well. Being back home suits her.

We'll need to visit her again one day when we have more time...

The remaining days in Barcelona were full of tourist activities like museums, lavish treats, churches, parks, packet pickup... you know, normal stuff. Packet pickup war relativ einfach. We arrived right as it opened, so we grabbed our stuff and hurried out.

Only after taking some fun photos:




Naturally, the marathon was fun. I kept it slow enough not to hurt myself, because in April I begin some relatively heavy Berlin training. Running along the beach was nice, and every single guy felt comfortable enough to pee on the side of the road! Europe is a little different than the US.

Nach dem Marathon (und unseres Schläfchen) we stumbled upon a little bar with impressive American and Barcelona beers. We stayed and chatted with the bartender. And tried beers. And a couple more. It's amazing how great the feeling of "I don't know how this beer will taste" can be.

Four hours later, the beer was not sitting well with me. Apparently I've never drank after a marathon before. And I doubt I ever will again. Live and learn.

Oh... and here's a picture of a sexy giraffe. Because everything is sexy in Barcelona:




Auf jeden Fall, we are home now, so it's back to the grind. But at least it's almost my birthday! Ich werde 30! We are going somewhere next weekend... because, you know, Germany doesn't work around Easter. We have both Friday and Monday off work.

Am Donnerstag hatten wir Deutschunterricht. Wir lernen viel, but there's only so much you can learn in 10 months. Every once in a while, my coworkers will try to speak German with me. Ich verstehe nichts (wie immer), und man kann the look of disappointment on their faces sehen.

Am nächsten Donnerstag ist unserer letzte Unterricht. Das macht mich nervös. I have learned very little so far. I cannot have any casual conversation with anyone. Ich versuche zu lernen. Lord knows I try. It's all I think about. Frag mal Liz, was ich heute gemacht habe. Sie würde sagen: eat, run, and study. And watch TV (anschauen? I don't even know how to say THAT, haha).

Das deutsche Leben ist anstrengend. Ich will sagen: "Egal! Es bleibt jetzt so." Aber ich kann das nicht. When I come home in 2018, I will be completely grey.

Other Kyle watched our cats while we were in Barcelona. But somehow they are still ridiculously needy now. So I'll go now and pet them some more.

Bis nächstes Mal!