Anniversary & France

Shanna & I have been doing a lot of traveling this month, and we had two trip weekends bookend the weekend of our anniversary, so we decided on a quiet night for the actual anniversary.  It was a Monday, so while Shanna was at work, I ran around town.  In town there's a great indoor year round market with vendors from all over Europe.  I was able to get some delicious Chicken Cordon Bleu, cheese stuffed peppers, French Brie, pretzels, a bottle of wine, and of course, chocolates all at the market.  I then picked up some flowers and a card, and headed home.  Once home I realized I'd made a mistake with the card.  Shanna was just going to have to pretend that Hochzeit meant "Anniversary" like I thought and not "Wedding", like it actually meant.  If you're curious, Jubiläum is the word I should have been looking for.  I knew that, but in my rush, I forgot, and got a wedding card instead of an anniversary card.  All in all, it was a relaxing evening with good food, good wine and...Survivor. :)

This past weekend it was FINALLY time for the International Beer Expo in Strasbourg, France.  Shanna had found out about it before my birthday back in June, and gave me a birthday card with a print out of the details so we could go.  I've been looking forward to it ever since.  Strasbourg is only an hour & a half away, so Shanna worked a normal work day, then I picked her up Friday afternoon and we hit the road.  That was definitely the biggest mistake of the weekend.  We've always traveled in the middle of the day, or on a weekend...this was the first time we'd tried to hit the road on a Friday and the roads were packed.  Instead of an hour & a half, it took us two and a half hours.  While most of the drive was on the Autobahn, the last half hour was through some really pretty French countryside.  The sun was almost set, there was a light mist over the ground about six feet high, and it was pretty to look at as we drove through some small French towns.

Finally we get to our hotel, get checked in, and head to the beer expo.  It looked a lot closer to our hotel on the map then it actually was, and I didn't realize the metro stop outside our hotel went right to it, so we walked that first night.  30 minutes later we were there, and ready to sample.  A friend of ours met us there, and we got to try some of our favorites, Dogfish Head, Stone, Weyerbacher, Lagunitas, and Ommegang to name a few.  A few years ago I went to Montreal for a friends Bachelor party, and fell in love with Quebec breweries.  They had some outstanding ones in attendance this year at the expo.  One of the neat areas they had set up was showing you how to pair French beer with French cooking...as expected, the food samples they had out were delicious.

When we were done for the night, we headed back to the hotel & went to bed.  The next morning we got up and took the metro into the city.  I'd been to Strasbourg last year with a USO tour and really enjoyed it.  This was Shanna's first time, so I was able to show her around the Old Town area.  We headed into the cathedral, which is the tallest one in France, and walked around all the shops.  The weather was cold & dreary, but at least it wasn't raining.  After we'd walked around for a few hours, we got a text from some other friends of ours who live in Wiesbaden that they were just about there.

We met up with them at the expo about an hour later.  Regine is a friend that Shanna has known since her early days with the Army in Texarkana, and her boyfriend Marcelo works with her at the Corp of Engineers.  It'd been a long time since we'd seen them, so it was great to meet up with them again.  Marcelo, like Shanna & I, is a big fan of Microbrew beers, so he was just as excited as we were to be there.  It was neat to see some of the things they had set up there, including a motorcycle with hops & barley all over it.

The previous night we'd wandered from booth to booth, but this time we did it right.  We bought fresh cheeses & sausages from some of the vendors there, as well as some bread.  We laid it all out at a table in the expo center, got our beers, and caught up.  That was pretty much how the rest of the evening went.  We'd wander from booth to booth, trying what they had to offer.  One of the stand out breweries we discovered there was À l’Abri de la Tempête, from Quebec.  They had two beers in particular (Corne de Brume and Corps Mort) that were outstanding.  No luck finding them here, of course, but they are definitely a brewery I'm going to keep an eye out for when we go home next.

The night ended with us heading to the shopping area, and buying beer for us and for friends back in Stuttgart who had requested a few bottles.  It was heavy carrying that back to the hotel, but definitely worth it.  One beer I got not because I had tried & liked it, but because it was in a big growler and we both really liked the artwork on it.  It was brewery that's near Neuschwanstein, and the artwork was all centered around King Ludwig.  The main image on the front is of Neuschwanstein, and along the bottom they had pictures of all his castles, including the one he grew up in that sits almost right next to Neuschwanstein.

The next morning there really wasn't much else left to do.  We checked out, loaded the car up, and hit the road.  The only thing of note was the weird weather.  There was some thick fog in Strasbourg, and through out the entire remaining drive in France.  Within ten minutes of crossing the border into Germany, the fog cleared, and it was bright & sunny, without a cloud in the sky.  Thankfully the drive home only took about an hour & 15 minutes.

That's it for traveling for a few weeks now.  My next post most likely won't be until December.  For Thanksgiving, Shanna & I are flying down with our friend Penny to Sicily, and meeting my parents & brother there.  We are both really looking forward to it!

There weren't enough pics to upload a new album, so the pictures above will just take you to a hi-res version of which ever pic you click on.

Croatia and Montenegro

For Columbus Day weekend, Shanna & I wanted to take a trip somewhere.  A few months back our friend Penny had mentioned cheap deals to Dubrovnik, Croatia.  I'd heard so much about how pretty the country was, and we're always up for visiting somewhere new.  It was good deal, so we jumped on it.

Friday morning I dropped the dogs off at the kennel, we hopped on the train, and headed to the airport.  Once there we met up with our friends Craig, Penny, & Adam.  You might remember Penny & Adam because they went with us to London back in July.  The flight there was uneventful, although the last part of the leg to Croatia we started to talk with the lady sitting next to us.  She was from the Ukraine, and was on her way to vacation with her 8 month old grandson, daughter, & son-in-law.  She insisted that we visit the Ukraine sometime, because it was beautiful.  Sounds good to me...any place we haven't been is a place I want to visit.  When we had landed & collected our bags, we took the shuttle I'd arranged to our hotel.  It was about a 30 minute drive to the hotel, and along the way the shuttle driver would point out various things along our route.  For example, I knew we were close to Bosnia, but had no idea that one point, we were only 6 miles from the border.  I remember all the news coverage of the war in Bosnia during High School, and never pictured myself vacationing a few miles from it's border.  The view during the drive was spectacular.  Dubrovnik sits along the Mediterranean cost, with huge mountains behind it, so it's an amazing view.

Once we arrived, we checked in, got settled, and took the 10 minute bus from our hotel into Old Town where Penny, Adam, & Craig were staying.  We walked around the old town area for a bit, and stumbled across an unexpected memorial.  It was a room dedicated to Dubrovnik Defenders.  I'll admit my knowledge of the history of this area isn't the greatest.  I remember the conflicts in Kosovo & Bosnia, but the other major conflicts following the fall of the Soviet Union I don't know too much about.  This room told a small part of it. Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Bosnia all used to be one country, Yugoslavia.  When the USSR fell, the country fractured into Serbia, Bosnia, and Croatia.  Montenegro was it's own country, but part of the greater Serbia.  In 1991, the Montenegrin army, Serbian army, and the remains of the former Yugoslavian Army, all attacked Dubrovnik, trying to annex it to their own country.  The bombardment came from sea, air & land and lasted until July of 1992.  Then, from 1992 - 1995, there were sporadic bombings and attacks.  In 1995, Dubrovnik rejoined the rest of Croatia.  This memorial we found was dedicated to those who died fighting against the invading armies.

After that we were all ready for dinner.  There's a show that Shanna & I watch, as well as our friend Adam, called Three Sheets.  The basic premise is the host travels around the world and explores whatever food & drinks the area is known for.  He had done an episode in Dubrovnik, and ate at a place called Pupo.

When we walked up, we weren't sure we were at the right place.  The waiter walks up, sees us looking around, and we ask for a seat.  But he knew what we were looking for, so he asked if we had any questions. We told him we wanted to know if this was the place from Three Sheets, and he starts laughing.  He tells us to take a seat, and he goes in the back and brings a glass for each of us, filled with Grappa that had been infused with Rosemary and other Italian Herbs.  It burned at first, but the after taste was delicious, just like garlic bread.  Everyone who comes there & mentions Three Sheets gets to try it for free.  We asked for another round (fully intent on paying for it), and he brought us out the entire bottle...on the house.  The food wasn't bad, but wasn't great...what really made the place, though, was the owner, Ivan.  He was funny, and put on a show all night for us.  Later in the evening a group of four Germans sat next to us.  We started talking with them, and found out they live just north of us.  Somehow we got on the subject of Volksfest, and then started the German drinking songs.  Even Ivan joined in for a bit.  Eventually we called it a night, and ran through a sudden rainstorm to get to the bus that would take us to our hotel.

The next morning we had breakfast, then headed to a kiosk outside our hotel.  We had seen it advertising excursions, including one to the country south of us, Montenegro.  Penny had really wanted to take a day trip down there, and after looking at the pictures of the country, I really wanted to visit also.  It was pretty a cheap too...an all day, guided tour, visiting famous landmarks and stopping in two cities, all for 33 Euros a person.  We signed up, then hopped on the bus to old town.  Shanna & I were doing our own sightseeing that morning, and would meet up with the rest of the group for lunch.  We started off walking on top of the old fortress walls that surround the city.  The view from up there was amazing.  It's a decent size city, so walking around the entire wall took about 2 hours.  While walking around, we noticed film crews.  We'd also seen some the evening before.  We figured they were shooting a documentary, but found out the next day while talking with our tour guide that we were wrong.  He asked us if we were here as tourists, or with HBO.  I told him tourists, but asked what he meant by HBO.  It turns out the series Game of Thrones is shooting it's second season in Dubrovnik.  The city will serve as a location called Kings Landing, and they were shooting location shots.  So if you watch the show, and see us, you'll know why.  :)

After we finished walking around the wall, we met up with the group and had lunch.  You'll notice a common theme with the food here...it just wasn't that good.  We didn't eat at a single place that we really liked, and what made it worse was it wasn't cheap.  It was hard to keep track of what you were spending because of the inflated numbers they use, but once you did the math, it wasn't cheap.  It's a 5.5 to 1 ratio, so 100 Krunes was just under $20.  After lunch, we wandered along the tiny streets, looking in on the various shops.  We even ran into the lady from our flight, and got to meet her grandson & family.  We then headed to a cafe Penny had heard about that was located just outside the walls, facing the sea.  It was nice to have a drink in hand & relax, watching the Med. Sea.  We ended the afternoon sitting at another cafe in the harbor, waiting on all the cruise ship tourists to leave.  It's amazing the difference in the early morning / evening when the cruise ships are gone, and during the day when they are there.  With multiple ships in the harbor, approximately 15,000 - 20,000 people visit, then are gone by the evening.  At this point it was early evening, and we knew we had to get up early the next day for our day trip.  Plus, it was starting to look like rain was coming, and Shanna & I didn't want to get caught in it heading back to our hotel.  We headed back, and ate dinner at a tiki theme bar on the beach by our hotel.  Again...not great and over priced.  It rained while we ate, but thankfully we were fully covered and it subsided before we finished.

The next morning the tour van picked us up from our hotel, and we hit the road.  It took about 45 minutes to get to the border, then we sat & waited.  Normally when you drive across a border where you need to show your passport, there's two checkpoints.  First for leaving the country you're in, then for entering the country you're going to, and typically they are right next to each other.  There's still tension from the war 20 years ago, though, so the two checkpoints between Montenegro & Croatia are 700 meters apart, and not within line of sight.  We sat to have our passports stamped on the way out of Croatia, then again on the way in to Montenegro.  Once that was squared away, we headed in.  The pictures did not do the country justice...the coastline was beautiful.  We made a few stops along the way for pictures, but the first major stop where we had an hour & a half to walk around, was Kotor.  Kotor is an old city that sits on a bay, with huge mountains behind it.  Once inside, we went to the three major churches, including one that was first built in 809 AD.  It had been damaged & renovated over the years, and in 1979 a devastating earthquake severely damaged it.  Finally, in 2009, they had the funds to renovate it and now it's a beautiful church.  One of the things we noticed was all the dogs & cats running around.  The dogs had collars, so they probably weren't stray, it was just strange to see it.  They were friendly though...Penny would pet both the dogs & the cats, and they seemed to eat it.  We picked out some souvenirs, and when our time was up, headed back to the van.

The next stop was just for pictures, and it was Sveti Stefani, an island that is only accessible if you are a guest.  And being a guest doesn't come cheap.  It costs 1,000 Euros per person per night.  There's also a private beach that is split in half (makes more sense when you see the picture).  If you aren't staying at the island, you can still access the beach for a price.  The right side of the beach is 35 Euros per day, and the left side is 55 Euros per day.  Maybe we'll stay there next year. :)  After seeing the island from above, we headed to our final stop, the capital of Montenegro, Budva.  Budva was neat, it sat right on a bay, and was still surrounded by an ancient fortress wall.   The first thing we did was have lunch, and it was by far the best meal we'd had on the trip.  Shanna & I both got Calamari, and hers was stuffed with garlic & onions.  It tasted amazing.  We had beer from Niksicko, the only brewery in Montenegro.  After paying the tab, we headed into the city to sight see.  It was a neat town.  It was small, with narrow streets, but it connected to a pretty beach, and the mountains surrounding it were breath taking.  Finally, the trip came to an end, and we headed back to the van.  We took a car ferry across the Bay of Kotor, and continued on the drive home.  We rolled back in to Dubrovnik around 7pm.  We were all beat, so we headed back to the hotel to watch some College Football on the computer, then called it a night.

Monday was our departure day, so we didn't do much that day, but we did have until noon before our shuttle to the airport was going to arrive.  Shanna got up early for a massage at a spa next door, and afterwards we walked along the beach and explored our part of town since we hadn't really done that yet.  We got to the airport early, and watched the Arkansas game on the computer while waiting for our flight.

Normally I'd end the post by saying the flight home went smooth.  While that's true, something did happen.  We had a lay over in Vienna, and when we touched down, I turned my phone back on.  I had a voicemail.  A week & a half ago I'd interviewed for a network security job with SAIC.  The interview went well, and later that week I found out a friend of ours is friends with the hiring manager I interviewed with, and he put in a good word.  I listened to the voicemail, and it was that hiring manager.  All he said, though, was that he was calling about the position and would call back later.  At this point it was too late to call him back, so I had to wait an agonizing 12 hours until 9am the next morning, when he called to offer me the job.  It's going to take 4-5 weeks due to the paperwork on SAIC's end, as well as the fact that the German Government has to review it to make sure I qualify to be exempt from German taxes.  Once that's all said & done around December, I'll finally be employed.  I cannot wait to go back to work!

The next post will be in about two weeks, when we get back from Strasbourg, France, for the International Beer festival!

To see the pictures, click here or any picture above.

Fests, Fests, and more Fests

All summer long there are all kinds of Fests all over Germany.  Beer, Wine, Beans, Onions, Strawberries, you name it...it has a fest for it.  In April when things start to thaw out, and the weather gets warm, the Germans like to be out in it as much as possible before the Winter sets back in around October.  This past month the local brewery by our house had a festival, and of course there was Oktoberfest and it's cousin in Stuttgart, Volksfest.

The weekend of September 10th/11th, the local Dinkelacker brewery had it's annual festival on the brewery grounds.  Shanna & I had gone last year, but we brought the dogs with us, so we couldn't go inside the brewery grounds.  We had to stay outside where they had live music, benches, food, & drinks.  This year we left the dogs at home and walked through the brewery.  Within the brewery grounds they had people making clothing with old fashioned tools, like they would hundreds of years ago.  They had Woodsmiths, Metalsmiths, and all kinds of Medieval tools, weapons, and clothing being made.  They even had a Pottery making tent.  It was neat to walk around in.  The best part for us, though, was this big truck they had inside with all kinds of prizes.  You paid one Euro for a scratch card, and whatever number was on the card corresponded to a prize on the truck.  We got a mug, long socks, salt & pepper shaker, and more.  Outside the brewery grounds, they had people who owned classic cars giving people rides in them.

While we were there, we also took a tour of the brewery.  It was in German, but between what we already know about the brewing process, and the guide speaking slowly because he knew we weren't German, we were able to understand a decent amount.  After we were done, we were heading out & ran into a friend of ours who lives nearby, so we ended up staying later with him.

Two weeks later kicked off the official start to Volksfest.  We had gotten tickets through some friends for opening night, and met up with them down there Friday evening.  It was our first chance this season to put the Lederhosen & Dirndel back on, and we couldn't wait.  I don't have any pictures from that night, but the two videos on the picture page I'll link to at the end are from the night.  One is the band getting ready to kick the night off, the other is some dance off that started right next to our table.  When you hear someone yell "Doug Lee", that's a reference to a friend of ours back home who was the first person we thought of when we saw it.

The next afternoon some friends from the US came in to town.  Chris Comes, and his girlfriend Hillary, showed up Saturday afternoon.  They were doing a European tour, and arranged to stay at our place for that weekend because we were going down to Munchen for Oktoberfest the next day.  They would leave after that, head to Italy & other places for the week, then come back Friday for Volksfest.  That evening we tried to get downtown so Hillary could buy a Dirndel, but all the stores were closed by then.  We ended up taking them to one of our favorite German restaurants, Zum Paulaner, for dinner.  After that they were exhausted, so we headed home.

The next morning came bright & early.  The bus from base to Munchen left at 7am, and we were able to make it there with plenty of time.  On the ride there our USO escort passed out an "Oktoberfest Survival Guide".  I laughed at one page that said "Don't Sleep on the Train"...if only I'd had that advice last year at Oktoberfest.  :)  We get there a little early, before our tent reservation was set to start, so walked around and picked up some souvenirs.  We also stopped to see the horse carriages with the decorative beer barrels in them.  They have them every year to show how they used to bring beer to the festivals.

At noon, we met back at the Hippodrom tent, where our reservation was.  It was at this point we realized there was no way we were doing this again next year with the USO.  We had one escort who had to look after & accommodate almost 50 people.  That's tough to do on a regular tour, but next to impossible when you're taking everyone to a beer drinking event.  It was made more difficult by the tent who had a ridiculous method for keeping track of food & drinks.  Every tent we've been to before would give out coupons to everyone.  You get one for your meal, and 2 or 3 for drinks.  This tent instead just had a total Euro amount, and once that amount was reached for all 50 people (not individually), you had to start paying.  So some people ate/drank faster then others and got more then the slower eaters/drinkers.  That, of course, led to huge complaints with our escort, who had no control over that.  The four of us just ended up taking our drinks out of the area and walking around the tent, only coming back when we wanted a refill.  Once we did that, we started having a good time.  We even got a commemorative mug from the tent.

Our reservation ended at 3pm, but we didn't have to be back at the bus until 5pm.  We just ended up finding a biergarten near the entrance and relaxed with a few other people on the trip until it got close to 5.  We got back in to Stuttgart around 9pm, and headed home.  Needless to say it had been a LONG day, so we all crashed pretty early.

Chris & Hillary left the next day, but were back on Friday afternoon.  Shanna had taken a half day that day, and once they arrived, we headed into town.  Now it was early enough that the stores were all open, so Hillary got her Dirndel, changed in the store, and we headed down to Volksfest.  Having done both festivals two years in a row, I definitely enjoy Volksfest more.  It's large (the second largest beer fest in Germany) but not as large as Oktoberfest (the largest beer festival in Germany), it's not as touristy, and feels more authentic.  At Oktoberfest, no one really talked with anyone outside their group, but at Volksfest we were talking, dancing, and having fun with all the tables around us.  We also met up with our German teacher, Sandra, and her husband Jens.  She's a lot of fun, and we hit it off with her fast when we first started taking classes.  We had a lot of fun with them that night too.

Sandra wanted Jens to come out with us, because she said his English isn't very good, but after a few beers he's more willing to speak it.  We found Jens to be like most people in Germany...he said his English wasn't very good, but we had NO trouble speaking with or understanding him.  He told me (and I feel the same way) that normally he's afraid of messing up the way you're supposed to say something in English, but after a few beers, it doesn't bother him.  When I speak German, I always stress about perfect pronunciation & conjugation, but after a few beers, I'm not as concerned.  He was really nice, and it was good to finally meet him.

It was lot of fun that night.  The band played good music, and we got to sing, dance, and talk with Americans, Germans, and even a guy from Italy.

The next morning Shanna made pancakes, eggs, & sausage...it more then hit the spot after a night at the fest.  The original plan had been for Chris & Hillary to head to Heidelberg and stay with friends there on Saturday, then head to Frankfurt Sunday morning & fly home.  Plans with their friends in Heidelberg fell through, so they stayed with us Saturday.  We took them all around downtown Stuttgart, showing them the market area, Town Hall, the weekly antique market, and the farmers market.  We then took them to the suburbs of Stuttgart to our favorite Italian Restaurant.  It was a 5 minute walk from the hotel we stayed at when we first arrived a year & a half ago (WOW time flies).  We took Shanna's parents there when they were here, and they loved it too.  We get there, and I first notice something's different when the waiter who comes out is not someone I've seen there before.  It's a family run business, so it's always the same people there.  Then he brings out a completely different looking menu.  Instead of the huge book with pages & pages of dishes, it's a laminated sheet that looks like something you'd see at a bar.  We order the pizza, and when the guy brings them out, we KNOW something isn't right.  The pizzas looked like cheap bar food.  The guy apologized, saying they just got a new oven, and that's why they were a little burnt.  Thankfully, though, he said the pizzas were on the house.  It was at this point that I glanced behind us where they have the menu on display for everyone to see before they enter the restaurant, and it's a different menu.  That's when we realize while the location is the same, the place we loved was no longer in business.  We apologized to Chris & Hillary because we'd gotten them excited talking about how great the pizza was, and this stuff was awful.  It's too bad.

We paid our bill for the drinks, and headed home.  Chris & Hillary packed, then watched the Arkansas/Texas A&M game with us.  Before they went to bed, they gave us a thank you gift for letting them stay and showing them around.  It was not necessary, but very nice of them.  It was a bottle of Limoncello from Venice, and I thought the bottle was really neat looking.

That mask isn't painted on the bottle, it's an actual mini carnival mask attached to the bottle.  The next morning, bright & early at 6am, Chris & Hillary hit the road to Frankfurt.  Shanna & I went back to bed after saying good bye, then spent all Sunday relaxing watching football.

It's been a fun month, and there's more to come.  This weekend we're heading to Dubrovnik, Croatia.  We've heard nothing but good things about it, and can't wait to head there.  I'll have plenty of pictures and a blog post about it ready to go next week!

To see the pictures, click any image above or here.