Weekend Update

I thought about posting about Valentine's Day last week, but figured I'd wait until after this past weekend to combine it all into one post.

For Valentine's Day Shanna & I decided to stay local and cook at home.  She had to work that day, of course, so I ran all over Stuttgart finding things for dinner.  First I went to a Blumen (flower) shop near our house and bought some Orchids.  I left that in the car and hopped a train to the center of town.  There's an indoor year round Market Hall where vendors from all over Europe and Asia come to sell food.  You can get anything there, and it's amazingly fresh.  They have butchers, dairy farmers, seafood, you name it.  It's not cheap, but you can't beat the quality and taste of their food.  We don't shop there often because of the cost, but for special occasions (like this) it was worth it.  I picked up some Filet Mignon and cheese stuffed peppers.  Next I headed to Conditorei and picked up some chocolates.  And finally, when I went to pick Shanna up from work that day, I got a few bottles of wine.  That night the menu consisted of bacon wrapped Filet Mignon, baked peppers stuffed with cheese, and some veggies.

Dinner turned out great, although there was a momentary hiccup when we couldn't figure out how to set our oven to "broil".  There's no words, only images, on our oven and no instruction manual.  With the assistance of Google, though, we figured it out.  That was it for Valentine's Day...we kept it pretty low-key this year.

This past weekend a lot got done.  On Saturday morning I had to take the car in to get an oil change, then I picked some people up from the hotel on base.  Shanna's been tasked with being a sponsor to a new employee, and with how bad our sponsor was, we didn't want someone else to have to go through what we did.  Her name is Arlynda, and her and her husband and 2 kids are great people.  It's interesting see how wide eyed they are at everything.   I didn't realize how comfortable Shanna & I had become speaking & reading  German, navigating around Europe, and just living here in general until you interact with people who just got here.  We empathize though...we were exactly like they were 10 months ago.

After I picked them up, I drove them back to the Marienplatz near our house and parked the car.  Shanna had done a lot of work over the past week taking them to get their kids enrolled in school and showing Arlynda the ropes of the job, but in those two weeks they'd been here, there hadn't been time for them to really see things off base.  After we parked, we headed over to the U-Bahn station and showed them how to use the trains, how to read the map, and everything they'd need to know in the short term about the U-Bahn, S-Bahn, and Deutsche Bahn.  We took the train down to the Rathaus and showed them the Market Place I mentioned earlier in the post, as well as the Schlossplatz, the Hauptbahnhof, and various other places in the downtown area.  We even ran into a massive group of people protesting Stuttgart 21, the initiative to overhaul the main train station.

The picture I took above was on the outskirts of the protest...the last thing I wanted to do was pull my phone out and snap pictures in the center of the mass of people.  We also took them to Zum Paulaner, which is the restaurant we always take people here for the first time to.  They have English and German menus, their staff speak perfect English, but most important, their food and beer are excellent.  As the afternoon drew to a close, we hopped on a train and took it back to the Marienplatz, and I drove them home.  They had a great time, and I told them not to worry about feeling overwhelmed now.  We felt the same way 10 months ago, and look where we are now.

Sunday we had tickets to a Wine expo in Strasbourg, France.  It was actually a really good deal, for 30 Euros a person you got a bus ride back & forth, breakfast & lunch, and entrance to the Wine Expo.  We'd found out about it from our friend Jenny.  She and another friend of ours, Michelle, as well as a few of Michelle's co-workers, were all going, so we figured why not.  The bus hit the road around 9am, and we were in Strasbourg by 10:30.  The wine expo, as you can see from the picture below, was HUGE.

Once the bus was parked, we headed into the Expo center, got our tasting glass, and started walking up & down the rows.  They not only had wine, but also champagne and cognac.  Some of the XO Cognac was amazing, and dirt cheap compared to a bottle purchased in the US.  Of all the Cognac we tasted, one in particular really jumped out at us.  It was from an independent family owned business, but the taste and smoothness was outstanding.

Since the bottle above is not mass-produced, it wasn't possible to make a direct comparison of cost in the US to cost here, but I got a rough idea by comparing the bottle size and quality to a similar bottle sold in the US.  The above bottle would go for about $150 in the US, and we got it here for 45 Euros.  With the current exchange rate, that's about $65-$70.

One stand we stopped at had great wine.  The style caught my eye, Grand Cru, because that's also a beer style I like.  It was a red wine, and Grand Cru was all they sold.  The only difference between the bottles they sold was the year.  We decided on a 2005 bottle that tasted fantastic.  Below is the vineyard's name.

They also had chocolate vendors, and all kinds of stands set up selling French cheeses, bread, etc..  It was a lot of fun, but the most interesting vendor by far was the last one we visited.  Things were winding down, and he was in a talkative mood.  He asked us about where we lived in America, and we told him the cities we had moved here from.  We don't like to tell people we live in Europe because it invites questions and it's not a good idea to mention you work for the US Military or Gov.  Someone in our group asked if he sold his wine in the US, and we got an interesting look into why none of the smaller vineyards at the expo sell in the US...it's all because of the distribution system in place for alcohol.  Our current system makes it cost prohibitive for all but the largest brewers, vineyards, and distillers to sell their product in the US.  He gave an example, if he sold his wine for 1 Euro to an exporter, by the time it reached store shelves and everyone along the way had taken their cut, the final cost to the consumer would be about 5 Euros.  Then you factor in the exchange rate, and it jumps to about 8 dollars.  Of course the wine wouldn't be sold for 1 Euro, it'd be more, so you'd have to multiply the cost he'd sell it at by 5, then adjust for the exchange rate.  Large corporations can sell for cheap rates in bulk so that it's not too expensive in the US, but the smaller guys can't.  It was really interesting, we ended up talking with this guy for a good half hour.

Once the expo closed, we all got on the bus and headed home.  Sunday night it snowed here, so Monday was just a lazy day of shoveling (there wasn't too much) and relaxing around the house.

There weren't too many pictures taken, so click on any of the above images to see a larger, higher resolution, version.

So that's it for the past week...Shanna has a German cooking class Saturday, then next week we're dog sitting for some friends and in two weeks from today, we'll be on a flight home to DC.  It's hard to believe it'll have been just about a year since we moved here.  We're both really looking forward to seeing family and friends again.

See you all soon!

Weekend Update

Things are pretty slow around here now, which is why the blog posts have slowed down.  We're saving up for our trip back home in March, plus it's REALLY cold around here now, which is not conducive to travelling and being outdoors for extended periods of time.  We did manage to take a day trip Saturday, though, so I thought I'd write about it, plus other things going on around here over the past week.

Last week Shanna was in Schwetzingen for the week for training.  I had considered taking the dogs and coming up with her, but a few days after we got back from Amsterdam my foot started to really hurt.  There was no visible swelling or bruising, but I could barely stand on it.  The strange part was it would hurt more if I was laying down.  It had improved, but was still pretty sore the Sunday Shanna was driving up to Schwetzingen, so I stayed home.  That night it was feeling better, so I walked down to the train station and went in to town to meet some friends who were going to watch the Bears/Packers NFC Championship game.  All season I'd been trying to find a bar in town that showed NFL games, and finally found this place.  It's an Irish Pub, and most Irish Pubs are popular with Americans in the area due to the fact that the bartenders are all Irish, so they speak English, and they have a different variety of beers instead of the usual German beers (although they have those too).  It was fun, it was nice watching the game with a group of people, even if the crowd was much smaller then you would have found in a bar back home.

The rest of last week was pretty boring actually.  I didn't have the car, and since my foot was in a lot of pain, I couldn't really go out either.  Shanna got home Friday afternoon, and by then my foot was feeling much better.  It was still a little sore, but I could much more easily walk around on it.  Since that was the case, we headed up to Schwetzingen on Saturday.  Shanna had found a few places in the area she wanted to visit, and a brewery.  The brew pub had some really good food.  I ordered the Texas Burger, which was by far the best burger I've had since we've been here.  Shanna had the Mexican Flammkuchen, which is basically flat bread with cheese, jalapenos, and mexican spices on top.

The beer was really good too, and we were both proud that we were able to order food, converse (in small sentences) with the waitress, and pay, all without speaking any English.

After lunch we walked around town.  We had considered walking through the Schloss, but it wasn't cheap and it was FREEZING outside.  We decided we'd come back in the Spring time when things were warmer to take the tour.  We walked around town for a bit, stopping in various shops, then headed home for the day.

Sunday was a lazy day, but one thing I finally got around to doing was brewing beer with the kit Shanna got me for Christmas!  It came with two different kinds of beer to brew, and Shanna bought me an extra pack to brew an IPA, which is my favorite kind of beer.  I figured I'd start with what came in the package first, then my next brew will be the other packet that came with the kit.  That way I'd get to practice and when I felt I had it down, THEN I'd give the IPA a shot.  It was a lot of fun.  My first brew is going to be a Blond Ale.

It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be.  I'm sure as I get more comfortable with the brewing process I'll branch out in to more complicated brews, but for my first one I wanted to keep it simple.  The keg it comes with is plastic, but it makes cleaning pretty simple.  Who knows, if I really get into it, I'll probably buy a metal or wood keg.

Once the beer was done, I put it in our basement in a room that never sees sunlight and only occasionally has artificial light turned on.  The instructions said to let it sit for 14 days, but I might just let it sit for 21 instead.  Then I bottle the beer and let it sit for another 14-21 days, and it'll be ready!  Actually by the time it's ready we might back in the US, but that's ok, the longer it sits the better it'll taste.

That's about it, not much else going on.  Sunday night I'm meeting some friends who don't have work on Monday out for the Super Bowl.  It's starts at 12:30am (technically Monday morning), and all of the bars on base are having something for it.  It should be fun!

Amsterdam

This past weekend we made a last minute decision to fly to Amsterdam with some friends of ours.  Last weekend Jenny & Chris had found a good deal where we could get airfare and two nights hotel in the city for $200/person.

Saturday morning I dropped the dogs off at the kennel, drove back home, and Shanna & I hopped on the train.  The nice thing about living near a train stop is it's easy to get around, including to the airport.  With Airport parking costing around 50 euros a day, this saved us big time.  Once we got to Stuttgart Airport, check in was a breeze.  What a nice change from Dulles and National airports in DC.  Total time from when we walked off the train at the airport to when we were at our gate was 15 minutes.  Jenny, Chris, and Katia had already gotten there, so we met them behind the security checkpoint and grabbed breakfast.  The plane took off at 11:20am and we were in Amsterdam by 12:30pm.  Once we gathered our bags, we hopped on the train and went to the hotel.

The hotel wasn't bad, and for the price we paid, we weren't complaining.  In looking at the weather, we saw that it was going to be overcast Saturday, nice & sunny on Sunday and a light rain on Monday, so we decided tonight we'd just walk around exploring the town.  There were two places on our "to visit" for the first night.  The IJ Brewery, because it's built into a windmill, and the Beer Temple.  There's a store in Amsterdam called the Cracked Kettle that I've been in contact with before because I've ordered beer from them.  They sell beer from all over the world, including American Micro Brew, which is impossible to get where we live.  I had asked them if they knew of any bars that sold that kind of beer in the Amsterdam area, and they recommended the Beer Temple.

First up was the brewery built in the windmill.  We had arranged to meet one of Shanna's friends from her college days here based on his recommendation.  Sjoerd (pronounced "shord") lived in Rotterdam, about an hour & a half away, so he'd taken the train down to meet us.  Beer straight from a brewery is always great, and this place was no exception.  It was so fresh you could taste the Wort right in the beer.  Wort is basically "young beer".  It's what beer starts out as before anything else is done to it.  The taste is hard to describe, but very distinct...once you've tasted or smelled it, you never forget it.  Below is a list of their beers...as you can see, it was dirt cheap.

The percentages you see next to each name was their alcohol percentage.  So not only were they cheap, they were potent.  Sjoerd eventually showed up, so we headed next door to grab some dinner.  After dinner, while waiting for our check, two little boys were having fun running around near us, and eventually started climbing under our table.  The father came over to profusely apologize, but we didn't mind, we were having fun grabbing at them as they ran under us, and of course the boys were having a blast.  Once we paid and walked out the door, they ran outside to say good bye to us.

Next up was the Beer Temple.  This was place was everything I'd imagined and more.  It was like going to some of our favorite bars back home.  Of course the prices were significantly higher, but for one night, we thoroughly enjoyed it.  Eventually we called it a night and headed back to the hotel.

The next day we got to experience what days are like in the winter when you're that far north.  In Stuttgart we're pretty far north with our latitude being equal to that of Canada, just north of North Dakota.  Amsterdam is a 6 hour drive further north.  The sun didn't rise until 9am, and by 10am it looked like a typical day in DC at 7am, in terms of the sunlight out.  By the 3pm the sun had started to set, and it was dark out by 4pm.  So all told, only about 6 or 7 hours of sunlight in the day.  Another thing you couldn't help but notice were the bicycles.  EVERYWHERE.  I've never seen so many bikes in my life.  They were chained up all over the city.  There was a bicycle parking garage near the Central Train Station that held, on average, almost 3,000 bikes.  On Monday, a normal work day, I'd estimate about half the city was commuting to work on bikes.  They have dedicated bike lines and bike traffic lights all over the city.  When you see our picture gallery you'll see a picture Shanna took of a bike traffic light.

Since Sunday was going to be the nice day, we did our outdoor things then.  We started the day by taking a canal tour of the city.  That's always neat because you see the city from a different perspective then when you walk around.  It took about an hour and we got to see a lot of the major areas of the city.  The rest of the day was spent mostly walking around the city, stopping in stores and seeing what they city had to offer.  We even stopped in a cheese store where they made cheese right there!

Towards the end of the day we made our last shopping stop at The Cracked Kettle.  This store was amazing, but I'm sort of glad we don't have one near our place in Stuttgart...it'd be financially detrimental.  They even carried a beer they technically aren't supposed to.  Westvleteren is a Belgian beer that is only supposed to be sold at the brewery itself in Belgium.  They require you make a reservation, promise not to resell it, and you're limited to one case per license plate per month.  But this store had a case.  We picked up some bottles for ourselves, as well as friends back home who had asked for some.  We also picked up a bunch of other beer that I can't wait to try.  As we walked out of the store, we heard music coming from the nearby canal.  When we walked over to investigate, we saw this guy in a boat puttering around.  He was propelling the boat by turning a hand crank and using his other hand to hold a trumpet as he played it.

When you go to the pictures section you'll also see a video I took of it.  After that we walked back to our hotel, unloaded, and went to dinner.  I'm usually in favor of finding local restaurants and not eating American food when we're travelling, but I don't mind making an exception for the Hard Rock Cafe, which is what we did for dinner that night.  The Hard Rock Amsterdam was a 5 minute walk from the hotel, so we went there for dinner.  We couldn't believe it when they offered something we took for granted in the U.S....unlimited refills on soda.  That's unheard of over here.  When we got back to the hotel, we started to pack up since we'd be checking out early the next day.  As we started to pack, I realized we'd bought more beer then we had clothes.  When we buy beer, or anything fragile, we always wrap them in clothes if we are flying home to keep them protected.  Since we didn't have enough clothes, I walked to the local grocery store to see if they had bubble wrap, or anything to protect the bottles.  I couldn't find bubble wrap, but did think of something I thought was rather ingenious...diapers.

The first one gave me trouble until I got the hang of it.  By the end, I was wrapping them like a pro.  When kids come along, I'll be ready to put diapers on!  Assuming the kids are only 12 ounces, of course. :)

At 6am Monday we got up and started with showers, and were walking out the door by 8:30am.  The Anne Frank house opened at 9am, and there's ALWAYS a line, so we wanted to get there early.  We ended up getting there 15 minutes before it opened, and while there was a line, it wasn't long, and we were able to walk right in when the doors opened.  One of the neat things about living over here is we get to see in person all the things we read about in history class growing up.  This was one of those things.  Everyone knows the Anne Frank story, so to actually be in the house was surreal.  We walked around the normal part of the house, then through the hidden door behind the book case, into the attic area where they hid for almost 2 years.  Towards the end of the tour they had a low-lit area where the actual diaries were on display.  Finally, at the very end of the tour, they had some memorabilia, including a letter dated 1977 to Otto Frank.  The person describes how they had just visited and how moving it was.  As you get to the bottom, you see who it was written by...a very young (at the time) Bill Gates.

After we left there, we headed over to Central Train station and bought our tickets for the bus tour.  Shanna & I had done the tour the last time we visited back in 2008, and the difference between a summer tourist season tour, and the winter off-season tour, was like night & day.  When we toured 3 years ago, we had a personal guide who walked us all around the city explaining every detail.  For this tour, it was on a bus, there was only an audio guide, and it just lasted an hour.  The tour was billed as an hour & 45 minutes, but 45 minutes of it was them dropping us off at a diamond factory in town where they gave us a tour.  That was actually interesting, though.  Under heavy security they showed us 3 different diamonds that are examples of what they sell.  They ranged in price from 85,000 Euros up to 150,000 Euros.  It was neat to see the process for how they take a rough diamond and get it down to the kind you see in stores.

Once the tour was over, we headed over to the Dutch Resistance museum.  This was actually really interesting.  The size of the museum was not large, but there was a LOT of information, so it took some time to go through it all.  They talked about the guy who was the "banker" for the resistance and how he moved money all around through shell accounts, and kept each account separate, so if one was compromised, it wouldn't compromise all of them.  It talked about the illegal newspapers, the way the Nazis tried to act friendly to the local population, and in later years of the war, turned brutal.  It talked about what happened to collaborators as well as the women who dated the Nazi soldiers after the war.

Once we left the museum we were just about done for the day, but hadn't eaten lunch yet.  Across from the Heineken brewery was a restaurant recommended by someone at the tourist office, so we went there.  We got to enjoy a traditional Dutch treat, Poffertjes.  They are basically a mix between funnel cake and pancakes and are DELICIOUS.

Once we finished we walked back to the hotel where we had a cab waiting, and went to the airport.  So over all, this weekend was a lot of fun.  It's nice to be able to take impromptu trips to European cities for the weekend and not pay through the nose for it.  Oh, and for all those wondering, every single beer made it back safely as you can see from the picture below.

I'm now a believer in diapers for packing material. :)

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

Weekend Update

Not a whole lot happened last weekend, but a few things did.  Saturday during the day was pretty relaxed, we just watched a few of the College Bowl games that had aired over the previous few days.  That evening, though, we met our friends Jenny & Chris for dinner & a movie.  India House is a place we visited when we first got here because it was close to our hotel, and while we liked it, we hadn't been back.  Jenny & Chris loved the placed too and it was right next to the theater, so we decided to meet there at 5pm when the place opened.  Or so we thought.  Turns out the place opens at 5:30, so we had 30 minutes to kill.  Across from the restaurant is a little hole in the wall dive bar, so we decided to head in there for a bit.  We ordered a round of beer (in German, of course) and took a seat.  This was obviously a "locals" bar with an older clientel, but when they heard us speaking German with our American accent, they were curious and started talking with us.  They were nice people, all from the area, and the bartender ended up bring us a round of Schnapps shots on the house.  The Schnapps in Germany are not like the ones in the US.  In the US they are typically low-alcohol and generic, but German Schnapps are different in every city, and are typically rather potent.  These were pretty good.

At 5:30 we headed over to India House for dinner and started talking about various trips we had wanted to take over the next few months.  Shanna & I mentioned that we weren't really up for anything more then day trips because we are flying home in March and it won't be cheap.  That's when they sprung their idea for this upcoming weekend on us.  They'd found a deal online for airfare from Stuttgart to Amsterdam, as well as two nights hotel, for $200/person.  We decided a weekend in Amsterdam sounded like fun, and that's not too expensive, so we agreed.  After dinner we went to see The Tourist with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie.  It was ok...the scenery was pretty and definitely bumped Venice up on the list of "places to visit", but the story was predictable and far-fetched.  Not bad for a Friday night rental, but I wouldn't waste money to see it in the theaters.

Not much happened Sunday other then we booked our trip for this weekend, but on Monday Shanna wanted to visit Ramstein Air Base.  I've heard the Exchange there is practically a mall, so I was curious.  Ramstein is about a 2 hour drive from us, so we hit the road around 9am.  When we got there, it was lunch time and the food court had...ready for this?...a Johnny Rockets and a Taco Bell.  It's the only Johnny Rockets and Taco Bell in all of Germany.  We haven't had a good burger (aside from what we make at home) since we got here, so we couldn't wait.  After that we walked around the various shops, as well as the Exchange itself, then headed home.

So not much to report from last weekend, just a fun night out with friends and a trip to Ramstein.  Check back next week for my post on Amsterdam!

New Years

Happy New Years everyone!  This New Years Eve was a lot of fun, more fun then we've had on NYE in awhile, capped off by the most amazing fireworks show we've ever seen.  But more on that later.

When we first walked through the house with our landlord Lars prior to move-in, he made sure to show off the loft on our top floor.  It's not like your typical room, with the "walls" on either side connecting to the ceiling at a 45 degree angle.  The reason for that is the room is essentially a converted finished attic, so the "walls" are the roof outside.  The room has huge windows built into the roof that open up and allow you to stand within to look outside.  He said the reason they put those in was to put seats in front of the window and be able to look outside over the city, as well as feel a cool breeze from all around since essentially you'd be sitting outside at that point.  Neat concept, and it made for a FANTASTIC view of the city when the fireworks were going off.  I know that's hard to visualize, but if you look at the picture of us below, as well as watch the video you'll see the windows opened to the point that they were above us as we stood in the window area.

Because we lived in the city and knew they'd have a bigger show then the smaller towns, we invited some friends over.  It was the usual group you've probably gotten to know from previous posts.  Jenny & Chris came over, then Katia, Scott & their son Matthew, and finally Kate & Charles.  Katia & Scott recently got an 18 month old Golden Retriever named Heidi and of course Kate & Charles have their Shibu Inu, Pixel.  Both brought their dogs, so we had 10 people and 4 dogs running around.

Being the creative cook that Shanna is, we had a pretty big spread laid out.  She made mini-calzones, bacon-wrapped cream cheese stuffed jalapenos (big thanks to Missy & Alex for introducing us to those), crescent rolls mixed with a ranch cheese, chips, dip, cheese plate, fruit plate, veggie plate, and the center piece, cupcakes laid out like a clock with the time pointed at midnight.  The cupcakes you see in the picture below had to be fixed...cupcakes 5, 6, and 7 were a bit too close to the edge, and when we weren't looking, Murphy got on his hind legs and grabbed them off the table.  Thankfully Shanna had made extra, so it didn't take long to make three new ones...but we had to barricade the room off from that point forward so no dogs could get in.

Jenny & Chris got there first, and while we were talking with them, Jenny told us that if Katia tells us after midnight to get an egg and run outside, just do it.  The one thing that makes conversation interesting with Katia & Jenny is their accents make for some funny misunderstandings.  Jenny is from Wisconsin and has a thick midwest accent, while Katia is from Ecuador and has a strong South American accent.  Jenny said that Katia was telling her about a South American tradition where if you plan on travelling in the new year, you take an egg, and walk outside with it and it's supposed to bring you good luck with your travels.  Sounds odd, but there are plenty of strange American traditions too, so we didn't question it.  Scott & Katia came over next, and Shanna was talking with Scott when Scott mentioned the same tradition, but instead of eggs, he said you bring your luggage outside after midnight.  That's when Shanna put 2 and 2 together, and realized Katia must have said "bags", but with her accent, and the way Jenny pronounces her letter "a", she heard "eggs".  The funny part was even with the misunderstanding, Jenny, Katia, and Shanna took eggs outside for a walk after midnight as a joke.

Kate & Charles were the last to arrive, and the dog party started.  Murphy isn't big on playing with other dogs, but Milo can't get enough of it.  He would wrestle & play with Heidi, then when she was tired, Pixel would jump in and Milo would play with her.  Below is a short video I took of Heidi & Milo playing.

The night was a fun night, we had football on TV, plenty of food & beer, and Katia even brought over a bottle of Scotch I'd never heard of before, but was incredibly smooth.  The one tradition Katia told us about that she wanted to do was at 11:59 you have to eat a cup of grapes for good luck in the new year.  So about 10 minutes before midnight we gathered up in the loft, opened the windows, and got the Champagne & Chimay ready.  For those who don't know, Chimay is a Belgian beer that Shanna & I love.  Everyone else was going to toast with Champagne, but we wanted to toast with Chimay.  When 11:59 hit, we had our glasses ready and started eating the cups of grapes.  Then midnight hit, we toasted, and it was 2011!

Back in October, at the end of Volksfest, the fair grounds shot fireworks off.  We could see them in the distance from our house, and it was kind of neat to see, but nothing spectacular.  We thought they might have fireworks there, as well as a few above city center.  We didn't expect much.  The fireworks laws are pretty strict in Germany, but as we found out, they are strict only in terms of when you can buy them and shoot them off.  There didn't appear to be ANY restrictions on the type of fireworks.  About ten minutes to midnight, the barrage started.  When I say the city looked like a war zone, I'm not exaggerating.  The video I'm going to post below only gives a slight glimpse of what it was like.  Make sure your sound is turned on for the full effect.  Tim, a friend of mine who lives in VA, made the comment that it looks like the city is exploding...that observation couldn't be more accurate.  The video is only about 45 seconds, but the fireworks went on like this for a full 30 minutes.  It was almost 12:30am before it stopped.  Click the picture of the fireworks below to take you to the YouTube page with the video in HD.

Here's a picture of us standing in front of the window upstairs.

The white patch in the lower left is Murphy.  He was terrified when the fireworks started going off, so we took turns holding him so he wouldn't run around peeing everywhere from being scared.  He was calmer in our arms, but was still shaking for the full 30 minute show.  We tried putting him in our bedroom thinking he'd stay down there, but I guess even though he was scared he still wanted to be where we were.  Normally at night, visibility from our house is about 10-20 miles out.  By the time the fireworks were done, the smoke in the air was so thick you could see at most a quarter of a mile out.

Once things settled down, Scott & Katia headed home.  Jenny, Chris, Kate, and Charles, though, stayed at our place for the night.  We have several spare bedrooms, so everyone was able to get a good nights sleep.

We didn't head to bed until almost 3:30am, so we were a little late getting up the next morning.  Everyone was finally up & moving around 10am.  Kate & Charles had left earlier because Charles had to work that morning, so Jenny, Chris, Shanna & I took showers, got cleaned up, and headed over to Scott & Katia's house.  The night before they had invited us over for brunch on New Years Day.  We got over there about 11:30, and as we were walking up to the house we could smell the bacon cooking.  After a long New Years Eve night, that smelled fantastic.

We sat around talking for a bit, and finally brunch was ready.  They had bacon, pancakes, a breakfast casserole, biscuits, and eggs to order.  Scott even cooked the eggs in the bacon grease.  Everything was delicious.  Chris, Matthew & I played a few games of Madden while the ladies were looking at some of the jewelery that Katia had made.  Apparently back in Columbia she did that as a side job...she'd make & sell jewelery.  It was funny watching Heidi try and get Milo to play...Milo was so worn out from the night before that he would have nothing of it...he just stayed in my lap.  We've NEVER seen him turn down playing before.

That was about it...we were pretty tired by the time we got home later that afternoon, so we finished cleaning up from the night before then crawled into bed & watched football.  We weren't the only ones tired...both dogs sacked out as soon as we got home and didn't wake up until the next morning.  Sunday was just a lazy day of watching College Bowl games and NFL games.

We didn't take many pics, so the two pics I have above will take you to a higher resolution version if you click on them.

Christmas

As you can see from my previous post, we had a white Christmas.  The snow started falling the morning of Dec. 24th, and didn't stop until the late afternoon of Dec. 25th.  Shanna had off the entire day of Christmas Eve, so we had a relaxing day.  Since it was snowing outside, we didn't leave the house.  We had plans to go over to some friends house on Christmas Day for a potluck style dinner, though, so that morning we cooked.  Shanna made deviled eggs, homemade ice cream, and a something I don't know the name of, but consisted of apples, onions, and Brie wrapped in a giant pie crust and baked in the oven.  I made my usual, the Mac & Cheese.

By early afternoon, I'd already been out shoveling once and the snow was still coming down.  At that point Shanna said she had grabbed a last minute stocking stuffer for me, but wanted me to open it now so we could watch it.  She had me guess, and it didn't take long before I guessed the Shrek holiday movie.  I was right, but before I opened it, I said she had to open one of her gifts.  I then gave her one gift to open...the complete box set of all the Shrek movies, including the holiday movie.  We had to laugh at that...we essentially got each other the same thing. :)  Since Shanna hadn't unwrapped the DVD's she got, she was able to return them.  That afternoon we spent watching Shrek and some of the football games that were on TV.

Later in the afternoon we Skyped with Shanna's parents.  While being in person with family for the holidays is the best, we're fast learning that Skype is the next best thing.  It's one thing to call friends & family on the phone, but to sit & watch them open presents and see them has been fantastic.  I've been saying for the past month that I need to get a winter hat, but haven't gotten around to it...one of the things I got from Billy & Pattie (Shanna's parents) was a Chargers winter hat.  I've already used it several times when we've gone out or I've been out shoveling.  We also got some great clothes and I got some Playstation games I've been wanting.

A few hours later, after my brother had gotten to my parents house, we Skyped with them.  We had shipped the package home with their gifts a little late because we were waiting on one last thing to come in, but surprisingly it only took 3 or 4 days to get to them.  So we got to see them opening their presents and we opened their presents to us.  Shanna got a necklace & earrings, and I got the noise-cancelling headphones I've been missing since my last pair broke.  I hadn't even really realized how much I missed them until I started using the new ones.  Mike had sent me money early on to pick up something for Shanna from the Christmas Markets, so I got her a female Oktoberfest smoker to compliment the male one she already had.  Mike also got me a Playstation game I've been wanting.

It was great seeing both of our families again, even if it was over the computer.

The next morning Shanna was up bright & early.  There are few people I know who get more excited about Christmas then her.  I woke up about 7:45, and it was a good thing too...she said she was going to come wake me up if I wasn't up by 8am.  She had been up for at least an hour at that point, if not more.  She made Sausage Balls for breakfast, which I love.  You should have seen the look she gave me when I said I was going to go shovel again, then take a shower, then we could do presents...I would have been in trouble if I'd been serious. :)

The dogs got their presents first...beanie babies.  They LOVE them.  They even played Tug of War with one of them!

Next, Shanna opened hers.  First was a Blu-Ray box set of The Sound Of Music.  Next was something she'd seen at the Ludwigsburg Christmas Market and liked, but didn't get, a wood carving of a Razorback.  For those who don't know, Shanna went to the University of Central Arkansas, but was only a short drive from the University of Arkansas, whose mascot is a Razorback.  She's a huge fan of their football program, so I had to get it for her.

Next up I opened my gifts.  I got a "do it yourself" beer brewing kit, and the entire series on DVD of Home Improvement.  I can't wait to watch those again!  And once things settle down next week after New Years has passed, I'm going to start on the first beer batch.  It comes with a Blond Ale and a Lager, and Shanna, knowing the kind of beer I love, bought me an IPA packet to try.  I'll get the first two down, then try my hand at the IPA...I'm so excited!

Around 1:30pm our time we Skyped with Shanna's brother & his family.  It was 6:30am their time, but from what he was saying, the kids had gotten them up about an hour prior to that.  As fun as it was opening gifts with our parents, it was really fun seeing how excited the kids were opening their presents.

Later that day we headed over to our friends Jenny & Chris's house.  They live about 30km from our house, which normally doesn't take long, but the roads weren't great.  The Autobahn was fine, but their house is pretty far out of the city, so the roads by their place had barely been plowed.  We got there safe & sound, but it took some time.  Dinner that night was fantastic.  In addition to what we brought, there was steak (which isn't easy to get around here), green bean casserole, and a dish I'd never heard of, but apparently is pretty common in Milwaukee, where Christ & Jenny are from.  It's basically hashbrowns mixed in a crock pot with cheese.  GOOD STUFF.  We also had a White Elephant gift exchange.  That was fun, and ended up working out for Shanna & I since we both got little mini smokers.

We brought our laptop & webcam with us so that we could Skype with Shanna's nieces & nephews when they opened their presents later in the day at Shanna's parents house.  Around 7pm our time (noon theirs) we started.  I remember how crazy it was last year when the go ahead was given to the kids to start tearing in to their presents.  It was funny to watch, and almost as fun to watch over the webcam.  After things settled down, we opened their gifts to us.  Pattie, Shanna's Mom, had taken the 5 kids to the mall and given them each $10, and told them to pick something out for both of us.  It was by far the most interesting stocking I've ever received.  I got a 1 pound bag of Reese's Peanut Butter cups (not a bunch of small ones, it literally contained two 0.5 lb cups), a Razorback cup with accompanying lid, an Iron Man 2 comic book, a plastic Candy Cane filled with M&M's, and a word scramble book.  Shanna got a little dog that's used to put your rings on at night, some lotion, a princess coloring book with sticker sheets, and a few other things I can't remember off the top of my head.  It was funny seeing how excited the kids were watching us open our presents, they all crowded around the webcam.

After we were done we stayed for a bit longer, then headed home.  It was getting cold out, and we wanted to get home before the snow on the ground turned to ice, especially since we live part way up a mountain.  When we got home we had one last Skype session to do.  My parents & brother had gone up to CT to do Christmas with my Dad's side of the family.  Some of them I haven't seen since the wedding, and some of them I haven't seen in years, so it was great seeing the whole family again, including my Grandmother.  We talked for a bit, then it was time for bed.

Shanna had off Monday, so Sunday was spent cleaning around the house, doing laundry, and watching football.  On Monday I had a phone interview for a job at 2pm.  I'm not getting my hopes up, but we'll see.  An interview is definitely a step in the right direction.  After the interview Shanna wanted to head down town to see if there were any good after Christmas sales.  We walked around town, going in to various stores, and had a good time.  I enjoy walking around downtown, and for Shanna, it was one of the rare times we were down there with no agenda other then just walking in & out of stores.  We ate dinner down there at an Italian restaurant (which still had prices listed in both Euro & Deutschmark on the menu), then headed home.

The last thing we did that night before heading to bed was to Skype with some friends who live in VA.  Pat Batu was my best man at our wedding, and we'd been trying to coordinate skyping all week with him, his wife Luzette, and their 2 1/2 year old daughter Marella.  Luzette had to work, but Pat & Marella were there.  They had wanted to skype with us mainly to have Marella tell us the news.  Shortly after we connected, she told us that "Mommy & Daddy are pregnant".  Yup...they have another son or daughter on the way.  We were so excited for them and can't wait to meet him/her.  Marella also wanted to show us the presents she'd gotten for Christmas, but the funny part was she hadn't quite grasped the webcam concept down yet, so when she'd show us something, she'd put it right up in front of our faces on the laptop screen, not the webcam.  So she thought we could see it, but in reality she was holding it way down.

So that was it...all in all, a great Christmas weekend.  We wish we could have spent it with family, but it was nice that we could at least see all of our family in the same day, even though we were thousands of miles away.

You can see a link to a handful of pictures here or click on any picture above.

Snow...and lots of it

I'll put up a more in-depth post later (probably Tuesday) about Christmas, but for now I wanted to put up this picture I took from our balcony.  It started snowing Friday morning and didn't stop until Saturday afternoon/evening, and all told I'm estimating about 18 inches of snow.  I shoveled four times over that span, and the first three times there was 5-6 inches each time, and the fourth time there was about an inch on the ground.

Today it's nice & sunny (albeit extremely cold at -12 C or 10 F).  Below is a picture I took a few minutes ago using a new app on my phone from our balcony that allows you to "fake" a fish eye view picture.  I think it turned out pretty well, and shows that while the snow was a hassle, it sure looks pretty when the sun is out.

Click the image to see a larger, hi-res version of it.

More to come Tuesday!