Germany

So much goodness has happened in Germany, it’s hard to know where to begin. Ian and I started out in Munich. We stayed two nights at a nice, modern hotel. We wondered around the city and saw some of the sights. The highlights were BMW world (the welt, headquarters & museum) and dinner out at Hofbrauhaus (a famous brewery). We went to Hofbrauhaus on our anniversary (5 years!). The place is kind of like Disneyland, in the sense that there is a lot going on. There is a group of guys playing and singing typical German music (and dressed in the funky overall-esque getup) and people dancing around. For seating, there are large tables with benches on the sides that you share with anyone and everyone. The benches are where my story begins. Ian & I picked a table and sat down. Very quickly, the guy sitting next to Ian (who we will refer to as “Franz” from this point on in the story) seems to become enamored with me. He didn’t even speak English, but took our camera from Ian to take a picture of me…kind of weird. But, the trouble began when a large party came and sat at our table. For some reason Franz felt the guy sitting next to me was too close and began to argue with him about me. Then Franz stands up and is wanting to fight this guy over it. A manager was gotten, Franz calmed down and the large group moved to avoid any further trouble. But, I must say, it was the weirdest thing in the world, sitting at a table, having all these people yell about ME in another language! Makes for an interesting story though!
After Munich, Ian and I rented a car and headed out into the country. We went and visited Neuschwanstein, a castle by the border of Germany and Austria. That night, we stayed in Fussen at a campground on a lake. From our car (which we camped in, by the way) we could see Neuschwanstein, the castle we visited earlier in the day, and another castle (Hohenschwangau) right next to it. Pretty cool. The next day, we got up and took a trip into Austria. We spent about 4 hours driving in Austria (most beautiful drive ever) and found a cool ski resort for Ian to visit in the winter! Then, we headed back into Germany and went to Hitler’s Eagles Nest. The views from this place were amazing. It is like 11,000 feet up on top of a mountain. Honestly, both Ian and I started getting a little paranoid on the bus trip up there because it is quite the steep climb. After visiting the Eagles Nest, we were going to have to wait an hour to take a bus back into town where our car was, but Ian found a nice couple from Brussels to give us a lift back into town. The next day, we drove up to Rothenburg, a mid evil walled in city. The two highlights of this city were 1. Climbing up a tower that had stairs that went almost straight up and down and handrails that were not too well off! It made me a little nervous, but I survived. 2. Stumbling across a cute beer garden, complete with a fountain and everything…and getting sausage and sauerkraut there (my favorite!). Then we headed down to Burg, for another night of car camping. Burg, is pretty much a nothing town, but we stayed there because it was close to the BMW factory, so we wouldn’t have to drive too far for our early morning tour. Our tour was great, the people on the tour with us (a group of college students that seemed to care less about cars) grated on my nerves a bit. But, I got to see a bunch of beautiful cars being made! Did you know it takes 32 hours to make a BMW? Anything BMW and I am all ears! After that, we headed over to Dachau. Dachau really deserves a blog of its own. This place where thousands of people lost their lives in inhumane ways, really touches the soul. It made me question what I would do if my government ever decided to do something like that.

Well, that’s it for Germany. We traveled over 1200 kilometers in our little Kia, spent two nights in it and three nights in hotels. We maxed the bad boy (the Kia, that is) out at 170 kph (about 105 mph) on the autobahn, saw some beautiful sights and used McDonalds for the free internet. It was a good trip! Now on to Prague…

Spain

Ian and I are flying away (currently somewhere over Spain) from spending four days with his family in the south of Spain. Though the sights were great and I got to experience somewhere new, the best part was probably spending time with his family…though I don’t know if they will consider spending time with me the best part of their trip! I asked them a zillion and one questions that really had nothing to do with anything; you know, all those “what if” questions and asking about their dreams. But, this is my way of bonding, so they will need to learn to cope with it! Though I did learn if I ever got myself into jail the oh-so-kind Clive (father-in-law) would bail me out, but I would have to ride in the trunk on the way home!

But, back to the oh-so-warm Spain. We stayed in a condo outside of Marbella. And actually, we didn’t see much of what was around where we were staying, though we did eat breakfast at the beach and walk along it one morning…well more late morning (like 11am). It is hard to get Jessica out of bed very early these days! We took day trips to different places everyday. One day we went to a town in the mountains, Ronda. It was quite the cute little town. There were some beautiful views to take in and a bull fighting stadium that I think was famous for something (I need to pay attention more!). Then, we went to Gibraltar, which is actually a British colony in (well, not “in”, but you know what I mean) Spain. They don’t have any taxes here, so gas was crazy cheap. I couldn’t believe my eyes at the prices (think 35% cheaper than Edinburgh). The main attraction here was a huge rock that we went up that had tons of apes (small ones) all over. After a while, I got a little tired of the apes. They weren’t afraid of humans, I didn’t want them too close to me and got tired of having to look out for them. But this rock, offered great views. The water was very clean and you could see right into it. Also, you could see Africa, which is only five miles away. It is the only place in the world you can see three countries and two continents at the same time (see, sometimes I DO pay attention). Then we went to Granada, which contained a palace (Alhambra) that used to be muslim. I didn’t pay too much attention (bad me) to the tour, but I believe the Christians overtook it or something like that. Today it is empty and just a tourist attraction. But, it was beautiful and very detailed inside.

Now here I am today, on an airplane headed for Germany where more adventure awaits me!

The Grimbleby Family

Today I head off with the Grimbleby family to the south of Spain for 5 days. The other day while at the Edinburgh Castle, we had someone take this picture of the family. It really is a good picture. And, this good picture got me thinking, I don't think there have been very many pictures taken of the six of us together (I know there was one from our wedding and one with all of Ian's aunts and uncles and cousins at Christmas a couple of years ago), even though I have technically been a part of the family for the past 5 years. What does this mean? Do we not get together often enough? Do we have an aversion to cameras? Or possibly an aversion to each other? Kidding! The older I get (seriously, I am getting up there), the more I realize the importance of family. When other people won't be there for you, family will. When you are celebrating something big, they are the people that will celebrate with you. When you are going through something hard, they will be the ones to walk through it with you. The only thing is, we (by "we", I mean me and all of you reading this) have to be vulnerable and allow them into our lives. This vulnerability means we open ourselves to hurt, but we also open ourselves up to a love we have never experienced before. An unconditional, bail you out of jail type of love! Though I am scared of being hurt (I may seem like a tough one, but I really am not), I think it is time that I let my guard down and learn to truly love and be loved by this group of people I call family.

The Longest Day

So today was officially the longest day of the year. At 11:15pm, the sun could still be seen on the horizon...craziness, I know! But, with the Grimbleby's in town, we definitely lived the day to its fullest potential. There was plenty of site seeing, bus rides and long walks to use up the light of day. It's always a challenge when people are visiting (like we have had so many visitors here before! But, I speak from experience as to other places we have lived as well) to figure out how to show them what your life is like, but to be considerate as to what they want to do as well. Which makes me think, what is the true Edinburgh life? Is it the experience I live everyday or the experience the tourists get when they come here and see all the tourist attractions? People experience both and both go walking away with different experiences and ideas about the city I call home. Anyway, hopefully Ian and I were able to give his family a little bit of both - the traditional bus tour, a Boots meal deal eaten in the park, a castle visit, sitting in Starbucks eating cupcakes, fish and chips and plenty of walking. Here are a few pictures from our day:

Father's Day

I would like to give a shout out on this cloudy and overcast (well, at least here in Edinburgh) father's day, to my dad. He really should be awarded father of the millennium for all he has had to put up with...three hyper active children can do that to you! But today, instead of telling stories of how great my dad is, in which there are many, I would like to share some of my traits I have gotten from him.

1. Love of cars - I remember helping my dad fix up the old VW Bug (I think there were actually two different ones...plus a bus!) on Hazelwood and that blue Mazda (or whatever it was) on Aster Drive. Let us not forget the numerous times we have gone to car dealerships to look or just admired a nice car as we passed by.

2. Love of all things food - Seriously, my dad and I will eat about anything. I remember sharing artichokes, anchovies and tuna with him when no one else in the house would even come close!

3. Olive skin tone and brown hair - Whenever people who know you meet me, I always here, "You must be a Booth." I definitely look a part of the family!

4. Sarcasm - Dad, I would just like to remind you that sarcasm hurts people! I think we have both learned a lesson or two in that...yet we are both still sarcastic people.

5. Hyperactivity - I think you have learned to control your hyperactivity better than I have, but I know it is still in there! Right now I am thinking of you in Houston on Sunday night!

6. Walks - We both like 'em, and we both like 'em even better with company!

Though I am sure there are many more, all I am trying to say is I am definitely my father's daughter. Dad, I love you and wish I could be with you on father's day. Just look at Riley and think of me!

I Forgot My Cell Phone

Yesterday, I was on my way to work when suddenly I realized, I FORGOT MY CELL PHONE! Immediately every insecurity I ever had went thru my head...

I am sure I am going to be late to work...
What if something bad happens today and no one can get a hold of me?
What if Ian can't get a hold of me and thinks something happened to me?
What if something happens to me?

What did people do 15 years ago, before everyone at their grandmother had cell phones? Life must have been so much easier! Actually living in the moment, without wondering what would happen if someone couldn't get a hold of you at a moments notice! All my insecurities turned out to be just that, insecurities. I arrived to work and discovered I was 20 minutes early...nothing bad happened to me or anyone else...and no one really needed to get a hold of me! As for Ian, this really is the funny one here...I don't actually know his cell phone number, or our house phone number for that matter. But, I was able to look up his number in my employee file as my "emergency contact", let him know I didn't have my cell phone and the crisis was averted.

If only every problem in life could be solved as easily as forgetting my cell phone!

The Sunset

Yesterday was a very nice day in Edinburgh, so Ian and I decided that we would go up a hill (that sounds like it should be part of a joke) and watch the sun set. Unfortunately, when it was time for the sun to set, it was overcast and fairly cold outside. So, we watched the clouds. Not quite what we had hoped for, but it was fun to be out non-the-less. There was plenty of people and wildlife watching to be had on top of this hill, so it was definitely entertaining. Toward the end of the cloud watching, some of our friends joined us on the hill. Then we all embarked on another adventure and went to the movies. Fun times in Edinburgh!