My love of castles...

It has become more of an obsession lately. This one, by far, is the most amazing one I have ever seen. It is 900 years old, and although half of it is gone, it is still awesome. This castle sits above Baden-Baden. That town is probably the most confusing place ever. Lets put it this way, even the GPS was lost. However, it is a gorgeous place. 

Patrick is scared of heights and would not step foot on that side. 

This was at the very very top of the castle, some kind of look out post.
Patrick refused to go up there :). 

The crazy scary stairs to the top

Walking down into the dungeon.

Differences between Germany and America:

So, we all know station wagons have a stereotype attached to them in America. It is kind of like a "soccer mom" thing I guess. It is probably because we love out SUVs and have relatively low gas prices so we would rather drive those. Well considering the price per gallon of gas over here is equivalent to about 7$, SUVs are extremely less common in Germany. They love their station wagons. When I say we saw about 75-80 on the hour long drive home from Baden-Baden, I am not exaggerating. I felt like we were on the road to a station wagon convention, because, well, we were driving one too. 

It has been awhile.

Nothing really interesting has been going on lately. The snow has melted from the cold front that we had, and it is bearably cold now (almost the same a Fresno in the winter). Sadly, still no job. I am starting German classes in a week, which will be 20 hours a week for a month. It is an introductory crash course on German basics.

Tonight we got out of the house and walked around in the shopping area in Stuttgart. There was a protest going on because of the construction of making the rail station underground. I have to say, it is a lot more civilized then the protests you see in America. They shut down the street every Monday nigh to allow them to protest, and they just march down the street with their signs. We got the most amazing chocolate-covered apple I have ever had in my life, and for dinner we got Doener Kebaps. They are probably one of my favorite things to eat, but they are Turkish, not German. I drove us there and back in the smart car :). I am actually considering getting a smart car back in America, don't knock it until you try it, they are pretty awesome.

Other than that, life has been pretty normal. For those of you that are aware of the awesome thing called Pinterest, you can see I have been pretty busy with wedding planning. We have a location in mind, and are waiting for a price quote. We have also picked out a possible honeymoon spot, which, for me, is more exciting than the wedding itself :). By then, all of this moving around will be over, and we will be able to start our permanent, grown up lives together. That is the point I think we are both looking forward to.

Here are some pictures:

Protest

Ah-mazing chocolate-covered apple

The meat for the doener kebaps 

And that is all for now :) Happy President's Day to those in America. 

Crossing an item off my bucket list.

We all have our bucket lists, and while I didn't know this was really on my list until a couple months ago, who wouldn't have riding in a Maybach on theirs? This car has everything you could pretty much want in a car... including real silver champagne glasses and reclining, heating, and massaging seats. So today I got to go to work (if you can even call it that) with Patrick, which meant driving a Maybach an hour or so, trading it for another one, and driving that one back. If for some reason I ever bought one of these (which will never ever happen), the first one we drove would be my choice :). Obviously you can tell I had fun! 

My driver for the day :)

Nap time!

Real silver champagne glasses :)

I cannot even explain how comfy those seats are!

The second one we drove (pictured in the above 2 pics) has crystal head rests...

Ok, so we all know there are differences between Germany and America. Well I decided that I am going to start including one in every blog I write. The first one: 

Recycling cans and bottles.

The American Way:

You usually have to venture to a place like this. Then you have to take those nasty germmy-filled baskets that 1.5 million people have touched and separate all your cans and bottles. Then you take your little money and probably go blow it on McDonalds or a 30-pack of Coors Light (no judgement here). 

The German Way:

This is in the grocery store in Germany. All bottles and cans go in the top thing, which is a huge rolling tunnel to who knows where. If you buy cases of water, they come in this re-usable crates which you just slide in the bottom compartment. And when you are done, you press the green button aaaaaaand

Voila! You have money for groceries again :) which we all know is the grown up way to spend recycling money. Don't worry, you can still buy beer with it. 

BTW... Germany now has Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew. It was a happy day. 

Date night and other events :)

Last night Patrick and I had a nice night out, just the two of us. It was freezing, but we braved the cold for a few minutes to go see the mini-castle a few minutes from out apartment. Side note: when I say cold, I don't mean Fresno cold, I mean like 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Anyways, it was absolutely beautiful, and there is a nice view of the city.

We went to Onkel Otto's for dinner to get some XXL schnitzel and pommes frites, and yes, I have become accustomed to eating them with mayo (don't judge me). It wasn't as good as home made schnitzel, but it didn't require any cooking :).

After that we went ice skating. Both of us managed to make it out without breaking our necks, which, for those of you that know Patrick, is a major success. There were two guys that were hanging on to the wall the entire time that we were there, and rather than go around us, one of them completely hugged Patrick and I to keep hanging onto the wall. Ladies, that is a real man for you...

Other than that we have been pretty boring. Making the usual IKEA and Real (European version of Target) runs and keeping the progress going on our apartment. I have been doing a lot of wedding planning, pinterest is amazing for that. Also, one of Patrick's friends ordered American food, we got Poptarts and Dr. Pepper :) little taste of home.

That is all for this time :)