Back on home turf

Well, well, well... I have finally returned home, back from the whole trip and whole experience of not only Germany, but also from some travels around Europe.  All-in-all, I have to say that the trip was eye-opening/awe-inspiring/jaw-dropping and just completely amazing.  I have lots of photos to share here and definitely plenty of stories to tell (which will only be told in full in person).  But to start, there are a few posts that are from some time back but I just have not had the time/been to lazy to post.  So, I will start with a trip I had a few months back.

One of my colleagues and I went to the Mercedes museum in Stuttgart and walked around the place.  Below are some of the photos I took while we were there.

One of the original fix-gear bikes... epicly old-school.

Although I am not all that into cars, it was interesting to see all the different crazy models that Mercedes has made throughout the years.  They are a well known car and definitely a leader in the industry and on top of it, a great German company.

On the way home, there was a field of flowers that we stopped at.  The colors were amazing so, naturally I took some pictures.

Obviously there are a lot more pictures to come in the next couple of weeks.  I don't want to post everything at once!  I will do my best (better than before... I promise) to get this as close to up to date as possible.  Look forward to pictures from London, northern Spain, Some pictures of soccer and of course the places I traveled in Europe!

If you are ever interested in photos or even stories, just let me know and I will gladly send you full size pictures and will happily tell you stories!

It sure is nice to be home and talking to people who natively speak the same language I do.  Stay tuned for further pics and stories!

Cheers!

It's been a while...

So first off, I want to apologize for not posting in a while.  My internet connection here isn't always that great so I just got fed up with it and sort of gave up.  But, alas, I am posting some more stuff for you all.

Well lets see, it has been over a month since the last time I had a chance (and wasn't lazy) to post.  Since then I have traveled a little bit but mainly I have been hanging around my small village and being a bum.  Sometimes it does get a bit lonely because I don't really have anyone to talk to.  I mean, I do have people I can talk to but their first languages are mostly german (some speak a few other languages but none have know english the way us americans do...) so its difficult to hold a conversation.  And, for those of you who know me best, they know basic conversation is no where near enough for me to be entertained.

Anyways, I digress...  On to the good stuff!  About a month ago I drove down to Switzerland to a small state-park equivalent called Rhine Falls.  It is a very beautiful area with lots of natural hiking and even camping in the area!  The cool part were the falls though.  Below are some pictures of the falls.

Oh I'm only kidding.  The falls were a little bigger than this, I swear.

Anyways, now that I got my laugh in (somebody thought it was real :) haha) here are some pics of the actual falls.

I basically just walked around the entire falls and took pictures.  I was at the park by myself for most of the day so its not like I had anything interesting to talk to anyone about.

There were also a couple of other cool photo ops in the area so naturally I took the opportunity gladly!

There were a lot of boats in the area.  I thought this one spot below the falls looked kind of cool.  This was right when I walked down the trail that boarded the river.

The tourist-y area that sat directly in front of the falls.  There were a couple of restaurants in the area and all sorts of little boat tours.

Mainly just thought it was cool that there was a water wheel.  Had to take a pic.

On one side of the falls there was a small area that had these old buildings.  The other cool thing was that this was also a youth hostel right on the side of the falls!  If I do get the chance to go back I will be staying here!

Well this is it for now.  I have a few more weekends to catch up on and I will be posting this week as well some of my other adventures over the past few weeks.  I still have about 6 more weeks to go before I hit back on the shores of the United States.  I know I have a few different options for travel and I hope to take some more pictures as well as have some more stories to share.

For me, this trip is about the experience and so far, I think I've been given a gift with what I have been able to do and see.  I can only hope my remaining time here will be just as good as it has been.

Don't forget to leave a comment (even if it's an anonymous one!!!) I know that more people are reading than would like to admit but it's still nice to know that there are a few dedicated followers out there!  I keep receiving phone calls and IM's saying that they love this blog and wonder when I'm updating.  Again, I apologize for the big gap.  I will work on staying on top of it.

Cheers!

So this past weekend a friend from work and I headed down to Scwaebish Hall.  It turns out it is one of the oldest cities in Germany, one of the few that did not get destroyed in the war.  I took a bunch of pictures as we had wonderfully beautiful weather here this past weekend.  So far it has been nothing but blue skies on the weekend, something I can live with.

One of the first places we stopped at was this church, which was right in the center of town.  It was enormous and really beautiful.  Below are a few pictures from inside.

This is inside the hall.  Although this picture does not do it justice, you can still tell this place is huge, and old.

This was the giant pipe organ inside the hall.  Just like everything in here, this was super old too.  We did not get to hear it play but just the size was very impressive.

Directly behind the altar was this giant sculpture/painting.  I thought it was impressive so I took a picture.

They had these little 'memoiars' everywhere around the place.  I couldn't tell you what it said but it still looked really cool.

One of the strange things in the church was this small glassed over portion.  In it were many bones from a local grave site.  There was a small saying that went with it, something along the lines of "there is no meaning to life without death" or something... I can't remember exactly what it said.

This was the pattern everywhere on the ceiling.  Although not the Sistine Chapel, it was still impressive the amount of detail that goes into every last corner of the place.

Right at the base of the church steps was an open market with tons of carts all selling different kinds of food.  It was really impressive to see.  This building is the 'town hall' of this village.  I thought it looked very cool.

This was a fountain right outside the church.  The artwork into the fountain was pretty cool.  And, as you can see, even pigeons get thirsty.

Again, anohter shot of the market place in the front with a very common old German architecture in the background.  The buildings were amazing and deserved to be photographed.

We walked around the city and found some really nice areas.  Some of the really beautiful areas were on a small island with a park and flower gardens.  From the park you could see some amazing buildings and some really beautiful scenery.

There was a river flowing around the southern part of the city where the old city and some newer parts were separated.  You couldn't beat a shot like this and the weather, so perfect.

They had some unbelievable flower gardens there.  I just had to snap a few pictures.  And even still, my pictures do not do what was there half the justice they deserve.  They were simply breath taking.

Christoff and I wondered off the main street here and there to see what we could find.  In my opinion you never know what you might get, and we found a very narrow and steep alley with lots of stairs.  There were quite a few of these sections connecting streets in the city.

As you can see, the streets were packed with people on the really nice day.  There also happened to be a kids market place happening.  It was interesting to say the least.

Just outside the main hustle and bustle was a less populated street with quite a few shops and other things on it.  I found these couple of statues to be very interesting artwork.  They were definitely different than something you would normally see in the States.

An interesting clock tower on the same street.  The sky here is beautiful blue with not a cloud in sight.  This was the weather we had all weekend.  It was perfect.

One of the other places we stopped was an old castle.  It began being built in 1078, almost a thousand years ago!  We walked around the whole place.  There happened to be a wedding just finishing up that day as well.  What a great place for a wedding!

Just a few pictures from the castle.  Hope you enjoy!

I swear this picture is not a frame nor was it edited in post.  There was a location with a small sign and attached to it was a metal square.  As you can see, this house lined up perfectly within the square, so naturally, I had to take a picture!

 One of the last places we stopped was another castle on top of a hill.. some of the views were amazing, especially on such a clear day.  The village was really cool and definitely a place I would stop at again.

This is Christophe.  Sitting in an old sleigh.  It was in a small museum.  We had to take pictures!

So today I went on a bike ride.  I swear, there are nothing but hills here!  All day i was either in first gear or on the breaks.  It was nutty.  I finally got to a place above a vineyard and could see my entire village.  I though it was a pretty cool view so I took a picture or two.  In the middle of the picture is the hotel I am staying at.  It is kind of hard to pick out as hotels here are not like typical hotels in the States.

Just a few pictures I took while I rested.  Too. Many. Hills.

One of my colleagues lent me a bike to ride while I am in Germany which was super cool of him.  Here is my beautiful purple stallion.  I think she will be getting some miles on her over the next few months.

And, that is it for now.  Next weekend will bring more great adventures with more pictures.  In the mean time, don't be bashful, leave a comment or two and let me know what you think!

Ciao!