HS Friends Visit and Affenberg!

After we got back from our trip to France, we were lucky enough to get some visitors from Julian's high school! It was a few of the same friends that we were with in London in May. Anne (who we stayed with in London), Helle (who we stayed with in Berlin a couple years ago), and David all came down to the Bodensee! Although the weather could've been better, we had a really nice time going to Rutenfest in Ravensburg (a fun summer festival), and the highlight of the weekend - Affenberg! Affenberg literally means "Monkey Mountain" and it was surprisingly accurate. I could not get over this... you pay to get into this gated park and there are hundreds of monkeys just out loose in there! You get handfuls of popcorn and they just chill out on the railings of the park waiting to be fed their snack.

Julian and David monkeying around

Helle feeding David, with Anne and me

David and Julian

Paris, Etampes, and Bretignolles Sur Mer

Wow, I can't believe how long it's been since I've written! So much to catch up on from the past two months!



In July, Julian and I took a week off for a vacation to the western coast of France with a colleague of his (Georg) and his fiancee (Aline). Aline's family has a house in Bretignolles Sur Mer, which is a cute town in between Brittany and Bordeaux. On the way out there, we stopped for two nights to stay with Aline's parents in Etampes, just outside of Paris. We spent one day in Paris, and one day at a big family lunch with her entire French family :-)




Julian on top of the Arc de Triomphe





Me in front of Notre Dame





Aline's extended family (and me towards the left) at her grandparent's house. They live right across the street from her parents.





From L to R: Aline's dad, Georg, Aline's mom, Aline, her niece, brother-in-law, and sister, and me and Julian





From Etampes, we drove on to the coast! Bretignolles sur Mer is a beautiful little town right on the water. Aline's family's house was just a 5 minute walk from the ocean and we had beautiful weather!! We had such a great time; it was a week full of sunshine, French wine and cheese, fresh grilled fish, and relaxation!



Julian and me on the beach




Taking a break during our electro-bike ride along the coast







Another break on our bike tour





Julian on the beach at sunset




Me on the beach



We were also joined by two of Georg's friends from childhood and college - Karsten and Yvonne. the 6 of us went to Les Sables d'Olonne, another neighboring town on the water:





Here is another view in Les Sables:

Cute streets and my cute fiance!

Updated Apartment Pictures

We've done a LOT of work in the past several weeks so I wanted to post a few updated pictures!!

The kitchen!! Finally complete with upper cabinets, backsplash, and silicone (all done by Julian and his dad!) We still want to get a range hood, but that is lower priority.

Living Room

Living Room/Balcony

And just because it's a nice day out today, some balcony pictures too :-)

Visit from Mom and Dad!

Happy fourth of July! Mom and Dad flew back yesterday so I thought I'd post a few pictures from their visit. We had such a great time - they were here for 6 days, then flew to Barcelona for 6 days, then back here for the weekend. It was so nice to see them (and for them to bring a lot of my stuff!), and to show them around Friedrichshafen and other places in the area. They've been here before but just for one day and in November, so it was much prettier this time around :-)

They got in on Tuesday morning, and we didn't do too much on Tuesday and Wednesday since Julian and I were both working. Thursday was a holiday and we both took Friday off, so we had a really nice 4 day weekend! On Thursday, Julian's parents and godparents all came down from Karlsruhe and spent the afternoon with us. We made this traditional German meal called Raclette, after the cheese and the machine that you use to make it. There's a grill and a broiler type thing and everyone has their own tray that they pile with veggies and meats (the meats are grilled on top of the machine), and then Raclette cheese on top. The tray is put under the broiler until it is melty and/or crispy, then drizzled on top of cooked potatoes. It is delicious and we had all sorts of great veggies and meats to go with it!

The whole group just before eating - Frank (Julian's god father), Julian, me, dad, Herwig (Julian's dad), mom, Ilona (Julian's mom), and Jutta (Julian's god mother)

The table full of food - veggies, pork tenderloin, shrimp, deli meat, and cheese. The potatoes were off-screen :-)

Dad, mom, me, Jutta, and Frank

Enjoying the weather on the balcony

The ladies - Jutta, mom, Ilona, and me

The rest of the weekend was great! We went to Bregenz for their Hafenfest, which is the festival on the Harbour. We took a few pictures there but they are on mom and dad's camera so I will post when I get them. We also went to Lindau, to walk around the cute island and enjoy an ice cream.

On Sunday, they had a flight from Zurich to Barcelona, so I drove them to the Zurich city a few hours early to check it out. I've been to Zurich before but only in rainy or cold weather, and it is just unbelievable in the summer! Bright blue sunny skies, snow-capped alps in the background, people sitting outside, sailing on the lake, and eating outside in restaurants, shopping, cute winding streets, etc. We had a nice time and walked around a bit before I took them to the airport.

They had a great time in Barcelona and then got back to Friedrichshafen on Friday evening. I cooked a big Spaghetti dinner and we had a nice evening in. On Saturday, we drove across the lake to Constance and checked out Mainu, nicknamed the flower island (you'll see why below), then had a nice German dinner and beer at an outside restaurant in Constance. I drove them to the Stuttgart airport on Sunday morning and they made it safely back home last night. Overall it was such a great visit!!

Mainau fountain

They had these flower sculptures all over - ducks, peacock, and more!

First Visitors!!

After a busy week of kitchen building and apartment cleaning, our first visitors arrived on Friday the 17th!! Carrie and Adam flew into Zurich on Friday morning and took the train/ferry to Friedrichshafen. I met them at the harbor and luckily we had a beautiful day! Julian came home early and after a great evening of appetizers and beer, we headed to Lukullum, which is a really fun traditional style German restaurant. We had great German food - käsespätzle (the German/adult version of macaraoni and cheese), pork medallions with mushroom sauce, and a few other things. Our table was actually inside a barrel (below!) which topped off the German experience.

Hanging out at our apartment

The infamous barrel

On Saturday, it was cool and rainy - untypical for a summer day on the Bodensee! We slept in and then went to Weber and Weiss for cake. Weber and Weiss is actually one of the top 10 places in Germany for cake, and Germany has some unbelievable cake! See below for proof:

Carrie is excited for cake :-)

Fruit Torte, Chocolate Cream Cake, Strawberry Cream Cake, Rasperry Torte, and Champagne Torte. YUM!

On Saturday evening, we cooked a nice big meal at home (Maultaschen and Salad, another great German option) and then stayed in for drinks and hanging out, since it was pretty gross outside.

On Sunday, we had another relaxing morning and then drove to Bregenz, which is a nearby town in Austria, also on the Bodensee. We took the Gondola up to the top of the Pfänder mountain, which is pretty small but still provides a nice view of the lake. There is also a cafe and little zoo at the top, so we walked around and then treated ourselves to a beer!

Swingset in front of the Alps... nice!

View of the Bodensee from the Pfänder

Beer with a view!

On the way back we stopped in Lindau, which is an adorable town on an island in the lake. It's very old (we saw buildings from the 1300s!) and they have nice cafes and restaurants. We had some Wurst at a beer garden and just walked around for a bit.

We got back to Friedrichshafen and climbed up the tower outside our apartment to get a nice overview of the old part of the city. You can actually see our apartment in the picture below - it's hte one that's all lit up to the left of Carrie, and we're on the third floor.

It was so amazing to have Carrie and Adam visit! Definitely a much needed dose of the States and it was lots of fun to catch up and share our new place and lifestyle with close friends. Any other visitors are welcome :-)

German Wedding

Now that we have a little bit of a break from guests (my parents are in Barcelona until Friday and will then be back until they fly back to the US on Sunday), I thought I'd try to get a little caught up with what's been going on! On June 11th, Julian and I went to his friend Pascale's wedding. Julian, David (Julian's best man), and Pascale all went to Kindergarten together, so they've been friends for quite a while! The wedding was absolutely beautiful! It was in Baden-Baden, which is famous for its 5 star hotels and spa resorts. The day started out rainy but by 1pm everything cleared and it was a perfectly sunny warm day. There was a church ceremony at 2pm, followed immediately by a champagne (real champagne... both Pascale and her now-husband Nicholas are half French) and appetizer session just outside the church.

Pascale and her dad

Balloon release during the champagne/appetizer party

After a 2 hour break, the cocktail hour started with more champagne and then moving inside for the dinner.

I had some trouble finding an evening gown but I ended up buying this one just a week before the wedding!

Julian and David

First dance for Pascale and Nicholas



Our table


The dinner was unbelievable! Seven courses of fantastic fancy food. Dessert didn't wrap up until about 1am, since they did speeches, dances, and mingling in between. Afterwards, we all went downstairs to the club portion of the building for the party. Julian and I stayed until about 3:30, but we heard the next day that other people (including the bride and groom!) stayed until 5am!

Overall I was very impressed by my first German wedding and we had a great time. I think this one was more formal than typical, but it was really neat to see all the similarities between German and American weddings, and also see the traditions that are different.

Guest Preparations!!

This week has been pretty busy!! Julian's dad came back with us on Sunday night, as we were up near Karlsruhe for a wedding on Saturday (more on that later, once we upload pictures!). Like my previous post suggested, Monday was spent intsalling most of the remaining parts of the kitchen. It was a holiday in Germany (apparently the whole country decided to celebrate my dad's birthday!) so it was a long but productive day. Yesterday, Julian's dad worked on the backsplash while I worked from home, and Julian helped out once he got home from work. The backsplash turned out to be much more complicated than expected, requiring trips to the hardware store to have them custom saw something, and then to another specialty store for specific screws. It's more of the same today, and they're hoping to finish it by 6:30 at the latest because Julian and I are going to the beach to barbeque with some friends tonight, and his dad has to catch a train back to Karlsruhe!

In even more exciting news (difficult, because not much is more exciting than a finished kitchen), our first guests arrive in less than 48 hours!!! Carrie and Adam are coming to visit Friday - Monday, and I could not be more excited to see them! We are working hard to prepare the place so that it's all put together and organized for their arrival :-)

The fun will keep going because on Tuesday morning, my parents get in!! I am so excited to have them here! I will actually go to Munich on Monday morning (Carrie and Adam have to take a 6am ferry so I will leave at the same time) for an Accenture Community Meeting, stay overnight in Munich, and then get up early to drive to Stuttgart to pick up mom and dad and then back to Friedrichshafen! Lots of time on the Autobahn! Julian and I have lots of fun things planned for both sets of visitors so I am very excited!

Still plenty of boxes to go through and stuff to clean up before Friday morning, so we will be busy until then!

I'll try to upload some pictures from the (unbelievable) wedding we went to this past weekend soon!