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!