Ghent, Belgium

Two weekends ago on July 20, 2013 A. from the blog Around the Wherever and I decided to take a trip to Ghent, Belgium. We decided to book a trip with the USO since it requires almost no planning and both of us where a bit busy.  The USO “is an organization on post that provides services and entertainment to those in or affiliated with the military.” I was a bit wary about taking a trip with them due to the fact that the majority of the trip with the USO is a tour and pre-planned, and for someone like myself and A. who like to venture on our own we were unsure of how the trip would turn out.

Upon arrival the first thing we did was get paired with our tour guide. Teun (our tour guide) is a professor at a local university there in Gehnt. He was an excellent guide, and taught us that the Dutch can make a sexual joke out of just about anything.

We began by going through the Red Light District where woman sat in the window like some kind of display waiting to be bought. Following Teun showed us the differences in the French and Belgian parts of the city as well as how you could tell the age of a building by the type of stone used.  

One of the more interesting parts of the tour I found to be of a carving of a father and daughter that was above a door way. The father was sentenced to death by starvation, when the daughter visited him, since she had just had a child, let him drink milk from her breast in order to help sustain his life. Later the father was proved to be innocent and set free.

We were also lucky enough to visit on the 1^st day of a 10 day festival. Every year Ghent holds the largest street festival in all of Europe. Due to this fact A. and I discovered two interesting things:

1)      Public toilets, known as pissers, where everywhere. For an American this was slightly disturbing because as you can see from the picture, they were on random street corners, and completely open. At one point I saw three men using the quad-pisser at once….

2)      As an opening for the first day of the festival a big parade was scheduled to take place that afternoon. As A. and I walked around we began to notice that several people had on some interesting clown hats. It became our mission to obtain one of such hats for ourselves. After much walking and much excitement, we found the source.

We determined we must wear the hat the rest of the day. Overjoyed, we then headed to the visitor center to see what we could do in our free time.  The people at the visitor center found these two crazy Americans so amusing that of course they needed to take our picture and post it to their Facebook page.

Meeting back with the group for a boat ride through the city, and then a bit more exploration of our own, we ended the day knowing we needed to come back!

There is so much more I could talk about Ghent, it was too much fun, but blog post are not book of course lol, so I guess one day you shall have to venture there yourself and find out :) 

In conclusion a quote from A.

“At $99 per person for the trip, which included roundtrip busing, a tour led by college faculty, and a boat ride, the trip was less expensive than just buying train tickets on our own would have been. The upside was that even though the trip had two planned events, we also had about five hours to do our own thing.”

A little more Germany with a mix of Luxembourg

Saturday July 13 my plan was to go to Munich and Dachau on another trip with the local ODR, but after  nice little drive through the town at 4 am I discovered that they had canceled the trip and forgot to inform me. Needless to say I was rather disgusted and disappointed since that is one of the trips I was looking forward to the most.

So at the last minute I decided I would take some trips closer to K-town so it would not be a waste of a weekend, and on the positive side I have since discovered that the USO offers the same trip the last weekend I will be in Germany! Still disappointed about the whole thing, since that means I will have to shuffle my other plans for that weekend, but I'll survive.


On Saturday I went to the local Japanese garden followed by the nearby town of Otterberg for dinner with Tiffany and the girls:

The Japanese garden seems like a perfect place to just get away from the city for a bit, relax and journal. I really need to get back there without the girls before I leave and just… reflect. I love the little red bridge they have there going over a nice waterfall. Who would have guessed right in the middle of town such a thing existed. If you couldn’t see the building from outside the trees, you would think you were in a totally different place.

Otterberg I loved! Not because of all the things to do and see, but because of its simple beauty. I have decided, if possible, that is where I want to live when I come back. It has a smaller feel to it, warm and inviting, I guess would be a more accurate description. When we first arrived the bells at the church in the center of town were ringing, and echoing off the local hills, it was the kind of thing that just makes you stop for a moment and go “wow.” You can’t find that anywhere in the US, at least nowhere I have ever been.

I cannot express how excited I am to come back next year and work here. I say it over and over again, but the more I learn the more working here seems so perfect for what I want right now in life.

The next day, Sunday I went to Luxembourg City, Luxembourg and Trier, Germany. Trier was a last a last minute decision so I went to the city without a plan, but I wish I would have had more time, also with it being a Sunday although the main sights were open several of the little shops that really help make a trip were closed.

While in Luxemburg I visited Place d' Armes, Luxembourg's Notre Dame Cathedral, and Adolphe Bridge just to name a few places I ventured.  I had written down the top places to see for Luxembourg, but had no set plan. It was a relaxing walk of randomly wondering the city.

One of my favorite places to visit while I was there is this random church I happen to run across. I don't even remember the name. But when I entered the place was entirely empty with some music playing in the background. Down the center aisle in between the pews was a whole row of candles. The cathedral was simple, but in that simplicity was so much beauty. It was a great place to just light a candle, reflect, and take a moment to appreciate the now.







As I mentioned above, I wish I had more time in Trier. Of the two cities I visited that day Trier was my favorite. It seemed like a very "artsy" city that was filled with history, churches, old buildings, and tons to do. Unfortunately I arrived at around 3pm an most places began to close around 6pm so I didn't have to much time.



(The picture above and two the left are of the main cathedral in the town. It was so magnificent, as many churches are here.)

 

Under the Tuscan Sun

            Italy: Day 1, Travel Day, July 3

Tiffany, Vivi, Sophia and I left the house in the morning at 3:30 am. The THOUGHT was if we left in the middle of the night the girls would just sleep most of the morning and we would also miss a lot of traffic… we should have known better. As soon as Vivi hit the car she began talking, and talking, and then some more talking. To make things more interesting the traffic we were SUPPOSE to miss, only lasted about 2 hrs before we hit stalls and detours. What a great start…

Finally at 10am we stopped to get some gas and have some breakfast. We had stopped several other places before this point, but nothing was available to eat until 10. Note for future reference, “convince restaurants” such as McDonalds are NOT convenient in Europe.

After we had some food, only to hit the road again and discover that I had left my purse in the gas station! It contained my whole identity, passport, credit cards, SS card, instillation pass, international drivers licenses, drivers licenses, and about 200 Euro plus some USD!! I was freaking out to say the least. After 1.5 hours I was afraid it was gone. After a quick turn around, I ran back in to the place I had left it, and to my disbelief it was still there with all the contents.

We made it down to Italy around dinner time. A 9 hour trip that had been 13 long hours.

Italy: Day 2, Beach Day/ 4^th of July

Day two was a 180 turn around. We woke up, got some breakfast and hit the beach that was just across the street. It was a white rock beach with beautiful blue water. I loved the look, but the rocks rather hurt.

After a morning of walking around we had lunch, let the girls nap, and then headed over to the American beach that was located 2 km from our hotel to spend the 4^th of July evening. One of my favorite parts of the trip was floating in the ocean with Vivi and watching the sun go down over the nearby islands and Italian village in the distance, it was BEAUTIFUL.

After the sun set, instead of a fireworks show they had a water and laser light show. I’m sure the locals loved all the American’s playing God Bless the USA over loud speakers on the beach.

Italy: Day 3, Leaning Tower of Pisa, July 5th

Wow! Where to start? We slept in this morning since the night before was so long. We got up around 10 and was out the door by 10:30. We caught the city bus outside our hotel and made our way into downtown Pisa.

Once there we headed straight to the Leaning tower of Pisa. Less eventful than I imagined, but incredible none the less, it’s something I have always wanted to see.

Following we made our way down the streets outside the walls and visited several local vendors. It is very easy to get caught up and sped too much! They have some really good prices on several things including pashminas, which I LOVE!

We had lunch at a local Italian place, which was delicious! I had some sort of pasta with some kind egg and bacon, never had pasta quite like it.

After a nap and some much needed rest we ended the day with the pool and a delicious dinner at one of Tiffany’s co-workers house that lived nearby. That was a treat as well since she had lived in Italy since 1984!

Italy: Day 4, Florence, July 6^th

Florence… wow I could spend a week there on museums alone! We began the day with the Duomo and Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise! I was so excited about this, it’s something wrote about in art history about 6 years ago.

After some more shopping, another great Italian lunch, and some sights along the way it was time to go to the Uffizi Gallery where “the Birth of Venus” is kept, my favorite painting of all time!!! I only had 50 minutes to get through the gallery due to a shortage on time. This is ridiculously short if you know art galleries. I got out with just enough time to make it to Academia gallery to see the statue of David. After a couple wrong turns, however, I missed the last slot by 2 minutes L

A 1 hour train ride and 20 min taxi later we were back in Pisa where our hotel was.

Italy: Day 5, Travel Home, July 7^th

Nothing to eventful on this day, we stopped in La Spezia Italy for some lunch. It was a nice walk along the harbor and some great Focaccia bread, a long drive back, beautiful scenery through Switzerland, and a tired bunch upon arrival.

Heidelberg Germany

This past weekend June 29th, the girls, Tiffany, and I ventured into Heidelberg for a day trip. The day consisted of visiting the Heidelberg Castle,

(picture from the town Below)                                                                            (overlook from the top)

 

 

Having lunch at a local place called Schmidt's with more Flammkuechen :D

 

And too be honest the last half of the day consisted mainly of walking up and down the main shopping strip! Very simply, but exciting day.

 

 

Frankfurt and Langen Germany

So it occurred to me today that I am two weekends behind in blogging and I leave for Italy tomorrow night for 5 days. So I shall attempt to post two blogs tonight, though it is already 11:10pm here as I begin typing and I am rather tired and have a lot of prep work to do... so I'll see how far I get.

The weekend of June 22 and 23 I decided to visit an old friend who lives an hour away from K-town in the quaint little of Langen. Here was a break down of my first day:

Woke up and left Kaiserslautern, Germany at around 12pm. Drove the 1.5 hours to Langen, where Franzi lives, then Caught the 2:15pm train into Frankfurt. We visited many places including where the Germans signed the “constitution” after WWII, took a ride around town on the Express trolley, ventured through the local festivals that were taking place, enjoyed some local crepes, and ended our time in Frankfurt by seeing the Frankfurt Dom or Cathedral. After arriving back to Langen we had traditional German Flammkuechen and wieners.


  Day 2:

After staying the night at Franzi’s and venturing into Frankfurt the day before we decided that she would show me around her town so I could get a real taste of daily life within Germany. After sleeping in for a bit, we woke up and had a late breakfast with her mother, after we set out to explore the city a bit. I got to see her high school, city hall, civic center, and much more. While out there was a local fair that happens in her town once a year that was happening. We went through the rows of vendors and games, stopping to shop a bit along the way.

For lunch she took me to her favorite place to have a traditional German doner. It’s a flat bread, with meat, lettuce, and a yogurt dressing. It was delicious, but HUGE!

Then, it was time to head back into Frankfurt for a tour we were hoping to take. We made it to the station in time to see the train pull off. So instead with a quick change of plans we decided to go back to her house and spend some more time just talking and catching up.

 

It was so great being able to see Franzi, the last we saw each other was when I was a senior in high school, so three years ago! Unlike a lot of my other weekend trips I have taken since arriving to German this one was very unscheduled and relaxed. I’m very happy I was able to meet her. It gave me such insight to the “real” life of living like a local.

I was able to meet her mom and her mom’s boyfriend, which was a unique experience in itself because since neither knew English well, Franzi became our translator. I just felt like I became a temporary part of the family.

The thing I love to do most while I travel is get out of the main, tourist roads and see it from the local perspective. And by making friends all over the world I am slowly being able to do just that. I can’t wait to start my life over here in a year (hopefully)! There is just so much culture, and things to see and do, the sky seems like the limit.