Travel Review: Beautifully Artistic Dresden, Germany!

I bet you've been wondering where I've gone! Well, I'm still here; don't worry :) Frankly, I just haven't known what to post about lately!  So tell me: what keeps you coming back to my blog?  Is it the travel photos & stories, the recipes, the personal pictures of myself, husband & two little Danes?  Or maybe it's hearing about this military lifestyle, the once-in-a-while knitting project posts, or just what I happen to be interested in at the moment?  Help me out here.  What should I post about nowadays?!  :)

For today, though, I'm covered!  Don & I took a quick weekend trip to the German city of Dresden.  We hopped on the train & blissfully read {or people watched!} for about 3 hours until we arrived at the bahnhof!  Er, train station!  After a quick 10 minute walk, we found ourselves in the heart of the Altstadt {Old Town} and at our little apartment-style hotel, the Aparthotel "Münzgasse".  You can read my Trip Advisor review here if you'd like!

Above, you can see my handsome husband standing on Münzgasse street, with a view of the top of the Frauenkirche in the background {see how close the hotel was?!}.  That's also the famous Frauenkirche in the photo on the left.  This church has incredible history, which you can read about @ the Wikipedia links above.  But basically, during World War II, the Allied Forces bombed the city with incendiary bombs, which create fire.  The heat in the city reached over 1,000 degrees Celsius, causing the structure of the Frauenkirche {among many other buildings} to literally explode & collapse.  It wasn't until the early 1990s that the church was restored.  Until that point, the people of Dresden wanted the church to remain in its crumbled condition, a symbol for promoting peace in the world.  However, after gathering over 1 million euro in donations, the church was reconstructed using many of the original stones.

Dresden certainly had an overall feel of creativity, with many world-famous art museums {we saw the beautiful work of Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, & more!} & bizarre modern art out for all to see.  And of course, delicious beer!

Interested in some dinner theater?  These actors will definitely pique your interest!  Or, instead, you could wander through the beautiful city with your sweetie!  That was our choice ♥

Here I am next to the Fürstenzug {Procession of Princes}, a 335 foot long mural on 25,000 porcelain tiles.  And lastly, another view of Dresden with the top of the beautiful Hofkirche {City Church} in the background.

In A Winter Fairytale

Except there's too much snow! Back at home in Colorado, the sun comes out after a snowstorm & melts it all away, leaving beautiful sunny days with clear roads! Aaah, the thought! But here in Deutschland, we never see Mr. Sun. He goes into hiding for the season & our snow, which falls down on us almost daily, piles up & leaves us with mountains of ice in our yards & on our streets. Lucius, my little social bug, has realized he can climb up & over the snow pile {my yard is apparently the community snow bin} to go visit any friends that happen to be out at the time. Needless to say, Lucius now gets taken out on a leash. I'm ready for Spring!

Thankfully, my doggies are pretty lazy & like to nap all day!  Aren't the cute?!  :)  I loved watching them play in the snow in the yard before the pile was too big.  They love it!  I'm dreaming of an American home with a yard in the back of the house & a tall fence for privacy!

My Mom flew back to beautiful Colorado yesterday, & I'll be following her here before long to go home for Christmas!  Can you believe it's so soon?!  We had such a wonderful time together, staying in where it's warm when the snow was madly falling & then going out to explore when the weather allowed for it!

Here's a picture of me at the Rothenburg Christkindlmarkt, & I'll post more soon!  Happy Holidays from my very snowy winter wonderland in Germany!  ♥  Pray that this snow somehow melts for me, would ya?!  :)

The Nurnberg Christkindlmarkt!

You wouldn't believe it, but we have sunshine & blue sky here today! Holy moly, it's been a while since I've had to squint when I've gone outdoors, let alone not totally bundle up & freeze! Hooray! Mom & I are getting ready to go to the Christkindlmarkt in Rothenburg, but while I wait for her, here are a few pictures from our visit to Nurnberg's Christkindlmarkt a few days ago. It really is such a magical time of year to be here in Germany!

Whisk Me Away!

You wouldn't believe the snow we've been getting here in good old Bavaria. Snow, snow, & WAY more snow. It hasn't stopped for over 30 hours & boy is it piling up! I've shoveled three times today, for at least an hour each, & my work is covered up before I know it!  Needless to say, Mom & I haven't been to any of the Christkindlmarkts yet.  Boo!

As I was shoveling tonight, one of my American neighbors asked our German neighbor when the snow was going to stop!  Our German neighbor laughed & said, "I think...never!"  How right he is.

This isn't a photo I took... I found it here & it was taken in Sweden...  But this is pretty much what it looks like outside my window!  I think I swept a foot of snow off my Mini today -- & that was just today's accumulation!  It is beautiful though...

But wouldn't it be fun to be here?!  I bet this Victorian beauty has some cozy reading nooks & window seats, perfect with a good book, snuggly dogs, some of these chocolate chip scones & a delicious drink!  And look...no snow to shovel!

And while I'm dreaming, I'd also like to have my husband home for good, please ♥

I've Got Christmas Market Fev-ah!

Christmas is right around the corner! Can you believe it? And all of Germany is under the magical spell of the Christkindlmarkts!  {Or Christmas Markets to us English speaking folk!}  This is one of my favorite times of year to be here in Deutschland.  The snow dusts the trees as though God above dusted them all with powdered sugar!  The little German houses are quaintly decorated with strands of white lights & colored stars.  Every town is bright & cheery with stores' front windows decked out in Holiday decor.  There are no giant blow-up snow globes here.  No contests to see who's house can shine the brightest.  No flashing lights or obnoxious lawn displays.  Here, Christmas is peaceful.  Unless, of course, you're at the busy & popular Christkindlmarkts :)  My Mom is coming out soon especially to see these one-of-a-kind gatherings!  And to see me, too...of course!

The Nürnberg Christkindlmarkt is Germany's oldest, dating back over 500 years. Here, like at the other markets, you can grab a hot cup of delicious Glühwein {glue-vine ... click the link for recipes!} before strolling down the many aisles of stalls that sell everything from traditional German Christmas treats to my favorites, the paper star lanterns! Nürnberg was the only Christmas Market I made it to last year, & although it was absolutely fantastic, I can't wait to do more exploring this year! And with my Mom, too!  Ooo eee, I'm so excited!

Also on my list of Christkindlmarkts to visit with my Mom are...

{ Munich }

{ Rothenberg }

{ Regensburg }

{ These pretty pretty photos are from Flickr.Com, Germany Christmas Markets.Org, CodyDuncan {his photos are a-mazing!}, & some others I can't remember...Oops!}

Back in Germany, Hello Jet Lag!

I'm back in Deutschland!  And after passing out last night around 7:30, I've now been wide awake since 3 AM!  Uuuggghhh, jet lag.  Do I get up this early or try to go back to sleep?!

My flights were easy & I even was able to sleep for four hours on the long one!  This was a big deal for little old me who usually can't catch even a wink of sleep on a plane!

The excitement started when I hopped in our old Beamer to go pick up Layla & Lucius.  It was dead as a doornail after not being driven for almost two weeks while sitting out in the bitter cold.  I tried to jump it, but the thing is goooone!  Needless to say, I hopped into the Mini {which needed a fill up on gas} & went to get the dogs.  You should have seen me in there with my two Great Danes!  Goodness gracious.

I had such an awesome time at home with my family!  If it weren't for the dogs, I'd have no reason to come back here.  I would have stayed until May!  But it would cost an arm & a leg to ship them to the States...or to board them here for that long!  So back to Germany for me, missing my family & my sweetheart.

The key is to stay busy.  Like I've been doing for the past 5 1/2 months.  And I'll be back in Colorado in a month for Christmas!!!!!!!!  It's so nice to have things on the calendar :)

I'll be posting regularly again now!  Thanks to all of you for your patience!  I hope you've been doing GREAT!  ♥

Travel Tuesday: Munich & Beer!

Oh, München!  The city of delicious beer & beautiful buildings!  Here you'll see me at the Hofbräuhaus, the 1 Million Dollar Pagani that we saw on the ridiculously expensive street of Maximilianstraße, a photo of a lovely window boxed building downtown on the Marienplatz, a fresh fruit stand, the famous Glockenspiel, the inside of one of the many gorgeous churches, & a photo out the window on our drive to Salzburg, Austria -- which is next up!  Enjoy!  Oh, & don't mind my hair!  We had just arrived back into Germany from London & it had been a busy travel morning :)  Mmm, I think I'm craving a Radler now.  Or better yet, a Russen!

Being A Good German In My Little Garden

I'd heard from many people before moving here to Germany that it is one of the cleanest countries in the world. Now, I think that has got to be true! Some parts are cleaner than others, but you really notice how dedicated the German people are to keeping their property clean & spruced up!

I just spent the last few hours sweeping our patio, pulling grass from between the stone tiles, & then repeating the process along the area where we park our cars. Don't I feel tidy &, well...German! It's not uncommon here to see little old ladies {along with everyone else!} all bent over using a tool to scrape grass & such from any area where it should not be growing!  This is how it should be done here in Deutschland -- it's just what you do!  So today, I joined in.  I hope that my German neighbors are proud :)

Berlin's Botanical Garden.  Now, here you can see where plants are allowed to grow out of place: on buildings!  It's so pretty, I think.

Oh, I love little gardens. I'm so excited for the day when we will be living somewhere long enough that I can really plant, instead of just have a garden of potted pretties!  Maybe I can create my own Secret Garden where I can read & relax in peace & quiet!  What an escape that would be!  Oh, & candlelit dinners would be so romantic there too!

See how much I love gardens?!

Of course, we'd have to have a hammock! Big enough for two! And no, I don't mean for Layla & Lucius :)

Oh, how cozy it would be to relax here with a good book & my sweetie!  ♥

I hope that each one of you has a comfy place to go to for some P & Q!