Jumping on the NYE Bandwagon

Happy NYE, everybody! 
I know I've already posted today, but.... 
Hubby and I decided to go out to Frankfurt to celebrate the evening tomorrow - so much for being a homebody, right?! 
Anyway, I thought I'd jump onto this whole "2011 was an awesome year for me" bandwagon. 
But first.... I thought I'd show you how not to do your NYE makeup. You're welcome. 

why, yes. I did add a beauty mark. 
I actually have an awesome little letter that sums up 2011 in 240 words or less. 

I don't really do resolutions, because I know I won't keep them. I do have goals, though (I call them that because it makes me more likely to keep them - resolutions are meant to be broken).
Goals for 20121. Get up to 600 followers. Whoa, that's a lot. Especially since I'm not even at 200 yet. But... I figure I have a year to do it. Oh, BTW, I really want to do another giveaway... so click the follow button right now if you haven't already, because once I reach 200, it's on! 

2.Eat a little bit healthier. No, I'm not gonna cut out sugar or fat, and I'm not going to try out some crazy new diet. Those things would never last. I'm keepin' it real. I'm going to try to eat one serving of veggies and fruit every day. Go me. 3. Get back to exercising. When I was in the states, I exercised 5-6 days a week. Now... I'm embarrassed to say this, but now it's a big, fat 0. All my muscle definition is gone, and I'm a wuss. My arm gets sore while I'm brushing my teeth. Pathetic, I know.  

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4. Be a little more patient. I believe this is self-explanatory. 5. Be more spiritual. Dudes [and dudettes?], listen up. Church in a foreign country is just not the same. I mean, they teach the same things, and I understand it because I'm fluent, but there are some problems. Hubby isn't fluent. I don't feel the same spirit as I did in the states, because my heart just isn't in it. I really need to figure out how to fix this. It's a bummer. 

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6. Read at least 12 books.... in German. That's one a month. Given the fact that German novels will be a bit harder to come across once we're back in America, that's actually like, 1.75 a month. Totally doable. 7. Add at least 3 more countries to my list. Totally doable. I have a bunch of cool ones within 5 hours of me. 

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Day 5: More Prague

Hellooooo. So since day 6 was technically just a travel day, we'll say that day five was the last day of our little Euro-adventure. It also happened to be... the most awesome. 
Day 5: Friday. Prague, Czech Republic. Woke up feeling pretty awesome, and ate some breakfast to help start the morning off right. We all decided that we wanted to spend the morning in the old city square. This square is home to tons of amazing architecture (stuff that would make Ted Mosby freak) an awesome Christmas market (only in December), some pretty cool churches, and the astronomical clock. 

We wandered around taking pics for about an hour until we realized we could go up to the top of the astronomical clock and take pictures of the city from there. 

After we left the tower, we decided to take a carriage ride around the city. 

Once the carriage ride was done, we headed to a cozy restaurant for a Czech favorite - Goulash. 

Finally it was time for the music. We had tickets to two separate shows in two separate theaters. Both were amazing. 

Show number one

theater number two

As soon as we left the theaters, we heard some music we weren't expecting - there was a bell organ concert in the city square. It was awesome. New life goal: learn to play the bell organ. 

Aside from some window and Christmas shopping and a very uneventful car ride home, that was the end of a wonderful trip! So thankful to these two wonderful people for not only coming and visiting us so we wouldn't be lonely on Christmas, but also for taking us to such an amazing place. 

Day 4: Prague, Czech Republic

Happy Almost Friday! Do you guys all have big plans for New Year's Eve? This party animal does not. Yet. Anyone wanna hop a plane to Germany and come hang out?! Hahaha. Seriously, though. Hubby and I need to get out of this town. 
Speaking of which, we were 5 hours away from this town one week ago. Let me tell you all about it. 
Day 4: Thursday. Prague, Czech Republic. 
The day started off with a delicious breakfast at the hotel, then it was off to Prague Castle. Well, it should have been... we took some detours (yeah, we detour to kiss - what up?).  

Back to the castle. I actually don't have any pictures of that because... everything on the grounds was closed. The churches were off-limits, the castle museum was closed, and the castle itself wasn't open, either. The grounds were being prepared, because the next day was Vaclav Havel's funeral. 

At first we thought it was kind of lame that we wouldn't be able to do anything, but we did get to stand in a really long line to see his casket. Thousands and thousands of people were in that line, and this was a pretty crazy opportunity. 

After waiting in the line, we decided to grab some hot cocoa and talk about what to do next. Food won. Unfortunately, we never got to eat. We headed out toward the [very difficult to find] restaurant [Peklo's, if you've been to Prague... it's awesome, but nestled far away from anything easy to find], but fate had something else in mind [dun dun dun]. 
None of us could find the restaurant. My father-in-law did, however, find an awesome place to stop and take photos, so stop and take photos we did. 

Well, almost all of us stopped, anyway. Somehow, the FIL got separated from us, and we spent the next few hours looking for each other. No one knows what happened, but we all eventually ended up safe and sound [thank goodness] back at the hotel. 
We proceeded to eat sausages from a street vendor, and Hubby and I called it an early night because neither of us felt the greatest (not from the sausages, it was a sinus thing). We went to sleep with dreams of the beautiful city in our achy little heads. :)

Day 3: Nürnberg, Germany & Prague, Czech Republic.

Happy Wednesday! Hopefully everyone is doing just splendid! I know I'm feeling pretty lazy and lethargic myself. Hopefully you all are doing a little bit better than me! 
Ooohh... I almost forgot. I'm guest posting over here. You should go read about my wedding mishaps! Seriously... all the cool kids are doing it. 
Anyway... on to the fun stuff. 
Warning: Picture Overload. 
Day three. Wednesday. Nürnberg (Nuremberg) and Prague. 
The day started off in Nürnberg with a quick trip to the bakery - some croissants, cheese bread, jelly filled donuts, and Belgian waffles, and we were energized enough to survive the 10-minute walk to the Altstadt (old city). 

Once there, we spotted a pretty awesome church, and decided to go inside (read: it started to rain, and we noticed a conveniently located church nearby). 

We spent a bit of time warming up wandering and admiring, then decided to head further into the town to get a bite to eat. Oh, and to stop and spend 15 minutes getting a good jumping picture for this here blog. 

As we left the church, we thought we were going to kill our hunger pains, but then Hubby saw an amazing church (he has a thing for old churches), so naturally, we went inside and killed about an hour. 

Anyway, we eventually made it to a delicious Italian restaurant where I ate the most delicious calzone known to mankind. That's also where I scored this little picture (I think it's kind of cool). 

As soon as we were done filling our bellies with deliciousness, we headed over to the Christmas Market (supposedly one of the best in the world). 

And then.... we jumped back into the tiny car to head to Prague. We arrived in Prague at about 9:00 pm, so all we really got to do was explore the area around our hotel. Doesn't sound too exciting, but this is what we saw... 

The candles are because Vaclav Havel (the first leader after the Velvet Revolution) died earlier that week. So. Sorry that was forever long. Stay tuned to hear about an actual day in Prague tomorrow. Oh! And before I leave... can someone please explain this fountain in Nuremberg? Or am I the only one that thinks it's a little weird/odd/awkward? 

Sleeping Beauty Castle & Concentration Camp (Weird Combo, I Know)

Hey there! Still trying to get back to normal life in this house. Well, as normal as it can be when no one has to work and you live in a town where kids congregate outside the grocery store for fun.Needless to say... Today has involved sleeping in and a ton of Netflix watching. 
Last Tuesday when Hubby's parents were here, we left Rothenburg ob der Tauber early in the morning to start off a busy day. 
Day Two: Tuesday. Schloss Neuschwanstein and Dachau Concentration Camp. 
The day started off with us giants cramming into one of those awesomely tiny German cars for the 2.5 hour drive to the castle. Neuschwanstein is in the mountains of Bavaria, minutes away from the Austrian border. Once we arrived and parked the car, we found a couple of things we weren't expecting - 1. The side of the castle was covered in scaffolding (see picture), and 2. The castle didn't open until 10 a.m. (even though the website clearly stated 9:00 as the opening time). 

Since we were there an hour early and it was snowing like crazy, to kill a little bit of time (and keep our toes from freezing off), we went and ordered some hot cocoa, and Hubby's parents bought the tickets for the tour. Hubs and I opted not to go (I'd been there a few times and he doesn't care about the inside of castles, only the outside), so we hung out inside and waited for their tour to start before we hiked up the side of the mountain to take some awesome pictures of the castle. Fun fact: this is the castle that inspired Sleeping Beauty's castle. 

After the tour ended, we headed back to the car for the drive north to Dachau Concentration Camp. Obviously the atmosphere there was a bit different than that of a beautiful castle on a snowy hill. We arrived around nightfall, just as snow started to fall and the majority of people were leaving. The mood was eery, and we all felt a bit somber as we walked through the gate that read "Arbeit macht frei" (work will set you free). 

We arrived at the crematorium with minutes to spare, and the guard was following us through, turning the lights off after us. Words cannot express the feeling as you walk through the rooms in which thousands of people were murdered without reason or cause. 

Gas chamber

Room where the dead bodies were piled. 

Crematorium

Guard tower

As soon as we left Dachau, we piled back into the car to head up to Nürnberg. 
Overall, Tuesday was a pretty good day. Happy morning, a little more serious in the evening, but we got a lot in. Stay tuned for Wednesday!!! 

Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany

Hey there! Hope everybody had an absolutely amazing Christmas! I know I did. Hubby's parents flew out to good ole Deutschland to pay us a visit, and it was so nice to have family around after not seeing them for over 4 months. During the week that they were here, we traveled. A lot. We spent most of the weekend in Frankfurt and Echzell, but once Monday came around, we hit the road. I'm going to review my last week... this week. Day by day. 
Day 1: Monday. Rothenburg ob der Tauber. 

Located in south-central Germany, this little small town nestled inside a modern city is probably my favorite place in all of Germany. Once a thriving medieval city, it has managed to retain most of its old-time charm. The city is surrounded by a 1.5 mile long wall with multiple towers and gates. 

During Christmas time, the town comes alive with lights. You can spend hours walking through the Christmas market in the main town square. 

You can also take a free tour of the town with the night watchman. 

And finally, my favorite thing about the town is the park on the side of a cliff. The view is incredible, both at night and during the day. 

The town also has some amazing museums. The medieval crime and torture one is my favorite. I know it sounds morbid and quite frankly really weird, but I promise it's really cool. 

So basically.... Rothenburg is awesome, our Monday was fabulous, and if you're ever round these parts... you should head on over to the best town in Germany. 

Also - still looking for a few sponsors for next month. My blog has grown from 70 followers mid-November to over 180, and is growing every day. Page views are always increasing. 

Sponsoring is a great way to grow your blog and gain exposure. 

Email me at alyx2011@gmail.com if you're interested. 

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