The Life & Adventures of a Military Wife

August 20, 2014

Get Away to Greece: Part I

8/20/2014
Well, Jack got our trip to Athens booked today. Honestly, I never believed we would be going to Greece. I saw all the beautiful pictures and heard of our friends vacationing there but until we moved to Europe, it was just one of those distant, unobtainable dreams.

Jack, being the impressive guy he is, runs. Not just for work (being a soldier) but also because he wants to remain as physically fit as possible in his day to day life. His first marathon in 2010, he ran without training for. He had never run more than 10 miles at one time in his life. He ran it in 4 hours. In 2011 he ran 4 half marathons and then ran his last in 2012. He said that would be his last one...that is until we came to Europe and he had the opportunity to run the original in Marathon, Greece. He claims this will be his final marathon...We'll see...

We get to stay for three full days and come back on the fourth so hopefully we will have plenty of time to travel to the other islands! My heart beats fast just thinking about this trip!

August 13, 2014

Glamping in Slovenia: Part I

8/13/14
So on Monday the girls (Orienna, Marta, and Jayde) and I booked our little cabins at Lake Bled in Slovenia for August 29th to August 31st.

Unfortunately, Marta and I booked ours first and while they had four cabins with hot tubs left when we started, by the time we got ours into the system, they only had the cabins without hot tubs left. I'm hoping that four people can fit into them at a time so we can all enjoy them.

Cabin with Hot Tub. Picture from the website.

Luckily we are going at the end of August so it will still be warm out and we won't be sleeping in a wood cabin without a fire place in the middle of winter like in that picture! Apparently there is a small restaurant close by, so if we really didn't want to cook, we can still get a good meal. Our friends Marta & Pete have been here before and they really loved it so I'm really looking forward to it. For a short clip on the beauty of Lake Bled, here is Rick Steve's take on this majestic area: Lake Bled.

It just so happens that Mike and I will be celebrating our 21st wedding anniversary while we are there since our happy day is August 27th! This looks like a pretty amazing place to celebrate 21 years together.

August 10, 2014

An Afternoon in Erbendorf

8/10/2014

So Jack is in Turkey this week...lucky guy! Actually he is there for work so I'm sure there is only going to be one fun day for him. They do keep him busy!

After I got him off to the airport, I went over to my friends, Marta and Pete's. Pete went on a bike ride while Marta and I made homemade jam while our dogs played. We made plum with Pinotage wine and peach with Bourbon and vanilla. They turned out pretty amazing and it was only the second time I've made jam. The first time, I made it for a party and it was spicy pepper jam. Jack made the unfortunate comment that Smuckers is the best and he didn't want any homemade. He's really going to be jealous when I'm enjoying my toast! :)

When we were all done, Marta suggested we go get milk. Normally that might seem not at all exciting but normally you wouldn't get your milk from a vending machine! It was amazing. We drove 5 minutes to the outskirts of town to a farm. On one side, they had the cows in the barn being milked and fed. Next to it was a little cabin with a vending machine where you can get fresh milk 24 hours a day. Only 1 Euro for a whole liter!

Happy cows in the barn!

The lovely Marta with her milk jar

I sure wish they had one of these in my town. It's a 25 minute drive to go get a liter or two...but sooooo worth it. I can't wait to go again...I may drink all the milk tonight just so I can go get more tomorrow!

Farm fresh milk!

Upcoming Travels August - November

Well the plans have been made and now I'm searching for the best prices! We are almost half way through August and while I thought we were having a "down time" for August, September, and October, we are actually only having "mini" vacations instead of big ones. :)

At the end of this month, we have a four day weekend. We are learning very quickly that we need to take advantage of them and not waste them since the work weeks are usually filled with very late hours and hardly seeing each other at all. Sometimes not at all since Jack travels a lot. He is heading out again today for Turkey and has plans to go back for two more weeks soon and Poland at some point very soon as well.

So, our next four day will be done in Bled, Slovania; Glamping! We are going with four other couples and it should be super fun. I think we will be staying in tree houses! :) I'm waiting for an email with prices.

Bled, Slovania

I am super excited about this one...who am I kidding? I'm always excited to travel!

September begins the month for being ready for Oktoberfest in Munich! We already have our tickets for a place in a tent. We will have four hours in the tent with a "Mas" beer which is just German for stinkin HUGE beer, half a chicken, and tons of potatoes! We already have our Dirndl (dress) and Lederhosen (leather pants) ready to go. We will be going with many of the same people. :) Gotta love our adventurous friends!

October is back to Nove, Italy for me! I have money put aside already for the trip. I keep dreaming about Nove and all those lovely ceramics. I can't wait to see Emily and her beautiful baby girl too. Emily was so much fun this last time and allowed us to stay at her super cute house in Italy which saved us tons of money! She is such a wonderful hostess!

My friend Sabrina, her daughter TyBrea, and I will be going to see Frankensteins castle in Germany as well but we haven't figured out all the details yet!

November is marathon month. Jack has decided to run his last marathon in Athens, the original marathon location! His last two marathons have been completed in four hours with no training. He says he is going to train for this one. I am just terribly excited to go to Greece! :) I think most of our friends are going to make this trip as well. Not everyone will be running. I think I might do the 5k...because I am no where near marathon shape!

We haven't figured out our December trip but I think it will be Spain so we can get out of the cold for a little bit by that point. Looks like a fun filled couple of months coming up!

August 3, 2014

Volksfest 2014

8/2/2014

Once a year Grafenwoehr has a Volksfest. It's like a carnival for the German/American community. We got the opportunity to wear our Lederhosen and Dirndles too!

My Captain Jack being a nerd...

We had so much fun with all our friends! Mike, Keenan and I met up with our friends Amber & Steve, Sabrina & Curtis, and Jayde & Nick at our PX (Military department store) and took the bus to the fest.

Curtis & Sabrina

Amber & Steve

Sabrina

The ladies with just a little beer!

Nick & Jayde on a ride in the pouring rain!

When we got there, we met up with our friends Orienna & Cary and our new friends Elaine & Tony! We ate some really delicious gyros, funnel cakes, fried oreo's, and pork knuckles and drank WAY too much beer and wine. But we had so much fun that we didn't even mind getting soaked in the rain and walking around in squishy shoes all night! :) I can't wait for next years Volksfest!

July 26, 2014

Day Trip to Bayreuth

7/24/14

Today my lovely neighbor Sabrina, her children TyBrea, Micaiah, their friend Marcos, Keenan and I wanted to go explore a new place but wanted to find somewhere close so we headed to Bayreuth. It's only 34 minutes away so that was a nice little distance plus, it has two palaces, a castle ruins and much more!

We went around 10:00am and had to find parking, which is always a challenge but even more so when your GPS tells you to drive somewhere only to find out it's a no driving or no parking zone! Finally, we found parking and walked to the New Palace. We purchased the all day pass which gives you access to the New Palace, Old Hermitage, Margrave's Opera House, and Sanspareil Rock Garden/Oriental Building/Palace Zwernitz (Castle Ruins).

The New Palace was the Margravine (Princess) Wilhelmine's way of bringing a little bit of her beloved Berlin to this little town that she found herself in after marriage. When she married Margrave (Prince) Frederick of Bayreuth, she had to move from Berlin to Bayreuth, which she was very unhappy about. Her only consolation was that she truly loved him, which was very unusual in those times. Usually marriage was political and rarely about love. The Margrave gave Wilhelimine the Old Hermitage for her birthday. The Old Hermitage was an old palace that was modeled after a hermitage rather than an opulent palace. Wilhelimine was able to renovate it to her liking, and later was able to create the New Palace.

Margravine Wilhelmine, the favorite sister of Frederick the Great, without a doubt one of the most important female figures of the 18th century. Unlike, say the Empress Elizabeth or Maria Theresia, Wilhelmine did not make her success on the field of politics, but in the realm of the spirit and the arts. Wilhelmine was the representative of an era in transition, the Age of Enlightenment.

Up to this point, this has been my favorite palace. It was not as opulent as some that I've seen, or as large but it was the prettiest and the walls and ceilings are absolutely amazing. I feel I should have lived in this palace... :) Just up my alley!

New Palace

Side view of the New Palace

First room on our tour

I love that Wilhelmine used color!

Look at the detail on these walls!

My favorite room!

TyBrea pretending to sit on one of the chairs

Even the furniture is perfect for each room...

Me & Sabrina

The groto made of pebbles and shells

Going up to the second floor

The banquet hall

View from the banquet hall

Wilhelmine at 2 years old

We took the only tour available to us. It was completely in German but we didn't need to know the language to appreciate how beautiful this palace was! I can't wait to go back as soon as possible and do it again actually!

Next, we go back to our car and drove 10 minutes to the Old Hermitage. At least they had parking! We started walking to the Hermitage through the maze and gardens.