So Long, Farewell...

Today Toby and I are boarding a plane and flying back to the ol' US of A...for good.

I am SO excited to come back to the States for many reason, but mainly because it's home. And home is such a wonderfully familiar and comfortable place.

As excited as I am to return Stateside, I definitely feel tinges of sadness about leaving Germany. It's been a lovely place to spend the last year and I have mountains of memories to feed my travel bug...if he ever wakes up from the travel-induced coma he's in right now.

For now, let's just admire the beautiful (and chilly!) winter wonderland we're leaving:

Thank you, Germany!
We've loved your beer, amazing comfort food, fun-loving people, and of course...
your pretzel rolls.

And a big thanks to all of our readers. We hope you've enjoyed this journey as much as we have. Luckily, it's not over quite yet. We have some more fun stuff to blog about before shut 'er down.

Stay tuned for a few more posts!!

Photo Essay: Brian's Boss' Promotion Ceremony

It was a great ceremony and Brian was honored to have been asked to read for it.

Joanie in Germany

Last Monday morning we picked-up Joan at the Frankfurt airport and started off on our fun adventure. Our first stop along that adventure was Sindelfingen for a delicious Italian dinner. We noshed until our bellies were full and then enjoyed a crisp German evening:

The next day provided beautiful autumn weather so we made the most of it! The majority of the afternoon we were outside soaking up the sun and the striking fall colors with Toby:

After a good romp in the field for Toby, we headed over to the Bärenschlössle for some beverages. There's a good 1/4 mile walk to the Bärenschlössle through a forested trail. Here are our photos from our pretty walk:

After a long afternoon outside, we were all pretty wiped out. That evening we enjoyed a hearty German dinner of flammkuchen, sausage, and maultaschen. YUM!! Between the fresh air and the heavy food we all slept like rocks that night.

The next day Brian went in to the office for a few hours and then we hit the road for Hohenzollern Castle. After a 45 minute car ride the stunning castle, perched amongst the Swabian Alps, was in sight:

This was by far our most favorite castle. The exterior was interesting, the interior was completely functional (and still used during the summers by descendants of German royalty), and the tour was informative (with the help of two awesome German college students who translated a bit for us). Here's our photo tour of the Hohenzollern Castle:















My favorite room of the castle was, no shocker here, the Königin Room (Queen's Room). It was full of gorgeous sapphire blue stuffed chaise lounges and chairs, as well as the Queen's paintings. There was also a lovely little bay window overlooking the Alps...I imagine snuggling up there with a good book, a cup of tea, and a roaring fire in the fireplace would be quite nice!

After the castle we made our way back home to Sindelfingen for dinner and packing.
Next on our itinerary: Paris, France!

Joan: A Preview

We just spent a fantastic week with Joan and can't wait to share the images and tales. Per usual, there are tons of photos to go through and some thoughts to organize. For now though, here's a sneak peek of the last week...

There was play time with Toby:

There was also lots of enjoying the fall colors and the ridiculously mild late-autumn weather:

There was Paris:

And, there was Normandy:

Can't wait to get cracking on the next post, Joanie in Germany.
Happy November!

In Just a Few...

...hours we'll be on our way up to Frankfurt to pick-up Brian's mom, Joanie!

She's a wonderful mom, grandmother, and friend and we can't wait to see her!

Photo Essay: Patch High School Football

We don't think Patch won (we left at halftime), but we had a great time enjoying some good old fashioned American high school football in Germany!

I Just Can't Get Enough

Autumn is by FAR my most favorite season. So as you can imagine, I'm in heaven right now. Take a peek:

All I need now is a sip of apple cider and I'll be set!

Apologies...I know this post is frighteningly reminiscent of the previous post, but I just can't get enough of all of these striking fall colors around here.

Photo Essay: Early Autumn in Germany

Happy October!