Celebrating in Strasbourg

First things first - I apologize for the delay in posting. Our apartment was struck by lightening and fried our modem, thus I've been without access to the Internet.

As many of you know, I have the most amazing husband. Period. Instead of a new outfit, something for the house, or flowers he gave me something sooooooo much better for my birthday - a fabulous weekend in Strasbourg, France. Ohhhhh Strasbourg, drink it in. It always goes down smooth. (A direct quote from the husband.)

If we'd gone right, we would have ended up in Paris....how great is that?

We hit the road Friday afternoon. And by hit the road I mean HIT THE ROAD. We finally had the opportunity to let The Audi run free on the Autobahn reaching speeds upwards of 120. Don't worry, I had my seat belt on (although I'm not sure what good a seat belt would do if you get in an accident going that fast). With that said, we arrived at the fabulous Sofitel Strasbourg in just about 2 hours.

After getting settled in our room, we hit the town in search of a place for dinner. Random side note - in the square about a block from our hotel a group of people were protesting the Iran election results. Nothing too crazy but it was definitely interesting to see. Moving on - we picked a cute restaurant that had seating available outside. I had one of the best lamb shanks I've ever tasted. Yum!

While dinner was great, the next part was A-A-A-AMAZING!!! The main tourist attraction in Strasbourg is the Cathedral de Notre Dame. We'll see more of the Cathedral later, just know this - when you see it, you have one of those "ahhh-haaa" moments. Pretty incredible. We stopped at a cafe that was right out in front of the Cathedral and each of us ordered a creme brulee and an Irish coffee. While admiring the church, we overheard a man behind us struggling to order some whiskey from the very French waiter. He finally gave up and settled for some scotch. We joked with him wondering what they put in our Irish coffee if they didn't have whiskey (and we still don't know but it tasted good). We ended up chatting with him and his wife for several hours. They gave us a bunch of tips on places to visit while we're here in Europe as well as the places to skip. Great people, great conversation and a great view....doesn't get much better than that.

Irish Coffee and Creme Brulee....yummy! Not a bad view either.

Cathedral at night

We had a light breakfast of croissants and coffee (no wonder French people are so skinny, where are the bacon and eggs people?) then made our way over to the Cathedral. There is just so much to it. Sure, it's big but that's not really what makes it so amazing. It's in the details. Words won't do it justice so enjoy:

Pretty incredible, huh? What was crazy was that right after we walked around inside they ushered everyone out because someone was getting married there! Can you imagine?

After the Cathedral, we made our way over to the La Petite France area. Most of the buildings and houses here are built with the half timber design and it is quite a sight to see. We enjoyed lunch near the river (not right next to it because the waiters at that restaurant were too snooty) then more sight seeing. We picked up some delicious chocolates for our neighbor that was keeping Stella....ok, and maybe a few for ourselves. By late afternoon we were worn out and decided a powernap before dinner would be a good idea.

To really celebrate my birthday, we splurged and had dinner at GoH, a schnazzy little place that was in the Sofitel. The menu we selected was a journey in itself, to say the least. Foie gras over strawberries, sardines over lima beans with fried potato slices, who thinks of this stuff? Fortunately, we're pretty adventurous when it comes to food so we really enjoyed it. Since it was our last evening, we wanted to take one more walk around town....and Brad was craving a crepe. We went to a creperie near the Cathedral and gorged ourselves, once again.

Random funny story - on our walk back to the hotel we saw a group of people all dressed up having cocktails out on the balcony overlooking the main square. We thought "can you imagine going to extravagant parties in Strasbourg, France. Hanging out on the balcony sipping cocktails and mingling. What a life." But I don't think everyone there understood the invitation where I'm sure it said something along the lines of "dress up." The women wore cocktail dresses and the men were in suits.....well, most of them. As we sat there secretly envying these people, out walks Superman. I kid you not, full out Superman costume!! Absolutely hilarious!

And that pretty much sums up the trip. We slept in the next morning before heading home to our excited puppy. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday!!

Hallo From Heidelberg

Another fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants weekend.....and I love it that way! The boys (Brad and Tommy) play on a couple of softball teams. One is with a group of guys from work and the other is with a hodge podge group of guys from all over the Garrison Base that only play in tournaments. Since I am quite certain none of the guys from the Garrison team will ever see this, I'm just going to come out and say it - they are absolutely terrible! With the exeption of Brad and Tommy, of course. (What's funny is that the coach has held practices twice a week for a little over a month now.) This weekend was the first tournament and was held in Mannheim, about an hour from here. Knowing how "talented" the team was, it was decided Friday evening that we would just count on them not making it too far and we would spend the rest of the time in Heidelberg.

We hit the road Saturday morning; the five of us in The Camery, what a sight. We arrived about an hour earlier than needed so we piddled around on base before making it to what we thought was the field for the tourney. Wrong. They boys walk up with their cleats on and bat bags in hand only to see we were at an ALL GIRLS tourney....oops. We finally found our way to the right place; however, after the first game I was beginning to think maybe they should have stayed at the girls field (did I really say that out loud?). One game down, one to go. We enjoyed some Texas Barbecue in between games then made our way over to a Mann Mobilia to kill some time. I'd never even heard of this store, it's basically an IKEA type place but on steroids. Pretty amazing. The team played better the second game and I was worried that "The Plan" was going to fall through and they'd have to come back on Sunday. But a few bad plays and we were home free. And thanks to the GPS, we were in Heidelberg in 20 minutes.


We enjoyed a fabulous German dinner in a beautiful biergarten followed by a night cap at the Dubliner Irish Pub. The nightlife in Heidelberg is nothing like what I expected....actually, I didn't expect there to even be a nightlife. Such a gorgeous, historical city - who would have thought the streets would be packed at midnight? Not me. I was kicking myself for not bringing my camera because the view of the castle at night was phenomenal! Oh well, next time.

We were up bright and early on Sunday so we could enjoy our German breakfast at the hotel. Quick recap - German breakfast means mostly meats and cheeses. Don't know that I'll bring that custom back to Texas with me. Fortunately, they also had Frosted Flakes and toast.

We hopped on a trolley (or tram, depending on who you talk to) and made our way to the center of town. Good thing we wore comfortable shoes - from there hiked, not walked, hiked up the hill to the castle. The homes on the way up the hill are like nothing I've ever seen before. Stunning!By the time we made it to the top it looked as if we'd just ran 5 miles....but it was beyond worth it! The castle overlooks the city (like most castles do) and the view was just breathtaking.

One thing you might notice in some of the pictures is all of the graffiti. I find it so odd that someone would have the audactity to use a Sharpie or even a knife to carve their initials or some stupid comment into the walls of a castle (or anything, for that matter). Grrrrr, I could just smack them upside the head.

We spent the rest of the afternoon milling around town and window shopping. I truly enjoyed Heidelberg and I can't wait to go back. It's my favorite place we've been so far! For those of you coming to visit, this will definitely be a place we'll want to check out.

Stay tuned for next weeks post...Brad and I will be off on another adventure!

Stella's First Day At School

On my way to school

Little Miss Stella is growing up and enjoyed her first day at puppy school on Sunday. It was less about "school" and more about learning to play with other puppies but she had a great time. We had been told that this was the perfect place to take your puppy to get them socialized and that the owner spoke English. Only half of that was correct. During the instruction portion of the class, Brad and I just stood there staring at each other because it was NOT in English. Not a single word. Fortunately, one of the other puppy owners filled us in on most of it. Guess we have even more motivation to learn German.

Making friends

Hide and Seek

Stella was pretty fiesty but there were a few pups that had no problem putting her in her place. She made friends with a Golden Retriever and a Weimeraner/Rhodesian Ridgeback mix. Absolutely adorable!

But after an hour of playing hard, we had one tired puppy on our hands.

We can't wait to go back!

Memorial Day and The ErdbeerFest

Things are coming along nicely in the Bingham household and our place is starting to feel more like a home. It's amazing what a few pictures and some curtains will do to a place. The last big project to tackle is organizing the obscene amount of clothing and shoes between the two of us. Oh, by the way, we don't technically have closets. They put some wardrobe units in our second "bedroom" and it's taking some serious organizational skills to make it work. But if anyone knows how to organize a closet, it's me.

On to things more exciting - we had a big barbecue with all of the neighbors for Memorial Day. Sure, we're one of three families out of about twenty that doesn't have kids, it was still a lot of fun. And as far as I'm concerned, Stella is our kid. We kicked the rugrats off of the ping pong table and had a tournament that Brad, of course, won. HOWEVER, let the record show that he was almost beat...by me! That's right, I came the closest I ever have in over 4 years to beating Brad, the Ping Pong Champ. Unfortunately, I lost 26 - 24.

Tired puppy...if Dad goes anywhere, she's going to know about it.

In addition to Memorial Day, it was also the Erdbeer Festival in Mainz. Erdbeer, is that a tasty beverage, you might ask. Not quite, erdbeer means strawberry and with strawberry fields all over this city, it's kind of a big deal. Carnival rides, games, and a lot of specialty vendors. Great cheeses, sausages, wines, and of course strawberries. We took home some fancy olives, capers, and couple different types of sausages. Delicious! And last but not least, a crepe filled with Nutella and topped off with Grand Marnier. One word - sinful.

In other exciting news, Brad bought himself a car. Who would have thought he'd already own a BMW? Don't get too excited. It's what people around here call a beater beamer. It's sole purpose is to get Brad to and from work and that's what it does. No frills, no bells and whistles but it's just what he needed.

Haha! Just kidding! This is Steve's car...the one the movers dropped the dolly on.

Here she is with her proud new owner

As for me, I've started cooking more and trying different things. I enjoy it a lot and I haven't had any complaints from Brad either. I've become a FoodNetwork.com junkie and unpacking all of my old cookbooks was like Christmas all over again. So if you have a good recipe you think we'd like, send it my way.

Panko Crusted Salmon with an Alfredo Risotto and Sauteed Brussel Sprouts...tasty!

Last but not least, my beautiful mother is getting married in 5 short weeks! I am so excited to see her and my family, I can hardly stand it! In the meantime, Brad and I have some serious work to do before we're beach ready. (It's about time we cut back on the schnitzel anyway and Stella is old enough to take running now so we have no excuses.) It's going to be an amazing week and I'm counting down the days. I miss you, Mom.

Officially Moving In

** Warning ** I am about to go off for just a minute so please bear with me.

Where to start? As many of you know, we've been anxiously awaiting the arrival of our car and, well, basically everything we own - furniture, tv, the rest of our clothing, decorations, etc. We had been told that our "household goods" would not arrive until May 28th and while that was WEEKS longer than we expected, at least we were prepared for that. However, we had also been told that the car would be here 2 weeks ago....and for 2 weeks it was always "it'll be here the next day or the day after that." It was torture knowing that my car was only a couple hours away but because some yahoo didn't fill out the proper paperwork, the car just sat there and sat there and sat there. THEN on Friday the car finally arrives, Brad goes to pick it up but they won't issue the license plates...again, thanks to the proper paperwork not being sent. Something about my name being on the title and Brad's was not, blah, blah, blah - how on earth did they think we got the car out of the US? Did they think my husband stole the car from his wife or something? Absolutely not, all of that paperwork had been taken care of prior to leaving Dallas so what's the hold up folks? Grrrr. At least we had the car.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the only hiccup on Friday. We have been using rental furniture that Army Housing provided until our furniture arrived. Silver lining to the story - our furniture shipment came in earlier than expected and was scheduled to be delivered on Saturday. So, Brad called the housing office to schedule the pick up of our rental furniture. What do you know, they don't answer any of their phone numbers....FOR TWO DAYS! Which meant the movers would be moving in all of our stuff around all the furniture that was already here. Wonderful. But there was nothing we could do about it but get a good nights sleep as the movers were to arrive at 8:00 am.

Stella woke us up bright and early at 6:00 am and we got started moving the rental furniture as out of the way as we could. The hours ticked by and when the movers were still not here by 9:00 am, we knew this was a bad sign. The only number we had for the company was sitting on Brad's desk at work, so off he went. Called and called with no answer. Ahhhhh! Fortunately, they just had trouble finding the place seeing as how the housing office sent them to the wrong city. One of the movers came in to let me know they were here and were going to start unloading boxes. About 2 minutes later he comes back in and asks if I know who drives that BMW outside. "Ummmm, yeah, that would be my neighbor, Steve's car. Why?" And as nonchalantly as possible said "I scratched it." Just like that. You picked the nicest car in our little parking lot to scratch (with the exception of my rockin' Audi but Brad was still gone so it didn't count). Well we sure were off to a good start. Time to go tell Steve his BMW now has a scratch on it (which I had yet to see). We go out to see the damage....a scratch??!!! He dropped a flippin' dolly on it! Opened up the truck and the dolly fell out onto Steve's car!!! At this point I can only imagine what is going to happen to our furniture.

But the move went fine and as far as we know nothing is broken. I know it's strange but I honestly don't mind the unpacking. We have about a million boxes and it's a daunting task but I just don't dread it the way I normally would. Brad has been amazing and helped so much! We tackled the kitchen together and got most of it knocked out in one afternoon. The kitchen is what normally takes the longest and I can already check that off my list. The clothing situation is going to take some work though. The amount of clothes (and shoes) between the two of us is a little ridiculous...but not as ridiculous as the amount of "closet" space we have. Wish me luck.

Brad took the day off Monday to get everything squared away with the car. More and more paperwork but we received the license plates so we're official now!! All we needed after that was our gas card. As an American, we can buy gas on base for whatever the average cost is in the US or at certain German gas stations if we have this card. Otherwise, we'd pay about $6 a gallon! So we drive to the next place for our card...low and behold, they tell us Brad is not in the system. All we can do at this point is laugh. Nothing, and I mean nothing, can go right when it comes to this stuff. We took a break for lunch and by the time we finished they resolved the issue with the system and we were on our way. Whew! What a crazy few days!

Things are definitely looking up though. Our apartment is starting to feel more like a home and I'm really looking forward to decorating it. We are finally able to have Tommy and Melissa over after the million times they've had us over. We no longer have to rely on everyone else for a ride when we need to go somewhere (it will be nice when we have two cars though). And the weather has just been beautiful!

Fintherlandstrasse (it's a mouthful, I know) This is the name of our neighborhood

Home Sweet Home

The Neighborhood - A view of the park

Our "Private" Backyard - we're really lucky, our yard is tucked away from everything since we're on a corner.

I think I hear boxes calling my name so I'm off to do some more unpacking. But stay tuned as we're hoping to have a fun adventure this weekend! I hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day!!

Taking a Walk With Stella

Well, the car has yet to arrive but instead of staying cooped up all day, Stella and I (and in the evenings Brad, too) have enjoyed getting out and exploring. Just outside of our neighborhood is an area filled with walking trails, gardens, beautiful fields, an orchard, and a creek. We love it so I thought I'd share...

A flower (actually it's a weed) from Dad

Playing in the fields

She loves the creek!

She gets excited on the trip home and walks herself..leash in mouth.

Our backyard

Tired puppy at the end of a walk