Saturday, October 23, 2010

The Parents Visit Schweinfurt!


Should you trust a hospital with this in front?

So my parents came to visit me (and to see some more Europe) the first 10 days in October.  I was excited to show them Schweinfurt and some of Bavaria.  After following my careful directions on taking the train they arrived in Schweinfurt on a Saturday afternoon.  I took Dad for a walk around Schweinfurt and he really seemed to like the town.  We then all went out to the Brauhaus for a traditional German dinner of Schnitzel, pommes frites, and bier (basically fried pork, french fries, and beer).  The next 24 hours became a little bit dramatic with mom taking a trip to the German hospital and having a little surgery...but no worries, everyone was fine and 24 hours later we were all sitting outside in the main square of Schweinfurt having a nice dinner together!


Main square in Schweinfut.  Brauhaus on back right.

Rathaus (town hall) in Bamberg.


On Monday I took them by the clinic, showed them around the post (including my hovel of a barracks room I currently call home).  We then took a 30 minutes train to Bamberg.  It was a gorgeous day and Bamberg is a really cute town!  With the drama of the weekend, I didn't have a chance to do much research in preparing for the Bamberg trip.  Luckily it is a really cute town so we were able to fill a half a day eating lunch and just exploring.  Mom was a trooper, though I think we wore her out a bit! 

That night, after getting back to Schweinfurt, Emily joined us and we tried out an Italian restaurant for dinner.  Also had delicious food!  The next day the parents left Schweinfurt and headed down to Munich/Salzburg.  I'll later blog on my next weekend with the parents when we went to Switzerland!
Dad and I in Bamberg on his birthday!

River in Bamberg

Parents exploring the rose garden in Bamberg

Old roof in Bamberg

Old church in Bamberg

Friday, October 22, 2010

Stockholm Weekend!

So because the French are lazy and it would be way to difficult to work 35 hour work weeks until age 62 they are striking, rioting, and running out of gas.  Which makes trains and all other public transportation impossible to predict.  Meaning we had to cancel our 3 day weekend trip to Paris!  Boooo!  I never liked the French anyway!  Maybe we should have let the Germans take over afterall, they probably would have been a much more productive society, just kidding!!!

Anyway, so I think I'm going to hang out in Schweinfurt this weekend and catch up on sleep and my ridiculously stupid/pointless project my preceptor doctor is making us do.  I've already done my Grand Rounds presentation, why do I have to do another one just so you can prove to the other Army doctors that your externs do work??  Seriously, it's pointless and not required by my school or any other externship sites by my school.  I'm not a fan!  Anyway, off the soap box....  (P.S. I don't care if he reads this, but we aren't friends, so he won't.).

So since I'm not galavanting around Europe I have some time to blog. 

I'm going to go backwards in time from my most recent trip.  So last weekend I went to Stockholm, Sweden to visit the 3 other UHCO girls who are doing their externship up there.  It was such a great weekend!

UHCO girls in Stockholm!!!
I flew in Friday evening, and Michelle and her boyfriend Phillip were nice enough to meet me at the airport and take me into the city.  We got all situated and headed out to a bar to meet Leigha, Carla, and Chad (all people I knew in Houston).  Fun night at the bar hanging out with some people from home! 

Michelle was nice enough to be my hostess/tour guide for the whole weekend!  Everyone was also really great with meeting up and hanging out with me too!!!

Big fish at the market!


We got up late Saturday morning and headed out to a local indoor market for what they told me were the best Swedish meatballs and lindenberry (maybe that's the wrong name) sauce!  It's one place that only makes them on Saturdays.  They were not lying!  That may have been the best lunch I've had in Europe!!! Delicious!  The market was also pretty cool, saw lots of freshley killed game and of course GIANT fresh fish!


Really cool market!  I always love a market!

It was a beautiful day...brisk (about 38-40 degrees)...but clear blue sky!  So we proceded to walk around the old town and around the water front.  Since Stockholm is something like 13 islands, there is a lot of water, and boats!  It was a great day for walking, so we did A LOT of it!  After a little coffee break (the Swedes like those), Michelle and I did a boat tour around the city.  This was a really cool way to see Stockholm, and I'm really greatful she did it with me!!!

Leigha and I outside the palace!


Michelle and I on the boat tour!




Sign with my name on it!!!

That night the whole group (Me, Michelle, Phillip, Leigha, Carla, and Chad) went out to dinner at a really good Italian restaurant!  Once again, had another wonderful meal in Stockholm!  I was not disappointed with the food at this place! 
The whole crew at dinner Saturday night!

After dinner we went to Phillip's apartment where he ordered ESPN so we could watch American football!  Michelle is from Nebraska, and since Nebraska was playing Texas, we had to watch it!  It was really great just to relax and be normal watching American football (even though it was at a German's apartment in Stockholm Sweden, it felt very American!).  If you notice I now refer to it as "American football", because here if you just say "football" they will of course think soccer, since that is everyone's obsession!
Vasa Ship




Michelle firing the canon!
On Sunday morning, Michelle, Phillip and I went to the Vasa Museum.  The Vasa was a big warship built in the 1600s which capsized and sank 20 minutes into it's maiden voyage in the waters around Stockholm.  It apparently was forgotten about until the 1960s when they found it again and pulled it up in 1 piece (engineering marvel!).  Since the Baltic sea has a lower salt content than other oceans and is cooler, the bugs that normally eat the wood don't live their, so the ship was amazingly preserved.  They built an entire museum around it, which was actually quite cool!  I wasn't sure how interesting it would be, but it really really was!!!


View from boat!


At Noon outside the market!  Noon!  Notice where the sun!

After the museum it was time for me to head back to the airport to catch my flight to Frankfurt to go home.  Stockholm was an amazing city!  Very clean and beautiful.  I mean, they're as socialist as they come, but for a weekend, it was a wonderful place to visit!!!  My friends, especially Michelle and Phillip, went above and beyond showing me around the city, and I know they are all what made it a great weekend!!!



Thursday, October 21, 2010

Current Status!

So I keep talking about previous travels, because let's face it, that's the best and most interesting part of this trip.  But I have been working a lot lately, really hard in fact! 

Germany is great!  If I spoke the language more, I could almost live here.  Everyone has been very nice and the culture is not that different from U.S. culture.

The Army is not as great, but it doesn't bother me as much.  I mean, everyone tells me the Air Force will be way better, so they better not be lying!  Emily and I actually did PT with the medical unit the other morning (at 6:00am! and raining!).  We survived!!!  Though I have to say I was giggling like a school girl for the first half mile at the little chants they do while running, I couldn't take it seriously!  Haha!

The only problems are no car, so I have to take the bus, walk, or cab, which gets annoying when you live on the far side of the base.  This makes things like even grocery shopping difficult, so I find that annoying.  It is not completely unheard of for Emily and I to have Doritos and Dr. Pepper from the vending machine for dinner...okay, so it's only happened once or twice, but it was cold and rainy and we had no more food in our room!  We try to eat vegetables at the Dining Facility (DFAC) on post almost daily!

It's getting cold and dark!  Though it has been a really pretty fall here, signs of winter coming are starting to become apparent as we walk from the bus stop to work in the dark every morning!  It snowed about 45 minutes from here today and it's only mid-October!  eeek!

We were suppose to go to Paris this weekend, we were gonna get a 3 day too!  But the lazy French think it is way too difficult to work 35 hour work weeks until age 62, so they are rioting and striking.  This doesn't scare me, but the fact the public transportation isn't running as much and 1/3 of long distance trains are being cancelled, we didn't want to take the risk of getting stuck and having a bad time.  Hopefully we'll get there in a few weeks! So I should have time to catch up on blogging this weekend!!!

Adventure on a sleeper train!

So after waiting around Florence for like 5 hours (gross from a day of bike riding) it was time to catch our sleeper train to Munich.  It was suppose to be from 10pm-6:30am. 

It was the first sleeper train for both of us so we weren't quite sure what to expect, but we figured we're together, so it'll be fine!  The train was a little late, so there was some chaos getting on and finding out compartment, but we did.  Each compartment has 6 beds (3 bunked on each side).  Emily and I were on very top bunk across from each other.  On bottom bunk was a mother and her young son, and nobody was in the middle bunk.  So we definately lucked out on train roomies!!!  I think they were also happy to see two traveling girls and not creepers! 

At first we thought we got ripped by having top bunk, but soon realized it was the best because there is a large area to store all of your stuff (and I had accumulated A LOT by this point), and nobody could bother you since you were so high up.  There was a lock on the door so others couldn't get in, so I felt good about sleeping! 

When we first got on it was like pressure cooker hot!  I mean REALLY distgustingly hot!  Then through the night as we went through the mountains it got cooler then colder.  Luckily they have clean blankets and stuff!  I have to say I got an AWESOME night's sleep on that thing because it rocked me to sleep like a baby!  When we arrived in Munich at 6:30 am I didn't want to wake up and get off!  Overall good sleeper train experience!!!!

We caught a train to Schweinfurt and were back in our barracks beds by 10:30 am, which were soooo comfortable after 9 days of travel!!!
Emily not sure what we've gotten ourselves into right after getting on train.

It was really hot and I wasn't sure what was going on still.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Under The Tuscan Sun

So I'm about 5 weeks behind on this whole blogging thing.  Obviously something that is not one of my strenths!  I've been so busy with work, projects, and traveling I hardly have a free moment when I dont want to pass out!  So here's what I'm going to do...I'm gonna finish talking about the Italy trip, then I'm going to go backwards in time starting with my most recent trip.

The pics from the Cinque Terre hike don't do it justice!  The hike was grueling!  Lots of stairs, rocky ledges, bridges, and more stairs!  We could have taken a train between some of the town, but since Sarah did it 3 years ago I felt some pride and couldn't wimp out!  We finished, though we were so tired and gross we wondered if it was the right decision at the time.  Now looking back on it we are so happy we powered through and did it!  Definately something to check off the "life goals list" and never have to do again!

The next day, after the hike, we left Cinque Terre and headed back to Florence in the very early morning hours.  Since the Tuscany bike tour we had planned a few days prior had been cancelled due to rain, this was the only day we could do it. 

We started by taking a van ride out into the country side.  We toured a castle with a vinyard where they still make wine and olive oil.  Of course there was a tasting!  Then we got fitted on our bikes and it was off into the Tuscan countryside!  We rode on the street, and luckily Italian drivers (though they drive fast and crazy) really do respect bikers on the road.  The first time a car comes flying past you is a little unnerving, but you get use to it.  Going up hill was really difficult for me, because I'm weak, but soaring down hill with the wind blowing looking out over the vinyards and sunflower fields was amazing!  We spent an entire day riding around and stopping to eat!  It was fabulous!

After the bike tour we headed back to Florence, it was about 5pm.  Emily and I had reservations on an overnight train from Florence to Munich at like 10pm that night.  Now we know riding all day on a bike and getting on an overnight train may not sound like the best idea, since we didn't have a place to get cleaned up.  So we did as the Europeans do...go smelly!  Haha!  Ok, I'm only kinda kidding, we tried to clean up in a restroom sink, but we were still pretty gross.  We spent a lot of time that evening sitting on the steps of the Duomo looking pretty rough, I'm pretty sure some people though we were like homeless college students or something.
Wine Cellar at the Castle

Looking out on beautiful tuscany!



Wine tasting!


We're pretty much becoming professional bike riders by now!

Grapes!

Ok, so if you've read Twilight, you will understand why I was excited to see this sign!  Volterra does exist!

After a long day of bike riding it was time to enjoy one last Italian pizza!

Friday, October 1, 2010

Most Amazing Views EVER!!

Pics from my Cinque Terre hike!  The hike may have taken 7 hours and been totally brutal, but at least we were rewarded with these views!  I would also like to point out that these pictures do not do the hike's difficulty justice!  Obviously, I could not take pictures or hold a camera when I was using my hands to climb up rocky stairs or keep my balance when on a cliff with a very little edge!  But is was so INCREDIBLE!
Waking up in Monterosso, looking toward where we will start the hike.

Riomaggiori, southern most town of Cinque Terre.

Riomaggiori

Starting the hike going north toward Monterosso, the easy part.
Love locks.

Vernazza, 2nd town.

Emily admiring beautiful Vernazza.

Turquoise waters!

The sun was intense!

Corniglia, 3rd town.


Approaching Manarola, 4th town.
Manarola, 4th town.

That's Monterosso in the distance, final destination and where we're staying!
Manarola.  Love the colors in this pic!

We made it back to Monterosso!!!!  Looking back where we hiked, almost that entire strip of land!!!