hello. this is richard koch.

Hello this is Richard Koch in Germany.

Watching AFN News, it seems Germany is the coldest place the US military has personnel on the entire planet.  It didn't stop me and Ole Jules from trekkin' around Wiesbaden for 6-7 hours in the snow.  There are still a few more areas of town we want to check out soon.  After that, Mainz or Frankfurt.

Winter in Wiesbaden

This week, however, we may have a housing assignment.  I will find out tomorrow where our first option is.  We both are hoping for a place on the main base.  After tomorrow we both have to concentrate on our birthdays.  Turning 29 again?  Apparently...

Housing we are hoping for

do you want to build a snowman?

I don't remember exactly what it was he said, but I woke up this morning to Rich looking out the window of our room and saying something along the lines of, "Oh my goodness..."

About two seconds later, I was standing beside him saying something very similar.  He'd told me yesterday that the forecast for today was calling for snow, so thankfully we'd gone down to the PX and I got an early birthday present.  And looking out our window, I couldn't be happier that Rich had insisted that I get some snow boots!

My new snow boots!

We got dressed and went with Gerald to look at an apartment that he's considering.  I was so giddy about the snow that I took a couple of pics with my phone while we were waiting for the real estate agent to show.

How cute are these?!

After we looked at the apartment, we went back to the PX and had lunch, then bought an umbrella.  We'd planned a bit ahead when we'd left the Lodge this morning, so I had my camera with me and we left from lunch to walk downtown and check out the white wonderland!

A couple of things about taking photos with a DSLR when it's still snowing.  First, snow is wet and small and melts into crevices where it shouldn't go (i.e., camera parts).  Second, a plastic shopping bag used for protection of said DSLR only works for so long (i.e., until said bag is soaking wet and the water just spills into aforementioned camera parts).  Third, a backpack-style camera bag is ideal for people like me who like to photograph while exploring outdoors and change lenses at a moment's notice...however, camera bags that aren't water resistant can only keep water away for so long.  Rest assured, my camera is just fine and no accidents were had.  But I worried over these things the entire time we were out walking.  I still took as many photos as I could, while Rich so kindly held the new umbrella over me and the camera.  

Note:  The search for a water resistant backpack-style camera bag will commence soon.

Since both times we've ventured downtown before today have been in the immediate direction of the Marktkirche, Rich had planned a different route for this adventure.  I took a few photos as we made our way.

I meant it when I said I wouldn't tire of iron fences.  This time with snow!

Oh, these trees.  They're just so interesting to me.

We made our first stop of the day with a view of St. Bonifatius, which is the central Catholic church in Wiesbaden.  The main part of the church was built between 1844 and 1849, then the towers were completed in 1864.  The roof, windows, and vault were damaged by an air raid in 1945 but were quickly repaired.  This place is gorgeous.

The brick exterior of  St. Bonifatius is a vibrant red, but the brightness is diminished by all the snow falling between me and the church!

Some seriously intricate architecture.

Next, we walked in the general direction of the Marktplatz but again, Rich had planned this route very carefully.  Next stop?  A store called The Depot.  I'm in love.  Imagine that Ikea's very petite and cute niece had a baby with the distressed vintage section at Hobby Lobby (you know the section with the wire baskets, wooden signs, and burlap?).  This baby would be named the The Depot.  We browsed for a while, then continued on.

And that's when Rich pointed to a certain store sign and just like that, my heart skipped a beat and I thought for a second that I might trip over my own boots trying to get to the door.  Rich had stumbled across Idee der Creativmarkt's website while he was researching the Wiesbaden area, but now here I was on the outside looking in at all the happiness.  Holy crafts, Martha Stewart.  This place is an arts and crafts store, much smaller than Hobby Lobby but let's face it, when a girl like me who visited HL on a nearly weekly basis for years, then moves to Europe, she starts to have withdrawals.  We went in--I went to heaven, and Rich faithfully followed.  God love that man.

That is one serious cheesy grin on my face.

The truth behind this pic:  I'd looked at all the yarn and fabric and pretty markers on the first floor, not knowing that there was a second floor.  Rich asked if I wanted to go upstairs, and when I saw this escalator he was pointing at I didn't speak.  I just got on it.  And at the moment that he snapped this, you know what I could see?  PAPER.  And anyone who knows me knows that this girl had just ascended to a worldly heaven.

At this point, it was time for us to find a place to potty.  Public restrooms in Germany are not as easily found as in the U.S.  We tried the Visitor's Center where we've used the facilities before, but they'd literally closed just a couple of minutes before we reached it.  We ended up going back to The Depot and asking an employee.  She directed us to the coffee shop next door and we were successful in our mission.  On our way out, we bought a bottle of water (I accidentally grabbed the kind with gas, but I'm afraid that I'm starting to kinda like it) and two chocolate chip croissants.  Pastry heaven, let me tell you.

Our direction of travel led us, as always, through the Marktplatz and past the snow-covered Marktkirche and its surroundings:

I can't decide if I prefer this color version or the following b&w one.  For some reason, I love b&w snow photos.  

The man who holds my hand, my heart, and my umbrella.

Wonder what she's looking at up there?

We pressed on, zigzagging through some pedestrian-only streets.  So many bakeries, so many cool shops, so many cozy restaurants, so many bookstores, and so many expensive-looking hair salons.  I recognized one of the shops, Butlers, from a Youtube video we'd watched that an American military couple had posted showing their favorite spots in town.  Of course we went in to have a look.  They had mostly kitchenware and seasonal decor, but walking space was sparse so neither of us wanted to stay long.

Our next stop was the Kochbrunnenplatz.  And now, I'll take a minute to explain some German terminology.  Our last name is Koch, which is a German name that literally means "cook" or "chef".  We pronounce Koch like Cook, but the Germans pronounce it like Ko-, and then make a sound that sounds kinda like you have something in your throat you need to hack up.  Gross, I know, but you get the picture right?  Brunnen is a well or spring.  And platz means place.  (Remember the Marktplatz?  Literally means market place!)  So, the Kochbrunnenplatz is the place of a spring of boiling, or cooking, water.  

Rich was especially excited to visit this hot spring, since it bears his family name.  I took a few photos here and loved seeing him so happy!

Mr. Koch testing the 151 degree Fahrenheit spring.

There was one last place that Rich had mapped out for our adventure, which is really two places in one:  Wiesbaden Casino and the Kurhaus.

The casino was started in 1771 with public card games, then roulette was added a few years later.  Some famous people gambled here, too.  Fyodor Dostoyevsky, who wrote Crime and Punishment, gambled here, as did Richard Wagner and Elvis Presley.  The casino was closed in 1872 when gambling became illegal.  Meanwhile, Wiesbaden was becoming more popular as a spa city and was attracting people from far and wide to bathe in the hot springs that the ancient Romans first discovered.  To accomodate the masses, the Kurhaus ("cure house") was completed in 1907 as a spa house.  When gambling became legal again in 1949, the casino reopened in part of the Kurhaus.  Today, Kurhaus serves as Wiesbaden's convention center and concert venue.

Kurpark, the outdoor grounds of Kurhaus, was a beautiful white sight to behold as we circled.  By this time, there wasn't enough daylight left for me to get more than one good photo and my phone had already died.  Thankfully, Rich had his brand spankin' new phone and he takes great pics.  I can't wait to see what Spring brings here!

Streetlights are coming on!

Kurpark circles around and nearly joins Warmer Damm, my favorite park in Wiesbaden!  Darkness was settling in and it was time to head back to the Lodge.  Once we got back, it took us both a while to warm up after being out in the cold for so long!  I also emptied out my soaked camera bag and hung it to dry.  But I'm not sorry.  It was breathtaking.

Thank you for reading and spending some time with us today.  Be sure to visit again tomorrow as there will be a special writing appearance by someone other than me!

wiesbaden Christmas market, take two

This past Tuesday, December 23rd, Rich came home from work and asked me if I wanted to walk back downtown for the last night of the Christmas Market.  

I said no.  I hate Christmas Markets.

If you believed that last sentence, please go splash your face with water!  

Of course I wanted to go!  It turns out that Gerald, our friend that's staying here in the lodge, hadn't been and wanted to check it out.  And it's a good thing he didn't wait another day because that night was the last chance until next year.  Phew!

We got bundled up again, of course I grabbed my camera, and we started the walk toward the festival of German goodness.  At this point, we still had a couple hours of daylight left and I was really excited about this since it meant more photo ops.

Rich wanted to show Gerald the side street we'd walked down two nights before. Remember the photos of the beautiful homes and fences from my last post?  He wanted to share our discovery and I wasn't complaining.  

All those intricate spires I talked about?  Here are some more:

The thing is, these houses don't look like they only belong to super wealthy aristocrats.  And these houses aren't just found in one area of town.  This is the norm as you get closer to downtown.  

Oh, and those amazing ironwork beauties that I also talked about in my last post?  Of course I found more, since they're everywhere:

This aged railing is in Warmer Damm Park.  It looks like it's been well-used over the years.

By this time, we'd made our way back into Warmer Damm Park.  Rich told someone the other day that if I ever go missing, he's going to look for me in this park first.  And it's probably where he'd find me!  You know how you just feel at home in certain places, even though it's completely foreign to you?  Thus far, this park is my happy place.  

Rich snapping some pics of Wilhelmstrasse.

View of Wilhelmstrasse across Warmer Damm and its ducks.

This puppy was so excited about the ducks!  He would bark at them, then run in a circle around his humans and come back to bark some more.

Villa Clementine in all its glory across the pond.

Statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I in Warmer Damm Park.

One of the statues that adorn the top of the State Theatre in the distance.

I wanted to stay in the park a while longer, but I also couldn't wait to get back to the Christmas Market.  I snapped a few more photos as we made our way over to the Marktplatz.

The walking path that runs along Wilhelmstrasse is lined with these interesting trees.  I can't wait to see how they bloom in the Spring!

One of the Marktkirche's towers through a Wilhelmstrasse alleyway.

As we joined in with the other Christmas Market visitors, Rich and I both noticed that the crowd was noticeably thinner than two nights earlier when we'd gone for the first time.  I was enjoying this much more, as we weren't having to fight through the people or struggle to look at the vendor booths.

See all that bread on the back wall?  My taste buds were screaming but I resisted!

We did not, however, resist these German chocolates.  We purchased 100 grams of candy for around 3 euros.  They.  Were.  Delicious.

We didn't buy any of these dishes this year, but we agreed that we'd definitely look for this booth over the next couple years and stock up on a few pieces.

Lines of vendor booths with New City Hall in the distance.

The sun had now started to fade and more people were showing up to enjoy the last night of the Market.  The three of us were starting to get hungry, but Rich remembered that the World's Largest Cuckoo Clock was just around the corner.  Of course, we had to go check it out!

The clock was built in 1946 on the outer facade of a souvenir shop.  In the 1950s, it was officially named as the world's largest cuckoo clock.  It strikes every half hour from 8am to 8pm, and the face is a window of the still-existing souvenir shop.

When the clock struck 5:30, the red door at the top left opened and the wooden dolls inside danced as music played.  Pretty awesome!

We went inside the souvenir shop and realized that we'd found the jackpot of all German keepsakes.  Cuckoo clocks, beer steins, magnets, Christmas ornaments, nutcrackers, smokers, tea sets, and Christmas pyramids...they had everything.  And the best part?  They have everything year-round!  One of the employees was American, and she explained the differences between all of the cuckoo clocks.  A German gentleman, who may have been the owner, was very friendly with us and joked with Rich before we left.  We only bought a magnet this visit, but we'll definitely visit this shop again when we have more euros on us and don't have to walk so far in the cold.

Making one last pass through the Market, I took a few more photos of the Marktkirche and its surroundings:

The giant nativity-themed Christmas pyramid that topped a vendor booth.  Each level rotated.

Okay, now we were seriously hungry and ready to head toward the restaurant that had been recommended to us by one of Rich's co-workers.  It was conveniently located on our walk back to the Lodge.

The restaurant is called Die Hütte and was originally built over 150 years ago.  It originally served as a picnic area for residents as they traveled to Frankfurt.  However, World War II happened...the restaurant was bombed in 1945 and burned down to its foundation.  It was rebuilt and renovated several times over the years.  It reopened again in 2011 as Die Hütte, and is a very cozy and cool place to eat.  

Rich and I both had schweineschnitzel, a fried pork filet, with rosemary potatoes.  I had my schweineschnitzel topped with cream gravy and mushrooms, and Rich chose the cream gravy without mushrooms.  Ummmmmm, I can't even put into words how delicious our dinner was.  I was trying to keep quiet so as to not sound like an Herbal Essences commercial.  Yeah, it was that good.  

Rich also enjoyed his first German beer since we arrived in country, a Paulaner Hefeweizen from Hell.  It was really named this.  Of course I had to taste it, and I was an immediate fan.  I just wanted a Pepsi Cola Light (my first Pepsi product in Europe!), which brings me to something else I'd like to share.

Rich's Paulaner Hefeweizen from Hell.

My schweineschnitzel with mushroom cream gravy and rosemary potatoes.  Absolutely perfect.

After we arrived in Wiesbaden, the first fountain Diet Coke I had was at the PX Food Court.  It foamed a lot more than what I'm used to, and I found that odd.  It also tasted very different.  It didn't taste bad, just different.  I thought it must just be that particular fountain machine.  You know how you just don't like the taste of certain fountain drinks?  For example, I have never liked the taste of fountain drinks from Taco Bell back in the States.  But I digress.  The next fountain Diet Coke I had was at the movie theatre on base, and the same thing happened:  a lot of foam and a different taste.  That's when I realized that it's not Diet Coke at all.  It's Coca Cola Light, and it has a different formula than what I've been used to.  I'm not sure about the specifics yet, but I remember seeing this at the World of Coke in Atlanta a few years ago.  Either way, I'm proud to report that I've been drinking a lot more water since we've been here.  It helps that we can have as much water (without gas) as we wish downstairs in the Lodge's lobby.

Once we finished our wonderful dinner, we finished the walk up the hill to the Lodge.  We'd enjoyed another great night out in Wiesbaden.  And I'm still completely amazed that we live here.