You, Me, and Germany: what's new with us + a day trip!

Hello everyone! It's been a while since I've blogged and I've had a lot of people (including my dear husband) ask me WHY! The biggest reason is that we don't yet have internet in our home. We'll be working on that soon!

I actually started this post two weeks ago while I was in Germany, and currently I am sitting in an adorable coffee shop on the court square in my hometown of Newnan, Georgia. (More on that later.) I decided to take a little bit of time to come uptown, enjoy a cup of something warm, and get this thing posted so I can start working on the next one! And let me tell you, the next one will be GOOD!

Yum times a million.

Since our last post, we've moved into base housing! We have our own place now!

The positives:
- It's ours.
- We now live in multiple rooms again, instead of a single hotel room. Woohoo!
- We have a kitchen where we can finally cook again. I've made Rich one of his favorites already...chili. He will never complain about chili. Like, ever.

The not-so-positives:
- It's smaller than we're used to. BUT, again, it's ours. And I'm determined to make it work, come hell or high water!
- Our upstairs neighbors? Whoa. They're loud. Hardwood floors + loud stompers + a small child who apparently has no bedtime and runs a lot + an attitude of absolute anger and repulsiveness in response to our polite requests to be a little quieter = a very long road ahead. And nope, we can't ask to be moved. It doesn't work that way.
- We have a one-sided sink and no garbage disposal. I realize now how much I took ours for granted in Texas!

We've borrowed necessary furniture, pots, pans, dishes, and utensils from the military until our household goods arrive. We're very thankful for this help, but since none of it is ours it just doesn't feel quite like it's our home yet. Know what I mean? Once we get our own stuff I think we'll just feel so relieved and finally settle in a little more. In the meantime we've purchased a few things to hold us over until our household goods arrive, like bath mats, dish towels, things like that.

One big difference about living in Germany is that we have to recycle everything. This means multiple trash bins for different materials and special yellow bags to be used for plastics. It has taken some getting used to, but Germany is a very eco-conscious country so we're happy to oblige. Not that we have a choice, haha!

A few weekends ago, Rich, Gerald, and I drove down to Ramstein AFB to check out the world's largest BX/PX and to visit our friend Andrea! She and Rich were stationed together at Fort Hood, and she and I became fast friends. Shortly after I met her, she had her beautiful son Jayden and I was smitten with that tiny little boy from the first time I held him. When she got orders for Germany in 2012, my heart was so heavy. That was my first time saying "see ya later" to someone who'd become Air-Force-family to me. And now, we're in the same country and only an hour apart!

Last weekend during our visit, Jayden was celebrating his third birthday and speaking in complete sentences! He's grown up so fast! I felt so honored when Andrea asked me to mark his annual height on the chart I helped make for him. I only painted on the tick marks and numbers, and our friend David did the pretty woodwork! You see, I marked his height on his first birthday, so it meant a lot to me that she wanted me to do it again.

Then, Andrea drove up to Wiesbaden the following weekend to see our new house and spend some time with us! She had planned a little day trip for us, so Gerald came over and the four of us headed to Rüdesheim!

Rüdesheim is only about 20 miles from Wiesbaden, and the scenery between here and there is gorgeous. Rolling hills, green countryside, old castles, vineyards that go for miles, and views of the Rhine River. When we got into town, Andrea kept driving till the town was behind us and we all started wondering where on earth she was taking us! We were going uphill, wayyyyy uphill. We turned into a parking lot, paid €2.50 for the parking ticket, and she told me to bring my camera.

By this time I knew there was a statue through the trees but I couldn't quite see all of it. As I mentioned in a previous post, Rich and I had researched the area before we arrived and this statue was in one of our DVDs. Still, I wasn't prepared for the enormity of this thing. I'm beginning to realize that I will never grow tired of the constant awe that I feel in Europe. I cannot describe the flips my heart does every time I see a piece of breathtaking history here. It's unbelievable.

So, some background on this statue. It's called Niederwalddenkmal, and it was built to commemorate the German victory at the end of the Franco-Prussian War. The very first stone was placed on September 16, 1871 by Wilhelm I. Remember seeing his name a lot in some of my previous posts?! Yeah, he's a popular guy around the area. Taking around two years to build, she stands 38 meters tall. That's 125 feet. Approximately 12 stories tall. Wowzas. The female figure on top of the pedestal is Germania, and she's holding in her right hand the recovered crown of the emperor. Germania herself stands 34 feet tall. Yep, she's a big girl.

And now, I'll let you see her.

My first view, from the side.

The view from down below. This doesn't do justice to the sheer size.

Germania, holding the recovered crown of the emperor.

All those intricately carved faces! Geez...

The extreme detail of Germania's robe--note the dragon, swans, and deer.

The eagle on her robe is the Bundesadler, the "Federal Eagle" of the Republic of Germany.

See the lion heads in her belt?

This patina is simply beautiful.

And now, the views from our vantage point up on this huge hill...

The beautiful Andrea. I am so thankful to have her so closeby! Love this lady!

The magnificent St. Rochus Chapel off in the distance. I definitely plan to visit this beauty during our stay in Germany.

Part of the vineyards directly down the valley from us. There are vineyards everywhere here!

Rüdesheim am Rhein.

My sweet husband taking it all in.

A cargo ship on the Rhein, with the town of Bingen on the far banks.

This gazebo made for a perfect photo, if you ask me.

We made our way back to the warmth of the car and headed down the hill to have lunch in Rüdesheim. We decided on a quaint little Italian restaurant but I can't remember the name of it. Lunch was delicious, no surprise! I enjoyed a glass of a local Riesling and I think I fell in love.

Here are some other photos I took while in Rüdesheim...