August 17th was a great day! My mom and I got off to an early start, leaving for the airport at 5:15 am. Yikes! A special thanks goes out to my mom for doing that for me! I have the world's best mom, but I'll have to save that for another post :)
The first thing that I have to say about all this is THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to everyone who made this possible for me to go. Because of the cost, Brig and I had originally thought that there was no way we'd be able to afford for me to go out to see him on his study abroad. I was pretty bummed, but I had come to accept it. About a month before he left, we got a phone call from Brig's awesome brother, saying that a couple members of his family really felt that I needed to go, and that they were all going to pitch in and pay for my plane ticket. When I heard the news I got all teary eyed and emotional. A plane ticket to Europe in the summer, and on such short notice is NOT CHEAP! I will never forget that kindness and hope to one day be in a position where I can find a way to repay them! THANK YOU ALL SO SO MUCH!
The whole way down to the airport I was a little bit nervous and a lot excited. I flew for the first time at 20 years old... I know, crazy. Since then, I've flown many times for work, but just short distances. This was my first time flying across the country, having to make an exchange at another airport, flying overseas, and going to a foreign country where I wouldn't be able to understand anything anyone said... and I was doing it all alone! The good news is, my excitement pretty much trumped my nervousness, I did not get lost in Atlanta like I thought I would, the flight went fairly quickly, and most everyone in Germany speaks English :)
My flight left Salt Lake around 8:15am. On the way to Atlanta I sat by a nice couple who were going out to visit their new grandbaby. I had a couple hour layover in Atlanta, where they tried to trick me and make me miss my flight by changing gates last minute (Not fooling me this time, suckers!), and then was on my way to Germany! I had the great fortune of getting to sit by a very active 2 year old all the way there. He was very cute and friendly (f0r a minute), and his mom was very attentive, but at one point during the flight I did just have to close my eyes and pretend like I was asleep, despite his constant poking. He fell asleep after about 2 hours and slept the rest of the way... PHEW! The flight was fairly quick. One thing I learned is that if you are going to take an Ambien to help you sleep, then you should probably actually try to go to sleep! I made the mistake of taking one at the beginning of a movie, thinking that I would just doze off sometime during it. Well, I didn't doze off, went a little bit crazy for awhile, didn't remember the ending of the movie I watched AT ALL, and was very much awake for the whole entire flight. And I hadn't slept at all on the way to Atlanta because I planned to sleep on the flight to Germany. Not smart. Needless to say, when I arrived in Germany at 7:30am their time, I was totally wired and jet-lagged all at the same time. Fun fun!
For anyone who doesn't know, my sister and her family live in Germany. They have been there for about 7 years (I think). We miss them lots, and want them to come home, but it was nice to have our own personal tour guides while we were there, among many other things! Brig didn't get done with his classes until the 20th, and had to be back here for classes on the 28th, which would have only given me about a week had I decided to go then. I decided that that wasn't long enough (especially since someone else was paying for me to go), so that is why I left a few days early and stayed with my sister and arranged to go get Brig 2 days later. It worked out great! I just need to say right now that I have the most awesome brother-in-law. Tyler was right there to pick me up at the airport on time, and throughout our trip he carpooled us everywhere we needed to go, as you will see. THANK YOU TYLER! I was also greeted by my sweet, sweet niece Sophie, and my nephews, Briggs and Porter. I was so excited to see them all! My sister Candice had stayed home with the two little ones, and I was also so so excited to see them when we arrived at their house in Schwedelbach about an hour later.
When we got to the house, poor Tyler had to go to work while the rest of us partied! We spent the morning just catching up and playing with the kids. Candice kept asking how I was doing and I kept saying that I felt fine (that was still the Ambien talking). I was fine, I didn't need a nap! Well, eventually I pretty much passed out sitting up on the couch for about an hour. Passed out is kind of an understatement. Candice said that the kids were being way loud the whole time, but I honestly did not hear a thing. I'm surprised I woke up at all!
After I woke up we were on to our first site! Driving through Germany is half the fun, it was so so so pretty. Our first stop: Kusel Castle!
The first thing that I have to say about all this is THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to everyone who made this possible for me to go. Because of the cost, Brig and I had originally thought that there was no way we'd be able to afford for me to go out to see him on his study abroad. I was pretty bummed, but I had come to accept it. About a month before he left, we got a phone call from Brig's awesome brother, saying that a couple members of his family really felt that I needed to go, and that they were all going to pitch in and pay for my plane ticket. When I heard the news I got all teary eyed and emotional. A plane ticket to Europe in the summer, and on such short notice is NOT CHEAP! I will never forget that kindness and hope to one day be in a position where I can find a way to repay them! THANK YOU ALL SO SO MUCH!
The whole way down to the airport I was a little bit nervous and a lot excited. I flew for the first time at 20 years old... I know, crazy. Since then, I've flown many times for work, but just short distances. This was my first time flying across the country, having to make an exchange at another airport, flying overseas, and going to a foreign country where I wouldn't be able to understand anything anyone said... and I was doing it all alone! The good news is, my excitement pretty much trumped my nervousness, I did not get lost in Atlanta like I thought I would, the flight went fairly quickly, and most everyone in Germany speaks English :)
My flight left Salt Lake around 8:15am. On the way to Atlanta I sat by a nice couple who were going out to visit their new grandbaby. I had a couple hour layover in Atlanta, where they tried to trick me and make me miss my flight by changing gates last minute (Not fooling me this time, suckers!), and then was on my way to Germany! I had the great fortune of getting to sit by a very active 2 year old all the way there. He was very cute and friendly (f0r a minute), and his mom was very attentive, but at one point during the flight I did just have to close my eyes and pretend like I was asleep, despite his constant poking. He fell asleep after about 2 hours and slept the rest of the way... PHEW! The flight was fairly quick. One thing I learned is that if you are going to take an Ambien to help you sleep, then you should probably actually try to go to sleep! I made the mistake of taking one at the beginning of a movie, thinking that I would just doze off sometime during it. Well, I didn't doze off, went a little bit crazy for awhile, didn't remember the ending of the movie I watched AT ALL, and was very much awake for the whole entire flight. And I hadn't slept at all on the way to Atlanta because I planned to sleep on the flight to Germany. Not smart. Needless to say, when I arrived in Germany at 7:30am their time, I was totally wired and jet-lagged all at the same time. Fun fun!
For anyone who doesn't know, my sister and her family live in Germany. They have been there for about 7 years (I think). We miss them lots, and want them to come home, but it was nice to have our own personal tour guides while we were there, among many other things! Brig didn't get done with his classes until the 20th, and had to be back here for classes on the 28th, which would have only given me about a week had I decided to go then. I decided that that wasn't long enough (especially since someone else was paying for me to go), so that is why I left a few days early and stayed with my sister and arranged to go get Brig 2 days later. It worked out great! I just need to say right now that I have the most awesome brother-in-law. Tyler was right there to pick me up at the airport on time, and throughout our trip he carpooled us everywhere we needed to go, as you will see. THANK YOU TYLER! I was also greeted by my sweet, sweet niece Sophie, and my nephews, Briggs and Porter. I was so excited to see them all! My sister Candice had stayed home with the two little ones, and I was also so so excited to see them when we arrived at their house in Schwedelbach about an hour later.
When we got to the house, poor Tyler had to go to work while the rest of us partied! We spent the morning just catching up and playing with the kids. Candice kept asking how I was doing and I kept saying that I felt fine (that was still the Ambien talking). I was fine, I didn't need a nap! Well, eventually I pretty much passed out sitting up on the couch for about an hour. Passed out is kind of an understatement. Candice said that the kids were being way loud the whole time, but I honestly did not hear a thing. I'm surprised I woke up at all!
After I woke up we were on to our first site! Driving through Germany is half the fun, it was so so so pretty. Our first stop: Kusel Castle!
The castle is actually called Burg Lichtenberg and it was built in the 1200's. It is the largest castle ruins in Germany. The town that it is in is called Kusel, which is why my sisters family just refers to it as Kusel Castle. Much easier :)
We had a lot of fun here! Candice knew that I would be tired and that we should just start out with something close and relaxing. We went onto the Airforce base (where my brother in law works), got some chili's to go (yes, they have chili's) and had a picnic on the grounds of the castle. We chased lizards, caught gigantic daddy long legs (I did NOT participate in this activity), walked around, I took a million pictures, as you can no doubt see, and enjoyed being together. I sure love these guys and I wish that I got to see them more often!
I LOVED how you could see all the different colors in the rock. It was seriously beautiful. Maybe that's just the artist in me, but I loved it.
What is a castle without swords and shields?!
This is a cute little restaurant on the grounds. There were a lot of old people there.
My sister sent me a disk of the pictures that she took, but I seem to have misplaced it already :( There were some dang cute ones!
After Kusel, we went back to Candice and Tyler's and spent the night relaxing. Candice made a yummy dinner as usual, she is an awesome cook! I went to bed fairly early so that I could be sure to recover from my jet-lag (you know, that jet-lag that I didn't have). It was a great first day to a great trip!
More to come!
oh how fun! beautiful pictures
ReplyDeleteTara that's so fun!!! You look so cute and happy to be with your family :) I'm so glad you were able to go over there! can't wait for the others sis :)
ReplyDeleteYou are going to get sick of comments because they are all going to contain these words: fun! beautiful! darling!
ReplyDeleteBut seriously, it looks like you had so much FUN being with your sister and family. The castle (and the coloring rocks) is BEAUTIFUL! The little town looks DARLING!