Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

For as long as I can remember I have wanted to travel. Perhaps it was just because I wanted to get away from my ummm...abnormal home life (maybe I'll discuss it sometime), or I just new there was more out there. Either way, I knew a long time ago that I needed to see more than just my small world.

In 2003, that dream came true. My husband (then fiance) got the opportunity to go to Germany with work. We decided to take some vacation time and head out early. I was going to Europe!! I will not lie, there were a lot of mixed emotions going on. This was VERY new to me. The furthest from home I had ever been was to North Carolina, yet I was more excited than anything.

I can not begin to explain how unnerving, yet wonderful it is to be in a place where you do not speak the primary language. "Are they talking about me? WHO CARES...I can't understand what they're saying anyway!" Doug speaks fluent German, but I only knew French from high school...not very helpful. Obviously, Doug did most of the talking.

There are several stories to tell about this trip. Like how odd the toilets are, and the day of drinking, eating, vomitting, and porn shops. But I will leave those for another day. Bet you can't wait.

Everything was different. From how the people socialized to how they shopped, and how they interacted with family and friends. I met some absolutely wonderful people. Like this one, who is one of Doug's good friends.

I just loved his accent. I just wanted him to talk dirty to me, but that would be very inappropriate for obvious reasons.

One of the days of our trip, we went to Wertheim. This is the city that Doug was stationed at during part of his military career. It was so great to see something that was a part of his past.

As we came into the town, we got off the train one stop to soon. It was about 1 mile from the correct stop. This wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been one mile, uphill (both ways) in the snow, and my bladder wasn't about to rupture. Luckily, we found a glass shop that was open that graciously allowed me to utilize their restroom and a phone to call a cab.

It was an incredible day. I loved hearing all of Doug's stories and seeing his old stomping grounds...and I saw the biggest snowflakes I have ever seen in my life that day! Which isn't saying much considering I live in South Texas, but you had to dodge them for fear of getting a concussion. Then we slid our way UP to the castle (I only fell 15 times) only to find that it was closed. So we slid our way back down.

Here is a picture taken from the steps of the city's castle looking into downtown.


We had lunch, did some shopping and headed back to the train station and waited for the train listening to a group of inebriated Russians (not to offend anyone, but isn't that redundant?) playing cards. Anyway, it was a wonderful trip! I could not have asked for more as my first trip to Europe. But I was glad to get back home to breakfast tacos and Bill Miller's sweet tea...it's the little things!