Burg Eltz and Burg Thurant

Jon was off work Friday for the holiday weekend so we decided to take a day trip down to see Burg Eltz. This medieval castle is about an hour away, located between Koblenz and Trier, Germany and was built in the 12th century. Burg Eltz is surrounded by hills and an incredible landscape with a river running below it. It is a beautiful castle and I am so glad we took the day to see it. But boy, the hike was a little exhausting, especially on the way back up. It was practically straight up hill!

Inside the castle walls.

Of course we had to get a shot with Jon and a tiny door!

The weather was beautiful when we arrived, but as soon as we finished visiting the castle a huge thunderstorm moved in right over our heads and we had to hall it back to the car. I thought I was going to have a heart attack running up the hill, but luckily we out ran the storm! Right when we reached the car it started raining.

From Burg Eltz we drove about twenty minutes to another town across the river and visited Burg Thurant. This castle is also a medievel castle built in the 12th-13th century. Jon said this castle is by far his favorite in Germany.

One of the things he thought was so cool is that they have holiday rooms for rent and he is set on renting a room at Burg Thurant when my parents come to visit. Here are some pics from the castle.

The view from the castle.
There are vineyards below the castle.

Inside the castle walls.

And if you didn't get your fill of pictures, check out our photo website for more!

The rest of the weekend was rather eventful. Saturday we went to the Zoo and Sunday we went to the Stadel Art Museum in Frankfurt. I will post pictures from the rest of our weekend tomorrow.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend!

Happy Monday!

Oh Happy Day

Ladies and Gents.......

We finally bought a fan!! Yippie! I am one happy lady. Now we can finally sleep at night! There's nothing worse than sleeping in stale, hot, sticky, clammy air. That all changes tonight, thanks to the lovely PX and my awesome husband for putting the fan together.

Today Jon and I took a day trip about an hour away to do some castle hopping. We saw two beautiful castles which I will post about soon. We have a couple more things planned for the holiday weekend, so it should be fun.

At this point I'm exhausted, so for now, I am going to sit in front of the fan and drink a nice cold beverage. Hope you all have a great day!

And a wonderful Independence day!

I hope you all have a fun and safe holiday weekend!

Some Random Things

1. I think my husband was a hobbit, or elf, (or whatever those things are), in a past life.

He loves tiny doors....

and tiny cars.
Silly guy ;)

2. Jon and Steph are some happy campers at the moment! We got to watch the first three episodes of season 2 True Blood. Thank you technology! (We don't get HBO in Germany.)

Can I get a HOLLER! or holla..... anyway we're super stoked for this season. The first episodes were great as usual and have left us craving for more.... darn vampire shows/books.

3. The 4th of July is this weekend. Sadly, the forecast calls for rain and thunderstorms all weekend, starting tonight! Yippie for German weather. This will be the first time in 26 years that I haven't seen or done some sort of firework display. Weird! I stupidly asked a German the other day, "Will there be fireworks anywhere for the 4th of July," and she replied.... "why?"
DUH Steph, why would Germany celebrate America's Independence?
Oh well at least we got to see a little firework show at Elton John on Tuesday night.
I guess I'll just have to rock out with my matching t-shirt and short set for the 4th of July on my own.

Yup, that's my brother and me!

4. I finally hung some of our pictures from Paris. I think they bring a nice touch of added color to our dining room.

5. I think we've finally found a buyer for our home in Norman. It's only been ONE YEAR (darn economy) since we've had it on the market. Please keep your fingers crossed for Jon and me, as it would really be a HUGE weight off our shoulders to finally sell it.

6. Jon and I are investing in some fans tonight. There are no air conditioners in homes here and to say we're VERY hot is an understatement. It is 80 degrees with 61% humidity. This morning when I woke up the humidity was 82%. Whew, are we back in Oklahoma or something? So it is definitely time to buy some fans. Our bedroom is 79 degrees right now. Needless to say we've been stripped down to our skivvies at night. Can you blame a girl?? ;)

Hope you all have a great Thursday!

Sir Elton, You Rock!

Last night was one of the most fun nights I have had in a long time. Jon, myself, Sarah and Deaner all went to the Elton John concert right here in Wiesbaden. I heard about the concert from one of Jon's co-workers and Sarah and I just HAD to see it. While Jon and I were in Qatar, Sarah found tickets and we snagged them.

Finally, two months of anticipating, last night was the night! We grabbed dinner at our favorite place, Vapiano and then headed across the street to the Kurhaus. They built a stage in front of the Kurhaus and also built a wall of bleachers to make it a more private concert.

People set up outside the concert walls to listen.

After standing in line for what seemed to be an eternity, we finally got inside.

As you can see, we weren't very close.

But I did manage to get a little closer, after shmoozing my way past the "ticket police"
and got a little better shot.

We had been looking forward to this concert for two months and it's no surprise that it was a fantastic show. Elton sang a couple of news songs, but sung several of his oldies which we all enjoyed the most. He sang Rocketman, Benny and the Jets, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, I Guess That's Why They Call it the Blues, Tiny Dancer, Crocodile Rock, Candle in the Wind, etc.

A shot of Elton on the big screen.


Too much fun!

My only complaint is that it just seemed to end way too soon. I think he played for several hours, but I was having such a good time, I was sad when it was finally over.

For his last song there was a fireworkds show that was pretty neat.

I started editing pictures this morning and got so PEEVED
because there is a random HAND in EVERY firework photo!


Seriously..... how did I manage to get that darn hand in every picture.

Oh well, it was a great night, with great music, a great show and great friends! GREAT!

Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!