Mama I'm Comin Home!

Well this is officially our last night in the Deutschland. We are happy to be heading home, but it was very hard to say goodbye to our friends Bernd and Gisela. They really are wonderful kind people and we were lucky to have spent so much time with them. I think they really made the trip to be honest. They showed us around, helped us out countless times, welcomed us into their home and genuinely made us feel right at home. We plan to keep in touch and hopefully pay them a visit sometime down the road and hope that they make their way to Canada sometime as well. They definitely don’t have a shortage of friends in London! LOL

We really hope that everyone enjoyed the blog. I know I enjoyed writing about our excellent adventures. LOL We met some great people, experienced a truly unique culture and saw a hell of a lot of beautiful things and just had a whole lot of fun. We are so thankful for the opportunity to have traveled to such a great place and we will treasure our memories of Germany forever. Like all great things though, this too must now come to and end. Auf Wiedersehen Deutschland!

Picture Post

Some pictures aren't worth a thousand words.



Former patrol road, now a hiking path



How far can you go on your 65L tank?



..Music.. I'm a model you know what I mean... I'm to sexy for this hat, this hat, what do you think about that... ..Music..



Any one else need some socks?






Beer Garden in the Hills, complete with sausage depot.









Typcial speed in no-restriction areas, The Audi would run out of power at 200 on the flats, good for about 220 down hill (Tires were speed rated to 210).



Typical unrestricted speed zone on an Autobahn in the region.



We Come all this way and the Red Necks are still causing trouble.



2m passing lane (construction zone). Looks good in the pic with 2 cars.. Fun to pass tour busses and trucks that fill line to line in the turttle lane.

One Last Hoorah!

We would like to wish Marshall’s parents, Eric and Donna a Happy 35th Anniversary today!

Saturday we went down to Nuremburg once again. This time we checked out a nearby town called Zirndorf which happens to be the home of the German Playmobil Fun Park! LOL I’m sure plenty of you will remember Playmobil form your childhoods. We didn’t actually go into the “Fun Park,” but we did go into the store there. They had every Playmobil thing that is available for the most part in there. It was complete anarchy too! LOL There were kids with little child sized shopping carts dragging their parents all over that store as they loaded up on all things Playmobil. We just couldn’t believe how much stuff all those spoiled brats were going home with. Playmobil stuff is pretty pricey and we saw people walking out with HUGE play sets and tons of accessories for them. I like kids and think they should have cool stuff to play with but I would not re-mortgage the house so they could go on a shopping spree at the Playmobil store! LOL Next we decided to check out Ikea one last time, and after walking through the whole store, we left with quite a big purchase. I don’t even know how we’re going to get it home it was so big. Drum roll please……………we walked away with…………..a lovely 3 piece set…………….of cork trivets! LOL You know, the little things you put your hot dishes on so they don’t torch your table or counter. After we recovered from the breaking the bank on our hefty Ikea shopping spree we decided to cruise around Nuremburg a bit and get some dinner. We ate at the place we had lunch at the last time we were there, Merado, I think was the name. It’s this steak place which also has a big salad bar type thing. Marsh enjoyed the closest thing he could find to Mexican food here, steak fajitas, and I had a rump steak which was smothered in a mushroom sauce with little button mushrooms and a baked potato. It was great not to have pork! LOL We then indulged in some lovely crepes that were filled with this creamy fluffy vanilla stuff with raisins and drizzled with a caramel sauce and then sprinkled with little pieces of pistachio. Can we say DELISSIOSO! LOL Nuremburg is a really neat city and there is so much to see there and we only got to see a fraction of it.

Sunday was quite a busy day. We were up at 8:00 and out by 9:00. Bernd, Gisela, Marshall and I set off for Eisfeld to go on a wagon ride. Gisela’s sister, Monica, set the whole thing up. The gentleman who drove the wagon and owned the horses was a friend of Monica’s and I guess they do this every year or so. There were 13 of us including the driver. The morning started off pretty gloomy and drizzly. We left the town and headed for the hills, literally. LOL We kept traveling up and up into the big forested hills. By the second stop it was time for a little lunch by a beautiful crystal clear pond nestled into the forest along the road. The Germans really know how to pack a lunch! There were sandwiches a plenty, wieners, cheese, fruit, bread, and my favorite, cake! LOL After the horses, Carmen and Heidi, finished up their lunch we all hopped back into the wagon and headed further up the hill and deeper into the forest. We had noticed a sign that said “Biergarten 3km.” Sure enough there it was right alongside the road, and we of course had to stop so that everyone could get a sausage and a shot of schnapps, even though we had just eaten lunch 45 minutes before. I truly think that the phrase, “eat drink and be merry,” should be the Germans motto, because they sure love to do all three! LOL The sun finally decided to join us after the sausage stop, so it was quite nice. Up and up and up we kept going through the forest. At some point Bernd noticed that the forest was just right for mushrooms. So we were all trying our best to spot them from the wagon, Marsh and Bernd were of course hanging off of the back of it on the steps in case they had to jump off to pick one. LOL We only found two while we were moving, but shortly after we stopped yet again for a snack Bernd went on a mission to find more wild mushrooms. Marsh and I tried to help for a bit but our untrained eyes proved to be useless and we abandoned the search to go and have some cake. LOL Bernd however, persisted and ended up finding quite a lot. Once we all loaded into the wagon again we shortly left the forest and were atop a hill that overlooked a small town. The scenery was beautiful, a lot like the scene the Sound of Music where Julie Andrews spins and sings the “Hills Are Alive.” I would’ve jumped out and paid homage but it was time to be getting back as it was already 4:00 and we were supposed to have been back at 3:00. When we finally reached Eisfeld, it was 5:00 and we were all pretty beat. All that fresh air can’t be all that good for you if it exhausts you that much. LOL We said our goodbyes and thanks and headed back to Coburg. Bernd was in a hurry to get home and prepare his mushrooms for they had to be used that night or else they would’ve gone bad he says. So after we checked on Gemma and let her out we went back to Bernd and Gisela’s for the wild mushroom feast. He was only able to use a third of what he found but it was still quite a good haul. LOL They fried the mushrooms up with some onion and then scrambled and egg and served it on bread. It was pretty good, the mushrooms honestly didn’t have much of a flavor if you ask me though. LOL So after our, “appetizer” as Bernd called it, we decided to head to Sesslach for dinner. Well it turned out that there was big festival going on in Sesslach and it was packed. We ended up dinning out in the biergarten with one of Bernd’s coworkers that he had run into there. We all had the duck, although we were intended to try goose, but the restaurant we usually dine at was closed and just serving a limited menu on the street. The duck was pretty good. I think it tasted just like chicken just a bit more moist and a little stringier. LOL After leaving Sesslach we made at stop along the way home to wish Gisela’s sister a happy birthday. We really had a wonderful day and saw some beautiful scenery.

Well our time here is almost done. We are really looking forward to being home and just relaxing in our humble abode. We will be heading to Munich on Thursday and spending the night there since our flight leaves there at 11:45 in the morning and Munich is a 3 hour drive from Coburg. So we should arrive in Toronto at 2:45 in the afternoon your time. I really hope we don’t have any difficulties like we did coming here. We will be having our farewell dinner tomorrow at Milano’s with Bernd and Gisela. We will try to post once more before we head home. That’s all for now folks! LOL Take care everyone!

Mountains, Cow Shit, Burgs, Beer & the Big Rock

We went to Innsbruck, Austria last Thursday morning. Innsbruck has hosted the Winter Olympics twice in the past. It is located in a valley amidst the Alps. The Alps were absolutely beautiful. There was a small town along the way, on the German side of the border, which was situated on the edge of a long hazy blue lake. Almost all of the buildings in this town were of the “chalet” style with the big overhanging roofs and porches, even the local McDonalds was in a building like this. LOL When we finally found our hotel which was just five minutes from Innsbruck, we were, (well I especially was), shocked to find that it was just feet away from two working cow barns! YUCK! The room as well as the rest of the hotel stunk of cow shit! After unsuccessfully trying to get a meal at the hotel and paying six euros for two Coca Colas we decided to hit the road and head back to Coburg. So we got the heck out of Dodge and ended up dinning at a fine local establishment, McDonald’s! WOO HOO! We enjoyed the ambiance almost as much as the fine cuisine. LOL On the way home we took a different route. I think Marsh really enjoyed the drive through the mountains and the scenery was spectacular. The mountains were absolutely beautiful yet ominous looking at the same time. Our little old Rockies don’t have a damn thing on the Alps! LOL Innsbruck turned out to be quite a large city. It was kind of strange that such a big city was smack in the middle of big rugged mountains. It was similar to seeing a K-Mart on Mars. LOL

The following Saturday we got up and went to the floh market, (that’s “flea” market in German), with two of Marshall’s coworkers Kevin and Pete. We were looking for old beer steins to bring home to a lucky few but didn’t really see anything that appealed to us. We did see a fair amount of East German as well as German WWII era military items. There were badges, medals, helmets, uniforms and pictures. Anything with the “SS” logo or a swastika had stickers or post-it notes over them as we have been told that they are banned here. After leaving the flea market empty handed we all headed to Wurzburg, which is a pretty large city which is home to a U.S. Military base. It is such a big city that it has two, yes count them, two Wal-Marts and even a Burger King! LOL There is a castle as well as huge palace in the city. We opted to just kind of wander the streets and check things out. There are so many old churches which surprisingly survived the many bombings of WWII. None of the buildings survived unscathed though, but were later restored to their original beauty. There is a river that flows through Wurzburg which is pretty wide and even has a set of locks for the large barges and boats. Over the river there is an old stone bridge which has ten or more statues of various saints along each of its sides. These statues are each about ten feet tall I would guess. We happened upon a place near one of the churches that had a little room with pictures, and various artifacts from WWII. It even contained a scale model of Wurzburg as it looked after the bombings had ceased. No building appeared to have escaped without damage. Luckily a lot was preserved and restored. Next we headed to Bamburg, another city with yet another U.S. Military base! LOL Bamburg is also a gorgeous old city with very old buildings and cobblestone streets. One building we came across had ornate paintings on the outside of angels. One angel had a leg that was actually a sculpture that protruded from the building. Pete told us that it is a superstition to have an angel that appears incomplete. So the leg was later added. I gotta tell ya, we saw the worse haircut ever while we were checking out the leg. This guy looked like a cross between Egon from the Ghostbusters and Doc from Back to the Future. I would’ve snapped a picture but he totally would’ve noticed and I don’t want some guy with bad hair attacking me. LOL The true reason for the visit to Bamburg was to try the Shankela beer, which has a smoky bacon flavor. EWWW! As we walked up the street to bar we were headed to, the sound of singing flowed down the street. When we arrived at the bar we were pleasantly surprised to find that that singing was in fact coming from that very place. It totally packed and we were lucky to have found a table right amidst the singing. Everyone in the bar sang along together and each knew exactly what parts their voice was meant to sing. It sounded amazing. The old Vienna Boys Choir doesn’t had a thing on that group of jolly German bacon beer soaked singers! LOL

Sunday we got up early once again and Kevin, Pete, Marsh and I headed out on yet another adventure. Today we planned on tackling the “big rock”. The rock is actually a big cliff that once was the site of an ancient Celtic settlement. Well we were thinking that we would just drive up to the top of the hill and park in a lot and there we would be. Oh no! It was not that way at all. It turned out that we in fact had to HIKE up a gigantic hill on a train that was 2 km each way. This was no ordinary trail in which you would go for a leisurely stroll, it was really freaking steep in several places. I of course about DIED along the way! Luckily there was a biergarten at the top along with a church of course. LOL The Germans love their churches and biergartens. I guess the view from the cliff was pretty spectacular.

Well that’s about it for now freaks, nerds and weirdo’s! LOL The other London guys have headed back to Canadia so it is just the three of us, Marsh, Gemma and me left. We’ll be home in just two more weeks! We can’t wait to sleep in our own bed with our own fluffy pillows to lay our heads upon. The pillows here SUCK! Just to put all of your minds at ease, my elbows have recovered and are back to their usual pastey white color. We’ll post more soon. Take care!

Soggy Speedo's and Holiday Skin

Well we are heading to Austria this morning. I of course can't sleep so I decided to fill everyone in on what we will be up to. We are heading to a place in the Alps called Innsbruck. It's about a 4 or 5 hour drive from Coburg. We'll take pictures and post them when we get back. We may stop in Munich on the way back, it really depends on the weather and if we feel up to it after all of that mountain air.

We went to the spa again this afternoon. I'm not so sure I really like it. We went earlier today so it was a little more crowded and everyone was like super old and wrinkly. Europeans really love their Speedo's, even kids wear them! Can we say SICK!! LOL I am telling you, they look like the California Raisins in wet soggy underwear. Nice mental image huh? LOL I figure if I had to go through the trauma of actually seeing it, that I should bring everyone else down with me by giving all of you an accurate description. LOL Diana and I actually had a conversation a while back concerning the Speedo issue. We both agreed that they are disgusting and should be outlawed all over the world. No one should be subjected to such indecency. So I don't think I shall be visiting the spa again. LOL

Now I will share with everyone an embarrassing story. I hope you all appreciate this because it was me who suffered the embarrassment and I am going to be nice enough to let everyone have a good laugh at my expense. I'm sure the Brinkmans the Grab's and my mommy are especially missing my comic relief. LOL Well since we have been here my skin has been pretty dry. So yesterday we had to go to the store so I thought, "gee I might as well grab some lotion since my elbows could sand a truck load of knotty pine." As you can imagine, all the products in the stores here are in German and I of course don't know German, therefore I was left to guess. Well I got lucky because it turns out that body lotion translates to.....you guessed it, "body lotion" in German! WOO HOO! So I find some that I like that smells quite good. When we get in the car I slather it on the elephant-like epidermis on my elbows and put a little on my arms. I think I applied the lotion to my elbows about two more times throughout the day. Well today I woke up and did the whole get ready for the day thing. While when I was brushing my teeth in front of the bathroom mirror I noticed something that absolutely horrified me. Don't even crack any jokes about it being my reflection you smartasses, cuz that wasn't it! LOL It was my damn elbows! They looked bruised because they were so freaking orange! I scrubbed them and scrubbed them, even with my scrubby poof thing and it was to no avail. I didn't even fade them! I kept thinking to myself during my scrubbathon, "what the hell could've turned my elbows orange?!?!" Well it finally dawned on me that I had liberally applied my lovely new lotion the day before. I grabbed the bottle and tried to make out what it said on the back, which I couldn't because of that whole pesky different language thing. Well the "body lotion" was called "Holiday Skin," and had a cute little sun on it and the bottle was a shimmery gold color. So I finally put two and two together and realized that the lotion must have contained damn self tanner! I was beyond ticked off! It was a little cool today luckily so I was able to wear my sweatshirt for the most part, but then it was kind of humid, especially in the stores since they're all anti-air conditioning here. So I had to walk around in all these stores sweating my ass off so that no one could see my lovely bronzed elbows! LOL I tell ya, I have all the luck. I will say that Marshall was so nice about it though. He didn't laugh at all or crack a single joke about it. If that would've happened to him I think I would've died laughing. So I guess I'm lucky to have such a wonderful husband. LOL

I hope Aunt Sue and Uncle Bill had a nice visit with Dave in NYC. Hopefully you guys finally got to meet the lovely Pam too! She's so sweet! LOL I bet Central Park is awesome in the summer. Too bad it was littered with those hideous orange "Gates" when Di and I went in March! LOL Ooh, did you guys go to that Cup place? Gosh I would kill for one of those waffles with the berries, chocolate sauce and the fluffy sweet whipped butter. Jeez! I am totally drooling! LOL Dave it would be nice if you could like air mail one to me. LOL Well I hope all is well with everyone. We love you guys! Don't be stingy with the messages peeps, we like to hear what you're all up to! LOL

Deutsche Doktor

This past Saturday my ear started feeling a little sore, and low and behold I woke up today and my ear was really sore and the side of my neck near my ear was starting to swell. My foot funk (athletes foot, don't act grossed out I bet plenty of you have had it) also is not clearing up. So we decided it would be a good idea to go to a doctor. I guess the Brose doctor is not such a nice lady, so Marsh decided it wouldn't be such a hot idea to go see her. LOL So we of course went over to see Mrs. Friendly Neighbor, otherwise known as Gisela (Bernd's better half LOL). She helped us out and called their doctor and explained the situation and got me an appointment to see him this afternoon, and even accompanied us so she could translate and show us the way. We are so very thankful to have the Loehnerts! Well most of you know about me and my dreadful ears, and the abundant infections I get in them. Well sure enough my ear was infected. However, the doc couldn't tell right away. He looked in my ear, then said something in German to Gisela and then she told me that my ear was blocked and he couldn't see anything. So I was told to follow the little receptionist girl to another room where she proceeded to get the ear powerwasher out. LOL I knew what was in store for me, since after all, I am an old hand when it comes to unblocking the grody ears out thing. She ran the tap until the water was the right temperature and filled this little bucket on the powerwasher. Next thing you know, the doctor comes in and the girl shoves one of those stainless steel barf bucket things up against the side of my face and he goes to town with the powerwasher. God did it feel weird! LOL After a few minutes of this, the doctor suddenly knew a bit more English and told me to look in the barf thingy. Boy was it gross! There was loads of crap that had been blocking the old ear canal. LOL My loving husband was there for the whole ordeal too, and he just kept giving me shit about all the "crap" that came outta my ear. LOL So the nice doctor gave me some Ibuprofen, and a prescription for some ear drops and some stuff for my rotten feet. We totally lucked out having Gisela around to help us. I guess she and Bernd are friends with this doctor and he only charged us ten euros for the office visit! To get the prescriptions filled it was only twenty euros! Marsh and I about shat ourselves! LOL So hopefully within a day or two my ear will feel better and my feet will have heeled enough for me to wear socks and shoes again. LOL

On another note, we are thinking of going to Austria. Marsh really wants to check out the Alps, and hell I just want to do a little dance and sing "The hills are alive.....with the sound of music!" Julie Andrews style. LOL No need to worry we will snap pictures. Too bad we don't have a video camera huh? LOL Anyhow, we will let everyone know when and where we are going as soon as we decide. Oh yeah, I would just like to let my wonderful father in law know that I am insanely jealous that he gets to go to Disney World! LOL I know what you're all thinking, "but you're in Germany Lindz." Yeah, well Germany doesn't have Mickey Mouse, and I have yet to see Cinderella or anyone who even resembles her prancing around in any of the castles here! LOL I hope you have a great time in Florida Eric ("T").

A few more pics

A section of existing Wall and Fence.



Concreat Ditch used to keep vechiles in, Notice how it would not prevent an invasion from the West.



Then and now.



A Picture says it all.



Ah yes, to be a pyro again.



The Keg! (One of 2 wagons, used to supply the Beer Garden for Samba)



A small church in a small town near-by.



A former mote around the small town, one of a few that has its town wall still in place fully around the town. They close of the streets on the weekends to cars *easy to do with the town wall and gates*, nice simple things in life that North America could not concive.