Auf Wiedersehen Deutschland!

Well Serge and I have been living it up in our new home in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, FL for about a month now, and things are finally starting to settle down.  As any former expat will tell you, the moving back process is insanely challenging and stressful, but as I write this on our rooftop patio just steps from the beach, I'm reminded of how completely worth it all the difficulties were to get to where we are now!  We're both loving our jobs (I'm working at an adorable little cafe), our apartment, our town, our local group of friends, the weather, being able to speak our native tongue, and living in the same time zone as our family!  It's amazing - when we moved from Charleston to Fort Lauderdale in 2008, it seemed like we were so far from our family back home.  But after living 5,000 miles away from everyone, South Florida really doesn't seem that far from South Carolina anymore!  It's so nice being able to call my friends and family on the phone whenever I want to hear their voices without having to calculate what time it is where they are, whether I'm waking anyone up, and whether they can get to a computer for a skype date.  It really is all relative!

It seems a little surreal that we're back in the US for good.  I'm sure one day we'll get the travel bug again and want to take a trip and see something new, but for now we're enjoying getting settled in our new home, and we look back fondly and frequently on our European adventures through photos and memories.  I wanted to conclude our blog with some pictures from our final months in Germany.  Auf Wiedersehen, Deutschland! :-)

We never got to see the final renovations made to Wetzlar's train station, so unfortunately this is the memory we'll have of that beautiful Bahnhof ;-) 

This was pretty much the extent of the snow we got this winter. I'm glad we got to experience a white Christmas and weeks of snow on the ground the year before, but I will admit I was quite thankful that we didn't have a repeat winter wonderland. Now if I could just figure out what to do with those 150 Euro snow boots I HAD TO HAVE but never once wore...

Serge and Andreas watching a Stuttgart soccer game at the Mercedes-Benz Arena and freezing their butts off. But at least Stuttgart beat Freiburg 4-1!

Serge enjoying the most elusive beer in the world, Westvleteren XII

Thanks Nate and Crista for bringing it back from Belgium!

Serge, Christian, Nico, Oli, and Peter with their Sierra Nevadas all the way from America!

On St. Patrick's Day we decided to take one more hike to Braunfels. We made the 15 km trek, ate lunch in town, then took the bus back. Here's Sergio with Wetzlar in the background.

Ich liebe Schäfchen! We found these sweet little guys roaming the hills on our way to Braunfels. My favorite is the tiny one right by the point of my elbow!

Shouldn't we be drinking green Guinness and eating shepherd's pie instead of hiking for 3 hours?!?

Whew! We made it!!

On our way up to the castle 

Such a pretty little town!

It may not be green, but at least he drank a beer on St. Patty's Day!

With the castle on our last trip to Marburg

It was a beautiful day!

Taking in Marburg for the last time...

and enjoying lunch with a view at the biergarten near the castle.

Our friends Peter and Stephanie hosted a wonderful farewell dinner for us at their apartment in Giessen.

Thanks guys! We miss you!

My last time shopping at BioMarkt! 

I love being able to easily read the labels and find everything on my list in one place now, but I sure do miss the cheap, locally grown produce from BioMarkt and organic meat from our butcher shop, Bechtold! It's also much easier to just throw everything in our car and drive home, but I was always left with a strong feeling of accomplishment after successfully finding my groceries, making the purchase, and carrying them up the hill and 4 flights of stairs to our apartment! Oh well, guess I'll just have to get used to this easier life! ;-)

Walking along the Lahn in Wetzlar

I miss being able to tell time by the ringing church bells. Now I actually have to look at a clock! 

Cooking my last meal in our apartment - Bittersweet!

With Serdar and Veysel at Ludwig's on our anniversary. I sure do miss these guys and their amazing Turkish food!

Auf Wiedersehen Ludwig's!

This was during our last few moments in our apartment, while the movers were packing up all our stuff. I was one exhausted little Potato!

I was experiencing one of the greatest feelings of accomplishment of my life when I took this photo of Kalsmunt. We had successfully either sold or packed up everything we owned, cleaned our apartment, passed over our keys to the landlord, and were spending our final nights in Wetzlar at the Wetzlarer Hof. Ahhh relief! :-)

That little speck of blonde hair towards the bottom leftish corner is yours truly doing cartwheels near the Commerzbank Tower in Frankfurt. I was pretty excited about repatriation!!

And finally, here's Serge outside of Paulaner am Dom saying "Auf Wiedersehen" to Deutschland! Thanks for all our wonderful memories! We'll cherish our time there forever! :-)

Amsterdam

A few weeks ago Serge and I packed our book bags and hopped on a train for one last weekend trip to Amsterdam.  We've visited a lot of European cities over the past year and a half and have enjoyed every single one of them, and Amsterdam was no different.  Although we steered clear of the traditional coffee shops and only took a quick stroll through the Red Light District, we found that Amsterdam had much more to offer than the popular stereotypes had lead us to believe.  We ate some great food, drank some nice beers and jenever (Dutch gin), visited the Van Gogh Museum, and even watched The Hunger Games in the nicest movie theater we'd ever seen!  It was the perfect place to conclude our European travels, and I'm so glad we were able to see this beautiful city before we head back to the US!

I loved all the canals!

The one stereotype we'd have to agree with is about the bikes in Amsterdam. They're everywhere! And be aware, if you ever find yourself in this city, THEY have the right of way! We managed to stay out of their path for the most part, but poor Serge came within inches of a head-on collision on our last morning!

And I loved the TINY cars! 

Amsterdam had the smallest ones we've ever seen! We saw some of these just driving down the sidewalk. :-) They made smart cars look like minivans. 

We were pretty STOKED when we spotted the South Carolina flag outside De Drie Fleschjes!

Turns out they have a sister bar in Greenville, Addy's Dutch Cafe! 

Slurping my jenever at De Drie Fleschjes, the oldest tasting house in Amsterdam

Pictures don't really do these babies justice. They're like the size of a riding lawn mower!

Haha it looked even smaller across the river!

We loved the architecture! 

It was evident how the Dutch style had a big influence on colonial American buildings. This looks like Main Street, USA :-)

We had to take a photo with the "I amsterdam" sign in front of the Rijksmuseum...

And with a big wooden shoe...

And with a windmill!

Beer tasting at Brouwerij 't IJ

The Magere Brug ("Skinny Bridge")

 In front of the beautiful train station, leaving our final European destination!

So bittersweet! :-)

Finally an update... and DUBLIN!

I realize it has been a long time since I've updated our blog, but it's not because we haven't been doing anything blog-worthy!  On the contrary, we've just been so darn busy!  But now things have calmed down a bit, so I'll update you on what we've been up to...

We had a wonderful trip home for Christmas and New Year's.  We visited with family and friends in SC and Georgia, spent some time thawing out in Fort Lauderdale, and even made it to our bowl game in Orlando!  (Go Gamecocks!!!)  It was so nice to get together with family and friends, many of whom we hadn't seen in over a year.  And oh the food, sweet tea, and good American Pale Ales!  In Serge's words, it was like we were creating our own version of Super Size Me, enjoying every food and drink of which Germany deprives our Southern-grown palates! :-) I honestly cannot remember a better Christmastime than this one!  Thank you to all our family and friends for feeding us, housing us, and making sure we had a wonderful holiday! 

As most of you already know, soon after the New Year, Serge was offered a managerial position in Fort Lauderdale beginning May 1st! (Yay Serge!) So January was spent working out the details and planning our move back.  Needless to say, it was a stressful but exciting time, so blogging wasn't really on the forefront of our minds.  I am incredibly proud of Serge for his promotion and for all of his success here in Germany!  We are so excited about moving to Fort Lauderdale, reconnecting with old friends, being much closer to family, and working on our tans! :-)

I spent most of February back home in SC, a trip Serge and I had booked last fall, thinking it would be the only time I could make it home until the end of the year.  Although I was really sad about spending weeks away from my loving husband and felt a little guilty leaving him with so much work to do, I wasn't exactly complaining about a little break from all the moving stresses through another vacation with my family! :-) When I wasn't playing with my sweet, sweet niece or cooking dinner with my parents, I was able to catch up with some friends I had missed at Christmas, see an Avett Brothers concert, attend a church oyster roast, tour the Irvin-House Vineyards and Firefly Distillery, and celebrate a good friend's 30th birthday, all the while keeping in touch with Serge through daily Skype dates.  Thanks again to everyone back home for ensuring my trip was just as great as the one a month earlier!  I love you all!

I returned to Germany at the end of February, just in time to celebrate Serge's birthday!  We had planned a trip to Dublin for early September this year, to attend the Notre Dame vs. Navy football game that will be played at Aviva Stadium.  When our plans changed and we realized we would not be living in Europe at that time, Serge asked to move our hotel reservation to early March, to which the hotel gladly agreed, since they are booked solid for the game.  Serge asked Oliver, one of his friends and coworkers who studied in Dublin for 2 years, if he would be interested in joining us for a trip to his old stomping grounds.  Luckily for us, he jumped on the invitation, and was the best tour guide and travel companion we could've hoped for!  It was a welcome change not having to rely on Trip Advisor reviews and biased concierge recommendations, but instead be able to see the city with someone who was familiar with it and knew all the hottest spots to take us!  We had a great trip to the Emerald Isle, and it was the perfect way to celebrate Serge's birthday!

Nando's was Serge's ideal birthday lunch! He had been craving that Peri-Peri chicken since London last summer!

Next stop after filling our bellies with Nando's... the Guinness brewery!

Learning all about Guinness in the Storehouse

Cheers! Enjoying a pint and the 360˚ view of Dublin in the Gravity Bar

Everyone at the bar sang "Happy Birthday" to Serge! :-)

The oldest pub in Ireland, est. 1198

Our amazing tour guide, Oli showing us around Howth, a fishing village outside Dublin 

Howth Harbour

Beginning our hike around Howth Head, which was one of my favorite things we've done this year. It was so peaceful and picturesque up there that I almost forgot my fingers were totally numb and I could plummet to my death if I missed a step!

Trying to stay warm!

Watch out for that cliff, guys!

It was just a tad windy...

Baily Lighthouse in the background - We made it!

Celebrating the completion of our hike with an Irish coffee at The Summit

Yummy Fish and Chips from Beshoff Bros!

And you know it was good if Serge was eating it!

Enjoying live music while pub hopping around Temple Bar  

Powerscourt Shopping Centre - so pretty!

About the millionth time we walked through St. Stephen's Green

I really hope Serge will still be taking pictures of me with various potato characters when we're 90 :-) Here's Tayto and myself at the Dublin airport around 6 in the morning.