Monday's Moment: Spanish Bluebells

 

Monday's Moment: Purple Allium

 

Wrapping up 2022

So other than our trips to Koln and all over Poland, we did the usual school, work, scouts, hair dyeing, and try to relax here and there. Clarissa was in part of the stage crew for a Snoopy production.

We did the usual pumpkin carving.

The cat even got into the Halloween spirit!

Clarissa dressed up as a cat. Given she's now used to wearing contacts she opted to get some cat eye contacts to complete the costume.

Richard and I attend the Marine Corps Ball. It was on a boat and we did a harbor cruise.

In December, college acceptance letters started coming in and someone was happy to have made it into their first choice!

Isa got into the holiday spirit. 

My in-laws came over once school was out and stayed until the new year. They were able to enjoy the Christmas morning fun.

As well as Christmas dinner.

The day they arrived, Richard took his parents down to the Frankfurt Christmas market. Between Christmas and New Years, we went to a glühwein tasting at night in the Kloster Eberbach (Eberbach Monastery) near Wiesbaden. 

Because websites will automatically translate, we did not realize the tour was in German...lol. Our tour guide did not realize we couldn't understand anything he was saying until the last 20 minutes....where he gave us the cliffnotes version of the 2 hour tour....lol.

Monday's Moment: Funny Warning....

 

Monday's Moment: Everyday Art

 

Monday's Moment: Europaturm aka "Ginnheimer Spargel" from Different Seasons and Angles

Monday's Moment: Rude Gnomes

 

Monday's Moment: Ampelmann

Köln and the Counting Crows

So we've driven past or through Köln (also referred to as Cologne) several times, but other than a quick meal we had not stopped. Given we move all the time (with a limit on how much stuff we can ship), we've moved towards doing trips or experiences for gifts (Disney tickets one year, a cruise another year, etc). I've enjoyed the band Counting Crows for years (ask my dad.....we listened to a Counting Crow album, a Pearl Jam album, and a Pink Floyd album on a short weekend trip from St. Louis, MO, to Pensacola, FL, for a college campus tour (about 12 hours each way....you do the math on how many times I played the CD that weekend)). So when I saw they were coming to Germany, I asked for tickets. Then because of the C-19 pandemic, the concert was rescheduled for about 6 months after the initial date. When concert date finally arrived, Richard and I got the kids off to school and we headed up to Köln. We had a few hours to sightsee before the concert, stayed the night, and drove home the next morning. On our way up, we passed some hay people (since I've seen hay people here and there).

The biggest highlight in Köln is Cathedral Church of Saint Peter (also called the Kölner Dom or Cologne Cathedral).

According to the internets, at 515 feet (or 157 meters) the cathedral is the tallest twin-spired church in the world! It also touts the title of second tallest church in Europe and third tallest church of any kind in the world! When it was completed, it was the tallest building in the world (but was surpassed by the Washington Monument four years later). It is built with gothic architecture and the sand stone has darkened to a black color due to a chemical reaction, so it has a spooky ominous feel as well. So needless to say, with the style and size it is very impressive!

Construction began in 1248, paused in 1560, and there was not have enough funds to restart until the 1840s. The cathedral was completed following the original medieval plan in 1880. The pair of spires results in the cathedral having the largest façade of any church in the world! We found a bronze image of Pope John Paul II on one wall (which makes sense being a Catholic church).

We peeked inside and saw a huge buttressing ceiling and stained glass windows. It houses the Shrine (or Tomb) of the Three Kings. Which is said to be the remains/bones of the three wise men. We didn't check that out. 

We meandered around some of the other streets of the cities. Saw an old classic car decked out for a wedding.

We found the Old St. Alban church which was first recorded in documents in 1172 and was rebuilt several times. The church was majorly damaged in World War II (note there's no roof), it was decided not to be rebuilt but has been secured. In the 1950s, it became a memorial for the dead of the world wars. We were there so late in the day, that it had closed so we did not enter. There is a new St. Alban church that has been built in a different location.

Cool doorway on a little small street. 

Köln (aka Cologne) is the where Eau de Cologne (water of Cologne)....or more simply Cologne was invented around 1709! There are tons of small shops selling cologne. We ended up getting some at a shop at Glockengasse No. 4711. This is where the Original Eau de Cologne 4711 was developed in the 18th century by Wilhelm Mülhens. The Original Eau de Cologne 4711 has been produced here since at least 1799 and is therefore probably one of the oldest fragrances still being produced. We picked up some gifts for the kids and my bestie (and me...lol) here. We then had some dinner before heading to the concert.

There was no assigned seats so we snagged a great spot up on balcony just over the stage!

I wanted the tickets, but brought Richard came as my plus one.....He wasn't the biggest Counting Crows fan, but ended up really enjoying the concert because he knew so many of the songs, just hadn't realized they were sung by Counting Crows. Here's a little clip of one of my favorite songs. The Counting Crows remake of the song Big Yellow Taxi.

The show was at E-Werk, which is an old power station that was built in the historicist style. The E-Werk has been converted to a venue site now. Here's a shot of the old building while we waited on our Uber.

The next morning, we stopped at the Haribo outlet shop to grab some treats to share. Richard was a kid in a candy store....lol.

It was a fun overnight and the kids did great on their own. So fun that they've reached the age and maturity to stay home alone one night.

Summer 2022

So the kid's school goes until late June (I think local German schools go into July). The kids go back in mid-August, so our summer was only a month and half! M headed to Texas to see their Dad. The rest of us also wanted a little taste of America and used frequent flier miles. Clarissa and I headed to our rental property in Florida for a few weeks. Clarissa took her first solo flight and flew up Richard's parent's house. I headed back to Germany a couple days before Richard flew to his parent's house. It was funny on their return flights - M and R/C flew on the same day so their planes were racing to get back...lol. 

On our flight to the U.S., we received chocolate ice cream for the meal dessert. Someone's favorite! So after everyone was served, I told Clarissa to go ask the flight crew if she could have another.....she was so smug when she came back with her second cup of ice cream!

With just the two of us, we ate most of our meals at the bar.....we were enjoying some farm fresh corn on the cob (if we find some, it's just not the same overseas).

We enjoyed night swimming and hitting 7-11 on 7-11!

A friend of mine from graduate school came to visit and wanted to go to Sea World. We had fun feeding the animals. Clarissa wasn't the biggest fan of captivity, but I had to explain how seeing hard to find animals in a zoo or park helps people care about the species and protect the animals in the wild. 

We did enjoy the cold penguin exhibit and the walk through tanks. I think Clarissa's favorite thing was the rides.

Remembering life in Fiji and swimming among the clownfish.

We got hit with one of those traditional Florida summer afternoon thunderstorms. This one produced a beautiful double rainbow.

We decided to update the townhome and paint the walls (they were still rocking the builder off white color). We decided on a light gray color but decided to the paint an accent wall in the den and the bathrooms a fun color. We hired someone to paint the gray walls (there is a huge stairwell that would be tricky to access) and Clarissa and I painted the bathrooms and accent wall (there's things you miss doing when living in rented housing all the time).

We finally hung up a piece of carved art work we had picked up in Doha! I also installed some outlet wall plates with nightlights. We replaced a bunch of damaged box springs we discovered when moving furniture to paint. We also hung up some new curtains around the property.

We saw lots of neighborhood wildlife. A baby red ear slider (we took it from the road and put in the pond) and a gang of Sandhill cranes.

Over spring break, we had gone to three of the four Disney parks, so Clarissa and I hit Animal Kingdom one day. She loved the Everest ride and we rode it multiple times. We did one of the avatar rides with fast pass, but the new ride was either a 2 hour wait or pay another $15 pp to fast pass it.....we skipped that ride!

It was insanely hot that day......

We had made reservations for a late lunch at the Rainforest Cafe just outside the gates. Clarissa in slushy heaven!

Popular photo wall!

Clarissa had signed up for a weeklong sleepaway camp in Florida, so I dropped her off. One day they took a field trip to an escape room.....and Clarissa now has a favorite fun game to play!

While she was at camp, I enjoyed pool nachos and began tackling the owner's closet. When we bought the property, the owner's closet was full of stuff. We donated all the baby/little kid items the first year, but it still needed more help.

I pulled everything out, used some leftover paint to brighten up the room, then assembled some shelving I picked up at Ikea, donated a bunch of stuff that wasn't ours and we wouldn't use. I had gotten some bins at Target....and viola - the owner's closet is finally organized and accessible to grab things in the back without completely emptying out the room. We have some toiletries and cleaning supplies, which saves so much space in our luggage. It's easy to grab a bin and take it to a bathroom or down to the kitchen. We also have some supplies for when we PCS there with the cat!

After camp, Clarissa and I had a spa day! 

Clarissa donated 8 inches of hair! I think she grew up during the hair cut as well. After haircuts, we went for pedicures! 

Then we went and played some glow in the dark putt putt!

The next day, I dropped Clarissa at the airport and she made it to North Carolina!

Richard enjoyed visiting his parents and doing some site seeing.

Since I wasn't there I can't really tell about what they did. I know Clarissa did an art day camp, Richard ate lots of barbecue, and they went to some escape rooms....lol. We managed to keep our garden plot alive all summer and enjoyed lots of tomatoes and some patty pans (a type of squash that grew up on its own, but we pretty tasty).

We also enjoyed our garden plot neighbor's sunflowers.

Then it was everyone back home and school started. Clarissa was now in middle school and had a locker. M was starting senior year of high school! The crazy busyness ensued.