European Roadtrip with Martha Part 1

October 24th - the roadtrip before school started.....hey there folks....i am back and might be soon again with this roadtrip stuff....this is part 1 of the trip martha and i took before school started for me this past august....we saw a few folks we had worked with in bucharest, and went to a wedding party for a friend of mine from high school, saw quaint little german towns, drank beer in the czech republic, wandered around salzburg at night and hung in a great town called bled in slovenia.....it was a terrific trip and we put a lot of kilometers on the car....below are pictures from the german part of the trip....the other three countries will be in the second part of the this update....

i picked martha up in munich, where our good friend susie has moved this year....we were the first folks to see her apartment, and even made it before her shipment arrived....what a cute place it is, even if there are 88 sloping stairs to the top floor spot she has....we had a tasty dinner in an italian restaurant around the corner from susie's place and hung out catching up and hearing about how susie's new school was....it was a great visit....

from susie's in munich, we headed north to the wine growing region of germany to go to my friend jimmy's wedding party with his wife ulrike....they were married in the states this past february, but many of her family and friends couldn't make it, including me, so they had this celebration before they headed off to greece for their honeymoon....the party happened in an
old post office that was converted to a restaurant and was simply charming....you can see me and the groom before the celebration begins....this was the wein castell we stayed in....very cute...

in the shot below you can see the interior of the courtyard where the festivities were held....and then dinner was hosted in what used to be the stables.....at this celebration jim, martha and i were the only native english speakers....it was cool to play the role of jim's "family" as they couldn't make it....even though it was martha's first time meeting jim....it was terrific meeting all of ulrike's friends and family and all of us were introduced by the bride and groom over tea and cakes under the trees of the courtyard....

as you can see they had flower children helping them stroll in to the celebration and jim is a very happy man....the day was beautiful and the spot was perfect....

just another picture of the happy couple....such a great place to celebrate....

one of the best things about this celebration was how close the place we were staying was - a walk away....here we are at the end of the party - i am not sure jim remembers this picture...but all three of us look great and fun was had by all in attendance!

the next day martha and i wandered up the weinstrasse or wine road to get to brady, jeanette and charlotte's house.....i was a bit nervous that sam, the dog they got in romania, would not like me, as shown in the past, but there was nothing to worry about....along the wine road, we stopped at a wine festival and wandered around a quaint town....where people really took care of their houses....too cute

and then we were in bonn, with charlotte....what a cutie....she is such a happy kid and we had a great time getting to know her and catch up with her parents and the cute place they live....this shot is from breakfast....love it!

we took a trip to another town close by that was on the river to have lunch and walk around one day.....it was the end of brady's vacation and he really wanted to get out....they were also in the process of buying a car, which was successful the day we left....yahoo....maybe they will come down and visit me!
we also walked around the part of bonn they lived in....it was also well kept and quaint....plus we had some tasty ice cream....yummy and found an amazing indian grocery store - yahoo!

i love this picture of the happy family - brady, jeanette, sam and charlotte....too cute :)

before leaving we got to have breakfast on the deck one last time....it was a fabulous visit and i hope to get there one more time before leaving this part of the world...we'll see.....here we all are celebrating the time we had together.....

and then we headed towards prague....before getting there martha and i stopped in a very cute town called bamberg, which is known for beautiful buildings, especially a fresco-ed church, and smoked beer...which we both had....very interesting....this was my favorite piece of art in this town....very cool and overlooking the river that separated the main part of the city from the old part.....it reminds me a lot of the head in krakow's main square....although this one is upright and that one is not....don't know why....it just does....

this is the church that is completely painted on the outside and located between the old part of town and the new part of town....its amazing looking and they light it up at night making it even more stunning....

after dinner we walked up to where the main government buildings are located and the main cathedral of the city....nobody was up here, which was both cool and creepy....but the buildings in this area of town were incredible....and oh so gothic :)

okay....this brings us to the end of the first part of the trip martha and i took together...in the following update we will have part two including prague, plzen, salzburg and bled....all amazing places in their own right.....until then i hope all is well with each of you and that you have a happy halloween wherever you are in the world....

sorry i have been missing for the past two months, but i have resurfaced and am trying to catch up with things....so if you wish to send an email, please do and i promise i will let people know about how the job search is going....if you hear or know of any positions you think i would be perfect for or interested in, please, please, please get in contact....thanks for all of the well wishes....and catch you on the flip side.....