Heidelberg / Strasbourg

So we ended up driving an hour to Heidelberg, Germany on Thursday. The town has the oldest University in Germany. Did the "philosopher's walk" along a steep trail up a hill that looked over the city, then down across the Heidelberg bridge and into the city. Had Italian food for lunch out on a sidewalk cafe. Then toured the Heidelberg castle- it was built in the early 1400's, survived 2 wars and being hit by a lightning bolt. Beautiful castle (pictures below)! Then mom & I did some shopping while the boys went to a pub. Loved the city, it was old and charming and made me want to watch all of my Harry Potter movies. Headed back to k-town around 5, then lived out a typical night for Ben in his hometown: went to one of his favorite Indian restaurant's "Himalaya" then came home & watched "Blades of Glory"...successful day! Here are some pictures:

Mom & I on the Heidelberg bridge

View from the top of the castle of the whole city:

Ben & I outside the Heidelberg Castle.

Yesterday we went to Strasbourg, France. About an Hour and half drive southwest of Ben's house. Got to the city about noon, wandered around looking for the tourist center, it started raining so we gave up and ate lunch at an AMAZING tapas bar (my new favorite kind of food- not be confused with a "topless bar", watch the accent). Then we walked to the Strasbourg Cathedral. Stands 426 feet tall, was built over a period of 200 years starting in 1211. Beautiful building, amazing stain glass and statues. here is a picture of us in front of it:

Left the cathedral, walked to a nearby cafe and people-watched for about an hour. Just as entertaining here as it is in America.. Eavesdropping, not so much- language barrier. Then we walked around & shopped some more.. I think if dad and ben have to wait outside another H&M or Zara there might be a revolt. Then we ate dinner at a very authentic French restaurant. I decided to spare you all pictures of the food, is there anything worse than people posting pictures of food you can't eat? Just know there was salmon, goat cheese, and the best white wine u've ever tasted involved.

Today we are headed to Trier, Germany. Our last trip before heading home Sunday.

"When in Rome!".... Yes?... Go on..??

ROMMEE!!!!!!

what can I even say? Just for your delight this post is filled with as few words and as many awkward tourist pictures as possible.

Got in Monday morning and saw ALL of rome in TWO DAYS! I don't even know how we did it. Dropped everything off at our hotel, went out to St. Peter's square, toured the Basilica, got freaked out by all the mummified Popes on display, walked around the ancient wall to the Vatican, toured every inch of the whole museum- it's like a maze with amazing works of art all along the way and at the end: THE SISTINE CHAPEL! No big deal... I was so surreal to see it, I could have sat there all day. Then we went back to the hotel for a power nap and walked to dinner. No idea where we ate, but there was pizza, wine, music, lady and the tramp, it was perfection. Went shopping after dinner on a street with all vintage shopping. One shop only sold vintage Italian leather boots and purses. An Italian Brad Goreski worked there and we became BFF. Ate gelato and came back and crashed.

Next day we went out and walked to every other sight you could possibly see. Trevi fountain, Coloseum, Spanish steps, Pantheon, more fountains, more buildings- Exhausting, but worth every minute! We ate dinner at Ristorante Del Pallaro, no menus-literally a little Italian lady cooking out of her kitchen, we sat in the dining room and drank wine as she brought out a 5 course meal.. I left a different person. Went to another vintage shop, picked out some things and watched my mom haggle with a shop owner, only the lady didn't speak english so they were haggling on a piece of paper. The lady would write "250 Euro" and my mom would cross it out and write something lower. Eventually I walked out of there with a 160 Euro louis vuitton purse and a free scarf. I.LOVE.ITALY!!!! here are some pictures:

Standing outside our hotel, thanks for recommending it Fitzy! it was perfect :)

Mom & I outside St. Peter's Basilica

Ben made us stop and look at every Ducati, obviously.

We literally walked that whole entire city.

At the Pantheon, half of it was being restored but it was still amazing

I mean, it was no Braums Drive Thru...but when in Rome, eat Gelato!

& indeed I did... 4 times... in a day and half.

brother, dad & I at the Spanish steps

here in starts the classy tourist pictures...

at the Trevi fountain, they told me if I threw one

in I would come back.. so I threw in 2.

Oh just dad leaning on the Coloseum.

this pose has actually never been done before.

just serving up some Coloseum..

it had been a long day....

This next picture was of my favorite part of Rome. There were ruins on either side of a busy street. It was crazy to look out over the marble ruins in the middle of a modern city and think- this is where the romans lived, hung out, went to work, bought things.. over 2,000 years ago!.. the reunion tower in Dallas has been there since 1978, so its a similar feel.

One of the greatest things was sitting here in Rome and reading Philippians. Brought it to a whole new level, I kept thinking about how paul prayed verse 1:9-11 while in prison, right here where I was. I would recommend going to Rome for this reason alone- it'll make things more real and bring you to your knees in a whole new way.

Overall the trip was AMAZING! I can't even fully describe what it was like seeing all of that history, eating so much amazing food, getting to see SO MUCH famous art, already saving my pennies to go back!!

sorry for the novel, promise next time will be shorter! we're either going to belgium, munich, or france tomorrow so i'll keep you posted...

99 Luftballons.

Made it! 9 hour flight- which equals 1 entourage, 2 30 rock, 1 office, 1 Blind Side, 1 Couples Retreat and 1 curb your enthusiasm. Love in-flight on demand!
Side-note to female readers: all our flight attendants had on Christian Louboutins..?? So I'm changing career paths.

Got here early Friday morning, & instantly in love. Germany is like an efficient version of Spain. Got off the Plane, was through customs in less than 4 minutes (does that ever happen?) met up with Ben, got on the Autobahn (German highway- 100mph speed limit). Everything is fast and efficient- and clean! The public restrooms here nearly brought a tear to my eye. But it still has that laid back European feel. (People sitting outside cafes talking & drinking coffee (or mostly beer) for hours.) In the immortal words of Miley- the best of both worlds.

Drove to Kaiserslautern, where my brother lives. Cute little town-Had my first Schnitzel, which is basically chicken fried pork. Hit up H&M, the sales person talked to me in German- took that to mean I don't scream "American Tourist".. yay! Went to bed at 7:30pm, woke up at 10am. thanks jet lag!

Next morning went to the market to buy vegetables (moms idea) then headed to Ramstein. Largest military base in Europe. Kind of like entering little America- over 50,000 Americans live on base. They have their own mall, supermarket, churches, version of Wal-Mart, everything. No wonder my brother doesn't know a word of German. Except for "Doner" which is "midnight fourth meal" haha. Went to base headquarters, got to see where he works, look inside the C21. Went to a squadron party and met all of the guys and officers in his squad. and their wives, Hannah-take heart, all these ladies were normal, capable, and fairly well dressed! We got a personal shout out from the band, and Ben got pulled on stage to do an Irish dance. Wasn't a total insult to our heritage, but was definitely a humbling experience. Also the guitarist told my dad he looked like James Taylor-made his night.. maybe his whole trip.


Ben's street:



Back of Ben's house:

As you can see, the motorcycles found a home under the deck. PTL.


mom & dad in front of the German country side.



Went to a small American Baptist church this morning, then out to eat afterwards.

If you don't order beer (Bier!) or Coffee at meals the waitress looks at you funny. I have yet to order a beer, mostly out of fear that I will say the name wrong (major taboo) so instead I have some of other people's, and all the stereotypes are true- it's better over here. That goes for both Chocolate and Beer...what more do you need?



Went to a castle today, they are everywhere here! half of it was ruins, half was still standing.
They also took the time to BLUNTLY describe what your dog cannot do here:

love Germany.



Gaining important life skills while I'm here, such as:
How to play Call of Duty (MW2). !

"OSCAR MIKE!" now I know what that means! thanks Call of Duty.
As you can see, Texas heritage is being represented well behind us.



On another, more depressing, note- our neighbors sent us this picture of our house in Plano...

All i have to say is my heart goes out to those of you who stayed in town and are now having to deal with this! you did nothing to deserve this fate.

well, next time you hear from me I will be in Rome! We leave tomorrow- 4:30 wake up call, sweet! Love and miss you all!

brother ben

So it's been almost a year since I started this blog-
don't be confused by the title, I started it in order to blog my adventures while living and working in Seattle summer '09. And as for the blog name "ellireid"... well, thats a long story...in sum its kind of my alias- also the name of Sarah Chalke's character in Scrubs.

MOVING ON!- I am headed to Germany in FOUR DAYS and decided that's a good enough excuse to pick up the blog again. Why Germany? My brother Ben flies the C21 learjet at the Air Force base in Frankfurt, Germany. This is exciting for a few reasons- 1. I never get to see my brother, (or my mom and dad really either) 2. 10 day break from school- what is better than that?? 3. Umm Hi- EUROPE!! I'm ready for my culture fix. bring on the crepes and museums.

Thanks to the awesome military lifestyle that causes our men in uniform to be MIA (pun!) 350 days out of the year, most of yall have never met my brother, even close friends- which is really a shame, so I thought I would use this entry to introduce you to him!!
plus- who doesn't like a lot of pictures on a blog entry??

- 24 yr old. Hilarious. Educated. graduated from the Air Force Academy- mechanical engineering. Built a formula 1 race car for his senior project. NBD.



if you're having trouble putting 2-and-2 together.. he's REALLY smart!

-Ordained- 1 wedding and counting.



-always politically correct.



- Adrenaline junkie much? Sky diving, base jumping, 2 motorcycles, race car driving... i could go on...base jumping in Switzerland:



-Great in the kitchen. featured here making his own Hard Cider.


6. he's my brother! the end.


Just a quick glimpse.. he would probably die if he saw this, i'm kind of dying right now myself... more posts to come- next time it will be from across the pond :)