Happy Fall Y'all!

As my friend Ron would said, Happy Fall Y'all!! I just couldn't help but share some photos of what it looks right outside our door. From looking out on our balcony to walking to the subway it is so beautiful right now with all the fall colors. I feel like I am in New England. Enjoy some fall photos of Frankfurt.

Enjoying the fall weather for as long as I can. All I need is some pumpkin flavored food and a cinnamon  candle.

Let's Get Physical!

Me and my free banana with membership.

     I know you've been wondering from looking at our pictures, "how in the hell are those Jackson's managing to maintain their boyish and girlish figures?"  Well, let me tell you that over the past three months it has definitely not been because we've been working out.  To be honest, we've had plenty of other stuff going on, but have been meaning to join a gym to take better care of ourselves and keep in a routine.  

     So, this weekend we went to the local fitness club "Turngemeinde Bornheim" for their open house where we could basically come in and have a look at the facilities and join the club for a reduced price.  We signed up for two monthly memberships which includes access to the workout facilities and as many fitness classes as we want - I know I've been dying to get my Tai-Bo on and focus my chi with some old ladies.  

     Also, one of Marisa's volleyball coaches is a trainer there and he informed us that this gym is partly subsidized by the government, so you can have a FREE personal trainer as many days as you'd like.  We're thinking that as part of the national healthcare system the government invests in these type of things to keep the general public as healthy as possible.  It makes sense.  Our memberships are cheaper than private gyms because of this (only 39 Euro per person per month).

     So if over the next couple of months you notice that I start filling out my clothes more and some of my shirts start to rip, you'll know why!

Happy Halloween!

In honor of Halloween we decided to watch some scary movies, since it just isn't celebrated in Germany like it is in the States.

Movie #1 Texas Chainsaw Massacre- 2003 version with none other than Jessica Biel. When picking a scary movie you can go in all different directions, but a classic is always a good choice.  We went with a slasher film over the creepy "ring"- type genre.

Movie #2 Beetlejuice. Since I (Marisa) am not a huge scary movie person I wanted to watch something to get me in the spirit and it was between Addams Family, Hocus Pocus, and Beetlejuice. And since I haven't seen Beetlejuice in a longtime it came out on top.

Hope all of you are getting to celebrate just how you want. Either all dressed up or snuggled in bed with a scary movie.

Happy Halloween Everyone!!!!

A surprise visitor....Juanjo

Right before we left for our Fall Break trip one of my dear friends came into town randomly. Lets rewind a little bit. Back in Spring 2005 I studied aboard in Salamanca, Spain and had an experience of a lifetime. While I was there we were handing out free coffee to promote the campus ministry we were trying to get started called En Vivo. And on this cold January day in Spain I met Juanjo. He spoke great english and I spoke not so good spanish. We decided to be language partners to teach each other a thing or two. Well over the semester we became good friends and he also meet all the people at En Vivo. We had some good laughs and good times at one of my favorite places Holy Cross. It was really cool to talk to my friends after I left Salamanca and have them tell me that Juanjo was still hanging out and making great friends at En Vivo. That is why I love En Vivo and that is why Juanjo loves En Vivo too. It was one of the best times in my life and is one of the main reason I wanted to live aboard again. It was a great semester of adventure, uncertainty, and a whole lot of fun and new friendships!
It was great seeing him after 4 years and picking up right where we left off. It seems like a small world when you meet back up with someone in Germany that you met in Spain. He is actually only a little over an hour away from Frankfurt in a town called Wurzburg. He just finished law school and has joined all of us in the job search. He doesn't know if he will stay in Germany or not, but either way it was so awesome to see him and catch up. Being in Germany I do think about what lifelong friends will I make here and seeing Juanjo just made me that much more excited to see.

Good to see you man and I hope we meet up again in life real soon!!!

Justin's New Toy

Strasbourg, France

To finish out our trip we packed up our stuff in Baden Baden and hopped on the train for a day over the border and into France. Many people had told us about Strasbourg and how beautiful it was and they were not joking. This town was a mix of German and French influence. At times I didnt know if I was in Germany or France. I will tell you one thing is they did not speak English and I think they were offended when I asked, "Parlez-vous anglais? " I got a quick "NO" and then Justin asked if they speak German and they said a little. So my lack of French and German skills led to an interesting day of pointing and gestures, but always a good laugh.

The cute little town of Strasbourg

The Strasbourg Cathedral- the 6th tallest church in the world

Just look how tall it is! We climbed 330 steps to get there and paid 4.50 euros.

The city was surrounded by a canal and lots of footbridges. Everything looked liked this.

This was Justin's favorite part and if I didn't say anything about it he would be so disappointed. We took a tour around the canal in this covered boat. They had special headphones with every language you could think of on it. I will mention that the English version of stuff said ended a lot faster than other languages. I don't know if English is quicker or they just don't give us as much info. I hope I wasn't being cheated of valuable information. Anyways at one point the boat pulled up into this thing which I was later told is a lock. They close the boat in and water from the front starts pouring in to level you out with the water ahead of you. It was weird and really cool at the same time.

Then it opens up and you continue on your way in the higher part of the canal.

This was the area called Petit France and we have a painting from a street artist that looks almost like this in our kitchen. It was only 10 euros and we saw her finish it right in front of us. I love street art!

I mean how awesome is this!!!

We really enjoyed our day trip to Strasbourg filled with cathedrals, a canal boat trip, street art, baguettes and crepes (of course).

Der Schwarzwald – “The Black Forest”

                 After seven consecutive weeks of school we finally reached our October Break.  Needless to say it was time to do a little traveling.  At this point we have been thinking that we really want to focus our efforts on seeing the sites in Germany, rather than trying to see all of the surrounding countries.  So, Marisa did a little a research and we decided to go south to see some of the gems of the Black Forest.

                  From Stuttgart we took a train to Baden-Baden, one of the most famous little resort towns in the Black Forest.  We stayed in a quaint little hotel called Hotel am Markt for three nights, spending some time in Baden-Baden and taking a couple of day trips to Triberg and Strasbourg. 

                  As the photos will reveal, Baden-Baden was a beautiful little town with plenty of hiking trails, shops, restaurants, and a casino.  It seemed that we brought the average age of the place down by a few decades, but we really enjoyed ourselves.  The highlight of Baden-Baden is definitely the mineral hot springs baths that they are known for. 

Our hotel "Hotel am Markt" - lovely people, lovely hot chocolate, lovely german breakfast buffet

A River Runs Through It - or at least a canal

Overlook onto Baden-Baden

Alte Schloss - that's German for "Old Castle"; this was the pinnacle of our afternoon hike in the surrounding trails of the Black Forest

View from atop the Alte Schloss

Just before sunset - this hat, by the way, has been awesome camouflage of my Yankee'ness (not in a Northern-Southern sense, but in a America-England sense).  I've had countless Germans ask me if I'm from England, Canada, Scotland, etc.  Us English-speakers all sound the same, apparently.

                  We spent one morning going through the unique Friederichsbad, a “Roman-Irish” bath that’s been around for 150 years.  This place was ridiculously awesome and unlike anything one would experience in America.  Basically, men and women go through separate sides of the baths in a 17-stage spa treatment.  We started with a warm, mineral water shower; then proceeded into a “warm sauna”, then “hot sauna”.  Each stage has its own room with the recommended amount of time to be spent there posted.  After the hot sauna was another shower, followed by a soap and brush massage, performed by a member of the same sex.  Then you shower again and enter the natural “warm steam bath” and the “hot steam bath”.  Those were cool because they are the only steam rooms in the world (they claimed) that are powered solely by the geothermal energy.  That was my favorite because you can really see, smell, and feel the mineral-rich steam in the air in those rooms.  After the steam baths came a dip in a warm mineral spa, followed by two stages in cooler pools that were for both men and women.  Then the cycle comes to an end with a quick plunge into a cold pool, another shower, warm towels for drying off, and a “sleeping room” where they wrap you up in warm towels and blankets and you can sleep however long you like.  Oh, and there aren’t any pictures of this experience because at Friederichsbad clothing is NOT optional.  That’s right, totally naked through all of the stages – now go back and read this paragraph with that in mind.  We went after breakfast to hopefully catch a less-busy time, but sharing the experience with other people is inevitable.  I definitely felt a bit more European and you couldn’t help to take yourself back several centuries to Roman times when they were rockin’ it out like that every day.  Admittedly, there’s nothing real comfortable about having a dude with a mustache massage your entire body with soap and a brush.  On the flip side, at least I’m not in his shoes.  The funniest part is at the end it is customary for the masseuse to give you a little slap on the bum to let you know that you’re done.  It wasn’t quite the same as getting a “good game” tap.  Check out Rick Steves’ video for a better visual of the place.

Outside Friedrichsbad

                  Our day trip to Triberg was memorable as we took a train through the Black Forest to the little town famous for its cuckoo clocks (Kukuksuhren auf Deutsch).  We checked out the Black Forest Museum, which was informative about the life of people in that area.  Then we hiked up to see Germany’s highest waterfall which wasn’t so tall, but it was very beautiful.  The rest of the day we walked over to see the biggest cuckoo clocks in the world which were so big that you could literally walk through to see how they work.  We also checked out some of the cuckoo clock shops and tried some authentic Black Forest Chocolate Cake (good, but not our favorite).

Sign above one of the cuckoo clock shops

Black Forest Museum - some of the original clocks

Germany's highest waterfall - not so high, but not a bad view

I have nothing to say for myself here.... oh, did I mention that squirrels in Germany are red?  It's true.

The World's 1st Biggest Cuckoo Clock in the World - that's seriously what it says.  Perhaps you're thinking what I'm thinking....what a ridiculous claim to make!

couldn't leave without having Black Forest Chocolate Cake (not bad, but not huge cherry fans)

The World's Largest Cuckoo Clock (this one isn't the 1st Biggest, but it's the Last Biggest that we know of...)

All in all, we were happy with our choice to vacation in the Black Forest and enjoy the landscapes in a Fall setting.