Not too many digs in Dresden

The weekend after Portugal I headed down to Dresden for our school's annual volleyball tournament. Yes, I coach our girls volleyball team.  Let me make one thing clear.........it is nothing like the States, but the girls are great to work with.  Besides the volleyball, the highlight of the weekend was the opening of the Dresden Christmas Market(s). Not only did their main Christmas market rock but they had about 3 or 4 all over the main part of the city.

The main Christmas Market

Just glorious!

Sipping on some gluhwein with the my assistent, Katie, boy's coach, Laura (taking the picture), male chaperone, Scott, and our athletic director, Ulli. This was Scott's first Christmas market ever and I know the ladies and I showed him a good time!

These bad boys are famous all around German and come in all different sizes. They are called Weihnachtspyramide and every house should have one.

The beautiful Frauenkirche. I love the story of this church. Read about it in our summer post about Dresden.

It was as amazing as it looks

Ulli introduced us to the most amazing dessert I have ever had. It might sound simple but it was incredible, a baked apple. Add some vanilla sauce, cinnamon and sugar and you have heaven and it even includes an edible bowl.

The Christmas Market with the Frauenkirche in the background

More old lit up buildings in Dresden made for a cool effect

Der Furstenzug- a tile parade of former leaders of Dresden or Saxony the state, not exactly sure

One of the most interesting markets was the medieval market in the castle courtyard. 

My girls and even though we only won one game out of nine at least we had fun doing it

Having been to many Christmas markets at this point in Germany, I will say that Dresden might be up there as one of my favorites. It was spread out which made it less crowded and I love how all the different areas offered different things. I hate when the different areas just sell the same stuff. Dresden is a great city and definitely one you should put on the list any time of year but especially in December.

--Marisa

Hamburglars

     Once Marisa found out that she would be in Lisbon for a girls' weekend I couldn't stand the thought of spending that weekend at home in Frankfurt.  I immediately thought of possible short weekend trips to take in order to avoid missing out on the fun.  I convinced my friend Andy to join me for a "guys" weekend to rival the girls' weekend and we came up with the port city of Hamburg - about 4 hours north of Frankfurt.  It was pretty much the last "major" city in Germany that I hadn't been to and a perfect opportunity to cross it off the list.

The beautiful port city of Hamburg - Europe's third largest.  Situated on the Elbe River, it's Germany's most important shipping hub.

     We came with no real game plan - just to explore and experience the city.  As Marisa had the camera in Portugal this weekend, Andy stepped up to the plate and delivered these fabulous photos.

Lots of shipping and ship-building going on.  We took a public transit boat on a nice little unofficial tour of the port.

Near the fish market that rages for a few hours every Sunday we have this fish monger and notice the cruise ship being assembled in the background.

I love the black-and-white effect here.  These bicycles were parked in a most unfortunate position underneath a tree that was home to dozens of pigeons.

One of our favorite finds was this little cafe that was furnished with tall armchairs and ottomans - much like a friend's living room.  Nice a cozy on a cool November evening.

We had a foggy night that made for some great photos down by the water.

Another foggy photo.

Hamburg also had plenty of swanky shopping streets and alleys.

Nice little reflection pic amid the canal system.

Ever see Hitchcock's "The Birds"?  This guy came straight out of Bodega Bay!

St. Pauli - the section of Hamburg with the most character.  It's the working class part of town, yet also kind of hip and trendy.

St. Pauli - also famous for their football club which bears the skull and crossbones as their logo.  They're known as some of the most passionate fans in Germany.

Ooohhhh..............I like Hamburg.

Hamburg is a very livable city with enough variety to make me want to return.  Excellent guys' weekend.  Thanks for the pics Andy!

--Justin

Mixing Work and Pleasure #2- Lisbon, Portugal

I might work in education, but even we get some perks. One of those perks is my annual college counselor and university admissions conference. You might remember the location last year and this year was also a gem.  We headed to sunny and warm Lisbon, Portugal.  Justin and I visited this town last Fall Break and I fell in love with Lisbon and I was very excited to go back.  After working hard for three days, some of my fellow counselor girlfriends decided to stay for a girl's weekend in Lisbon and what a fabulous idea that turned out to be.  I have to give myself some props for finding an absolutely fabulous little apartment in the center of town and if you ever find yourself in Lisbon stay here. I don't mean to brag, but it was probably the best one I have ever found to date.  We literally could walk to almost anything in 10 to 15 minutes. We felt like locals at least for a few days.  I have to say, one thing I love about Lisbon is how funky and unique it is compared to many other European cities. 

Alison and I on the street where we rented an apartment. Very authentic wouldn't you say?

Our view of the docks about a two minute wall from our apartment

I absolutely love the tile in Portugal and by the end I think the girls loved them too or they just told me they did

Not sure what this was for but these ladies were wondering the shopping streets

The amazing store fronts

Old meets new and what great contrast

Artwork on the side of buildings

My Frankfurt counselor buddies, I am really lucky to work in the same city as these wonderful woman

Rua do Comercio

Rossio- Lisbon's historic center

The famous tram 28-definitely worth a ride around the city

The Alfama district known as the sailors quarters and the oldest part of Lisbon. I would also label it the most unique, see exhibit A

Belem Tower

Inside the Belem Tower

Monument of Discovery

The stunning cloisters of the Monastery of Jeronimos

Known as Manueline architecture named after King Manuel I, the Fortunate, 1495-1521

My girl Jessica looking great amongst the cloisters

The outside of the church at the monastery

Great conference and an even better weekend in Lisbon with my girls.  I can't say this enough but if you are deciding on countries to visit in Europe, Portugal needs to be on that list. It is an amazing country with so much to offer. I feel like it is low priority especially for my American friends who want to get more bang for their buck when flying all the way to Europe. But trust me Portugal is absolutely amazing and you can't beat warm weather in November. Thanks Alison and Jess for a weekend to put in the memory books. Hope to see you again soon Portugal!

--Marisa

Earning some street cred

Some of you might be wondering why hasn't Marisa been writing any blogs lately (or you haven't noticed) but the reason is I am back in school people.  I started my master's degree back in August and since then my nose is either in a textbook or writing a paper on my computer. So as you can imagine the last thing I want to do is write some more.  I am studying to get my Master's of Education in School Counseling at Liberty University.  It is a three part program with one third online, one third classes on campus and one third is a practicum.  I am four classes in and I am loving it. I love being back in school and learning about something I am actually doing.  Because I work in education already I have plenty of ideas for topics and it is actually information that is useful to me now. Also by getting some kind of certification it will open up more opportunities in the counseling world for me. Hopefully I will graduate in 2013 and have a counseling license in Virgina, but don't worry once I get the hang of this whole school thing I will be back to blogging regularly. Plus life in general (work- it is application season, coaching volleyball, grad school, being social and being a good wife) has been crazy this past month and I am hoping after the holidays things will slow down. I have a few blogs to catch up on and hopefully I can do that soon.  I went to Lisbon, Portugal for a work conference and stayed for a weekend with the girls and then I went to Dresden to coach volleyball and open up the Christmas market season, so more on that in coming blogs.

Here is to a more educated Marisa. Now back to my 10 page paper due on Sunday.

--Marisa

Belated Halloween Post

While Halloween and trick-or-treating definitely exists in Germany, it doesn't seem to be quite as big of a deal as in the States.  We don't usually do much on this holiday anyways, but this year we ended up going over to two of our friends' places for a dinner, scary movie, and pumpkin carving.
     The meal was an impressive rolled, stuffed slice of meat along with a homemade mushroom soup.  The movie was Scream 4, which I didn't know was still going strong.  The carving was inspired by "Jack" from the Nightmare before Christmas, which incidentally is a great movie for both Christmas and Halloween.

scary, huh?

     One cool thing around Frankfurt is a haunted house thing they do at Burg Frankenstein (Castle Frankenstein).  We didn't make it this year, but some coworkers said that it was pretty legit with professionally done-up characters crawling around the grounds and scaring the mess out of folks.  I think they also do choreographed shows and dinners as well.  Maybe next year.

--Justin

Me Gusta Espana 2011 - Part Four: Ronda

     The last town that we visited in Andalucia was the quaint little town of Ronda.  Situated on a little plateau over a beautiful gorge, this little gem is known for being one of the first major bullfighting towns.  It was also immortalized in Ernest Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls", in which the Republicans murder Nationalist sympathizers by throwing them off of the cliff that surrounds much of the town.  Ronda is not mentioned here specifically, but the reference is strikingly similar to actual events during the Spanish Civil War in 1936.  Our visit came complete with a walking tour around the gorge and a guided tour through the bullfighting ring/museum.

El Tajo gorge, spanned by Puente Nuevo ("new bridge").  This is the second attempt, completed in 1793, as the first try in the 1700's collapsed shortly after construction was finished.  Looks like they learned a lot from those mistakes.

 Here's a backside view of Puente Nuevo.

Ronda overlooks a nice little landscape.......and these are probably the cliffs referred to by Hemingway.

Outside of the bullring there were a few local heroes immortalized in metal.  While I can't recall who these chaps are, I read about one famous bullfighter from Ronda that killed a few THOUSAND bulls in the ring without an injury.  Maybe it's just me, but that doesn't sound as dangerous as it's made out to be.  

Apparently PETA doesn't have much of a stronghold in Spain, because bullfights are still held today.  They're usually during festivals for the town in the spring/summer.  

Inside the bullring we came across a Spanish riding school with these beautifully-bred creatures hanging around.

My go-to move when I'm in the ring.....

........and my back-up plan!!

Marisa goes for a little more charm than intimidation.......

.......and if it doesn't work she's got her plan B as well.  Maybe this is why that guy never got injured.

Ronda also has a lovely little park, covered in trees, that opens up to the cliffs.  They also have a few peacocks kept in a huge netted area in the park.

I definitely recommend Ronda for a quiet little Spanish town in Andalucia.  It's got a lot to offer for a half-day visit.

--Justin