While in Lauterbrunnen recently (aka the most beautiful little village in the world – more on that later), Brian and I met some travelers from the U.S. who were on a 3-week tour of Europe. When they learned we were living in Germany, one of them asked me: “Do you miss anything about the U.S.?”…
In 2007, during my first visit to Berlin, I went on a free walking tour. Even though it was advertised as free, if at the end you thought the guide did a good job and you enjoyed the tour, you tip them what you thought it was worth. The idea was that you shouldn’t have to…
This post is a little late, but I thought I’d share our recent New Year’s Eve experience in Freiburg, Germany. We went to Schlossburg, a hill that overlooks the city, to celebrate. Here is a list of the differences between New Year’s Eve in the US and New Year’s Eve in Germany, as I experienced…
Of the 6 million Jews that were killed during the Holocaust, between 300 and 350 of them were from Freiburg.* *I haven’t found an exact number of deaths of Freiburg Jews, but there were 350 Jewish citizens who were arrested and deported to Camp Gurs, an internment camp in southwest France. Camp Gurs was, at…
The holidays are truly an awesome time to be in Europe. It has everything you could ever want, from cold weather (Florida girl here!), to miles of lights decorating the city’s buildings and streets, to Christmas Markets! The only thing missing was my family, but we were lucky enough to have Brian’s family come visit…
One of the reasons that Erin and I chose to come to Germany was that the process to get a Visa is relatively straightforward. I’m not saying it’s easy, just that the rules are defined a little better than in some other countries. So, are you trying to figure out how you can get a…
When Erin and I originally planned our time in Germany, we decided our first apartment here would be a short-term sublease. The reasons for this were, 1) we wouldn’t have to purchase any furniture, and 2) we wouldn’t be stuck with a long-term contract. Both of these would be important in the event that we…
Our apologies for disappearing for so long! We know you’ve just been waiting with bated breath for our return. We moved about 4 weeks ago and just got Wifi installed 2 days ago, so we’ve been living in the dark ages for nearly a month (egad!) This post is mostly to fill you all in…
Opening a bank account turned out to be one of the simpler steps toward receiving our visa, once we got to the right bank. Things that did not get us a bank account: Going to Sparkasse. When we asked the woman at the counter if we could open an account, she just said, “no.” And…
Germans sure do like to mix their beverages. While I would get funny looks in the US if I asked for a mixture of pilsner beer and Sprite, that’s exactly what people often do here. In fact, there is a name for it. “Ein Radler, bitte!” If you think that’s strange, check out some of…
The Wildly Ordinary Life 