Venice

I did not know when we booked this trip that we barely missed the Venice Film Festival. This is St. Mark's Square with remnants of a stage and seating where I assume part of the festivities were held. It's strange to think that just a week prior to our arrival, all the pretty Hollywood types were wining and dining here.
Me forcing a smile after fighting the crowds in St. Mark's Square. We should have waited a few more weeks for the peak season to die down. We quickly lost all desire to politely wait 5 seconds for Joe Tourist to frame his stupid picture before walking right in front of his camera. Seriously....they were everywhere.
This was probably our favorite part. Venice is better at night, I think. It calmed down and was quiet and pretty and romantic. We stopped in St. Mark's Square to listen to this little orchestra play a Sound of Music medley. We were hooked by the time they got through a whole song. Many people had warned us of the price of a coffee if you stop at a cafe on the square. I think that's why they have the orchestra lure you in - resistance is futile. We had dessert and coffee and listened to music until they finally stopped playing after midnight. We could have stayed all night.

Some of the sights from the water taxi...

The one thing in Venice that looked totally out of place...this skull sculpture was made entirely of metal cans and buckets and other miscellaneous scrap metal....random...
The gondolas never stopped being picture worthy....every gondola sighting was a photo op...


Pigeons everywhere...I have to believe that people are not particularly fond of pigeons in their day-to-day lives. Go to Venice however, and pigeons are apparently beautiful and sweet and not at all disgusting. People were throwing feed to attract a sea of pigeons and then letting them perch on their heads, hands, shoulders.....just wherever they happened to land. We were literally scooting through, having to kick dirty birds out of the way with every step. Yuck...



We did a gondola ride after dinner on Saturday. The guidebooks say it's a bit of a rip off but I beg to differ. It is one of the most expensive 30 minutes of entertainment we've ever had but SO worth it. It's the only way to really see and enjoy the back "streets" (canals) , the hidden bits that you can't see walking. And it honestly doesn't get much more romantic than an Italian guy in the obligatory black & white striped shirt quietly telling you the little bits of history and reminding you that a kiss as you float under every bridge is good luck. :)


The little street where our hotel was located....

All in all it was a wonderful way to celebrate our first year of marriage, even if we were a couple weeks early. Tomorrow is the official day. My, how life has changed in one short year!

Visitors

Okay, so I still have some catching up to do. Venice could take a while. It was A-MAZING! But the highlight of our day here in Heppenheim is the arrival of our friends Ben & Janet! They landed about an hour ago and should be negotiating the drive here very soon. Ben's 30th birthday is this Friday and we plan to celebrate with him by taking a four day weekend and traveling to Salzburg, Munich and Neuschwanstein. They will be our first official house guests and we could not be more excited! Kudos to Janet for planning, not only a surprise party back in Dallas, but planning this whole trip behind Ben's back....crafty...

Bamburg

This is the lovely little hotel we stayed at in Bamburg. It sits on the Main River and was so charming. We had quite a time finding it. The one street that led there was blocked off for a local little street festival. This was super-fun. They had a band playing, T for Two, and they were playing the strangest combination of traditional German songs and older American songs. Some that you might recognize: Be My Baby (from Dirty Dancing soundtrack), I'm a Believer (The Monkees), Over in the Glory Land (yes, the hymn), and our personal favorite, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. This was their encore and had everyone in the street singing along. It was hilarious. One of the more traditional songs, which we have since been told is very common here, in English, involved the chorus line "Life is life". There were very few lyrics but we thoroughly enjoyed the profoundness of this song. :)

Wurzberg

I'm so far behind! Here are some photos from Wurzberg. This was two weekends ago. We liked Bamburg better than Wurzberg. There were a few key sights to see in Wurzberg but the city itself was just okay. The prince bishop's residence & gardens, the hillside fortress, and several churches were the key highlights. We spent Saturday afternoon in Wurzburg and then drove to Bamburg for the evening.

We haven't decided whose car this is yet.

As Jami mentioned, we do have a few new toys. We went back and forth on what car to buy. In the end, we settled for the BMW 335i. It has 300hp like my old car, but with a little more comfort than the Trans Am. BMWs and Mercedes are a dime a dozen over here so we should fit in better on the road than the guy at work that brought his H2 Hummer over with him. Nothing screams I'm an American, please key me, than a Hummer in Europe. I think Jami's favorite feature is the comfort access which lets you lock/unlock the doors and start/stop the car without ever taking the keys out of your pocket. I don't have to tell you what my favorite feature is. I have to admit that the first weekend I got it up to 150 mph. It supposedly has a governor at 155mph. I'll let you know if it does or not. It has US specs, so we can bring it home with us in a couple of years.

New Toys

We have a television! We spent two full months, and remember Steve has a couple of weeks on me, sans TV. I don't consider either of us TV junkies by any stretch but living without it has still been a bit of a challenge. It has been REALLY quiet around here. Often this has been a good thing. We've both done a lot of reading....I've read five books since I got here! But there have also been times that we have really missed not being able to sit down and watch something. So I've re-activated our Blockbuster.com account and our queue is stocked. We're back in business.

We also have a car! A second car I mean. It has been REALLY nice to be mobile again. I am no longer spending five day stretches inside my house and ready to go nuts by Friday afternoon. :) I have to admit that I have quite surprisingly discovered my inner speed-demon. I have found myself driving on several occasions tipping up over the 100mph mark - and quite comfortably I might add. I don't know if it's the car or the roads or the no speed limit, but whatever it is, I like it.

This past weekend we went to Wurzburg and Bamberg - two cities just east of us about two hours by car. I will post photos shortly. We liked Bamberg better than Wurzberg. I think we may have over-dosed ourselves on historical sights a bit. As we were leaving Wurzberg Saturday afternoon and heading for Bamberg, Steve asked me what significant things we were looking forward to seeing there. My response, "I don't know.....churches......old buildings.......forts & castles....." Don't get me wrong - everything we have seen has been unique and wonderful. I think we may have just gotten a little over-zealous in our first 8 weeks here. We head this Friday to Venice for the weekend (!!!!) so I think that will be a good change of pace.