Well here it is, our first official post. We'd like to welcome you and thank you for visiting our site. This is our first time with a blog, so please be patient. Just to catch you up this first post is a little long, we'll try to keep them shorter going further. With plenty of photos. We will try to post regularly to share what's happening in our world. Please visit often if you are interested and keep us in the loop as to what's happening in your world too.
As many of you know we have been preparing for our move to Germany since March when Mark found out he had the opportunity to work in the Erlangen, Germany office of AREVA. Boy time went fast. The last five months have been a whirlwind of activities. Leaving family, friends and jobs behind weren't easy, even though we were excited to start our new adventure. We arrived in Germany September 12th. Staying a couple of nights in Erlangen, then moving into our new home in Nurnberg.
This is our new home at Martin-Albertstrasse 8, it's a one bedroom loft style flat (with plenty of room for visitors...hint, hint). Quite a change from our 2 acres in Bedford County, VA but we are loving it. Slowly but surely we are making it our own, with new furniture, light fixtures and special touches. Even though we haven't received our items from the US like warm clothing, pots and pans, photos, or closed toed shoes (don't worry we brought a couple)...it already feels like home. Since our arrival we've been making lots and lots of trips to IKEA, with many more in the future, we've also been visiting the OBI (Home Depot) as any new homeowner would. Our fist official weekend, we went on a "leisurely" bike ride (45miles) along the Ludwig Kanal. We had expected a no sweat Saturday morning ride, but once we arrived back at our car at 5pm (7 hours later) we were ready to head home and take a nap. But hey, with two stops at Beer Gardens along the way...who could complain? We went several evenings to Alstadt Fest in the Nurnberg City Center where we enjoyed good food, beverages and , entertainment. Outdoor street festivals are one of my favorite things. Last weekend we took the train to Munchen (Munich) for the day to attend, the Oktoberfest. It was amazing, thousands of people, lavishly decorated "Tents" (which were temporary, multilevel, restaurants), carnival rides, entertainment both inside and out, lots of food and oh yeah beer too. Unfortunately we didn't have reservations to a tent (necessary to be served food or beer), so much of our time was spent walking around enjoying the sights. It was an adventure and lesson to make a reservation for next year.
In addition to furniture, we are also looking for a car. We'll let you know how it goes. Mark is hard at work, meeting lots of new co-workers. I'm walking the dogs a lot, each morning as we try and take a new route. There is a wonderful (park) greenspace near our house with acre upon acre of walking and bike riding trails, a beautiful lake, and sheep too. Everthing is still so green here. The weather has been up and down with just a little rain so we have been lucky. We begin language classes on Friday of this week. We desperately need them, so far we've gotten by with the little (guten tag, danke and bitte) we know. Wish us luck.
Well, I know that is a lot to take in at once, but we wanted to get it all out there.
Until next time.
p.s. My wonderful friend Cyndi created a my space page for me, she's been updating it and making it fabulous until I learn how. But if you want to check it out here's the link. http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=239968836
