Day #2

So, day number two of our journey consisted of waking up fairly early and making sure we were able to find our train that would take us to Heidelberg.
Upon arriving in Heidelberg which is just south of Frankfurt, we noticed a sea of bicycles outside the train station. It was insane. Obviously a lot of people ride bikes in this town cause it looked like hundreds of bikes. And they were all just piled together in one large heap...and we were baffled at how anyone might be able to get their bike back out!?
Heidelberg is a beautiful little city with lots of cute shops and tourist stops. We got aboard the bus that would take us to the castle, a major tourist attraction there in Heidelberg, and got on the tram that takes you up the hill. We bought our tickets and started heading up and missed the actual stop that would take us to the castle and accidentally went up one more. So we had to wait a few moments and take it back down one stop. I guess just a minor delay.
Finally arriving at the castle we opted not to pay to go inside but to walk around the outside and take pictures of the castle and a few city shots.
Here is a nice shot where a corner piece of the castle actually fell off. Glad I wasn't there when it fell. Oops!Here is a side shot of the entrance into the castle.
Oh...and there is my sister walking ahead of me. One of the few times that she was ahead of me. I am kind of a fast walker. lol.Here is a nice shot of the bridge the crosses the Rhine River which takes you into the older part of Heidelberg. We walked down the hill later and went on the bridge.
Here is another good shot of Heidelberg. I loved seeing all the rooftops the same colors and such. Very old looking and quaint.Oh...its me! Haha. Maybe you folks can be the judge. But while I was in Germany I was stopped by tons of Germans asking me directions and who knows what else! Do I look German??
Here is a good shot on the other side of the castle. Pretty cool.
A better look at the town. Where the church is located is also the location of the main square. Lots of shops and cafes, it was lovely!
A photo looking up from the town towards the castle. It was very picturesque there. Very nice.
Here we are on the bridge. The photo is of the main gate the you go through to cross the bridge. It was pretty fun looking. Almost whimsical. This is also where my camera died. Before going to Europe I made sure I bought an adapter so that I could charge my camera. Well, when I get there in Germany all the plugs are deep set and so the adapter can't reach the actual socket. So I had to wait until we went to Italy where the outlets weren't deep set and I could recharge my camera! Ahhhh, the frustrations of traveling. lol.
Well...after my camera dies we explored the streets and went into a bread shop and I bought the most delicious pretzel I had ever eaten in my life!! It was divine!!!!
Afterwards we made our way back to the train station and waited for our train to arrive. We also then got to witness first hand people plucking their bicycles out of the mountain of bikes. lol.
Upon arriving back to Frankfurt we rushed over to the Opera House to make sure that we would be able to get seats. Luckily there were a few seats left and we got the ninth row! Very nice. lol. Since I had a student ID I also got 50% off the price. Sweet deal! The opera that happened to be showing that night was La Boheme by Puccini. A wonderful opera. The only awkward thing about attending the opera is that we were both in jeans and casual shirts. LOL. Everyone else was dressed very formal. So my sister kept complaining that she was quite embarrassed. I just told her to work what she had. :)
We both enjoyed the opera although my sis did fall asleep through part of it.
The only thing that caught me off guard was that they had 4 curtain calls...it just kept going and going and going.
Once we arrived back to the hotel we were soooo ready for bed. But upon arriving at our room the magnetic strip on our door card somehow got deactivated so I had to go back downstairs and have them reactivate it.
Once inside the room we both pretty well collapsed and fell right asleep.
Oh wait...I digress. I learned whilst in Heidelberg that I should keep a watchful eye on my sister. When we were in one shop she picked up this magnet in the shape of a beer mug and while examining it she totally broke it. hahahaha. We both looked at each other in horror and quickly stuck the magnet back on the display. Probably not the most honest thing to do but we panicked. Oh well. :)

Day #1

So this entry will actually involve two days or journey although it really felt like one...since we spent the majority of the time on an airplane. lol.
My sister and I arrived at the Salt Lake City Airport early early in the morning. We went to check in and we decided to use the ones where you can check yourself in....and well, I sorta had a blond moment. haha. When it asks for your passport to read I was looking for where to put it...and I could not seem to figure it out. But I saw this slot that fit the passport perfectly. I had my sister's passport in hand and started shoving it into this foreign slot....and it slid all the way in!! Panic set in! I think my sister was more freaked out than me....haha...but luckily I was able to fish it out. And then looking over to my right I instantly catch sight of the scanner for the passport. The slot in which I placed her passport was actually where the tickets are dispensed! lol. I am soooo silly sometimes! lol.
We get on our first flight which takes us to Chicago.
When getting onto our next flight that will take us into Frankfurt. We get in our seats and as we are getting comfortable we hear a commotion over to the side of us. Over to our right in another row of seats there is a gentleman that had taken someones carry-ons and moved them around in the overhead causing it to stick out, but allowing his carry-ons to sit just fine. Well, the lady who was the owner of the misplaced bag freaks out! She starts complaining very loudly, and poking her husband telling him "Honey, DO SOMETHING!!". Well, after they get it all sorted out, we begin our long flight to Frankfurt.
I slept a little on the plane but I get too anxious and excited to sleep much. Plus it was not very comfortable.
But soon we arrive in Frankfurt!!

Now anxiety really sets in for me, but I try to appear strong for my sister cause she gets severe travelers anxiety! lol. So we get off the plane and start walking around to the baggage claim. Well, first things first before we even reach the baggage claim or customs. I needed to pee!! I don't like going on planes cause I just feel gross in them. Plus, what if you hit turbulence whilst inside that little box and you get thrown all over and make a mess?? Yuck.
So anyway...I go into the bathroom and enter the stall. Wow....what is the first thing I see? There is a huge swastika etched into the wall of the bathroom stall. I had a little laugh to myself as I thought..."Oh my, welcome to Germany Sheldon...swastikas and all!!"
So we make it through customs, which was the easiest customs I have ever been through.
So we go and walk into the airport and we find an information desk....but being somewhat timid we opt to just sit down for a second. It is only like 5am and so there isn't too much going on or any reason to hurry ourselves along.
Finally I get up and ask the lady at the desk how to get into Frankfurt.
She explains to me briefly how to use the underground train to get there and so I grab my sister and after messing around with the ticket machine to use the train we arrive in Frankfurt. It was still very early and so it was extremely dark outside. I felt adventurous and so I convinced my sis to go in search of the hotel. And we found it within 2 minutes. lol. We were able to check in early and go up to our room. They were fairly nice rooms and the beds were heaven!! So soft. It was delicious to my body after having been in an airplane seat for so long.
We took a quick nap and then went out on the town. My first laugh was that there were so many sex shops. I guess Germans and I imagine most europeans are fairly open about that stuff....I think my laugh mostly came from my sister's reaction to them and her telling me to shield my eyes. lol
We went to the main historical center of Frankfurt and it was rather beautiful. Lots of cute little buildings and such. Many of which we found out later had been reconstructed because they were almost fully destroyed during the war.
So, one thing that really shocked me while I was there was how obedient dogs are! Those who know me know that I have a puppy and he is pretty obedient, but, wow, dogs in germany are insanely obedient. They were all off their leashes and were right next to their owners, never leaving their sides. Even someone on their bicycle had their dog running right along side them. I was so impressed. lol.
After we walked around a little bit we went into starbucks to get a hot chocolate for my sister so she could warm up a little bit...as the weather was on the cooler side.

After that we walked down to the river and got some fun shots of the city and just took in our surroundings.
We also visited a church/cathedral there and the doors caught my attention so much. They were huge and had some very cool detailing.
They were obviously depicting different stories from the Bible like the creation of Adam, and Moses, Abraham and Isaac, etc. They were very cool.


Actually part of the original church had been destroyed during the war and so they had to reconstruct most of it. So there were remains of the original sections of the church. It was kinda cool to see.

We then walked towards the shopping areas of Frankfurt and the main mall was actually kind of cool. I remembered reading at one point that the main mall had a roof access where you could see the whole city...so I ventured up and sure enough there it was. lol.

We then went for a walk around some other parts...and sat down next to this pond. There were some city workers walking around it pulling things out of it and cleaning up around it. And random as it was, they pulled a bicycle out of the pond! My sis and I just started to laugh. A bike?? They also pulled out some dead birds and fish. It was hilarious to us. Just innocently sitting there and we get a little variety show of "What's in the Pond?".
We were getting a little tired and so we headed back to the hotel and took another brief nap.
Upon awaking....we were hungry. So we went out in search of a place to eat. Well, we found this one place and when we walked in it was small, and crowded and obviously the hostess didn't speak much english. But they were more than willing to accomodate us. They went and asked three men at a table if it were ok that we sat down at their table since no other seats were available. HAHA. We were shocked but they apparently agreed that it was fine. So we sat down feeling slightly uncomfortable...and ordered our food. It came to us, and was quite good. The men carried on with their conversations and my sis and I just chatted between ourselves, since German is not one of the languages I know a lot of. lol.
After eating we walked down to the river again and decided to take a few night shots.

Then being satisfied with our days adventures, we started walking back to the hotel. Walking back we passed the Frankfurt Opera House and I was extremely interested in maybe seeing an opera while there in Germany. So we investigated and found out that one was showing the next day so we made some plans to attend the next night. I was pretty excited.
Then it was back to the Hotel and we both fell fast asleep!!!

Let's Go To Europe!!

So...during the depressing winter months I had it in my head that I wanted to take a trip somewhere since my weeks paid vacation at my place of employment was looooooooooong overdue. I was chatting with my sister and one way or another we decided to go to Europe. My sister really wanted to go to Italy and I to Spain. Well, after investigating prices and such, we found that flying into Germany was cheaper and so our trip thus became going to Frankfurt and Heidelberg in Germany....and then off to Venice, Florence, Pisa and Rome in Italy. Sorry Spain, until next time!!!
So we got everything rolling and made plans for our 10 day extravaganza in Europe for the end of February. We both were pretty excited as I think we both needed a good vacation.

Many Many Many Lands

Luckily in my life I have been able to visit many wonderful places in the world. Each place just as memorable as the other. I figured it would be smart and fun to blog about them so others might enjoy my journeys as well. :)
I will first start with my most recent trip to Europe where I visited Germany and Italy.
Enjoy!
Sheldon