Weekend in Hamburg

Tia Cecilia, Hyrum, and Maria Andrea

We spent last weekend in Hamburg, visiting Hyrum's aunt and cousin.  (Why does Hyrum have an aunt in Hamburg?  The story I got was that when she was in her 20's she worked for an airline, so she did a lot of traveling.  She met her future-husband in an airport in Spain.  He's German.  Fourteen years ago, they moved with their daughter to Hamburg.)  We spent all of Saturday and Sunday running around Hamburg seeing things, and with our two tour guides to lead us around, we never had to look at a travel  book, map, or bus schedule.  That was certainly convenient!

We ate SO much food!  Hyrum was spoiled.  

The Rathaus (town hall) of Hamburg

There was a free in-door garden, which was a great excuse to ditch our coats and enjoy the 'warm' weather.  

Hyrum imitating nature.

A building taken over by hippies/homeless people. Apparently it used to be a nice theater, but the police can't seem to get it cleaned up.  You can see the mattresses on the steps. 

There's a tunnel that goes underneath the Elbe River that you can walk through.   It's half a kilometer long, and was built in 1911.

I couldn't find the name of this on Google, but there's a small alley you get into through a little doorway.  There are almost miniature houses where the sailors used to stay when they were not at sea.  They've been converted into small shops.  (Cecilia's husband worked on boats his whole life.)  

One of the small houses-turned-shops. 

Famous Lutheran church in Hamburg, St. Michaelis'.   Like most old churches, it's been destroyed and re-built many times over the last 400 years, but the most recent version was done in 1912.  Unlike the south-east where we're located, northerners aren't very Catholic, and seeing Protestant churches is more common. 

There's no lack of ships and water in Hamburg.  The city revolves around the port, and there are even public transportation boats (considered as lines of the subway system) you can ride to get around. 

Hyrum's model pose. 

HafenCity is a newly developed area with very modern buildings and apartments along the docks.  

More HafenCity.

HafenCity.

As much as I wanted ice-cream, it was SO cold already. 

And for Hyrum, no trip is complete without visiting the soccer stadium. (Imtech Arena.)

The drive home should have only been 6 hours, but took a bit longer since we stopped at multiple Ikeas.  :)  Luckily we were able to find all the things we wanted!  And luckily they were all right off the freeway.

Biggest surprise of Christmas Break

Maybe it's to blame on cultural differences, but I grew up watching musicals and Hyrum did not.  Watching mermaids and candlesticks and lions break into song was all very  natural to me.  Thanks Walt Disney.  I never questioned it.

Naturally over the last few years, I've forced Hyrum to enjoy/endure (depending on who's telling the story) movies that have singing characters.  And he never gets it.  And it usually ends up in him running around the house for several weeks after imitating the characters.  For example:

In best angry phantom singing voice, "Sing!!!! OR I'll KILL YOU!!!  You're mine!!!  Why are we singing???"

Not gonna argue that this is a great musical, but Hyrum does a great impression of Jennifer Hudson.   In a dramatic soprano voice, "What about me???? What about my feelings???"

And of course, his impressions of the munchkins from Oz provided great entertainment.  

So over Christmas break I went to the library to rent a bunch of movies.  I've never actually watched Fiddler on the Roof before, despite all the cultural references, quotes in General Conference, and skits at talent shows.  I brought it home, and the first thing Hyrum said was, "No way.  What else did you get?"  But pretty soon the other options ran out, and we put in Fiddler on the Roof.

And he loved it!

At first I thought that him singing "If I were a rich man" around the house and dancing was his version of mockery, but he kept saying how much he liked it.  He liked the fiddler.  He liked Tevye.  He liked the dancing.  And the storyline.  And everything in between.  And he was very vocal about liking it.  

So there you have it: biggest surprise of Christmas break.  And if you haven't seen Fiddler on the Roof, go watch it.

Taxes, Office 2013 and the Alps

It's usually not hard to find thing to complain about in the Army, but once in a while we come across perks of being in the military that keep me quiet about all the other things.  I'll spare you a list of negatives, but here are a few of the positives as of late:

1) Microsoft Office 2013!  The last time I purchased Office was Freshman year of college (8 years ago!) with a student discount (still around $80 I think!).  So that ancient-looking 2003 program was installed on our current home computer.  (Remember the the good ol' days of a "file" menu??)  Well, last week we purchased the 2013 version of Office for $13!  Thanks to some military code.  I honestly didn't ask too many questions.  I just saw an email, the legal department verified that it was legit, and I signed up before it disappeared.  I was so happy I spent a few hours in Excel, just for fun!

2) H&R tax services!  We discovered this last year, and I plan to take full advantage this year.  We were able to file federal and state taxes using H&R Blocks online service, and didn't have to pay anything.  It makes tax season that much easier.

3) The last perk I'll mention was an all expense paid trip to the Alps a few weekends ago.  Occasionally, different units sponsor "Marriage Retreats" run by the chaplains.  We sat through 5 hours of classes over 3 days, and we had the rest of the weekend to ourselves.  :)  And at the end of the day, we only paid $4.50.  

Because of our location here in Germany, they hold the retreats at the military-owned Edelweiss Resort and Lodge in Garmisch.  It's about 3-4 hours away, located in the middle of the Alps.  (I saw a flier that said its only 30 minutes to Innsbruck, which Amie has planned into the Switzerland adventure in May).  The hotel is huge, and has nice lodge-feeling rooms.  There are a few different dining rooms where we essentially got free meals.  (The few dollars we did end up paying was a tip).  Hyrum loves a buffet breakfast... so we spent about an hour each morning at breakfast.  It's kind of disgusting to see everything he can eat in the morning, but it kept him happy all day!

Since we'd done the whole skiing thing the previous weekend, we decided instead to just hang out and go for a walk up one of the mountains.  By the time we got home, we were frozen, but the views were pretty.

You can tell how cold we I am from the pale white skin and bright red nose.  Ignore the fact that I'm starting to look old in this picture.  I don't look like that in real life.

Our only complaint about the hotel is that it was packed.  I'm pretty sure during any weekend you'll find it full of military families, which translates to a lot of kids running around.  (It's also a little weird to run into people you know.. from work.. while trying to relax for the weekend).  I looked past it since it was free, but if we'd spent $120 per night to stay there I might have been disappointed.

But even still: best free vacation ever! Thanks Army.

A creative drive-way gate that we passed.  

New Years

For the most part, Hyrum and I have conformed to the typical "boring married couple" stereotype.  But we did manage to stay up till midnght on New Years Eve.  (It was a party of 2).

Since we don't have cable to watch a countdown, we expected to watch the clock change, kiss at midnight, then go to bed.  Little did we know, the whole town would start celebrating with fireworks to rival a 4th of July celebration, and our 2nd story apt. on a hill would give us a perfect view in all directions.

Below is the skyline in front of our house.  And only about 5% of the lights are "city lights"-- the rest are fireworks.  The show went on for about 25 minutes.  I think people just come out of their houses and set off fireworks.  Our neighbors were setting them off out in the street infront of their house, and on the "main street" the next day there were tons of old firework containers.  Kinda trashy, but fun while it lasts.

  

Christmas

So Christmas has come and gone.  And I was too lazy to upload my pictures until now.  But we did have a very festive apartment!

This year we added two nativities to our collection.  One windmill looking one from Nuremberg, and a nativity inside a nut from Barcelona.