Afternoon Out

We had to run a few errands this afternoon, so I took the camera along for some shots of our world: 

The road to Gate 3 (to enter the hospital)

German and American flags fly side by side on base

The entrance to our little temporary apartment building

Looking out over the valley, Ramstein Airforce Base is in the distance

Road signs-the one with a lot or writing on the right says basically--You risk your life by entering these woods, live fire is used for practice missions. 

The best German invention-the towel warmer

Probably the biggest refrigerator in Germany

Jake, in our little kitchen

Our toaster-the little wings on top hold your delicate bread, so it gets warm but doesn't get stuck in the toaster slots. 

Local honey from Bann, Germany. Our friend's landlord's brother hand makes it. Notice, the missing lid is very helpful for easy access to the creamy goodness.

Milk, American Forces in Europe style

Pictures from Pescara

The budget Italian Ferrari

Welcome

Agritourism-Go earth!

The Villa

Agritourism mini bar olives: note-picking and curing required

Yes, I did try them off the tree, and yes they were horrible!

The most luscious grapes I have ever tasted. Just like chewing concord grape juice.

On the shores of the Adriatic

Sunrise over the farm

Amazing! God' s creation for us to sit and enjoy. 

No sitting for the photographer, though!

The lane and the villa at the end.

The group, (from L to R) Mike and Deanna Glenn, me, Kathie Martin(my boss), Kaitlyn and Hunter Martin, and finally Jake.

On the ROCKY beach, or as Mike put it the beach with very large sand particles. 

It was so odd, the whole beach was white rock.

The market in Pescara, I don't think I will ever get tired of outdoor markets!

Pescara, Italy... What a beautiful place!

This past weekend we spent in a little city on the Adriatic Sea called Pescara.  We went with a small group of people Pam works with and stayed amongst the Olive Trees in a working Olive Vineyard.  We waist deep into the somewhat chilly water and enjoyed the extremely soft sand in our toes.  

We also rented a little car, a Lansing, and bombed around town in it.  We went to a street market and enjoyed some unusual Italian food.  (You'd be amazed at how hard it is to find a Meatball or Lasagna in Italy)  The wine was good, the sun was nice and the fresh tomatoes and cheese were excellent.  We bought a 10 Euro piece of aged Parmigiano and brought it back with us... Mmmm.  So good!

Mini Rover, check, Liter of beer, check!

Well, we had quite the weekend!

It all started at the Lemon lot (a place where people have their cars for sale, which, are hopefully NOT lemons) with a black vintage mini. It was kind of like me and purses, Jake saw the mini and became obsessed. Only problem was, the car was already sold. BUMMER!

On Thursday I arrive back from work to find Jake searching the AutoScout24 Europa website (Think auto trader in German) for old style Minis. By old style I mean the Minis made in England before 1999, yes you read correct, they were made up until the year 1999. Well, we found three. One in Stuttgart looked the most promising and the seller spoke English, a big relief, considering our German is still limited to Hello, goodbye, please, thank you, thank you very much, and you're welcome.

After a quick conversation on Thursday night, we decide we are going to Stuttgart for the weekend to check out the car. On Friday Jake researches how to obtain insurance, and register a car as a DOD (department of defense) employee in Germany. Thank you Jake! This process is long, convoluted and requires interaction with no less than five different agencies who don't talk to each other. Jake also books us on the 4:09 train to Stuttgart. Here are some pictures of the ride. The Train station in Landstuhl.

Arther, the owner of the Mini, picked us up at the Stuttgart train station and drove us to see our future dream car. On the way over, we find out Arther, 1. Is a Mini fanatic , 2. Has a wife who is making him sell his Minis, 3. Was founder of the Stuttgart Mini club, 4. Has a dirty mouth. When we arrive we find out one of the greatest facts about owning a mini,

You only have to pay for a third of the spot

We took the car for a quick test drive then took some more glamor shots.

We went to our motel and had a good sleep then, got up the next day and wandered around Stuttgart:

Me in the Courtyard of Altes Schloss (Old Palace). We found an awesome farmer's market with lots of colorful flowers (many varieties of fall mums)
We bought a liter of the above beverage, Apfelsoft, which tasted like the farmer just squeezed apples into a bottle that morning.

We had heard there was a festival going on in town but couldn't find it, although we did find the tourist office where we were directed to take the U-Bahn (subway) to Canstatter Wassen, and we would run right into it. Well, all we had to do was follow the men (and women) in Leiderhosen (I am really not sure how to spell that word) and we were there.

A beer keg float, I don't think we are in Pasadena anymore.

Out of the 5-6 beer tents we finally decided on the one with the chicken logo, Gockelesmaier, for no other reason than they had outdoor tables and it was a nice day. We were able to communicate with our waiter to order a beer, forget picking the size or type.

Yes, that is one liter! I know, I know, it doesn't count because we shared. But give us time, we need to ease into the festival season!

After all of our festival fun, Arther picked us up and the handoff was official, we are now the new owners of a 1997 Mini Rover, complete with sunroof and MP3 player.

Jake, Arthur and Mini (still yet to recieve an offical name) More pictures of the new family member to follow.

Living arrangements...

So far we are still looking for a house. It's been a fun search with quite a few options. We've seen apartments, free standing houses, houses in the town, houses outside of town. There are houses all around! Well, not really. The supply has been limited because the summer has ended and people have stopped PCS'ing for a while. For now we are staying in a long term hotel on base. Actually, you can see our hotel in the photo at the top of our blog. It's the hotel on the far bottom left hand corner. This is the little town that we'd like to live in. I'm sure we'll find something.

We are Driving!

Well, after two weeks of studying, three hours of class and 100 questions, we got our licenses! Our test included 75 multiple choice questions and 25 sign identification questions. One of the signs is below. The circle on top means no parking either side of the street and I have no idea what the black and white sign below says.

Here is my temporary license

We are now driving a VW polo, which is smaller than a Golf. It is great, we can park anywhere. We have been looking at cars to buy, we are currently hooked on the old body style MINI cars.

This is a 1994 version and comes with airbags, leather seats, CD player, and Jake's favorite, aluminum wheels. We haven't driven one yet, so hopefully we will fit inside, it is a little different from our pick-up, that is for sure.

At the Stadtfest

At the festival in Downtown Landstuhl

The Commanding officer taping the ceremonial first keg of beer

The festival stage

The only sports shop in town, yes it is table tennis

The Weinstasse (wine street) at the festival, and a really pretty moon

All the girls (a little dark)

Yes, Jake is wearing a gingerbread cookie, hot husband, huh! These are traditional to German festivals. Jake's says "I love you" in German. I would tell you what the translation is but I ate the cookie before I wrote down the phrase.