Kara's Blog

I’ve tried updating a couple of times but when your life is pretty boring what do you say after all the Europe post?!? I vacuumed, mopped, did the wash…that’s not very exciting. There have been some exciting moments…Heather and Ben having their baby, birthday parties, Shannon and Rusty having a baby, and it is the holiday season. We’ve had a couple of dr. visits (everything is good). The most interesting of the visits was finding out Andrew’s allergic to grass. Andrew’s got one more dr appointment and then I think we are done with dr until March! (I hope.) Andrew went on a business trip after we got back, I went to B-ham with Linda to watch Noah and Eli while Bryan and Lisa went to a concert with Ben and Natalie (ya’ll have my permission to do that again! Love those boys! ) Linda and I went to see New Moon…twice! That was awesome! Mom has been in town a couple of times. And she will be here next weekend. Messiah concert is the 13th so we’ve been busy with that. Then we are going to mom’s, then it’s Christmas and New Years. Other than everyday life not a lot has been going on with us. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas. (The picture is of Heather and Ben’s cute little girl Alli!)

Friday Andrew and I spent the morning relaxing. Rebecca came over and we went into Furth (the city that she lives in) to meet up with my aunt and two other cousins. We had dinner in the old part of town. And as it was throughout Germany, the food was AMAZING! Any weight I lost in England I got back in Germany. It was nice to be with family and meet Sarah for the first time. Friday was a very nice and relaxing day.

Saturday Rebecca took us to Nuremberg to see the sites. We had already seen the place where the Nuremberg Trials were held and this day we went into the old part of Nuremberg. There was this one church (pictured) that at noon everyday the clock tower had figures moving around. Andrew has a video of it that he will post one of these days. We will let you know when we have the rest of the pictures posted. Nuremberg, like Furth, is a very beautiful city.

Later that afternoon Rebecca took us, by subway, to the airport. It was sad to say goodbye but we were both ready to come home. The flight to Zurich wasn’t bad, but we had a 11.5 hour layover. The good part about that is the airport has what they call day rooms, a hotel inside the airport. It was comfortable too!

We got up the next day to fly to Manchester. Switched carriers, and flew to Atlanta. That flight was pretty good, long, but good. Once in Atlanta we found out that our plane was delayed about an hour. Not too bad but we were ready to be home after 9 hours on the plane.

After landing in Nashville, Linda picked us up and brought us home. The first thing we realized was that our house was so much bigger than we remembered it being after spending two weeks in hotel rooms and a German apartment. To give you an idea how small the apartment was; our master bedroom is about the same size as Sali’s sister’s living room!!!

By the time we went to bed last night was had been up a little over 24 hours. We both still have jet lag…but we are pushing ourselves to readjust to the real world just like we pushed ourselves to adjust to vacation life.

Now I’m having to readjust to having a keyboard to type on instead of a laptop keyboard.

We had a wonderful day with Sali and Rebecca in Prague! What a BEAUTIFUL city. We have a lot of pictures for this city too. We even have two videos of this guy playing Bach on an accordion. It was crazy but he was really good. Andrew, of course, knows the names of the songs, so you will have to ask him. It was three hours to Prague, and we thank Sali for driving us there and back. We walked around for a while after having a hard time trying for find the right spot to get started at. Everything that everyone has said about how beautiful Prague is is so true. It was so nice.

Tomorrow is a relaxing day for us. We are staying at the apartment most of the day. My Aunt Rose and cousins Trisha and Sarah are coming over to visit. Then if we are up to it we are going to go around Nuremberg to see what there is to see.

Saturday we will spend packing and getting ready to leave. Then we have 1.5 days of flying to do.

I can’t wait for us to get home so we can post all of the pictures that we haven’t been able to yet. Of course, I don’t want to leave either. There is so much more to see and do. And the time to spend with my family while I’m here. The picture is one from the net and is of Prague.

I wonder if I’ll remember how to drive when I get home…it’s been so long.

Andrew and I just spent two wonderful days in Berlin. There was so much to do and see, I’m surprised that we got in all that we did. There really is only two ways to see Berlin, one: going on the bus tours or two: having someone know where stuff is to take you there. The two days run together so I really couldn’t tell you what we saw on what day without the pictures. Andrew did show me some of the places he lived and ate at while he was in Berlin on his mission. We even saw one of the churches that he went to on one of his transfers. That was cool. It was hot and sticky the two days we were there. I don’t think that it would have been so bad if we were not carrying our backpacks all over the place. The first day we went to one of the cathedrals. Not knowing that we could, we started in the crypt and worked our way up to the bottom part of the dome. There were so many stairs and some were tight spirals. We were pretty much done after that. The cathedral that we walked up is the one pictured.

We stayed at another Crown Plaza and it was way better than the one in England. Because we had a lower rate room we had our own beds again but the room was so much nicer that I really didn’t mind this time.

Later today we are off to Prague. Today it is going to be hot again but I wont have my backpack. Andrew will have his though, but without as much stuff in it.

Today we took a 3 hour car ride to Neuschvanstein Castle. It was a beautiful ride to the castle. Once we were there and got our tickets we had to wait an hour before we could go up and take the tour. You go through floors one, three, and four. Two was never finished and now has a gift shop on it. Everyroom was beyond beautiful and all different.

We werent allowed to take pictures inside and so all of our pictures are from outside. But there are around 75 or them. We went to the bridge to get the best pictures of it, and wouldnt you know that its covered with scaffolding to work on that side of it. The picture is the castle that I got from the net.

Andrew is working on all the pictures and when we get home all he will have to do is upload them and lable them. There is no way to upload them while we are here.

Tomorrow we are off to Berlin. We will be there two days. Watch Andrew’s twitter and facebook to find out what we are doing. Might not blog again until Wednesday night or Thursday morning.

Ok lets see if I can type this without typos. The z and the y are switched on the German keyboard. And a couple of of other keys are also different. It’s been a pain. GRR!

Okay, Thursday was the same as Monday – Wednesday that I posted in the last blog. So not really much to report there.

Friday we had to change hotels. I don’t really remember the reason why but we did. So the things we didn’t like about the Marriot we liked about the Crown Plaza. The things that we liked about the Marriot we hated in the Crown Plaza. The food was way better at the Crown Plaza…but I still don’t really have an appetite. Andrew’s is getting better but mine is not. Now in the Marriot we had a king size bed; in the Crown Plaza it was like walking into a 50’s sitcom. There were two SINGLE BEDS!!! Hello!?! It was crazy. But we only had two nights there and it was not so bad.

Saturday we went up to Edinbrough. It was AWESOME!!!! Andrew took almost 300 picutes. Some of them will be connected together to make panoramas but there are still a lot of singles. A lot from the train ride of the Scottish country side. We got up around 430 in the morning and didnt get back until around 8pm. We walked everywhere! It was great!

Today we have been traveling from Manchester to Zurich to Germany!! The flights went well. The first just around 2 hours and the second around an hour. Not bad. We are staying at Sali’s sister’s place. She is on vacation for the week and said we could use it while she was gone. Its a nice appartment. After Rebecca picked us up from the airport we came to the house. We had pizza for dinner, we were just too tired to do much of anything else. Tonight we are alone, the stores are closed here on Sunday and Sali and Rebecca were not able to get an air bed so tomorrow they are going to get one and spend the rest of the week with us, I think.

Well, I am going to go and get ready for bed. Tomorrow we are off to the castle. Lots of pictures to come once we are home. You all will have to just wait until then. The picture is of a room with single beds. Its not ours, Andrew will post ours when we get home, but this is about what it looked like.

Andrew is here to work and had to work Monday through Thursday.

Monday I roamed the halls of the hotel to see what I can find. There is a pool here and a workout room and the spa. They also have a lot of courtyards here too but there is nowhere to sit so I’ve not gone outside to just hang out. We have a nice view of one of the courtyards from our room.

Tuesday I went to the spa. It was so nice. I had a Stress Therapy Massage, Reflexology, and a Indian Head Massage. I was there for about 2.5 hours. Very awesome.

Today I don’t have anything planned to do. Might go for a walk later. Andrew and I seem to still not have an appetite. Not sure what that is all about. The only meal either of us seem to eat is lunch. For example, yesterday I had two pieces of toast for breakfast, lunch was a salad, and dinner was a slice of cake. Seriously. And I’m not hungry at all. I only had toast this morning and salad again for lunch. I didn’t have lunch until about 1:30. I wonder if it is the traveling or just England. We will have to see how our appetites are in Germany.

Something that I forgot in my earlier post…when we were on the train there was this man sitting behind us. Which was fine until he leaned forward. I don’t think he had taken a bath in a while. It was gross. And he wasn’t the only person that we encountered like that. Eww.

Andrew has gotten the pictures mostly finished, but has to still post them. I’ll try and get him to do it tonight. After getting all the panoramas together he is down to like 50 pictures.

To let you all know what is coming up…Thursday is a repeat of today, Friday we have to change hotels, Saturday is totally devoted to Edinburgh. Sunday we fly out to Germany.

I will try and blog on Friday. Saturday we are leaving early and returning late so I don’t think I will be able to blog until Monday after flying all day Sunday. Won’t blog until Monday late because we are going to the castle.

The picture is of Tower Bridge. It’s not one of ours but we do have a picture of it. Had to use some other picture because Andrew isn’t here to give me ours. They are on his computer.

Today we slept in until 7am. We didn’t have to be to church until 10:30am. Not sure why, they don’t share the building with another unit. Getting there was interesting. We had to take a taxi and he wasn’t quite sure where the church was. Not that we could tell him where it was, and none of the addresses seem clear to us to even help out.

Anyway, sacrament first, then Sunday school, and then RS/PH. Sacrament was fine, just like home. They had someone from their stake speaking. Sunday school was also like home. The only main thing that was different is that the teacher used a power point as a tool to her lesson and it seemed that she did it each Sunday; and said some of the other wards that she had been too throughout England used power point during Sunday school. Interesting. RS was the same at home. Though most of the time seemed to be devoted to a combined RS/YW choir that is to sing next week. The lesson was on temples and I think that was the lesson at home this Sunday.

There were also three sets of elders and a set of sister missionaries in this ONE ward. Andrew says that that isn’t uncommon in Europe and that one of the ones on his mission had anywhere between 4 to 8 sets to a ward. One of the Elders we talked to was from Utah and he was happy to hear us speak…it had been a while sense he had heard an American accent.

When it was time to go home we tried to call a taxi to come and get us. I’m not sure if we dialed the number wrong or if it was just Andrew’s phone (which doesn’t seem to be working right on this trip). Anyway we went in to ask if someone could call for us and we ended up getting a ride home from one of the brethren. It was a nice ride…a Mercedes. It was nice in another way too…it must be the way the bus drivers and taxi drivers drive but it was making me sick to my stomach. Riding back with the member was much nicer and I was not sick on that ride.

So now we are home and might not do anything else today. Andrew works Monday – Thursday. Not sure yet what I’m going to do but I know going to the spa is happening one day.

Andrew did ask about the lack of trash cans around London and the member that gave us a ride told us that there were people placing bombs in them and so they got rid of most of them. London wasn’t always clean and the member said that people would just throw the trash on the ground. Then just a few years ago they started cracking down and charging fines for those who littered. People now carry their trash around with them and throw it away when they can. Interesting.

Here are somethings that I didn’t post in the last blog but just remembered.

The train ride had more “turbulence” than either of our plane flights. I hope the rest of them are like that. The plane rides were like being in a bumpy car ride. So far I have been lucky (knock on wood). None of my flights that I have ever taken have had bad turbulence.

We are being really careful when we buy things because for every one pound its $1.80!!!

Andrew is still working on the pictures and just might get them up today. But we will see. You know Andrew, they have to be PERFECT!

Speaking of pictures, this one (for those who don’t know) is of Buckingham Palace. We got there right at the time that they changed the guards but because we were there right when it started we really couldn’t see anything. But we were there.

The flight from Nashville to Atlanta went well. The only annoying thing about that flight was the woman sitting next to me was coughing up a lung. The flight from Atlanta to Manchester also went well. The only annoying that about that flight was the 16 month old baby that cried off and on the entire flight. Once we were here it was pretty easy to get a cab to the hotel. The hotel it ok, the room is a little small with three bags to maneuver around. We tried really hard to stay up as late as we could but only made it to 7pm. We had been up for about 36 hours by that point.

Today we got up at 5am, with no problems after going to bed at 7pm. We got on the train to London just before 7am and spent the whole day there. It was really amazing. Once we got off the train, we got on the subway to take us right to were we wanted to be…Parliament. We got off the subway and as we got to street level the first thing you saw was Big Ben! That is the picture that is on this blog, our first real look of London. We went everywhere (and boy did our feet hurt!!!), as you will see from the pictures that Andrew will post (but he his really about to fall asleep and there is no telling when they will get posted.) We got back to Manchester around 7pm. The train ride was about 2.5 hours. We spent ALL DAY there. It was great.

The train and subway rides were interesting, because of the interesting people we saw. We had a group of collage age boys that were on the train to London. They were already drinking at 8am and one even said that he didn’t have breakfast yet. HMMM. Then while travailing on the subway I saw this old gay guy walking off the subway wearing a short sleeve and shorts one piece, sparkling, red spandex. Nasty. Not something that I wanted to see.

To use a public bathroom, most of the time you had to pay 30 pence or 60 cents. That was crazy and that weren’t any cleaner than the US public bathrooms. Then there was the issue of throwing away ANYTHING! We hardly saw a single trash can all through London. We just left our lunch trash at the table because we didn’t see a trash can. And we really looked for one too. But even though you couldn’t find a trash can ANYWHERE, the city was really clean. But who knows what they do with their trash?!?

The weather over the last two days has been nice. NICER THAN NASHVILLE AND POINTS SOUTH!!! HEHEHE! Yesterday was about 65 and today was around 70. So nice and hardly any rain.

Off to church tomorrow. Might blog again depending on how that goes.

Andrew had a business trip to Atlanta last week and I went with him. While Andrew was working I met up with friends and family through out the week. Wednesday I had brunch with my first missionary, Holly. I was so excited to see her. I hadn’t seen Holly in 11 years. It was great to talk and catch up on everything. Holly and I were also able to talk a lot about our troubles getting pregnant. Even though we both have great support systems it was nice to talk with someone who knew exactly how I felt. Later that night Andrew and I met up with Chris and Marcus for dinner. Chris is one of my cousins who for the last 15 years has lived in Germany. It was nice to see him again after so many years. It was also cool to watch Andrew get to use his German. Thursday my Uncle Doug took me to lunch at the Cheese Cake Factory. It was also nice to see him again too. I haven’t seen him sense the family reunion a couple years ago. That night Andrew and I went to the Atlanta Temple. We just walked the grounds and sat for a while. I had never been to another temple before. Friday I was going to go to the mall to shop but was turned away by the prices that I saw through the windows as Doug and I walked through the mall. There was this one awful colored purse that was priced at $400! It was the ugliest thing I have ever seen. So I didn’t go shopping. That was okay too because Andrew ended early at work and we went sight seeing. We took the Marta into town and went to the World of Coke and walked around Olympic Park. The park was closed to prepare for the March of Dimes walk that was taking place the next day. We also went to the Underground and we weren’t that impressed with it. See Andrew’s blog for why. Saturday we went to Stone Mountain. As a kid we always hiked up it. It’s about a mile or so up the mountain. It was hot, Andrew and I weren’t dressed to make that kind of hike, and they had the Skylift to take us to the top. After that Andrew and I came home. Andrew has pictures of our trip in the gallery. Now I’m just waiting on news of the England trip and hope that it all falls just right for us that I can go and maybe even tour Europe a little.