Rascal's Friend, Snowy Saturday

We've all made some new friends on this adventure, whether it's been on walks, at work, or at Chapel. Storm even has a buddy that she meets up with a few times a week to work out her puppy energy. Early one morning, we got a visit from Rascal's new friend, who we didn't even know! This guy drops by once in a while and it looks like they've really hit it off.

We awoke today to our biggest snowstorm yet in Germany. We think we ended up with 10 inches or so on top of the other snow we had. We spent the day on cross-country skis, heading toward a nearby village to stop for lunch. The going was a little slow, but we had a great day with lots of exercise. Just an amazing, snowy, beautiful winter's day.

We passed a few villages as we originally headed towards Grainau, but a few wrong turns and we ended up in Hammersbach!

Fortunately Hammersbach had a nice hotel/restuarant with cozy fires going.

And a cool chapel next door.

And dessert!

Our friend Brian, who I work with, went with us and we had fun getting to know that Jersey Boy a little better. After skiing, he invited us over for hot chocolate which was well-deserved. Overall, an exhausting and fun-filled day!

Partnach Klamm, Ski Stadium

After church today we hiked up to the Partnach Klamm, which is a beautiful gorge carved dramatically into the rock by an alpine river on the edge of Garmisch. To start you park just outside of the Olympic Ski Jump stadium built for the 1936 Olympics.

After leaving the stadium, the trail starts out along the river, very broad and with lots of shops and huts to get some food. Our friend Jennifer invited us to hike for the day, and like lots of things in Germany, we were able to take Storm to see her natural habitat.

Suddenly, the trail enters a series of tunnels and narrow ledges suspended above the rushing water. Lots of beautiful icicles and pools of blue/green water.

After leaving the tunnels and ledges, the trail broadens again and leads to many intersections. You can continue on towards the Austrian border, or towards small German towns like Mittenwald, or just continue on to the closest cozy Hutte or Alm restuarant.

We hiked onward for a few more minutes, and then headed back to town to call it a day.

First Ski Day!

On Monday we got our first ski day in the Garmisch Classic area. With the snow getting really crusty down in the valley, it was great to find smooth soft snow on most of the mountain. Below is a 6 person chair above the Hausberg lift that ended up being Esther's favorite. A lot of other runs ran all the way from up top down to the valley. The downside was that once you got low enough, the conditions got very icy and more difficult. We're trying very hard not to be UT ski snobs. They really do have the greatest snow on earth out there, but Garmisch and the Alps make up for some less stellar conditions with lots of cozy, hearty atmosphere and tradition.

The "D9" lodge has fire places and lots of cozy knooks and tables to grab a beer or meal.

We met up with some people from work, so we split up. Esther cruised her favorite slopes with Ben's boss, while Ben headed up with the guys for some more advanced runs including the famous "Kandahar" downhill race course. Up there, you're amidst the peaks and cruising through trees, rocks and small canyons like this one.

When you take some of the longer runs down to the valley, you get some good views of downtown Garmisch.

Below, you can just bearly see a building at the top of the mountain. They guys told me this is King Ludwig's huting lodge.

Some friends invited us along that evening to an amazing meal at a local restuarant in Partenkirchen. Although it's hard to top a meal out at a place like that, we've learned to cook some great schnitzle at home. Once you figure out how to buy the cuts of meat, you add some sauce that comes in packets and is mixed with water and cream. It's REALLY good. Add a vegetable and some liquid bread, and you're good to go!!

Recent Adventures

The furthest our Eurpoen travels have taken us so far is a 3 hour drive away. First to Stuttgart to pick up our car (POV=Privately Operated Vehicle), then to Salzburg which we actually traveled by train to see, but driving would take about 3 hours...then 2 weekends ago we drove to Grafenwoehr to do some shopping at a larger American base. On the way we drove through three different snowstorms and sat in a lot of traffic, due in part to the weather but mostly people returning from holiday. From the Autobahn we saw villages and cities...one which really caught my interest, so after shopping, on our way home to Garmisch we took a quick detour to check out Regensberg. It was amazing to see this little city that was once enclosed and had a main entrance that reminded me of Robin Hood or the Three Musketeers when they go racing in and out of the city on horses to take care of some important business. I grabbed this photo as we were stopped at a traffic light, just before driving through it. Sorry, it was dark, so the pictures weren't spectacular...especially from the car.


The thing that originally caught my eye from the Autobahn as Ben drove was the cathedral that you could clearly see from a few miles away. It took some searching in the old city with lots of one way streets and pedestrian only zones, but we finally found it and got out of the car for a few minutes to investigate. I definitely plan to go back and learn more and hopefully see inside.


If you follow us on Facebook you might have heard that we went night sledding last Friday. What a riot! They actually open easy ski runs and take you up in a gondola so you can sled down the partially lit ski runs. They don't use saucers-that would be a BAD idea. They use mostly 2 kinds of sleds. Ben was able to borrow a couple of "bobs" to use. You sit down, with your feet in the air in front of you and hold onto a joystick. You have to learn to shift your weight and use your arms and legs to steer and stop. It took us a few runs to catch on, but we had good teachers. Ben's supervisor, Sonya and her Husband Matt and kids Sara and Adam were there as well as a few others from their floor at work. I followed Sonya down the hill and watched her not only stay on the "bob" but take one of the kids on her lap...she's a pro!

So you get off the lift, get in a line, and go in small groups so that you don't create big mobs for crashes. It really was fun-and nobody got injured!

Below is an example of the other popular kind of sled. It looks like and old school wooden toboggan on rails. In winter you will see adults pulling children around town on these all the time. It's pretty cute. I didn't try this kind-I wanted to master the "bob" but Ben did, he said it was just as hard to maneuver...so, he went back to the "bob" too.

Here you can (barely) see what part of the sledding hill looked like. I would say there were about 5 different segments or hills connected together. Some spots were steeper or curvy and some spots were so flat you might have to push yourself along a bit. It was really fun until the end-it became really icy and there were moguls and jumps that it appeared people had dug on purpose-but if you couldn't see them you were at the mercy of the hard plastic slamming the ice as you landed on your bum, hopefully without falling off. We both fell off plenty of times but were not hurt except for some sore muscles the next few days. We also enjoyed a stop at the lodge (or Hutte) at the top of the run for some drinks, bratwurst and cheesy music. It was a fun night that I'm sure we'll repeat.

I can't remember if we mentioned that we had to take a driver's test to get a European driver's license. Well, we did. The Army requires that you sit in a class and take a test in order to have a German driver's license during your stay. We did that a few weeks after we arrived. Then we found out that you should get an International Driver's License also so that when you drive to other countries you will not have any problems. So we went to the German DMV with our licenses and our Euros and got our IDLs so we could drive into Austria which is right over the mountains. Sledding, by the way was in Erwald, Austria.

I had been looking forward to driving in Austria because Innsbruck is only an hour away. So, when my friend Corie had a day off last week, we drove down for the afternoon and enjoyed some shopping, food and sightseeing. Obviously, in one afternoon we didn't get much further than the Swarovski shop, but lucky for us, right outside was the Goldenes Dachl (Golden Roof). It is amazing to see things that are centuries old. Americans have such a unique history compared to places in Europe. What we think of as old has nothing on these cities.

The arcitecture and ornateness of it all is astounding. You really have to stop and think about what you are looking at and realize that people have been looking at and using these buildings for longer than you can imagine. How many people in history have had this exact view from where I stood as I took these pictures? Royalty, Peasants, Soldiers, Farmers, Merchants...Tourists. :)

Corie and I had a fun girls day out and really enjoyed the winter wonderland exhibit at the Swarovski shop. I'm not exactly sure what the chair had to do with it, but it sure was fun for taking pictures and goofing off.

One of the cool things about Innsbruck, and Austria in general, is that the buildings tend to have bright colors. This picture was taken late in the day with little sun, but you can imagine the bright blues, reds, yellows and greens that liven up the city.

So we still have a lot of Europe to explore, but considering what we've seen in just a few days and hours of sightseeing so far, it almost exhausts me to think of what we have planned for the next few years. Almost. Really, I can't wait!

International New Year

When we moved into our apartment we were a little nervous about meeting our neighbors. They are all German, of course, and we had no idea whether they would speak English or be interested in befriending us at all. Well, we are very pleased. The people above us keep their apartment as a vacation home and come only on weekends and holidays (we have yet to meet them and since they are rarely around, we are not likely to be a bother to them at all or vice versa!), the man next to us does not speak English, but Ben can communicate with him and he has been friendly and polite when we see him. But the jackpot are the other upstairs neighbors. They are a sweet couple who have been married for 43 years. They have no children but are very social and seem to know everyone in the neighborhood. They gave us a warm welcome...in English because he was an English translator for the German Army before he retired and she speaks very well also. Herr and Frau Fehler have traveled to the States many times and have been to Utah. They are very outgoing and fun people to be around. Many Germans may be friendly on the street but might never invite you into their home. The Fehlers have invited us in twice. The first time was when we first moved in and introduced ourselves (new neighbors introduce themselves in Germany) and the second time was at their invitation.

They invited us up to have a glass of champagne for New Years Eve even though they had good friends visiting. Their friends were also wonderful English speakers who had been to the States and included Utah in their travels. We had lots to talk about since they have known each other for 40 years and we were just getting to know them. At times Ben and I had to remember to speak slowly and not use too much slang so that it was easier for them to understand us, and they at times relied on each other to help translate a word, phrase or idea, but all in all I don't think much was lost in translation. :)

At midnight we went onto their balcony which faces part of the mountain range and the Marshall Center (where Ben works) and Edelweiss Lodge (American resort). At around 11:45 pm the fireworks began...not only the official fireworks at the Edelweiss but the fireworks in everyone's yards...yep, real shoot up into the sky and explode fireworks-the ones that are illegal in the States. Literally, almost every yard was setting them off all around us...and when you looked up to the mountains, the different lodges were setting them off as well, so you could see what looked like colorful sparks shooting up into the sky from the mountainsides and mountain top. The fireworks lasted over 30 minutes and were accented by the Blue Moon. Absolutely amazing. It was breathtaking...and noisy. Storm hated it and hid in her crate under our stairs. Poor thing.

But for us, it was an amazing New Year. Totally unexpected, totally exciting, and one we hope to continue enjoying all year with good friends: German, American, who knows...

Happy New Year friends.

Herr and Frau Fehler, Esther, Oswald, Irene, Ben

Christmas in Germany

While it is still the Christmas Season, we wanted to answer some questions about how we spent our first Christmas in Germany. We were able to move into our apartment on December 17th so that we could have a Christmas at home with our own stuff...but we didn't get as far as decorating or getting a tree. So all of the great after-Christmas-sale stuff I got last year will have to wait yet another year. ;) On the bright side, I didn't have to buy anything new this year and by next year I will have forgotten what I bought last year and just decorating will be like an early Christmas, surprise after surprise. haha

A lot of Americans, as you can imagine, head back to the States for the holidays, but a few are like us and had reasons not to leave. We felt that we were not yet settled in enough to leave and didn't know how to make plans for the animals while we were away...so, we'll head home to PA for family visiting later in the winter. We started talking to some of our American friends who were sticking around to find out what people do for Christmas here, secretly hoping to not have to cook at all...and had several lovely invitations to dinners, activities and parties. We also learned that the Army Base Chapel, where we attend on Sundays, has a Christmas Eve service annually. So we started to make plans...

We planned to attend Christmas Eve service, where we were asked to participate by reading and lighting the final advent candle, the Christ candle...then we planned to go home and open our gifts from family so that the next morning we could take our time getting ready to go on a hike to a hutte/lodge where we would eat Christmas dinner with friends who Ben works with and then sled back down the hill...get home, shower & clean up, go to Ben's office to call home and talk to our families (we still don't have our own phone line...any day now!)...before we headed off with more friends to join a dessert party up the mountain in Ettal.

PLANS CHANGE.

We did attend the Christmas Eve service, AFTER we had what can only be described as an emotional meltdown resulting from the changes, adjustments, stresses and sadness of missing our family and friends. But God is good and we were able to pull ourselves together and make it to the service. Being a part of it felt really special since we are so new here, but it also felt natural-after all, we were with God's family. The Chaplain, Larry Pundt, gave an excellent sermon on how God fooled the devil at Christmas...reminding us all of God's sovereingty. If you google that title, you can find this sermon, apparently it is popular, but Ben & I couldn't remember hearing it before...and Larry is a man of God with a passionate heart and certainly made it his own.

We did open our presents Christmas Eve. :)

Christmas morning it was raining. So we didn't hike. We did stuff around the house, watched a couple of movies, made nachos and talked more about what had caused me in particular to breakdown the night before...but Ben was able to share a lot of what he is struggling with too. Mostly, the hardest thing has been not having good communication with our support systems. I know we have each other, and that is a true blessing...but when you are both feeling crummy about things and aren't paying enough attention to the feelings of the other...or expressing yourself properly, things get mixed up pretty quickly. So after talking about what we were each having a hard time with, we agreed to help each other out, made some goals and we both felt a lot better about our new life here...when you know someone else is missing some of the same things, it helps!

We did get to talk to our families (except my dad who we left a message for)...and our nephew Logan sang to us...something about his bicycle has no handlebars...he is Brook's son, afterall. :)

We did go with friends to the dessert party and had a fabulous time.

So, our Christmas wasn't a happy or spectacular or fun adventure like we had hoped...but it was certainly a time of reflection...reflection on God's love in the form of the Christ-child, reflection on how we are doing after moving to a new country, a new culture, a new life...relfection on the goodness that God shows us-as undeserving as we are. And it was fun!

Have a fabulous New Year...and remember to reflect on God's goodness in your life!

Confessions of an EisBaer

Ok, so I think it is about time that I get to put my 2 cents in about this whole move to Germany thing since no one ever really stops to ask the dog what she thinks-I'm gonna tell you anyway. Thus begins my first-ever blog entry.

I have to admit that at first I was not so keen on this whole idea of leaving my house, my yard, my dog park buds. In fact, the week of the move, my "people" made me sleep in this small one room house they called a hotel-so I found a secret hidden room that they did not seem to notice and slept in there. I heard them call it a closet, but I think they just didn't know that you could easily fit in there to sleep comfortably...I didn't tell them b/c I wanted it all to myself.

After they let all of those men steal my bed and my toys they made me ride in a big car with all of the stuff they managed to save threatening to fall on me at any sharp turn, just to stay in another hotel that didn't even have their so-called "closet" so I had to bunk on the floor next to their bed...for like 5.5 hours before they made me ride in another big car to this giant place with lots of lights and nice people who I wasn't allowed to sniff. They put me in my crate and then put my best friend (inside of his crate) on top of me and wheeled us around until they let these men in blue shirts steal us away...I can't even tell you what happened next...I have erased those memories...

...but soon enough Rascal and I found ourselves in another big place with lots of lights and people. We were thirsty and scared b/c the people in the blue shirts just left us sitting under a sign that I think said "Odd Baggage"...until my people finally came and got us. They took a while figuring out what to do with me though b/c my crate was too big to fit on any of the carts...so finally they let me out to walk through the big place until we found the USO. I liked that walk-not only b/c it was good to stretch my legs, but I guess I am a celebrity in that big place b/c people were pointing and staring and smiling and even laughing at me and my people. I wish I could have stopped to meet them all, but my silly people don't let me do that-I guess they think it increases my myseterious quality to not meet EVERYONE who I pass on a daily basis. I can't think of any other reason.

My people seemed very pleased to find the USO in the land of Chicago O'Hare but immideately I was taken outside to find a nice grassy place to do my business. It was exciting b/c not a lot of dogs had been where I was so I got to claim a lot of territory.

Just as I was getting used to the USO and the walks, they put me back in my crate and gave Rascal and I to Calvin. Calvin was very nice. He gave us water and was gentle...but he put me back in that loud, cold place that I refuse to tell you about b/c I don't want to scare any little kids who might read this.

We had one last stop in another big place...but this place was different. It had a lot of nice people, but they talked funny and they just left Rascal and I out in the middle of the floor on a cart with suitcases, so my people didn't find me right away. They walked right past me and I was worried that they wouldn't see me and I was too scared to bark at them. But they did find me and they took me to a quiet room where a nice funny talking man met me and petted me and said something like "Welcome to Munich, Germany" but I just hoped that they would let me out of my crate soon so I could run around.

Lucky for me, two nice lady people named Katharina and Arlene had a really big van to take us away from the scary big place and they petted me and drove me to a new house.

The new house what NOT what I was used to. It had no big yard and my people put me on a leash everytime they took me to the little yard. BUT, I did get to walk in fun new places and try to meet new friends. Some of those funny talking people called me EisBaer which always makes my people laugh...I don't really get it b/c I don't know what a polar bear is, but apparently I look like one. EisBaer is not the only new word I have learned. I have also learned HUND and SCHON and NEIN. I am now a bilingual pooch!

Over time, I learned to like the new house but I didn't know where my bed or toys went or why we had so little room-it sure seemed like my people had made a MAJOR DOWNGRADE.

Oh, I didn't even tell you the worst part. SOMEONE STOLE MY CAR. Seriously, one day I was riding around in it, the next it was nowhere to be found. In Germany, my people made me walk everywhere or else ride the bus, which I hated waiting for. I never had to wait for my car.

So I made the best of it and enjoyed my walks and especially the river-ice cold running water. HEAVEN.

I guess Germany isn't all bad. They let me go into a lot more buildings here like shops and restaurants. Once my silly people figured it out, they started taking me with them to dinner most nights. Here I am waiting to see if I will get any scraps of burger or fries...I love mustard.

It has been a long adjustment, but I think Germany is growing on me. I like the mountains-after all, I am a mountain dog. I also like the snow-a lot. And my people finally moved me into a bigger house where I have a yard right outside of the door next to my bed...and yeah...some other men found the men who stole my stuff and they brought it all back to me...my bed, my toys, even my car! So, it feels a little like home now.

Now I take big long walks in the snow, like today, and I am still a celebrity...people stare at me everywhere I go, they want to talk in their funny talk about me. If my man is there, he will funny talk with them, but if it is my woman, then she just smiles and says a few funny words until the funny talking people walk away. But, they must really love an EisBaer here in Germany, b/c they sure love me.

Winter, Christmas, and German customs

Winter has finally come to the Bavarian Alps! Just as we received our car and moved into our apartment the snow and REALLY cold temperatures blew in. Before that all happened, we found a War Memorial up in a pasture on the mountain. Storm found a fountain to take advantage of. It was sad to see all the plaques with pictures of young men, and the place where they died. Most were from WWII, and most died in Russia.



The view from the Memorial is a good one- you can see all of Garmisch and the ski jump from the Olympics.



After we got our car in Stuttgart, we came and left for a quick day-trip to Salzburg. It was a great starter trip- we'll definitely want to go back for a few days to explore the narrow alleys.

Every other vendor at the Christmas markets sells sweets! The roasted, sugared and cinnamon almonds are our favorite.

Partenkirchen, which is connected to Garmisch, also had a Christmas market. The end of it had a really cool view.

On Dec 16th we moved into our apartment and received all of the houshold goods that we decided to bring along. Since then, and for the next few weeks, we'll be opening boxes and figuring out where to place things. It is a great feeling to settle into a place and know that it is yours for a long time. It's also quite a challenge with absolutely NO closets! It's wonderful to experience what is better in Europe, but challenging to miss the things that are certainly better in America. Closets being one of them. The other is the abundance of laws and order.. sometimes to extremes here. The one we're getting used to is the fine you will likely get if you leave your car running while you scrape the frost off your windows. And don't think that there's no way the authorities will catch you!! We've heard that many neighbors will have no problem dropping the dime on you.

I think we'll catch on fairly quickly, enjoy the good things and cling to some of the things that make us distinctly American. Our grill also arrived, and we'll be using that thing every day no matter the weather!

Here's a bunch of pictures, kind of out of order, covering the food and adventures over the past few weeks. If you're interested in seeing an apartment we liked, see previous post below.

Above, a view from the bus stop on a rainy day.

Esther and I at our favorite place for pizza, "La Mamma".

The booths serving brats and gluhwein are just starting to pop up for the Christmas season. Last night, Nov 27, a band played along side.

It never takes Rascal long to find ways to be a Rascal.

This is Esther's apple strudel with cream and vanilla ice cream, served at the mountain hut. It was definitely as good as it looks.

Storm has found her sleeping corner.

On her walks, Storm loves wading into the alpine river. It has a blueish/green color, I guess because of the glacier up on the Zugspitze peaks.

In between German and Italian meals, we found an all-you-can-eat rib dinner.

This meal was served at a mountain hut after an hour hike. It was amazing!

One of the frescoed buildings in Garmisch pedestrian zone.

From Left To Right: DUNKLE WEISSE !!! (Can you tell that Storm likes Beer??)

More and more Christmas decorations are going up in town.

I look horrible, but the bratwurst is in focus!

A welcome sign during a hike.

Apartment we like

A few weeks ago we viewed an apartment we like. We're hoping to settle here, and working on our patience as the housing office is taking a while with people out on leave. It's not a huge rush, but we're really missing easy yard access with Storm. Sometimes it gets us down.... but the food sure helps! So here's some pictures of the apartment. Please see the other post about food/adventures... That combination sure helps to cheer us up while we wait for permanent housing (and our real BED!!)

The yard is really nice, plenty of room for grilling and hillbilly golf!

The dining/living room windows face south and west, which is great for light and sun.