Cruise – Olympia

For our 4th wedding anniversary, we took a 2 week cruise to Greece, Turkey, and Italy. It was magical and we thoroughly enjoyed our cruise line, Costa Cruise!!

Our first stop was at the legendary ancient Olympic site of…Olympia!!

Field where the original games were held!

Olympia was the site where the Olympic games began. The games started around the 8th century BC and the first games consisted of athletes running from one end of the field to the other. They estimate that this was about a 400k.

Every 4 years they would add something to the games, until we have what we have now! For instance, the 2nd year they supposedly added running from one end to the other.

This has always been on Tabitha’s bucket list, since she can remember. The thought of standing where the first ever Olympic Athletes stood, just blows my minds! To see more pictures from Olympia, CLICK HERE! 

We will continue to add more post from the cruise, as soon as we can!

Pig Fest 2014

Ah…summer is always fun with all the fest going on around Germany. Music-, wine-, beer-, summer-, color-fest, and many more!!!

This previous weekend, after a very intense hockey tournament, we decided to celebrate the end of the first ice hockey tournament with a trip to Wittlich, to participate in the Pig Fest!!

I have heard a couple different stories of the origin of the Pig Fest, but the first one I heard is my favorite.

A town was under attack and villagers were being killed. Some of the villagers decided to hid in the barn to try to not get killed. However, it was an old barn and the key hole was large and you could see in through the key hole. They thought they would be smart and put a carrot in the key hole. (Honestly, if I was the bad guy, I would wonder why there was a random carrot in a key hole of a barn.) In the middle of the night, a pig came by and ate the carrot. (Back to what I was saying earlier about putting a carrot in a key hole!!!) Therefore, the bad guys came by the barn and looked in the key hole to see the villagers. So, they killed them. So, every year the town comes together and roast over a hundred of pigs every year in honor of their past villagers killed by a hungry, hungry pig!

The fest had tons of rides, vendors selling all sort of different little things, food, alcohol, and of course pig!!!! Near the concert stage, they had a huge tent with 2 pigs roasting over a fire….It sure was yummy in my tummy!!! Can’t wait to go back next year and have some more delicious pigs!!!

More information on this festival can be found HERE!!!

Mont Saint Michel – Normandy, France

Mama Eagles take on Mont Saint Michel

 

 

Mont Saint Michel is a beautiful hour drive from the hockey tournament Bear participated in last week in Caen, France in the Normandy region.

The picture does not do justice to this beautiful island commune.  We were lucky enough for the tide to be low so we could come and go from the island as pleased. It would be beautiful to see the tide come in from the ocean, but one would have to be present 2 hours prior to opening and then one could not leave the island until a certain time.

It is hard to say what was the best part of the island…

The Views

The Shopping Street

The Multiple Museums

or The Abbey.

It is said that Mont Saint Michel is thought to have been around since 708 and is a beautiful example of military architecture. It was named in honour of the Archangel.

The Abbey is spectacular and one of the most unique monasteries I have seen while traveling Europe! Since the Mont is designed like a pyramid, the Abbey was constructed around the granite  rocks.

To see more pictures of Mont Saint Michel…CLICK HERE to go to the Flickr stream!

‘Tis the Season

Ah, the life of a military spouse can sometimes be a tad lonely. You learn to become more independent while they maybe TDY or Deployed. It can be a fun time, lonely time, and a time to learn more about yourself. Brandyn is currently deployed for a couple months. Since I am in school and do not work, I was lucky enough to go back to my home, Georgia, for a couple months and spend this holiday season with my family and friends!!! It has been an amazing time and I have only been back in the states for 1 week, I don’t know if I will be able to handle the next couple months!! HAHA The worst part of being back in the states is missing the tradition of the Christmas Markets. Now, I know that around this time of the year, some places host markets for people to go to and get gifts for their families…But they have NO idea how amazing a German Christmas Market is!!! There are TONS of vendors with décor, food, and drinks. It is a tradition known around the world and one of my Favorite things about living overseas around the Holiday season!!! Last year we hit up a couple different markets. Sadly, I did not take as many pictures as I should have but, here are a couple…

Gluhwein is a tasty tradition. It is hot wine and just the need you need as you walk the markets in cold, cold weather!!

The Christmas Market in Heidelberg and Stuttgart BOTH had outside ice skating rink!!!

I am sad that I will not be spending my weekends with my handsome husband exploring Christmas Markets, or spending the Holiday season with my husband in general. But, this is military life and I am thankful to spend a Christmas home in 3 years with my family and friends!!

If you are checking out this blog for the first time because you received our Christmas Card, WELCOME!! We hope you enjoy exploring our European adventure!! If you were wondering where all the places were in our Christmas card…here is the card and a cheat sheet to see exactly where all we have been this past year!! Merry Christmas and Happy New Years!!!

This card was designed my ME and printed at POP’s in Ramstein.

 

Cheat Sheet:

Ireland

Ah, oh Ireland!! This has been on the bucket list for both of us!! It was just fantastic!! We went to Guinness, Blarney Castle, Cliffs of Moher, Kilkenny Castle, and Dublin!

Everyone knows about Guinness beer and to go to where it all started, it was awesome!! Guinness was founded back in 1759 by Arthur Guinness. It was an incredible experience to see how and what they use to produce the beer, see where it started, taste, and have a 360 degree of Dublin! It was 6 stories of pure awesomeness!!

 

The Blarney Castle was such a treat to see! It was mostly ruins now but just looking at it, one could picture the awe it must have been back in the mid 15th century! The ladies participated in the “kissing of the stone” which is said to give those who kiss it Good Luck. In order to kiss the stone, one must lay on their backs, grab the handrails, and then lower you head back quite far down and kiss the stone, no worries though-they DO sterilize multiple times a day!!

The Cliffs of Moher may have been one of the most amazing sites. To stand there and look at the water hit the cliff walls, it was so peaceful, relaxing, and memorizing-couldn’t decide on which adjective to use, so you get all 3!! lol

 

Killkenny was a beautiful town with a beautiful castle! The castle use to have 4 sides, but during a war they had to demolish one of the sides leaving it with only 3 sides. If you ask me though, it just gave them a better view of the gorgeous green land on the castle territory. Now, that land is used as a public park where one can see kids playing ‘football,’ or soccer in America, families having picnics, and friends and family just enjoying the gorgeous land.

 

We could not showcase all of our pictures of the amazing Ireland, therefore check HERE for some of the pictures!!!

England

AH, England was just beautiful!! The only down side, NO it’s not the rain, we didn’t have enough time to see everything England had to offer!! So, we narrowed it down to a few things; Stonehedge, a Roman Bath, London, and the theatre-district! We felt horrible for Dad Shelly who had to drive, on the wrong side of the road for us!!

Stonehenge was an interesting place, it was out in the middle of no-where! Literally! There are thinking that it is a prehistoric monument where that they used for pagan religion and spiritual worship dating back 5,000 years. However, they do not know if that is what it was and if it was, they don’t know the exact purpose!

Roman Bath was a step into Roman times in England! We felt that we stepped into a town in Italy with all the Roman architecture it displayed. The Bath was built around 2,000 years ago!!!

London was just incredible!!! There was so much too see, you couldn’t see everything in a week!!!!! The best decision we made was to do a hop-on, hop-off bus tour of London! It took us all around and gave us an opportunity to see everything without the horror of not being able to walk the next day!! One of the coolest things we did was to see a show on the historic West End. The West End is known as the theatre-district or the Broadway district in New York! Just walking around the West End you will see over a dozen of theatres all hosting different famous shows from Mama-Mia to a Journey show! We, mainly the ladies, hopped on the opportunity to see Wicked, which has been a dream of ours forever!! It was just fantastic and had the same quality you would see on Broadway in New York.

Sadly, we can not post ALL the pictures we took, as it was close to over a thousand!! However, we did post some of our favorites to our Flickr account!! Check out HERE for some wonderful pictures of England.

Wurstmarkt-Sausage Festivals

Wurstmarkt, translated is Sausage Festivals are one of those famous German traditions you MUST participate in! This year we did 2 different Sausage Festivals.

The Wine Festival of the Middle Moselle in Bernkastel-Kues was the first one we hit up!! It was such a fun festival with lots of delicious foods, wine, vendors, crazy rides, and an incredible firework show.

Our next Sausage Festival was probably one of the MOST famous Wurstmarkt, Bad Durkheim, which just happens to be names after the town it is in. Bad Durkheim Festival has been a growing tradition in Germany for around the last 500 years!!!! It was so awesome to be there and think how people have been coming here for the last 500 years!!!

Holi Festival of Colors

The Holi Festival of Colors is a festival that takes place in the northern parts of India on the full moon of the Phaluga month. This is a Hindu festival that celebrates victory of good over bad and on the day of the Festival in India, every person is equal no matter their class.

3 guys being this amazing celebration all over Europe to remind everyone that we are all equal!! Here is their website to check it out: http://www.holifestival.com/uk/

We headed over to the festival with a great group of friends after our husbands WON their inline hockey game! GO KMC EAGLES!! LOL Let me just say, this was an absolute blast!!! I would not have wanted to miss this for the world!!! Here are some pictures of the event and at the end their is a video!! Enjoy!!! 🙂

Check out the you tube link for the video, you don’t want to miss it,

Click HERE!!!

 

Venice

Venice was an actual dream come true!!! Ever since I was little, I dreamed of going to Venice and see the canals and riding a gondola! It all came true this past April! Here are a few samples but to see the rest, click HERE!!!!

The Vatican

Did you know that The Vatican is it’s own country?!?! It is, and it is also the SMALLEST country in all of Europe!! Here is just a tiny preview of some pictures!!! Check out HERE for all the pictures!!!