The "Golden City" with Paul & Friend

Paul

We spent Memorial Day weekend in Prague with our pals Friend and Paul from Charleston!  

Friend's fashionable socks to stay dry in sub optimal weather

Rainy weather followed them from their first stop in Berlin but did not dampen their excitement to visit Eastern Europe. 

Prague has been on our "must see" list for awhile so we were thrilled to arrive in less than 5 hours by trusty Nissan Altima.  

We met Friday evening in the city center at our lovely hostel where we shared a large room with 4 beds & private bathroom (great deal at less than 20$ per person).

 The hostel recommended the Prague Beer Museum for sampling Czech beers.

Me, Friend, Katie (friend of Friend from Charlotte), and Paul

My favorite was the Opat Chocolate (delicious dark and creamy with a hint of cocoa)

Old Town Square is a historic public space with pedestrian cobblestone streets.  There is an astrological clock, Kinsky palace, and a church with Gothic steeples.

While wandering Old Town, we worked up an apetite and found an authentic Czech restaurant with a menu specializing in game dishes.

Scott ordered duck and they served him what seemed like the ENTIRE bird.  It was accompanied by a delicious plate of dumplings, cabbage, and sauerkraut.

Friend and Paul each ordered the rabbit.  It was the first time in my life I witnessed Paul leave protein on his plate. 

Sadly, it seemed the rabbit reminded Paul of his childhood pet  

The next day, we went on a mission to see some historic sites.

Cool Gothic Statue - Katie was a cheerleader

We walked and jumped along the famous Charles Bridge 

Friend's belly button star of the pic

The Prague Castle is huge and dates back to the 1700s.  Today, the president of the Czech Republic has an office in the building.  

Cloudy rainy day photos did not turn out well

Scott captured some kodak moments among the tourists:

The Castle Gardens were beautiful and well maintained thanks to their robotic lawnmower (I want one!)

Concern: would it get stolen off a yard in downtown Charleston?

Friend promised we could wear matching pink pants on our next outing

We needed a break from the rain so we went to the Czech Beer Festival.  This event happens once a year so we had glorious timing.  The Czech Republic is famous for quality beer and is ranked Number 1 in the whole world for per capita beer consumption.

We liked the dark stout beers a lot!

The beer festival was smaller than the Stuttgart fest and had a larger variety of beers on tap at very low prices.

Our crew in the beer tent

The festival was full of locals and tourists: Bohemian rednecks, American Frat boys, Irish mobsters, and wildest of all British Stag Parties 
(stag/future groom/ass clown pictured below)

Katie says this outfit is "Euro-chic" but I doubt even Euro-Scoot would rock one

One British stag party of 8 dudes explained their tight knit bond by showing us their matching bar code tattoos on each right buttock cheek.  

Friend attempting to scan the bar code with her handy Iphone App

This festival had EVERYTHING we could have dreamed of on a rainy day! (karaoke specifically)

Scoots got the dance party started with an amazing rendition of Genesis

We ventured back into the beer tent a few hours later and it was packed!

Friend hysterically laughing (matchmaking at festivals is challenging)

Scott and Paul (both engineers) appreciated the open air urinals due to their efficiency and quality controls.

Don't worry Granny, these are not ladies just cross dressing Europeans

After the fest, we enjoyed a succulent meal at Hercegova Cihlena (thanks Mr. Smock) and then walked back along the Charles Bridge.

The city is most gorgeous at night with lights reflecting off the monuments along the river.

Gothic architecture

Fireworks why not?

The last day we explored the New Town which was modern and industrial. 

Building looked like it was made of bubble wrap

Paul stayed out late the night before so Friend motivated him to wake up and meet us at the "famous" John Lennon Wall.

Not sure why this is famous (no plaques or information) so Paul maybe wished he stayed in bed

Rain started pouring again so we found refuge at a unique Caribbean spot with a bright greenhouse jungle motif; the perfect rainy day atmosphere. 

Paul making one of his notorious toasts about life and pelicans  

Since Paul was not feeling great, we decided to celebrate his upcoming birthday (sadly Scott and I will miss it this year) and Friend ordered him a surprise flaming shot.

I think our waitress Shakiraa had a crush because she brought along a fireworks display and blasted Stevie Wonder's "Happy Birthday to ya" over the loud speaker while leaning in to kiss the birthday boy!

Our last night out in Prague was filled with live music.  First stop was a seedy dive bar with an unimpressive Eric Clapton cover band followed by an amazing Czech Blues guitarist at the Republic Jazz Cafe.

Friend is a super geek (like Terri) and brought her journal and glue stick everywhere to track her travel experiences

Friend appreciated her first trip to Europe and felt people seemed more engaged in dinner conversations without TVs or cell phones anywhere in site.  She also appreciated the clean private restrooms, bakeries, and

salad dressing in spray bottles.

On the flip side, she was appalled by the "poorly dressed children in Berlin, unacceptable dogs in bars, and graffiti."

Friend's eloquent summary of Prague:

"amazing to be surrounded by this place, so old and dark yet so peaceful at the same time. I'm not big into energy yet I believe in it when I feel it and this city has it flowing through its mortar. "

P.S.

Umbrella ellaelaaelaaa!

Stuttgart weather is just about as miserable as it was in Ann Arbor.

Here is my motto: April showers bring May showers 

We are still having fun and enjoying every ounce of sunshine we get!

Good News:

The past few weeks have been very productive (almost done with our taxes...)

 In order to get an international work permit in Germany, you must have a special skill or trade.  Thus, many people told ME it would be "impossible" and I could "never" get a job (or some folks simply said "you can work on base at the bowling alley").  Lesson learned: Never give up!  I am happy to say I got a job offer and a legit work permit!

Who knew that being a real live authentic native of the USA would qualify me as "special"?  I shall be teaching life lessons along with grammar, American culture and geography to Germans of all ages.  Job starts in June and I am looking forward to a challenging experience and hopefully entertaining stories!

Adventures:

This past weekend, we went hiking with friends from Colorado.  We drove less than 45 minutes to Wiesfels, Germany.

Pretty forests, pastures, and views 

Matt and Rebecca are avid rock climbers so they took us to a spot with beginner climbing.

I prefer to climb easy routes with no gear so I was content strolling around in the sunshine as they climbed.

Scott borrowed Matt's gear and monkeyed straight up to the top like a pro!

Splendid view of scoot's tush on his decent

Random city observations:

This pup (I miss Peaches) hangs out on our street and we have a special bond  - can you see it in his eyes?

The fresh produce at the markets has been unreal especially the strawberries!

Italian and German varieties (German taste better so far)

Spargel (asparagus) comes in many widths and colors.  The Germans LOVE it and have entire menus dedicated to different recipes now that they are in season.  I prefer the white kind but have yet to try the purple.

We met up with our friends and their cute kids on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

Little curly headed Amelia always quick to pose is fully aware of how adorable she is

This crew is also randomly from Charleston but we met them here a few weeks ago (Thanks Meredith for connecting us on Facebook!)

 Stylish EuroScoots in full effect with the valley of Stuttgart in the distance

Speaking of style, Beyonce's beautiful bodacious body is plastered all over the train stations of Stuttgart.

Is her H&M campaign in the USA?  I doubt it

Does she really think people believe that she shops at H&M?

Next week, back on the road to meet Friend and Paul in Prague!

Blog Postponed

Frühlingsfest Extravaganza & Bavarian Castles

Frühlingsfest is Suttgart's annual Spring beer festival and fair.  

Fest is a truly amazing somewhat indescribable celebration so anyone who loves music or beer must really experience it at least once!

Scoots in snug leiderhosen and I in the customary dirndle

We met Scott's coworkers in the VIP section of the Grandl beer tent.  A ticket to this tent includes 3 giant 1 Liter steins of beer (called Mass) and your own chicken.  Luckily, our VIP area included spotless clean bathrooms with NO lines.  

Taken at 16:30 (4:30 pm) non VIP part of tent - In about 3 hours all of these people will be dancing on the tables!

Michelle (from work) and her German boyfriend Frank

Frank taught us the meaning of the German songs (different versions of a chorus in German translating to: 1, 2 and chug on 3 while clanking beers)

 Frank challenged Scott to match him beer for beer (perhaps why I found my husband passed out in leiderhosen on our couch at 3am)

A live band performed traditional German songs and classics from America.  Germans love a few random hits that seem to be on repeat:

-Summer of 69'

-YMCA

-Sweet Home Alabama

-Theme song from Dirty Dancing.  

We passionately belted out "I've had the time of my life and I never felt like this before..." with Germans of all ages singing at the top of their lungs! 

A variety of hearty food was served (whole crispy chickens most popular) 

Frank loved his chicken

Fantastic service by super strong waiters carrying chickens and mass 

Sampler platter of meats, cheeses, and more meats, fresh radish, olives and pickles too

Our waitress gave me a horrified look when I requested mustard (senf) with my giant pretzel.

My friend Shalon purchased her fancy dirndl (adorned with gems and special fabrics) from a specialty store in Munich for a whopping 300 euros.

Happily wearing my low budget dirndl with no fear of spilling my beer and ruining it

Erica & Sam Jackson from Virginia say they love dressing up because they get lots of attention from Germans who rarely see African Americans in traditional fest attire!

Scott's right eye is just fine; I tried to manually photoshop edit the red eye and this was the result

I met lots of friendly people like this sweet Australian lady (below on left) who was interested in my matchmaking services (now I must find her a tall successful German as requested)

Scotts right eye is still fine I promise; he just had a few more beers than usual

We ran into our new friends (also from Charleston) Sasha & John

The next day, the alarm went off at 6 am so we could drive to Bavaria and meet the Shanks.  We visited 2 world famous castles:

Hohenschwangau Castle (below) was the summer residence for King Maximillian II of Bavaria.

no photos allowed inside castle

Neuschwanstein Castle was the inspiration for Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty.

Magic Kingdom?

We toured the surrounding areas in a state of delirium.

Sleepy Scoots 

Beautiful Lake Forggensee

Grandpa Dave (tech savvy indeed) set up his camera timer for this Brady Bunch style photo

we hiked to the castles but carriage ride is a relaxing option

After castle tours, we had another authentic German dinner.

Skip's typical order - platter of meats (potatoes, sausage, steak, veal, topped off with an octopus shaped hotdog)

The next day, we brought Sis & Skip to Stuttgart.  On Sundays, nothing is open so locals spend their time walking and picnicking in the parks.  

Fuerese Lake & Church near our apartment

Schlossplatz Palace in City Center

Schlossgarten Park - drinking in public parks is encouraged

We walked for miles and ended up back at the beer fest but this time did not enter the wild tent.  We grabbed a few drinks and snacks at the stands near the carnival rides.

Delicious roasted salmon almost as tasty as the BIG Green Egg

After a quick stop at the fest, we took Sis & Skip to our favorite beer garden overlooking the the city.

Tired faces

We loved having visitors and are exhausted from a memorable weekend.

If you are interested in joining us next year for the Fest, please email me to book a room at the Shank Chalet.  

In conclusion, Scott & I have vowed, "No more meat or booze until Prague!"