Millrose, Chris, and Laura went on their first excursion out of Munich area to see Sleeping Beauty's Castle. Okay it was King Ludwig's castle Schloss Neuschwanstein and his parents castle Schloss Hohenschwangau. But it is too cool to say Sleeping Beauty's castle. Only wish I got to see her! King Ludwig grew up at his parents' mountain retreat and when he became king built his own castle. Did you know the castle is only about partly complete? King Ludwig only stayed in it for a half a year and then "mysteriously" died after being declared mentally ill and unfit to be king.
It was interesting to hear the history of this place. The area is amazing. So beautiful! Swans are the theme at the castle. I guess King Ludwig had a kind of fascination with them. But they are even swimming in the lake. Swans are common to see here. We saw a family of swans at Garching Lake.
Sorry I can't upload pics. Take a look at the photo link. The photos are all on the web.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
settling in....slowly
A month has gone since we left the US. Can't believe it!
Again, here is the website for all our photos if you are interested.
http://picasaweb.google.com/cmsears04
We have had a hard two weeks, but also some fun times. Chris has been getting used to his work and the German way of business, and I am getting used to no work and apartment searching. We have done a lot of the "paperwork" these last weeks to live in Germany. Not much fun but have to do it, right?! We now have a bank account, which allowed us to apply for health insurance so that then we could apply for work visas. I have met with my bosses at the Kindergarten and the German teacher that I will be working with. We are getting used to the weather here. Really need to pack away the tank tops and take out the sweaters. Already had to go digging for the raincoats. It has been sunny one day and raining and cold the next. Lately, it has been raining in the morning, partly cloudy during the day and warm, and then thunderstorms in the evenings. So much for sunny California. We have gone to Nymphenberg Palace and the 850th Birthday party of Munich street fair.
Nymphenberg Palace was the summer home of the Bavarian king. It is now a museum and a great place to wonder around. The backyard of the palace is this huge park with streams and paths through woods. It is amazing. There were a lot of people walking around, picnicing, going for a jog. Definitely a nice place to stroll through.
The 850th Birthday party is all year long. Throughout the year they have been having different events take place. This last weekend was a street fair that went around the ring road of Munich. There were bands playing, from American hip-hop music to tradition Bavarian music. There were lots of food, mostly sausages, and beer all around. You can notice the native Germans as they wore their traditional outfits. It was very cute to see little boys in lederhosen and the girls in Bavarian dresses. There were a lot of things for kids, small size soccer fields, field hockey, plate spinning, juggling, medieval ferris wheels, and much more.
As promised, here are more pictures of Garching. The picture with the Maypole is downtown. Very Bavarian to have poles in the center of town I think. Blue and white are the Bavarian colors.
The main way of transportation is biking to the U-bahn station and then taking the U train to work. Tons of bikes. Lots of people on the train. Pretty safe though. I have read once that two bike were reported as stolen and the police were like, "really? Bikes stolen?"
It just may be that they were just really nice bikes.
Things you would not see in the USA:
1) slugs: there are sooo many slugs in Garching! You really have to watch your step down the sidewalk.
2) people walking around with beer in their hands.
3) a bicyclist riding with no hands talking on their cellphone.
4) kids (even a 4 year old) throwing a sharp ax, that is sharp on both sides of the top, at a piece of wood during a street fair.
5) kids doing extreme gymnastics: jumping off really tall blocks onto other blocks a distance away at a street fair.
6) maybe not in California but elsewhere: a family of 6 girls ranging from 4 years to 10 years old, all in pink dresses, with their dad with a pink dress shirt, their mother in a blue shirt and skirt with pink shoes, walking through a park on Sunday afternoon.
7) nudists strolling around the middle of the park (okay, maybe in some parks in california)
Again, here is the website for all our photos if you are interested.
http://picasaweb.google.com/cmsears04
We have had a hard two weeks, but also some fun times. Chris has been getting used to his work and the German way of business, and I am getting used to no work and apartment searching. We have done a lot of the "paperwork" these last weeks to live in Germany. Not much fun but have to do it, right?! We now have a bank account, which allowed us to apply for health insurance so that then we could apply for work visas. I have met with my bosses at the Kindergarten and the German teacher that I will be working with. We are getting used to the weather here. Really need to pack away the tank tops and take out the sweaters. Already had to go digging for the raincoats. It has been sunny one day and raining and cold the next. Lately, it has been raining in the morning, partly cloudy during the day and warm, and then thunderstorms in the evenings. So much for sunny California. We have gone to Nymphenberg Palace and the 850th Birthday party of Munich street fair.
Nymphenberg Palace was the summer home of the Bavarian king. It is now a museum and a great place to wonder around. The backyard of the palace is this huge park with streams and paths through woods. It is amazing. There were a lot of people walking around, picnicing, going for a jog. Definitely a nice place to stroll through.
The 850th Birthday party is all year long. Throughout the year they have been having different events take place. This last weekend was a street fair that went around the ring road of Munich. There were bands playing, from American hip-hop music to tradition Bavarian music. There were lots of food, mostly sausages, and beer all around. You can notice the native Germans as they wore their traditional outfits. It was very cute to see little boys in lederhosen and the girls in Bavarian dresses. There were a lot of things for kids, small size soccer fields, field hockey, plate spinning, juggling, medieval ferris wheels, and much more.
As promised, here are more pictures of Garching. The picture with the Maypole is downtown. Very Bavarian to have poles in the center of town I think. Blue and white are the Bavarian colors.
The main way of transportation is biking to the U-bahn station and then taking the U train to work. Tons of bikes. Lots of people on the train. Pretty safe though. I have read once that two bike were reported as stolen and the police were like, "really? Bikes stolen?"It just may be that they were just really nice bikes.
Things you would not see in the USA:
1) slugs: there are sooo many slugs in Garching! You really have to watch your step down the sidewalk.
2) people walking around with beer in their hands.
3) a bicyclist riding with no hands talking on their cellphone.
4) kids (even a 4 year old) throwing a sharp ax, that is sharp on both sides of the top, at a piece of wood during a street fair.
5) kids doing extreme gymnastics: jumping off really tall blocks onto other blocks a distance away at a street fair.
6) maybe not in California but elsewhere: a family of 6 girls ranging from 4 years to 10 years old, all in pink dresses, with their dad with a pink dress shirt, their mother in a blue shirt and skirt with pink shoes, walking through a park on Sunday afternoon.
7) nudists strolling around the middle of the park (okay, maybe in some parks in california)
Friday, July 4, 2008
Happy 4th of July!
Feel free to look at all our pictures. Click on this link http://picasaweb.google.com/cmsears04
We have now been in Europe for 2 weeks and have learned a lot. We are settling in though. Have been asked for directions twice now! And was able to direct them both times :)
Adventure's of MillRose is our blog we have created to share our experience living in Germany. MillRose is the name of our stuffed cat that so happened, by our brother Andrew, to be tied and dragged by our getaway car from our wedding at Mill Rose Inn. This battered, dirty, and yet still meowing cat has been on our adventures with us. Despite her torn off mouth and dangling nose, she has had a great time in Athens and Santorini on our honeymoon.
This is where it all started. We arrived at the airport with 11 boxes and 5 suitcases. Each of us pushing two carts through the doors of the airport was quite a task. We arrived at our apartment in Garching. This is a picture of their apartment complex that we are staying in until we find
a place in Munich city.
It is 30x10 feet room. Really small, but it works. It has a balcony at least. It is close to Chris's work and very close to the grocery store.
Enough with the moving, lets explore! T
his is Garching. The town is in the distance if you look close to the picture on the left.
We don't have pictures of Garching city yet. Maybe later.
After finding out the buses do not run on Sundays, we had to leave at 6:15 am on Sunday for the airport. Instead of the bus and the train that would take us about 30 minutes, we had to take the train into Munich city which is the complete opposite direction, switch trains and literally go right back where we started but only a small distance to the northeast. It took us 1 hour and 20 minutes instead. We thought of a taxi that would take only about 15 minutes but we couldn't figure it out since we had no phone yet and we tried the online reservation we found, but it did not work. So a really early start, but here we go!
Athens, very busy, very populated. It definitely gave us the historical trip and the tourist trip we wanted part of our honeymoon to be.
Our hotel room. Room was just okay but the rest of the hotel was nice.
We were so hot and tired.
Funny outfits on the guards post outside the presidential palace.
They couldn't move so another soldier had to fix the guard's skirt when the wind blew it!
It was sooo hot and windy at the Acropolis that her wiskers went sideways! (Actually, another scar of being dragged.) The Acropolis was amazing.
"What out, it is very slippery. So many people are falling!" said Millrose.
Some friends Millrose met.
There were stray cats and
dogs everywhere! Mostly
dogs in Athens and cats in
Satorini.
And Chris just loves cats!
Who do you think is going to win the staring contest?
So much exploring, it was nice to go for a swim in the sea. We enjoyed the busy beach at Athens for the last day.
And what better way to end the night, sipping wine on the roof of the hotel with a view like this ---->
Off to Santorini...very romantic and beautiful place. Definitely recommend!
Our ferry to go over. They have assigned seats!
Our hotel was
amazing. We had a patio off our room with a view!
This makes up for all they put me through!
We took an excursion on a "sailboat," a boat that actually had no sails and was motorized with about 150 people. It took us to the center of the volcano where we hiked up to the top to view the center pits and see the view from there. Then it took us to the island across the way from the mainland, had lunch and walked up a very steep long climb up stairs to the top of Thirasia, thinking there were some shops, but only residences we found. Thirasia, at one point was connected to the mainland, making Santorini an almost complete circle rim of the volcano. Then the sailboat too
k us to Oia, which is the tip of the mainland, to see the sunset. We again had to hike up the very steep long staircase to get to Oia. Three times of hiking up to the top was not easy! We were so hot and tired. A lot of people rode donkeys up the steps. Wish we did!
But got some really great pictures!
Here is the hike up to the top of the volcano.
That squiggly line is the stairs! Here is the view from the top of Thirasia.
We are pretending we ha
ve the energy to stand.
We are o
n the way up to Oia.
Here are just a couple more pictures. These are from Fira, the town our hotel was in.
We went to the other side of the volcano, to the beach side. It looked only maybe a 30 minute walk but actually took 1 hour 30 minutes. Bad judgement in distance!
Our last night, we ate at the hotel restaurant. Chris's plate had lobster where they nicely decorated the plate!
On our arrival back from Greece, we met all these people at the airport watching the soccer game on the big screen, cheering for Germany.
Millrose made it home with her new friend,
We have now been in Europe for 2 weeks and have learned a lot. We are settling in though. Have been asked for directions twice now! And was able to direct them both times :)
Adventure's of MillRose is our blog we have created to share our experience living in Germany. MillRose is the name of our stuffed cat that so happened, by our brother Andrew, to be tied and dragged by our getaway car from our wedding at Mill Rose Inn. This battered, dirty, and yet still meowing cat has been on our adventures with us. Despite her torn off mouth and dangling nose, she has had a great time in Athens and Santorini on our honeymoon.
This is where it all started. We arrived at the airport with 11 boxes and 5 suitcases. Each of us pushing two carts through the doors of the airport was quite a task. We arrived at our apartment in Garching. This is a picture of their apartment complex that we are staying in until we find
a place in Munich city.
It is 30x10 feet room. Really small, but it works. It has a balcony at least. It is close to Chris's work and very close to the grocery store.Enough with the moving, lets explore! T
his is Garching. The town is in the distance if you look close to the picture on the left.
We don't have pictures of Garching city yet. Maybe later.
After finding out the buses do not run on Sundays, we had to leave at 6:15 am on Sunday for the airport. Instead of the bus and the train that would take us about 30 minutes, we had to take the train into Munich city which is the complete opposite direction, switch trains and literally go right back where we started but only a small distance to the northeast. It took us 1 hour and 20 minutes instead. We thought of a taxi that would take only about 15 minutes but we couldn't figure it out since we had no phone yet and we tried the online reservation we found, but it did not work. So a really early start, but here we go!
Athens, very busy, very populated. It definitely gave us the historical trip and the tourist trip we wanted part of our honeymoon to be.
Our hotel room. Room was just okay but the rest of the hotel was nice.
We were so hot and tired.
Funny outfits on the guards post outside the presidential palace.
They couldn't move so another soldier had to fix the guard's skirt when the wind blew it!
It was sooo hot and windy at the Acropolis that her wiskers went sideways! (Actually, another scar of being dragged.) The Acropolis was amazing.
"What out, it is very slippery. So many people are falling!" said Millrose.
Some friends Millrose met.There were stray cats and
dogs everywhere! Mostly
dogs in Athens and cats in
Satorini.
And Chris just loves cats!
Who do you think is going to win the staring contest?
So much exploring, it was nice to go for a swim in the sea. We enjoyed the busy beach at Athens for the last day.And what better way to end the night, sipping wine on the roof of the hotel with a view like this ---->
Off to Santorini...very romantic and beautiful place. Definitely recommend!
Our ferry to go over. They have assigned seats!
Our hotel was
amazing. We had a patio off our room with a view!This makes up for all they put me through!
We took an excursion on a "sailboat," a boat that actually had no sails and was motorized with about 150 people. It took us to the center of the volcano where we hiked up to the top to view the center pits and see the view from there. Then it took us to the island across the way from the mainland, had lunch and walked up a very steep long climb up stairs to the top of Thirasia, thinking there were some shops, but only residences we found. Thirasia, at one point was connected to the mainland, making Santorini an almost complete circle rim of the volcano. Then the sailboat too
k us to Oia, which is the tip of the mainland, to see the sunset. We again had to hike up the very steep long staircase to get to Oia. Three times of hiking up to the top was not easy! We were so hot and tired. A lot of people rode donkeys up the steps. Wish we did!But got some really great pictures!
Here is the hike up to the top of the volcano.
That squiggly line is the stairs! Here is the view from the top of Thirasia.
We are pretending we ha
ve the energy to stand.
We are o
n the way up to Oia.
Here are just a couple more pictures. These are from Fira, the town our hotel was in.
We went to the other side of the volcano, to the beach side. It looked only maybe a 30 minute walk but actually took 1 hour 30 minutes. Bad judgement in distance!
Our last night, we ate at the hotel restaurant. Chris's plate had lobster where they nicely decorated the plate!On our arrival back from Greece, we met all these people at the airport watching the soccer game on the big screen, cheering for Germany.
Millrose made it home with her new friend,
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