Pigeon Watch: August 9th, 2010

These birds are growing like crazy. I took some pictures of the disgusting things. I also tried to get a picture of Henriette trying to attack me through the glass. Enjoy!

August 6th- Henrietta gets a sister

On August 6th Tasneem, the second of the horrible pigeon children, was born.

August 4th- Henrietta is Born

Henrietta, the older of the pigeon children was born on August 4th.

July 21st, 2010

July 21st was a monumental day for me because Aachen got a Bagel shop, Bagels and Beans. I am huge lover of bagels and really the only thing missing from Aachen, other than my family and friends, was bagels.

Pigeon Watch: July 19th, 2010

Cecile laid another egg, named Tasneem. Her boyfriend, Peter, came to add extra protection.

Pigeon Watch: July 17th, 2010

This pigeon, named Cecile, laid an egg in our window box. We named the egg, Henrietta.

World Cup

For the majority of my life I've never paid attention to world cup. I'd say its mostly because I'm not very interested in Soccer. Its boring and not much happens. I prefer to watch football, especially Ohio State. Since I've been in Germany I've watched a few soccer games and have actually enjoyed it. It was a great experience to be here during the world cup until Germany was so unfairly removed from the tournament. (joke, but not really.) I was able to watch a few games in Paris, Amsterdam and Hannover, but the majority of the games I watched were in Aachen. The germans really enjoy the games and it was awesome to celebrate with them. In Aachen they had big projectors set up all over the city to watch the games. I was surprised to see so many people gathering to watch them. Anyways, like I said, it was very sad to see Germany lose to Spain, especially after I started enjoying being a soccer fan. But third place isn't so bad.

Enno and his friends taking Germany shots in our kitchen.

One of the public viewing screens.

Me and Enno at the public viewing in Hannover.

Ohio Pictures

While Stephanie and Heather were here we took a collection of OHIO pictures. Enjoy.

Eiffel Tower

Amsterdam Sign

Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin

Alexanderplatz, Berlin

June- Heather and Stephanie Come

In the first week of June I had my exam for the final of my five German language courses. It was very difficult but I passed and am now in the more advanced German courses. Stephanie and Heather came to visit in the break that I had between classes. We took a big trip all over Europe. We started with Cologne and Dusseldorf. In Aachen we took the Charlemagne walking tour where you can read about all of the important locations in Aachen for Charlemagne. For example, his body is in the cathedral in Aachen. Very interesting stuff. We hopped on the train after a few days and headed to Paris. Paris is a wonderful city and we really loved it there. Stephanie and Heather went to the Louvre, Musee D'Orsay, and much more. I was able to get to the Centre Pompidou and Musee De L'Orangerie for the first time. We also hit up the catacombs, Notre Dame, Saint Chappelle and about a million other places. We were lucky to be in Paris for the first week of the world cup when France was still in it and were able to watch the USA-England game, in an English pub, of course, and the Germany-Australia game.

Here we are getting our "French" on in front of the Eiffel Tower.

This is in front of Centre Pompidou where an old Gypsy couple decided to play terrifying music to scare people away.

After about four days in Paris, and 10,000 creepy french men later we headed to Amsterdam. One of our first stops was at wok to walk. This is an amazing fast food place where you can order any noodles, sauce, meat and veggies that you want and they stir fry it and give it to you to go. Its so good that I would drive three hours to Amsterdam just to get it, but probably not.

We were in Amsterdam for the the first soccer game of the Netherlands. It was a really cool experience to see all of the fans partying in their orange attire.

A few hours later we had a mini photo shoot in the shoe. :)

Our boat tour.

After one day in Amsterdam we took the train to Berlin to spend a couple of days in Germany's capital. We had to have the correct sunglasses to get into the city but I had it all taken care of.

We went to the Pergamon museum where you can climb the famous Pergamon alter. It was really amazing to sit somewhere where Samantha Brown once was.

We took a bus tour throughout the city. Here's Heather and Stephanie on the Ku Damm

May- Family Time

May was a very exciting month for me because my mom and baby brother came to visit me. It was lovely to show Kyle around the wonderful city of Aachen and introduce him to the secret treasures of the city. We were able to spend a few days in Aachen and Cologne before taking a trip to Amsterdam and Brussels. When we were in Cologne Kyle had a lock made for him and Emily. He threw one key in the Rhine river and took one back for her to throw in the Ohio river.

Me and Baby brother Kyle on the train from the airport to Aachen.

Kyle, throwing his key into the River.

Mama and Kyle in front of the Cologne cathedral.

Kyle and Emily's lock.

Kyle attaching his lock.

In Amsterdam we took a boat tour, went to the Anne Frank house, rode the trams in the wrong direction, found a grocery store, saw the Van Gogh museum and found the Iamsterdam sign. It was a very fruitful trip because when I went with Enno we couldn't find the Iamsterdam sign.

As you can see it is not a small sign and Amsterdam is not a big city which makes you wonder why we couldn't find it.

Boat tour
Having pancakes in the park with my best friend.
Mom and Kyle with Anne Frank.

Me and Kyle bringing the creepy to Amsterdam.

We also went to Brussels for a day. We had enough time to see Mannekin Pis, sample some belgian brews, eat waffles and french fries and take a bus tour of the city.

Yeah, it was pretty sunny in front of Mannekin Pis.

May- Fruhlingsfest

In May, Enno and I took a trip to Stuttgart for several reasons. Neither of use have been to Stuttgart before, it was Fruhlingsfest, and I've been dying to get to the Mercedes Benz museum since the day I got off the plane in Dusseldorf. So, Fruhlingsfest is a festival in Stuttgart that is basically the Oktoberfest of the spring. Its an excuse to wear your favorite dirndl and throw back a few liters of beer. While we were in Stuttgart we also went to the Mercedes Benz museum.

Enno and his friends standing in front of the main train station in Stuttgart.

The two of us at Fruhlingsfest.

People playing oversized Chess in the park.

And the pope's old car at the Mercedes museum.

May

On May 1st Germany has a public holiday and everyone has the day off. Unfortunately this year it was on a Saturday so we already had the day off. Lots of people take this day to go on a hike. Enno and I had the opportunity to join this hike with lots of his friends. We walked around 13 miles total including a trip to the three points where the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany meet. The day ended in the evening at a park in Aachen where we all barbecued. Oh yeah, and you take a wagon full of beer with you. Everyone pimps out their wagons to carry beer, a portable grill and enough food for the whole day. Its awesome.

March- Cologne

Back in March Enno and I spent a Saturday in Cologne. Cologne is famous for its beautiful huge Cathedral. I've been inside a few times but never take the stairs to the top because 1) I heard they were really high 2) I could never find them. So, on this rainy day in March, Enno said it would be the perfect chance to climb the stairs and get a beautiful view of the largest city in North Rhine Westphalia. I asked him if the stairs were really as bad as everyone said they were and he said no, plus it only costs 1 Euro to go up. So, we went. About a quarter of the way up I got all american on him and started complaining about how I was going to die. Halfway up we stopped to look at the bells. The bells were cool and I got a chance to catch my breath. Finally we got all the way to the top, I lived and it was beautiful.

Here is me at the top of the tower with Cologne in the background.

And here is how I felt….

Now, after we climbed the stairs we went over to attach a lock on a bridge in Cologne. Several years ago people started getting their name and their lover's name engraved on a lock, attaching the lock the bridge in Cologne, and then throwing the keys into the Rhine river. Of course, Enno and I also did this. :)

Here is our lock!

Here is the lock on the bridge. Enno throwing his key into the river.
Me throwing my key into the river.