A Day in Bamberg

Bamberg was established around the 10th century and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A World Heritage Site is a place of significance based on six criteria. For comparison, places such as the Grand Canyon, Statue of Liberty, and Redwood Forest are World Heritage Sites.
After finding a parking spot with our friends, the first thing we did was eat! Chris and I both ordered Bamberger Zwiebel (meatloaf-stuffed onion, topped with bacon) at the tavern Schlenkerla. It was delicious! We also enjoyed one of their famous smoked beers with our lunch.

Next we walked up to the Neue Residenz (new palace), which housed bishops after the 17th century.

The back of the palace has a majestic Rosengarten (rose garden).

The views of Bamberg from the Rosengarten were spectacular!

Next we walked across the street to the Alte Hofhaltung (old palace), which housed bishops in the 16th and 17th centuries. I also had my first "pay to use the bathroom" experience here, which set me back €0.50.

We then entered the Bamberg Cathedral, which was founded in 1002. Chris enjoyed translating all the Latin signs for us. It was the first time all day we had a solid grasp on a non-english language!

 Pope Clement II and Emperor Henry II are buried in the Cathedral.

We then continued our tour of the town, enjoying food and drinks along the way.

I really enjoyed Bamberg and I cannot wait for future visits where we can explore even more of the city. I will say, being in the German economy was definitely a culture shock for me. I have a new motivation to expand my German because it was so unnerving trying to speak to Germans only knowing a few words!

MonroadTrip: A Quick Recap

Since my camera is dead and Chris is over in Europe, I'm relying strictly on my cell phone photos for this recap. 3 weeks, 4,000 miles, and 15 states (plus the District) was quite the adventure!

Maggie was such a trooper. We made sure she was as comfy as possible in her crate as we drove across the country.

Our first day took us to Bozeman, Montana. We then spent the second day exploring Yellowstone National Park.

I can't wait to share my camera photos from Yellowstone, it was so beautiful!

After camping in Yellowstone, we made our way to Rapid City, South Dakota. It was so cute! They have a statue for every US president.

The next day we got up early to see the sunrise at Mount Rushmore. Besides the park ranger, we were the only people in the park!

From Mt. Rushmore we made our way through South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin to have with a weekend in Chicago. We were able to see some of our closest friends and experience THIS:

From Chicago we made our way to Michigan for 10 days. We spent most of our time in Michigan seeing family, filling up on Biggby Coffee, and enjoying our home. We also went to a Detroit Lions pre-season game!

After Michigan we drove to Washington, DC. We enjoyed up our last few days together in my favorite city. Besides all the fun we had, we also had to take our car to the VPC so that it could be shipped to Germany.

So that leads us to where we are now. Where am I? Michigan. Where is Chris? Germany. 

At first I was pretty disappointed to not fly out with Chris. This was going to be our "true" first move together, and somehow we added a period of separation to it. Even though we didn't want it this way, there are some positives to situation. He's over there, figuring out housing, cell phones, and all his paperwork right now so when I get there everything has settled down. I should be arriving right around when our boxes and car arrives, which will be nice. 

I can't wait to get to Germany and get to work, but until then I'm soaking up some "Pure Michigan" and my family.

Überraschung! We're moving to Germany

To say I've been in denial about moving to Germany would be an understatement. Dealing with the military, you expect plans to be delayed or cancelled. Then I saw the orders for September and Chris's assigned unit. It's really happening.

The first question people ask is: "How do you feel about this?" To be honest, I'm not sure. The best way I can sum it up is that my inner teen and adult are at war.

In my head, teen Julie (believer, dreamer, and eternal optimist) says:

"THIS IS AMAZING. I've always wanted to live in Europe! I'm going to see the world! I can finally witness a Tour de France! I should start learning German now. I'm downloading all the language apps I can find! Think of all the fabulous food in Germany! Oktoberfest and Christmas Markets! Wine in Italy, beaches in Greece, the Alps, Buckingham Palace, Eiffel tower- I WANT TO SEE IT ALL!"

And my adult self replies:

"What is the housing situation? What am I certified and licensed to work as? Will I be able to find work? I need work, I have student loan payments! How will this affect my career path? I'll have to do most of my CEU's online. I should start studying for the driving test. Which car do we bring? How much stuff should we move? What paperwork needs to be done to get Maggie there? I need to buy outlet adapters. I have a hard enough time talking to friends and family now with a 3 hour time difference, now it will be 6! What are the gas prices like? How often will I be able to fly home?"

I'm constantly bouncing between excited and terrified. I'm terrexcited.

There is one piece of information about this move that warms my heart. We will fly out of Baltimore to our new home. Which means after spending some time in Michigan with family we can spend our last days in America in Washington, DC.

It will be the perfect place for me to say "see you later America."