Venice, Day 6

Lindsay's flight got in around 9:30 am and I picked her up. Lindsay's only goal was to find some strudel. I did a search on google and found a blog about it. In the blog, the person tried out 3 or 4 different strudels in different locations in Germany and said her favorite was a bistro in the Frankfurt airport. We found it with no problem and ordered some apple strudel. It was tasty (and so were those red berries which were the same ones on my schniztel... counting on a comment from mom or nana to clear this up... cranberries?)




We caught the flight to Venice with no problems and we were there in a little over an hour. We flew over the swiss alps on our way... It looked like a nice place to snowboard. I guess I'll have to go back one day. Our travel agent planned out every detail, so when we arrived, there was a lady waiting for us. She took us to the water taxi and walked us to our hotel and got us checked in. Very stress free. The boat ride over took about 20 minutes, after we got to the city we got to sit out on the deck as we cruised through the canals.




After we got checked in, we walked around for a few hours, getting lost constantly, but feeling pretty safe. Maps were of little help and I consider myself pretty handy with one. We walked into St. Mark's Square and over the Rialto bridge.




We got a recommendation for some gelato and pizza for dinner. Both were terrific. We had heard that the pizza in Italy wasn't all that great, but those poor people must have missed the place we went to. We have to thank the concierge for that though. After dinner, it was dark and we headed back to the hotel. Lindsay is asleep at 8:30 and I'm watching the BBC World News and typing this blog. We have a guided tour tomorrow at 9am... Should get plenty of pics.




Proof we were actually there... Bad pic though... Try again tomorrow.

Location:Sestiere Castello,Venice,Italy

Germany, Day 5

Everything went according to plan today. We checked out of the hotel, finished up our training, and then headed off to Frankfurt. We checked into our hotel and then headed into the city around 4pm.

Using a walking tour guidebook I found on my phone, we got to see some pretty cool sites in a short amount of time. We started off at the Frankfurt Cathedral. Then we headed into Romerberg which is a big open square area. We walked across the Eiserner Steg (iron bridge) which is a pedestrian bridge that crosses the Main. It was a very pleasant area, lots of people like a big city, but no bums or sketchy people.

We pulled out the phone again to find a restaurant for the evening. We decided we would try another German restaurant since it was our last dinner in Germany. I found a well reviewed restaurant located outside of the main tourist area. They specialized in schnitzel which we hadn't had yet. It was the best meal of the trip so far. I had schnitzel covered with bacon, apple, some berries, and a fried egg. It was the weirdest thing but tasted really good.

We worked off the dinner with a nice mile walk back to the car along the Main.


A typical sight along the autobahn, castles on hilltops.


Parallel parking?


Me in front of the Frankfurt Cathedral


Romerberg


Not sure what this was but you could see it from the iron bridge.


Some schnitzel from Klosterhof restaurant. Yum.

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Location:Frankfurt,Germany

Germany, Day 4

Today was our last full day of training. All the other group members left after lunch, but me and Rob will go back tomorrow. We took a group picture with my camera, but i'll have to upload it when we get home. Concept Laser gave us all beer steins as a parting gift. There were different scenes painted on each one. I picked the one with the arch near our hotel... It should hold plenty of Mt. Dew!


We were done training for the day around 3pm so we had plenty of time to kill and Concept Laser was not taking us out for dinner. Me and Rob decided to head back to Bamberg. We saw a bunch of cool sites on our last trip over, but it was dark. It was a nice sunny day so we grabbed our cameras and hit the road. We surprisingly were able to find the castle again and got some good pics. It is known as Michaelsberg Abbey and here is a pic...


On our way up to that caste we ran into another castle so we stopped and got a few shots. This place was huge, known as the Bamberg Dom (cathedral), but was unfortunately under construction...


We also went downtown to the main square/market area. The college was also located in this area so there was plenty of activity. After taking enough photos we used my Yelp app to locate a good restaurant. We found a mexican restaurant and were curious about the German version of Mexican, so we tried it. It was quickly obvious that it was a college hangout, so we knew the locals enjoyed it. As we struggled with the menu, the waiter came up and in perfect english asked us if we wanted an English menu. It was a relief to be able to order exactly what we wanted. The food was very good, comparable to the west coast mexican food me and Lindsay had in San Diego.

We changed our plans for the last day since training will only last until lunch. We are going to head back to Frankfurt in the early afternoon so we don't have to wake up early on Saturday and drive. We should also have time to do a little sightseeing. Be on the lookout for some good pics tomorrow... But only if we have have free wi-fi...

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Location:Zweigstraße,Lichtenfels,Germany

Germany, Day 3

Today was pretty similar to yesterday. Training, lunch, training, interesting dinner experience.

For lunch we went to our first actual German restaurant. The menu was completely undecipherable so I just went out on a limb and got what the Concept Laser guys suggested. It was some sort of pork with bacon and vegetables... Schwinebraten I think, and some potato dumplings which were just balls of mashed potato, but better (to me at least). There was also a side of red sauerkraut but I wasn't to keen on that.

During training I got to start the machine for the first time. Out of the 6 of us they all nominated me to go first so it was a little stressful... The two Spaniards we're trying to help, but that only made it more confusing. I got it started, so it all worked out.

At 4:00 we all left to go on a "walk." It ended up being a hike up a mountain! (well foothills...) We got some nice views of the city from the top. Luckily I thought to bring my camera. After a full hour of pretty intense hiking, we went to dinner. It was another German restaurant, but I wasn't feeling too adventurous so I just got the "filetsteak." I didn't need a translator to figure out what that meant...

Now I'm back and ready for bed... after I read about the iPad 3 announcement :-p



A view from our hike...

Location:Zweigstraße,Lichtenfels,Germany

Germany, Day zwei

Well unfortunately I didn't get a full night's sleep even though I was up for >24 hrs yesterday. I woke up around 2 am and didnt fall back asleep until 6 or so.

I got up at 8 and met Rob downstairs for breakfast. It was a pretty standard continental breakfast with the exception of raw bacon and some cold deli meats. I had some pineapple, oj, and scrambled eggs.

We arrived at Concept Laser for our training at 9. There were 4 others also in our training session and the language barrier got worse. Two of the guys were from Spain, and had a hard time with English. One guy was from Germany and he and the trainer would randomly start talking together about certain training points in German. Luckily, the last guy was from England, and I was sitting next to him. We had some good conversations throughout the day... He was a golfer and pianist. He reminded me of Veruca Salt's dad.

For lunch we had pizza, and having a german translater helped out in the ordering process. I got pepperoni and mushroom and it was OK. On a side note, most of the water around here is carbonated... Weird.

It was in the 50s and sunny today so after training, me and Rob walked around town and took some pictures. We both had the big bulky cameras around our necks looking like tourists. I had to remember to snap two shots, one with my iphone, so I could post them to the blog. We stopped in a store to buy soap, because it doesn't seem to be complimentary.

Our sales rep, Andreas, took me Rob and the british guy, Colin, out to dinner in Bamberg (30 km south). We went to this Italian restaurant located in a castle. It was pretty spectacular. I snapped a pic, but its kind of dark, and doesn't do it justice. The place was on top of a hill and overlooked the city. It was the VIP treatment for sure... I just got some basic spaghetti, but had some good grilled scallops for an appetizer and vanilla gelato with rasberrys for dessert. Or as Tom Haverford would say, Apps and Zerts...

Now we are back and its 10:30. I should be able to get a full nights sleep tonight.




Our hotel




Lichtenfels




What I think of when I think German architecture...




More of the quaint town of Lichtenfels




Part of the building/castle our restaurant was a part of with full moon backdrop.

P.S. remember to click the pictures to make them bigger and clearer.

Location:Bamberger Straße,Lichtenfels,Germany

Germany, Day 1

Rob picked me up at 3pm on sunday afternoon and we headed to RDU. We flew into Detroit and then to Frankfurt. I didn't sleep at all on the flight, but it didn't feel like a long flight. There was a strong tailwind so the flight was only 7.5 hours, unfortunately that also meant it was bumpy for a lot of the time.

We got to Frankfurt around 9:30 local time which would be 3:30 am in Raleigh. We rented our car and began the two hour drive to the small town of Lichtenfels. We drove on the autobahn which has no speed limit. Rob took it up to 115 mph on an isolated stretch, but we stayed around 80-90 for most of the trip. There were tons of BMWs and Audis flying by at 120+ at all times. It was very different. We had a GPS in the rental which was helpful due to all the strange road names.

We stopped at a Subway on the side of the road for a quick lunch. The menu was in English, and the music playing was all US top 40 hits, but no one knew English... It was pretty bizarre. We did a lot of pointing at menu items and toppings and it worked out. We got to Lichtenfels around 1pm and checked into our hotel. One of the employees spoke English enough to get us checked in, but it seems English is not as common in the smaller towns.

The town is a quaint little German town. I'll try and get some pictures tomorrow... It was drizzling out today. Temperature is in the upper 40s and feels fine.

We went to visit Concept Laser after we checked in. We meet some people and saw the machines we are training on, but only stayed a few hours. Training starts tomorrow. At 6:30 me and Rob met to eat, and it seemed like the town was going to sleep, no one was out. We stopped at a restaurant that seemed pretty laid back. None of the menu items looked appealing to me, and the staff spoke zero English, so I just got what Rob got... a kabob. It was good, but would have been a lot better if it wouldn't of had a bunch of different sauces on it. I need to learn how to ask for food "plain" or I might be in for a long week... Luckily the guys from Concept Laser are taking us out tomorrow and they all speak good English. Hopefully I can learn a few things.


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Location:Zweigstraße,Lichtenfels,Germany

Nana's bedroom

Here are a few pictures of Nana's bedroom newly painted and with new floors.