Fruhlingsfest/Augustusburg Castle

May 9-10, 2014

9^th- Today after work we met up with Manu and Phillip and his friend Thomas to go to Zwickau for the Fruhlinsfest- Spring Festival. It was like a mini carnival with games and rides and food. We walked around a bit and then they all played a shooting game. Heavens is a pro at shooting targets. She only missed two! She even won three prizes from all of the points put together. Then Manu and Heavens went on a ride which took forever to start but once it did it was pretty cool and they had fun! Then we walked into town and went to an Irish pub for dinner and drinks. It was a good night.

10^th-Today we met up with Manu and Phillip and we went to Augustusburg Castle about an hour away from us. There we played on the playground while we waited for Maria. We went on the slide and see saw and it was fun. Then Maria came and we went up to the castle. We first started with the 3-D painting exhibition. This is the main reason we came. All the paintings look 3-D and you can take a funny picture doing a pose with them. It was hilarious! We had so much fun doing funny poses and taking lots of pictures! Then we went to have cake and coffee and to relax a bit; while I freaked out with the automatic door lol. After that we went into the Dungeon to find out all about the torture techniques used in previous times. Some were very, very harsh! Then we saw some of the birds they keep at the castle and then up the tower to see the view and very expensive but not so impressive paintings! Maria had to get going so we took some pictures with the view and walked back down. We decided to go down the slide once more although it was a bad idea for Heavens as she went a little too fast and landed on her bottom! Ouch! Then we said goodbye to Maria and Manu and Phillip took us to the other side of the Castle where there was a luge! This one was really cool as it was super fast! And it went around a mini golf place which looked cool. We had a good time. Then we did a little shopping before going home. Overall it was an awesome day out with many laughs and one of my favorite times in Germany.

Until next time,

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Hakuna Matata

May 7, 2014

Today we went to Leipzig zoo after work to attend our African Themed evening called Hakuna Matata. It began with a private tour of the zoo- in Germany; however we got to see animals we missed the first time we went to the zoo. We saw the flamingos again, went into Gowandaland and saw a view from high up over the trees, saw the sea lions, the baboons, the hyena, ostriches, and Lion. Then, my favorite part was the giraffe house which had all seven of the giraffes inside!! There was a huge one named Max and a baby giraffe. But my favorite was one of the giraffes who put their head through the ropes to stare at me. Right at me! We had a little ‘moment’ just staring at each other. It was wonderful. I absolutely loved it. After we finished the tour…yes I had to leave the giraffes although I really didn’t want to. We went to the restaurant which was beautiful and got our free drink and sat at our reserved table. We ordered some drinks and then got to eat a lovely buffet of African inspired food which was amazing. We had many helpings it was so lovely. A live African themed band played in the background. Then the drummers came out. Two men were playing the drums and two women dancing- all from Africa. Heavens had already gotten her picture with one of the men and then she got to play his drum. I was chosen to dance with one of the women and it was great. Then the band played again and we chatted and relaxed and then the drummers came back; this time with a huge conga line that we all participated in. And they even sang a rendition from White Chicks which had us in hysterics! After that came one of the best parts of the night though with two men dressed as explorers came into the restaurant with torches. We followed them outside and they performed a fire show with juggling fire, eating fire, throwing fire, fire chains, etc. Heavens participated by attempting to throw a lei over the guy’s head. It was amazing, especially in the dark. They even juggled fire around a man from the audience! How cool!! Loved it! Once that was finished it was getting late and we still had an hour’s drive so we decided to head home and goes to bed. I had to say I think this was one of my favorite experiences in Germany. 

Until next time,

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Over 30’s Party

May 3, 2014

Today we went to Thomas’s house and met up with Manuela and the boys as well as Meghan and her brother Seamus. We were going to an over 30’s party which is really common in Germany and it means the crowd that will be there are going to be older and not teeny boppers. But before we headed to the party we pre-gamed by drinking some shots and some drinks and chatting and then playing Cards Against Humanity which was really funny. It is like apples to apples but more risky in every way possible. It was hilarious to begin with but even funnier since Thomas didn’t know all the words and Meghan had to explain some pretty rude things lol. Once we had enough to drink Manuela drove us to the party and we got free entry as the person hosting the event was their next door neighbor. When we got there we got some drinks and hit the dance floor. From that moment we didn’t stop dancing except to get more drinks (which we got a lot of) until the end of the night. Throughout the night we were lucky to have Manuela there who helped keep my camera safe, tell off the man who licked Heavens ear, and kicked the chair of the man wanting to chat up Heavens lol. We finally ventured back to Thomas’s house at 4:30am with Heavens sshing all of us, quite loudly! The next morning, or shall I say afternoon when we finally got up, we had some breakfast and sat chatting with Thomas and Manuela and looking at the pictures from the night before. It was a great time, even if we didn’t feel very well the next day!

Until next time,

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Monster Trucks and Stuntmen!

April 27, 2014

Today we went to a monster truck and stuntmen show. It was in our town and it is a show that goes to many different places. They did stunts in cars like doing spins, going on two wheels, and crashing through fire. They also flipped a car! They did stunts on bikes like riding on one wheel, and jumping over people. They also did stunts on four wheelers like riding on two wheels and doing jumps. Then there were the two monster trucks that went over two cars to crush them! It was really cool but the best part was that I got picked to ride in one of the stunt cars!!! Yup, I got to ride in a car that was on two wheels on its side! It was very cool! And not that scary! I loved it!! YAY!! Just another example of the randomness of Germany!

Until next time,

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