Grafenwoehr Annamarkt

Our town had a cute little markt on Sunday.  We walked down and checked out the live German band (always a great beat), food, firetruck display, and shopping stalls.  It was fun to walk around and see Graf in action.  Though this markt was not very big, it was great to see.  Plus, we stopped for ice cream on the way home at Penguino Eis!  The best ice cream/gelato in the world is always worth a walk around in 90 plus degree weather :)

Justin and the firetruck display

Cute little shopping area in the Graf Square

Fest action and band behind us

Wish we could have jumped in the pond...that's how hot it was

Thank you Grafenwoehr, for hosting such a cute little markt!  We could hear the band all the way from our house, so it was definitely a hopping place to be Sunday!

Kulmbacher Bierwoche 2013

Do great days typically start planned or unplanned?  Do you wake up and say, "Hey, today I am going to do something great and have fun doing it," or does this greatness just happen?  I have had both planned and unplanned great days, and today was definitely one of those "unplanned" type of days.  

We woke up late and were being way lazier than we normally are.  We were thinking about maybe heading to a town nearby that Justin needed to scope out for an upcoming staff ride, but other than that we had no real plans.  Keep in mind, "unplanned" is the key to this great day.

Randomly, I decided to look up what fests were happening in the Bavaria area, not particularly for today, just in general.  Low and behold, I stumbled across an announcement for a happening in Kulmbach, a town I've been wanting to go to.  Today was the start of Kulmbacher Brewery's Beer Week, or in German, Kulmbacher Bierwoche.  So like any levelheaded American living in Germany, I put on my dirndl and decided we were going to Bierwoche.  Justin was on board, but chickened out on wearing his lederhosen, something about leather and it being too hot...oh boys.

We found what appeared to be the address for parking online, walked down to our car with sunscreen lathered on (it was well into the 90s already), and starting following our GPS (also known as Navi) down the road to Kulmbach.  It was a beautiful drive (sigh, I'm going to miss this German scenery).  Once we actually made it into Kulmbach and the downtown area we kind of started to follow the cars in front of us, hoping they too were heading to Bierwoche.  As fate and our unplanned day of greatness would have it, we found a parking lot that was....wait for it...FREE!  A rare find in Germany, so hopefully we didn't miss the pay meters anywhere, but as far as we could tell this was a good old fashion free lot.  So we parked and started heading towards the noise, still unsure about exactly where we were going.

Once we found the giant beer tent and stalls set up along the streets surrounding the tent we felt quite accomplished (I think that "accomplished" feeling is more easily achieved on unplanned days).  So in we went and found some food first, bratwurst, of course, followed shortly after by ordering our first round of specially brewed Kulmbacher Fest Bier.

Prost!

2 mini brats for the price of one and all the ketchup you want
(usually you just get one tiny packet)

After our brats, Justin was still hungry, so he randomly pointed to something on the menu, as it was all in German and a little hard to recognize any words we actually do know in German.  Luckily, he picked well.
 

Roasted chicken and fries!
(only 1 packet of ketchup though)

Going along with our unplanned theme for the day we decided to buy some souvenirs (why not, right?).  We decided on a Kulmbacher Bierwoche liter mug and a cute little cookie pin for my dirndl.  Again, Justin chickened out and didn't want one, something about it being too girly...

My pin says, "I love you," in Bavarian dialect

As if this wasn't unplanned enough, we saw a castle type building up on a hill overlooking the downtown area, so naturally we should go hike up the hill and check it out, right?  Right!  We again had no real guidance or direction as to where we were going, we just kept looking up and making sure we were still headed in the right direction.  Eventually we found what we were looking for.

Hmm, let's go see what this place on the hill is all about...

Cute streets of Kulmbach

Halfway there?

Finally made it to the entrance, where we learned this is Plessenberg

Apparently it's an old fortress that once protected Kulmbach

And here is an old cannon to prove it

The view from the top was great
(The white tent just to the left of the tree behind my head
is the beer tent we started our adventure at)

The "dungeon" that was blowing cold air, which felt so good after our hike.
Also, what is that white thing?

Made it back to the beer tent

The rest of our day consisted of drinking a bit more beer, enjoying the fest music and people watching, and talking to German folk about the education system and the army.  This was actually quite interesting and again, quite unplanned, since these people came to our table outside and randomly started talking to us once they learned we spoke English.  They really wanted to practice their English.  It was an interesting talk and a unique way to end our unplanned day of greatness.

So, are great days planned or unplanned?  Both.  But unplanned days are the best :)

Unplanned greatness

 

Celebrating One Magical Year in the Heart of Germany

Can it really be reality that one whole year has passed since I said my wedding vows?

The old saying, "Time flies when you're having fun," must really be true, because, cliche or not, it feels like just yesterday I was walking down the aisle with my Daddy, waiting to be given away to the most wonderful husband imaginable.

Team DeLeon, as we were named on our wedding day, has truly been on an adventure of a lifetime, all within our first year of marriage.  This blog tells of all the stories we have been through and places we have seen along the way.  God has blessed us and our marriage immensely by allowing this oversea adventure in Germany to be where our first year together took place.  Becoming husband and wife is no easy feat, but thanks to the Lord we have loved, laughed, cried, struggled, grown, and become the real TEAM we are today.

To celebrate such a fabulous first year, we headed to the heart of Germany, the Black Forest.  Our weekend started Friday night as we made our trek to Titisee (Lake Titi), where we stayed in an amazing hotel right on the lake.

The view from our hotel

We walked around the town and headed to dinner to being our celebration.

Rooftop dinner-Prost!

The next day, Saturday, we enjoyed the view from our room, had a champagne toast, and headed off to the town of Triberg for some Black Forest cuckoo clocks and hiking.

View of Titisee from our room

One year of marriage!

Black Forest "House of 1,000 Clocks" store

The start of our hike to Germany's highest waterfalls

The hike to the top of the Triberg waterfalls was not too difficult.  The views along the way were a great reminder of our powerful God.  The Black Forest and waterfalls were absolutely stunning.  Pictures do not quite capture the true beauty of this place.  Hiking the waters of the Gutach, which plunge over 160 meters in seven cascades, was one of the prettiest hikes I have every been on.

The lowest part of the waterfall

Black Forest background

Gazebo rest stop

Mini waterfall

Such a fun hike :)

After our hike, we had some lunch and then headed back to Titisee.  Once we were back to our hotel we laid out in the sun, played some giant chess, went swimming, and enjoyed the sauna.

Such a great view

I "let" Justin beat me ;)

Nice pool with the sauna in the background

We were very fortunate to be staying in Titisee this particular weekend, because a special festival called Nacht in Weiss (Night in White) was happening.  So we were able to enjoy live music (not all of it was in German), see some interesting body paintings (this was not so enjoyable), drink beer around the town, ride paddle boats and ferris wheels, and best of all, see a fireworks display over the lake!  We didn't get the memo that we were supposed to wear white, but needless to say, it was like Titisee knew it was our anniversary!

Great night for a fest

Prost

The fest behind us...

...the sunset in front of us.

Ferris wheel ride with the moon in the background

Fireworks display

The Nacht in Weiss fest was a success and a great way to enjoy our anniversary weekend.  The next day, Sunday, which was our actual anniversary date (July 21st), we headed to Lichtenstein to see the Lichtenstein Castle.

Entrance to the castle

Drawbridge

View of Honau

Front of the castle

An area in the courtyard

Wall of the fortress

Castle courtyard

After looking around the castle and courtyard we went to the beer garden for lunch before heading back home to Grafenwoehr.

A kiss in the beer garden on our anniversary

What a grand weekend!  Celebrating one year of marriage (I still need a pinch when I hear that) with my best friend, in the heart of Germany is more than I could ever ask for, and yet that's just what happened.  Here's to many more years and anniversaries to come!

Keepin' it real, one year at a time :)