Frankfurt, Germany

Walking the streets... All alone

Imagine walking through a city cleared out just for you as your plane lands. No other people – just peace and quiet as you walk the streets. All you see are beautiful, ancient buildings towering over you with fresh flowers in the windows, and all you hear are stone water fountains flowing as you pass them with the pitter-patter of your feet behind them. That much quietness in a big city seems nearly impossible at any given time of the day, especially in the largest financial Centre in Europe. But the morning we landed in Frankfurt, Germany, the people of the fifth largest populated city in the country were all in slumber. Of course I was just kidding when I said it was cleared out just for us, but as for the town being asleep as we went on our first exploration, that was no joke.
Bull of Frankfurt Yum Yum... German Festival Food

Our flight landed in Frankfurt right as the sun rose. Me, Tres, and my brother, ready to take on the country of Germany. However, my parents’, who’s flight was supposed to land before ours, were stuck in Atlanta. As soon as we landed, Tres received a text saying they were eight hours behind us. The initial plan was to meet them, hop in the car, and head south to the mountains of Garmisch, but we learned as soon as our plane touched down, that wasn’t going to happen.

Drinks on a fun patio just as people started to wake up in this city... haha

So the plan changed. And before we knew it we were walking off of a subway into the gigantic city of Frankfurt, dragging our luggage behind us. Sure, we could have set up camp at the airport until 5pm when my parents finally landed, but instead, we decided we had a fun city to explore. So bags and all, off we went, into the city. The quiet city, that is. The Friday night party must have lasted until 4am with the entire city of Frankfurt invited because on Saturday morning, there wasn’t a person on the streets.
First view of a German country-side from the drive

For the first several hours we walked, admiring the unique, longstanding architecture of the city. Finally, a few shops started to open up, and though the party was assumed to have lasted all night the eve before, it wasn’t long before the beer was flowing again. As we walked, we stumbled upon none other than a German festival – right in the center of Frankfurt. Carnival food and beer on the streets are two of my favorite pastimes, and when the smell of sausages, sauerkraut, pretzels, and German beer started seeping through streets that were completely uninhibited just hours before, I was in my happy place. We had clearly arrived… we were officially in Germany!
Eating pizza and drinking beer after a long day and drive... sleepy

The day was spent eating German festival food, drinking champagne and beers at every cool restaurant patio we saw, and walking the finally busy streets of Frankfurt, luggage still being hauled behind us. Exhaustion set in later than afternoon, and we took the subway back to the airport to wait on my parents. I took an hour nap in the most comfortable position a person could possibly be in laying on a lobby seat in an airport. Finally around 6pm, my parents were landed and we were in our “family truckster,” a Volvo station wagon, driving across the country of Germany. We arrived in Garmich, ate a quick dinner composed of pizza and more beer, and went to bed.

Spending the entire day in Frankfurt was a treat, and there’s plenty more Frankfurt stories where that one came from because we weren’t quite done with it just yet!

Bermuda... The Honeymoon I Forgot to Mention

In the cab... We made it!!!

Holy goodness gracious!!! All these posts, and I just realized I ever even blogged about our honeymoon in Bermuda. Wowzers… not sure how that one slipped by me! Ok, nearly 6 months later, but here were some of the highlights of the trip: • We had a great dinner every night we were there. I mean, leave it to me to get us well-fed, but we did not miss out on a good meal while there! If you ever go to Bermuda, I suggest Baracuda in Hamilton (best meal we had the entire trip) and King Henry VIII (great atmosphere… very old school, dinner and dancing).

What we woke up to

Other side of patio

• Our first day we walked, and walked, and WALKED! Did I mention we walked?! Ha! The cool thing about Bermuda is, it’s not your typical “tropical Caribbean island.” It’s very British (accents, driving on the wrong side of the road, the whole shebang) and there’s more to do adventure-wise than just laying and having drinks by the pool all day. We found several beaches, including the famous Horseshoe Bay. We stopped and had a few patio drinks along the way. After one drink stop, we found this random, salient forest with vines to swing from. I don’t know if anyone else knows that place is there, but we had lots of fun playing in it. Finally, when I started getting fussy, we finally caught a cab. I bet money we walked 10 miles on this day. So much fun though!

Pink sand... beautiful

Swizzle Time!!!

• That first night we had dinner at the hotel and went back to our room with a bottle of wine, sat on our balcony and listened to tunes, laughing and talking for hours. This is why I married my husband. Just me and him, all by ourselves, have the best time together!

Dinner

Drinks on the Patio after din

• Day 2 was St. George’s… may have been the best little town on the entire island! I felt like we were in London walking the streets, and there was plenty to see, do, and explore. We got off the beaten path and discovered an unfinished church. It was so beautiful and like nothing I have ever seen. After more walking we cracked open a bottle of Santa Margarita from our backpack and did more exploring. I’m pretty sure it’s not legal to walk the streets of Bermuda drinking wine, but we certainly did it… haha!

• Before I go more into day 2, I need to talk about how nice the people are in Bermuda. Look, you will hear people say that about almost every place they visit, but I swear, if they call anywhere aside from Bermuda “the nicest people on the planet,” they have never been to Bermuda!!! This may sound extra-creepy, and it’s nothing we have ever in our lives done before, but we hitch-hiked nearly 5 times on this trip… And no, we never stuck our thumb out. There were plenty of cabs, we were not desperate. People would see us walking, drive up, and offer us rides. It was really weird at first, but everyone was so nice, and by the end of the trip, we had taken so many rides with strangers, we didn’t think twice about it!

Unfinished Church and St. George's

• One more thing on Day 2…. It POURED!!! I mean completely drenched me to where I was “drowned rat” style. We didn’t have an umbrella, so we ran into an ice cream shop, had a bite to eat, and asked the lady working if we could have a garbage bag or something to cover up with. She comes out with an umbrella. SHE GAVE IT TO US!!! Seriously, these are the people of Bermuda. I have been a lot of places – a lot of places with extra-nice people – and I have never experienced anything like this!!! After this experience, we headed to The Caves... a great sightseeer in Bermuda!

CAVES!

• Day 3 was golf!!! We played at The Southampton Princess, and I have never seen a course so beautiful. Of all 18 holes, there was a view of the ocean. The best part was, we got there extra-early, and with it being low-season, we pretty much had the entire course to ourselves. It was a golf game to remember and our second favorite day the entire week!

POOL TIME!

• Day 4 we hung out at the Dockyard, another area of Bermuda. We started the day off with a tennis game, had lunch, did some exploring, layed on the beach, then ended the day with another bottle of Santa Margarita and King Henry VIII.

LOSER

WINNER

• Day 5… BEST DAY OF THE ENTIRE VACATION!!!!! It was our last day, so we rented a boat and took it out on the open ocean. It was so relaxing just having me and Tres together on our sweet little boat. We stopped at a tiny island for a picnic – one of the most fun things we have ever done together. After lunch, we went shipwreck sightseeing. Bermuda is known for their shipwrecks because of all of coral close to land. It was really cool to see, as one we saw sank in the 1800’s!

• It was sad to say goodbye, as I’m sure every honeymoon is. We enjoyed every aspect of Bermuda. The food was great, the people were amazing, and the activities were entertaining! Also, nothing beat our awesome hotel, Cambridge Beaches. It was secluded, quiet, and our suite had the most amazing view! I highly recommend it!

Beautiful room!

• Last things to point out about Bermuda… THE PINK SAND!!! It’s beautiful and you will never see anything so exceptional! And…. THE SWIZZLE!!! It’s the island’s signature drink, and we had a bundle of them while there. It’s a must-try!

Weekend in Memphis

What a wonderful weekend at home! After traveling every weekend for the past two months, it felt good to be home for a few days and enjoy life in our own city! I feel so blessed to get to travel as much as I do, and I thank my lucky stars each day for it. But no matter if it’s work travel or fun travel, when there’s back-to-back travel going on in one’s life, a break cannot come soon enough! This weekend, that break finally came for me and Tres, and we took complete advantage!

Thursday
I let the weekend begin early by meeting up with some blog friends at Old Venice Pizza Company in East Memphis after work on Thursday night. My blog friend, Christin, from A Classy Southern Wife invited me to the dinner. It was so exciting to finally meet her, as we had been trying to get together since long before our weddings (which were in October and a week apart). Both being from Memphis and planning weddings at the same time, we had been stalking each other’s blogs long enough (haha), so it was fun to finally get together with her.

There were about 8 other bloggers there from all around Memphis. Two of the girls are good friends of mine from work, The Diary of K-Fun and Hope in what Remains. I didn’t know the other bloggers when I got there, but I felt like I did when we left. We had a blast going around the table introducing ourselves and our blogs! Now I have a whole new group of friends and some more fun blogs to follow!

Friday
Fridays are always my favorite days of the week when I’m working a full week at the office and not traveling. It’s because I know I have a full, relaxing weekend in Memphis ahead of me! This Friday was no exception. That night, Tres and I went with friends, Joey and Cristen, to a fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Club. Held at the Cadre Building Downtown, it was a Mardi GRAS themed party, complete with poker tables, beads, and a fun band. It was completely decked out casino-style, which kept Tres and Joey at the card tables all night. Cristen and I had a blast trying all the different drinks at the many different bars they had set up and dancing the night away in our cocktail attire!

The best part of the night was when my work girlfriends texted me, letting us know they were downtown at Raifords. Two awesome things about this 1) They live in a different part of Memphis, so when they come downtown, I am always so pumped to party it up with them. And 2) they were at RAIFORDS!!! Seriously, if you don’t live in Memphis and ever come, if you do ANYTHING, it must be Raifords. Words can’t describe the randomness of this place. All I can say is if you don’t mind staying out late, you love to have a good time, and you don’t mind extremely loud funk and soul music, this is your place!!!! The first time you walk in Raifords, you will think someone either slipped a drug into your drink or you are dreaming. The place is a cloud of fog with disco balls and different colored lights flashing everywhere. They only serve 40 oz. beers to drink, so if you prefer anything else, this may not be for you. And the best part? THE MUSIC! Every Michael Jackson, Prince, Stevie Wonder, and Lionel Richie hit is on the playlist, and don’t think you’ll get out of there without hearing “Brick House” and “Boogie Shoes.” Raiford himself is there, spinning the record tracks, and his style and personality are something to see all on their own!
Needless to say, when it’s a Raiford’s night, it’s a long night. Our night ended about 4am on Saturday morning. When I say we were excited to be in Memphis, I was not lying!

Saturday
Lazy, lazy day!!! Duh… we stayed out all night. I wrote a bit for my Travel Blog while the hubby snoozed. We met my parents for dinner at The Bar-B-Que Shop. If you come to Memphis, I highly suggest getting your BBQ here. I thought I’d had it all, but this little place is tucked away, and somehow after all these years, I almost missed it. The pulled pork is almost like butter… extremely tender with a melt-in-your-mouth taste to it. UNBELIEVEABLE! This places proves Memphis BBQ right. Oh, and by the way… if you anyone and I mean ANYONE tells you Texas or Carolina has better BBQ than Memphis, send them my way. I will personally laugh in their face and shove a big Memphis Rib in their face!

Saturday night we went to a friends’ Duke game get together. It was a big group of work friends, and my new friend, A Classy Southern Wife (thanks to blogging!), came! It was exciting to finally have our husbands meet! We all hung out, watched the game, and drank wine! Super fun night to end the weekend!

Sunday
Believe it or not, we still had wedding gifts to take back, so we headed BACK to Macy’s. It’s become a running joke with Tres and I that the furniture people see us and wonder “who the couple is who comes in here every other week and never buys any furniture.” HAHA! Seriously, we have been looking for the perfect couch for way too long, and Macy’s has been the top victim. Hopefully, we will find one (along with a ton of other furniture and décor) soon! We just have too much going on right now to think about it!

After shopping it up, we headed to my parents house to plan a schedule for our trip to Germany this summer. In June, we will be visiting Frankfurt, Garmisch, and Munich, Germany, along with stops in Austria, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Netherlands, and Venice, Italy. We are extra excited to have my Pop guide us around, as he lived in Germany for seven years! After talking about our trip and deciding on exact dates of travel, we went to dinner at a great Italian restaurant in good, ole Hernando, MS. It was a great end to a fantastic weekend AT HOME!!!

Sadly, we leave again tomorrow for Orlando, so no more weekends at home for awhile. We sure didn’t take this past one for granted though. We lived it up in good ole Memphis, TN!