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Heidelberg Part 1

I just got back from a day trip to Heidelberg. I spent the last two years of high school living in Heidelberg, so was excited to go back and visit all the old haunts. While there I met up with my old friend Sam and together we had many exciting adventures. The ride to Heidelberg from Aachen was uneventful although it does have beautiful scenery, at one point on the drive you cross over the Mosel River on a huge bridge and the view is just breathtaking. Also it is a joy to be on the Autobahn going superfast! I love it!
Upon arrival in Heidelberg we made our way to the Crowne Plaza Hotel. This hotel is really fine and is in the perfect location, only meters away from the Hauptstrasse, which is where almost everything to do in Heidelberg in located. From there Sam and I made our way the Starbucks on the Hauptstrasse, a place we spendt much time during highschool. The Starbucks does not have the typical interior of an American starbucks. It is located in an old building, the interior of it is painted pink with white crown-molding and some crystal chandeliors hang from the ceiling. There are numerous tables as well as a couch and some green plush chairs. Inside there is a small round tower with two tables at the top where you can look out onto the side streets and down towards the river. A fun place to sit and people watch as you enjoy your coffee.
After coffee we headed down towards a candy store that only sells gummys. It is amazing they sell gummys in flavors you would never think of, all kinds of fruit flavors, beer flavored, coffee and tea flavors. They also make them in all kinds of designs. They have the gummys shaped like bears, fruit, leaves, cups, people, horse shoes (a symbol of good luck), lips, and even have a selection of adult entertainment gummies! )It is a shop where you (or at least I) shell out a lot of money quickly.
Across from the gummy store there was a shop that sold all kinds of liquors, and the like all hand-brewed. They have a wide selection and after a little delibration Sam and I decided to purchase a small bottle Absinth to try later that night.
After spending a few hours on the Hauptstrasse we went to have a bbq at her parents house. Sam's mother is Austrian and boy can she cook! The food was delicious! Where Sam's parents live is a small town called Rauenberg. It is gorgous. It is located between hills that are covered with vineyards. The second night that we visited her parents, we took her dog Trouble with us and took her for a walk up into the vineyards. It was amazing. There are lots of paths you can take your dog. As you walk you slowly go uphill through a small thicket of trees and past some trees, which we came to see were cherry trees that had started to produce some fruit. Along the edge of the vineyards there are several rosebushes that creep up along the various fences and gates that line sperate one vineyard from the other. When you finally get to the top of hills there is a very nice view of the town and some of the surrounding villages. It is like something out of a storybook. THere are the hills and the outlines of old buildings with the churchsteple the towing above everything else and you stand there smelling the grass and see all the wildflowers blumming. It is a moment I will never forget...

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Finally, Arrival

Finally made it to Germany! The various flights here went exactly as scheduled, and were uneventful. While the view for most of the time was just the clouds in the sky, the flight from London, Heathrow to Dusseldorf had great views. We flew over the british channel and could see all the boats and ferries out on the water, we also flew over Holland.It looked like a quilt of various shades of green, browns, and yellows from the sky. Very beautiful. Landing in Germany carried with the awesome feeling of finally coming home after a long absence, everything had that familiar vibe to it. Nothing to exciting happening so far, just trying to deal with jetlag. It was most definetly a challenge to stay up until a decent hour yesterday. Upon arrival in Germany we went directly to visit my Oma (grandmother). She had baked a Strawberry Kuchen (cake) and had coffee for us. Five mugs of coffee later and I was still fighting sleep! The cake she baked was delicous, not overly sweet like the cakes in America. There is the bottom if the cake which is actual cake and then there is fresh strawberries on top covered in a glaze, very tasty. Later in the evening we then went to Landhaus Odinius (which is owned by various members of the family) and had a drinks called a Drecksack, which is cola and beer mixed together. Suprising they taste good together and was just what was needed to help me stay awake. The rest of the evening just invovled catching up and much needed rest. This morning we went to the Saturday market. The market is in a town called Julich. The market fills the center of the city and spills out into the streets. Recently in Germany they celebrated Maifest (Mayfest), and the streets still had the flags strung out, giving it a very fun and festive look. The market was very similar to any farmers market you would find the United States. There were various stalls with fresh produce, flowers, honey, cheese, and even one that sold freshly made pasta. It was a great place to stock up on fresh vegtables and buy a few flowers.

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New Adventure

A new travel adventure is about to start! Tomorrow I leave for a three week trip to Germany with my brother and sisters! I am a military brat and lived over there for many years and I am excited to go back to visit family and friends. I will be in the Cologne, Aachen area, as well as a quick trip over to Heidelberg. While there I will keep you updates on all the fun things and adventures I encounter (one of these will include a trip to the tattoo parlor!) Keep checking back!

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The seafood quest (san diego gaslamp quarter)

On our last night in San Diego before heading back the next day, we were craving seafood. Sarah and I decided to embark on a magical journey to find good seafood in the downtown area. Before heading out, we asked the fun friendly staff guy at the Hotel St. James in the Gaslamp quarter to recomend us some good but affordable seafood. He directed us to what he referred to as a "cheap" affordable dining experience. He gave us two choices for seafood. We decided to head to the one further away thinking it would be more delicious and tasty due to the distance.

Walking around at night in the Gaslamp quarter is a trip. It was fun to walk through all the different types of people playing guitar, drinking at walk-up bars; a very cool environment to be in. When we found the first place there was a guy outside playing Wonderwall by Oasis. Unfortunately, the song was more memorable than the name of the seafood place. Probably because the price was ridiculous so we passed on it.

We decided to head for the second restaurant hoping for a bit better prices for delicious tasty seafood. As we were leaving to the next, we headed back the same way we came. This turned out to be an exercise in hilarious frustration as it was the complete opposite direction. We tried to follow the directions of the front desk staff as best we can, but apparently we are map-challenged. We managed to get re-0riented and make it to Osetra which also turned out to be very fancy, but we decided to go anyway. After being lost and hungry it was time to eat!

The inside of Osetra reminded me of a fancy, trendy Los Angeles restaurant. Lighting was minimal and used blue lights to set the mood. I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt (so was Sarah) so I was quite under dressed my good sir/madam for this restaurant. The waiter came by and handed us the largest menu of wine I have seen in this lifetime yet. We were thinking about getting some wine but the task seemed pretty daunting with so many to choose from. Sitting next to us was an angry French couple discussing why they hated the United States. Perfect conversation for a nice relaxing dinner! Every time we discussed something, they would stop talking and listen, and change their conversation accordingly. It got kind of strange to be talking about not making enough money, and the man next to us discussing minimum wage laws in America... For our appetizer we ordered Oysters on a half shell, I ordered stuffed flounder, and Sarah order shrimp and lobster ravioli. When the oysters arrived, Sarah and I both discovered that neither of us had ever eaten it before. I wasn't sure if we were supposed to slurp it, or eat it with a fork. The oysters were stuffed with cheese and bacon, so when we ended up deciding to eat it with a fork it made sense. Later on a couple next to us had the same dilemma and figured out to use a fork as well which made us feel pretty good. When the food arrived we both joked that it looked a lot like "elf food" the portions seemed so small. Boy were we wrong. I don't think I've ever been so full...

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Ocean Beach

On this post I would like to talk about one of my favorite places in San Diego. Ocean Beach. I love the feel of this place; it has a very hippy, stress free vibe. First off let me describe the town. The town has a very surfer, beachy, laid back atmosphere. There is one street (Voltaire) that is full of little shops and restaurants, plus it has little coffee and smoothie stands located on it. By the way, the smoothies there are the best. Alan and I tried smoothies from two different places and both were amazing! I think their trick is that don’t use any ice cream or anything like that, they are strictly made from fruit, ice, and juice. Yum! The town is full of beach houses where it was quite common to see people out in there front yards barbequing and having a great time.

The beach itself is beautiful. It is separated into two separate beaches by a sand dune. On one side is the dog beach. This is a great place for dogs and their owners to enjoy a fun relaxing day together. As a side note let me just say that San Diego is one of the best places to have a dog. Almost every single restaurant and shop was dog friendly. In many of the cafes there were canisters of dog treats and bowls of water set out for four legged customers. Next time we visit San Diego, maybe one of us will bring a dog J

Ok so back to talking about the beach. The strictly human side of the beach is long, on one end there is the dune and on the other end a beautiful wooden pier. Ocean Beach is mostly just sand, not the place to go if you are looking to collect some seashells. While Alan and I drove around for a half of an hour looking for a parking spot, the beach did not appear to be incredibly crowded. Along the beach there various types of people, some families and many young adults as well as seagulls. The seagulls on the beach offer their own form of entertainment, they are quite vicious and if anyone left out food, those birds swooped down and grabbed it before anyone could blink an eye. This was amusing to watch. Also on the beach was a group of people learning how to surf. Apparently, the waves at Ocean beach offer a great opportunity to learn this sport. Alan and I spent our time pursuing more relaxing endeavors, mostly tanning, and playing Egyptian Rat Screw with a few dips in the ocean, which was freezing!

As the sun began to slowly set and the wind became a little chilly we decided it would be a fun idea to check out the pier on the other end of beach. So we began our trek. Once at the pier we had an awesome view of the Ocean and the entire beach. The pier extends several feet out into the sea and is used to fish. On the pier there is a small café/ restaurant. It looked delicious. However, having been at the beach and not having our wallets on us, between the two of us we could only scramble up enough money to get two cups of coffee. Still it was a great way to the end the day, coffee, sunset, beach, amazing!.

Just final words of warning, when you go to Ocean Beach make sure you note the name of street where you park your car. At night all the streets look the same and as Alan and I can tell you from experience it is no fun to walk around, penniless and without a phone or ID, for over an hour looking for your car, praying you didn’t get towed.

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Day 2: San Diego Zoo Part 1

After a night of relaxing (and drinking...) Sarah and I decided to go explore what is considered the nation's number one zoo: The San Diego Zoo! It is the largest and most progressive zoo in the world with over 4,000 animals and more than 800 different species. It is also one of a small few that hosts a giant panda. After spending about thirty minutes trying to find a parking space we managed to get one fairly close to the entrance of the park.

Armed with my Nikon D40, Sarah and I ventured in to the zoo (after paying the semi-pricey entrance fee). The park exhibits are designed around a type of habitat, and include different animals that can be found side by side in the wild. The exhibits also contain native plant life which compliments the animal. Exhibits range from artic tundra to african rain forests, and include large free-flight aviaries.

We started our San Diego Zoo Safari Adventure (TM) by heading right and encountered our first animal, a koala. These little guys were enjoying their day relaxing in their "natural habitat". Next up we entered a walk in aviary with hundreds of tropical birds, waterfalls, and rainforest flora. It was quite breathtaking. Afterwards, we ended up taking a overhead gondola lift called the skyfari, which took us across the entire length of the park and gave me the opportunity to take some fantastic aerial photographs. Once we disembarked, we were lucky enough to catch the Giant Panda exhibit and took some hilarious photographs of the pandas peeking out from their sleeping cave. These specific pandas are being bred in captivity and then eventually released into their native habitats due to Giant Pandas being an endangered species.

Next up, Sarah and I entered the "Monkey Trails and Forest Tales" exhibit, which is home to more than 30 species of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and 30 species of African and Asian birds. We went across a walkway that brought us into a tree canopy with rare and endangered species of monkeys and then ventured across a forest path that brought us to see very noble looking apes.

Further up the trail we made it to the "Sun Bear Forest" which is a special habitat created for Bornean sun bears. The canopy of this forest was formed by leaves and branches of palms and ficus trees, while bamboo and giner create the mid-canopy. Bornean sun bears are some of the smallest bears in the world and are named after the golden crescent pattern on their chests.

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