Aw, Rats.

As a serious surprise this Holiday, I got Danny Boy some new female friends. Keep in mind, he asks me like every week, "Can we get a new Smokey(old rat)? When can we get a new one?" and with quick response I say, "NEVER again!" or, "No. F*cking. Way." which was more common. Now, some of you may remember that our old rat, Smokey, nearly broke up our marriage, the little beast, so in Dan's head it would never happen. However, being that I am a totally awesome and loving wife, well SURPRISE indeed. Check out some pics and video of our new baby devils....Names to follow....


**these critters are VERY difficult to snap photos of.

playtime includes climbing all over me.

Danny meets his tiny coffee and white colored hooded rat.

My little wheat gray friend trying too see if I am a friend or a piece of food. Friend wins.

Trying to see if they can escape without us noticing.Danny reaches out to block my rat from jumping. Lucky she hasnt learned that trick yet....

Playtime starts in the bathtub, with lots of toys purchased, they prefer to chew on the drain cap. sheesh.

The little cream and coffee colored one is very timid and shy and stays around her bigger sister. But she likes to be snuggled with and will "chirp" and "squeek" when she's playing. She chomps her teeth when she's happy and likes to groom my fingers by nibbling on them and licking them.

The bigger gray wheat one is very curious and a risk taker and very smart. She watches out for her lil sis and bring her food inside the cage and plays with her constantly. Its very cute. She is an excellent climber and dare devil. She likes to sit on my shoulder but often sticks her nose in my ear and it tickles.

My curious rat wants to smell the camera. say "cheese"!

trying it out with no flash. They are still very young and small, but I think in a couple of months might be as big as cats.....

TAG ZWEI

And day two.....

Woke up at 4am.....actually Dan woke up and then woke me up with his incessant pacing. It was torture waiting for the sun to rise at about 730am. Our Pension Raidel provided us with breakfast, white bread, cheese, jam, butter, tea, and coffee. Yum. We didnt really care cos it was FREE so, we thought, can't go wrong with white bread and cheese.

The owners cat sat behind me the whole breakfast.

The day was spent mostly on a walking tour of the inner city of Rothenberg. It was cold, quiet and rainy. but it was fun.

We noticed many many many bakeries with bread and donuts and odd pastries called Schneeballen. What the f*ck is a schneeballen? you ask..
Well, Every German city has its food speciality, such as Berlin which is famous for its jelly donuts and Nürnberg which has its Nürnberger Bratwurst. Rothenberg ob der Tauber is famous for Schneeballen (Snow balls) which are strips of noodle pastry, formed into a ball and deep-fried for four minutes in hot fat, then dusted with powdered sugar,served for the first time in 1719 on the occasion of an inspection of a mill.

Hmmm, well I got to try that! Who wouldn't? YUM! let's see  cinnamon, dark chocolate, or powdered sugar.

So we bought a powdered sugar minischneeballen to share. I took the first bite. er, tried to anyway.

wtf is this? yeah, I'm over the schneeballen and gave it to Danny to finish.




We then went on a walking tour of Rothenberg that allowed us to check out the city walls, gates, bastion, and even walk out on top of the wall where archers would have been. It was pretty amazing and you can check out pics from the trip by clicking here (more get added everytime I post new days so check back)

Here are a couple.


This is a gatehouse next to the bastion where the canons and solders stayed. There was also a "mouth" where hot pitch would be poured down onto attackers.  All gatehouses are still used to enter and exit the city but only one car can pass at a time.


This is the outer bastion. I guess they kept large amounts of troops hidden here, along with canons and pitch.


There are MANY great pics so i suggest clicking the link to get the full effect.


After morning in Rothenberg, we hit the road and headed south along the "Romantic Road" to Fussen. Which is a border town. (Austria for the geographically inept, kidding.) We stopped at McDonalds along the way. Yes, McDonalds. It was the only healthy place we could find. I know, it sounds like an oxymoron but really, they had 100% fruit smoothies. YUM.

We arrived Fussen and found our Pension Romantik. (seriously, thats the name) It was IDEALY located within walking distance to BOTH castles. find out more during day 3!

Since we arrived so late, we had a very difficult time locating a place to eat. Eating was challenging since NOTHING was in English and our phrasebook only went so far.

So we spotted a "Mediterranean" fast food joint and ordered Donor Vegetarische. Which, once served, we found out was a tortilla filled with iceburg lettuce and smothered in cucumber yogurt sauce with sliced tomatoes on the side. (which i cant eat due to my allergy). So......yeah. dinner is served.

Anywho, after that we found a cafe and ordered cheese pizza, otherwise known as white bread and cheese. hmmmm seems familiar. Oh well. Back to our Romantik Pension to get some beauty rest. After all, it was 9pm!!!!

Hallo aus Deutschland!

Traveling to Germany and Rothenberg Ob Der Tauber
Day One:

Dan and I leave for SFO at 11am bags in hand, Euros in our pockets, and adventure in our hearts!!!! We are so excited, it may not be Vietnam, but hey, at least its another country!!!

So we get to the airport and after a long 2 hour sit on the plane, we have to get off. The PA system was broken and we all needed to head over to another gate and another aircraft. Yep, all 300 of us. hahaha. Oh well. er, at least all was well, until we get to the gate and find out our 2pm departure is now leaving at 930pm. *sigh*

However, our tears quickly dried as we boarded and snuggled into our *clears throat* First Class seats. snicker. Fate was on our side, and the gate agents too!!!!



Video of our First Class seating.


Our ten hour flight to Frankfurt airport was a breeze, especially since the United First Class Suite seats can make a bed! ~Although I was scared sh*tless when we hit turbulence over the water and could no longer speak. Luckily that didn't last too long. *wince*

Arrived in Frankfurt the next day, which I still consider to be Day One.


We rented a car and drove to Rothenberg Ob Der Tauber, 7 hours behind schedule. Thanks to Luke for emailing our Pension for us so they wouldn't give up our room. We quickly learned that was unnecessary since it was the off season and they only had one other guest. Also, since we arrived at 8pm, everything was closed, including places to eat. So we walked around in the 30 degree cold weather and admired what we could. It was actually very peaceful and beautiful in a way.

This is the Town Hall where the Night Watchman was talking to a group of locals and telling stories. All in German of course!

Bells would chime on the hour at the church adjacent to the Hall. (not shown)





We also spied a lot of cool shops and homes and streets. The whole upper town is completely enclosed by a City Wall and Gate Houses. Just like in a fantasy novel, but real. It has soo much history.








Did I forget to mention this is the place where Disney's Pinocchio was inspired after? Well it was. and No joke, looks just like it!!







A long time ago, cant remember exactly, when the Catholic Church was taking over the world, a Priest threaten to completely destroy the town and on a WHIM he decided if someone from the town drank 3.5 liters of wine he would spare them from ruin. And so a townsman accepted and won. He was drunk for like 3 days, but he didn't die and now he's famous for saving the town from destruction. They built him a fountain in his honor.


Off to bed, hungry at 1030pm. I don't think I have ever gone to bed so early.

Day Two to follow shortly.