Servus München, Howdy Texas!

When we started our blog, it was to document our adventures in Munich.  And I think we did a pretty good job capturing both the daily life as well as documenting all of our incredible vacations over the years.  Though lately we have been pretty MIA.

Why?  On February 11, 2016, our journey in Germany morphed from being about European travels with the two of us (and sometimes our dogs) and into a slower-paced life as a family of 3 (or 5 if we include the dogs).  After patiently, and then impatiently, waiting for our son to arrive, we finally welcomed Max into the world 9 days after his due date. 

Thus the grand adventure we started here has turned into a family friendly version, with us even going on a few family vacations – venturing into the Bavarian and the Austrian Alps a few times. 

Left: Bizau, Austria.  Right: Schloss Linderhof in Bavaria.  Both: Max not looking at the camera.

However now that we are parents, our focus on what we want out of life has shifted.  We realized quickly how important it is to us to be back in our own culture and near our family, especially as we now have 4 nephews that we want to be closer to.  And instead of planning our next giant vacation in some new European place – we are planning our move back to the US! 

MERICA

As of this coming September, we will no longer be ‘Weiss Aus Deutschland’.  Instead we will be just the Weiss family in Houston – blog-free. Our little Bavarian baby will learn to love Tex-Mex, how to say ‘y’all’ properly, and see what a real rodeo is.  But more importantly, he will grow up with family nearby – which is what we want most of all. 

Don't worry Grandma Margie - you will get a smile photo soon!  Your visit was just before he learned how to do it. :)

So while we can’t say we are ready to LEAVE Munich (I don’t think we ever really will be fully ready to leave this wonderful city), we are more than ready to GET BACK to Texas and our roots (and maybe Tex Mex).  Munich has been an amazing place to live: it has really helped us grow both as individuals and as a couple, and it has brought us the best thing of all: Max.  We will definitely leave a piece of our hearts here in Munich, and we hope to return one day with Max.  We want to bring him back not only to show him where he came into the world, but to help him realize that the world is a much, much bigger place than the USA. 

At the beer garden 

With that, we leave you with a collection of ‘American’ things we have come across in our years in Europe – a very accurate portrayal of what we are returning to, wouldn’t you say? ;) 

America is about BBQ and giant burgers - what else?

We all love sitting around eating Chocolate Cookies ice cream, right?

Space and motorcycles.  The epitome of USA.

Please don't ask us what American Cream is.  It sounded way too perverse for us to try. Cool American, however, is delicious.

A semi-truck and Uncle Same.  MERICA.

And most importantly, Hot Dogs.  America = Hotdogs.

Seriously. Hot Dogs.  You know - those British-branded Ye Olde American style hot dogs that were TERRIBLE. 

Our 4th Germanniversary

Today marks the 4^th anniversary of our arrival in Munich.  This last year definitely held the most changes in our lives in Munich so far as we left behind our travel-orientated lives to prepare for our first child!  And as today is our Germanniversary, we continue our annual tradition of looking back on the prior year and reflecting on our favorite and least favorite moments of our 4^th year in Munich.

Highs:

Here are our favorite moments of this last year (in no particular order):

• Learning I am pregnant, and then finding out we are having a son! 
• All of the travels we fit in pre-pregnancy and early-pregnancy: Scotland, The Rhine region, Hallstatt, Portugal, Switzerland, Paris (Julie only) and Israel (Julie only).  Hey – Noah got to go to Brazil for the World Cup last year…
• All the friends and family who visited us!
• Going to Frühlingsfest and being able to fully enjoy it, beer and all
• Driving out into the countryside late at night to watch the Geminid meteor shower.  After so many tries over the last decade+, we finally were successful with a meteor shower and saw more shooting stars than we ever expected.  (the photo is not of the meteor shower since we didn’t take a camera with us)
• Our first trip back to the US in over a year and a half, and seeing family and friends (including meeting my nephew Tegan for the first time)
• Finally seeing two of our favorite Bavarian spots covered in snow and ice – the Partnachklamm gorge and Schloss Neuschwanstein
• Our 2+ weeks of Christmas vacation, where we focused on relaxing and spending time together.  We watched all 7 Star Wars movies, Noah cooked a lot of delicious food, and we played a lot of video and board games.  In about a month, it won’t be just the two of us anymore, and it will be a LONG time before we have the luxury of spending 2+ weeks doing nothing.
• Discovering Trustedhousesitters.com and having two wonderful couples stay in our apartment and take amazing care of our dogs for two of our vacations.  How I wish I had known about this website when we first moved to Munich!

Lows:

And now the lesser favorite moments (also in no particular order):

• A super hot summer + no air conditioning.  We had to simply shut the living room door and avoid that room as it reached the 90s with all the windows.  The rest of the apartment wasn’t much better – upper 80s.  And we aren’t exaggerating about it being hot – Germany reached its highest temperatures in history!
• Having nausea for all three trimesters (though if that is the worst that happens for my pregnancy – I will gladly take it!)
• Spending Noah’s birthday sick with a cold (on top of the morning sickness), then passing the cold on to him.  Happy 30^th Noah!
• Missing out on Oktoberfest this year – Thanks Max! J
• Noah’s embarrassment over calling a Kinderarzt (pediatrician) and saying he was looking for a Frauenarzt (gynecologist) for his baby.  He gave the receptionist a good laugh.
• Hard to fulfill pregnancy cravings!  You can’t go get a Wendy’s Frosty or good queso here.  And 2 days after I started craving non-raw sushi – our sushi place closed down for a month for their August holiday.  The plus side – I probably would have gained a LOT more weight if we were back in Texas the whole time. 

Thanks Munich for a wonderful 4^th year, and we can’t wait for what awaits us this next year!!

Julie’s turn to turn 30!

Exactly 1 month to the date of Noah’s 30^th birthday, it was my turn to hit the big 3-0.  And as Noah mentioned in the last blog – our plans to do it big in NY never came close to happening.  But we did want to celebrate us both finally being 30 in a grand way, so we booked a 10-day dual birthday vacation/babymoon to Lagos, Portugal.

Luckily I had gotten over the worst of my first trimester nausea at this point (don’t get me started on my 2^nd trimester nausea – that is a different story), so I felt comfortable enough making the short flight over to Portugal.  Plus it meant Noah was finally going to get his purely relaxing beach vacation he has been wanting for years.  Let’s just say I have a tendency to want to relax for about 2 hours before I am antsy to do some exploring/activity.  It only took a pregnancy + morning sickness to finally get me to taking an actual relaxing vacation.

We flew into Faro Airport – the main hub in the Algarve region – and picked up our rental car for the ~hour drive out to Lagos.  We booked a studio apartment at the Costa d'Oiro AmbianceVillage.  Minus the small towel issue (it seems they don’t quite have enough sometimes) – we loved this place.  We would 100% recommend staying here – great location to access multiple gorgeous beaches and multiple pools to choose from for more relaxation.  Sadly the only photo I took of our adorable AIR CONDITIONED studio was this one of our patio because there was a cute cat napping on our chair. 

Our first full day we made our way down to our first beach of the week - Praia Dona Ana.  This gave us our first glimpse of how gorgeous the coastline is in the Algarve area – clear water, soft sand, and stunning rock formations.  I also discovered how delicious the donuts are in Lagos thanks to the vendor walking up and down the beach selling these cinnamon-sugar treats. 

Praia Dona Ana

After getting our fill of sun for the day and taking our siesta, I wanted to go back to the beach to try to get some nice photos of the two of us with the tripod.  It was once we were setting up the tripod and camera that we realized we were missing the connector that actually attaches the camera to the tripod.  Essentially we lugged our heavy tripod all the way to Portugal for nothing, and this explains why all of the photos of us are selfies.  Oh well. 

We decided to salvage our evening outing by checking out a new beach to enjoy the sunset.  This is how we discovered our favorite beach - Praia do Camilo.  The main downside to this beach is you have traverse a LOT of steps to get down to it, which means you have to head back up the same huge staircase to get back out.  Otherwise the views from this beach are just amazing. 

Only halfway down the steps

Praia do Camilo

The next morning it was time for a new beach.  I used the hotel’s app to discover Canavial Beach, which was shown as a great snorkel spot.  What it failed to mention was that this was the beach that nudity was common.  And by common, I mean common amongst 40+ year old men.  As I have gotten more than used to this experience living for over 3.5 years in Europe, this doesn’t mean I enjoy discovering that the man setting up his beach spot with his wife and daughter didn't have on a brown speedo.  Nope, he was just THAT hairy down there.  Thanks dude for the everlasting image!!  Because of this, the only photo I took is of the intense path down to the beach. 

We finally hit the actual town of Lagos the following morning.  While I wasn’t super impressed with the town itself (nothing too special in my opinion), it did reveal that there was a gorgeous beach right downtown we wanted to return to with our swimming gear. 

I'll be back

As we were already driving around, we drove by our hotel and continued out to the Ponta da Piedade – a famous rock formation outcrop in the area. 

That afternoon we finally returned to Praia do Camilo (the one with all the steps) for a swim.  We timed it so that we arrived in the heat of the afternoon, and would be able to climb UP the steps once the sun set and the air cooled off.  This meant that we showed up to a very crowded beach.  It wasn’t a surprise seeing how small this little beach is, and we had no problem finding a spot that a family was vacating.  Noah grabbed his snorkel gear and I grabbed my floatie and we were quickly exploring the giant boulders and small caves right by the beach. 

Entrance to a tiny beach cave

After 3 beach days in a row, we decided to take the following day off and spend it as a pool day.  I can honestly say I have never just spent all day lounging by a pool.  This was definitely a first, and definitely enjoyable. 

Of course I stayed in the shade - no sunbathing for this pale girl!

After taking it easy Wednesday morning, we found ourselves back at all those steps to visit Praia do Camilo again that afternoon.  And this time there was a donut vendor to make the day that much better!!! 

Yet another selfie

Finally my birthday, the 23^rd, had arrived.  We drove back into town to visit the beach we spotted a few days earlier - Praia do Pinhão.  I was spending my 30^th birthday the best way – on a beach with my husband with a donut.  What else could a girl ask for?? 

Praia do Pinhão

The interesting thing about this beach is that it is actually a few connected coves of beaches.  We decided to explore, passing through a few man-made cave/tunnels to reach the end – a pretty stone bridge.  Of course Noah had his snorkel along for the ride – I wonder if our son will be as into swimming/snorkeling as his father! 

We wrapped up the day with a birthday cake and a photo of the two three of us that wasn’t a selfie!!  It was a great day that wrapped up a great vacation.  This trip was very special for us as it was our last adventure together before we officially become a family of 3 (or 5 if you count the dogs, which I do). 

Just under 3 months along!

We headed home to Munich the next day, arriving to a clean apartment and two happy dogs.  Side note – Trusted Housesitters is an amazing site that we wish we had found when we first moved to Munich.  Betsy and Pete (crazyaboutdogs) were fabulous! 

Turning 30 in Switzerland

Well as boldly promised by Julie, we are now actively catching up on our blogs now….

Not too long after finding out that Julie was pregnant, I did the most adult thing I could imagine: I turned 30 years old.  Once upon a time Julie and I dreamed up this wild idea that we would fly to New York and invite our closest family and friends to celebrate our 30^th birthdays.  Well I guess that was the 25 year old version of what turning 30 would be like, because we ended up celebrating in the complete opposite manner: in a 12^th century stone chalet in the tiny Swiss village of Lavertezzo.

Julie has a special talent for not only finding the coolest places to visit but also the coolest places to stay.  And this time around she outdid herself with the most amazing place ever – we had the entire chalet to ourselves!  Luckily we got to share it with our good friends Jason and Melissa who made the trip from Baltimore just to be with me (and I guess to see the rest of Europe as well). 

Our trip began with the 4.5 hour drive from Munich to the tiny village of Lavertezzo in the south of Switzerland.  The Honda Jazz had just enough horsepower to get over the Alps through some incredible mountain scenery.  We were a bit surprised to see how small the “village” was where we were staying, but at least it was easy to identify our chalet amongst the church and 4 other residential buildings there.  The owners greeted us at the front door and gave us a tour of the place.  Poor Julie banged her knee on a sharp corner of the staircase and is left with a permanent memory of our trip. 

Sadly due to her morning sickness + cold combination, I didn’t have my trusty photographer to capture the interior.  But Jason later took a photo of the stone path leading up to the house – that patio and table you see is a part of our chalet. 

We spent some time settling in and unpacking the car, then made ourselves comfortable on the patio.  A few hours later, Jason and Melissa arrived in their rental car with a look of “what the hell are we doing out here” on their faces.  I don’t think many people make it out to Lavertezzo on a 2 week European tour.  I cooked up some ravioli and we had a nice dinner out on the patio. 

We woke up the next day and went out looking for some adventure (well Julie stayed back to rest).  One of the top things on our agenda was the contra dam where the Goldeneye bungee jump took place and people can still take the plunge themselves (for a hefty sum of money).  We watched as a bunch of kids insanely took the jump and shuddered each time in disbelief.  On my 20^th birthday I might have considered it, but now at 30 with a kid on the way, this was no time to be doing anything crazy. 

The main attraction in this area is of course the scenery.  In particular, there is the beautiful Verzasca river with a 17^th century Roman stone bridge called Ponte dei Salti.  When we returned from watching the James Bond imitators, we collected Julie and made our way down to the river for a swim.  Normally I would not waste any time jumping in, but this water was painfully cold (I read online the temperature ranges from 45-50 F).  So we (Jason and I) waited for the sun to warm us up before taking the plunge.  We watched as people jumped off the stone bridge into the river, and I totally would have if it weren’t for Julie asking me not too.  Maybe in my 20s… 

One of the bridge jumpers

The largest jump Noah took that weekend

The two swimmers

View from the bridge

After dinner, Jason and Melissa surprised me with a delicious black forest birthday cake.  After blowing out the candles and all enjoying a piece, three of us (again, Julie stayed behind due to her not feeling the best) took a stroll around the village and around the river.  The area really is incredibly gorgeous, and I tried to capture it through photos. 

The next day Jason and Melissa headed out early to drive up to Paris.  When I woke up, I also felt a bit under the weather.  Maybe that swim was not the best idea, because I soon realized I caught a cold (perhaps Julie’s cold – though I won’t blame her).  So Julie and I spent our last day in the chalet relaxing and reading.  Like everyone says, getting old really slows you down.  So instead of partying it up New York City, we were laying low in a Swiss village taking turns blowing our noses.

When the day of my actual birthday arrived, it was time to head back to Munich.  However Julie demanded we get at least one photo of us together by the water regardless of how we were feeling.  So we made our way back down to the river one last time for a quick photo session before starting the long drive back home. 

When we returned to Munich, I picked up my favorite Thai food for dinner.  Between

Julie’s fresh knee injury, the shockingly cold water, the memory of being sick, and the impression of our ancient chalet along a gorgeous Alpine river, I could not have asked for a more memorable and picturesque 30^th birthday.