First Days in Germany

I moved to Bonn, Germany. I live with a family and work as their Au Pair (nanny in a foreign country). Here are some pics of the area I live in.

This is the building across the street from my house. It's the Ministry of Something. I don't know what exactly, but it's an official government Ministry, with cool staircases.

So, I live in Bonn, and more specifically Bad Godesberg (part of Bonn, but an area within the city). Bonn is neat. It was the Capitol of Germany up until the wall fell, and is still the location of about half of the government ministries, and when the other ministries left, a lot of large companies came here to use those now empty buildings. So, we have a United Nations Hub (which employs the mother of the family I nanny for), DHL, T Mobile (telekom), and a few others. But before all that, these were the stomping grounds of our friend Beethoven. Here is is, looking regal with a pigeon on his head.

Here is what he's looking at, so regally. 

So, the home he was born in is just down the road (a three minute walk) the main part of the city is only open to pedestrians and bikes, there are like 6 H&Ms, and a million other stores in these beautiful old buildings. Pretty much the only building that doesn't have a business on the main floor is Ludwig's house. I followed signs pointing me there for like 5 minutes, and I walked right by it twice. It is the least eye-catching building around, but there is a lovely museum inside.

Also, when I was wondering, I found a convenience store called the "Euro Store," WHICH HAD DR PEPPER! I was so excited I nearly kissed the woman at the counter. I opened it up, and it was a huge letdown! It tasted terrible. So, I guess no DP for me.

But, the next time I was wondering around by myself, I tried this place: mini Asia, and their Dr. Pepper was much better. The Euro Store's is bottled here in Germany, but apparently Asia has the right recipe.

Here is a castle. I wish I knew more about it, but that yellow light you see under the entry gate -- Greek Food restaurant. So, the castle is not that big of a deal to Germans either. 

Haribo - maker of all things "Gummy" was founded here in Bonn. Hans Riegel is the creator, so he named it HAns RIegel BOnn. Also pictured: woman, dog, car. Frau, Hund, Auto.

 This is the scenery I see more frequently: Meet Phineas, Nicolas, and some of their toys.

 I pass this church on my way to pick them up from school each day.

 The road their school is on: classic really old buildings, and cars.

Here is their school:

This park is like a 5 minute walk from my house. It's right along the Rhine River.

This pic is weird, but so are you. Notice the trash receptacle in the women's restroom: LADY KILLER.

 Anyway, these are some of the regular sites. I take requests, and I'm sure I'll need encouragement to post.

East Coast Wanderings

After being home almost an entire month, I decided I needed a vacation. My friend Brent called me to see how I was doing. I asked how he was doing, what was coming up for him. He said, "I'm going to a business conference in Boston in a few weeks." I said, "So you have a hotel in Boston paid for?" Ten minutes later I booked a one way ticket to Boston. I'm 98% sure Brent was not inviting me.

Boston:

First stop- JFK Library and Museum

 Second Stop - Bunker Hill

View FROM the Monument

View OF the Monument

Being Adorable ON Bunker Hill

 Third Stop: USS Constitution

 After all that playing, I decided to get some work done. This is my office, day 1

 Later we stopped at an Irish Pub - Mr. Dooley's. Honestly, I don't think I've ever enjoyed a dining experience more. It was wonderful. Music, atmosphere, food was incredible, servers were actually Irish, it was bliss.

 The next day I wandered around the city a bit. Here is an alleyway- literally between two buildings, and it's turned into an open-air bookstore! It's fantastic.

 My office day 2: The Boston Public Library

 The next day I wandered around Cambridge and through Harvard's campus

 Found the Boston Marathon finish line (I found the places where the bombings happened, there is no sort of memorial or anything, which I was surprised by)

 Later I went to the Mary Baker Eddy Library, where there is a Map-arium. Yeah, I didn't know what that meant, either. They don't allow photography unfortunately, but it's really neat. You stand in a spherical room, 30 feet in Diameter, and all the wall is a map made from Stained glass. It is amazing. When you look at a globe, half of the world is facing away from you, but in here, every inch of the world faced you! They did a neat light show with the countries and glass.

We also wen to a show in Boston- the longest running Broadway show ever, Sheer Madness, a fun murder mystery that the audience participates in.

New York

When Brent's conference was over, I looked for my next place to squat: New York! A friend of mine from a previous ward and her husband live in Harlem, and were nice enough to let me join them in their studio apartment. The three of us had a great time in those close quarters :) The first day there my friends Amanda and Tressa met up with me, a short weekend trip for them.

I finally saw Wicked! It was wonderful. In NYC we also saw: A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder (probably my favorite of the week), Once (starring someone famous from Dr. Who), and Kinky Boots (hilarious)

Christmas decorations were going up, we're looking out onto Columbus Circle here

These girls are so fun. We had such a good time together. We saw a million things, yet we never felt rushed. It was perfect. 

I stayed a few days after they left, working mostly at the NY Public Library. While there, I got a phone call that I would be moving to Germany! So I decided to come home and hang out with the family, but still had one more stop.

Philadelphia-

This guy is another friend from Alaska, Ryan Shay. He left Juneau early in August to pack up and move to Philadelphia for graduate school. Unfortunately, he is a really good student, so I did most of these adventures solo. Here we are eating Philly cheesetakes!

 I saw that there is a temple in Philadelphia, and I was really excited to go. Turns out the lovely picture online is what they hope the temple will look like once it's built. Did not see the text saying "Expected completion 2017. Oops. Here's what it looked like as of Nov, 22:

 Saw the Home of Edgar Allen Poe (I saw another one of his homes in New York)

 Some beautiful old churches. We also went to Penn's landing, Betsy Ross's house, Independence hall, The first post office/Ben Franklin's home, the Rocky Statue, Reading Terminal Market, watched a Christmas light show in Franklin Square, ate at Geno's, the National Constitution Center, saw ELF the Musical.
 Later in the week we drove through Amish Country, which was beautiful. I worked at Villanova's campus a few times. Ryan lives alone and far away from his family in Washington, so we had Thanksgiving dinner for two on Wednesday. I flew home on Thanksgiving day. Whew. What a trip. About 3 weeks in all, I took public transportation everywhere except when Ryan and I drove to Amish country. 5 Broadway shows, a lot of excellent food and excellent people.

Getting Back to Utah

Amanda flew home from Alaska to get back to reality soon. I stuck around for a few days, and volunteered to escort my friend's truck back to Utah for them. This allowed me to road trip with 13 of my friends from Juneau to Washington, then to Utah flying solo. This was the route we took (plus a stop in Stewart - Hyder, and a day trip to Vancouver) just over 3,000 miles in a week. 

This is a lighthouse near Haines, AK from the ferry:

The Scenery in the Yukon was breathtaking. So amazing. 

I'm stealing pics from a dear friend, Ericka Brown here (these show half of the group):

We picked a perfect time to make this drive. 9 cars. 14 people. 11 bikes. All of our belongings from living in Alaska for about 6 months, and we had no car troubles, border crossing troubles, getting super lost troubles, it was magical.

I stayed in Bellingham, WA for three nights at the home of Ms. Ericka Brown (resident of B-ham). One day we toured the area:

The next day we headed to Vancouver, BC. Keira joined us for this moment: JAPADOG. Yup. Hot dog stand with Japanese food on top. It was actually delicious. 

We also rented bike and biked around Stanley park, right in the middle of the city. 

The roadtrip was a great way to end the Alaskan adventure. Being with people who had just experienced the same thing, and slowly making it to larger and larger cities helped ease us back into reality. It was also interesting to reflect on HOW FAR AWAY Juneau is, and although it was still an epic trip for us, it had to have been incredibly difficult for the settlers and miners of the early 1900s to get there. We crossed so many mountain passes, had to drive around a 15,000 acre Ice field lined with 140 glaciers, were hundreds of miles away from cities with real help, and in 2013.

Another point I find odd: May -October 2013 were the months I've driven the very most in my life, (most days in Juneau I logged about 85 miles) and now I am living completely without a car.

This roadtrip was great. I sure love these people.