"How do you measure in cups? They're all different sizes!"

This weekend my roommate and I traveled up to Frankfurt by train and bus (would of been a 45 minute drive but our little hunk o' junk is at the doctor's getting fixed up... my other roommate ran it into a pole... long story!).  Enjoy the pictures!

Check out this food joint, I can only imagine what the kitchen looks like.

First metro experience... Thankfully my teammate was taking us around because I was more confused than Sarah Palin on foreign policy.

The little food joints they have here are small and cozy.  Here we ate Moroccan food... amazing!  The wrap is vegan wrap something that resembles a crepe moreso than a tortilla with hummus and veggies on the inside.  Oh and of course a bowl of spicy lentil soup, yaaaam.

City Hall.

The center square of the city, City Hall is behind me, the Rhine river to the right, and modern sky scrapers to the left.

Are you getting tired of these old school buildings yet?  Because I'm not!

One of about 5 huge churches in Frankfurt from across the Rhine river.

The Rhine river

 Frankfurt skyline.

Rooftop bar where I tried "apfelweine" aka Apple Wine for the first time.  Add a little sprite and it's pretty much amazing!  (Similar to an apple cider only less sweet)

Keepin' it real with the American statue.

German banks know how to touch the sky.

Not entirely sure what this is, any German readers want to comment?!

One big Euro symbol with one big European bank in the background.

The contrast of old and new.

Kickin' it at a little hole in the wall cafe.. doesn't look like it but we were sitting inside.  

Moroccan yesterday... Lebanese today!  Gyro meet with rice and salad plus a tasty spicy sauce, hummus, and some type of garlic sauce.  

Castle show in Heidelberg... fireworks over the bridge to compliment the bright red castle.  

V for Weinheim (V-een-hyme)

It has been a beautiful week here in Germany with temperatures still up in the 70's.  Can't say I can complain about that.  Since we practice when I would normally be puttin' on my PJ's (8:30pm) in the U.S. (okay, okay not that early), we have the entire day open with nothing to do.  For those of you who know me pretty well, that's going to drive me nuts!!

So mostly to fill the time I've been exploring with my roommates.  Today we took the train to Weinheim, which no does not have a W sound but a V sound (all W's are V's here).  Since a picture says a thousand words, I'll let them do the talking!

P.S. dad I walked past a Victrionox shop and thought of you!

Gelllaaaatttoooo... Yummy, yummy, yummy.  These little shops are everywhere and it seems like every other person is eating gelato in a tall waffle cone.

The perfect shot: Hard to tell in a photo, but peeking out of the bushes/trees in the background are the ruins of a castle.  You can see the tower on the left and the main part of it on the right. 

The medieval home.  This type of architecture is very common here, just like back in the day!  I'm sure it's very expensive for maintenance on these homes.  No sign of Princess Feona yet..or Shrek.

Check out this neighborhood!! This was going down just one of many side streets.  On the left we have an old synagog turned homes.  Could you imagine living here?!

Water running right next to the homes!

My bro will appreciate this because he's renovating his own home right now, but check out the woodwork on this "garage".  Not to mention the bricks plastered together with something in between mud and cement.  Sheesh.

A watch tower that would be sitting on one of four corners of the city (with walls running between back in the day).  Notice if you will the little box on the top left... that's the bathroom!! Wouldn't want to be standing below that.

Chicken on steroids.  Only a tad cooler than a blue heron. 

Not a bad place to live!  Mom don't even think about it.

Watchtower, castle, fountain, and two bball players!

One of the main buildings in town.

Heading into the town church... wouldn't wanted to have been the guy in charge of bulletin boards back then.  But seriously, this message is older than America.

Inside the church.

Standing in the center, looking towards the alter.  Check out the gold writing that goes all the way around the arch... Wish I knew what it said.

Looking from the center to the sides.

Largest organ I've ever seen, it must sound amazing.

WWI memorial.

The names of the fallen.

The gym the team works out at, aka "Globo-gym".  I'm not a huge fan of it... just give me one weight and an empty space and I'm good to go... Who just kicks it and watches TV in the middle of a workout anyway?! 

Heidelberg Adventure

Hello, hello!  Today my roommate and I traveled south 45 minutes by train to the nearby town of Heidelberg, one of Germany's touristy towns.  Enjoy the pictures and thanks for reading!

Nothing says good afternoon like a vanilla filled crepe and a nice cup of coffee.  I had a heck of a time trying to order just a normal drip coffee!  Good thing the waiter was pickin' up what I was puttin' down. 

This was just the beginning of an about mile long stretch of buildings that were side by side with alley ways every 400m or so (yeah I said it.. METERS!!).

Here we have a nice close-up shot of some of the architecture.

And yes here we have on the left a quaint little clock displaying the time for the mass of people making their way through the tight little street by foot and on bikes.  Oh, and the occasional taxi or bus that would honk it's way through on less busy streets.

They have Starbucks!  Not that I'm a huge fan of their coffee or anything but it's always nice to see something American.  Also, pretty cool statue on the corner of the building!

Got to love these brick buildings and old-school windows.

You've also got to love the flowers in the windows!! Below you'll see the old-fashioned shutters that remind me of the movies where the lady would just push her way through the double doors of her window and shake out her laundry... and maybe yell at the noisy kids below or dump water on them, ha!

Really cool looking church, didn't end up going in but it was an impressive building from the outside. 

Check out these roads.. ALL cobblestones or brick!  Okay I lied to you, I'm not exactly sure what cobblestones are, maybe someone can help me out with this, but I'm guessing this is pretty close.

Now when I think "castle" I'm picturing Hogwarts from Harry Potter... What you see here in the distance definitely isn't a Hogwarts, nonetheless it's still a real-life castle!  Alysa 1, History 0.  

Hard to tell because of the lighting, but this bridge has one of those gates that comes down like in Braveheart or something... stinkin' cool!

Step 1) Meet the love of your life.  Step 2) Take a lock and lock it to the bridge.  Step 3) Throw the key to the lock into the river and seal your love away!  (Side note: Mr. Right, when we meet we'll be coming back here)

Some tall Alaskan chick blocking the view.

YES.

Uh... duh I bought it.

German's sure do love their candy! (And bread, meat, and beer)

Hey! Someone wrote a book about my life!

Love, love, love.

These are the awesome window shutters I was talking about!  They are everywhere here.

Oh don't mind him, he's just hangin' out.

Zoomed in on the top of this building, not entirely sure what it is.  There is one thing I know though, it was worth a photo!

You got me on what this building is.

I can now check off drinking beer in a mug with a handle off my bucket list... Yeah, yeah I know... that's a weird thing to have on your bucket list. 

Amidst drinking beer out of a mug with a handle, a  newly married couple came to take some wedding photos in none other than STARBUCKS.  Seriously?! Out of all the cool places on this road they picked Starbucks?  They better have met there.

No idea what's goin' on with this hair-doo.  P.S. he was smoking, EVERYONE smokes here and I want to slap them for contaminating my perfectly good air.

Passing thru some farmland on the way back home to Viernheim.  Thanks for reading!  Stay tuned.