Vas? Greenhaus?

Spring is officially upon us here in the GAP Valley.  We are experiencing 60 degree days with clear blue skies, and luckily this weather is supposed to hold out for the rest of the summer months.  After working a seven day work week beginning at 6am everyday, I was in much need of a little sunshine and rest in my life.  My friend Tripp had the perfect solution; he needed help picking out plant soil at the German version of ACE Hardware.  I was more than happy to accompany him on this quest, so German handbook in tow, we set out to discover the ins and outs of German planting.  Much to my surprise, the handbook was not necessary, seeing as most the plant information was in French, German, Italian and English!  We used deductive reasoning based on the pictures for plants that weren't translated.  I of course, went NUTS!  At the first stop in Partenkirchen, we discovered blooming plant soil, strawberry mint leaves and .67 euro cent pansies (the flower, sillies).  I purchased these items, but the planting fever had set in.  Tripp and I decided to go on a quest to find an actual greenhouse shop in order to buy more exact bloomers and herbs.  With the windows down and the wind blowing through our hair, we were in heaven on the open road.  It took us about 20 minutes to traverse the valley and reach the small village town of Murnau.  After a short parking jam in the Aldi parking lot, we walked two minutes into town before we found just what we were looking for, a greenhouse!  At this location I decided to purchase some yellow blooming daffodils as well as a set of dark purple flowers that I can't quite remember the name of.  I also found a three glass jar planter that sits in a wooden three space box.  It was too cute to pass up!

Upon arriving home, Tripp and I created a planting area in the courtyard on some picnic tables.  My roommate Ashleigh and our friend Rachel came down to watch the planting festivities.  After the planting was finished we watered or new plant babies and put them in their places on our window sills.  I have to say the new additions are a perfect fit with the Spring fever that has taken over the Abrams.  Ashleigh and I are banking on about a month before we kill the new love plants, but we will enjoy them while they last!  Hopefully they make it the three months until the Ness clan arrives, I have a delicious strawberry mojito in mind for their arrival drink!  (I know Aunt Julie will just be too proud of her little Susie Homemaker!)

Katie Beth

I'm not going to tell you all about Katie Beth visiting, I'm just going to tell you what matters.

Katie came, she saw, she found, and she taught.

She came to escape, to think in the quite shadows of my German mountain.

She saw the wonders of a world we might all forget at times in our lives.

She found a place to make hard decisions.

And most important:

She taught me that although I might think I'm older or wiser or world hardened, I'm just fooling myself. Because, in reality, she and I are in the same cycle, both looking for a future we can't quite describe.

So prost to you Katie Beth, may our paths never wander too far apart.

All my love.

23 came in like a Lion

I begin this blog post with a short story dedicated to Frau Thom, the Queen of Market Station. (By Queen, I mean that she is my German (she's actually American) Mother.)  This all sounds very confusing, but long story short, she is a 55 year old woman who came to Germany as a young woman and never left after marrying her German husband.  She is fierce, evil, and completely 100% one of the main reasons I show up to work each day.  The Frau is Jackie Fries, in Germany; she loves each one of her 'girls' and is protective of us, but at the same time she is by far my hardest and most frequent critic.

This morning at work I was the cashier, which means I have to speak to the 600 plus guests that slide through for breakfast each morning.  On many occasions, I find that the parents of more than one child find it hard to answer the question,"And how old are your children?" As Frau Thom came up to check on me, I had just witnessed a father and mother arguing over the age of their 12/13 year old.  Luckily the child came forward to inform me that she was in fact 13 years of age, with relief I finished ringing them up before the laughter bubbled forth.  Frau Thom was confused by my laughter (usually I am quite serious at the register because speaking to morons for 4.5 hours straight becomes tedious).  I explained that I was thinking how I would most likely be a parent that forgets her children's ages, at which time she launched into a heated lecture on how I will never forget my babies ages.  I giggled, because, come on, I totally will.  Then she asked me if my mother would know the age of my sister and I, I responded, yeah, I think so, I'm 22 and my sister is 25....OH CRAP. I'm 23.

Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am 23 years of age.  As per the usual birthday celebration, all my friends and I went out and got a bit sloppy.  My birthday this year was on a Friday, which mean that birthday eve was a Thursday night.  Thursday nights in Garmisch lead most people (Americans) to Jameson's Bar, a quaint little pub that hosts karaoke once a week.  With all my friends surrounding me I was fortunate enough to earn a birthday rap from Ashleigh (my roommate) as well as multiple song dedications from all my Edelweiss family.  The night went on into the wee hours of the morning, it was a grand success.  The next morning I awoke feeling how I can only imagine it feels to be old, he he he.  

On the day of my birthday I laid out in the sun with friends before getting started on cooking up a most delicious Birthday Brunch.  

Brunch Menu:

Fruit Platter with Strawberry Cream Cheese Whipped Dip

Peppers Platter

French Toast Sticks with syrup

Biscuits with Maple Sausage Gravy

Egg Casserole 

Crab Cakes with an Avocado Cream Sauce

Club Sandwiches layered with ham, turkey, provolone, avocado, basil sun dried tomato cream cheese and bacon...

I have to say, the cooking crew outdid themselves. 

We feasted and I opened presents from my friends.  The presents list goes as follows:

Colored photo of a Gangsta Cinderella from Brad

Dino mug from Jen

Dirndl card and duck mask from Daniella

AMAZING WATCH from Kyrie (when she handed the bag to me she said, "I know you told me you can't have nice things, but you better not lose this!")

My favorite brand of instant cappuccino mix from Ashleigh

A card with my name spelled wrong (hilarious joke, no one at work spells my name correctly) with a Staff Caff ticket from Paige

Baby Chick stuffed animal that speaks from Richard

(this list should clue you in on the fact that much like my family, my friends here know that I love weird scheisse). 

I had made dinner reservations for a new restaurant in town and at around 8pm a herd of us set off to enjoy a traditional German dinner.  The meal was delicious; however, I was already so full from the monster brunch, I ate off the 'Old Woman Menu" as our waiter called it. How fitting.

The group broke apart after dinner, leaving Kyrie, Rachel, Carly, Ashleigh, Presto and I to hit Music Cafe for some boozing and dancing.  I am less than embarrassed to admit, things get a bit hazy throughout the evening (what! I'm 23).  Presto showed his ladies a good time while taking advantage of the buy one shot get one free deal the bar was running.  We danced the night away.  I once again awoke the next morning feeling slight older than the day before.  

 

A Series of Fortunate Events

Grus Gott my family-  I am well on my way to a post-a-thon,  I have a ton of catching up to do!  I last left you with the cliff hanger of Heather and I's trip to Venice, Italy, let me tell you, we had a blast.  The trip started off with Rachel Gill (a character from the previous post) and I working a turn around shift (which means we worked from 4-10:30pm then got up and worked 6am-2:30pm) then heading off to the *Hertz rental car to pick up our wheels.  

* A side story should be inserted here to explain the special relationship Edelweiss workers have with the "Hertz Guy".    Hertz Guy is a German man who works for the American owned company in Europe, magically his parents live in Hilton Head, SC!  He used to live in GA and SC before returning to his homeland of Bavaria; however, he is the sassiest Germ I have ever met.  With a bone dry sense of humor he rents cars at American Military prices to the young un-inocent employees of the hotel.  His rules include, no laughing in his office and no chocolate in his cars (we break these rules on a regular basis).  When Heather and I went to check on car prices for the three day trip to Venice, he laughed in our faces at our request for an automatic vehicle, then pointed out that he knew I could drive a manual if need be.  He was clueless to the fact that I was an amateur at best and had yet to go on a trip where I was the sole manual driver.  But of course, in my usual Jackie Ness' daughter fashion, I took one for the team and said, FINE, book it.  So with fingers crossed for a good clutch, Heather and I picked up the car.  

So, with only a few minor stall outs in the first minutes of take off, Corinne got her Groove Back.  I kicked some major automatic car bumper.  The drive to Venice was one that I had made before our last trip to Florence with Sean and Andrew (crazy Andrew).  It was beautiful with fabulous castle views, mountain side housing, and never ending tunnels.  Heather documented our journey with snap shots of the country side, it was a perfect setting for the two of us to reconnect.  As many of you know and understand, March wasn't shaping up to be my best month, I was going through the 5 month funk.  Heather, bless her heart, listened when I needed her to, and helped me to realize that this experience is priceless- even if the price of missing you all is shaping up to be very high.  After our five and a half hour drive, we arrived in round-about that was supposed to lead us to our destination...

we went around the round-about 5 times trying to decide which exit the directions were talking about.

This began the hilarity that was our Marghera vacation with The Godfather.  We had booked a hotel with a three bed room and en-suite bathroom for two nights in the small town of Marghera, just a twenty minute bus ride to the main bus station of Venice.  Upon stumbling upon our hotel, we quickly realized the town of Maghera had a bit to be desired; however, our opinion of this wonderful place would quickly change.  The three of us settled our baggage in the hotel room after trying to translate Italian to English with the ancient front desk attendant.  At around 10pm we set out for a "Gol' DARN" Italian pizza and some liters of wine... this would lead to the greatest find of our three day stay.  

Down the street from our hotel sat a little Italian restaurant that served pizza and wine until midnight, we entered with squeals of delight and proceeded to split the most delicious carbonara pizza in the world (to date), a liter of draft wine, tiramisu, and cappuccinos delivered by our beautiful italian server.  Our special friend, as I like to call our server, spoke wonderful English and happened to have an "I love New York" tattoo on the back of his neck (did I mention it was true love?).  With our bellies and hearts full we headed back to the hotel a little past midnight.  It was noted that there was a group of 20-30 something year-old Italian men standing outside the Autostrada Hotel and Bar that was situated across the street from our accommodations; making jokes to each other about Rachel and I finding our true men there (even though my heart and head were full of tattoo boy).  As responsible adult females, we headed to the lighted side of the street and into the secure back entrance of our hotel and off to bed with thoughts of the adventures to come.

We woke up the next morning and had a delicious pre-packaged breakfast courtesy of our hotel owners with a big steaming hot cup of house-prepared cappuccino (heartwarmingly delicious stuff).  With one final attempt at communicating how best to get to Venice with the hotel owners we charged forth into the Italian city to find a bus number 6.  The fates were on our side this entire trip when it came to directions because we safely and easily discovered our stop and hopped on the bus for a fantastically short 20 minute ride to the city island of Venice.  The main transportation hub was abuzz with activity and what I would come to realize was our first experience with over-crowding of tourist masses with no interaction from the local community.  Venice was like a big beautiful live theatre, no one really lives a normal life there, it is all just a display for the mass crowds of tourist who feel the need to visit this amazing but over priced city each year.  While eating a grandly lame lunch at a place suggested by a man at the Best Western Hotel (which was the only place we could find to ask, says enough about the place), we counted the tourist through the window, at least 20 to every 1 person who even looked slightly local or Italian in general.  I don't mean to downplay the fabulous city that holds the most spectacular display of intricate art created in mass quantity (Doge's Palace) as well the largest mosaics (St. Mark's Basilica) BUT, I mean come on, a souvenir shop on every corner and dotting every street is a bit much.  This all being said, I wouldn't have missed the Grand Canal ride on the public water taxi transport for anything.  The sun was setting as we began our trip back to the transportation hub on the island and we were lucky enough to snag rail side standing room, perfect for the artful photos taken by Heather.  

After one last look  around the transportation station, we caught the number 6 bus back to our hotel, with a few stops trying to find wine for our chill evening at the hotel.  We had already decided that we would be going back to the Mom and Pop's place we visited the night before, expect this time we would get the pasta dishes that we missed the night before due to our late arrival.  With no wine in hands and puzzled about how we were in Italy and wine wasn't pouring forth from the water fountains, we made one last ditch effort by heading to the Autostrada Hotel and Bar that was previously mentioned (lots of men).  A man we now think of as the Godfather greeted us with open arms, shouting "MY LADIES, MY LADIES" how may I serve you?  With a quick exchange of glances, Rachel, Heather and I agreed this was going to be the best decision we had made yet.  And sure enough, we asked for wine to-go and our Godfather thought for a second before disappearing behind the bar to come back with an empty leader water bottle which he proceeded to fill with classy draft wine.  Three plastic cups and eight euro later, we were well on our way to being in love with the Godfather.  He told us not to go to Venice after drinking his liter of wine, but to stay in our hotel and have a nice night.  Too dangerous on the island for his ladies, is what he was saying, we quite agreed.  At this point we headed home to change before dinner and partake in a glass of wine.  

The meal that followed is still my favorite meal I've had in Italy (yes, even after the AMAZING trip to Dante's in Florence)...sorry.  Rachel chose a delicious pizza, Heather had the four cheese penne, and I went with the huge slab of lasagna, the combination of the three items, warm Italian bread, fresh olive oil and cappuccino were too good to be true.  These guys know how to make three American girls happy.  A cup of gelato followed at another Mom and Pop's place down from our hotel, then it was off to see the Godfather for one more glass of wine before going to get some beauty sleep.  Turns out the love we felt for the Godfather was mutual, he greeted us with a glass of wine on the house and protection from any man who would dare approach his ladies.  Giggling out the door we once again returned to hotel room safely.  The next morning we awoke to head back to Venice for the fresh fish, fruit, vegetable, and flower market that is held each morning.  The Market was amazing, I will be sharing photos of this as soon as I can get them uploaded.  HUGE fish everywhere, sun dried tomatoes, fresh veggies I have never even seen before, as well as olives out the wazzooo!  With only a slight snaggle with needing to find a bathroom (I growled), the second day in Venice was as perfect as could be.  We headed back to the car around 1pm in order to make the five and a half out drive back to Garmisch before the sunset in order to get better pictures of the country side.  It was a successful drive home with no big mishaps and plenty of epic car pictures of castles.  

Heather had to leave the next day, and she is greatly missed in Garmisch-Partenkirchen! With only four days to prepare for my birthday and the arrival of Katie Beth, I was in dire need of sleep!  

It's Dirndl Time

As most of you are aware, Heather Kretler arrived in Bavaria on Sunday March 13th, I greeted her at the airport in the traditional Bavarian garb of a Dirndl.  I was lucky enough to be accompanied by my friend Rachel Gill, also in a classic dirndl.  Upon arriving at the airport, we dropped off the Keena family (my 'crazy' friend Andrew and his sister Emily), picked up Ashleigh who had just arrived in from a trip to Rome, and awaited the arrival of Heather.  Her flight was only a half hour late, which just served to build the anticipation.  A around 2:30 in the afternoon, I caught my first site of little Heather rolling her suitcase and looking like the ultimate Jet Setter.  With squeals of delight and small tears of joy, the long lost roommates where reunited for a week full of excitement.


Upon arrival in Munich, Heather was treated to a typical Bavarian night filled with drinking songs, snappy waiters, and Asian tourists.  What could possibly be better.  Kyrie and Tripp met us at the biggest and oldest known beer hall in the World, Hofbräuhaus, where we proceeded to partake of a few too many pints, he he he.  After leaving the beer hall we headed downtown to our hostel and stopped on the way for a late night snack of doner kebab mit pommes frites. Doner Kebab is a most delicious Turkish food item known in other cultures as either a Gyro or simply a Kebab.  It is delicious.  We arrived safely back at our hostel around midnight and promptly brushed our teeth (thank you Heather) before hitting the hay.  


Today we checked out of the hostel at 10am and put out baggage in storage before heading off to grab some coffee on our way to meet up with the free walking tour at 10:45am.  We found that the S-bahn was shut down right where we needed to catch it for a quick two stop train ride to the Marienplatz, this was a bummer, but we quickly switched to walking mode.  After a quick fifteen minute walk we found ourselves in the Marienplatz, coffee and water in hand.  The tour was amazing, and I 100% suggest that if you ever travel in Europe, you should take the free walking tours where ever they are offered.  It is a cheap and educational way of learning the ins and outs of a city as well as wonderful historical facts.  Munich is a truly amazing place, it has a dark history which we learned quite a bit about, however, the Bavarian people never let it get them down.  Heather was loving all the gothic architecture as well as the witty comments from our lovably tour guide Curt.  After the tour we headed off on our own to find the Augustiner Brauhaus, where planned to partake in a .5 liter of the best beer in Munich (which means it is the best beer in the World).  We were successful in finding this out of the tourist district brewery and were greeted by the friendliest waiter in all of Bavaria.  This man, LOVED, us.  He treated his "ladies" to a truly unique dining experience and suggested we end our meal with a blueberry pancake with fresh whipped cream and vanilla ice cream.  It was to die for.  The three of us were thoroughly stuffed and with a hug from our waiter we were off to explore the Deutscher Museum.  


Navigating the public transport was a breeze and we arrived at the museum promptly at 5pm, only to be shooed out of the doors by a gruff German man telling us the Museum was closed.  With a few giggles and photos, we ran along to the gift shop to see what we were missing.  Based on the gift shop, I am sold on the Deutscher Museum being the second best Natural History Museum in the World.  I can not wait to come back and explore further, preferably before 5pm.   Our trio hurried back to the hostel where we picked up our luggage and made a mad dash to catch the 6:30pm train back to Garmisch-Partenkirchen.  It was an all around perfect way to start Heather's trip to Germany.


Tomorrow we are going on a hike to ancient ruins on the Kramer guided by my friend Richard.  I am so looking forward to the rest of my week!  Venice is also in the near future, if the fates are aligned. (what family, did I hear you were all sending me money for my birthday...how kind...he he he). 


Love you all.

The birth story of my Blog

On Thursday, March 10th at approximately 6:55 in the morning, I was struck by the fact that this Lenten Season I had yet to give up my usual soda, candy or fried food.  I dwelled on this for .5 seconds before realizing it was time to take my mother's mandatory, "it's not what you give up, it's what you take on," comments seriously.  With this in mind I thought of things that would help me to either better myself or those around me, with that, the idea of a blog spot specifically for my family (and friends) was born.  I am taking it upon myself to post a story and picture of events I experience while I am away this Lenten Season.  So prepare yourselves for 40 days and 40 nights of Corinne Fries blogging to her big Catholic family.