Birthday Girl

My birthday was officially yesterday, the 19th, but since we had been together pretty much nonstop for 2 weeks I told Eric that I didn't expect some big surprise gift...and that my little souvenirs + trip to Prague were gift enough. On our way home Sunday we had the following conversation:

Eric: Can we go shopping today and I buy you some shoes?
Bridget: That's one of the most romantic things you've ever said!

So I officially counted that as my gift and expected nothing more. But Eric Clark had other plans!! He came home from work yesterday with a card, chocolate cake, a bag of gifts (new purple fleece winter coat--soooo cute, and a white watch that I've been lusting over forever), and a big bouquet of roses. He even picked each stem out himself and arranged them because you have to buy single flowers at the flower shop here! How precious! I was legitimately surprised and felt super-duper spoiled. He treats me a little too good sometimes, I'm a lucky girl!




Last year my birthday also happened to fall on the day of one of my bridal showers--my oh my what can happen in one year!

Also a belated "Happy Birthday!" to my Mom & Grandma (15th & 18th of July)--I missed not spending our b-day month together!!

(Did I mention that this was my FIRST birthday where Eric and I were together, ever!!!  I do NOT miss us being states/countries apart.)

Promoted

In my frenzied past 2 weeks/4 blog posts, I have neglected to announce some fantastic news about my husband.

He is officially Corporal Clark.

And it has a great ring to it!

Couldn't be more proud of my man.

Beautiful Cities Pt 4

This is my last post about Brent & April's visit here, so I'll make the text brief and add lots of photos.

After so many nights in hotels and long days spent walking in the heat...we were all visibly thankful to be back in our home in Eschenbach. Thursday we went to Weiden for a little shopping/gelato/food, but then had a mellow evening back at our place.

Friday we decided to pack a picnic, lots of cold drinks and some chairs, then head to the lake. It was just a 5 minute drive and a perfect way to spend the afternoon. Brent and Eric both wore speedos (very popular here in Germany) and April and I tanned while they both swam and played Frisbee.

We went to Nuremburg for the day on Saturday: lots of window shopping, more gelato, and toured the underground dungeons. We also walked up to the castle for a great view of the city, then saw a movie at a nearby theater (luckily it was in English!).

Sunday we opted for another day spent by the lake, lounging in the sun, and then Brent and April were off to Munich for a few days while Eric and I caught up on sleep and housework back home.

Since they were flying out of Prague on the 19th (a Monday) we decided it would make sense to go back there for the weekend instead of the original plan of someplace further away. We packed a few bags, and once Eric got off work we headed the 2 hours to our favorite place. That night was just a quick dinner at a Mexican restaurant, but we were all so hot and tired that we called it a night early. Saturday we went back to the outdoor market and bought a few more souvenirs, then took the train about 50 minutes outside of Prague to the town of Kutna Hora. There, we saw the famous Bone Church. This was a small cathedral full of the bones of 40,000 people. Creepy to say the least. We ate a quick bite (and more gelato) then head back to Prague. The train ride was pretty nice and we were back in our apartment in time to change and head back out on the town. We bought tickets for the Black Light Theater which was...interesting, but every entertaining. Afterwards we found a Pub near our place and spent the remainder of the night there. The fun thing about this Pub was that each table had it's own keg/tap and a screen that calculated how many liters you had poured. Then, on a large projector screen in the bar, each tables total was displayed in a big competition. The screen also rotated with many other bars against Czech that were also part of the race. It was super fun and a great way to spend our last night together. Before Eric and I left Sunday morning we had breakfast at Kafka's Diner--a place we fell in love with the week before, bought a few more souvenirs, then said our goodbyes! All in all, such an amazing 2 weeks.

The boys showing off their suits.

We also had a good time in Nuremburg, we showed off the sights we knew but also loved seeing the castle and the dungeon tour for the first time.

About a week before Brent and April arrived, we found out Brent couldn't have gluten--which automatically ruled out a lot of the food that we love so much here in Germany. I researched some gluten-free recipes however and had fun making G-free brownies, pastas and burgers. It was sometimes a struggle though finding food he could eat when you can't read menus very well!

Me reading while also trying to give Eric a back rub. Below, April and I enjoying ice cream bars at the lake...we also were in competition to finish our books: we were reading the same one!

All of us out for dinner on our first night back in Prague.

The Bone Church was really interesting, but pretty freaky. It was such a different place to be in, gave me the creeps for sure!

Brent and April on the train ride--we sat next to some pretty entertaining people. Below, us couples outside our apartment in Prague.

This hopefully gives an OK view of the taps that were at our table at the Pub. Seriously such a fun idea for a restaurant.
Wow, seriously can't believe that our vacation is over. It was so much fun and we saw so many incredible things. Thanks Brent & April for coming to see us! We love you and miss you both already!

Beautiful Cities Pt 3

Although we hated to say goodbye to Prague, we were anxious for the second half of our trip to begin. Heading north to Berlin, we decided to stop in Dresden for the Master's Art Museum, lunch, and a tour of the Volkswagen factory. The factory tour was seriously so incredible! It is this amazingly futuristic factory where they make the VW Phaeton BY HAND at the rate of about 35 a day...which is a small number, but when you see how incredible these cars are, and the crazy way they are assembled, you totally understand. All of our minds were blown and we daydreamed about our future Phaetons the rest of the trip. After that break we made it to our hotel in Berlin just in time to go out in celebration of July 4th! We found an "American Diner" which sounded fitting, then strolled through town until late that night.

Monday morning we found information about a tour through Berlin and bought tickets immediately. Our tour guide, Barnaby, led us through town and taught us all about the dark history of both Berlin and Germany. The tour lasted until the late afternoon but it was so worth it. We got to see Checkpoint Charlie, Hitler's grave site, many different Jewish/Holocaust monuments, the Berlin wall, Brandenburg Gates, and much more. It was super interesting and we really all learned so much. Definitely worth taking a tour as I am sure we would've missed a lot! That night we went out for gelato (as usual!), took fun photos in one of those old photo booths, ate some dinner, then took the subway to the Capitol building for another amazing view of Berlin by night.

The next morning we decided to go back to some of the sights from our tour to take more photos and actually go inside certain museums. We returned to the wall, the Victims of Communism museum and many more. We used the subway system a lot that day, making a large loop through the city before we ended up back near our hotel for dinner and drinks.

On our way out of town Wednesday morning, we went through the Museum of Contemporary Art, grabbed some lunch, then headed south to Eschenbach. We made it home in time to watch the Spain vs. Germany World Cup game in a pub in town.

Outside the Phaeton factory before taking our tour. We couldn't take photos inside but trust me, it was phenomenal.

Eric and me outside of the Master's Museum in Dresden.

Our tour guide showing a building where Hitler gave many speeches. We learned so much on this tour and really appreciated being able to see so many important places.

Checkpoint Charlie was really strange to be at too, it was hard to imagine this giant city as 2 divided areas.
On the left below the glass is part of the SS Bunkers, to the right is the Berlin Wall. It was surreal to see all that history literally feet away from each other.

The Brandenburg Gates were bigger and more beautiful than I expected. It was hard to imagine all the important people (and armies) to march through the same place we stood taking photos.

The Museum of Contemporary Art was a mixture of amazing and strange...thank goodness again for Brent being our impromptu tour guide through all the different exhibits. The Andy Warhol's were my favorite. This painting stood about 40 ft tall.

Beautiful Cities Pt 2

We were all so anxious to wake up and get another full day of Prague under our belts, and this day was definitely one of my absolute favorites in Europe so far. Friday morning was full of shoe-shopping and also picking up some fresh produce at the open-air market. The majority of the rest of our day was spent restaurant-hopping in search of good food and cold drinks. That night we rented a paddle boat to take out on the Vltava River, which was perfect during sunset. The boys peddled and us girls sat in the back enjoying ourselves and taking photos. It was so much fun, absolutely beautiful and I'm pretty sure we all just laughed the whole time. Can't think of a better evening to be had in Prague.

Saturday morning consisted of many cakes for breakfast at a local restaurant, Czechs aren't in to big breakfasts so it was rare to find one open before 11am. We then hopped on the tram to the castle district to see the cathedral. Walking up the million cathedral stairs was terrible, but once we got to the top and got to look over the town, we all realized it was totally worth it. We took the tram back to an outdoor shopping area where we shopped the "black market" for fun goodies (I got a few knock-off brand souvenirs), followed by drinks in the beer garden.

Us girls getting onto the paddle boat, the owner gave us Czech beers for the road!

Relaxing while the boys worked...each boat had a little lantern on the back which was so cute!

Eric and me on the boat, he had been dying to get on one the whole weekend.



Riding the tram up to the castle district, waayyyy better than walking in that incredible heat.


Eric and myself with the cathedral behind us.



After finally reaching the top look-out point, we all took dozens of photos of Prague. It was the best view we've seen by far!

Brent & Eric kept getting teased because they always ordered fruity drinks while April & I always got beers. They were great sports about it but the waiters thought it was pretty funny.