Oh, the Places we've been...

A large perk about Kevin playing hockey in Germany is the league breaks. Although many people see this lifestyle as a big vacation for us, it is truly not that way. We aren't on vacation in Europe, we are living in Europe. Yes, we are very fortunate and don't have jobs where we work 40 (or 50, or 60!) hour weeks. But, we spend the majority of the year away from family and friends and miss out on holidays and many life events with those people. We are consistently learning about ourselves as we adjust to the expatriate lifestyle and learn a new language. Hockey games are over the weekends so we don't have the luxury of taking off often for short weekend getaways. However, the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, the league Kevin currently plays in, has two breaks within the season. One is in November and the other in February. This is when we get our weekend getaways. And luckily for us, these getaways are to beautiful European countries and cities. This page is where I will get to keep a small scrapbook of all the cities we are blessed enough to live in and travel to.

Hamburg, Germany

Our home during the '11/'12 and '12/'13 seasons, we have fallen in love with Hamburg. Hamburg is Germany's second largest city with a population of about 1.8 million people. We love going downtown to walk around, have coffee, and just sit near the water. I have been blessed to find work as an Au Pair for a lovely German family with 2 children, Hans and Ida. 

Paris, France (November, 2011)

We spent more time in our hotel during this weekend trip than we did out in the city as we came down with the flu our first night in Paris. A beautiful city with so many great areas to see, this will be on the list as a re-do down the road. Paris has been the only city we have flown to so far, other than heading home for the summer moths of course.

Kitzbühel, Austria (February, 2011)

We took a ski-vacation for the second league break in the '11/'12 season. Although this was the longest by car (8 hours), we turned it into a road trip like almost all of our getaways so far. Kitzbühel is a world-renowned ski resort town. We went with another couple from the team and had a fantastic trip. It helped that we had locals showing us around the slopes and the town, Hans and Ida's grandparents! Austria is home to my favorite food so far, the rich, creamy, Bavarian specialties.

Salzburg, Austria (February 2012)

After a few days skiing in Kitzbühel, we drove the hour over to Salzburg for a night there. We had coffee and cake at a cafe Mozart used to go to, saw the city from the top of a castle, and had dinner at a beer hall. Talk about a successful day!

Amsterdam, Netherlands (April, 2012)

After the season was over in April, we headed for a weekend getaway to Amsterdam. This city in the Netherlands gave us the most culture shock. We had never seen so many bikes, canals, and such a confusing city setup! We loved it and the fact that it took only 4 hours by car didn't hurt either. I was lucky enough to go back to Amsterdam with a couple girlfriends and Kevin's friend, Graham in September of '12.

Prague, Czech Republic (November, 2012)

Prague is easily my favorite European city so far. So many beautiful buildings and parks in one city! Although Kevin came across some sickness the night before the trip, we decided to go and make the most of it anyway. I would love to go back someday. We drove here as well, it took just under six hours. 

Berlin, Germany

We have visited Berlin twice now since we have been in Germany. In the most recent visit, we rented bikes to see the most of Berlin during our short trip. Berlin is another German city that has so many stories to tell. We were able to see the Berlin wall, venture around the city, and visit the DDR Museum, which is an exhibit that shows the daily life of the people of East Germany during socialism. I personally found the "Berliners" to be more friendly towards English-speakers than "Hamburgers"