better late than never.

[if you don't know already, this is my "i mean business" face. you don't want to mess with that. especially when it goes hand-in-hand with a fork and a knife. badumbumpshhhh.]

let's not talk about the fact that i didn't make my deadline of finishing up the study abroad stuff before i started school. and that i still have a good month of stuff to write about. a good thirty-something days that are all jam-packed with crazy goodness/useless information that i can't seem to overlook. hopefully i can finish someday. i will. by george, i will. but i'm also going to be inter-weaving posts from right now [an actual current blog post...new record on MDJ], and then blasts from the past. just bear with me and my weird bloggy blog right now. ima comin', ima comin'.

october 29th.

so we [me and brynn] woke up to our german host family making breakfast for us.

like, big time breakfast.

i'm talking about the whole enchilada waffle here.
i really don't know why they felt so inclined to spoil the pants off of us, but i'm not one to question heaps of food. ohhhhoho, you shall see what i truly mean.

[obviously you can see that i took advantage of all of their toppings. what else for the girl who can't decide?]

then, williamson picks us up, and off we go to nuremberg to meet up with one of his friends that apparently knew that city like the back of his hand. we started off at the stadium that you've probably seen in pictures with hitler up on a big stand thing doing the upwards arm thing [nazi salute? whatever.] as the nazi's go marching across in front of him. 

 look familiar? well, now it does. i was SO tempted to do the salute for my picture [just for picture's sake. i am not a hitler follower, i promise.], but apparently it's illegal to do. and i didn't want to find out what kinds of loco goes on in german prisons. so instead, i smiled.

just smiiiile and wave boys.

[cool, huh?]

it was pretty cool to think that hitler had once stood exactly where we were standing. it was a little creepy too, but i've always had a fascination with hitler for some reason. not in a good way...i just think he's an interesting case.

anyways, after, we drove more into the city and started walking around.
first off, the city was gorgeous. there is a river that goes through with trees surrounding it, and at that time, the leaves were such a gorgeous yellow-gold color that made you wanna melt.

 [the view from underneath a bridge. lovely.]

 [really cool cages where kids can go inside and kick soccer balls around. i don't know why, but i think that's the coolest concept. why don't we have these in america?? also, come to me little german children.]

[view from the bridge. loooove that willow-ish tree.]
the buildings were all so unique from each other, some with carvings into them, or little prayer rooms coming off of them.

also, one thing i learned from mr. nuremberg was that back in the day, the government taxed families on the width of a person's house, so that's why many house are very skinny and tall, and are longer instead of wider. i'm sure that would make the interior decorating pretty interesting. anyways, he took us around to a few cathedrals at first, which were gorgeous inside. of course. the thing that i liked about that is that they seemed kind of modern, or had cool modern-looking characteristics to them. or maybe i'm completely wrong and know nothing about art.

then, we stopped at this alehouse where we got some bratwursts that were typical of nuremberg. these ones were my faaaavorite because they were small and tasted like breakfast sausage, and the roll was warm and chewy and i'm making myself drool right now just talking about it. trust me, it was freaking delicious. i probably could've gobbled ten more of these down, but i didn't want to freak out the germans. plus, i was told ice cream was coming up. so yeah, that's mainly why i waited.

 [theee best. hands down.]

we walked across this square after snacking and saw all these people stopped talking pictures in front of a monument. mr. nuremberg told us that they were spinning a gold ring three times and that it means you will return to nuremberg. and i liked the city enough to make the commitment, so i stepped up to the plate and spun that ring like nobody's business. or maybe just three times. i'm only one person!

we moved along and went up a hill to the castle in nuremberg. the tree colors along with the pretty old brick just slayed me. it was absolutely gorgeous! and it was really cool to see the empty moat and try and imagine what it was like when it was full.

back down in the city, we went to the first gelato place we could find. not the best i've ever had, but better than i could make! plus mr. nuremberg insisted on paying, so i kinda got it for free. SCORE. makes it all better.

things just went downhill from there. yes, we had just eaten less than an hour before, but did that stop us? no. after a little bit of stupid shopping [i call it stupid because it was in the lego store. sorry brynn, i know you were in love, but i was just not turned on at all. maybe because i knew food was coming up...], we turned around a corner and there were some "food trucks" with some dirty german food. YES. i really didn't think i'd love the food as much as i did. but what's not to love about a culture that loves meat, potatoes, and bread? oh, and the best mustard known to this world? my thoughts exactly.

 [okay, before you judge, let me explain. that thing tasted kind of like really good meatloaf, then topped with grilled onions, and then slathered with the best mustard known to man. i may or may not have gone back for seconds on the mustard.]

[this crap was called currywurst. if you want to eat the most disgusting thing in the world, look no further. you can make it at home by taking the sauce from spaghettio's and then random hot dogs that are chopped up. SICKNASTY.]

after i gorged, we started making our way back to the car. embarrassingly enough, we stopped in a bakery and got a pastry. seriously, i understand, i ate twice my weight that day. i have no regrets though! maybe some shame, but no regrets.

[apple pastry. not amazing, but i'll take it.]
we made our way back to the car and said bye to our friend mr. nuremberg [that wasn't his name, but i can't remember it for the life of me], who was so sweet to me. he kept saying i reminded him of his daughter, and how funny i was. plus, the man wouldn't stop buying me food. so yeah, definitely my kind of man. haha i'm so kidding! kinda.

we decided to head back to town early, and when we got there, we made a stop to another grocery store. to get more german treats to send home. i know. you don't have to scold me. fat and happy and in denial. <--that's the motto for the study abroad. not really. but seriously, how many times are you gonna go to germany! thank you.

then, williamson said we should go out for a legitimate german meal at a nice restaurant. i mean, i was pretty satisfied with the burger king meal we had the night before, but he insisted! we went to this cute restaurant that had wooden tables and benches, and everyone around us was drinking beer out of those big glass cups. so. cool. since me and brynn weren't starving [hmm, wonder why?], we decided to split a meal. we got a salad, spaetzle, and shnitzel [sadly, not with noodles like on "the sound of music"].
i can't even talk about how good it all was. the shnitzel tasted like delicious chicken fried steak [i'm so classy], and the spaetzle tasted like mac and cheese [seriously, my classy points are through the roof right now]. now, good things are never as good as they seem because we get the check and they charged us for our waters. even though we asked for the free tap kind. and then when we tried to fight it, they acted like they had no idea. i. was. pissed. especially since it was like, 7 euros, which is like 10 bucks. for water. obviously, i'm still ticked about it. maybe i'll write a letter.

 [cool menu made out of wood. it's the little things...]

 [stupid expensive water.]

 [the spaetzle. mmmm, cheesy and crispy and gooood.]

 [don't worry, i didn't go all american and put ketchup on it. also, those potatoes and onions in the corner were amazing!]

[heinz says it all.]
we headed home and went to bed. just kidding, i stayed up stressing over singing in church the next day. in a german ward. that i was visiting. what the heck did i get myself into?