Court & her new buddies

Out on the Town

Courtalicious Adventures

Funny how fast a week can go by. The past week was wonderful, because Courtney was here and we were able to do all sorts of fun things. The first few days we just explored Bamberg after I was done teaching in the afternoon. That means that we walked around the Christmas market, drank Gluehwein, window-shopping, and checked out whatever caught our eye. On Thursday night, we got all dolled up and went out on the town. We started at the Irish Pub, where I ran into a bunch of the soldiers, who I know, and ended up spending most of the rest of the night with them. It was a lot of fun but a super late night. Good thing I only had to teach one lesson on Friday! After I got back from school on Friday, Court and I went out for some Chinese (sooo tasty) before hopping on a train to Bad Staffelstein. We went up to the thermal baths up there. It was most wonderful. There are pools inside and outside and some of them flow between the two areas. We spent a few hours just lounging in the hot springs. Ahhhh. It might just become a traditional end of the week excursion for me. Saturday was our biggest day: we went down to Nuernberg with a bunch of the soldiers to check out to check out the Christmas market there. We had a great time there and spent quite a few hours wandering around and doing some Christmas shopping. Then we came part of the way back, getting off at Erlangen to go to a Mexican restaurant there called Sausalitas. It was a lot of fun, but it was around this point that I started to feel sick. By the end of the meal I had a really high fever and had to cut my night short. Since Saturday night, I have basically been asleep the whole time. I feel bad because it meant that I couldn't show Court around anymore, although I did get to show her what a German hospital looks like on the inside. Anywho. So now Court's on a train back to Frankfurt. Hard to believe I probably won't see her for another year. It's crazy. But yay for fun visits!

To Symphony!

As always, December has been pretty busy. My list of things-to-do keeps growing, but at the same time I am enjoying the holiday transformation around me. Walking around Bamberg, you can see all sorts of manger scenes and at night, the white sparkling lights make me smile. Last Friday, Werner Oppelt (the old guy who organized my stay and fixes any problems) offered me a pair of tickets to the Symphony. So Enoch and I went on Sunday evening. The Bamberg Symphony is simply amazing, which is probably why I have CDs recorded by them at home. They performed a John Adams' violion concerto and then Richard Strauss' Sinfonia Domestica op. 53. I had never heard either piece before but was pleasantly surprised--especially with the Strauss. The Sinfonia had such intricate oboe and english horn soloing that passed from one to the other that I was sucked in. Ahhh. All in all it was a most delightful concert, and of course it was also free, so yay!
Yesterday I hopped on a train out to Frankfurt and am excited to say that I found my Courtney there :) Today we start on our explorations of all that Bambergia and the surrounding area have to offer. It shall be exquisite. More stories to come!