Here and There and Keeping Busy

A few photos updates of how I have been keeping busy lately:

This photo is actually from back in April, but we have been lucky in our weather for a while. May has had some rain, but I have been able to be outside enjoying the weather a lot!

Softball practice, in he rain... It started to rain while we were doing infield training. Finally we took a break, but then somehow it was decided that we would do sprints in the rain. This was the result!

This weekend was the forth weekend in a row with games. The past two I have had games both Saturday and Sunday. We were suppose to have the same this weekend but yesterday's game got moved. This was us warming up in Mainz (I am the one hitting, with white pants and a black shirt).

Winnie!

Last Sunday we played in Gießen. The second game ended up being postponed because of rain, but I still had such a fun time playing. We were very short players (and coaches!) so I played second base and right field, though not at the same time :P I won our player of the game trophy (Winnie) :) Our next Verbandsliga game I will bring the trophy and give it to the next player of the game.

Kees playing the trumpet

I have recently been introduced to live jazz, by a friend who's boyfriend plays in this band. We went down to Darmstadt one Friday to help him sell tickets. It was so much fun, both the selling tickets in German and the music. So this weekend Dorthe, Claire and I headed back to Darmstadt and spent the afternoon in the sun listening to the Expateers again. Hey, who knew Darmstadt could actually be quite nice!

Vienna

After getting back from Belgium, I had only one full day in Frankfurt before I was off again. On Easter Sunday I spent most of the day on the train travelling to Vienna. It was an easy trip, somehow almost 7 hours on a train is much nicer than the same amount on a plane. I knitted a baby hat for Claire, ate, relaxed and then was in Vienna!! I was travelling on my own, but meeting up with Dorthe, Kees and Regina for Claire's wedding. We had a lovely time in an amazing city. I started planning my trip back there before I had even left!

The Staatsoper, though I sadly did not have time to see an opera there

The Austrian parliament. There are European elections next weekend, and so there were posters and advertisements all over Vienna, just like Frankfurt. This one says "our Europe, your vote."

Schönbrunn Palace

I had a lovely visit to Schönbrunn Palace. It almost looks like a cardboard cutout in parts of the facade! It was the summer residence of the Hapsburgs, though now is relatively central in Vienna. Just a short hop on the UBahn out to visit. I took the "grand tour" of the suites of Franz Joseph and his wife Elisabeth, "Sisi."

The bride and groom

Claire and Felix's wedding! It was a lovely, simple wedding. They just had the Standesamt ceremony (registry office). It was only about 10 minutes, as in Germany you always have to do that first, and then have your proper church ceremony. After that, Claire had rented an old tram that took all the guests on an hour tour of the city. It was perfect! It dropped us off right at the restaurant where the reception was held.

View from the vineyards above Vienna

The next morning Claire and Felix took their parents and Claire's family and friends from abroad on a hike in the local vineyards. It was a glorious day for an easy hike up to this viewpoint. Unfortunately I think Claire doesn't realize that, even pregnant, she is still very active, and so it was a bit much for some of her relatives. But we all survived, and were rewarded with a drink in a shady back garden at a local wine restaurant.

Me with Hofburg in the background

Hofburg was the winter and main residence of the Hapsburgs. I visited the museums there on my last morning. They have the royal residence open and a special Sisi museum all about the Kaiserin Elisabeth. I actually visited there on her 160th wedding anniversary. 

A last lunch in Vienna with Regina, at a proper Viennese coffee house!

The dessert course - after having Schweinsfledermaus for lunch ... pork bat??

Road trip to Belgium

The first week of the Easter holidays, a colleague and I drove to Belgium. We stayed in Brussels, but took day trips to Liege, Leuven and Bruges. And all of this with real proper maps - no GPS! And very little getting lost :) Bruges was by far my favourite of all the places we went.

Liege - we stopped here on our way to Brussels, just for a little bit. Not the nicest looking place, but was good to look around for about an hour.

Katja and I on the Grand Place in Brussels. This I took after Katja tried (and failed) about 100 times on her camera.

Leuven, a nice little university town. It has some spectacular buildings in the centre, including their town hall

And I even found a Guide Museum in an old church! Sadly not open until May 15 ...

Bruges! So beautiful!

See! Almost looks like Amsterdam with the canals.

Touring Brussels on the trams

On our last full day in Brussels I took myself off on a tram tour of the city. It was my favourite part of Brussels - I took about 5 or 6 different trams around for a few hours and completed a full circle of the centre of Brussels.