Germany (Netherlands)- part 2

When I knew I was going to Germany I knew I wanted to meet up with some of my good friends that live there, or near there. I also wanted to go to the LDS temple in Frankfurt because there are no temples near Kuwait so I want to take advantage of attending the temple when I can. (for the non-Mormons, a temple is very special and sacred to us and different from a typical meeting house)

I have two good friends from Korea who are now stationed in Germany. We met up at the temple and it was SOOOOO good to see them. Unfortunately, I did not leave enough time in my schedule to spend as much time with them as I should have. :( Also, totally forgot to get a picture with them. :(

After I left Laura and Eugene (and company) I headed to the temple in Frankfurt. A lot of LDS people don't even know this, but a lot of temples have temple housing you can stay in. I contacted them and arranged for a shared room (4 women to a room) for 10 Euros. AWESOME! Frankfurt has the largest temple housing I've seen and it was a very happening place. The Frankfurt temple will be closing for over a year for renovations so it was very busy. There were people from all over there. A very nice young woman from Czechoslovakia helped me find the office, one of my roommates was from Croatia. When you do work in the temple they have to ask you what language-- so many different people from all over, yet all united. It was lovely.

I was able to do a session Friday night and then I met up with Ruth and Kimberly for a session on Saturday morning. We went to lunch after so we were able to talk for a little bit. I neglected to realize that the temple is about 45mins from the downtown train station where I needed to catch a train to the Netherlands, so sadly that really cut into our time together. Kimberly gave me a ride to the station so that helped. THANK YOU SO MUCH Kimberly and Ruth for coming to see me. :) I love those girls!

After Frankfurt I headed to Maastricht, Netherlands to visit my friend Fred. Fred is the one who came to visit me here in Kuwait- the orange suit guy. When I told him I was going to Germany and that I wanted to come see him he had said that I could go there or he could come to Germany. I was like- um, I'm going to you so I can get another country on my map. When I mentioned this to his friends that were at his house for dinner they said- well you should go to Belgium then and make it three countries. Fred pipes in and says, yeah, Belgium is only 1.8km from my house. I was like- 1.8km is walkable. We can walk to Belgium. So we did the next day.

Fred lives in a super cool place. Where he lives they have these anti-squater companies. Basically, when buildings are going to be vacant for an extended period of time, this company makes the building, or parts of the building, into apartments for people to live in for super cheap. The downside is you don't know how long you will be living there and you are given very short notice- like 2 weeks I think- to move. Currently, Fred lives in an old school. His place is HUGE and just plan cool.

It was raining when I arrived in Maastricht. Fred had arranged for a friend to pick me up in a car. He met me there but he had missed the bus and took his bike. He said he would just pick it up when he dropped me off but then remembered that he wanted us to bike around town because that's very Dutch. We had a wonderful dinner with friends at Fred's place. The next morning we ate sprinkles on bread, which is a traditional Dutch breakfast. Then we walked to Belgium.

After our walk we needed to pick up the bike from the train station so we could each have a bike to ride around town. Fred says, "We'll just ride one bike together to pick up the other one." I said, "Do adults do that? Because I haven't done that since I was 12." Fred assures me they do all the time and then says, "You probably won't be able to just hop on as I get the bike going will you?" Ummm- nope, not going to happen.

He steadies the bike while I get myself on the luggage rack over the back tire- totally afraid that my weight is going to pop the tire. I ask him what I hold on to- can I hold on to him? He says I can and that some people don't really hold on to anything. I BEAR HUG him from behind, bury my head into his back and squeeze my eyes shut. Ok, I think I'm ready. I was TOTALLY TERRIFIED! After about 10 mins I relax enough that I can just hold on to the side of him and look around a little bit, but I'm still pretty sure that I'm going to throw the balance off and make us crash. (I'm totally confident in Fred's abilities- he's Dutch- but I was sure I would wreck us)

After we pick up the other bike Fred points out some other people that are riding two to a bike. He was wanting to show me how they just hop on the back once the other person start peddling. All I noticed is how dainty they sat on the bike, not holding anything. They looked like this:

or like this, minus the book:


but just as casual and carefree and relaxed. I did NOT look like that. It is at this point that I realize just how RIDICULOUS and absurd I must have looked and I'm totally embarrassed. I wonder what all the Dutch people that saw us thought. I'm sure they had a good laugh. I hope no one Fred knows saw him... I'm still embarrassed thinking about it. In my defense, I was totally scared.

We had a lovely time riding around Maastricht, which is a very cute little town. I could totally live there. The downtown was busy with people shopping and a big tournament of sorts for something that kinda looked like Bocce ball, but I'm not sure because I've never played Bocce ball (or even watched it really) and I can't remember what this one was called.

I left that night to go back to Frankfurt. I stayed in a cute little hotel near the train station and flew out the next morning. I didn't do as much sight seeing as I did friend seeing on this trip but I actually think I liked that more. I felt like I experienced what it's like to actually live in these places and I liked it. Also, it means that I just have to go back and do some proper touring. :)

Frankfurt LDS temple

The cream colored buildings are the temple housing. 

Germany in August is tricky. MANY restaurants were closed for several weeks while the families that own them go on vacation. That would pretty much never happen in the U.S. As disappointing as it was, I fully support this. Europe's got it right. 

Cute little area in the town/area where the temple is. 

View from the very busy restaurant that was actually open. 

Frankfurt train station. Notice the nice, sleek, fancy, newish train. 

Then I had to transfer to THIS to go to Maastricht. It looks like it was in a wreck.
I was starting to question where I was going. 

Inside was right out of 1977. 

Fred's house. Seriously. Well, the school that he lives in. 

The view outside his door. 

His apartment is on the ground floor of this section. 

His front door. 

Little courtyard area. 

The front of the school. I think Fred said there are 10 apartments total that they made out of the school. 

It even has a pool. ;) 

Fred's office. 

The guest rooms-- where I stayed. 

More of the office space. 

Weight room on one side of his bedroom. 

The bedroom. I can't believe I didn't get a picture of the living space with the couch, TV, MASSIVE dinning table. :(
It was huge! 

Traditional Dutch breakfast. 

This is how Fred knew it was 1.8km. This kilometer marker is right outside his house. 

On the way to Belgium. 

Belgium. 

On the way--- love the bright blue. 

This was on our bike tour of Maastricht. So quaint and cute! 

The city wall. 

This is Fred's sister's house. It's kinda in the middle of things and I guess they have a fair number of tourists that look in their window. 

Fred and the city wall. 

Train station. 

Belgium waffle in the Netherlands. 

That Bocce ball tournament.... or whatever it was. 

Sprinkles, sprinkles, sprinkles! There were A LOT of them at the store.

At my hotel in Frankfurt-- a Pringles machine. I've never seen one. 

I loved the desk that rolls over the bed. Super cool. 

When I asked for an egg and cheese sandwich from the breakfast menu at a restaurant at the airport.
NOT what I was expecting.  

Getting on the shuttle to go to the plane. (I HATE taking a shuttle to the plane) We got stuck for about 5-10 mins when the auto door got stuck in this position. They couldn't pull it open or get it to move at all for several minutes. 

Germany- Part 1

Several months back my co-worker asked me to shoot her wedding. The kicker--- it was taking place in Germany. I said, "Heck yeah!" I had never been to Europe and I really wanted to shoot her wedding. She was keeping it VERY small and low key so she didn't want people to know I was shooting it because she didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. After doing a lot of research she figured it was a lot cheaper to hire me and pay for my ticket there than to hire a local wedding photographer. Plus, since I'm her friend I spent all day and took a lot of photos.

I was super nervous though because I'm a little rusty since I don't shoot full-time anymore. Weddings are so important too, so I was very nervous that she wouldn't like the photos. I think they turned out pretty well and I think she likes them too, which is good. She was (is) gorgeous, the location was beautiful, and they are visibly, clearly so in love it made shooting easy. Like shooting fish in a barrel.

They live a little south of Frankfurt in Gimsbach. They were married at this castle ruin that they can see from their house. The weather was beautiful, a little warm, but nice and sunny, not rainy. Her parents were there, his dad was there, and me. Super small. (another point of pressure because all friends and family would be relying on my photos!)

This was the real ceremony, the one they are counting. The legal ceremony has to take place later and in another country because things get complicated when you're a Canadian marrying an American in Germany. I love what her mother said they did when planning the wedding. She asked her, what do you need to feel married? I think so many weddings can get very stressful and blown out of proportion. More brides should keep that in mind-- what do you REALLY need to feel married?

After the ceremony I had planned to go back to the hotel and get photos ready so they could have them before I left. Luckily, they insisted the photos could wait and that what I really needed to do was go explore castles with them.

We ended up seeing 4 different castles in one day. We actually had lunch at a different castle the day before-- castles everywhere in Germany! One castle was so cool- Berg Eltz.  It was super cool because you have to hike DOWN to it. You totally don't expect a castle to be there and then you turn a corner and bam! There it is.

I had such a lovely time. Spending time with them was really good for me. All the parents were really great, Laura and Eugene were amazing and inspiring. I have been feeling a little negative and pessimistic about relationships lately. It was so good to see them so in love and to see that it really can and does work out. It went a long way to restore my faith and hope. :)

Thank you so much for allowing me to document such an important day!!

Getting ready with dad looking on. :) 

Laura and Eugene were the only ones who could drive.
She had to stuff all that dress up in there with her and still make the peddles accessible. 

Everyone-- how sweet and cute is this?!

Just so lovely.

This is one of my favorites. Just a sweet moment between them. 

Off in the distance you can see their apartment from here. 

Right after the ceremony the bells on this church started to ring. It was pretty much perfect. 

On the way to Laura's one of the train stops was Frankenstein. I thought it was funny. 

Cute little town square. 

Cute little town alley. 

A castle... my first European castle. I also like that there's a VW bug parked outside. Germany. :)

 

This sign outside the castle was funny. 

Yummy food (including bacon!!!) at the restaurant at the castle. 

It was cool how it incorporated the natural stone with the walls of the castle. 

Rhubarb-- makes me think of Penny and April. This actually ended up being a soda I think-- not alcoholic. 

The church by the castle where they got married. 

The hotel I stayed at left gummy bears instead of chocolates on the pillows. Awesome. 

The hotel I stayed at. Built in 17... something. 

Berg Eltz-- the castle you hike down to. 

Cool dragon rain spouts. 

The restaurant we had dinner at inside a castle.