We've Moved!

Come visit me at my new address!

 SondreLyn.com

That's right... Paris, Baby!

We had a really short visit in Paris, just a few days. We took the train down from Kaiserslautern and it was pretty quick, about 2-1/2 hours. It took us straight to Gare de L'est and we took the metro to our hotel. I've never used the metro before in Paris and it was incredibly easy to use (once we figured out how to use the little automated ticket machines and got our bearings with the map, that is!).

Louis Vuitton, Baby!

We enjoyed one really great day of weather and one really wet nasty day. We still had a great time and made the best of it. We walked a lot and ate in the little cafes (including the absolute best cheese omelette served with fries. Heaven!). We saw some of the sites but mostly just enjoyed the ambiance. I loved it and can't wait to go back and do exactly the same thing.

Quiche and Eclairs mmmmmm....

We walked down the Champs Elysees, of course. But my favorite route was the Rue Saint-Honore which took us past a gorgeous shopping district with some fabulous stores and the American Embassy snuggled right up against the British Embassy, close friends as always. lol

Electric Cars!

We also walked to the Louvre (on the very rainy day) only to find that all museums in France are closed on Tuesday. What??? lol But Mike and I are good sports and it was still lots of fun.

Uhm... What does that say??? lol

Germany Revisited

We had a great time in Germany. More than anything, we wanted to go somewhere where we could relax. I don't think there was anything that we were thinking that we really wanted to see so much as we just wanted to sleep in, eat good food, and relax. We are fortunate to be military and have access to military facilities and took full advantage at R@mstein where we had the best of both worlds. It's a gorgeous base with tons of facilities. I woke up every morning to the most beautiful view out my window and up into the hills with gorgeous little towns. I would love to post a picture, but, well, since it looked out over the flight line as well, I'll err on the side of caution! lol

We watched American movies.

1. Ted (Twice!)
2. Total Recall
3. Bourne Legacy
4. The Odd Life of Timothy Green
5. Batman: The Dark Knight Rises
6. Lawless
7. The Amazing Spiderman
8. The Cold Light of Day

That's a lot of movies for only 3 weeks! Most of them we saw on the base and stood for the National Anthem which was wonderful! Oh, the things you miss! We ate American food including our weight in Taco Bell. *burp* They even have a Macaroni Grill (where we didn't eat) and a Chili's (where we ate twice!) and I drank Dr Pepper with maraschino cherries and sliced limes. *slurp*

Cinnabon

We shopped in American stores for American crap (and sent 3 big boxes! back to ourselves in Isr@el).

But we also rented a great BMW and hauled butt all over the autobahn. That car was so fancy we had to figure out just how to go from Park to Drive! lol

We visited little German towns making it as far as Furtwangen in the Black Forest in southwest Germany walking around gorgeous towns and up and down those spectacular hills.

We ate tons of wonderful German food (Cheese and Bacon, Baby!) finding a wonderful thing called a frikadelle mit brotchen which is essentially a meatball in a bun (lower left hand corner of the picture below) but what a frik-en dell-icious meatball it is. Mike and I had one almost every day we were there, and oh how I'd like one right now. lol

It was a wonderful change of scenery, lush and green and much cooler and we came back to Isr@el refreshed and ready to finish out our last year here.

Did you know...

that I'm seriously afraid of being electrocuted by the toaster and that I always unplug it before I take out my toast?

that I'm more afraid of being in the dark, dank, crowded bomb shelter under the emb@ssy than the possibility that I might have to actually use it?

that since I got my iPad I only turn on my home computer about once a month (hence my lousy track record posting on my blog!)?

that the clocks on the wall tell the time here in Isr@el but also the time of most of my family and friends back in the states?

When I look at it, I think about you and wonder what you're up to. In the picture, it's 3 a.m., so I'm guessing everyone's sleeping and dreaming sweet dreams about their favorite person stuck in Isr@el... just a guess. ;)

And btw, the candle and the nutcracker are treasures from our recent trip to Germany. :) And the ugly lamp is not mine, it's provided by our dear Uncle S@m. lol More of their lovely furnishings. *blech*

I hope everyone is doing well and I love you all!

Chag Sameach

Happy Rosh Hashanah!
(The Israeli New Year)

A chocolaterie in Paris! Chana Tova means "A good and sweet new year"

Also, this is my 100th post! Mazel!

We have a lot to celebrate. We've been here officially one year and we are looking forward to our last year here. Reaching the halfway mark has us wondering "where next???" We are hoping to stay overseas, but who knows what the new year will bring.

We had a great trip to Germany and thoroughly enjoyed our time off. We slept in, ate tons of wonderful food, drove on the Autobahn, shopped till we dropped, and saw a TON of movies.

I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year!

Halftime and Some R&R

Can you believe we've been here a whole entire year?!?!? Well, almost. So it's time for a much beloved Department of St@te tradition called R&R. We've never had an R&R before and I'm excited. I also really need a break so I'm looking forward to 3 (that's right... count 'em... THREE) weeks off!

We're leaving in the wee hours of the morning for the airport and boarding a plane for Germany! Yay! Where we will be renting a car and touring. aaahhh... Our plans include visiting a military base where we will delight in all things American including hotdogs and apple pie, but we will substitute football for baseball. ;) We will also revel in being military after a year with Stateys *shudder* by eating in the food court, going to the BX, seeing some movies where people stand for our national anthem, and enjoying the view of a base teeming with our young men and women in uniform.

We will also drive at warp factor 6 on the Autobahn, eat CHEESE AND BACON! together!, see some castles, head to Normandy and Paris, and maybe even detour into Switzerland.

Hopefully, we will capture some of our resting and relaxing on (digital) film and post some pictures as we go.

Everyone have a wonderful weekend!

View from Tel Aviv

I had to go for my camera really quickly so as not to miss this. I was riding in a car coming back from pris0n (yes, PRIS0N! my new job involves visiting pris0ners... ugh) and saw this lovely sight.

This is a wedding dress store.

Yep. That's right. A WEDDING dress store.

Perhaps it's the proximity to the prison? hmmm...

Also, I'm having some trouble with some inappropriate comments on my blog and, for the time being, I am disabling comments on posts. Just email me (like most of you do anyway) with any comments. My email address is to the right near the top of the page. Thanks!