Hello again!  Back to the blog I am,  The furnace in my house decided to not work but it will be sorted out tomorrow- till then its space heaters.  Its still plenty cold outside hence the picture above. In this blog I would like to take you back in my life- to when I was 6-8 yrs old.   I lived in Germany for 3 yrs.  It was the first overseas assignment that my father had  ( that I was alive to be apart of)  My older brother Joe was born in Germany on a previous assignment in Augsburg

This is Garmisch and it is where my father worked at the Russian Institute, and my brothers and I went to school at the American school. There was and still is an American base there.  We did learn German but I can only remember a few words. I know much more Spanish.  It's a beautiful place, with green mountains in the summer and snowy ones in the winter.  Its the last place I skied at too ( when I was there)  The houses are very picturesque and  a lot are painted with various scenes.  We didn't live in Garmisch though. We lived in a small village not far from it though Farchant,

 This looks very much like the house I lived in when I was there. ( In fact I think it is)  We didn't live in the whole house. It was divided into apartments, We rented the bottom part of the house. While in Germany we did a lot of traveling when we had school holidays or weekends .   

Neuschwanstein Castle is easily one of my favorite castles and I remember going there as a kid. One of a few built  by "Mad" King Ludwig II.  Its a bit of hike to get up to it but worth it.  It can be debated  but I think Disney may of taken its likeness for inspiration for Cinderella's castle.( the one in the logo)   When I was seven, We went on about a month long trip one summer and went all the way from Austria to Spain.  One of the places we went to was this place- 

This is Carcassonne which was a medieval city and its located in France. This is the Château Comtal, a 12th-century castle which is apart of that city.  Right outside from the city is a huge aqueduct  which at night when its lit up is pretty spectacular. Another one of my favorite places on that trip was  The Alhambra. 

The Alhambra is a palace and also a fortress. It is located in Granda Spain.  It is one of the most famous examples of Islamic architecture. 

The property of the Alhambra, Generalife and Albayzín, Granada, stands on two adjacent hills, separated by the river Darro. Rising above the modern lower town, the Alhambra and the Albayzín form the medieval part of the City of Granada, which preserves remains of the ancient Arabic quarter. (https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/314/)

Another favorite place of mine that we visited was: 

The Leaning Tower of Piza Tower of Pisa is more accurately referred to simply as the bell tower, or campanile.

The Pisa tower is one of the four buildings that make up the cathedral complex in Pisa, Italy, called Campo dei Miracoli or Piazza dei Miracoli, which means Field of Miracles.- (https://www.towerofpisa.org/ )   I still have the miniature Piza I got at the time,  We travelled to all these places in our VW van. Like this one: 

My parents and I my three brothers and also my grandma who was living with us at the the time travelled in this this bus. The seats in the back could fold down to a bed and most of the time we had it down like that. ( seatbelts were not that enforced it seemed in Europe in 1982-83)   It also had a small sink and a stove- its the only vehicle I have ever have been in since which had these features, it lasted us a good while till it finally couldn't go anymore. We went to the VW factory by train overnight shortly after and got ourselves a newer model.   

More adventures with that car in an upcoming blog..

Updates...

    It's been a bit since I have written anything on this blog.  It's amazing how fast time goes by. Since I have last written- progress has been made on the apartment which is apart of the house my parents live in. The rooms which needed carpet do have carpet now and are almost totally cleared of the previous stuff ( not mine and my spouses)   

The bathroom is almost totally functional, there are some things which are going to be worked on still to finish. 

The rooms are ready for furniture and some of them have some- just some of what belongs in them.  All the major stuff has been completed. Besides work being done on this apartment we have had lots and lots of snow.

 The picture above is the area I live in.  I am pretty sure its snowed just about every day for days. I am not a snow person. By saying that I mean I do not favor the wet, cold white stuff that makes your car hard to get free of.  I know some people really like it but when its over a foot deep I can't say that I have the same passion.  

I can say its great for introverts, which I am definitely one but at the same time it puts me to the point of almost getting agoraphobic Which is a bit too much time in the house. However I look outside and just think of all the ways I can stay in and how not to have to go outside in the cold and the fluffy white stuff.

I do like going outdoors, just in other seasons. Next week I will be going with my spouse to our previous apartment and gathering up all the remaining small things to be transported down here. 

I don't really look forward to that except I can sleep in my actual bed and not this futon bed I have been sleeping on for the past little while.  I dash upstairs when Simon goes to work if I wake up in time and don't sleep all through the night on the futon.  

It's 2 futons which fold out but even so- its not that great but yes better than a sleeping bag- we wanted to gravitate to being in the apartment for everything but still it doesn't even come close to our lovely Purple bed. Its a beast to move but it was worth the 1000 odd bucks we paid for it. Since buying it 3 other versions of it have come out which I bet are even spiffier. I have seen them in the stores.  

Overall- so far thats what has been going on really,  I have to say I enjoy social media quite a lot.  More than I used to. I have connected with people which I did not before- outside of people who know me in real life. 

Thats a big thing for me especially with how my personality is. Those people probably don't have any idea what it means to me to have them communicate with a person such as I.  

Why?  I am not famous, I don' have tons of subscribers etc.  So for me its not just commenting on a video, or a tweet. Something about them I connect with. I have interest in their life for what they choose to share that is. Some are a bit to a lot like myself and some are interesting to me for other reasons. It's also inspired me to do some short videos, and this blog.  

 Funny enough I married a extrovert ( how did that happen- well you know the story if you read the blog)  Still, Simon and I are very different but there are a lot of things we enjoy which are the same along with things which we individually only like.

Tune in next time when I have more updates for those who look at my blog. I apologize for how basic it is- but I don't have to pay for it and I don't need fancy right now.