Day 6, 7, 8 and 9!

Day 6

even though we had to wear fleeces all week, we decided we had to hit up a beach because nate wanted to experience the strand korb!



the morning started off sunny but the minute we hit Schilksee, it became clowdy and dreary. I'd add windy but isn't it a given that the around the sea is windy?!

This view is out to the left.

we were in the 3rd and final row. the 1st row had all been rented out through september! i'm assuming locals..not quite sure about the middle row but the 3rd was fine. as you can see, not a whole lotta peeps were at the beach that day.

This view is to the right.

We rented the korb for 3 hours and somewhere into our 2nd hour, i got a tad chilly and had to grab some coffees from the nearby cafe.

and then nate and I had some visitors...

honest to god, they headed straight towards, as if they could sense we like to eat.. but we didnt have any food so in protest they popped a squat.

at this point, Nate is freaking out because they are literally thisclose to our feet. see below for reference, and he knows, that ducks like squirrels are crazy creatures and the last thing he wanted to do was lose a toe to some hungry duck.



At 4 we broke up and since it began to rain, we headed back to the hotel, i mean, gasthof. and it rained. and rained some more, it finally stopped at 9 but by then i was lazy to get dressed and all did up to take a 45 minute commute into town, so we called it a night.

Day 7
Friday was our official last day in Kiel so Nate and I spent the morning walking over the International Market and doing some shopping. We didnt buy too much and what we did buy, well, youll see pics of that when I'm back home.

After having walked a good mile, 2 miles we passed the BMW Children Regatta and decided to have a seat..

seriously, within minutes the entertainment started. first, this one kid got stuck. not stuck stuck, but there came a point where he was just going in circles and he kept on getting hit in the head by the sail. i hate to admit i was laughing my ass off! and then this happened...

ok...i promise i didnt laugh here...it was still pretty comical though. after that nate and i went back to louf and shared a pizza and tomato/mozzarella salad, and it didnt occur to me that i should take a picture. doh!

at 5 we had to be at my great aunts for dinner and a little farewell party. we left there at 8 to head back downtown but hotdamn...the part we wanted to go to was closed off due to the fact peeps had already fallen over the bridge so we headed the other way, back towards the international market where they had a stage set up. There were actually stages set up along the way but this was a pretty big one and they had a Rolling Stones coverband performing. Unfortunately, my mood had been shot since.....

1. my grandpa hadnt told Inge and Barbara that we were going back into the city (the way my grandpa told us was that Inge and Barbara would be joining us...well, they hadnt even known about it!)
2. we head back to the hotel before going back into the city because we wanted to only have to worry about one car, and our rooms were cleared out! story: on Tuesday, Inge had asked us if they had mentioned anything about us moving rooms. Nate and I were somewhat surprised because my grandpa hadnt mentioned anything but at the same time we werent surprised that he had failed to mention that. Regardless nothing had mentioned. Even up until we left Friday morning, no one came and said anything to us. So, as we unlocked our room, nothing. Empty! So we head up to the reception area and they are like..well, we told the last week that you would have to move and since your stuff wasnt packed we had to move it for you and dont be surprised by these new rooms because they are nothing like your old rooms. to say that was an understatement would be an understatement, seriously, and im upset we didnt take pictures but damn... this room wasnt bigger than a closet. nate and i slept in beds that literally folded together! needless to say, my grandpa flipped because they too had been moved when originally it was only intended for us.
3. even though i was in a foul mood at this point, nate and i still went into the city and where we greeted by a mass of people. oh my god. it was crazy and when we tried to get over the bridge back to the zelt where we were on tuesday, they wouldnt let us because it had been closed off due to peeps falling over it! we ended up heading back to the international market/Ratskeller where they had a stage set up with a Rolling Stones coverband. i never really recovered and at midnight we headed back to the hotel.

Day 8

Unfortunately, it was time for us to head home!

Day 9

We were all exhausted from the craziness of the past week that all we did on Sunday was this.

The middle chair is mine, but someone had to photograph us!

This will also be the last chronological post. This past week has plenty of Day 9 with a little bit of shopping spruced along the way. Dont be surprised if I just skip over Day 10 and go straight to Day 11!

Gosh...I cant believe that today, 7/3, is already our last vacation day! Where did the past 2 weeks go?! Seriously... I used to dread this vacation but this time it was perrrrrrfect!

Day 5 - Kieler Linie

alright, so this is actually going to be a very, very light post since as the vacation went, the less and less i took photos of...sorry but yes, it is tiresome and i have no clue how some food bloggers do it..

so Wednesday, we walked the Kiel Linie and the International Market...I think we walked a good 3 - 5 miles that day. Holy moly... it was ok. Don't get me wrong, it's just that the entire downtown part was engulfed by one big fair! and every other stand was either an alcoholic beverage stand, or a french fry stand or a bratwurst stand or a poffertjes stand. one can only eat and drink so much a day.

so lemme recap a few of the highlights:

• the waiter tried to get 10 euros out of us by doing the whole give me $10 so I can give you $20 back...uhm...no thank you buddy! we may be American but your not getting 10 euros out of me. this was at the Ratskeller, I did leave a negative review, only to see that of the 4 people who had also reviewed, 2 of them were not happy with it. it may have been all that a few years ago but today...not so much. i wont even get into how they made us wait 15 mins before anyone even took our drink order.
• after almost an hour of walking, my great Aunts needed to take a break so we sat off of the pier..these two pics just show the strip, up and down. and the other 3 are our view out to the sea.

This view is to the left, or down the strip.

This view is to the right, or up the strip.

full steam ahead...

Near collision...

• But it got too hot so we found this cute little place...photo courtesy of Louf..

This was definately a place to be and a place to be seen.. we actually sat in the back part where you see the red blankets..the front was full! but it was better that way because we were shaded from the sun.

This is a view of the inside...it was beautiful. oh my god...definately a place i could see me and nate hang out at. i would love, love, love for a swank place like this to be near where nate and i live but unfortunately we have to drive at least 40 mins north of us to Royal Oak to get anywhere cool like this.

• After a few prosecco und erdbeeren we ventured on and found this stand..caipis and cocktails galore!



Once again you see my infamous NorthFace Fleece if there is one thing you should know about Germans is that they fear a draft. oh my fricken lord... its 60 degrees out and they are running around with jackets, scarves and mittens. hello...but in michigan we bust out our flipflops in 50 degree weather!

Nate...looking very content with his beer...
This was behind me....ooohhhh....love bed... ;) oh, and that dude is climbing into the DJ booth..

and later in the evening, mind you it gets dark in Germany at like 1030 at night!, these Brazillian dancers came out. we thought the middle lady was the mama of the other two. and of course, there had to be jackasses who came out and were acting silly. one dude even pulled his pants down and showed us his extremely pasty ass..nice..they were then kicked out of the stand.
• We then met up with my grandpa and Helgi at Louf...gosh I heart that place...and where we ended the evening...

Day 4 - Laboe - Part 2

After lunch we headed up to the Memorial for Seamen.


I believe it takes 600 some steps to get to the very top. Yeah...we didn't walk those we took the elevator up which was almost as scary as taking the little egg elevator up to the top of the St. Louis Archway. We did however take all 600 back down. Here are some aerial shots we took while on top of the memorial.

Nate and I particulary like the first one, if you look really closely you can see that the little house in the middle, its roof is made out of grass!

This is the view back to Kiel. We had to walk the entire boardwalk from the far edge. Maybe a mile to 2 miles. The picture is too small however all those little dots in the far back, is where the harbor is for Kiel and where we came out of.

This view is straight out from the memorial. Look at all the sand bars! The crappy party about the Ost Sea is that there is way too much seaweed and jellyfish. There were so many jellyfish on the edge of the water when we were walking along the sand.

This was taken from the other side, so the right side when your facing out to the sea. Not nearly as crowded as the other side and so green!

and this view is out of the back of the memorial. Can you believe it?! You'd never guess there was a sea on the front side!

After making the 600 step treck, Nate wanted to see inside the submarine that was grounded.

Honest to God, I have no clue how peeps can be submerged and not feel claustophobic. These pics were all taken by Nate and since I have little interest, I'm just going to post them sans commentary.

Shoot...guess I am doing some commentary. Figured I should give some explanation to what these pics are.This is the back missile hole. Sorry for the lack of technical talk.

Random shot.

Another random shot.

Nate thought this was cool since the pointer thingy was on Actung. This will probably grace the same wall where our "Achtung, frogs!" picture is.

Could you imagine having to cook for up to 56 peeps on this tiny stove/kitchen?!

and we thought airplane toilets were cramped...

No, I'm not bored....

The missile and peeps still had to sleep underneath it! Aren't there some humanity laws against this!?

and my Outfit of the Day!

White Cami - Gap Spring 09

White Sweather - Gap Summer 09

Dockers Bermuda shorts - Kohls Summer 09

Privos by Clarks - Summer 09

and my lovely Kate Spade messenger and NorthFace Fleece

After such a major history lesson, it was time for us to unwind with.....ice cream!!!

Isn't this heaven?! Oh my gosh... American's need to take a note on all the delicious ice creams the Italians make....hhhhmmm....swooon....

and moi...hells yeah I ate it all...

After this we had to book it back to the pier to make the 6 pm ferry back to Kiel, during which I took a small nap...I was exhausted and I knew we still had a long night of partying ahead of us..

First stop....drinks!

my great aunt and I at the miscellanous cocktail stand... I don't remember what she had but I had Bacardi Razzberry with Raspberries...yummy...

This was across from the cocktail stand. At the top, they actually fry the fish and then when its done, the push it down the slide and they scream through the microphones.."BACKFISCH, FRISCHER BACKFISH" and maybe even do a lil jig.. ;)

I will neither confirm or deny that the daiqirir, caipi, and strawberry cocktail as well as french fries with mayo (the only way to eat 'em!) were consummed by moi...hihihi..this was only the tip of the iceberg..

oy vey...what a night it was... seriously if there is one thing the Germans have down is summer time partying.. the great thing about being at these type fests too is that they have songs that everyone knows and that typically only get sung at at these type of fests so not only do you have the dj but then have hundreds of peeps singing along with them, dancing on the benches or any given free space...

it was fabulous!!! and only the beginning....

>

Day 4 - Laboe - Part 1

whew...the morning started off rocky... lemme say, I am very, very particular about my German breakfast (note to self: must take a picture of my breakfast one morning)

needless to say, by the time we got down to the breakfast room at 9:30 (they serve breakfest till 10:30) the majority of the buffet was empty! and there wasnt a person around, so my breakfast consisted of broetchen, butter (which i never eat unless its garlic butter!), and jelly. oh, and one very dry hard boiled egg. i prefer mine to be the 5 minute cooked ones that have an ooey, gooey yolk, however i guess, the gov passed a law stating that eggs can't be served that way and must be served hard-boiled due to semolina...booo!!

so we met Inge and Barbara at the pier (why didnt i take any pictures of this?!) at noon and jumped on a ferry which took us up the Ost See from Kiel to Laboe. Along our trip, we saw lots of these....

These was shows the submarine coming out of the water and docking at this big ship.

This is the Kiel Linie which we ended up walking most of Wednesday.

Once we reached Laboe, a good hour after we left Kiel, we were on the search for a restaurant that still served lunch at 3! This sort of caused a tizzy since Helga's daughter with her 'friend' came by and they are both dog owners. So, not only did we have to find a restaurant that was still open but we had to find one that would allow dogs on their patio, which really isn't that big of deal since dogs are pretty much allowed anywhere as long as they are on a leash and well behaved especially in the summer while in a beer garden. I should mention that the majority of my extended family are not pet owners and don't understand how a pet is very much like a person and rightfully comes along when the family does stuff, so when my great Aunts saw that the dogs would be joining us, well, they eagerly sought for a table near where my granpa was sitting with Helga's family. I swear, isn't there always plenty of drama to go around?!

Check back later to see what happened after lunch and on Wednesday!