cordeliaknits

Happy Easter!

Church was awesome, brunch went well,  I'm exhausted.

These are the eggs I dyed using silk--really!  Gotta Love Martha!

almost...egg day

I'm in major procrastination mode.  This morning, DonnaLynda and I dyed Easter eggs (more pictures tomorrow, this one is just a Holy Saturday teaser!), and I haven't really done anything productive since then.

I have a big paper to write. Not for a class, but for a sort of exam we have to do half way through seminary.  It is not fun.  It is due on Wednesday.  I have four pages so far.  Out of 20.

I preached a sermon/homily yesterday for Good Friday.  I may have shocked some people when I suggested that Jesus might have had a gay lover...

I wonder if we'll get any complaints!

The house is a mess, I haven't even fully unpacked yet, and I need to do laundry.  I don't know what dress to wear tomorrow, and if I'll have to iron or not.

I'm going to force myself to write for one more hour, and then perhaps reward myself with some netflix viewing.  What an exciting Saturday, eh?

favorite pictures

Carolyn requested more pictures from Germany, and I don't know if anyone else wants to see them, as they are mostly of cool architecture (which I love, but might bore you), and E&J (who I know you love). 

Also, I am running out of energy for documenting my trip, so I may need a week or so before I finish telling you all the things we did.  (I haven't even told you about the day we went to France!)

But today I will just post some of my favorite pictures with no explanations.  Perhaps you can think up your own captions for them!

Just one note about this last picture.  It's perhaps the best one I got of Eva (left) and Jasmin.  This is on the bridge in Heidelberg.  Apparently MacKenzie is saying something really funny in German. 

As usual, I was clueless, just snapping pictures.

Castles/Palaces/Schloesser

Today we have pictures from and of castles in Germany.  Despite Jasmin's complaints, we really didn't see all that many castles, and this one, in Ludwigsburg, was the only one we had an official tour of.  I loved this hallway, which was a "gallery of the ancestors."

The whole palace was filled with these baroque painted ceilings, and I got dizzy from walking with my head tilted up the whole time!

Next is a view of the gardens out of a window.  As you can see, it was incredible.  The trees were just starting to bud while I was there, but all the grass was already very green.

The next castle we saw was in Heidelberg, but we only saw it from afar.  By the time we were there, we didn't have the energy to go up the hill to see if there was a tour, and it was pretty enough to look at from below.  Now I'm sorry we didn't go up, as I think I could have gotten some great pictures up close.

Much of this castle is in ruins, as you can see, and apparently there was a huge fire there at one time, so now every year they commemorate it by lighting the castle up with red and orange lights and shooting fireworks. 

Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of the next castle location, so Eva and Jasmin will have to comment and enlighten us.  I do know it was near the town where Jasmin grew up, and now houses a music school. 

We didn't tour the inside, but for a few euros we were able to walk through the gardens, which were filled with statues of gods, goddesses and gnomes!

This is Diana, with the palace in the background.  All these palaces made me wonder why I was born so late (and, of course, not a royal).  <sigh>

jetlag

I'm forcing myself to stay awake until at least 8pm tonight, and let me tell you, it ain't easy.

I got in last night just before midnight, after 24 hours in airports and planes.  24 hours.  On my birthday.

(The good thing was that my birthday lasted about 33 hours, as it started in Germany at midnight, and ended once I had landed in California the next midnight, nine hours after it would have ended in Germany.  Try to wrap your head around that!)

I tried to celebrate a little at the Atlanta airport with chicken fingers and fries at Chili's, as chicken fingers are one of my favorite comfort foods, but I was so tired and miserable that I barely put a dent in the fries and couldn't even finish the chicken.  You know it's serious when that happens!

But, now I am home safe and sound and very very tired.  I also have no appetite. Is this also a symptom of jet lag?  I didn't eat lunch and had to force myself to eat some dinner.  Hopefully I'm not getting sick.

OK, that's enough complaining for one post!  Above is a classic Tübingen view of the houses along the Neckar River. I'm glad to be home with my kitty, but sad to be gone from such a beautiful place and such good friends.

yes, I'm still in Germany!

Are you sick of half-timbered houses yet? I'm not!

So... I was supposed to fly home this morning, but long story short, I got bumped to a Monday flight and now I have lots and lots of ''Delta Dollars'' to spend on my next European vacation!

Seriously, though, we spent all morning at the airport, and it was a big hassle, and the flight was seriously overbooked. By the time everything was worked out and we made our way home, we were all exhausted and had to take long naps, even though it was a gorgeous day!

Plus, now this means that I will be flying ALL DAY on my birthday (which is tomorrow if y'all didn't know), and I have a stupid 6 hour layover in Atlanta, which is six more hours I could be cuddling with Deacon and sleeping in my bed, not to mention studying, writing papers and a homily and getting ready for the Holy Week craziness. Oh well. maybe next spring I'll go to Italy!

We just got back from the local brewery and Gasthaus for my final German supper (Flammkuchen and a Radler), and now we are about to celebrate my birthday a bit early with a local specialty, sparkling wine!

That's it for my posts from Deutschland.
When I get home to California, I'll be forcing you to see many more Germany pictures, so bear with me. Remember, all that I've shown you so far have been from Eva's camera, so we haven't even begun to explore my pictures!