I am going to be in Frankfurt for HOW long?

Back when I was booking the Christmas Surprise trip I was discussing options and deals with Ashton and she actually found the one I ended up booking. She said, "On the way here you will fly from Zürich to Toronto, then to Atlanta with a 3 hour and 45 minute layover." "Fine." I said. Then she continued, "On the way back you fly from Atlanta to Frankfurt with a 9 1/2 hour layover and then on to Zürich."


Woah. Woah. WOAH!


"I am going to be in Frankfurt for HOW long?"


9 1/2 hours. That is a long layover but it was the cheapest option to be able to wish my loved ones Merry Christmas, complete with a hug. So I did it.

Proof.

So, I decided to embrace it. So what did I do during those nine and half hours in Frankfurt?


This:


Leave the airport and go explore the Altstadt...immediately after buying an umbrella.

Before this little trip I really had pretty negative feelings toward Frankfurt as a place for a tourist. Businessy and Boring, I thought.

Wrong. I had a great time.

Look at how photogenic Frankfurt is DESPITE the rain!

What else did I do?

1. Saw that Christmas was still alive and well a week after New Year's. 

 2. Enjoyed the square in the Old Town with half-timbered buildings galore.

 3. Visited the Dom and see Nativity scenes and Jesus and Mary statues.

Isn't this a weird little cow?

 4. Visited Paulskirche, which as it turns out has a very important history, and enjoyed the free little museum. 

Love this.

The actual church part with really sweet light fixtures.

 5. Walked through these whomping willows.

 6. Enjoyed the juxtaposition of old and new.

 7. Browsed through people's old Chanel, Prada, and Dolce and Gabbana goods at [Cinderella's] Second Hand Shop.

Then, I headed back to the airport.

I preceded then to take two long naps in two different locations. (I was awoken by a vacuuming cleaning lady the first time.)

I wandered around for a while to find something delicious for dinner.

Which I found in something like this:

However, I also made a new friend over dinner. After mistaking him for a German and asking him a question in the language, my new friend Will and I discovered that we were two Americans from the South stranded in Frankfurt on layovers from Christmas travel. He lives in Sweden. I live in Austria. So we chatted for a while about everything from life as an American in Europe, to gun control, to struggles of learning new languages, and even about favorite episodes of Friends. 

After dinner we sat around until it was time for me to hop on a little puddle jumper plane to Zürich where I finally caught a train home.

In the end, I am glad I had such a long layover. Gave me a chance to relax, sight-see, and make new friends in the midst of a big travel day.

Lesson learned: Don't ever rule out an itinerary because of a long layover!

Stuck in Colder Weather

Pretty, huh?

One of my favorite and least favorite things about Austria is how different the weather is from home.

It's my least favorite because it requires me to wear leggings under my regular pants literally 100% of the time and means my nose is always red, cold, and runny. Oh, throw my eyes in there too! They water constantly. However, that happens regardless of weather. Anywho...

It is my favorite because of the proximity to beautiful mountains begging me to fly down them with skis strapped to my feet. I have been skiing more than a couple times here now and each time I love it more and more!

MONTAFON

BÖDELE

My friend Sean who put up with me saying "Look how Preeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetty!!!" a lot.

But seriously, look how preeeeeeeetty!

Bus ride home

LATERNS

Mid-ski day Alpine refreshment: Almdudler, which is kind of like apple juice mixed with ginger ale. Not exactly, but that's the best description I've got. By the way, isn't my new ski hat fun?

 The weather could have been better.

 Ski Poles are made to be glove holders, right?

 My friends Aaron and Alex

 Happy little ski family

 My Favorite Picture

Gosh, how have I never lived near the mountains before? It rocks.

Explanation of Changes

So you may have noticed something looks different. Ok, two major things look different.


It really bothered me that the name of my blog and the url didn't match. "notthesame" wasn't available because some punk who wrote a grand total of 3 non-inspiring posts back in 2004 already had it.


Lame.


So for a while I used "notthesamsies" in the url instead. It just bothered me though. So, I decided to change that and with that the name of the blog, sadly. 


I have embraced it and the new header though, and so should you. 

Sunday in Vienna

Back at the beginning of December, I went to a teaching conference in Vienna. There is much to be said about that trip but for this post I am going to focus on one of the loveliest Sundays I have had in a long while.

So here it is! A recipe for a wonderful Sunday in the capital of this country I call my (current) home:

1. Go to church...but not just any church. Make sure to pick one that is almost 700 years old, that was home to weddings of, you know, just the Hapsburgs (NBD), and has musical masses on Sunday mornings for wandering tourists and locals alike. 

2. Visit one of the world's most beautiful libraries and stare at the intricately painted ceiling until your neck hurts.

3. See some famous sites like the home of Sacher Torte.

4. Spend the afternoon pondering what life would have been like as a member of the Imperial Hapsburg family at Schloss Schönbrunn.

 5. Christmas shop while drinking Glühwein and listening to carolers in front of the palace.

6. Ride cute city trolleys.

7. Find the Fulbright offices and take pictures of and with the tiny little sign in the swanky artsy Museums Quartier!

8. Get standing room seats at the Staatsoper and enjoy an evening of Viennese opera culture.

9. Enjoy Christmas lights in the city.

 (Vienna is so classy. Light up chandeliers!)

10. Finish the night with some yummy Punsch over at MQ.

**Credit to Amanda for most of the pictures here (i.e. the ones not from an old iPhone)...this was during the sad time in which I was camera-less**

Woah! Where'd ya go??? An extremely overdue post

I haven't posted in a very long time and much has happened. Before any of that can be addressed, I have to tell you all about my Christmas break......in Vlog form. Merry Christmas!