Love at first sight...

That's right folks, I'm in love. It happened over the weekend, and was so unexpected. But in that first moment, I knew... I knew there was no denying what I felt in my heart. The only problem is, it's going be a long distance relationship... for now at least. But as they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder... right? If you could only see Germany in person, you'd be in love too. The tree filled mountains, the yellow flower fields, the picturesque landscapes, the castles... oh it's all so much. Yes, I am definitely in love.I went to Heidelberg over the weekend for a church singles conference. When people asked me where I was from, I told them I was living in Amsterdam. Some may have assumed I'm Dutch because I came over with a few people from Holland. 4 of the people who asked where I'm from told me I had a great American accent. I laughed and told them I've been practicing... and then I'd let them know that I am American.

We all stayed at a youth hostel. First time for me. My question is, why don't we have them in the US? They're cheap, clean, quite practical, and did I mention cheap? You even get continental breakfast. There may be the slight chance you could end up sharing a room with someone who snores louder than a steam engine inevitably keeping you up until 4am which is when you can't stand it any longer and climb down from your bunk to tap her, mover her arm to another position, and finally violently shake her awake to ask her to move her head in hopes of decreasing the volume of the noise coming out of her mouth. But that also can give you a chance to bond with the only other normal girl you're sharing the room with, giving you a new connection in Vienna and a place to stay when you make a trip out there.
Before I left my mom gave me an assignment which ended up turning into a quest. She had said, "Oh, Claire, when you get out there, you need to go to that one restaurant where they have a picture of your great grandfather." So I asked: "Ok, what's the name of the restaurant?" To which she replied, "I don't know, but it's famous... just ask around." It's so famous in fact, that I had to ask one person after another if they knew of any restaurant where they had pictures of people on the walls. (Actually, I had my one normal roommate ask, since not everyone in Germany speaks English). After asking more times than I could count, we were finally told that there are 2 possibilities. We had to go all the way down the main street, through the center square and past the local castle up on the hill to finally reach one of the two restaurants.

Sure enough there were pictures of the locals all over the walls. Actually, they were of people in the military. My great grandfather was in the military, so I figured it could be it. There were way too many pictures to find him, and since i didn't have 10 hours to spend I just took a picture in front of a wall and called it good. Then again, I could have taken a picture at the entirely wrong restaurant... but I figure it's the thought that counts.