Frankfurt Weinachtsmarkt

Last weekend we went in to Frankfurt and went to the Weinachts(Christmas) market there. After going to the one in Wiesbaden a while back we wanted to go to another big one after visiting a couple small ones around our area. The Franfurt one was packed. Since we went on a Sunday there were so many people there. It was fun to see all the different stands and see what they had to offer. There were many food stands and places that sold different drinks. The most popular drink at this time of year is called Gluhwein. They have this at the Weinachts markets and many people go to the markets just to have Gluhwein. We found out that every stand has there own Gluhwein, but we didnt find that out until after we tried it. The stand that we stopped at, we tried the Gluhwein and did not like it at all. It is a sort of apple wine but it was very tart and did not taste good. After we got home we tried the bottle of it that we bought at the store and that wine was much better. We warmed it up on the stove and it wasnt as tart and tasted much better, and I think we would get it again in the future.

At the market we also got some Christmas presents and were amazed at some of the neat stores. We would defintiley go to more markets if we are here again in the future, maybe try some of the other well-known Christmas markets that go on in Germany around Christmas time.

Schnee!!!! (Snow)

Schnee!!!!!!!!!! This past weekend we got some snow. It wasnt 12-17inches like some places in Wisconsin got, but we got probably 1-3 inches. We both agreed that the snow was great and really makes it feel like it is getting close to Christmas. Today, however, it has been raining and the forecast for Christmas is for rain as well. I am just hoping it will get cold enough to snow so we have snow for Christmas because the rain has melted a lot of the snow. Only 3 days left!!!!!!

Past 2 week's games

Well the past two weeks have been very successful for Katy's team and for my team we split the games.
In the past two weekends Katy's team won both of their games. I would tell you exaclty how many points and rebounds she had in each game but I was not able to see either game. Two weeks ago she played at 6 and I played at 8 so I wasnt able to see it. Then this weekend she played on Sunday. Even though my team didnt have a game we had a Christmas Lunch with the team and I was only able to see part of the 4th quarter. In both games though I guess she had about 20 or so points and I am guessing a double double in rebounds in both games. She now has a long break (3 weeks off) over the holidays until she plays again.
For my team, we won our game 1.5 weeks ago against ULM. Even though I wasnt able to play because of my ankle it was still an exciting game and we ended up winning by 1 point. This past weekend we played on the road, at Bamburg, but didnt do so hot. We actually played pretty poorly. I think for us it is just important to move onto next week and start preparing for that game. This was the first game back for me after missing some time for an ankle sprain. Even though it wasnt totally recovered it felt good to get up and down and play.

1 up, 1 down

This past week we had two games. One on last Saturday and one on Wedensday. The game last Saturday wasn't good for two reasons. We ended up losing the game and gave up way more points than we usually give up. We tend to hold teams to a low amount of points a lot of the time and if we can get some offence going we will win. Well not the case on Saturday. We scored our fair share-90 some points-but the other team scored 105. Usually if we score in the 90 we will win but not this weekednd. The game was also a bummer for me as I sprained my ankle. I got subbed in on a free throw and when the guy missed the second of his two shots I jumped up and tried to grab the rebound. When I came down I came down on someones foot and got my ankle pretty good. Usually when it gets twisted it hurts for a little while then the pain goes away if I walk around on it, but on Saturday I couldnt put any weight on it and the pain didnt go away. I got a X-ray and an MRI done and luckily it was just a sprain. It does stink though having to sit out, but I know I want to make sure my ankle is somewhat better so I dont hurt it anymore.

This week we also played a road game in Braunschweig on Wednesday night. At stretches the game wasnt pretty but in the end we pulled it out. At the end of the game the other team was at the free throw line quite a few times and missed many free throws. Earlier in the year this is what happened to us when we lost game so it was nice to have the tables turned for once. I guess this is also the first road game Giessen has won in like 3 years, so it was a big win for us.

Now this weekend we play Ulm. One of the players who was on our team last week, Austin, is now playing for Ulm and so it should make for an interesting game.

Weinachts markts (Christmas Markets)

After going to the Christmas market in Wiesbaden this past weekend we thought we would take advantage of me not having practice on Tuesday night and go to Marburg, a nearby city, for their Christmas market. We thought there was going to be many booths and we went armed with some money this time so we could get some gifts. When we got there we found something a little different. While there were booths, there might have been 15 or 20 of them and at least half were food stands. While we enjoyed walking around the base of the Cathedral (where the market was) it wasnt quite what we had in mind when we went there. We didnt get anything as there wasnt really much that interested us.

Even though the market was much smaller than we had hoped we still had a good time. On the street adjacent to where the market was they had a "tobaggon run" set up. This is a 60 meter run, on ice, where you sit on a saucer and go down the run. Katy and I both did it and enjoyed it. Below is the video of Katy's ride.

Since we didnt spend as much time in Marburg as we thought we would we decided to head back to Giessen and go to their Christmas market in the middle of town. In Giessen there are a couple booths but it is mostly food stands inbetween stores. We did have a good time though walking around and seeing the city center decorated for Christmas.

Lost in Weisbaden (pronounced vees-bah-den)

This weekend Katy had a basketball game in Weisbaden, the capital city of Hessen (the state we live in here in Germany). Her game was in the evening so we left early in the afternoon to go and get soe sightseeing in. We got there 3 or 4 hours before her game and drove to the center of the city. There they had their Christas market going on and across the street they had a skating rink set up where you could rent skates and go ice sakting. We decided not to do that but did look around the Christmas market. The market was around the big cathedral in Wiesbaden and had manz little booths/stalls there. Each shop had somehting different to offer. Many had food, some had ornaments, and there were others that had interesting and original goods. We were really impressed as we had not seen anything like this back in the U.S. We didnt have much money with us as we didnt know we would be looking to buy anything and so couldnt get anything. We decided we would have to try to make it to another Christmas market closer to Giessen.
From there we took off to find the gym where aty played. We left plenty early as the GPS that we go from the team isnt working and we just had hand written directions. We drove around for quite some time until we found one of the roads on Katys directions. From there we meandered our way around until we found a small gym in the middle of a bunch of apartment buildings. We walked inside and there was no one there. Katy texted some of the girls on the team to ask if they had gotten there yet and they said they just got there. Looks like we were at the wrong place. Turns out the directions we found online were the wrong ones. I think someone needs to update the site where the directions were. Luckily we turned aroudn and found a gas station where Katy's coach was nice enough to come and get us and drive us to the game. We made it 45 minutes early so Katy was able to get a good warmup in.
The game started off a little rough for the girls but they picked it up as the game went on. They ended up winning by 10 or so. The other team had a girl that just couldnt seem to miss. If you would have told me before the game that the girl was going to make a lot of shots I wouldnt have believed it. She had a wierd looking shot and didnt look like that good of a player, but somehow she was able to make shots. In the end though Katy's team was just too tough. She actualy had a really good game as well. She ended up with 21 points and 23 rebounds. She tied the most rebounds she had in LaCrosse. I gave her a little guff for not beating it but she played very well and it was fun to watch. Who knows, maybe we'll have to try and get lost before every game.

3 in row at home

This weekend we won our third game in a row at home. We beat a very good team as well. We played Oldenburg who won the league last year. In Europe what happens when you win your league is, you also get to play in the Euroleague, which is the best team from each league across Europe. So you are playing the best teams. Well Oldenburg is in the Euroleague this year but we didnt let that intimidate us and came out hard and played well. It feels good to get two in a row and three in a row at home. This next weekend we travel to Tunigen to hopefully extend our winning streak.