Winter Birding

It's March.  It's cold  It's snowed/iced twice.  What is this?  I live in the South for a reason, and this isn't it.  So much of this weather has reminded us of our time in Germany about a year ago.  Minus the whole 'adventure' attitude.  This is home, and it is certainly not supposed to snow twice (almost three times).

If there is but one benefit to a prolonged winter, however, it is the bare branches that expose all of the wonderful birds that travel through, or live in, South Carolina.  On my minimal time off to spend at home, I was able to snap some of these winged beauties.  Enjoy, as I do.

Fosca looks on in anticipation for an opportunity to get closer. 

Check out some of my other bird posts and pictures.

And don't forget to follow me on Pinterest!

The second snow

Our last week in Oberweissenbrunn was insanely short due to the amount of travelling we did.  We felt we merely came home to sleep and wash clothes, all to turn around and pack again.

We did, however, experience the region's second snowfall this season, in all its beauty.  We found as we were taking the bus towards the train that would eventually lead us to a plane back home that we would greatly miss the beauty of the place.  Yes, it was really far from the train, and there was no grocery store within our town's limits, and we spent so many days under a foggy cloud cover, but it was a lovely place.

A train ride through the Alps

Ok, I know, it's been forever, but I'm not sorry.

Our last week of European travel was just that: travel.  We went to Leipzig and back, Munich to Graz and back, to Amsterdam and back, and then we flew home, which was journey enough in it's own right.  To get from Oberweissenbrunn to Columbia, SC, we had to take a bus, two trains, three planes, and a taxi to our apartment well after midnight.  All in all, about 20 hours of travelling in one day.  Needless to say, we have spent a week straight lounging around the house, leaving only for food gathering and light Christmas shopping.

After many loads of laundry, and tending to the kitty who needs to show how much she missed us at every moment she can, I have finally gotten around to emptying my memory card.  Good thing I took two 16GB cards . . .

So back to the topic at hand: The Alps!  As a native Floridian, mountains aren't really something I grew up with.  At all.  Even the rolling hills of the Midlands here get me excited, so imagine my being glued to the window of the train as we rode through some of the most majestic mountains I have ever seen.  And then it started snowing.

We watched the mountains at a distance at first, fast approaching.  Then we were alongside next to them.  Then we plunged into yet another tunnel, only this time when we came out, we were in the mountains!  I will never forget the feeling of being so small amongst them.  John and I agreed, Strauss's Alpine Symphony made a lot more sense now.  He hummed along as we snaked our way through.

Listen to this as you view the rest: Alpine Symphony- At the Summit. I promise it's worth it.

We ate our train picnic (beer and a Bavarian sandwich) with this magnificent backdrop.  Unreal.

Oh look, there's a castle on that mountain top.  How could they possibly have built that there?!

In all seriousness, I would fly back over there just to do this train ride again.

Rothenburg ob die Tauber

We had John's mother and sister with us for a week and a half over here in Germany.  It was a good excuse to do all of the tourist-y things that John and I might not otherwise have gotten to do.  Armed with a black Opel car with suicide doors, we braved the autobahn for a trip down "Castle Road" to the Medieval city of Rothenburg.

It was much more tourist laden than I would have thought.  Tourism here increases your chances of English speaking, so we found communication a little easier than in our tiny mountain village.

Their regional specialty pastry is called the Schneeball, or snowball.  It consists of pastry strips rolled up into the shape of a ball around a chocolate mousse, then covered in a flavored frosting.  We found it hard, and therefore, not that great.  But whatever floats their boat.

We stumbles upon a fabulous Christmas Shoppe full of so many wonders.  It was so big it even had it's own museum (which we did not warrant paying admission for more shopping).  I'm talking about a multi-layered, jaw-dropping, maze-like display of the finest craftsmanship of the area.  It was really quite mesmerizing, making you feel like a kid all over again.

As beautiful as it was, Rothenburg is definitely just a day trip.  So we got our Schneeballs and drove on back to the Rhön.

As Promised...

More snow and ice pictures!

Snow Day!

Yesterday the skies in Columbia, SC dropped 4" of snow.  I spent an opening shift at Panera playing in the snow, snapping pictures, and gossiping with customers who were brave enough to drive in a grab some of our hot coffee.  It was wonderfully magical and beautiful!

  

I my have spent some time drawing the Mother Bread logo...

I had such a bonding experience with my staff, those that showed up.

I also had my first experience of living in a place where it snows.  This doesn't happen in Florida.  And driving in it, and having to scrape it off my car, and slipping in it, and how it changes the landscape into something much more beautiful...

More from this later, I promise! We'll see how driving tomorrow on all of the melted snow/ice goes...