INTERNET!!! and Paris and Koblenz (not as exciting as internet)

I HAVE INTERNET! It is very exciting.  We have been waiting for it for weeks.  And then yesterday when it got here, we couldn't figure out how to hook it up, since all the directions were in German.  Today I did it!

Anyway, in the meantime we've gone a few more fun places.  The first weekend in Nov. we went to Koblenz for the day.  It was a really nice area.  It is where the Rhine and the Mosel combine, and we had a good day.  We saw a few churches, went to the statue of Wilhelm, and just enjoyed the beautiful fall day.

A church in Koblenz

This is The province we live in.  I'm standing in front of it as they surround Wilhelm, who joined them all together into one country.

Where the Rhine and the Mosel meet

Wilhelm on his horse

This is a picture of the fall leaves changing colors.  It's beautiful over here right now. 

This last weekend was a 3-day weekend for Veteran's Day (aka Armistice Day over here).  It kind of snuck up on us, so last minute we booked a trip to Paris.  We got there on Friday and checked into our hotel, which was really nice, and apparently had really large rooms for Paris.  We walked around and oriented ourselves, and went to Notre-Dame.  There we bought our 2-day museum passes that got us entry into every museum in Paris pretty much, along with to the top of the Arc-de-Triumph.  So for the rest of the trip we wandered about on foot and metro to all the sites.  We went to the Lourve, the Orsay, a WWII museum, a Rodin museum, walked under the eiffel tower, along the Seine, and ate on a barge on the river.  It was a lovely trip.  The one thing we did learn, however, was that in France, you need a special chip in your credit/debit card to use any automated machine.  So our cards were useless unless at a store or restaurant.  It was really lame, because in Paris they have this bike system where you can rent a bike for the day and drop it off at any location around Paris.  There are tons of them and it looked like a great way to get around the city.  But sadly we couldn't use them :(  So for next time we have learned our lesson and will get a card with a chip asap.  Also, we learned that Parisians are CRAZY drivers.  Their roundabouts are not really roundabouts, they're traffic circles.  They have no lane lines.  The people inside must yield to incoming traffic.  Think about this for a minute.  If everyone is coming in, when do people leave? If there are no lane lines, what is to keep a car where they are supposed to be? who knows how many can fit across any given road? As many as choose to.  It is ridiculous.  There is a picture of me standing in it further down the post.  Anyway, here are some of our adventures in picture form  :)

Notre Dame

Our hotel room

Bathroom

bathroom

the view out our window

The Arc-de-Triomphe

me and Caligula

Me in the crazy Paris traffic

Colin on top of the Arc with his back to the Champs de Elysses

This is a cool pic of the Eiffel Tower Colin took. We have a video of it "glittering" but I couldn't figure out how to upload it.  I'll try again later.

Other than that, we're just hanging out.  Colin is working, I'm coming to base, looking for a job, cleaning our house, reading, and just relaxing.  Its a pretty good life.  Germany is starting to feel more and more like home, especially after leaving the country.  It was nice to come back and be glad to be "home".  Twice as nice to be in a home with internet so we can keep in touch with people.  Now just give me all my furniture and I'll be content.