Switzerland

Change in plans. England in March doesn't workout. Ryan is in Hawaii at the same time. Sure I could go anyway but I'm already making new plans. I'm going to visit a friend in Switzerland. I haven't seen her in two years so that will be nice. I don't want to do a lot of sightseeing. Instead I just want to relax, enjoy my time off, write, figure some stuff out (the big questions in life ;)) and have fun with a good friend. I think it couldn't be better. I'm still not quite sure when exactly I'm going. I'm thinking 11.03 till 21.03 but I have to talk about it with her first. I already can't wait to get out a bit.

England in March?!

Last week I had to decide when I want to have my time off next year. Six weeks for a year. It was not easy to decide when I want to have time off, paid vacation. But I decided to take 2 weeks off in March (the other four weeks are around the year)! I start planning my trip to England in January (and I will update my blog more often during that time).
But I already know a little. I'm going the first or second week in March for a week and I'm going to stay in the south. In Dover. When I was in Ireland I met Ryan (I mentioned him a couple times in my blog). We stayed in contact and now I'm going to visit him! I probably can't stay at his place but I will find a place to stay. I can't wait. I saw some pictures of the area and it looks gorgeous! I have no idea what places I will see. I'll figure that out soon enough.

Next trip?

I really want to go on another trip but I still don't know where I want to go next and when I will be able to make it. I know I want to visit Ryan and he is coming here (I'm going to update this blog when he is here because I'm going to do a lot of touristy things in that time).
So I guess England is next on my list! And I can't wait. I've been to England before (on my way to Ireland) we drove thru. I don't really remember anything tho so I definitely have to go back! And I want to go back to Ireland (stay in Galway for a week or so).

There are a lot more places I want to go. Lets make a list (there is no real order to it)

• Sweden
• Finland
• Norway
• Denmark
• France (I've been to Paris but I would like to see other places)
• Italy (I love Italy)
• Ireland
• England
• Vietnam
• Indoesia

There are a lot more places I want to go. Any suggestions? Any place I forgot to mention (no South America for me tho)
As soon as I know more about my next trip I'm going to write an update!

Pictures

As promised here a couple pictures. My mom took most of the pictures (her camera is way better than mine).

Monterey Bay Aquarium

That were just a couple pictures. More to come :D
San Francisco

Monarchs and other stuff

It looks like dry leaves but those are Monarch Butterflies

 Tide Pools Davenport Beach

Carmel Beach










It was beautiful and we saw a lot.

Back in Germany

We are back. We arrived yesterday after a long trip. So but first the last few days. What did we do...?
On Monday we went on a trip with my Grandma. Watched the  Monarch Butterflies (they are beautiful) but they are still coming back to Santa Cruz so we didn't see as many as there are. But still it was really nice. The walk to the spot was nice to. Close to the coast. After the Monarchs we had a lunch and saw a beautiful little cat afterwards in the parking garage. She looked weak and sick and she was supposedly pregnant. We told the woman who worked in the garage but it didn't look like she was calling the authorities. It made me sad. In Germany I would have taken the cat to an animal home. So we left the cat behind because I didn't know what else to do. The woman told me that someone feeds the cat and that the cat lived in the garage. I hope she is fine.
We wanted to go to the Marine Lab but it was closed on Monday's so that didn't work out as planned! But it was nice just walking aroung.
On Tuesday we went with Jackie and Lis to Gizdich Ranch. It is a Ranch in Watsonville. The have apples and berries and sell pie. So we were there to eat some Pie. I had an Raspberry Pie with Ice Cream and it was delicious! The others got Apple Pie and it was supposedly the best Apple Pie they ever had! It was really great weather (almost a little bit too hot). We also had a great apple juice on the Ranch. It is really just the juice nothing added. No sugar nothing! And that made it great!
After the Ranch we drove do Davenport and went to a really nice beach! With Tide Pools and everything. It was beautiful but the water was freezing! We had some food in Davenport (it is a really small town) and then got back to the house. Relaxed there a little.
Wednesday we went to Big Sur. It is a really great area. So beautiful. The mountains and the ocean. We ate at a restaurant called Nepenthe. Which has a nice view. Afterwards we sat down in the river (there is a place called River Inn and they have chairs in the river). They told me that I have been there already but I don't remember that at all. And I don't remember the Ranch Clint Eastwood owns but I was there too. I skip the last two days because nothing really happened.
The flight back. San Francisco to Munich was a nice flight. I slept most the time (it was Business Class so you really can sleep although it was my first time that I did really sleep). I watched two movies on the plane but nothing really interesting happened. In Munich we had to wait a while till our next flight and then they asked us if one of us could go to Economy Class because of some one else. My brother said he would but in the end he got a seat in Business. We got food and drinks or at least everyone else got something do drink because the guy forgot me and the man in my row. So we had to call him and as an apology we both got a bottle of Riesling.
My uncle picked us up from the airport and my cats were happy to finally see us again!
So the next entry is going to be with some pictures.
I don't know when exactly I'm going on m next trip. But hopefully soon. We will see :D

We saw whales!

On Friday my brother and my Dad fixed some bikes while I was updating this blog and when we came back we went for a nice Bike ride. It took us 1,5 hours around town. Our first stop was down at the wharf where we saw whales! Yep, we saw them! I didn't think we would be that lucky but we saw 4 of them! It was really cool and exciting. Unfortunately we had no cameras with us. So no pictures. And that means no proof but we still saw them (my brother made a short video the next day where you can see the whales a little). After the bike ride we relaxed in the hot tub. Which was really nice! For dinner we went to Hula's a nice Hawaiian Restaurant. I had a Vegetarian Burger and it was so delicious! That was the whole day.
Saturday (yesterday) my mom and I went shopping again while my brother and my dad were fishing and after that went on a longer bike ride. My mom prepared some gluten-free cake (the people loved it) for the garden party. The garden party, hosted by Jackie, a wonderful person, was great. We laughed, ate and laughed some more. Thats just how it is with Jackie. She makes people laugh. That was Saturday. I know it doesn't sound like a lot but it is always funny and good.
Today my grandma is coming back to Santa Cruz with my cousin Tony I think and we are going to barbecue. We have some plans for Tuesday and Wednesday but Monday, Thursday and the last day Friday is still open. At least as far as I know. But we will fill those days just as we did the others. (Maybe one last shopping trip?) Who knows. We will see and I try to tell you :)

finally a new update

First of all: Sorry it took me so long. I had no Wi-Fi I could use with my laptop. I'm sitting in a small coffee shop with Wi-Fi right now.
A week has past now and we already did some things. I love it here. We arrived last Thursday around noon and it took us an hour to get thru immigrations and customs. We were really tired and glad when we finally arrived in Santa Cruz at the house. So we didn't do a lot that night. We watched a little TV but we couldn't stay up to watch the new Big Bang Theory episode. We slept almost 13 hours and we needed the sleep really badly. Friday we went Downtown Santa Cruz and to west Cliff. It was really nice weather. Warm and sunny. Thats all that happened on Friday.
Saturday was an easy going day also. We went to West Cliff and Downtown. We watched the surfers and it was just beautiful. We took some pictures. I'm going to upload some of them next time hopefully. In the evening we had Dinner at a restaurant down at the wharf with my grandma and Lis. The food was good.
Sunday was a day full of waiting around and doing nothing. We only knew my dad would come back on Sunday but didn't know when exactly so we waited the whole day for them to return and they came back at 8 pm. Pretty late. We could have done a lot of different stuff but we didn't.
Monday we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I love it there. I've been there probably 5 times already but it is great every time. We took beautiful pictures (or my mom did). On our way back we stopped and bought some fruits and vegetables. My mom cooked dinner and it was really nice to eat together.
Tuesday was a long day in the city. We left in Santa Cruz before 10 am and got back around 8 pm. A long long day. But it was a good day also. We drove over the golden gate bridge, ate in Sausalito, parked at the pier somewhere and walked forever to get to the fishermans wharf, the Rainforest Café and Ghiradelli Square.
Wednesday we drove around a little bit, looked for a game, went to the farmers market in Santa cruz and had Dinner at the house. Not a lot happened that day.
Thursday, yesterday, we had our first real shopping trip in a Mall. It was exhausting but we got some good deals. We bought shoes, Jeans and stuff. We are not done with the shopping part. We have a couple days left for that.In the afternoon we went to the Wine and Cheese at the social hall in the park. I've been to an event like that last time I was here. It is always fun just talking to all the people.
We don't know whats planned for the next couple days but we will see.
So I hope I find the time to update my blog more often.