Stuff

2008-04-29T12:22:00.000-05:00

The whole circuit diagram of our project.

2008-04-19T14:50:00.002-05:00

Picture from above

2008-04-19T14:50:00.001-05:00

This is a surface mount tospii package fifo buffer we are going to try
and get work today. Was able to etch a little PCB board layout for the
chip

2008-04-19T14:49:00.001-05:00

Top left is a 44 pin tsopii surface mount with a .8mm pitch. The pitch
is the distance between the center of one pin to the center of the
next. I was able to solder onto a PCB board. The bottom right is a
100 pin surface mount with a .4mm pitch.

2008-04-19T14:45:00.001-05:00

A circuit I've tries as a camera board for the ov7620 image sensor.

2008-04-19T14:44:00.001-05:00

This is my desk as of right now.

2008-02-21T10:45:00.001-06:00

We got the video output working.

2008-02-21T10:42:00.001-06:00

London

2008-01-09T13:01:00.000-06:00

Our stay in London was an exciting time due to the warmer weather, easy transportation, and according to Grant ENGLISH!!

This was our hotel room in the London Marriott.

This was a cool sundial that we found while we were looking for the London Bridge Pier.

I cannot remember the architectural term, but these are slots that arrows are shot through when there were battle sieges.

Another shot of the castle.

This is the tour we took on this ferry seeing lots of London. Our tour guide was very funny with his British accent and dry humor.

I thought this was a cool gate . . .I just imagined the castle having a party and guests coming by boat . . .but it could have a completely different use.

This is me on the bridge waiting to get on the ferry in front of the Tower bridge.

This is the London Eye where you can see LOTS and LOTS of London. We did not go on it cause it was 14 Pounds. One rotation takes 25 minutes, and it earns British Air 10,000 pounds per one full rotation.

This is our Tour guide . . .he was funny.

Me in this picture...

Me making Grant pose in this picture.

Big Ben! It was so cool when we got there it was actually chiming, but it was funny seeing some people there waiting for it to chime.

This amazingly cute Asian kid at the famous platform 9 3/4.

Grant and I eating our soup and watching Gladiator, Kate and Leipold, and I think one other movie. We were having a bum night.

One of their normal buses that you use for transportation. This is part of Piccadilly Circus.

The more well known part of Piccadilly circus . . . it kinda like their times square.

More pictures of the area. .
.

These are the way that they checked us for our tube tickets. You put the ticket in a slot it pops out the other, and then you can proceed.

YEAH, we did not know there were that many steps walked up on this small spiral and our calves were burning . . . the panting lady in front of us was kinda annoying too!

We wanted to go to this exhibit, but it was sold out. They had 20 of the clay soldiers, and it supposedly is the last time that China will allow that many soldiers to leave again.

The Rosetta stone!!!!!!!!!!!

A huge door, and I do not remember what it was.

Tiles from Nineveh.

nasty tomb . . .

This was inside the British Museum.

The outside of the British Museum.

The tube.

This is our stop in London to get to our hotel.

Me sporting off my new jacket!

Me on the escalator . . .do not know why this picture was taken.

I was tired, and he would not leave me alone. rOar!

This was a picture that was posted behind our seats in the last airplane we were in, and we have no idea what is was for. . .

Last Day In Germany

2008-01-09T12:21:00.000-06:00

It was sad but exciting when our time in Germany was drawing to a close. We were getting sick of traveling,but at the same time loved our experiences so far!

Again, no matter where we go we see Deloitte buildings everywhere. AKA my dad's company.

For Christmas, Simon, Grant, and I received coupons to the Campo Area, and here are pictures of the place. Now, I think it was an awesome idea, but it just stinks that most of the activities are for people younger than us, but we still had fun! In this picture, you can see how near the ceiling they had almost a whole obstacal course you could do with a safety harness that high off the ground . . .but we were too big, tear!

The climbing wall which we could have done,but it costs more for chalk, shoes, harness, and ropes.

More Rock climbing!

This huge blow up thing where Grant and Simon went in, and they were probably more than 10 years old than every other kid in there, and it was so funny to watch them jump on and to see all the little kids flying in all directions!

This was right after Simon and Grant jumped on the pillow thing. Simon hit heads with another kid, skinned his elbow, and he is the one that had to leave because he was sore, hurt, and upset. Slightly girlish tendencies.

This is where Simon took us, and it was a lot of fun! It was fun hanging out with him in his true element letting him show us where he likes to spend his time, and what he thinks is really cool!

We were all laughing how they used to have a section for smoking,but now they have a box . . . so we were laughing at the box and daring Simon to step out . . . he did :O!

At Simon's house we found out that if you put a silver spoon in a drink it keeps the fizz in . . Who would have thunk it!?

Simon and me chilling on his bed pretending that I did not have to pack!

This is the candy that we bought for people, and some for us . . . too bad we did not find any cherry yogurt tea . . . .

These are Simon's new biking shoes . . . these pictures are mainly for billy . . . sorry they are so late . . . it takes quiet some time to comment on all the pictures.

A different view.

During the packing process with a scale that was not very accurate. Also, This was a 4 in the morning so no one was too happy about the whole situation. I am not asking for pity since I know it was our own fault,but just stating the facts!~

Woot! This is when we were done packing and ready to head to London. We ended up not sleeping at all that night, and then sleeping on our flights to London. I even got upgraded to first class, and then ate half the food I got, and then I brought the rest back to Grant since he had not been upgraded. I felt kind of bad since everyone else had peanuts, and Grant was eating the rest of my curry marinated chicken with a rice pilaf, a warm roll with butter, and a frozen fruit custard with raspberries and blackberries.

New Year's Eve

2008-01-06T13:30:00.000-06:00

On New Years, we were fortunate enough to be able to stay with Aunt Liz and her family! They live in Berlin so we were able to go to the Brandenburger Tor. This is pretty close to Times Square since about one million people came to a 2 kilometer area to celebrate New Years.

This is me being overly excited about New Years, and I was given the responsibility of holding the fire works. In Germany, most people buy and shoot off their own fire works so they are sold only on certain days of the year for this very special time.

This was a huge advertisement for a sweet movie, but Grant really noticed how their advertisement was placed in different areas due to the amount of pedestrians in Europe.

This is a part of the Berlin wall that is left as a memorial it was on our walk to the Tor just to show how it definitely split up Berlin.

When we wanted to go inside the gated area, but had just found out that we were not aloud to bring fireworks in with us . . . so we shot them off. This is Grant and Simon shooting off some of their fireworks.

More shooting off getting more and more daring since of course they are both guys both engineers with way to much fun with these tools at their fingertips! Empty Bottles+ Fireworks+Lighters=No Good ;p Just Joking!

Some random volcano firework a different person lit . . . thats all it did no bangs, no flying,but it was still cool.

This was when we got into the gated area, and we actually had very good spots, and this was the board that said welcome to New Years in Berlin.

Simon and Me listening to the concerts . . .

How close we were to the stage. This was at the count down to the New Year.

This was where Simon and Grant slept at Liz's house . . . they said they slept like rocks. We had to get to the Tor early cause they close the gates at certain times; we got their at 8:30 and stood until 12 something, and made it back to their house at 2ish so we were so tired. It was also pitiful to admit that our legs/calves were sore.

Melina's

2008-01-04T14:18:00.001-06:00

Since my relatives were going to have other friends over we needed somewhere else to stay, and since Melina and I grew up together and never got to see each other while in Germany . . .It was time to meet! Her family was so kind and gracious letting us come, stay, sleep, and hang out. Melina's family owns and runs a bakery, and when we arrived we were greeted with a multitude of amazing baked goods and tea/coffee.

When we were done with the amazing brunch, her aunt and uncle took us bowling!This is Melina!

This is Simon bowling . . .he was trying really hard . . . too bad I pwned him!

This is me bowling with a werid almost prostetic looking hand.

When we came to the bowling alley, they asked us to write down all our names, and they put them on the overhead screen for us. I guess they could not read our writing, and the name Grant is not very common so it said Graut. We were all laughing about this when Melina's uncle went up and told them to change the U to an N. Well, when he came back they had changed the G to a J so Grant was now Jraut. So that was sooo funny, but too much of a hassle to try and change it again.

This is Grant right after a bowl, and for some reason it looks like the huge bowling pin is punching him in the stomach/chest.

Melina's Aunt and Uncle are still building and finishing a lot of rooms in their house. This was part of the playroom that their two girls had . . . of course Grant and Simon saw this Car race track and were glued to it for quiet some time.

This was the other side of the playroom where their daughters were sleeping until their rooms are completely finished.

This is the outside of her Oma and Opa's house. Also, the bakery is also in the front of this house.

Back there you can see Melina's Aunt and Uncles' house on the same lot since Melina's Aunt is now one of the main Bakers at this bakery.

Oma, Opa, Downtown Munich, and HofBrauHaus

2008-01-04T12:31:00.001-06:00

During this trip, we did not have that much time in Munich, but we tried to make the best of it while we were there. It was fun being back and seeing where I took the s-bahn every morning for school,etc.

Oma and Opa invited Hannes, Simon, Grant, and I out for lunch at this Chinese Restaurant which was very very good. I have to admit the waitress having an Asian/German accent was very funny and different. As you can see, Simon and I were sitting next to each other.

Simon's food . . .sweet and sour pork. . . it was good . . . I ate some.

This was my dish, and Grant had the same one. It was the Chef dish . . . with all different kinds of meats and vegetables . . . it was good as well.

Munich has lots of wealthy people living there, and this is another of the walking zones that has lots and lots of shopping. There are some crazy nice stores here; we mainly did window shopping,but it was still a lot of fun.

They have some amazing architectural things in Europe so I am hoping I can use the things I am taking pictures of for my future projects . . .we will see.

I am not sure which church this is, but it was very beautiful.

Simon riding some random lion.

This is the Hofbraeuhaus which is a famous place to get authentic German beer and food. Hannes was really wanting to go there so we all tagged along, and it was a lot of fun. Hannes said that they actually made an exact replica of this place in Las Vegas, and it is doing very well. We heard so much about this place and saw this entrance and were like wow does not look that cool when we realized we used the rear entrance.

This is the Menu, and we were laughing how they had misspelled their own name on their menu, but the English menu helped Grant out a lot!

This is one of the chics working there selling pretzels . . .Simon thought she was cute so we took a picture. As you can see, she is wearing a dirndl which is the German festival dress, and all the people there were semi dressed up that worked there.

Grant's food . . . or MEAT as he says. This was a knuckle . . . it was most tasty.

More pictures of Grant eating, and it was really cool cause we got to meet a really cool couple from Italy that sat next to us. They were fun to talk to; they also informed us the Munich is called Monaco which I never knew.

This was the real entrance that we ended up using as an exit. It was definitely an awesome atmosphere with live music, some people dancing, good food, and lots of happy people lol.

Salt Mines

2008-01-02T15:40:00.001-06:00

Grant, Simon, and I decided that we wanted to go to the salt mines cause we heard that they would be fun. . . little did we know how expensive they were and how touristy they were as well.

Before we started our drive to the salt mines, we decided to do some shopping for new year's since we would be on the road a lot the next day and so on. While at the store getting fire works, we saw a smart for four people.

This truck says "The Black Man," and Grant and Simon were cracking up sooo bad! It also has like a Uncle Sam picture on it.

The next pictures are pictures we took on our trip to the salt mines.

On some of these frozen icicles, they had nets so they would not fall on the cars driving by.

We were all talking about how hardly any Germans know about the sound of music, and so when we got to the salt mines we saw this bus and were cracking up. This was a bus FULL of Americans.

During the salt mines, there was ferry that took us across a salt water lake, and they had a light show that was cool since it reflected off of everything, and we got to try some of the water in the lake. To think, it tasted like salt water!

Grant, Simon, and I on the little train that took you into the mountain . . .not good for people who are claustrophobic.

Take two.

Right after we got out of the salt mines took us out into the open.

Aside from it being very expensive(for getting in, parking, and getting there), very touristy, and a lot of time spent it was decently fun,but if nothing else an experience.

Unterschleissheim

2008-01-02T15:05:00.001-06:00

This is the playground near my cousin's house when we were on our way to KaufLand.

This is Grant on part of the playground . . . I think my cousin who is 9 was very suprised that they wanted to play on the playground, but she happily joined in.

This is a car that we saw at an Audi dealership . . . This is an A4 I was just informed about . . . it looks pretty.

Traveling to Munich

2007-12-26T14:19:00.000-06:00

After Christmas in Wunstorf, it was time for a visit to Munich. That is where my Oma, Opa, Aunt, Uncle, and other cousins live.

This is one of the S-Bahns which is kinda like a train only looks like this inside. During our trip, we bought one day cards which is cheaper than some of the other tickets, but getting month cards which students get is definitely a better choice. We did not get a card like that since some days we did nothing, and other days randomly went out so we were more spontaneous.

For the trip to Munich, Simon's whole family was going and so were we so we had to take different transportation. Simon's family all drove in their car, and Grant and I took public transportation which made all of Simon's family slightly jealous because we were not being squeezed into a car with lots of people like they were. Here is a random picture in the first S-bahn to Hannover.

Once in Hannover, we got food, bought last minute items, and almost missed the train. Not because of being late,but one of the trains was detaching during the trip so we had to make sure to be on the right one. Once we figured that out, we had to get into the right car to get to our reserved seat. Some times the cars are attached, but you cannot always switch between them. When we finally got close to our car, the zipper on the backpack I was carrying opened and dumped all the insides out, but we did not loose too much stuff. We finally made it to our seats which were 15 and 17 .

Once on the ICE, we watched two movies after another on Grant's laptop, and randomly this little kid found us and stood there watching us. He really liked Grant and decided to play peekaboo with him. Here is the video of him:

This is a horrible picture that I took of the ICE . . . I did not think about taking a picture of it until we were about to leave and then the people were everyone getting ready . . . so sorry about that.

When we left the train in Munich train station.

Just showing the ICE thing . . . not really that important, but oh well.

The front of the ICE . . . they are the high speed trains. They look different on the front, and the cool thing is they normally tell you the speed you are going . . . the fastest one I noticed when I was not watching the movies was 219 km/h which is about 136 mph. Once we got to the Bahnhof, Grant had to pee and did not know that there was a bathroom on the ICE so it cost 80 cents for him to pee lol! Then we took another S-Bahn to the town where my aunt and uncle live where they picked us up with the car.

Weihnachten

2007-12-25T05:09:00.000-06:00

In Germany, they celebrate their Christmas on the evening of the 24th of December. So that is when we opened gifts . . . most of the time in my family we sing as well,but I think Simon and Hannes would not have been too thrilled so we refrained.

The wreath with candles above is an advent for Christmas. You light one on each Sunday before Christmas.

This was their Christmas tree which they set on a stand thingy to make it higher. As you can see lots of the ornaments are out of a straw like material, and they have real candles on their tree.

There is Martin, Irene, and Lea preparing Raclette and setting the table. This is their table when it is enlarged in their kitchen. I just realized how it looks that Irene and Lea have a lamp hat,but they don't.

For this Dish you have bowls with various ingredients like corn, onions, potatoes, ham, pineapple, and a special cheese.

This is Grant while they were making food since they refused our help chillin' . . .

Martin cutting the cheese . . . literally ;p Just another in action shot of them.

Here you can see the tree better with the candles! I think it is really pretty even though my dad would stress the danger etc.

This is Grant getting his gift from Simon . . .all the candy he knew Grant had not eaten yet . . . he was going to wrap it better, but Grant was in the room so he left everything in the bag, and then wrapped newspaper around that. Also, for the finishing touched covered almost the whole outside with ductape. . . And right when this picture was taken when Grant had almost opened it Simon told him what it was lol!

Simon opening his gift from Hannes which seems like a Really cool book called Ein Mann Ein Buch. It is a book of everything that a guy needs to know from buying a female jewelry to landing a plane to building a tree house to learning how to tie a tie many different ways!

This is Hannes opening one of his gifts . . . I do not remember which gift this was.

This is the table before we were going to eat you can see the contraption used for the dish, and there is a heater and then a space where you put little dishes with your food and then a stone of granite which also gets hot and insulates to make sure everything gets heated up. Simon and Hannes like this dish but said it was too much work and a tease . . . oh well, it was good!

Here you can see the dish that Simon is holding. Everyone gets their own individual pan that you put whatever ingredients in, and then when you are done you put a slice of the special cheese on top, and then heat it up and make another one and eat the first.

Here you can see the little pans getting heated up!

Grant reading one of my books, and we were getting ready to become fatter with all the candy we have slowly acquired.

Jessica's House

2007-12-24T10:09:00.002-06:00

On the 24th of December, Grant, Martin, and I decided to go shopping at Marktkauf. Well, we were looking for an open bank to exchange more of our travelers' checks, but could not find any. Due to the amount of different bank's visited, we ended up very close to my old house . . . thus, we visited it.

This is the side of my old house. Since I was very young when we moved . . . six . . . I would not be able to tell you what street we lived on or what was near to it or recognize it , but I still remeberd the individual house and for some reason the house number.

In this picture you can see the two car garage, and Martin and I were pointing to where the rest of the yard was. Also I made a comment about the garages being clean and able to store cars in . . . which is more than my family could say . . . or at least that is what i remember. ;p

Last time I was here and visited, it was owned by some else I am pretty sure since things looked different, and they had a huge dog! But you can still see the hay loft in this picture that Daniel took over, and you can see where the animals were kept.

I was also informed that a different door was put on . . . I cannot remember the old one . . . oh well.

Another picture. The only different thing from the last time I visited was that part of the fence had been taken away . . . I think it was getting old and the back part is either being redone or just not fixed . . . not sure. But it was nice to come back and see it!

Random Stuff

2007-12-24T10:09:00.001-06:00

Over the last couple of days, all we wanted to do was chill. Traveling is fun, but hanging out sure comes close with the fun factor! It has been so nice to be able to stay at Irene's and Martin's house!

Since Simon had to give his laptop to the Police to be checked out, we are all sharing Grant's laptop. So, this is me during my turn on Grant's bed/nook area.

This is Simon on his bed watching tv . . . I am pretty sure he is holding a remote in his hand. And you can see how lazy we have been with all of our and his clothes on the bed. He would simply move them over so there was enough room for him.

On Sunday, after church and lunch, Simon randomly decided that we should go to Celle to the indoor pool there. So, we went. On the way, there was pretty bad weather, and we got lost a few times since there was a Christmas market going on, parts of the streets were blocked off. While we were looking for the pool, we saw a Hummer as you can see in front of us, and it was the first one we had seen on our trip . . . so naturally we took a picture.

I have no idea what I was doing, and I have NO idea why he chose this picture to be put in the website, but if I were to delete it Grant would notice and put it back up.

Again . . . no idea!

Simon's turn on the laptop on his semi-cleaner bed!

Grant, Martin, and I went shopping at Marktkauf and some of the things were important enough for a picture. I do not think we were supposed to take pictures of stuff,but we still did . . . we figure if we get in trouble play the stupid Americans. I really like the pop that Grant took a picture of here it is called Mezzo Mix. It is Cola with a little bit of orange in it . .. definitely good not going to lie!

This is a close up picture of the two liter bottles here; Grant liked how they looked similar to larger versions of the 20 oz bottles rather than completely different looking bottles.

People like their alcohol. There were a few isles of different drinks so it was worth a picture I guess.

This again is a different picture of part of the alcohol section of the normal supermarket.

Trip to Hannover

2007-12-24T06:56:00.000-06:00

For the rest of our Christmas shopping, we decided to go to Hannover to their shopping area. They also had their Christmas market which we also wanted to visit. Simon was the main one shopping with us coming along and giving our opinions on what he was buying. I also wanted to go to H and M.

I am really not sure what these things are called again, but in Germany you have them at Christmas, and the candles are lit and make the fan at the top turn. . . well, this one is huge and as you can see those are not real candles, and they were not lit, but it was still turning. It was actually a sort of bar, drink place where you could go in and order whatever drink you wanted.

Here is a more close up picture . . . I will have to ask my mom what they are called cause it is bugging me,but I had never seen a life size one so WOOT!

One of the better pictures of me that Grant decided to put up rather than one where I look high since I never know when he is taking pictures.We were just walking . . .it was cold . . .how exciting!

Simon was looking for a certain pair of biking shoes, and this was one of the stores we went into. The employees were riding the bikes until someone needed help, and it seemed like a cool place to work . . . if you liked and knew about bikes. It made us laugh that the people who helped with the bikes were all very laid back and young, and the cashier(who we did not get a picture of cause that would be rude) was older and was wearing a stark suit. Simon ended up buying himself a pair of shoes and a pump for his tires.

This is the a picture of just two of the many shops that were there just because of the Christmas market. We got to try all sorts of stuff that I do not think I have ever had before. Hot Chocolate with rum, some mushrooms that were sauteed with either cheese or garlic sauce and bread, and then in the bahnhof had amazing brats . . . of course. I think Grant has been enjoying all the meat here!

Simon and Grant's Room

2007-12-24T06:33:00.001-06:00

While staying at Irene's and Martin's House, Grant and Simon share Simon's room, and I share with Lea. I really do not want to get Lea's room dirty cause she would probably care, so, Grant , Simon, and I just all get Simon's room dirty . . . so here is our masterpiece so far!

Simon and Grant's room after our hurricane went through. You can also see the cardboard box with duct tape on Simon's bed . . . that is his laptop. He had to give it to the police here, and he is not sure when he will get it back. Someone stole Simon's identity in Spain and sold stuff through his eBay account, so they needed his laptop in the investigation!

Simon's bed with his laptop, and his lovely matching bed stuff!

Grant's bed next to the furnace . . . which is probably the worst place for him since he is a fricken furnace.

All of Grant's stuff with a dash of Jessica's since she cannot fit all of her stuff into her own suit case . . . so Grant was more than happy to lug hers all around Europe!

Grant's Ikea adventure. . . .

2007-12-22T03:20:00.001-06:00

So, on Friday, Simon was hanging out with one of his friends so Grant and I decided . . . well, I decided that we should go to Ikea. It was an involved trip considering there were lots of different places to switch trains etc. Well, first we walked to the train station in Wunstorf, then we took the train until Hannover. Once in Hannover we walked to a different station where we got on a tram. We then walked to Ikea after that since we would have to wait too long until the next bus.

This is the Tram that we took to get closer to Ikea.

This was going to the bridge which led to the Expo area which now has different things and buildings there.

It is really cold outside . . . notice my full garb that Grant was making fun of, but on the fence there was ice going horizontal due to the wind.

View from the bridge . . . In the background you can see the trees and how the ice would stay on all the branches and twigs almost the whole day,but it has not snowed . . . or stayed.

Here is the picture of the horizontal ice.
The tower for the BMW used cars center thing.

Here you just have to touch the the yellow thing for it to know that you are there . . . Grant found it amazing, and he happened to take the picture when it says that the signal is coming.

If you look at the very end on the right is the Ikea.

Me in front of the Ikea . . . I was excited! Also, as you notice next to me are there frozen bushes . . . and Grant kept pushing me into them which was stupid, but for some reason he thought it was hilarious . . .maybe he thought he was being heroic by helping me out of them . . . even though he pushed me into them in the first place. Oh well.

I really liked how these looked and asked Grant to take a picture . . . so here it is.

Another one.

We took a picture of this building to later ask my uncle what it was . . . too bad we have not asked him yet, and probably will not . . . so, we have no idea what this is.

I liked the curved sides of this building!

A gross picture of me . . . why does he put ones up like this?!

This is a Nissian truck that has a snorkel . . . which I found out actually is used when a car is partially submerged to keep the engine from dying. This truck also has a nice mountain bike in the back according to Grant.

Another view.

The snorkel.

The bike.

The bed of the truck.

One of the buildings in the expo center.

Me walking on the bridge to get back to the tram to return to Simon's house.

This is after the bridge where the tram came and picked us up. The roof was a glass which looked very cool.

This is the bag that I got at Ikea, and I did not buy very much at all!

Videos while in Zurich and Budapest

2007-12-21T01:16:00.000-06:00

We stopped at a McDonalds in Budapest needing to re-energize. It was quite an experience, the McDonalds seems to be more older teenager oriented. It was really cool.

This was our second night meal in Budapest. All we had was a butter knife to cut the bread with, and as you can see, it does not have the same effect as a bread knife.

These following videos are all composed of the same runners. They were having a "race of the new year is over 11,000 people running.

Budapest

2007-12-20T09:38:00.001-06:00

Here is the beginning of the Budapest pictures: we went to Budapest for two nights three days . . . None of us had ever been there, so it made it very interesting finding everything that we needed when we spoke none of their language . . . Hungarian.

The flight there was very early in the morning and very cold . . . It was a cheap flight so we got no food or drinks on the plane unless we wanted to pay for it; we forgot to buy stuff in the airport since we were almost late,but it was quite an experience. . . this is the wing and engine . . .as you can see . . . we were bored.

The pretty sunrise which was a lot more exciting, but I seemed to be the only one awake cause the guys sleep all the time on th airplanes . . . it was too short of a flight for sleeping in my opinion.

A picture of Budapest as we were arriving. . . which I was not too excited about due to the fact that there was snow everywhere! I have to admit I like the heat!

About to enter Budapest as they were bringing up the stairs for us to walk down to the bus there at the bottom of the picture, and they brought us to the main building of the airport.

Eating the amazing breakfast the our hotel offered for free . . . everything tasted so good. They had everything from fresh fruit, cereal, yogurt, all different kinds of juices, other drinks, wines lol, and then meals that we could order like French toast, omelettes, and breads as you can see here.

In the tram that we took to downtown Budapest. The tickets were easy to come by, but figuring out to stamp them were a different story. This was an older bus, and you had to put the ticket in and crank it to get it to stamp. A local showed us how which we were very grateful for.

Awesome wall sconce on the side of a hotel! Winged fawns are always exciting, and OF course, my first choice in decor! ;p

We were looking for a very specific restaurant, and after a few hours of failure we found this place thinking it was the right place, but then later we found out that we had the wrong place . . . We were looking for the Sorozo Galleria, and later found out that, that word meant pantry/bar . . . we were looking for a place with free internet and cheap food . . . this was a hardcore bar so that stunk since we had to find food at a place that was not as good and more expensive,but we lived through this experience.

This is a picture of a sweet building . . . I think it was a five star hotel. It said New York on the side of it, and looking at the prices of the food on the menu was crazy expensive. Our whole breakfast there was as much as one bowl of pasta there. In most restaurants in Europe, they have their menu outside posted so you know what is offered, and you know the cost before you enter so there is no reason to be any issues of not paying for wasting the waiters time.

Simon and I in the bahnhof in Budapest. We were about to buy our three day passes for all or the public transportation, and i guess grant decided it was time for a picture.

Going down the fricken long escalator to our U-Bahn. There was a temperature difference between the top and the bottom which was crazy,but nice since the bottom was warmer and less windy.

Simon going into our room in the Normafa Hotel. When we first arrived our room was not ready yet, and they let us hang out and nap in a different smaller room. We were nervous that our room would be really small and crappy like the one they let us use. Well, we were mildly surprised that our room was really nice and large!

On our first night there, we wanted stuff to snack on; so, we bought a loaf of amazing bread, some Nutella, and candy, and we were set.

The amazing bath tub that was in our room.I do not know if they were expecting us to all use the same tub, but we definitely could have all fit into there.

Our room with the two news channels in English, then a couple German channels, one Spanish channel, and the rest were Hungarian.

One of the beds in our room . . . with the closets there that we never used.

The door with the closet and the mirror.

The other bed . . . which was best for watching TV; this is when I was not feeling good, and the bathroom was next to the bed, and I think that Simon was about to go use it.

A sign for our hotel. Where you can see the Sorozo, which again proves our ignorance with the Hungarian language.

Another picture of our hotel. It kind of curves around the pool in the back of the building, that is an outside pool in the middle.

I decided that it was too cold not to have a hat . . . so this is the one that I found.

This is a side view of the building that housed the Natural Spring Baths. The natural water smelled nasty, and the old men and women chilling in the water were even worse, but it still felt amazing. . . it was not that great until we realized that this manor house had a court yard in the middle of the house that was open to the sky with a HUGE pool in it. So we swam in that with snow surrounding us . . . even though the pool was not that huge you could not see the other side due to all the steam coming off of it.

A front view of the same building with Simon and me being amazing models. As mentioned above, while in the pool, we heard a group of people speaking English, and SIMON almost made friends with them,but then decided he was not going to due to Grant's introvertedness. One could not stay in the pool for longer than 20 minutes due to how fast you lose heat even when you do not feel it.

This is us walking in the park on the way back from baths to our train stop. We got off of the train and walked up in this park and were looking for the baths . . . we could not find them for the longest time since we never thought that the baths would be in such a HUGE building, but in the end we realized how stupid we were and walked into the baths.

Thomas the train engine . . . I think we were wondering if it had been translated right.

A McDonald that we found .. . we found a lot of them,but this is the lucky one that we decided to visit. I loved how this building was used for the MacDonalds . . . the old and the new contrast seemed nice.

The inside of the McDonalds which was quite modern and exciting. . . they had wireless internet, tvs, loud music, and lots of different areas to hang out.

More McDonalds pictures.

Budapest was such an exciting time for Grant and I . . . Can't you see the excitement? Actually, Grant and I were watching TV, and I guess for some reason Simon decided that it was funny.

This was our dinner the second night . . . we weren't feeling amazing so we just had stuff from a local grocery store. Simon and Grant went and got the stuff from this store while I was a bum and stayed in the hotel. They were walking down the street when they were almost run over by a herd of wild hogs. . . it was a traumatizing experience for the both of them.

We did not have a real bread knife, and at the store, we only found a butter knife . . . so, our slices got mutilated in the centers . . . and it made for interesting sandwiches.

This is our room key.

In our hotel costs, our breakfasts were included. But on the day of our departure, we were leaving before the breakfast opened. So, the hotel packed us breakfast which was amazing! We were given two sandwiches with different lunch meats (which is a normal thing to eat for breakfast here), an apple, an orange, cherry yogurt, peach nectar(fruit drink), a chocolate bar, and this plain yogurt thing called something with an F . . . ? It was not the best, so that is my excuse for not remembering the name.
On the airplane back to Bremen, I told Simon he could lean on me so he could sleep,but he would never put his head on my shoulder so he just awkwardly hung there. . . the picture lies . . .not me!

Pictures of the clouds and some mountain tops in the distance.

Our very happy stewardess.

Our steward(ess?) person who spoke very good English and laughed at us quite often during the duration of the flight when we were being stupid. I guess we were more exciting than the other sleeping people which says a lot ;p.

Food = Happy!

Arrived In Hannover

2007-12-20T06:38:00.001-06:00

Here are some pictures of our one day excursion in Wunstorf, Germany. This is the city that Simon and I both grew up in. We mainly went to the main city center, but here are the pictures that we took. We had just made it in from Zürich, and it was amazing to be somewhere familiar for me, and somewhere more homey than a hotel.

Another angle of the Smart Car.

The side of the smart car . . . I think Grant is obsessed since he picks the pictures that will be posted.

The new Honda Civic.

The side of the new Honda Civic.

This is the front of the new Honda Civic in Germany, and we just were noting the differences.

This is a picture of Simon and Me on the path by his house that leads to the Wunstorf city center.

On the way, we saw the trains going by, and grant commented how living by the European trains is not that bad since they are very quiet.

This is a fountain in Wunstorf, and when it is turned on, the water comes out of the butt of this cow . . .a funny childhood memory.

The front of the fountain.

The walking Zone in Wunstorf . . . we were just running errands, and we just wanted to show Grant some of the places that Simon and I spent some of our time while growing up.

This is the front of Simon's house, and some time we will get picture of the inside,but the pictures take a long time to upload so updating is a long process.

Zürich Continued...

2007-12-16T17:48:00.001-06:00

These are some more Zürich pictures. . . I have to apologize since most of them are random,but they will have to do. We were so tired due to not trying at all to get over jet lag the first night of our stay . . . so last night the fight began.

Grant and I liked the legless seats in the Zürich Airport.

This is an awesome piece of art that we saw in the Zürich airport.

Some of the random runners that we saw on the roads. There was a race going on that night which we did not know about until we found portions of the city squared off, and a "plethora", according to Grant, of runners appeared.

Grant's Sole with potatoes and broccoli.

My Salad.

For some reason, I was not very hungry so I got a good salad and some pumpkin soup.

Grant about to eat his Sole fish . . . which was amazing even though it was expensive . . . but when every other place is closed since it is Sunday . . . I guess we HAD to eat out at a fancy place.

A building I liked.

A shot from the other side of the bridge. I liked the mountain range in the background.

This is the main area of downtown Zürich where all different kinds of stores line the streets, and the marina is here, and important buildings on the side, and one can even see the two tower church in this picture.

This Church is known as the two tower church, and we decided that we did not want to see the normal touristy stuff, and then we ended up finding it on accident, and of course, THEN it was worth a picture.

This is along a river in downtown Zürich, and I thought that these buildings were amazing! Also, I think that it was amazing how they truly overlapped on to the water.

This is a smart car which they are starting to sell in the USA this January? Ask Daniel if you are interested ;p. They get around 50ish miles to the gallon,but they only seat two people.

This is a picture of grant loving the cold . . . lol, actually since we were so tired we were freezing which really wasnt fun at all! It was about 1 degree Celsius outside,but we lived through it some how.

This is our hotel . . . the Renaissance Marriott, and I have to admit it was very nice!

We were in Starbucks avoiding the cold when we saw this awesome car. It is an Audi R8 which is very new, and people had to wait for about a year or longer to get since it is very limited; so, it was amazing to be able to see a car like that! Simon said it costs 160,000 Euro.

I liked the vines going up this building!

This is Grant and I in the Lobby of our Hotel.

Another picture of our hotel; That was the free shuttle to the airport which we got to take twice.

This is a sign that Grant thought was funny.

A picture of me that I didn't know existed. I think Grant was taking a picture of the Tram that was coming . . . we took it often, and it was really nice to have that rather than spending all of our money on taxis.

It seems no matter what city or country I go to, I see the Deloitte Buildings . . . So here is the Zürich one.

In Zürich...

2007-12-16T04:15:00.001-06:00

This is our plane . . . we couldn't get a picture of it before we left since it was dark outside.

This is part of our hotel room area. We had just gotten in and were tired and happy to be in the hotel . . . too bad we had a whole day ahead of us . . . they probably thought we were on drugs due to the blood shot eyes that we sported.

For some reason, Grant decided it was necessary to take a picture of some of my shoes . . .I don't know what is wrong with bringing a few pairs ?

We were on our way to the Health club to work out and just relax . . . when we saw the "-1" button . . . something we have never seen before! We thought it was most amusing! In the health club, I got to swim a lot while grant almost fell asleep in the whirlpool, and then thought he was gonna die in the Sauna . . . oh well, it was fun!

We went to breakfast this morning, and in the hotel, they have this huge pond. In this pond was this HUGE goldfish! Well, we will update again later! I hope everyone is having an awesome Weekend!

Going to Zurich . . . .

2007-12-16T02:40:00.000-06:00

To start off our trip to Germany, we flew out of the Memphis airport at 8:40 am. After that we went to Newark New Jersey to await our connecting flight.

This is a picture that was taken in the Newark, NJ airport. The guy with the black and white hat is Seann William Scott AKA Stifler. . . a pretty famous actor. So during our six hour layover we window shopped in the airport . . . watched him to see if he was really different in real life than his characters in his movies, and ate food!

Boredom on the plane awaiting take off for Zürich.

On the airplane, we had our own screens in the back of the seats in front of us. It was nice how on a certain channel they told us the temperature outside, the time from our departure place, the time in our arrival location, altitude, flight speed, and how us a map of where we were in relation to the countries below us . . . here is a picture of it.

The sunrise which was beautiful.

As we were landing this is a picutre of the Zurich Countryside.

Jessica and myself

2007-06-29T12:51:00.001-05:00

Just a pic of us from Matt and Megan's wedding