Finally arrived...

I made it to Germany!  It took way longer than expected due to some delays at the airport (I'm going to add my name to the list of "plane crash survivors" even though it was just a little nudge).  I ended up having to fly through Toronto to get to Germany - so I got to see a TEENY bit of Canada and get a Canadian stamp on my passport (why not?)

After arriving in Frankfurt the 5 of us (thankfully it wasn't just ME who was delayed) caught up with a van to drive us the 2 hours to Tubingen.  Let me tell you, the rumor about people driving like race car drivers on the autobahn is TRUE.  Our driver was a maniac and there were cars BLOWING past us like it was nothing.  I think we averaged 80 mph but at times were going at least 90 or 100.

Since then we've caught up with the group and been able to see a good bit of the city.  Tubingen is GORGEOUS - for anyone who went to Salamanca from JMU to study it's very similar.  Small, college town - everyone walks everywhere.  The beer is wonderful, the gelato is fabulous (I got an ice cream cone today for .80 euro - which is about 95 cents in US dollars.  You can't even get that at McDonalds!

This is Tubingen - there is a river right by our hotel, and this is probably one of the most well-known areas of the city.  As you can see, there are plenty of people enjoying the sunshine on the wall by the river.