Our First Anniversary, One Year Together in Germany

August 2, 2009 marked our first anniversary. Since we had just gotten back from our trip to Vienna and Budapest, we didn't do anything big to celebrate. Instead we just had a nice weekend around Lake Konstanz.

On the Friday night, we went to the Konstanz Weinfest (Wine Festival). Imagine a mini Oktoberfest, only outside and with wine instead of beer. It was just a few blocks from our house, and was a lot of fun. They filled up a square in town with tables, stands from probably dozens of local wineries, and a stage with for live music. It was a lot of fun.

On the Saturday, we took a ferry to the city of Meersburg, where we finally got around to using a wedding gift from Erin's colleagues, a wine tasting and gift certificate at the Meersburg winery Staatsweingut Meersburg. While it was very nice, we may not have picked the best day to go there. After indulging at the Weinfest the night before, sampling a bunch of wines early the next afternoon probably wasn't the most pleasant thing for our palates. After the tasting we strolled around Meersburg, which is a really beautiful little town.

For dinner that night, we went to one of our favourite restaurants in Konstanz: a little tapas restaurant called La Bodega. We filled up on delicious food, including our personal favourites: bacon-wrapped dates. This was our "big" anniversary dinner, as on Sunday, our actual anniversary, we took it pretty easy and stayed home most of the day, watching an ill-timed summer rainstorm most of the day.

So with one year of marriage in the books, our next milestone was one full year together in Germany. That day came the next weekend, August 9th. Last year when we arrived, it was during Seenachtsfest, a local festival that concludes with a big fireworks show over Lake Konstanz. Last year we were dead tired and didn't go to the festival, but saw the fireworks show from out balcony. This year, we again didn't go to the festival, but this time it was due to yet another ill-timed summer storm that kept us from wanting to go and stand outside all day. So we again watched the show from our balcony, and thought back on the great year we've had together in Germany. Hard to believe our time here is almost over...