Randomness...Day 27 Somewhere in Hessen

I always enjoy reading other blogs and when I come across one that has no theme I get giddy.  So I am "swagger jacking" and doing a "Randomness" post about things in Germany thus far that tickle my fancy...enjoy...

Breakfast

This is QUARK...a cross between cream cheese and sour cream.  It comes in a block and you thin it with oil or lime juice.  Included in this particular bowl of quark is dried cranberries, sunflower seeds and bananas.  Quark is delicious.

The bread is just bread....but the shapes and textures are so delish.  This one has cream cheese with a honey drizzle.

Lunch

This beautiful man was in my menu when we went to lunch the other day.  Wow.

We took a day trip to the city of Worms.  This clock tower was the original "gateway" to the city.  I'm having difficulty finding the formal name (Rhein River Bridge is all I've found).  It was stunning. 

 A "street bridge"...the architecture was amazing in Worms.

The top of a cathedral

Another clock tower...simply beautiful.

Saying goodbye to the bridge.  I wasn't driving in case you want to know.


So the joy of getting to spend an extended period of time with my friend is equally measured in missing my friends and family at home.  I am so happy that I took this trip, but I am fully aware of how much I miss home.  I will have to do an additional blog about separation anxiety. Back to business...

Us hanging out at the club.  The bond cannot ever be broken.

We are looking for persons to join us on a once in a lifetime trip to Egypt.  The itinerary is being formulated and we need a small group of 6 to make this trip happen.  Please contact us at tourguide@ok.de to reserve your spot.

Not my picture...but it's the private yacht for the Egypt trip.

Finally some Dinner

This pic is from a different blog...but I need to pay my respects to Spargel...White Asparagus...The veggie Gold Standard of Spring in Germany.  The unofficial end of Spargel Season was June 24th.  My taste buds, stomach and mind are in a state of mourning.  I love spargel...the texture, the taste, how good it is for my body.

"The people love us!"  "Yes, especially with Hollandaise Sauce!"

Long Live Spargel!

Thank you for sharing the Visiting Ninja's Random blogging mind!  You are welcome to travel with us!

Email:  tourguide@ok.de
Twitter: @travelninjas
Facebook:  facebook.com/TravelNinjasWorldwide
Pheed: Travel Ninjas
YouTube: (search) travelninjasworldw

TRAVEL NINJAS!!!

Hidden Places...Somewhere in Hessen...Day 22

The heat is still here...95ish and we were happy to find more water.

Native Ninja knew of a "secret beach".  We couldn't find it on day 21...but on day 22 we sort of found it. It's near the city of Trebur.

First there was the narrow road to get there...

Narrow!  No guardrail at all...just the high Rhein River!

Did I say Narrow?

We found a spot...but alas...the Rhein is still too high from recent flooding.  All of the beach areas are still flooded. :(

We drove on and found this interesting beer garden.  A former farmhouse with stables.

The building covered in greenery was the former horse stable.

The horse stable from the front view.

Is love carved into your door?

We walked around like we were on a private tour, saying hello to those sitting and sipping on their beer in the hot sun.  We found this...

A private beach behind the beer garden!

I was amazed that the children were playing in the high water.  We decided not to try our luck by pitching camp there.  I mean it was a private beach LOL.

After grabbing an ice cream treat from a little store we headed to a FREE lake in Darmstadt!  Woot!

Rinsing off before and after dips in the lake.

A few peaceful spots as well.

The Travel Ninjas soaking up the sun.

Here's a brief video:

The beach club didn't happen....the address was right but the club was GONE.  So we headed to an Australian bar and had Strawberry Caipi (ours was red of course)

The official drink of Brazil...chin chin!

It was another great day of seeing new things, enjoying the hot weather and loving life!


You are welcome to travel with us:
Email:  tourguide@ok.de
Facebook: facebook.com/travelninjasworldwide
Twitter: @travelninjas
Pheed: Travel Ninjas

TRAVEL NINJAS!!!

Egypt: Exclusive and Unique!

Experience Egypt in a different way. Who does not dream of a secluded trip where the soul can just fall free and you still don't have to do without comfort?

We accompany and take care of small private travel groups of 6 people on an Egyptian tour where all of your senses will be stimulated.  Maybe this is the trip of a lifetime for you?

Once you fly into Luxor this is how you will spend your week:


3 overnights on a luxury yacht (4 cabins only).
2 overnights in a desert oasis lodge including a visit to the white granite desert
2 overnights at an island resort which is located on the Nile River with cultural sites available and other entertainment venues which are easy to get to.

Allow yourself be pampered on this extraordinary trip.  Our tour guide will accompany your group every step of the way so that you can relax and enjoy every moment.

The only thing left to do is pack your suitcase and leave the rest to us.

Here is a brief video of just some of the sights you may see:

It is our pleasure to speak with you about the possibilities, specific information and dates of travel for your private group to make your trip something special.

Your travel team!
Email:  tourguide@ok.de 

Flohmarkt - Day 26 Somewhere in Hessen

Everything seems brand new when you are in a new country.

Today was a morning at the Flohmarkt - Flea Market!

Up bright and early, the Travel Ninjas embarked on another trip to nearby Darmstadt to set up some wares for sale.  We had lovely neighbors, beautiful weather and the people watching was on TEN.  Let's dive in with some color commentary.

This was most of the table at the beginning of the day.  I did not think to take a full shot of the table, I apologize for that.  Items for sale?  Huge rice cooker, steam pot, facial steamer, blue glass canisters, mini sewing machine, Harry Potter in English and German, you get the drift.  We lugged all of the stuff there in 4 suitcases, bags and left with 2.  So it was a good day.

If you look closely (far right, not on bike) you will see the man I watched for most of the day.  He was a HUSTLER and he sold so much stuff I was in awe.  Bikes, bike parts, random stuff, you wanted it and he had it.  He was very handsy with people, demonstrating how things worked, offering free test drives on the bikes before purchase.  He was one of the most entertaining people I ever got a chance to watch.  Thank you Bike Man.

This guy stopped by our table a few times.  I could not resist posting the "Dispicable Me" doppelganger.

 Our neighbor to the left, beautiful glass dishware and these draperies that just blew gently in the breeze on spinning hangers.  Quite poetic on a sunny day.

Bike man's collection of odds and ends.  You would be surprised at how many people bought these items.

He later sorted things out so people wouldn't have to dig so much.  Rang each bike bell.  Cute.

This guy was our neighbor to the left.  He was very friendly and had what I assumed to be his son with him.  His son was the 2nd hero of the day.  That little dude had an open suitcase full of children's clothing and sold shirts, shorts and other stuff for 2 Euros a piece. When his suitcase would get empty he would restock it with stuff from their car which was conveniently parked right behind their table.  He staged everything so cleverly, made sales just from asking nicely "do you want it" and was a super pleasant kid.  We were mad impressed.

His father told us near the end that since it's the end of the month people arent really buying today.  Come to find out, most Germans only get paid once per month.  Can you imagine?

I got a little annoyed with Clothing Dad because I was working on my tan all morning and he was in my sunlight.

See his long shadow behind me?

 We were getting a little hungry so I went on a food seeking mission.  Everything you can imagine could be found in this flea market.  Since I'm still "currency challenged" the Native Ninja scored us a delicious phyllo dough cheese and spinach pastry.  It was so flaky and delicious.  OMG.

Mostly eaten pastry...

Gaining courage and with 5 Euros in my pocket I decided to see if I could buy coffee for the Native and an ice cream cone for myself without getting the wrong change back.  My trip was successful and I scored a coffee, cone and the correct change!  Hallelujah!

When I got back to our table The Boss was completing a sale...

Das Chefin selling mad stuff.

Although it seems like an uneventful 5 hours it was wonderful to see that people can haggle for other people's stuff all over the world.  Only 1 argument broke out but it was in German so I can't tell you what the cause was.  No blows were thrown.

Here's a short video detailing the scene:

Do you like to shop?  Would you like to flea market all over the world?  We are available to travel with you to do what you want to do and see what you want to see.

Contact us:

Email: tourguide@ok.de

Twitter: @travelninjas

Facebook: facebook.com/Travel Ninjas Worldwide

Pheed: Travel Ninjas

Until next time!

TRAVEL NINJAS!!!

Timing and Preparation

Timing is essential when requesting a tour. Sometimes there is time in between tours where a guide might be able to make a tour available.  However, you run the risk of it being not quite right due to the lack of preparation time.

For a tour guide, preparing for a tour is as important as conducting a tour, especially when the request does not contain crucial information such as specific start/end times, expected duration or even a firm date. What is your tour guide to do?

Think of a friend you haven't seen or talked to for a while.  You are planning to travel to a city near them and want to spend some time with your friend while you are there for a long or short layover. Would you wait until the last minute to contact them? Even if it's a short span of time that does not allow for any advanced preparation, would you expect your friend to be available for you, not knowing how their schedule is or what else might be going on in their life? You might think, well, it doesn't hurt to ask, right? But generally you would not take the chance of missing your your friend due to lack of preparation on your part.

Although I am a virtual stranger and not the friend you are thinking of above, I would like to welcome you, as a friend would, when visiting from out of town. Sure, my time as your personal guide is not a free service, but because of that, I want to make sure you will get your money's worth. In order to do that, I would like to properly prepare for you and your customized tour. The most important thing I need to do that is to get notified in advance, and I mean, at least a week prior or more.  One or two days notice, especially on weekends, will result in me declining to be your tour guide as I will be otherwise booked for other tours and activities. As they say, "the early bird gets the worm" and the early travel request gets booked first.

I am setting up a free calendar so that potential clients can track my available time.  Recommendations are welcome as to how this calendar can best be utilized by you the traveler.

In the meantime, I appreciate every inquiry and I'm looking forward to meeting you in person soon.

Email me today! Sabine:  tourguide@ok.de

Somewhere in Hessen Day 21...A Lake...More Ice Cream...Etc.

Today we headed to a lake to beat the heat!

Located within a campground it was only 3 Euros (approx. $5) to swim and play all day!

As you can see...the lake is stunning.  A little muddy to get into...but beautiful!

The Visiting Ninja enjoyed her sun-bathing...

We enjoyed our time at the lake.  It was finally in the 90's in Hessen and ice cream was required...

About to do damage...

Took a few pictures of downtown Gross Gerau while we enjoyed our treat:

We used to have a Commerce Bank at home...coincidence?

A shady spot in 90+ degree weather.

We headed home to chill for the night after our ice cream delight.

Speaking of "night", I finally figured out why I'm having such a hard time with my body clock adjusting.

L

Lots of daylight at 9:30pm.  Doesn't get fully dark until after 10pm here.  My mind says it's not time to sleep!  I finally settle down at 1 or 2am then the sun is back up at 5am sharp.  Native Ninja explained that Germany is closer to the sun (more to the North).  Must investigate and buy eye coverings to sleep.

You are welcome to catch the SUN with us no matter what your body clock says!

Email:  tourguide@ok.de
Facebook:  facebook.com/TravelNinjasWorldwide
Twitter:  @travelninjas
Pheed:  Travel Ninjas

Until next time!!!

TRAVEL NINJAS!!!

Wilhelmstrasse Festival...Day 12

Wilhelmstrasse Fesitval...Wiesbaden June 8, 2013

A cool article on this festival:
http://www.wiesbaden.de/en/living-in-wiesbaden/festivities-markets/festivities/street-festival-wilhelmstrasse.php

Tonight we attended a 2-day (free entry) festival with bands, vendors and the backdrop of a beautiful garden/historical area.

I stared at this for a long time like I read German.

My senses were immediately overtaken.  Lights, camera...and oh so much ACTION!

We stopped to listen to an awesome cover band.  Dude in the white baseball cap killed Usher, Bruno Mars and Ginuwine.

White cap to the left...he was awesome!

Moves like Jagger?  Yes please!!!

We need a photographer!  Feeling the vibe!

The vendors were plentiful with cocktails, specialty foods, clothes, jewelry and even garden statues.

The "Switzerland Corner" with costume and singing.

Fancy vendors, jewelry, clothing, artwork.

One of the food vendors...delish!

We circled around to the far side of the area to witness the High Roller Casino with a fully functioning ferris wheel placed in front.  Breathtaking, don't you agree?

The incredible design and beauty of this building against the night sky.  An image I will never forget.

Native Ninja informed me that this is the "high roller" casino.  Table games only and you have to prove you have the cash to play before they let you in.


The fountain was lovely to see and romantic for some...

Incredible fountain.

The fountain and a kiss.

We had a good time walking around and sampling some of the vendor treats.  This is another festival that only happens once a year so make sure you are in Wiesbaden to check it out next June.

Book a tour with Sabine:  tourguide@ok.de
Twitter:  @travelninjas
Pheed: Travel Ninjas

TRAVEL NINJAS!!!