Idar Oberstein . . . finally!

Thank heaven for federal holidays. If it weren't for mandatory days off we would rarely get a day where the beast we call the military let's my husband go. Never mind the fact that he has EARNED leave days, just sitting there, waiting to be utilized. . . lots of them. I have a list, a long list, of things to do with these days but it doesn't seem to be of any consideration to the beast that these EARNED days are of importance. Here is the clincher, we can put in for leave, it can get cleared (meaning all the signatures are in place) with the UNDERSTANDING that these days can be pulled at the last minute pending the needs of the "mission". So they say with a smile, "Here you go, but don't plan anything". Yup, that's great! Not to mention the fact that Mark is constantly in the hole to get his comp days back. Plus, there is actually a thing called "mandatory fun", a requirement to show up for work to increase moral. What the heck is that??? I'm not bitter, just getting saltier and saltier.

Whew! That felt good! Now onto the village Idar Oberstein that has been alluding us for so long, probably because there hasn't been a federal holiday for a bit. This village is known for two things, gem cutting and the church built into the mountain.


Here we are walking into the mountain to get to the entrance of the church. Super, SUPER cool!


Once we got to the lookout part of the church, I leaned over as far as possible to get a shot of the steeple, So, so close to the mountain. Crazy cool.


This must be sherbet row. It could not be called anything else if I were the person naming streets in this village. They must be happy, happy, happy people.


After touring the church, we walked along looking in all the jewelry shops. Mark was sweet and let us pick out "pretties" as the girls call them. We all found "the one", but it was difficult to choose. Bailey and I chose necklaces, while McKenna bought a bottle full of little gems. Really, that was smart, she got a little bit of everything all in one purchase.

We finished our day with a tour of an old gem mine that has been turned into a historic site. It was really fun, til we found out there was no English translation, which we were told would be available. I am not one of those tourists that demand that I should be given information in English, after all I do not live in an English speaking country. But we had fun guessing what he was saying and all the while keeping our eyes peeled for the seven dwarfs. McKenna was so disappointed in the end. But we did get to wear cool hats and have a really cool mining experience. And in the end, the tour guide realized we were not understanding (probably our blank glossy eyed stares and our delayed reaction to his jokes) and he gave us a paper that explained everything which was really interesting.


Fall is upon us folks! Look at the size of this leaf!!


Disclaimer: Of course my good husband had no part in the rant above. He is dedicated to his job and maintains an ever so cool head about it all, so very diplomatic which in the end is the better choice. BUT I enjoy being passionate and verbal . . . which explains a lot why when I call to meet Mark at the band hall he always says, "Hey, I'll just meet you up at the shoppette" . . . tricky, tricky. He really doesn't do that, but for future reference maybe he should, I'm getting more and more passionate, verbal and salty!