join the johnson journey: mom comes to europe & i go to the land of red, white & blue!!

Guys…so so so sorry for being so incredibly behind on blogging. Where do I even start? *NOTE: this blog will be EXTREMELY long and full of tons of pictures* I will catch you up on my mom’s visit to Europe + my visit back to the U.S.

Well, FIVE weeks ago…yes FIVE (like I said I am a smidge behind)…was Nick’s 28th birthday. It was a fun few days of celebrations. First off, we went to a nice steak dinner on the actual day (Aug 10th) and then celebrated at home with champagne and cupcakes. I got him a Bobby Wood HSV jersey since we finally have an American on the Hamburg soccer (cough football) team! The next day Nick’s pals surprised him at Altes Mädchen a local craft brewery with some brews and another cake. Such sweet friends we have made in Hamburg and I will truly miss them when we head back to the U.S.

nick's massive birthday steak

the view from outside our dinner

rocking that bobby wood jersey!

champagne for the win

Overnight on that Thursday, my momma flew to Hamburg! Nick and I were so excited to have her visit us. She is the only family member to visit besides my sister (*this comment is to make my dad feel guilty if he even reads this!*) On Friday I went and picked her up from the airport and we grabbed some French food with Nick for lunch. Then she took a quick nap. For dinner we headed to the same Portuguese tapas place that Nick and I have taken most of our guests to! Yummy!

Saturday morning we headed to Berlin bright and early. We showed my mom all the big sights and I loved seeing Berlin for a second time. What a fabulous city! We jam packed Saturday and we were all feeling very tired by Saturday night but we took my mom for some traditional German food and she even ate the meat platter – go mom! I got her to try the famous German Radler (aka lemonade and beer mixed)! It was so fun to explain all the German customs to my mom and take her all around the city.

largest Foosball table in the world

we all had to do the ampellmann walk

in front of the berlin wall

On Sunday we headed to Potsdam to check out the Sanssouci castle. Nick & I had not been to Potsdam yet so that was also quite a great adventure for me. The palace was awesome and we spent most of the day there. There's garden after garden of beautiful flowers and greenery to see. The inside of the castle was one of the prettiest I have seen with enough detail but not over the top. Afterwards we walked around the center for Potsdam for a while before catching out train back to Hamburg.

On Monday through Wednesday I had to do some work so my mom meandered through Hamburg. It was so much fun showing her our city that we have called home the last 2 years. On Tuesday, we took her out to eat with a bunch of our friends that we have made while living here. We ate overlooking the lake in the middle of the city. After we wrapped up dinner we went to the Planten un Blomen light show that is choreographed to music. Yes, that is correct. It was REALLY good weather when my mom was in Hamburg minus the first day – we really lucked out!! On Wednesday we took her up to Clouds and somehow ended up with VIP wristbands and at this extremely posh party – haha! I do not think it was really our scene. The view were perfection up there from the top though and it was so much fun overlooking the gorgeous city of Hamburg. All in all a great few days in Hammy! Mom even went to Minutur Wunderland and really enjoyed it. It's the place that has the mini replicas of Europe and the US in train form.. very cool.

gorgeous rainbow on the lake

one pretty city

taking mom to Karlson's for some breakfast

cheers to hamburg & its beautiful ways

On Thursday morning, we woke up SUPER early and headed to Vienna. I took Thursday and Friday off work so my mom and I could spend a few days exploring Austria. When we got into Vienna we really hit the ground running. Our first stop was Schönbrunn Palace. Everywhere we went in Vienna for the most part I had seen in March but ummmm WOW the weather was perfect. It was quite warm but all the flowers were beautiful in the gardens and the sun was shining so the pictures turned out quite beautifully. One place we did check out that I had not been was the Donauturm which is an observation tower. This was a bit off the beaten path but it provided an EXCELLENT view of Vienna and the surrounding area. I even took mom to eat some schnitzel which was the size of both of our heads combined.

On Friday, we met my friend Kevin from Georgia Tech at St. Stephen’s cathedral and did the trek to the top. Afterwards we saw a few more famous sites but he also took us to a little film festival that was going on. We had to try the käsekrainer. They had SPICY käsekrainer – Nick about died of jealously when I told him. This is the cheese infused sausage for all you blog readers that have forgotten from when I went to Vienna back in March. We also tried a few more local Vienna things like Kaiserschmarrn which is basically scrambled pancakes with sugars and toppings. We also tried a yummy cold spritzer. We enjoy sitting in the shade and having a moment of rest. After wrapping up the film festival, we said goodbye to Kevin and enjoyed a few more hours in Vienna before catching our train to Salzburg.

the cutest little walking buds

kev with the spicy kasekrainer

scrambled pancakes yall!

We arrived in Salzburg on Friday night. It was a little after 8pm by the time we arrived and checked into our hotel so we just decided to go to this place called Wine & Co for a few glasses and an appetizer. On Saturday we woke up and did the Sound of Music tour – by the way, it was every bit as great the second go-around and I had the same tour guide. Barb, such a sweetheart! After we finished the tour we took the cable car up to the top of the hill in Salzburg for some spectacular views and lunch. I did not get to eat up there when I went back last September and it was much clearer on this day so I was loving those views. No words can describe seeing all the green and mountains and lakes. On Saturday night we were quite tired for a week straight of doing activities nonstop and had a pretty early dinner before heading back to the hotel. We (aka me) unfortunately did not time it too well and got poured on for half the walk back (sorry Mom!)

On Sunday, the weather was quite overcast but luckily not that rainy! We went to Haus der Natur, which I had not done in Salzburg and it was honestly quite interesting. Afterwards we headed to the airport and back to Hammy (aka Hamburg !) On Sunday night, Nick & I fixed a huge taco bar for us and Mom and we enjoyed a relaxed night while mentally preparing for our long flight on Monday.

I won’t bore you with too many details from when I went back to the U.S. but wow was it fun. I got to see my dad, sister, all four of my grandparents, my soon to be brother-in-law and his family, my mother-in-law, my three best friends from high school and one of my best friends from college. It was so great to be surrounded by loved ones for a week. We found my sister’s wedding dress yay! And I got to see Kail coach a high school football game. I got my hair done and found out I have two cavities (great!) That about sums it up though, haha. Oh, I drove for the first time in 8 months and managed to survive --- it is the little things, right? It was sad saying goodbye to everyone and to the U.S. but I know we will be back soon. Here’s to six months or less left in the great continent of Europe. Time to make the most of it!