The Adjustments of Marrying into a Sports Family

This is the first picture I ever showed my mom of
 my future Husband

Growing up, my family wasn't what you would call a sports family. Sure, we would watch the Superbowl every year, and I do know the basic rules and terminology to most sports. We did play soccer and catch as a family, and attend the occasional minor league baseball games or local basketball and hockey games, but sitting down to watch Monday night football was not our thing. We didn't really have teams that we rooted for, nor did we have the matching fan apparel. In fact, I remember every spirit week at school becoming slightly stressed out at the prospect of "sports day" I never had any deep ties to a team to cheer for. 

My first football game with Mike when we were dating

I remember being asked my first week in middle school in Oregon “Are you a Duck or a Beaver?” Initially I had no idea what in the world they were talking about. When I learned about the great Oregon “civil war” and loving hatred between U of O and OSU all I could really think was “those are the lamest mascots I have ever heard of in my life!”

Then one fine day, I met the man of my dreams who would consequently change everything. My dear husband does in fact come from a sports family. They are diehard UT, Spurs, SF Giants and 49ers fans with partiality towards a few other local teams.

My first Giants game, and the day I became a full
fledged McNeil

Introducing my mother-in-law to the joys of
Real SL Soccer!

A Twins baseball game when
we were engaged

Starting Luke young as a Giants fan

I am always completely clueless when the conversation turns to sports at the dinner table with Mike’s family. In fact, I remember one of my favorite conversations with my father-in-law. After what I’m sure was a stirring discussion to an informed individual about the new Giants lineup, my father-in-law noticed I hadn’t added anything to the conversation. He wanted to make sure I didn’t feel left out. He turned to me and asked, “What are your thoughts on the Giants?” Without missing a beat I responded, “You know, I think all the important elements have already been mentioned”.  Everyone laughed and I was able to continue on listening to this foreign language that hopefully one day I will become fluent. 

Since being married to Mike, we have had the opportunity to attend numerous collegiate and professional sporting events in basketball, baseball, football, rugby, soccer, and hockey. I can’t say going to a sporting event is always my favorite thing to do, but there is something really exciting about wearing a team shirt and cheering with thousands of other people. I have come to realize when marrying Mike I was also marrying into his teams and they have now become my own. I feel a sense of pride watching games, knowing a few players and their stats and even owning some team attire. I certainly still have moments where 

The family at AT&T park during
Fedora day

I misinterpret the terminology and become very concerned when I hear of a team "not showing up to play" but I think I am learning well.

Sitting on the floor at a Duke Basketball game

We couldn't visit Barcelona without visiting Camp Nou

I am especially excited for today. We have the opportunity to live in Europe during the world cup. Everywhere I look there is Brazil 2014 and a rainbow of colors representing the teams around the world. Even the chocolate shops have joined in on the celebration by creating chocolate delights in the shape of cleats, balls and jerseys. I may not completely understand Mikes desire to buy an expensive soccer jersey everywhere we visit, but I think I am beginning to see the “no man is an island” idea it represents. Like the Olympics, the World Cup is about bringing people from different cultures and backgrounds together for some “friendly” competition. I’m thrilled to catch a glimpse of this culture especially living near Geneva where there are so many transplants from all over the world.

 

A Very Eventful Weekend

Our Barcelona adventure was quite spectacular, but certainly had a few misfortunes along the way. 

The beautiful Barcelona coastline

This trip was actually a last minute decision. A few weeks ago, we realized that Mike had a day off and we were going to make the most out it. We pulled up a map and looked to see what was within reasonable driving distance. When our eyes fell on Barcelona we were thrilled about the prospect of adding another country to our list for this trip. According to Google maps the distance is only an 8-hour drive, and that is nothing to our road-trip seasoned minds. 

We gathered a couple of intern friends and decided to carpool to Spain. Unfortunately, we were not able to snag the same Mercedes rental car for this trip, instead got a little Ford Focus hatchback.  The trip was easy and event free… for the first hour anyway and it all went downhill from there.

The unfinished La Sagrada Familia, perhaps the most
incredible cathedral I've ever seen!

Out of nowhere, Luke, who is an expert road tripper and has never shown any symptoms of inheriting his parents comically severe motion sickness issues, became a fountain of vomit (sorry for the those that have sensitive stomachs). At that moment, the whole car froze; the poor interns were sitting next to Luke in the back with motionless looks crossed between disgust and utter bewilderment. The vomit kept coming and there was nothing any of us could do. Mike couldn’t pull over immediately as the shoulder was to narrow so we kept driving, Luke kept spewing, the interns were frozen and I ran through every single scenario on how we could remedy this situation.

Oh the charm of each little street

We were able to find a safe place to pull over and clean up. Poor Luke was so confused at what had just happened, he had never thrown up before this trip, only small spit ups when he was little. We got back into the slightly sickeningly sweet smelling car and began to drive until we quickly realized we had left one of Luke’s books on the roof of the car, and our friend had left her phone on the car. They ran back to see if the items were salvageable, but sadly the phone and the book were sacrificed to the great open road. 

The trip continued at a slow pace as we hit traffic every few hours. We finally arrived, 3 hours later than expected, but that was no matter… We had arrived in beautiful Barcelona!

We checked into our hotel and quickly realized we didn’t have our camera. We guessed it had fallen out of the car during the terrible vomiting event of the morning and we didn’t notice until it was too late. Luckily, we live in the technology golden age and had our iPhones readily available to take pictures.

Luke enjoying a nice glass of horchata

Enjoying the beautiful parks of Barcelona

 The first night in Barcelona, we came across a Texas BBQ joint. Now normally when traveling, Mike and I are all about diving into the culture and experiencing the local cuisine, but after being away from home for 6 weeks, this restaurant was heaven sent! I was nearly in tears eating fairly authentic Texan nachos and a burger. Although, the takeaway packaging was quite interesting. The bags in the picture below actually contain my burger and Mike's ribs... very strange but oh so good!

Luke enjoying the Big Bus Tour

Arc de Triomf in Spain 

Cathedral de Santa Eulalia

Magic fountains and the Art Museum

Casa Battlo

Christopher Columbus memorial 

Fabulous Paella

Enjoying the Barcelona beach

Mike's happy place! 

In one weekend we managed to destroy 2 phones (Mike went swimming with the other one), lose a camera, shred a book, and permanently alter the smell of a rental car, but in the end it was all worth it! Barcelona is a city that deserves much more time than a quick weekend and I am quite certain Mike and I will return. 

Pretzels, Bratwurst, and Castles in Bavaria

We had quite the adventure this weekend! So exciting in fact, that it has taken me a few days to recover before I could even think about writing.  

Munich wasn't necessarily on my radar of "must see" places for this trip. Berlin maybe, but I've never really dreamed of visiting Munich like I've dreamed of seeing other European cities. However, when Mike was provided an opportunity to visit a colleague of his research project advisor, we could hardly refuse the adventure. Mike could get work done, and we could stay with a local who could tour us around the city.

We rented a car and drove about 6 1/2 hours. There is something I deeply enjoy about road trips... especially through Europe. You see the world in a way that is impossible via other transportation and the journey is all at your speed. If you see an interesting place to stop for a photo op you are free to stop. I love seeing the small towns and villages and getting a glimpse into how others live... especially in the most picturesque locations.

The drive was beautiful and extremely comfortable in our Mercedes rental car. It wasn't even an upgrade, those are the types of cars they rent here in Europe. Mike was thrilled at the prospect of driving on the autobahn with a German car. I was worried it would be slightly terrifying driving on highways without speed limits, but it was awesome! The drivers were fantastic, and it was great driving at a speed that seemed reasonable. Sure, there was the occasional daredevil who would speed by at nearly 220km/h. We were not that crazy, but it was nice not worrying about being pulled over for speeding.

We arrived in Munich in the early evening and our kind host had prepared a lovely dinner for us. We put Luke to bed and stayed up talking about the differences between healthcare systems in Europe and the US among other things. We were very lucky to be staying with such a prestigious individual, but she was so friendly and down to earth, she helped us feel right at home. 

The next day we began our sight seeing by touring the local hospital where our host is a key member of the organization. Mike was like a kid in a candy store. He loved seeing the similarities and differences. I even enjoyed the experience... especially the fact that we were able to tour a hospital in Europe without any of us being sick or injured. Mike was able to discuss and gain some interesting points for his project. 

Now that business was over, our host took us to downtown Munich to tour her beautiful city. We were thrilled to have a passionate tour guide showing us the city she loves. She was very knowledgable and patient. She showed us the original gates to the city that was founded around 1158 AD. I'm still amazed every time I hear dates like this... in the US anything older than 1940's is incredible! But the true middle ages... the history I'm surrounded by here makes me so excited!

They even had Lederhosen for sale. Originally, lederhosen was made from leather and worn for physical labor because it was more durable and you don't need to clean them like other fabrics... but today most people just wear them for fun. We actually came across many tourists who ironically wanted to "fit in" and couldn't have stood out more.  Mike and I weren't quite sold, we refrained from buying our own pair.

We then went to Marienplatz and saw the Glockenspeil. To translate, Marienplatz is the town square where the Munich town hall resides. The Glockenspeil is an incredible 100+ year old gothic style bell tower that houses 32 life-sized figures that reenact historical events in Bavaria 3 times a day. We were luck enough to see it in action. Its basically like a huge cuckoo clock with working parts... that are life sized. I'm not doing it justice, but it was incredible to see in action. Luke was amazed.

We then made our way through the Viktualienmarkt, or daily outdoor farmers market. It dates back to the early 19th century and our host mentioned her grandfather talked about visiting this market every day to get his meat and bread. The assortment of foods and crafts were exciting. We bought some hardy German bread and some fantastic Mediterranean food to save for dinner. But the best part was just walking through the market and feeling the exciting liveliness of the city. 

We then made our way to a restaurant where they serve traditional Bavarian food. One of the benefits to having a local tour guide is they can show you the traditional places that are not the tourist traps. The food was fantastic with huge portions. Mike and I split a roasted leg of pork with a potato dumpling and sauerkraut, and dessert of apple fritters. It was so good! The picture is actually half of the serving.... these portions were HUGE! 

According to myth, if you rub the nose of this lion
you will return to Munich one day

Entrance to the Nymphenburg palace in Munich 

Luke and Mike enjoying the view of the
gardens at the Nymphenburg palace

The next day we started early for our drive home, with a pit stop at a place I have always dreamed of visiting. My parents took a trip to Europe when I was little and came back with stories of a castle nestled in the Bavarian Alps which was actually the inspiration for Walt Disney's castle in Sleeping Beauty's. Since I was little I always imagined visiting this castle. Perhaps some of the wonder has faded after having the chance to visit beautiful homes and castles around the world, but there has always been a childhood desire to see Neuschwanstein Castle.

From the minute we left the city, every inch of the drive was picturesque. The day was perfect with a few clouds, against a bright blue sky. The German country side was stunning. I wanted to catch it in pictures, but it just couldn't translate the beauty I saw. Here are a few of my attempts. 

 

We arrived at the little town at the base of the castles... yes there are 2 in the area Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau. The latter was the childhood home of King Ludwig II and the former is the home he decided to build... and never finished. 

We decided to walk up the hill to Neuschwanstein rather than take a carriage or tram. It was a beautiful hike through the mountains. We stopped for a pretzel and a bratwurst and it was heavenly after our ascent. This coming from the girl who doesn't normally eat hot dogs... I made an exception for the authentic stuff in Germany. Luke also loved eating a real German pretzel.

 

Luke had fun playing with this little girl while
we waited for our tour to begin

The castle was beautiful and different than other castles I've seen. Mad King Ludwig had a fascination with Wagner and his operas and dedicated the artwork in the castle to represent those works. Each room was focused on a different opera and it was quite breathtaking. The whole experience was worthwhile and my 8 year old self is pleased with fulfilling the dream of seeing this beautiful castle. 

The whole trip to Munich was quite a success. What a beautiful country filled with such stunning scenery, fantastic food and friendly company. I love Germany and can't wait to go back!

Sleeping Beauty's Castle on the Left, Neuschwanstein on the right 

We had to take a picture of our brief drive through
Austria on our way to Switzerland.

Austria is beautiful... even though we only saw it for 20 minutes