I heart Leni's Mom :)

Leni unfortunately has to work during

the week, but fortunately Leni's mom was awesome enough to be my unofficial tour guide through Aschaffenberg on Monday AND Tuesday. And for the record, Leni's mother is amazing. She took me all over the place, translated all sorts of things, bought me food/drinks, showed me all the best places to go, and did this all with a smile on her face as if she was my own mother. Thanks for everything!

On Monday we essentially walked

around the city and she told me everything I needed to know about Aschaffenburg. Highlights included:

• Walking into every church (which was pretty much every 500 feet). All of them were unique and very pretty, with pipe organs in the back and confession booths on the side. All the seats in every church were very uncomfortable, but as Leni's mom mentioned, is supposed to be that way so you don't fall asleep and pay attention
• Walking through the shopping area. The streets are super skinny and made of stone which is cool. The atmosphere was also very nice with outdoor cafes, nice shops, and buzzing people.
• Symphony X (one of my favorite bands) is playing in Aschaffenberg Oc.t 4. I'm gonna see them when I'm in Munich on Oct. 5, but either way it was awesome to see a symphony x poster on the street, as well as the concert venue.

• American Shop. This store sells all things american such as snickers bars, monster energy drinks, sweet baby rays bbq sauce, and even 40 oz bottle of Old English! haha The old english was 6.70 euro tho which is nuts, because i would refuse to pay more than $2.50 american back in the states. Cool shop tho and nice to see a taste of home.
• Italian ice cream. After taking at least 5 minutes to decide on a flavor (with a huge line behind me), I finally decided on a waffle cone with tiramusu and some form of chocolate. Leni's mom and I ate our ice cream (she got ben and jerrys at the american shop haha) overlooking the river next to the castle in the city
• The Castle! Ok, they have huge castle right smack in the middle of the city which is suuuper cool looking. It was actually demolished in WWII (nice going yanks...), and took 30 years to reconstruct, but looks very nice/restored now. Unfortunately the castle was closed for tours on Monday, but as we were walking through the lower level of the castle to the garden....

• I met the Mayor! That's right, and I have the picture to prove it! Leni's mom translated the mayor as "the biggest man," and had been talking about him off and on all day, so it was crazy when we were walking through the castle and she whispered, "see that man in the suit walking towards us? That is the biggest man of the city." We politely began talking to him, and he had all sorts of questions for me. He was actually very nice, and had a pretty sweet blue tie. Anyway, his english was pretty good and we were able to talk for a few minutes with Leni's mom, and as he was leaving I asked if I could get a quick picture with him and he said of course! So now i have a picture with the mayor, and I was in the newspaper just the day before. haha I love this town!
• And more! Walking along the castle gardens, the pompeii house, walking along the river, going to the tourist information building, buying ointment for my burned hand, stopping at a cafe for coffee and cake (I actually had a beer and a pretzel tho because it was so hot; we ate outside making me feel like I was in italy or something, tho the only italy I've seen was in vegas...)

At the end of the day, Leni's mom went

back home and I hung out at Leni's place til she got home from work. Leni had a very long day at work, so we just made dinner and watched a movie which was just fine with me. :) Oh, and my hand is doing better I think??? I keep telling people I got in a fight and injured my hand, tho Leni is quick to correct what really happened. haha