Some good news

Well, one less legality in the way and some general updates... Click "read more..." to read the rest

Well, some good news first. To get married here in Germany (as a foreigner) I need to get a certified document from the US Embassy saying that I am allowed to get married. The embassy responsible for me (since I am in Freiburg) is located in Frankfurt, which is a good 4 hours away, and a one way ticket there costs 50 euros ($65), so round trip would cost $130 - a tad much, and then 8 hours of driving. There is another embassy in Munich, Nadja's home town (home city, actually, of course. "Home city" just sounds weird).
Now, it turns out that the world-famous Oktoberfest is coming up (it's starting this weekend), and that is in Munich (along with the Autobahn, that's probably the main American tourist attraction in Germany). For the very few of you who don't know, Oktoberfest (there's only one real one) is a huge fair centered around beer. Since I am American and Nadja's a Muenchnerin (native of Munich), it is almost required that we go there. In any case, we're going off to Munich soon.
So, it would be nice to get this document in Munich. I emailed the Munich Embassy, and they said that they don't have the form, but they'd be happy to witness anything (for a fee, of course), if I could provide the form. I emailed Frankfurt to tell them about the situation, and they didn't email back yet, but I just called them, and they said they got the email and I can get everything done in Munich!:-). So I will save myself 8 hours of boring travel (I wouldn't have a car) and $130 (again, since I don't have a car).

In other news, we reserved the room for the reception. We may reserve it for another day for setup (we already reserved it for the morning on the next day to allow for cleanup).