Peter flew to Germany with a very special present for me, and although I knew he intended to give me the ring in Prague, he still managed to completely surprise me. We had dinner reservations at a beautiful restaurant called Kampa Park, right on the river next to the historic Charles Bridge. Of course, I'd expected he would present the ring there, but he had something else up his sleeve. We dressed early for dinner and took a walk in the nearby park. We stopped for a moment at a spot with a beautiful view of the city and while I peered at the sunset-lit towers of Prague through my camera lens, Peter set the perfect stage behind me and waited for me to turn around. I never suspected a thing! Dinner afterwards was still lovely, but it was no longer the highlight of my night.

Our entire time in Prague was wonderful. Neither of us had ever been there before, so it was fun to explore it together. Our hotel was ideal. We had a gorgeous suite with a jacuzzi bathtub and the hotel was perfectly situated. It was right beside Charles Bridge and just a short walk from the Castle, the Old Town Square, and nearly every other major sight. Yet, it was also on the quieter side of the river, which made for a more relaxing stay. And, it turned out to be just steps away from the Kampa Park restaurant where we'd planned our special dinner. Of course, I would have had a great time regardless of the circumstances, just because I was with Peter, but it was just all the nicer having Peter *and* everything else.

I don't have pictures of the most important moment, because that is just for us, but I got shots of nearly everything else in Prague: Peter's Perfect Prague Proposal 

I had work in Kosovo and flew into the nearby airport in Skopje, Macedonia. I thought, like my other trips to Kosovo, it would be all work, but not this time. It turned out that two other people were flying out the same day on a much earlier flight. So our military escort brought us all to the airport at once, leaving me with a number of hours to kill in Skopje. What better opportunity for a little sight-seeing in a city rich with culture and history!

In addition to being the birthplace of Mother Theresa, Skopje has many vestiges of the various peoples who have inhabited the city in the past 5,000 years. We began our tour with a drive around the city to get an idea of the modern life there today, and then headed up Vodno mountain to get an up-close look at one of the newer additions to Skopje's landscape, the Millenium Cross that towers over the city. About half-way up we stopped at a small, rather unassuming church whose interior was painted with the most vibrant colors I've ever seen.

It turned out the road to the top was closed that day as a convenience for pedestrian hikers. So we headed back into the city and visited the Kale Fortress situated in the heart of downtown Skopje. Kale is a Byzantine Fortress built in the 6th century. Today the within it's walls is a landscaped park and many excavation sites, where remains of settlements dating back to 3500 BC have been uncovered.

Though we only had a few hours for exploring, I learned much about Skopje and saw many beautiful tributes to its long and varied history. It was an unexpected and very enjoyable highlight in what I thought would be a tedious and draining trip, working long hours confined to an Army base.

You can see the aforementioned sights here: Skopje? I don't even know ya. 

So, the Mercedes dealer finally called and said the car was ready. It was Tues Apr 24 and I was told I could pick up the car either Thurs or Fri. Guess which one I chose. Okay, that was easy. Yes, Thurs Apr 26 my friend Miles drove me to the factory where we got a nice tour of the whole factory, and then an even nicer drive out of it.

Check out these photos: My New Mercedes 

Having a rare Saturday free, I wanted to explore some of Germany in this great Spring sunshine we've been having.  I'd intended a nice day trip, but after checking the forecast Friday night, I learned that everywhere within a couple hours of Heidelberg was expecting rain Saturday.  Further investigation revealed that the clear skies we'd had all week were on their way to Amsterdam.  So, I decided to follow their lead, and make it a two-day trip instead.

Saturday morning I packed an overnight bag and booked a hotel. Then my roommate Monika, Buca, and I piled into the car and headed off. With the lack of speed limits on much of the Germany autobahn and a BMW 3-series at our disposal, the 4 hour and 53 minute trip mapquest had predicted was actually just a 3 and a half hour trip. Who says speeding doesn't pay? ;-)

We drove directly to the Keukenhof Gardens and spent the afternoon wandering through the park. We had great weather and great light for pictures (the sun was setting as we left the park)! After leaving the tulip gardens we headed to our tulip hotel, i.e. the Golden Tulip Hotel in Rotterdam's city center.

We had an interesting time parking at the hotel as the navigation system directed us to drive past it and then take a bicycle path to reach it. Instead I turned at the next available street, which led us accross a bridge to the other side of the harbor. So with the nav system's help, we got a nice tour of the harbor's major sights at dusk and were eventually led right back to our hotel. This made a great basis for our walking tour the next day! Eventually though, we just parked on the street not far from the hotel. We had a light dinner at the hotel cafe and enjoyed the harbor views from our room, before completely crashing. Except for Buca, that is, who had slept the whole drive and was then more awake than we might have liked... but he settled down before long.

Our second day, was a good mix of activity and chillaxing (as Monika would say). We walked our route around the harbor from the previous night's parking adventure, this time stopping every few minutes for a photo op. We also strolled through a local Saturday market where we ate a casual lunch and then stumbled onto an outdoor mall (What? Two women on holiday found a mall? shocking...). In the late afternoon we stopped back at the hotel cafe to eat, drink, and recharge, before hitting the road for our 4 hour drive home. It really was an ideal weekend and incredibly smooth, given the fact that we had no plan until Saturday morning and no guidebook or research about our destination at all. Where else but Europe?

Here are my pics of our travels: Road Trip to Rotterdam 

My good friend Laurel attended a robotics conference in Barcelona, so of course, I arranged a rendez-vous, though my arrangements could have been a little better. Being so versed in train travel here in Europe, I thought I'd take a convenient night train over there and then we'd take one back to Heidelberg together, but apparently I'm not so versed in geography... the quickest night trains to Barcelona were 18 hours! Apparently not all of Western Europe is as close to Germany as I'd thought. ;-) Nevertheless, this was my plan and I thought it would work, but I was mistaken yet again.

My train was scheduled to be 18 1/2 hours, but I learned the hard way that the French train system is not as punctual as the German one. My one-hour ride from Avignon to Montpellier left on-time, but arrived more than 30 minutes late! Consequently, I, and 10 other passengers, missed our connection to Barcelona by 3 minutes. As a result, I found myself caught in a lengthy saga with two older French women, a young Canadian couple, an older Spanish couple, an Arab girl, a Spanish woman, and an older couple from Australia. I stood quietly in the service bureau watched as the two French women fought fervently to get the attendants to assist in our plight to get to Barcelona. The next train was almost 10 hours later and that would cost us the whole day. Finally, the attendants put together a plan to re-route us to Cerbre, France and bus us from there to Port Bou, Spain (only a mile or two apart) where we could catch a train to Barcelona. My French has nearly atrophied by now so I and the Australians were graciously kept in the loop by the Canadian couple who could manage both French and English easily.

We arrived in Cerbre over 15 minutes late, and to make matters worse they had heard nothing of the bus plan that was arranged (or not arranged?) by the Service Bureau at Montpellier. Eventually, they arranged taxis for us, although we'd missed our connection in Port Bou by the time the taxis even arrived to pick us up. So our ecclectic group piled into two large taxis to cross the border into Spain, where we were briefly detained and inspected by the border patrol (we were a rather peculiar mix) before finally arriving at Port Bou. There we got seats on the next train to Barcelona only an hour later and eventually departed for our final destination.

The train to Barcelona was quite empty until about an hour outside the city when it began to get quite crowded. As the train filled, I moved my luggage out of the seat beside me to accommodate more passengers. A polite Spanish guy ended up sitting next to me and pulled out some paperwork. I noticed it was English and the top paper's title read "Orientation". I listened to my iPod and stared out the window for a while and when I later glanced back I saw the top paper now was titled "Berklee". I wondered if there might be a Berklee other than the music school in Boston that I know so well, so I scanned the paper for clues and saw an address on Mass Ave! Finally, I decided to initiate a dialog. It turned out he is heading to Berklee this July to begin studying guitar there. How coincidental. It was fun to talk about home and I gave him lots of tips for Boston. Then, when we disembarked, he helped me find my way to the hotel (I doubt I would have made it otherwise). I felt like God was sending people to make a path for me the whole way. The French women to fight my cause and get me to Barcelona as close to on-time as possible. The Canadians to interpret and keep me apprised of the plan each step of the way. Then a local to show me from the train directly to my hotel. I had plenty of time at the hotel to take a long bath and relax before Laurel got back from the conference. Then we hit the town and she showed me the main town center and marketplace, and introduced me to the many vegetarian specialties of Barcelona.

I slept in Friday (much needed after 23 hours enroute) and woke up that afternoon just before Laurel got back from her last day. We checked with Lonely Planet, then hit the streets and checked out some cool sites. The city of Barcelona is filled with the artistry of a man named Gaudi. He built a number of famous landmarks including two appartment buildings, a cathedral, and a park. His work was similar to that of Hundert Wasser, whose creations I saw in Vienna: fluid, vibrant, organic, and reminiscent of a scene from Dr. Suess. The park (Laurel's suggestion) was my favorite.

We hopped on a night train Saturday evening and took it to Strasbourg where we spent a number of hours touring Petit France, the canals, and the cathedral before catching another train back to Heidelberg. Laurel stayed a few days in Heidelberg and I showed her the castle and philosopher's way and made sure to expose her to some of Heidelberg's delicious food. Thursday I dropped Laurel at the Frankfurt airport and each of us returned to life as usual, but a few experiences richer than before.

Discover the marvels of Barcelona: Wandering in Barcelona 

My mom made it to Europe!!! And with her affinity for all things plant-related, our first excursion had to be to the renowned tulip gardens of the Netherlands. So, the day after she arrived, we hopped in a carpool with several of my friends and headed to Delft. It was beautiful, a picturesque network of canals and bicycle paths. Our hotel was right by the city center and next to what they refer to as the "New Church." Of course, this term is relative, and in Europe it often refers to anything built in the last several centuries. In case you're wondering, yes, there is an "Old Church" in Delft as well. Although, oddly, it was built around the same time as the new one. I'll never understand European naming schemes.

Friday was basically spent in the driving up and settling into the hotel. We had dinner locally and planned our itinerary for the following day, a morning trip to Haarlem followed by an afternoon spent at the tulip gardens of the famous Keukenhof. In Haarlem there was a big market in the old town center where I stocked up on the Dutch specialty of Stroopwaffeln (Syrup waffles) and Mom found the bread of her dreams, as well as seeminly every kind of plant she can't get at home. It seemed much of her trip was spent ogling some plant that she wanted, but wouldn't be able to take home (US customs regulations). After lunch we headed to the Keukenhof, where it turned out to be a little early for the tulips, not to mention cold and rainy. Oh boy! It wasn't exactly like the postcards I'd seen of bright colorful tulips as far as the eye could see. Instead, we wandered around with our umbrellas and parkas and inspected lovely 3x6 foot patches of flowers that weren't really open yet. Oh well, I can't control the weather, but Mom seemed to enjoy herself anyway.

Sunday morning Mom attended the service at the "New Church" while I wandered the town and took some pictures. When church let out we piled back in the cars and headed home. It was a quick trip, but we took in some beautiful scenery, ate delicious food, and didn't overbook ourselves so it was a relaxing time.

Here are my pics of our travels: Touring the Netherlands with Mom 

Venice has always been my top European destination, and in my year-plus living here I still had not managed to get there... but all that changed this past weekend! Like many other cities around the world (New Orleans, Rio, Cologne, etc.), Venice hosts a festival the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. Unlike many of the other celebrations though, the Venice Carnival is a beautiful, elegant affair. The streets swarm with people bedecked in fantastic costumes, many historic, and it seems every shop window within a mile radius of San Marco Square fills with the famous Venetian-style masks. You rarely see a typical store-bought costume anywhere in Venice; most of the costumes are elaborate, one-of-a-kind pieces. This Carnival motif, combined with a city whose buildings jut out of the sea, made the whole experience rather surreal. My friend Janie remarked that it felt like we were on a movie set. It was certainly a unique time to visit Venice.

I organized the trip and my friends Janie and Bob, from the Haus bible-study, accompanied me. We took the night train down and arrived early Saturday morning. From the Venizia San Lucia train station we took the vaporetto (water bus) to San Marco, where our hotel was. The sun was just beginning to rise in the sky and our ride on the bus took us directly down the Grand Canal. What an amazing entrance into the city. As crowded as the water bus was, we managed to get spots on the rail where we could see (and photograph) the sights along the Grand Canal. It was a beautiful and fitting arrival for what was to be an equally fulfilling adventure.

Upon arriving in San Marco Square, we immediately strolled through the stands of mask vendors who catered to the sea of disembarking tourists. As one must, we bought a couple masks there in our first few minutes in Venice. A few hours later, of course, we learned that these masks were plastic and the desirable ones are paper mach, but those are the things you often learn the hard way. We then checked into our hotel, the Palazzo Selvadego. It was wonderful: a 4-star hotel, right next to San Marco, that let us check into our room as soon as we arrived (several hours before the official check-in time). It had a gorgeous, textured-tile bathroom with a huge shower and heated towel rack. The room had wood-beam ceilings, a huge walk-in closet, and a separate bedroom on a second floor all to itself. We had three people, so the arrangement worked well. Janie and I shared the king bed downstairs, while Bob had his own room upstairs.

After dropping our bags and freshening up, we headed back out to explore the city. I really wanted a photo of the "Bridge of Sighs" (an enclosed bridge once used for transporting prisoners), and since it was on the way to Rialto bridge we stopped there for a quick photo-op before continuing on to Rialto bridge. The famous Rialto Bridge was beautiful and covered in very cool shops, but the crowd there was like none I had seen. We waited for minutes just trying to find a way to get into the flow of people, but eventually we crossed to the other bank of the Grand Canal and stopped there to eat lunch by the water. The people watching was fun, as masqueraded masses sauntered past us on the sidewalk to our left and still others floated by in gondolas on the Grand Canal to our right.

We spent our first day walking all over the city, stopping in numerous mask and other shops, and then headed back to the hotel, where I napped. Janie and Bob went out for further walking while I diligently guarded the downstairs bed. Then we regrouped and went to a free concert in San Marco Square as part of Saturday night's Carnival festivities.

Sunday, we woke rather early to catch the included breakfast on the highly recommended hotel terrace that overlooks the opening of the Grand Canal and numerous gondolas being unveiled for the day ahead. From there we even saw the start of a masqueraded gondola parade, one of the day's many Carnival events taking place throughout the city. Yes, for me, this was yet another photo-op. ;-)

After checking out of the hotel we headed over to Saint Mark's Basilica in hopes of a tour inside, but the line was discouragingly long, so we decided to wander the city instead. We followed the previous day's path back to Rialto bridge and along the way we stopped at a particular mask shop for a red mask that I'd been dreaming of since I saw it the morning before. I had first encountered it early in our journey, before I had much to compare it to, and I thought it quite nice at the time, but too expensive. However, the rest of the day it continued to be the mark to which no other mask could live up, and upon seeing it a second time, I realized it really was as beautiful as I'd remembered it being and it had no equal in the several dozen shops we'd visited since. Thus, I broke down and bought it. Janie's expert negotiating tactics got me a slight discount, but the shop really wasn't going to haggle. No matter though, I truly adore the mask, and after scouring the city, I consider it worth every penny. With mask in hand, I was content to do whatever the others wanted for the rest of the trip. I had satisfied my last remaining goal, to find a Venetian mask. Although, as it would happen, that stop was followed by another to a leather store, where I got two great purses, and then a glass shop where I got a beautiful Murano vase, and other shops where I found fabulous bargains on silk, wool, and pashmina scarves. We then headed back to San Marco square where we found the line for the Basilica quite reasonable and headed inside for a look around. Alas, no photos are permitted inside the Basilica.

To finish the day, we picked up our bags from the hotel and walked down the street to the vaporetto that would take us to the train station for our trip home. In perfect complement to the rest of the trip, we were leaving just at sunset, which made for an even more picturesque ride along the Grand Canal. And, *again*, though the waterbus was as packed as could be, I got a spot right against the rail in the front, with a completely unobstructed view for my last glimpses (and photos) of the trip. The weather the entire trip was absolutely perfect. We arrived just after sunrise, departed during sunset, and the entire weekend saw nothing but blue, sunny skies. The place, the events, the weather, were all straight out of a story book. Definitely one of the most unique destinations thus far!

See some of the color, imagination, and exquisite costumes of the Venice Carnival, as well as the traditional charms of Venice itself: Carnival in Venice 

Okay, so I did go to California last month, and I got one day of personal time in San Francisco, but that trip was primarily work. I haven't taken any pleasure trips since October, and it was getting time for one. So I decided to do something fun with the MLKJ Day holiday this year. Last year I took a 5-day trip and went to Montreal, but this year I wanted something a bit warmer! My destination: the Canary Islands. I found a last-minute package deal to Grand Canary Island. I looked for people to join me, but everyone either had schedule conflicts or didn't want to spend the money. So, I booked a trip for 1 and packed my bags! In my typical last-minute fashion, I booked the flight 4 days before the departure. I had a bit of a crazy departure time, but I didn't mind because it maximized my time in the islands while minimizing my use of vacation time.

I left Frankfurt around 2:30 am Saturday morning and arrived in Grand Canary around 6 am (lost an hour due to time zones). The rental car stands were all still closed, and the bus I needed didn't begin running until 7:30, so I took a taxi to my hotel... or tried to. The taxi driver didn't recognize the name of my hotel, so he got me to the general area and then began the circuitous search for my hotel. I even told him the street name, but to no avail. He went to a local taxi stand and asked another driver, who knew the place and directed him how to get there, but apparently unsuccessfully. We then stopped at stand #2, where he once again asked for directions, and this time was able to find the street, although he took me first to the big hotel at the end of it, which was not mine. I figured I'd just walk from there, but he eventually realized this was not mine, so we got back in and drove back and forth along the 300 meter street until he found the right driveway. What an ordeal for my first 45 minutes in country, but at least I had arrived! I left my bags with the front desk and took my purse and camera with me for a stroll along the beach; the sun was about to rise and I wanted to see that from the sand.

The sun rise was as peaceful and breathtaking as I'd hoped. It was a nice respite after the chaos of navigating an unknown airport, waiting on baggage claim, searching for a rental car, and then a bus, and finally for my hotel... all before 7 am. After the sun was well off the horizon, I began walking along the boardwalk and checking out the little shops and cafes that were not yet open. I passed one cafe as they were beginning to set up for the day and one of the people inside began speaking to me. I tried to be courteous, but I don't speak Spanish, so I was a bit lost in the conversation. At one point though I realized he was introducing himself, so I pointed to myself and said "Dee". He answered back, "Day. Day." I tried again with, "DEE", but he still responded, "Day." So I just smiled and said "okay, that works." Then he turned and yelled something in the direction of the kitchen. He also motioned for me to sit down, but I really didn't want to stay, so I didn't take a chair. A moment later, a young man emerged from the kitchen with a small white cup and a tea bag. Suddenly, I realized he had thought I was asking for tea. They kindly set up a table for me outside and I sat and obligingly drank my tea, though I don't generally like tea. I then paid for the tea and continued my walk along the beach.

I stopped into a tourist office and picked up some info on tour packages and destinations. I was wooed by grand ideas of windsurfing school, scuba lessons, or a skydiving jump or two, none of which actually came to pass. As it happened, I ended up just relaxing the entire trip. In the mornings I slept in. In the afternoons, I slept by the pool. I enjoyed the sun, the sand, the water, the climate, the atmosphere. I met lots of interesting people who spoke all kinds of languages and they showed me the local cuisine and haunts off the beaten path. It was a renewing vacation and I think I would say my favorite destination so far. There is something amazing about the island atmosphere, and the Canaries in particular. The people are friendly and open and you'll find an eclectic mix of cultures and languages all in one spot. I was inspired to really hone my language skills after the trip. I could easily speak English anywhere I went, but seeing people who spoke several languages in the course of their regular day made me want that sort of fluency and ability. Being able to speak another language opens up entire worlds and I feel so limited knowing only English, some German, and a little French. So, I am now deepening my German and French skills with more vigor, and I want to branch out into Spanish as well. It's exciting!

Interestingly, this was the first trip I can remember, that I didn't want to return from. I am the sort who loves to travel, but misses the comforts of home when away for very long. After a little while in even the nicest hotel, I begin to long for my own bed, my own pillows and comforter, non-trial-size soaps and shampoos, a closet full of clothing options rather than the limited choices in my suitcase, etc. I don't miss home too much, in that I always enjoy the trip and the new destinations, but I miss home just enough that when it's time to return from vacation I'm actually looking forward to going back to my normal life. This is the first trip I can think of, where I didn't miss a thing. I wasn't in any great hotel (even had problems getting enough hot water in the shower), but I loved the atmosphere and the people so much that home and all its comforts had no attraction to me. I wanted to leave everything behind and just stay there, which inspired me in another way. I know that is precisely the desire I should have for God, to be so drawn to Him that the comforts of this world have no attraction to me. It was that desire that brought me to Germany when He first called me here, but I've gotten a bit complacent after settling in. It's a natural tendency, I suppose, but I now have something else to seek with new vigor after this trip: rekindling my desire for my first love, Jesus.

Relaxing includes a respite from picture taking, but I did snap a few shots the first morning and last afternoon: Island Adventures - Grand Canary 

My trip to Carlsbad included a Saturday-night stay to lower my airfare, and since my class finished Friday, I decided to spend that Saturday in the San Francisco area where my brother, Steve, and niece, Jen, are living. Knowing Steve was close to San Francisco, I had had the foresight to book a return flight with a lay-over there, so I only had to drive up and then I could catch the second leg of my return flight directly from San Francisco rather than having to come all the way back to the San Diego Airport for my departure.

I coordinated with Steve and Jen and I picked Steve up from Petaluma and we drove down to Jen's place in the heart of San Francisco. Jen played tour guide and took us through each of the major sights. First, we went to a small beach with a great view of the Golden Gate bridge. From there we went to Lombard Street, named "the most crooked street in the world." We drove up the straight portion of Lombard and then down the winding section. Shortly below that we parked and walked back up to get a closer look at the street and the gorgeous view of the city from the top. Jen pointed out the TransAmerica Pyramid from there, and at the top we caught our only view of the famous San Francisco Trolley's. After Lombard, we headed down to Fisherman's Wharf for the remainder of the tour because Jen had to go to work there a few hours later.

The Wharf was my favorite stop. It had a large pier, a boardwalk area filled with shops, and you could see Alcatraz just off shore, but the real highlight was the sea lions! They swim into the harbor and sunbathe on floats there. You can stand on the pier and watch and listen to them. It's like going to a zoo exhibit without cages... they just come into the harbor of their own volition and pose and bark for all the onlookers. The one thing to beware of is the seagull population. They're not so dangerous to people, but they pose a significant hazard to ice cream cones! Mine, in fact, fell victim to these vicious birds of prey. I asked Steve to hold my ice cream cone while I took some pictures of the sea lions. He gladly held mine, while eating his own. He was leaning against the railing with my cone in his left hand over the water (so as not to drip on him or the dock) when a seagull swooped in and scooped it out of his hand and into the water below, where it and several other birds devoured it immediately. I saw the bird and ensuing commotion in my peripheral vision, but paid little attention as I didn't understand the cause of the raucous. When I finished taking a couple pictures I turned to Steve and he said, rather sheepishly, "Uh, Dee, a bird took your ice cream cone." So I pass along the warning, keep your ice cream close, the wharf is a dangerous place for an unprotected ice cream cone! ;-)

Eventually it was time for Jen to go to work, so we said our goodbyes and then Steve and I headed for the Bay Bridge. We got a perfect parking place (the only open street spot for miles) right next to the bridge and arrived just in time for the sun set. It was beautiful and after we'd lingered and soaked it all in, we decided to try and race to the Golden Gate before the sun completely set. It didn't quite work... mainly because we had no idea how to get to the "view point" we were looking for. We did find said destination eventually, but the sun was well gone by then. Oh well. From there we drove around rather aimlessly. We eventually found ourselves near Coit tower and decided to check it out. We went to the top, apparently 10 minutes before they closed it (we learned shortly after), but it was enough to get a nice panoramic view and some skyline photos. Then we decided to explore some more. I was inspired by a post-card shot of the Bay Bridge at night, so we set out to find the location from which it was taken. We went first over to oakland, but that was too far and at the wrong angle. So we headed back toward San Fran and got off at "Treasure Island". We found very little there besides a Naval base, but there was a small parking lot just outside the base where a number of people were gathered admiring the view of the Bay Bridge and San Francisco. I suspect this is where the post-card shot was taken from, though I didn't have a strong enough zoom to frame the same picture. We declared victory for our quest and headed off on a new search, this time for food.

We decided to eat at the Rainforest Cafe in Fisherman's Wharf, where we knew Jen was working that night. We asked if they had any tables in her section because we wanted to surprise her. They were very accommodating, but didn't exactly tell us the plan... a few minutes later Steve and I were seated at this huge, round, *six*-person table in the middle of the room. Talk about awkward! Oh well, it was fun to surprise Jen and nice to see her again. Steve and I tried to ignore the fact that we were sitting at a nearly empty table, and we made sure to tip for six! ;-) After dinner, I drove back to Petaluma and dropped Steve off.

Then next morning I visited Steve while he served at the front desk of his barracks. I gave him copies of my pictures and he gave me directions to the airport. And, just like that, it was time to go. It was really nice to see family so close to Christmas. I'd had no plans or even interest to go anywhere for Christmas, but spending time with family this close to the holiday made me long to spend Christmas Day back home. This will be my second Christmas in Germany, so perhaps next year will be a good time to go home for the holiday.

Highlights from the trip: San Francisco 

While Tai and Frank were here for their honeymoon, I wanted to take them somewhere beyond Germany. Hmm, where to take two newlyweds in Europe... a tough decision. There were quite a number of options, but we narrowed it to Venice and Paris... and since we didn't decide until a couple days before, procrastination chose Paris. And apparently a very good choice ;-).

A few of the marvels of Paris: Paris - The City of Lights 

My friend Marcia sent an email asking if anyone was interested in joining her for a tour she was taking of the French and Italian Riviera. Given my affinity for both beaches and sightseeing, I don't think I need to describe my response. The trip was fun and while it was a bit frustrating dealing with the lack of organization of the tour, it was quite nice to have a guide and I'm now familiar enough to know what to do and not to do whenever I return.

The trip was advertised as a five day tour, although day one was our departure at 6:30 pm followed by an all-night drive to the Riviera, so I don't really consider that a tour day. The first real hint that something was amiss with this tour was revealed at departure time, when Marcia and I met at the departure point and then waited, and waited, and waited for an apparently lost bus. Rather than 6:30, we eventually left shortly after 8pm. It turned out I sat in front of folks who brought a cooler into the bus (though it couldn't fit under the seat or in over head storage). The managed to stuff the cooler between their seat and mine... meaning I could not actually lean my seat back during the night-long ride to the Riviera. I also lacked the foresight to bring a pillow as many others had wisely done. Lessons learned.

We arrived at our first destination, Cannes, France, around noon Friday. Our original itinerary was to spend Friday morning in Cannes... but that was apparently out the window by this point. The weather was beautiful and we were parked right on the gorgeous sandy beach at Cannes, only blocks from the Pallais de Festivals where the movie stars stride along the red carpet at the famed Cannes Film Festival each year. It was perfect weather for a swim and the water was welcome after an entire night on the bus. However, we learned after disembarking that we couldn't have access to our luggage because it was packed wall-to-wall in the container below. So, with no bathing suit I was left to roam hot sunny Cannes in my boots and work-clothes with no chance for a swim or a tan... grr. After 3 hours of sweltering heat staring at a beautiful beach and water I couldn't go in, we hopped back on the bus for the supposed 30 minute drive to our hotel in Nice. Due to traffic on the particular route we took, we arrived at our hotel a little over 3 hours later. Once we got to our hotel, around 6pm, we were informed that the touted hotel pool actually closed at daily at 6:30, so no chance for a swim in the pool given the time necessary to check-in or change into a bathing suit. It was also getting dusk by then and now a little cool for the beach. I was a little bummed, but I figured... okay, tomorrow. After showers and a fresh start, Marcia and I asked for restaurant recommendations from the hotel concierge. We found our way to the recommended spot and although the outdoor tables were either full or reserved we asked about outdoor seating anyway and they found a two-person table for us outside. We then headed back to the hotel and called it an early night. We needed to recover from the previous sleepless night on the bus and prepare for the next morning's 8:30 departure for Monaco.

Saturday morning we left early for Monaco where we toured the richness of this tiny country. The tour guide focused on leading us to the palace explaining that the changing of the guard occurs at noon. Along the way we passed the aquarium (Musee Oceanographique), a small red mock-train that takes people on tours and delivers them at the famed casinos, the botanical gardens, and a large cathedral. Once at the palace, our guide pointed out a few other sights we could explore further and reiterated the directions back to the bus, where we were to be by 3pm. He then took a following of interested people to the train station in order to get a monaco stamp on their passport. He told us of the option the night before but in the rush to get out that morning I had forgotten to bring my passport along, so Marcia and I headed to a tour of the palace residences instead. We followed with a sampling of the nearby gift shops while waiting for the guard changing at noon. The touted event occurred on schedule, but unfortunately we weren't told how popular it was and that one must stand in place quite early in order to catch any view of it. Marcia and I didn't get there in time to be close enough to witness the event. I held my camera above my head and took a picture of it, but I don't quite know what was going on. I wasn't really disappointed though, I just wanted to head back and check out the aquarium. Marcia wanted to see the cathedral so we retraced our steps, reaching the cathedral and the aquarium. They were both breathtaking. The aquarium is built on/into the cliffs and sea water is pumped directly from the Mediterranean up and through the tanks, so many of the fish and other creatures remain in their natural habitat. After the aquarium we checked out the botanical gardens which are beside the aquarium on the edge of the cliff and look out over the water. They too were interesting, as much for the dramatic views of the sea and rocks below as for the vast assortment of flora and fauna. I found it odd that picnicking there was expressly prohibited. I had carried an ice cream cone in with me, but I don't think that qualifies as a picnic and it was nearly gone by the time we reached the regulations signpost anyway. After the gardens it was time to head back toward the bus. After boarding the bus we waited another 35 minutes for stragglers... grrr... and finally departed. As it happened, the trip organizer's mother wanted to stop at a Famous perfume factory on the way back to our hotel. Thus there was a rushed farce of a vote on the matter and suddenly the entire bus was going to the Fragonard Perfume factory in Eze so a couple people could do some shopping. This stop was announced as half an hour, yet the tour guide and bus driver themselves didn't even return until over an hour later, and we didn't actually leave until some time after that. Finally, we arrived back at the hotel... shortly after 6pm (though he'd promised the day before we'd be back by early afternoon). Once again, it was too late for the pool or the beach... grrr. The guide then announced that we were going to leave early the next morning to go to Lucerne, Switzerland for our last day, rather than spend it in the Riviera as the published itinerary had stated. He obviously had some agenda for wanting us there and tried pretty hard to sell this off-topic diversion from the original plan, explaining how beautiful this lake region in Switzerland was and how we could rent paddle boats and take boat rides/tours, etc. He then announced that they had arranged with the hotel for us all to have a 7:30 wake up call and that we would depart at 9 am so we could "spend the day in Lucerne." We were then dismissed to enjoy the rest of our *last* day in Nice, having never gotten to enjoy either the hotel pool or any beach in the Rivera... grrr. I walked down to the beach anyway to take some pictures and Marcia and I met for dinner, during which she struck up a conversation with one of the local street performers and somehow managed to promise him that we would meet him at a local salsa club later that night. I was not keen on the idea. We went back to the hotel to get ready and once there I fell asleep. I thought I could take a quick nap and perk up, but just as in college, the short-nap concept didn't work, and once my body got a taste of sleep, it wasn't going to budge till morning. So Marcia went to the club without me and told me later of all the adventures I missed. I was quite happy to sleep through them, but certainly glad she had a good time.

So, Sunday morning rolls around and I'm awoken not by the phone, but by Marcia, who tells me it's after 8 am. Hm, what about our 7:30 wake-up call we wonder. Then we decide to run downstairs and catch the last 10 minutes of breakfast because it's likely others didn't get a wake up call either, and there's no way the bus is actually going to leave at 9 am. Downstairs we learn from the 6 other people actually awake that none of them had wake up calls either. Marcia and I wolf down some food and headed back to our room to get ready. We knew the bus would be late, but we also wanted to be prepared once it was ready. At 9 am we got a phone call full of attitude from the trip organizer asking where we were and why we weren't downstairs at the bus. I ignored the attitude and simply said, without apologies, that we were packing now and would be down before long. I was down by 9:15 and was directed to wait for the bus driver to open the cargo area so I could put my bags in. He showed up 20 minutes later and informed us that it was full and our bags would have to go inside... grr. The bus finally departed by about 10 am, only one hour late. I was actually impressed by this, given the lack of promised wake-up calls. At least we still had one day of our vacation still left and we'd get to see Lucerne, Switzerland, and spend the day on the lake.

After an eternity of driving, the trip organizer announces that although we've been driving for quite some time we aren't going to make any bathroom stops in the near future because we have an hour and a half left to reach Lucerne and we want to get there as soon as possible because the town starts to shut down around 6 pm on Sundays. However, it was 4:45 at the time of her announcement. Assuming the 1.5 hour estimate was correct (which I doubted given that no time estimate they'd given on our entire tour had been even close) we wouldn't reach Lucerne until 6:15... grr. Eventually, we did reach Lucerne... at 8:30 pm. We drove for 10.5 hours... grr... in the baking sun with utterly ineffective air conditioning... grr... which we were told didn't work because we had put luggage in the overhead luggage compartments. Oh, apparently the AC system in the bus somehow circulates through the luggage compartments and was therefore dependent upon them being empty!?!? What the... grr. So now we free to enjoy lovely Lucerne... for 2 whole hours, in the dark, long after all boat rides had stopped running, when about the only thing one could do was eat dinner... so we did. Then we wandered along the water and I took some photos of what I must admit was a rather picturesque night scene. Afterwards it was back on the bus to head for home.

We got into Heidelberg around 2:45 am Sunday night. The published schedule put us back in Heidelberg Monday afternoon. Monday was the Labor Day holiday, which is why the tour was scheduled for this weekend. It was an American-organized tour with only American passengers, so we all had Monday off. Yet, our tour guide diverged from the published itinerary so we could spend all day Sunday on the road (rather than spend it in Nice and travel at night when we would have been sleeping and when the cool air would not have required a functioning AC). Instead, we spent all day Sunday driving through the heat in order to get back early and have all day of our Monday holiday to sit at home in Heidelberg... grr.

I have now seen both Cannes, and Nice and I could find my way around if I returned, which I definitely plan to do. Monaco was certainly the highlight of the trip with it's beautiful architecture, sea vistas, watercrafts, plant life, museums, and, of course, the breathtaking cliffs. That was all without venturing into the casino at all. Maybe I'll check out the casino at some point, but it doesn't interest me all that much. The trip gave me a taste of the Riveiera and equipped me with adequate knowledge to come back and explore it in more detail on my own. There were many bright spots amidst the frustrations and I am glad I went, but I will certainly think twice should and set my expectations appropriately should anyone ever suggest another Army-organized tour.

Here's my posted album (only Cannes & Monaco thus far, Nice will follow shortly): French Riviera Tour 

So, Mr. Idea-man was at it again. Lee called me Monday and asked if I'd be interested in climbing the Zugspitze this weekend. At 2964 meters, the Zugspitze is the tallest mountain in Germany, of course I want to climb it! It takes a good amount of effort to climb, but doesn't require professional level skills. Given the walking lifestyle I have living in a pedestrian zone here and my jogging habit since last May I'm in the best physical shape I've been in for years, so if ever there were a time to take on the highest mountain in Germany, this is it!

I bought snacks/supplies, borrowed walking poles, a backpack, and a sleeping bag insert from my friend Kevin, packed necessities for Buca and myself for 2 overnights in addition to the hiking & climbing gear, and boarded Lee's explorer around 9:30pm for our 6 hour journey to Ehrwald in Austria where we would begin our trek the next morning.

We woke around 9am, ate breakfast at a restaurant at the base of the mountain, and hit the mountain around 11 am. The first day was mostly hiking. We departed from the base of the Ehrwalder Zugspitzbahn at a height of 1228 meters and headed southeast along route 822. It was a bit overcast, but that helped to keep it cool and more comfortable for our journey. I started out carrying Buca because the ground was quite wet from the night-long rainfall. After about 5 minutes though, I gave up on keeping him dry or clean, and just let him down to enjoy the great outdoors. There were really no other people around so he didn't need to be leashed and could run to his heart's content through the fields. We took plenty of breaks and paced ourselves through the hike. It's amazing how points that look so close can be so far... as in, "oh we *only* need to get through the ridge up there and then a bit further to the hut". Buca had an amazingly endless supply of energy. When Lee and I would stop Buca would take the opportunity to run in big circles around us, or continue on up the path until we called him back. He was continually ahead of us, pausing to look back, make sure we were still following, and then run ahead some more... as if to say, "Come on guys, what's the hold up?"

At 1637 meters altitude route 822 flows into route 801 (Georg-Jger-Steig), which we followed onward. After that we began to face some tall rocky patches that I'd have to lift Buca over as well as narrow ledges with steep drop-offs so after a while I decided to pack Buca into his rucksack even though he was still bounding with energy. A few minutes later it began to sprinkle a bit, and by then, the cold wind was getting to me... not to mention the hours of hiking and the limited sleep the night before. However, only about 200 yards further, at an altitude of 2214 meters, we came upon the most beautiful sight of our entire trek: the Wiener-Neustdter-Htte, our destination for day one. It was so nice to take off my backpack and sit, and no that there was no more hiking for today. Inside, we had some hot soup and cheese sptzle (a german pasta). By the time we finished eating, the weather had completely changed. It was bright and sunny out and I took Buca for a walk around the cabin while I took some pictures of the mountain and the valley and lakes below. Then, it was bedtime for me. I did a few rounds of yoga, hoping to avoid any negative side-effects from the day's strenuous trek and drifted to sleep by about 8pm.

We took it easy the next morning. I got up between 9 and 10, ate breakfast outside and looked up at the snowy mountain face looming before us. It was a bright and sunny morning, which provided some nice motivation but also meant the snow would be slippery and slushy and we'd have lots of little streams to contend with at the bottom. We watched others depart and noted the route they took toward the mountain and up the initial section. Then, we headed out ourselves.

I let Buca walk the first hundred or two yards until we reached the vertical mountain face. I did have to carry him across an early patch of snow (he doesn't do snow ;-), no matter how flat or shallow), but when we hit gravel he sprang ahead as always. At the base of the mountain face, I took off my fleece, put on my harness, and put Buca into his little rucksack. Then I clipped into the metal cabling conveniently installed along certain portions of the designated route up the face. The climb required good physical shape, but not real rock climbing skills (though I found the definitely came in handy). Some people even hold onto the metal cable and just use it to pull themselves up, although this is not recommended practice as it can yank you around a bit and can thereby do more harm than good. The cable is intended as a safety net, so that you can clip your harness to it and be caught in the event that you slip. The beginning was quite wet, as the snow above was melting in the bright sunshine. About halfway we found a relatively flat rock outcropping that made a good picnic spot, so we stopped for lunch. I let Buca out of the rucksack but kept him on my lap, as he was quite interested in exploring and there were too many opportunities for him to take a very long fall. The other travelers along the route were quite enamored with this small white dog in the middle of a steep mountain face. At the same time, they were quite surprised by the fact that we were stopping to eat. Apparently, taking a significant break before reaching one's destination is not a German custom. Many asked with concern whether we had a problem and were a bit perplexed when we said we just stopped to eat lunch and enjoy the view. But, all too quickly, our lunch (and consequently Buca's stint of freedom) was over, and it was time to continue our ascent.

Our next milestone was an abandoned Austrian ski station above at a height of about 2800 meters. I don't know precisely how long it took to reach it, but, in my opinion, this was the most treacherous part of our entire trip. It was the first time it really hit home to me there was actually some risk in this endeavor. Most of this section had no cabling, so if you slipped, there was a good chance you wouldn't stop... until the ground broke your fall. In addition, by this altitude there was a number of inches of snow. The snow was slushy and slippery and underneath it was often loose rocks and gravel. I was also a bit tired by then (about two-thirds of the way up the face following a day of strenuous hiking) and probably dealing with some effects of altitude, so it was easy to start rushing and getting sloppy. I had to keep focused and make sure to be well balanced with good handholds before taking each new step. Even getting a handhold was harder than I'd expected because many of the rocks I reached for turned out to be loose so it'd take a couple tries to get a stable hold. All in all, it was basic stuff requiring physical fitness, caution, and common sense, but no special climbing skills. After a good while of this visions of tragic National Geographic climbing stories entered my thoughts and I began to think I had not fully grasped what I was getting myself into when I eagerly agreed to "climb the tallest mountain in Germany." Nevertheless, I just continued, one step after another, and some while later found myself at the abandoned Austrian station. I found a small dry patch there and sat down with great relief, hoping the next push to the summit would be easier, or at least have cabling. My hopes were encouraged when the next stretch began with stable footing and a reassuring cable. It seemed from there to the top only got easier and easier. There was a bit of climbing to get up over the ridge and then the continuation on the other side, was a nice dry path in the sun with cabling the entire length. With few exceptions, we were practically walking along an inclined sidewalk all the way to the top once we crossed the ridge. A nice and comfortable ending to our great adventure.

We reached the main station at the top about an hour before the last gondola down. There I learned that the "official" summit was a short and easy climb further. For a few moments I toyed with the idea of simply declaring victory where we were (since it was our original goal) and calling it quits. But I soon mustered the motivation to continue on "just a short bit" to the official summit marker. I couldn't really come this far and not go to the peak, tempting as it was to stop short. Buca and I got our picture taken together at the summit marker, and I even took him out of the rucksack on a clearing nearby to take a picture of him standing majestically at the top. He had, after all, out paced us for the entire hike the first day, and I'm sure would have done so the second day as well if it the terrain had not been physically impossible for him to traverse. Thus, he certainly deserved to stand on the summit. Although, I had to find a protected spot, as there can be sudden strong gusts at the summit and I didn't want my 6-pound little boy becoming a Buca kite.

We caught the last gondola down at 4:40 pm. The truck was parked at the bottom and we quickly hopped in and headed back. According to plan, we made a pit stop in the nearby town of Garmisch. There we had dinner at a typical German brewery located appropriately on Zugspitze Street. We ate outside and looked back, with great satisfaction, at the mountain we had just climbed. An indulgent ending to a productive weekend. Even Buca got a tasty indulgence when I gave him the center bone from Lee's pork dinner. The bone was more than half Buca's length, and he dragged it around in circles trying to figure out what to do with it... but it was well worked over when he was finally done and the full stomach combined with the weekend's adventures had him sleeping like a log the entire way home.

Here are the photos from our adventure: Zugspitze Ascent 

With Rocio gone Buca and I are jogging on our own now. Since Rocio always had pockets for keys, I needed a new plan for carrying them now. So began the saga of my endless Sunday evening. I decided I could hold the main door key for downstairs and simply stash my apartment key somewhere outside the apartment door. This might have been a good plan, except for where I decide to store the key. After minutes of searching for a clever place out of sight, I gave up and decided to just leave it on the door frame above the door in plain view. I mean, who is going to get in the locked front door of the building and then pass by the other apartments all the way to mine? So, I reached up, placed the key above the door and let go... only to see it slip immediately out of sight!?!?!

Apparently, there is about a 5 millimeter gap between the door frame and the wall... and it just swallowed my key. I stared at it for a moment, dumbfounded, and then began to ponder my options. I couldn't think of any good solutions, so I decided to go for my run and deal with the key/door afterward. I managed to completely forget about the problem as I ran and didn't remember until Buca and I returned to the locked door. I was rather clear-headed by then and decided to go to Katze's and ask if she had some tweezers or a magnet or something with which I might be able to retrieve my key. She and Kai turned out to be there and after some catching up, I mentioned my problem and they gave me several little gadgets we thought would be effective.

I returned to my apartment and attempted to retrieve my key from the wasteland. Unfortunately, after an hour of trying to retrieve it, I had only made it completely unreachable. So, I returned to Katze's place and broached the subject of Schlsseldienst ("locksmiths"). They searched the phone book and called one who appeared closeby. I had no idea even what the price range was for something like that or even whether they had 24-hour type of services in Germany. I was relieved to learn that it would be only 90 (about $115) and the person could meet me at my apartment in a few minutes.

Buca and I ran back to the apartment to wait for him. He arrived within 30 minutes and I took him up to the scene of the night's calamity. However, after looking at the door he said the one word I really didn't want to hear, "Oh"... in a tone that sank at the end. Then he said, "You locked it." Which confused me at first because I'm thinking if I hadn't locked it why would I call a locksmith, couldn't I just open the door? He explained that many doors in germany don't open from the outside and he thought I had just walked out without my keys. It was basically a matter of a doorknob lock versus a dead-bolt. My door doesn't have a doorknob lock. It can only be locked with a key, which sets the dead-bolt. So, apparently the only way in is to destroy the existing lock and replace it, which would be 150 . I didn't care at this point, I just wanted back into my apartment. It was after midnight; I'd been locked out of my apartment and jogging back and forth across town for over 4 hours now; I was tired, hot, and sweaty and I had to get up for work in about 6 hours. Cost was no longer an issue.

He went back down to his car and brought up the tools to remove my existing lock. I figured that removing my existing lock would involve drilling or something equally loud and I was concerned creating such a raucous in the middle of the night. He pulled a metal tube about 10 inches long from his toolbox, and I turned around to pick up Buca and get out of the way for the big event. I turned back to find my door open and the locksmith inside with a whole in my door where the lock used to be. It took about 3 seconds and didn't make any noticeable noise... apparently I needn't be concerned about the sound... my security, perhaps, but not the sound. ;-)

So, 4 and a half hours and 160 (incl tip) later I was back where I started... in my living room. It all seemed a bit useless and wasteful. On the bright side, I am told that I have a better lock on the door now that will require far more than the ease of last one to remove. On the not-so-bright side, to add embarrassment to injury, I had done my laundry earlier in the day and laid it out to dry just before going jogging. I hung most of my clothes outside, except my unmentionables, which I didn't want outside where they might be seen (even though my balcony is fairly private). Those somewhat private clothes were instead hanging all over a wheeled chair I placed in the hallway because there it was both near the washer and directly in the breezeway of the open balcony door. Unfortunately, that position was also next to the front door (needless to say I wasn't expecting company), so when the locksmith did open the door he walked right into a chair covered in my underwear. I hurriedly moved it into the kitchen out of the way and out of site, and consoled myself with the hopeful thought that I'll never see him again. What a night... now, on to bed.

My roommate is on summer break until October and she's spending it at home in Peru. When she does return to Germany she'll be in Heidelberg a couple of weeks and then move to Stuttgart for her next semester. So, I'm basically on my own now. She left on August 10th, while I was in London so we had to say our goodbyes before I left, and we arranged for her to take Buca to a neighbor's place for one day between her leaving and my arriving. She left Tues morning and I was returning Wednesday evening. I picked up Buca as soon as I came home, so I wasn't totally alone. We'll see what the next few days are like, but so far it hasn't really sunk in yet that she is gone. I don't know if it will be nice to have the space and quiet, or if I will miss the company and interaction. I suppose time will tell.

So I had a trip to London for work. Sounds pretty exciting, and it was eventful... but not in the way you might expect. I worked on my computer at the airport before takeoff, and again on the train on my way to the hotel. I had planned to review my briefing that night at the hotel before presenting it the next morning. However, upon arriving at the hotel, I opened my computer and heard an odd clicking noise. Believing it was the CD drive, which has always given me a few problems, I inserted a DVD, hoping to appease the system. It did not help, the machine hung when trying to read the region 2 DVD since it was on a Region 1 setting. I rebooted and tried to change the setting, but the machine hung again. I tried a 3rd reboot which didn't completely finish, then a 4th.... and suddenly I saw the most frightening sight... a small folder in the center of my screen with a blinking question mark. I tried rebooting, and was met with the same fate. So I shut it off and gave up.

The next morning I managed to give my presentation. I had no rehearsal, but lots of prayer, and as always God came through. I was quite pleased with the way it went. One person from my management chain was there (I think he is my manager's manager... I'd have to study an org chart to know precisely). His presence was a real blessing. For one, it was nice to have one person in the audience who already knew me and I didn't feel I needed to prove myself to, that relieved a bit of pressure. And, he addressed some of the larger issues I was asked, because he's better connected to what's going on across the corporation as a whole. The whole thing really went better than I had even dared to hope for. God always come through when I stop trying to do it all myself and just trust Him. If only I would learn that lesson a little better and turn to Him first, instead of as a last resort. Oh well, these are the faith-building experiences that help me get to that point.

That evening I tried to boot my computer after giving it a whole day of rest. It managed to boot into a secondary partition I have on the machine. From there I could read my 3rd partition, but not my main partition. Still, getting to the 3rd partition was good because it was my storage partition and contained all my recent pictures (from the ski trip and castle lighting cruise, etc). I was able to copy those to my 1GB compact flash card as well as a few other important files I had backed up to the storage partition. I couldn't get to my email, my address book, my calendar, or my documents folder, unfortunately... but I do have backups from June.

I was a little disappointed that I never got any time to myself to sight see or explore London. I arrived late Sunday and then Monday night I went to dinner with a coworker and my manager from Boston. We did go to a cool Indian restaurant and had a good time sharing jokes, but it was near the hotel and I didn't experience much of London in the process. Tuesday night was occupied by an organized dinner with everyone from the conference, and Wednesday I was scheduled to leave in the afternoon directly after the conference let out. I actually decided Tuesday to stay an extra day for some sightseeing... but when I tried to switch my flights I learned that I was booked on a non-refundable, non-changeable ticket. So my only option to stay longer was to buy an entirely new ticket back and just not use the existing return ticket for anything. And, buying one day in advance didn't leave any reasonable prices for a new return ticket, so I gave up on the notion of getting to see any more of London than my hotel and surrounding buildings. Still, it was more interesting than a typical day at the office, and I learned about a lot of neat places to visit the next time I'm in London. ;-)

More cruising on the Neckar river! Okay, maybe this isn't "cruising", but I was on the water! It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon and I wanted to make the most of it. So I called my friend Tricia who lives just a couple blocks from me and suggested the idea of paddle-boating. She was into it, so we walked across the new bridge and inquired at the boat house there. Typical for Germany, there were lots of rules and restrictions, but we didn't need any license or training beforehand and (also typical for Germany) dogs were allowed. So, Buca donned his bright yellow lifejacket and we all hopped in one of Heidelberg's popular blue-and-white paddle boats.

We began by paddling down to the old bridge. Buca kept trying to make himself comfortable on either my lap or Tricia's, but with both of us paddling away, the instability didn't make for a good perch. Eventually I lifted him up and set him on the bench behind us. There he stood happily reaching his nose over the edge of the boat and taking in the river breeze and all the interesting smells it must have carried.

Once we reached the Old Bridge we turned around (as the rules stated we were not permitted beyond it) and headed back through the New Bridge and beyond. I was unfamiliar with this area and we found an island and decided to circle it. In the narrow passageway between the island and the riverbank, we found a group of kids jumping from trees into the river to cool off. It looked like fun, but I rather preferred staying dry (and again the paddle boat rules stated we could neither jump overboard, nor beach and disembark). Around that time, the clouds began to roll in and seemed to threaten rain. So we headed in. It turned out to be only 10 for an hour. Quite reasonable for a fun afternoon experience.

I just can't get enough of these castle illuminations... At Janie's party she mentioned that the Heidelberg Ski club was organizing a river cruise for a 4 Castle lighting event. My friend Kevin was also going so I asked him to pick up a ticket for me as well.

The boat left from the docks near my apartment at 8pm. We headed east along the Neckar river, which took us right by the Heidelberg castle. It turned out I knew lots of folks on board. In addition to Kevin, who got my ticket, Lee, Celeste, and Bill, with whom I went skiing last weekend were all aboard as well. Since the trip was organized by the Heidelberg Ski club, and all of them live in Heidelberg and (obviously) ski, it makes a bit of sense that they would be there. The mini-reunion made the trip all the more enjoyable.

The boat went through two locks on our journey and then reached Neckarsteinach, where there are 4 castles visible from a single vantage point, and all light up simultaneously (similar to the Heidelberg lighting) followed by fireworks. The boat anchored and we all went topside for the show. It turned out these castles were a bit smaller, but their lighting was cool nonetheless. The fireworks that followed were quite nice and since I couldn't see over anyone outside, I headed inside, where I found a perfect view by an open window! After the big event, the boat headed back to Heidelberg, and my friends and I danced to the live band the whole way back. It was too dark for scenery by then, so we enjoyed the inside festivities instead.

The whole night was a blast... for the friends, the dancing, the water, the fireworks, the castles, and the pictures! Another cool experience in Europe.

Yes, you can can experience a winter wonderland in July this side of the equator. I know, because I did it this weekend! The trip was the brainchild of my friend Lee (yes, the same Lee of the Schloparty a few weeks back - he seems to have a preponderance of good ideas). He emailed me mid-week and asked if I wanted to go skiing in Austria. Never being one to miss a cool sight-seeing or sports opportunity, I answered with a resounding, "YES!"

Lee, Bill, Celetse, and I piled into Lee's explorer and headed south, about 6 hrs, to a year-round ski resort on a glacier in Hintertux, Austria. July, of course, is not high season, but a number of lifts and runs are open at the peak (3285 meters). I quickly learned there a number of differences between skiing during high season and skiing during off season. The first of these differences was apparent when we arrived at our hotel Friday night. My room was the largest I've seen in any hotel in Europe. I had a king size bed, an adjacent living room area, two bathrooms, a huge private balcony, bathrobes, extra towels for the included hotel sauna, etc. The reason I've never seen such a room in Europe is that it apparently goes for 280 ($350-$400) a night in the normal season, but at this time of year it was just 60/night. Excellent!

The next advantage of off-season skiing became apparent to me the following morning, when we were able to park within meters of the ticket booths and lift gates, and when we found no lines at either. I'm told you can't park within a few miles of the lifts at Hintertux even as early as October. We boarded the gondola and rode up several stages to the bottom of the peak where I rented boots and skis and we then boarded the last gondola to reach the top.

It was at the onset of our first slope that I learned one of the *dis*advantages to off-season skiing. Because not all the runs and lifts are open, there is no way to get directly to a blue/easy run from the lift. One must ski down a red-black (medium-hard) slope to get to the blue slopes. My total skiing experience to date consisted of 3 days in Alpendorf, Austria last March and now away from them for months, I had to ski down a somewhat icy red/black. Aaaaiiiieeee! I did manage it... slowly. My friends might argue it was "very slowly" since they were kind enough to wait with me ;-). It was all downhill after that (hahaha... okay, I don't like puns either, that was the only one I promise). On the blue runs I began to get pretty comfortable, and then learned the next disadvantage of off-season skiing. The snow is only groomed until around 1pm and after that it gets a little mushy and useless, so you can't really ski a whole day. Still fun though!

The weather was pretty favorable. Our first day was a bit overcast, but that kept the snow skiable longer and gave us more time on the slopes. Sunday, when we had to leave early to come home anyway, the sun was bright and beautiful, making for unbelievable panoramas at 3285 meters. I took plenty of little falls, and one major, high-speed, face-plant, from which I stood up, without any injury, but to the surprising realization that in an instant I had lost my skis, my poles, my hat, my earphones, my sunglasses, etc. I'm told that is called a yard sale. All was recoverable pretty quickly though. And I learned that skiing is yet another great use of my new iPod mini!

I had such a blast at Janie's party for the last Heidelberg Castle Illumination that I decided to throw my own this time. Several of my friends drove down from Darmstadt to check out the event. Since I know nothing of beer or wine, I decided to stick with what I do know: juice. I set up my mega-blender and provided precut bowls of various fruits. I also provided some juices and both lemon vodka (Absolute Citron) and vanilla vodka (Absolute Vanilla) for those who prefer alcohol with their fruit (or fruit with their alcohol?). There were also brownies and muffins galore.

For atmosphere, I set up a music video playlist to run continuously on my Apple LCD monitor. I had the volume on low so it wasn't intrusive. A lot of people were pretty enamoured with the monitor, which I found humorous, given that it's over 3 years old and not even produced any more. Apples are beautiful things. ;-)

About 45 minutes before the event we left my apartment and headed toward a small pedestrian bridge that has a nice view of both the castle and the river where we could watch both the lighting and the fireworks without having to move from place to place. Just as we arrived at the bridge it began to rain. Rather than wait the next 30 minutes in the rain, we decided to hold up in a nearby pub until the event began. By the time we left the pub it had stopped raining and just as we reached the middle of the bridge the first fireworks went off. We had a great view and the rain politely stayed away. All in all, a great evening. I didn't take pictures though. During the party I was a bit tied up playing hostess and I already have pictures of the lighting & fireworks from last month.

Not surprisingly, Germans don't celebrate July 4th. ;-) So, I decided to go somewhere that does... Boston! This was my first trip home since I moved almost a year ago. There were people to see, restaurants to patronize, familiar haunts to visit, movies to watch, etc. Buca came along because he missed friends and places from home too.

We spent our first few days visiting friends and running errands, then spent the rest of the trip relaxing. We visited with my pastor and his family, spent lunch and dinner with my brother, Steve, saw my roommate Judy and her dog, Emma, and even went out to western Mass to spend an afternoon with Judy's son Alex who was off at summer camp. During this time I also went to work and caught up with folks there, went to my dentist for a checkup, and took Buca to his vet for his annual checkup, shots, and a new international health certificate.

By Saturday, it was time to relax. That evening Peter and I went to the Prudential tower. We caught the views from the Skywalk observatory and ate dinner at The Top of the Hub, a rather fancy restaurant with beautiful views of the city. Since Peter had reserved a nice window table I made sure to bring my camera along. ;-)

The rest of my vacation was spent playing with Buca at the park, lounging with Buca on the couch catching up on English movies, strolling along the pier and ice cream shops at Marina Bay, and simply enjoying a slower pace. I went to church Sunday to visit again with my pastor and others I'd missed, but that was the only scheduled event for days. The down time was exactly what I needed!

My friend Mark had a birthday and decided to celebrate in style. He planned a beach holiday in Italy and invited all his friends to join him. A total of twelve of us from around Germany and London convened on a small beach resort in Italy named Pescara. Ever since I arrived in Europe, I've been ready for any opportunity to visit Italy and Pescara was a fine place to start. It's directly across from Rome on the eastern coast and, while a little touristy since it is a beach resort, it is still new to outside tourism. This definitely made it more interesting. Unlike many "tourist" areas, the store clerks and restaurant staff rarely spoke any English, though happily our hotel was an exception. The menus and signs were also strictly Italian. It did make for a some interesting experiences the first few times we ate, but I much prefer that to some places I've visited where I could hardly tell I was in another country.

We left the night of Wednesday, June 9th, Mark's actual birthday. From Germany it was less than a 2 hour flight, but it was directly over the alps, which made for some great scenery. When we got in we just had dinner and then crashed. Our first real day was spent relaxing on the beach. I enjoyed the sun, the sand, my mp3 player, and occasionally a dip in the water (though it's still a bit cold). The following day we split up a bit. Some went out on paddle boats, some spent another day at the beach. I explored the city a little on my own and ran across an amazing second-hand shop. I thought it would be the perfect place to find cool Italian antiques. I didn't find much of those, though I did get a nice china espresso set. Instead, I was surprised to find amazing clothes. I thought I might pick up a cheap jacket, because the nights were rather cold and I didn't bring anything with long sleeves. Once I began looking I was amazed at the quality of the clothes. They were all in perfect condition, quite stylish, and many were name brands and/or still had new tags on. I ended up getting a gorgeous burgundy Italian leather jacket for 30€ that would have been over $300 in the States. I even found a cute Versaci dress for just 18€, but like the rest of Italy, this shop was closing at 1pm so I didn't have time to try everything on. In Italy the shops close at 1pm for "siesta" and would reopen at 4 or 5 pm. So, I left there just before one, took my things back to the hotel, and joined a few of the others on the beach. That evening we planned a day trip for the following day to a town called Sulmona.

Sulmona is a Medieval village up in the mountains. It was an hour from Pescara by train and the ride itself was a beautiful tour through the southern Italian countryside. The town lived up to the Lonely Planet description. The entire place felt like a time warp... streets, fountains, statues, doors, churches... everything straight out of a postcard. And the town was surrounded by mountains; any street you look down you'd see a horizon of mountains looming in the distance. We wandered the small town from end to end, checking out the main sights and stopping often for ice cream or frozen drinks to counteract the heat.

When we returned from Sulmona, we grabbed dinner and then headed to a dance club on the beach. It was an outdoor setup with, with a temporary floor, lights, and a sound system all setup in the sand without any kind of roof. We danced until nearly 4am and then I stayed up the rest of the night because I wanted to take pictures of the sunrise.

The sunrise was spectacular and worth every minute of lost sleep. I went down to the water just before the sun broke over the horizon and took countless photos as it slowly edged skyward. Once it was well off the horizon, I went for a jog. It was nice to run along the shore in the cool, quiet time of the day. I jogged maybe 2 miles and ended back where I had started. Then I stopped for a while to read the Word and pray in the quiet stillness of the beautiful Sunday morning. When I finished, I went back to my room and got ready for church.

I had asked some Italian friends earlier Saturday night where I might find a non-Catholic church in Pescara. It took a bit of asking around, but eventually someone remembered an Evangelic church nearby. I asked for further information at the hotel and they gave me specific directions. I didn't know when services began, but decided to just head over as soon as I was ready. The walk was much further than the staff at the hotel had told me (they estimated 20 min, it took 45), but it didn't matter since God was overseeing the trip. Even though I was much later than I'd intended and had no idea when services were, through God's providence, I quite perfectly arrived 10 minutes before the service began. It was a very small church in the side of a plain building and the people were clearly spirit-filled and full of the love of Christ.

Immediately someone came to greet me and when I smiled but didn't respond he said "English?" To which I happily replied, "Yes." He told me about the church and we chatted a little about how I came to be there. He showed me to a seat and then departed, but returned a few minutes later with a young guy visiting from Rome who spoke great English. This guy, Febrizzio was going to translate the service for me. Wow! And, despite his apologies for his poor English (which wasn't poor at all), the message came through perfectly. When God wants to speak to his children, language is no barrier. I was overcome by how at home I felt and how familiar everything was. Someone stood and spoke of how we are to be *eagerly* desiring the Lord's return, but often we get caught up in our worldly lives and don't think much about His return. We pray instead for God to give us spouses, or jobs, or fix some current problem to make this life better (which is certainly a good thing), but rarely does anyone pray for Jesus to return and, really, what could be getter than that? With so much focus on denominations and schisms in the church body, I was really struck by just how much unity there is. Here were people in an unfamiliar country, speaking another language, with upbringings and experiences completely different from mine, yet they clearly know the same God that I do and seek His face in the same ways. The oneness of the body of Christ transcends time, location, lifestyle, language, etc. It is just astounding. After the service I was invited to stay for lunch and got to experience fresh, homemade Italian food authentically cooked by the Italian mothers and grandmothers.

I got back to the hotel in the afternoon and spent a few hours with the rest of the entourage before they headed to the airport (I was staying one day later than the others). Shortly after they left, around 6pm, I went on up to bed. I hadn't slept for about 33 hours and had walked all over Sulmona, danced till 4am, jogged about 2 miles, and walked another several miles to and from the church. I was beat! I slept all night and awoke the next morning to pack up my things and depart the room by the 10 am checkout.

I spent my last day traveling to a small neighboring town named Chieti (Kee-eh'-tee). I went there to check out the Italian National Archeological Museum. Unfortunately, Lonely Planet failed to mention that it is closed on Mondays. :-( Still, it was nice to travel and spend my last day somewhere other than Pescara, which I knew pretty well at this point. Chieti is a small town with a nice historic city center situated on a mountaintop with panoramas in all directions. In the city center I found an interesting cathedral and a cool stationary shop (those who know me well will understand that was a highlight for me ;-)). It was a relaxing final day and I returned to Pescara early to enure a stress-free trip to the airport. I got back to Germany around midnight and then drove 2 1/2 hrs to get to Heidelberg. It was a great trip, but at 3am, I was quite happy just to see my own bed. ;-)

Germans will have a fest or party for just about any occasion. In Heidelberg, they even celebrate a fire that destroyed the castle. Three times a year they simulate the fire with pyrotechnics in the castle and then shoot fireworks from the Alte Brcke. Pyrotechnics to commemorate a terrible fire. I can't vouch for the wisdom in it, but I will say it sure makes a great spectacle!

This year a member of the Haus (a local Christian fellowship I participate in) invited the whole gang to her place for the festivities. Her place is perfectly situated to view the castle and the fireworks. This was the first Schlobeleuchtung of the year and personally my first ever. It began with two fireworks shot out from the castle. Then the whole castle lit up with red pyrotechnics, which were made more dramatic against the red sandstone bricks of the castle. The pyrotechnics glowed, flickered, and even bellowed smoke, giving a pretty realistic appearance of a castle on fire. They burned bright for a few minutes and then smoldered out, leaving the castle completely dark. Next the fireworks over the river began. It was a typical large firework display, with the exception of these unique cascades of white fireworks streaming off the sides of the bridge into the water. It was a very cool effect and looked like glowing waterfalls. Anyway, words can't do it justice, so I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

My friend Lee rented out the Fakeller, a room in the Heidelberg castle, to throw a great party. It was a graduation celebration because the next morning he was walking across the stage to receive his Masters . The night consisted of an endless stream of awesome food beginning with a more-than-you-could-possibly-eat dinner buffet, then a dessert buffet for a few hours, followed finally by a breakfast buffet at midnight. There was also music and dancing, with a great DJ who was open to playing all my requests!! The party ran from 7:30pm to 3am, and I stayed till the end with a number of friends. The greatest part was, when it was time to go, I just had to walk down the stairs and a few blocks to my apartment! The whole thing was truly amazing. A rare experience, even in Europe where one is surrounded by castles.

I ran a 5km route in the Bensheim Volksmarch with Rocio and Buca! Depending on how well you know me, you may or may not know that my mom is a runner. That, in addition to her strict vegetarian diet, is one thing we have never had in common. While I was in high school she was gone almost every weekend at some 5k, 10k, biathlon, triathlon, etc. I jogged a 1 mile route with her once at one of her races and that was my one and only foray into the sport of running. She was always so into running and whenever we would happen to see or drive by someone jogging she would yell out as loud as she could "Go Runner!" with an ear-to-ear smile and a big thumbs up. I found it rather embarrassing in high school, though it now sounds cute and encouraging.

So, about 3 weeks ago my college roommate Tiffani visited me in Heidelberg. She ran a marathon last January and has been running ever since. She went for a run most of the mornings she was visiting. Oh, and she too is vegetarian now (is she turning into my mom?). Anyway, spending a whole week indulging in vacation-type eating habits (crepes in France, wurst in Germany, desert with every meal, etc) while at the same time seeing her running regularly and eating healthy, I found myself motivated to try some running when she left. I began with my first jog the night Tiffani left. It was 2 miles and I couldn't make it the whole way without walking portions, but it felt healthy nonetheless. I repeated it again the next night, and the next, and so on. I've been averaging 5 or 6 nights a week, and I'm really enjoying it (especially with a need to be bikini-ready for a beach trip to Italy in June).

Yesterday some of my friends from work were talking about going to a Volksmarch in Bensheim. My officemate Mike was running the marathon and some other folks were going along to do some lighter exercise and meet him at the finish line with a beer. When I heard them mention a 5km, I realized that's not much more than what I'm doing every night now, so I decided to tag along. It was a neat course through the city (the longer distances went into the hills, but the 5km route was pleasantly flat). Rocio and I ran together with Buca and I paused a couple times to take some pictures. The whole time I could picture my mom driving by and yelling out "Go runner!"

Here are my pics: Bensheim Volksmarch 

Today was the German holiday Himmelfahrt ("heaven trip") which we know in the states as Ascension Day. Being Germans, of course, they celebrate it with a festival. The festival was held in a town called Wstenrot, about an hour and a half from Heidelberg. I put in for the day off a month ago and Rocio and I went together to hear Delirious? and Rebecca St. James. Concerts began at 3:30 and went until midnight. Delirious? & RSJ were the headliners, but we saw several other great bands too. It was a one-day outdoor festival set in the middle of the countryside.

We got to see Rebecca St. James up close when she gave an interview in the dinning tent before heading off to perform. During the concerts we had a pretty good spot for Rebecca St. James (maybe 10 meters or so from the stage) and an even better spot for Delirious? (about 4 meters from the stage). The crowd was really into Delirious? though. Thankfully, there was no moshing, but the crowd was really packed and Rocio and I were often swept up in the dense wall of people and literally moved a good meter or so at a time, sometimes forward, sometimes back, and sometimes just side to side. It was the first time I'd been in the really dense areas of a concert crowd like that. But the music and worship was amazing and I brought my big camera (SLR) and got a few nice pictures.

The Army hosted a tour of Frankfurt and I decided to check it out. My officemate Mike Allington and his family came along as well. We began in Darmstadt and took a train up to Frankfurt. We walked from Frankfurt's Hauptbahnhof ("main train station") to the "Green Belt" a park that encircles the Alt-Stadt portion of the city, and then on to the Alter Opera, along the "Pond Path" to the Eishenhiemer Tower (a remnant from the original city wall that is now a pub), by the Frankfurt English Movie Theatre (where they have a multi-plex which plays first run English Language films). Next, we walked down to the Zeil, the "Rodeo Drive" (though not really expensive) of Europe and climbed through the multilevel Shopping Mall to the roof for a free view of Downtown Frankfurt from the roof top observatory where we learned about other places to see in the city. We descended back down to street level and walked down the hill towards the river through the Liebefrau Platz, with a brief detour to point out the International Market place where they sell fresh produce, poultry, fish, and cheeses from all over Europe and Asia. From the Liebefrau we continued down hill to the St Paul's Platz. There we toured St. Paul's Church where the first German Democratic Congress was held and where JFK made his speech while visiting Frankfurt. Across the street in the Romer or Rathaus Platz we found a fully restored façade of a medieval German city street, a Roman Ruin (the only building in Frankfurt to suffer NO war damage), a chapel, various interesting shops, and several museums. At the time we passed through there were Japanese dancers performing an intricate show and several people in street close all sitting in a full lotus on the ground in orderly rows.

Our last stop was the Main River with it's five bridges, floating restaurant, and "Museum Strasse". We arrived early enough to catch the end of the flea market held along the south shore of the river every Saturday. At the river the tour ended and our friendly guide reviewed one more time how to take the train home before dismissing us to explore Frankfurt further on our own.

It was a beautiful day. I saw all sorts of neat sites, and most importantly I now know my way around a key area in Frankfurt. Having a base understanding now, I'll be able to learn more and more of the surrounding areas until, eventually, I'll get to know all of Frankfurt pretty well.

My friend Natalie at The Haus arranged a mission trip to London and I signed up. We went to serve in the soup kitchens with the Missionaries of Charity (Mother Theresa's organization). Thursday (Apr 1) Natalie, Jackie, Kevin, and I flew to London. We got in after 1 am and had to leave the hotel at 6:30 the next morning. It was chaotic to say the least. We managed to get up and out the next morning, but were late enough that we had to run the entire half mile from the hotel to the train station. We took the tube to Elephant & Castle stop and from there walked to the transitional house run by the nuns. We began by cleaning house, scrubbing bathrooms, mopping floors, etc. Then we helped with the food preparations and readied for the 10:30 am meal to the homeless. We served food and waited tables for the 10:30 meal and then cleaned up and did it all over again for the noon lunch. The noon meal is just for the people living in the transitional house. After we served them we each had a plate for ourselves. We then cleaned up and were on our own for the rest of the day.

We took our free evening and headed into Leicester Square to catch a showing of Mel Gibson's film The Passion. We can't see it in English in Germany, so this was a nice opportunity. It was an amazing film, and I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it. I was surprised though that I didn't cry. I brought lots of tissues expecting to be balling, but I didn't need one. I water up just reading the account in the bible, but seeing in on screen for some reason didn't affect me that way. I don't know whether it was too intense and my senses shut down as a defense, or whether I'm just trained to disregard brutality on the big screen. Whatever the reason, it was odd not to react to it the way everyone else I know has, and I began to wonder a bit what's the matter with me?

Saturday morning we returned to the transitional house and followed much the same routine as Friday. Although, a friend of Natalie's, Father Marconi, came down from Oxford to perform the Mass that morning. He had put Natalie in touch with the sisters to arrange the trip in the first place. Father Marconi was a lot of fun to meet. He is a very entertaining guy and by far the coolest priest I've encountered, though my only comparison was from my parochial school days at St. Paul's. Our time with the sisters concluded again around 1 pm and we were then free to explore London for the afternoon. We browsed the local shops and had dinner at a nearby Thai restaurant before heading back to St. George's Cathedral by the transitional house. There the local high school performed a dramatic reenactment of Christ's crucifixion. I expected a rather amateur kids play, but it was actually quite elaborate and professional. The actors/singers were quite talented and each had a wireless headset microphone, the props were sparse, but well done, there were several kinds of lighting effects, and a substantial live orchestra. It was quite a good show.

Afterwards, we headed to the bus station and caught a bus to Oxford where we were spending our remaining day since the sisters have more than enough help on Sundays. Father Marconi met us at the bus station and took us to a nearby apartment he'd arranged for us. It was quite late and we just chatted for a while and then headed to bed. The next morning we attended Palm Sunday Mass conducted by Father Marconi. When it concluded he took us on a tour through several of the colleges of Oxford University. Being affiliated with the university he could take us into a number of sights not open to the public. The architecture everywhere was amazing and we got to see a number of interesting sights, including the filming site for Harry Potter and the church founded by John Wesley. Our last stop was the Eagle & Child, the pub frequented by a group called "The Inklings", which included C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as well as other famous writers of that day. It is cool to visit a place and know that historic figures you admire such as John Wesley and C.S. Lewis were present at the same spot in another time. We had roast beef and yorkshire puddings for lunch with Father Marconi before heading to the airport to return to Germany. It was a great trip with an unnatural peace about it. We were staying up late, getting up early, and often rushing from one place to another, and yet it was a refreshing time of renewal. The experience reminded me very much of fasting, in that my outside influences don't change (I still have the same responsibilities, deadlines, workload, etc.) but my attitude amidst them is completely different. When fasting, I can do just as much, if not more, and never feel stressed or weighted down. This trip was the same. On the outside there were lots of schedules and work and pressures, but I never felt stress, and in fact found myself renewed and ready to face work and everything waiting for me at home.

Trust in the Lord your God with all your heart and all your mind and lean not on your own understanding and the peace of God which passes understanding will guard your hearts and mind in Christ Jesus.

Okay, the big day is here and we started it off right... by sleeping in. After all, we were recovering from yesterday's early start. But, once awake, we got right to work. I began prepping and Steve and Rachel helped with peeling the sweet potatoes. Then I sent them off to explore a bit so they didn't spend so much of their vacation with tedious chores. Rachel wanted to make a desert to contribute to the meal. So we ventured out to buy ingredients (since Thanksgiving is conveniently not a holiday in Germany everything was open). I didn't know how complex her ingredients list was and didn't think to ask beforehand, and she, naturally, was not used to the grocery store being German. So, we had a bit of an issue trying to find cornstarch... and distinguish it from flour, powdered sugar, baking soda, baking powder, precombined baking mixes, and every other white powder in the baking isle. In the end we finally found something we thought was it, and the desert turned out great, so maybe we guessed right or maybe it was a small enough ingredient not to matter. Sometimes in Germany the smallest thing can be so difficult... partly due to culture differences and partly language barrier. I learn a little more each day.

Anyway, dinner was great. I somehow managed to get all but one dish (steamed broccoli) ready at the same time, so I opted to skip the salad course and omit the broccoli and just serve the main dinner that was hot and ready. There was more than plenty of food already and I'd rather people enjoy it when it's ready than risk something becoming cold or overdone while we eat salad.

I woke up an hour late this morning and raced along the autobahn to the Frankfurt airport. I got there about 15 minutes before my brother and his girlfriend appeared from the customs/baggage claim area. We piled into my car and headed to Heidelberg around 6 am. Their first oh-so-exciting encounter with Germany was driving down the highway in pitch blackness while sleep deprived. Somehow they weren't thrilled by the black German landscape, preferring rather to catch up on sleep than take in the surrounding sights... illuminated highway signs, rest-stops, gas stations, and a few other car headlights. Oh well, I'm sure Germany will grow on them. ;-)

Their arrival nicely coincides with the opening day of the Heidelberg Christmas Market, which will run until Dec 21. We got to wander through the sea of wooden booths and stands selling everything from candles, homemade brushes, and animal skins to candy, crepes, and wurst. There was even a meri-go-round and some rides for small children. Apparently however, the central component of the Christmas Market is this drink called Glwine. It is some kind of red wine served hot like apple cider. I just stuck with hot chocolate.

I took Steve and his girlfriend Rachel on a bit of a tour along the Hauptstrae, up to the castle, and along the river. Rachel seemed quite a bit more interested in those sights than with the first ones, highway signs and such. Though, for Steve it was a toss-up, as he stopped every few streets to take another picture of a Smart car, Ford Ka, or other uniquely European auto. ;-) Boys... go figure.

Last week I was chatting online with my friend Laurel from Massachusetts and she mentioned that she had just bought tickets to London on the spur of the moment. Then she said I should come up to London and visit while she was there. I hesitated at first because I'm already taking vacation at the end of this month when my brother comes for Thanksgiving and I have lots to prepare for the Thanksgiving dinner... but then I thought, "How often will I have the chance to see London and visit friends from home??" So, a few days ago I booked tickets myself and this afternoon I flew to London.

Once in London I met Norm, Greg, and Rachel, friends of Laurel's from CMU. We had a late diner the first night and turned in early. Friday we were greeted by beautiful sunshine, even though it was supposed to rain all weekend. We slept in (it was a vacation after all ;-)) and then walked around the neighborhood a bit, finding a place to eat. Later, we took the tube to St. James Park where we toured the park and checked out Buckingham Palace. We closed the day by heading into Piccadilly Circus, where we walked through china town, saw the Virgin megastore, and ate dinner. Dinner, was, of course, Indian food, a must for any trip to London.

Saturday we had planned to visit the British Museum, but it was again a gorgeous sunny day (rather than the forecasted rain). So we ditched that plan and decided to take the outdoor bus tour while the weather was favorable. We hopped on the famous red, double-decker tour bus and rode it to Westminster Abbey where we got off for a while to take a tour inside. After the Abbey, we hopped back on a red bus and followed the rest of the tour all the way to Waterloo Pier, where we then transferred to the boat tour (included in our bus tickets). At this point it was getting dark, which made for some great night-time photos of London and its bridges from the Themes.

Sunday was once again sunny and beautiful, so we put off the indoor museum once again. We did more outdoor sightseeing and when it got a little later we went to St. Paul's Cathedral. Tours and picture-taking are suspended on Sundays because services go on. So, I got no pictures of the inside nor a visit to the famous whispering gallery. However, I got, instead, to attend an inspiring service and hear the choir and organ resound in the amazing cathedral acoustics. And, of course, I took plenty of pictures of the *outside* of St. Paul's. ;-)

Monday was the first gray day, and also time for me to go. The others were staying another day, so they saw me off at the train and then went on to the British Museum. Thus, I never did see the British Museum, the Natural History Museum, Speaker's Corner, or a theatre show. Nor did I eat scones with clotted cream or drink afternoon tea. This means, of course, I will just have to go back again soon! ;-)

It was a great trip with just the right balance of sight-seeing and relaxing. The weather was truly wonderful the whole time I was there despite a forecast that announced rain all 4 days. And, while I'm more than satisfied with all things I did and saw, I left enough undone to have plenty to fill my next trip. All-in-all perfect!

Here are some photo highlights from London: London 

I have wanted to take pictures of the local foliage for weeks now, but it's dark when I get out of work and the weekend weather hadn't been the best lately. I just couldn't find a good opportunity, but all that changed today!

I brought my camera to church with me because it was a beautiful morning and I hoped to go take some foliage pictures when I got out of the service. Well, after church some folks invited me to lunch at this little restaurant in Weinheim. I am always up for learning the locals' favorite restaurants, so I happily accepted, figuring I'd just take my pictures some other time. Well, this restaurant was not only a great find for its food, but it was at the top of a local mountain/hill, which made for a great view while eating and a beautiful drive getting there. Finally, I had the opportunity I'd been searching for. ;-)

Here are my foliage shots: Weinheim Foliage 

I have been telling people about the awesome location of my apartment and how close I am to so many neat sites. Tonight I decided to set up the camera and tripod to capture some of those amazing sights so I might share them with all those at home. Enjoy!

Enjoy the view from my living room & bedroom: Heidelberg Views 

This is one of those bizarre experiences that I just had to share. Most of you know that I thrive on milk. Well, here in Germany finding the right milk can be a challenge...

First of all, most of the milk here is ultra-pasturized. I refer to this as shelf-milk (as opposed to fresh milk). Shelf milk does not require refrigeration until it has been opened and can sit unopened on a shelf for many months before it will spoil. It is convenient as a backup source, has a distinctive taste that I'm not a fan of. In the states there is one brand called Parmalat that you find in the grocery isle rather than the refrigerated section. That's shelf milk. Unfortunately, the grocery stores here will often put shelf milk in the refrigerated section so it is cold when you buy it, just as stores in the states will often keep some bottled water in the refrigerated section. So it is quite a task to sift through the all the milks in the refrigerated section and look for the clues (in German) denoting whether a package is fresh milk and not just unnecessarily refrigerated shelf milk.

The second point of confusion arises from the popularity here of flavored milk and milk-drinks (loosely milk-based concoctions that scare me). So in the milk isle there are 20 different colors of milks. Some are buttermilk (which is for drinking here, not just cooking), some are vanilla milk, some are coffee milk, some are chocolate milk, some are banana, some strawberry, on and on and on... every flavor imaginable and then they combine them too, so you can get orange-AND-banana milk, chocolate-AND-coconut milk, etc.

If all of that is not enough, they don't have consistent proportions of fat, as I'm used to at home. In the states, we have skim milk, 1%, 2%, and whole milk. Here every brand has it's own amount, so you get 1.8%, or 1.3%, or 0.5%, or 3.8%, or 0.75%... all depending on which brand you buy. At least the info is clearly printed right on the label (and no language barrier when dealing with numbers!!), but it just adds to the myriad of choices that I have to sift through.

So, I've been here a few months now and I am pretty confident about milk-buying at this point. I did all the initial searching and experimenting until I found a few brands I liked and now I just always buy those. Well, one of the things I often get is chocolate milk made by this one company that makes *tons* of flavored milks, all the same container, just different colored labels. By now I'm so used to picking out the chocolate one that I don't pay close attention. It is a brown label, with a picture of a chocolate bar, and copper ring around the seal. Today I'd skipped lunch and I got out of German class at 7:35pm with only 25 minutes before the last grocery stores closed. I was dying for something to eat, but trying not to fall into the pit of buying every piece of instant gratification junk food in sight because I was hungry. So I bought a sensible dinner that I could prepare at home and a pint of the chocolate milk to ease my growling stomach for the hour it takes to get home. I got out to my car and headed for the highway. At the first stoplight I opened the milk container and started to guzzle it. Eventually I paused, and then noticed an unusual aftertaste. I wondered if it might be spoiled or something and I stated examining the label. Then I noticed there were some other pics in addition to the chocolate bar. I turned on the map light in the car and stared in confusion at the label. The first thing I saw was a red half a strawberry next to the chocolate bar. I began wondering, "Would they really combine strawberry *and* chocolate? Aren't those mutually exclusive milk flavors?"... and about then I got a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach as I began trying to make out the next red picture on the other side of the chocolate bar... there is only one thing that icon could be... did I really just drink that... no way... I have to take another sip because that just can't be right... but yes, it was, a chili pepper!?!?!? Oh my gosh, *that* is this miserable aftertaste in my mouth.... this is chocolate, strawberry, chili pepper milk!!! What?!?!!?? Are these people *mad*? And this is a mass-produced item! And not only did they have the insanity to produce it, but they then packaged it in a brown container with a chocolate bar on the label and a copper colored top... just like the chocolate milk container except this label had the word "new" and two hardly noticeable red icons. There ought to be a law about this sort of thing. They should be required to put a surgeon general's warning or something on this stuff, not sell it with the same packaging as something normal and harmless.

Just when I think I'm getting used to this place and that it's not all that different from home, I'm reminded once again that I'm in a totally *foreign* country with rules, customs, and tastes that are a world apart from mine. I wonder what the next delicacy will be... chocolate covered pizza? mustard flavored ice cream? I'm somehow reminded of those "every" flavor jelly beans in Harry Potter. Most of what I've had to eat and drink here has exceeded my expectations, so I get lulled into a false sense of security and then find myself drinking something like strawberry, chocolate, chili-pepper milk.

See the culprit for yourself: Chocolate Milk(s) 

The Rhine River church I've been attending organized a trip to Belgium (by way of Luxembourg) this weekend. I eagerly tagged along to view the historical sights and experience my first European country outside of Germany. The furthest point was only 3 1/2 hours away. We started around 7:30 in the morning and headed first to Luxembourg. There we visited the Luxembourg American Cemetery where Patton is buried. It was a beautiful and somber place. The weather was typical of November: crisp, damp, not sunny, but not quite overcast. It fit the cemetery theme well. The crosses were perfectly placed in slightly arcing rows, as if they were just a section of a very large set of concentric circles. Some of the gravestones had the star of David, rather than a cross, and many of those also had a deliberately placed rock atop them. Marcus (pictured below by Patton's grave) explained that this is called a rock of remembrance and a visitor to the grave will place it on the gravestone as a sign of respect.

From Luxembourg we continued on to Belgium. We ate lunch at an Italian restaurant in a busy city square in Bastogne. The square was a typical European mix of old and new. There were fancy modern glass buildings amidst historic vine-covered stone houses and sitting on the street corner was a tank!?! What made the experience even more interesting was being faced with a completely different language. We had a number of native Germans with us as well as several Americans who spoke German, but those skills were no help here where everything was in French. Suddenly, I found myself in demand, thanks to the many years of French I had in high school and college. It was quite a role reversal. I was so used to the Germans being the language experts, and now they were coming to me. It felt odd to see my perceived "experts" have trouble just reading a menu. After lunch we went to the Battle of the Bulge Historical Center. There we visited the museum and toured the memorial. The museum had a short documentary film about the battle, which was helpful for giving me the facts and background, but what was more enlightening was the memorabilia in the museum. You could read the German Commander's original demand for surrender and several pieces of propaganda they wrote to deter the American solders. You could also read prayers written by Patton and others. To see these things that are not part of the documentaries gives you a better understanding of the situation, you miss a lot of the layers of the situation from just the documentary. Reading people's own words also gives a better sense of who they were as opposed to just reading a description of what they did.

The trip was great! I learned a lot of history and have a far better understanding of the both the situation and the individuals involved. I had an opportunity to practice my French and to be of assistance to those I'm usually asking for assistance from. I saw gorgeous landscapes and interesting architecture. And, while there, I ran across a brochure for the Belgium Chocolate Museum. So I think I will need to return again soon because there is clearly more I need to learn of Belgium and it's customs. ;-)

You can check out the pictures here: Luxembourg 

You can check out the pictures here: Belgium 

As I've mentioned in great detail, I live on this awesome street called the Hauptstrasse. It is lined with restaurants, cafes, bakeries, and shops. In the neighborhood pictures I posted weeks ago I took a picture of the shop my apartment was above. Well, shortly after I moved in, the shop moved out (I tell myself this was only coincidence ;-)). So for a couple weeks, it has been a vacant space, but tonight, I came home around 9:30 pm (long after stores in Germany close) to find all the lights on in the shop and 4 or 5 people putting up shelving inside. They noticed me looking in the window and one guy ran over and opened the door. He told me that they weren't open now but would be open tomorrow for their "first day". He then proceeded to go on about something, but it was beyond my meager German abilities, so I asked him if he spoke English. His response was "Oh, English, yeah... uh... hm... English... I don't know what is English for... hm... Goomee Bear?" At which point I chuckled and told him it was the same in English, "Gummy Bear." So, apparently I now live above a Gummy Bear store. There is even a back door from the shop into the stairwell. So now all I need to do is convince them to give me a spare key and I will have my own pay-as-you-go Gummy Bear pantry for those snack attacks in the middle of the night. Ya think they'd go for it?

It turns out the park on the other side of the river is filled with Chestnut trees. Kai and Katze had planned to go Chestnut picking this past week and they offered to bring Buca along to give him some company and exercise while I was at work. However the weather was rather rainy and dreary most of the week and they never got a chance to go. Fortunately, the weather for the weekend (when I'm out of work) was gorgeous. So they decided to go today and I got to come along too.

We walked across the bridge, up the steps and pathways to Philosophy Way, where we took a turn off the beaten path and spent several minutes picking a bag full of chestnuts. Then we climbed the steps up a lookout tower where we enjoyed the beautiful day and view of the Heidelberg scene.

Here are some highlights: Chestnut Picking with the little boy 

It's my birthday! And, it's Monday, but I decided to skip German class just this once and head home to celebrate with Kai and Katze. They came over a little before seven bringing some really neat gifts. Katze baked me a traditional German cake, which was a marble bunt cake (yellow & chocolate) with fresh cherries, and in the center hole she placed a large beeswax candle (a much appreciated choice given my current lighting sitation ;-)). They also burned me audio CD's of kids stories and their favorite audio book, all in German. This way I can listen in the car during my long commute to help me learn German. It's a great idea! They said the kids stories are traditional stories that everyone here learns as a child, and the vocabulary will be simple, which will be good for me. Lastly, they gave me the developed photos from our trip to Weinheim where we toured the castles. It was great! And the presents were wrapped really creatively, the CD's were in simple brown paper wrapping, but Katze had gotten a single silk flower and then separated all the petals and pasted them to the top of the paper. How cool is that?!?!

After our little celebration at my place, we headed to the Distille and met up with Leah (Katze's roommate), Leah's boyfriend, and a few others. Kai bartends there on Monday nights. Leah also gave me a present there, it was a bright yellow mug and a package of her favorite tea, Twinnings Earl Grey. She said it would be a bright start to my mornings.

I had a fantastic time and I even got to bed fairly early so I could get a good night's sleep. It was really quite a perfect birthday and deeply moving to celebrate it with my new friends here and experience yet more German traditions. It was small and cozy and so much thought went into each gift. I will not forget this birthday!

I didn't bring my camera to the pub (I was more interested in celebrating and relaxing than in documenting ;-)). However, I did take pics of the gifts and cake that Kai and Katze brought over, and as a side note, they are sitting on my new table that we set up two days before.

Here are the few pics I took: My Birthday 

Okay so I ran out and bought a few things today. I went to a house goods store on the Hauptstrasse today and bought a chair I'd seen there for the balcony. I figured I could use it as an all-purpose chair for a while and relegate it to the balcony when my things arrive or I get better furniture.

As it turns out, today is some kind of holiday in Heidelberg. It is called Heidelbaer and was traditionally a special Saturday each year when, as an exception, the stores stayed open until 8pm rather than closing at 4pm as the law required. However, just this year, they passed a new law allowing stores to be open until 8pm on Saturdays. Not all stores do stay open until 8pm, but a few do and more are begining to. Nevertheless, they still celebrated Heidelbaer with balloons, carnival rides (small), carnival stands (for brautworst, chocolate, crepes, etc.), and even fireworks. What a nice welcome on my first day in my new neighborhood. It was a great reminder of why I wanted to live here. Pretty cool to walk out my front door and find a carnival at the end of the block. ;-)

Later today I went to the furniture store on base. I fell in love with a couch that I found there, but unfortunately it would never fit through my stairwell or doorway. That is a common problem here. In fact, people often bring large furniture in a window on the 3rd or 4th floor because it won't go up stairs or fit through a doorway. Another reminder that I'm in a foreign country where they don't drive huge SUVs and sit on couches big enough for a family of eight. So, as I was saying, I went to the furniture store and I ended buying a dining table and 6 chairs. I had planned to bring the chairs home with me and have the table delivered, but they managed to fit it all in my rental car. So, I brought it home tonight and called Kai and Katze, who fortunately were available to help me carry it all up the stairs. They even stayed and helped me assemble the table and 3 of the chairs. While we were putting the chairs together, we heard some noises outside and looked out the window to find fireworks! They were part of the Heidelbaer celebration. They were being launched from the river a few blocks away. Some were partially obscured by the other rooftops, but many were perfectly displayed just outside my window. This place just gets better and better! I love Heidelberg. And, I have to say, I also quite like having a table to eat at and sitting on something other than a throw pillow on the floor.

Here are some pictures of the festival: Heidelbaer 

I visited the new apartment last night and moved my suitcases and things out of the hotel today. Apartments in Germany come without any furnishings. To an American, this means no chairs, tables, beds and such, but here that means a little more. It means no lights... no kitchen or bathroom cabinets... no appliances... no closets... and even no kitchen sink! Rental agreements in Germany have traditionally been very long term (5 to 20 years), although that is changing a bit nowadays. However, due to the permenance of tenancy here, people preferred to furnish their apartments themselves, with carpeting, cabinetry, lighting, and appliances of their choosing. This remains the typical situation today. I was fortunate in some regard because the previous tenant had already purchased and installed a number of things that he preferred to simply sell to me rather than take with him. I took him up on this offer, since I liked the furnishings and they were significantly discounted, and it meant the apartment was almost livable when I moved in. Thus, I had from the onset a few lights (in the hall, kitchen, bathroom, and balcony), some kitchen components (a sink, stovetop, refridgerator, cabinets, and shelf), a wall shelf in the living room, and a mirror in the bathroom. There is no light in the living room, nor any on the second floor (my bedroom).

Things will be rather austere here until my belongings are delivered from the States. Kai and Katze lent me a mattress and blanket. I spent about $20 at the PX to buy a pillow, wok, spatula, plate, cup, and silverware. I don't really want to buy very much because I have so many things on their way, it would just be a waste to purchase things I already own. I do hope to get some furniture and lights soon though. I have a small votive candle I brought in my suitcase which serves as my source of light in the living room and bedroom, and I have to carry it up and down the stairs with me as I go from one place to the other. I also have a pillow from the PX that I use both for sleeping on, and as a chair. And my wok will be cooking everything for a while... from pork chops, to pancakes, to cocoa.

Kai and Katze brought over housewarming presents along with the matress and blanket. It is apparently German tradition to give bread and salt when someone moves into a new place. They are important sources of sustinance and symbolize prosperity for the home. There is so much depth to these customs. I really love learning and experiencing these small but profound traditions. It helps me to be still and consider the lives of people thousands of years ago, when bread and salt were intrisict to the life and health of one's family.

Here are my first apartment pictures: My First Day 

Garmisch is a ski resort town in Southern Germany not far from the Austrian border. It is known for its skiing possibilities in the winter, but in the summer it offers great hiking routes through the mountains and amazing views. One of it's main claims to fame is that the Zugspitz, the tallest mountain in Germany, is there. Both my officemates Corby and Mike were at a conference in Garmisch this past week so we decided to plan a weekend hiking trip. It turned out Mike had to leave early, but I brought my friend Felicia down with me and she, Corby, Buca and I scoped the sights and did some hiking. Corby's hotel was booked for Saturday and it didn't allow dogs, but they recommended a German Gsthaus right around the corner called Haus Lilly. I checked on that and found that they had a room for 2 people available for Friday and Saturday, but they also did not allow dogs. I decided to just go with it and smuggle Buca in, since he'd be with me all day long and only in the hotel to sleep at night while I was there.

Felicia and I arrived Friday evening after about 5 hrs of driving and a quick stop in Munich to visit with her Aunt & Uncle. We checked in, dropped our bags, and headed out for dinner with Buca. On the way back from dinner we met up with Corby and sorted out details for hiking the next day.

Saturday morning Felicia got up early enough to have the breakfast included with our room. The woman talked with Felicia at great length (since both are native Germans). Apparently the woman told Felicia how happy she was to have "two nice young ladies" in the room. She went on about how pleasant and polite we were and how nice it was for us to call when we learned we were going to arrive an hour or two later than originally planned. She told Felicia how you never know what customers you're going to get... sometimes people are rude or noisy, or they want to bring their pets... and she was just so happy to have such "nice young ladies" here this weekend. Imagine that... terrible customers wanting to bring their pets. ;-) Anyway, we put Buca in the carrier and drove over to pick up Corby. The three of us then headed to this place called Mount Wank (pronounced "vahnk" here). We chuckled over the English interpretation of the name and the fact that in Germany people from a town are named after the town, for instance people living in Berlin are Berliners. Thusly, people actually living in Wank would be Wankers. Not too mature, I know, but a rather funny thought for us Americans. Anyway, we hiked from the base of Mt Wank, 717 meters up to the mid-way station/cafe at 1175 meters, with one small bit of backtracking when we got onto a wrong trail at one point. At the mid-way point I looked up the cable car path to the summit, looming at 1780 meters. I just couldn't imagine hiking the rest of it, so Corby graciously said we could just take the cable car for the second leg upward (our plan was always to take the cable car down). Once at the top we did a bit more hiking around some loop trails circling the summit. They offered some really great views and we happened across the apparent launch spot for all the parasailors we had seen in the sky. After watching a few take-offs we hopped the cable car back to the base of the mountain and drove to our other stop for the day, a gorge a few kilometers away in Partenkirchen called "Partnachklamm". Corby had been there earlier in the week and after his description Felicia and I were sold. I will let the pictures tell the story of the gorge, because words could never do it justice. After the gorge we had dinner and headed home to recuperate from our long day of hiking.

Sunday Felicia and I met Corby for breakfast at a local bakery before we departed. Corby wanted to leave early and take the scenic route home on his motorcycle. Felicia and I were going to head north to Munich (about an hour away) and check out the second day of Oktoberfest. However, about 5 minutes into our drive it became clear Felicia really wanted to do something more like Corby's plan. So we ditched the Oktoberfest idea, got off the highway, and took the back roads home as well. We drove along the Rheine for much of the trip and wound through lots of small historic German villages. It was another day of wonderful sights. I haven't organized all the pictures from the drive home yet, but I will put them up here soon.

Here are my pictures from Garmisch: Adventures in Garmisch 

Okay, they're not pictures of my apartment, but they are the next best thing... pictures of the area around my apartment. I have finally gotten around to taking some pictures and putting them up on the site. See, folks, your patience pays off. ;-) They aren't beautiful landscape pictures of the key Heidelberg sites as I took last time I went to Heidelberg. These are more for those who are curious about my new place.

Here are my snapshots of the area: My Neighborhood 

Tonight was the first night of the Darmstadt wine fest. It lacked a little of atmosphere of the fest in Guntersblum weekend before last, but it was still a lot of fun and far less of a drive. ;-) This time I carefully avoided the garage under the mall, so I wouldn't get locked out and instead picked one that exited directly onto the street.

I met up with Corby and several of the folks from the Guntersblum Weinfest as well as a number of the people from Wednesday's movie event. I didn't try any of the wines but I had a delicious crepe filled with fresh raspberries, and as good as that was, I learned that next time what I should really try is one filled with nutella. That was even better! When the fest died down around 2 am we headed over to a local pub with a live band. Buca started to check out around 2:30 and by 3 I was ready to curl up beside him, so I headed back to my car. Phil walked me over because I didn't know my way back from the pub (and he'd had a few too many to be able to explain it coherently... so best to just show me). He got me back to the garage, where I tried several doors only to find them LOCKED?!?! I recalled the ordeal Wednesday and decided to once again walk in the car entrance. I found it a bit harder this time though... all car entrances and exits were tightly sealed with metal garage doors. Eventually, I had to take a cab home... I will have to retrieve the car tomorrow. So much for carefully avoiding the mall garage... sigh.

Corby and some folks from last night's movie were going rock climbing tonight and I was planning to go with them. However, I had to come home to change. Once I came in and Buca knew I was home, I just couldn't disappoint him by taking off right away. So I called Corby and told them to go without me. Instead, I decided to try out my blades on a bike/pedestrian path I'd seen that started only a block away from the hotel. That way, I could take the little boy along for my exercise. It sounded like a good plan... however, what I had yet to learn about bike/pedestrian paths in Germany was that they often cross roadways. This is common at home in Boston as well, but the significant difference at home is that our roadways are not brick and cobblestone. Every time I got to an intersection I thought I was going to fall flat on my face. A few times part of the path itself was even brick, let alone the road crossings. It was a bit stressful... especially because Buca was for some reason uninterested in running along with me as he usually does, so I had put him in the little back pack I brought to carry him when he got tired. Thus, I was even more concerned than usual about the possibility of falling. Well, now I know to check out paths before just heading out on my blades. Apparently this guy Phil from the movie last night does a lot of blading and has a book on the best locations in this area to rollerblade. I think I will invest in such a book myself. ;-)

I found out one of the local movie theaters in Darmstadt called Helios plays American movies in their original language on Wednesday nights, so I checked it out. I went with Corby and several of his British friends to the 8:15pm showing of "Phone Booth". It turned out to be a really good movie and it was nice to see something from home. Although I didn't know it was possible to make screens or rooms as small as this one was. It was pretty comical actually. The rows fit about 6 seats across and then there was a narrow isle on one side. I can't say how many rows there were, but it wasn't many. They basically set up a movie screen/projector in a shoe box. ;-) But it only added to the charm.

After the movie a number of us went to a local pub and stayed quite late. When it came time to leave, two people, Kelly and Phil walked me to my car since I wasn't sure how to get back to the garage (and they could use rides home). When we got to the garage we couldn't find any doors that would allow us back in. It seemed they were all locked. Finally, we found the car entrance and just walked in through there (note: the garage is under a big mall, so the place you drive in is no where near where you actually walk out/in and it is a lane off a heavily traveled road where one doesn't exactly want to be walking without a sidewalk in the black of night). After finding the car we tried to find the automated machines where one pays their parking fee in order to drive the car out of the garage. None of the doors to the machines would open either because they led to the mall, which was closed. Eventually we found a security guard and asked what we could do. He has us wait for a minute and then he returned to say we couldn't pay. Phil asked at that point, "Well, can we leave?" and the security guard said that was fine. So we just drove out of the garage (the gate was fixed in the open position) without paying anything. Heh... I'll have to remember how the fee structure works there... 1.50 Euro for the first hour, 8 Euro for up to 6 hours, but over 7 hours is free. Nice!

Today was a holiday for me, but not so for the natives, so they scheduled my first class for tonight. It was interesting. It's an immersion class at the language school in Darmstadt. I am generally a proponent of immersion technique, but early on it can be a bit frustrating. The teacher spends so long trying to get a point across. For instance, for the words today and tomorrow the teacher spent several minutes trying to find a way to convey the concept. She motioned, then she wrote dates on the board, but some people still weren't getting it. If we'd had a calendar it might have been clearer, but still quite a lot of time spent on a straightforward concept, which then left little time for some of the points that actually required a lot of practice and repetition. Perhaps it is a lack in the teacher's preparedness not planning a way to present the information she is going to cover, I don't know. In the end, I'm quite glad I had the tapes and have already learned a lot of German. I can grasp the stuff the teacher presents much more easily because I have a framework within which to incorporate it. The tapes come from a typical usage perspective and will highlight certain points, while the teacher comes from a more academic and grammatical perspective and will highlight other points.

Kai, Katze, Buca, and I spent the day touring a town called Weinheim (pronounced "Vine Hime"). It is between Darmstadt and Heidelberg a little to the east, at the edge of the mountains. There are two castles there and we explored both. There were a lot of steep, narrow stone stairs on the trip so I had Buca in this back pack I purchased for him. It is the perfect size for him, as if it were taylor-made. He sits in it quite comfortably and his head comes out the top. He seems to quite enjoy it, often choosing not to come out when I open it and set it on the ground. It was great for the trip because he could go everywhere without any risk of falling or being stepped on in the cramped staircases (without railings) or high ledges (with a small guard rail at waist height and no enclosure at foot/Buca level), and he got much better views and breezes at shoulder height.

So, Weinheim was quite a lot of fun. The castles were interesting and provided a beautiful view of the town, the mountains, and the forest, depending on which direction you looked. Of course, given such a beautiful opportunity, I left my camera at home. :-( It was charged, packed, and ready to go, and it remained so... sitting on the coffee table. Sorry guys... I've got all this space and no pictures to share... but there is plenty of time and lots of pictures to come, I'm sure. Actually, Katze took a few pictures with her film camera, so hopefully I will have pictures to display eventually, but no instant gratification. Next time...

A coworker from the Heidelberg site brought me a local paper last week to help with the house hunting. I decided to check it out and found a calendar listing comedy shows, concerts, art displays, and other events. While looking through it I saw a familiar name... Matchbox 20. They are playing near Frankfurt (about 30 minutes from me) on Fri Sept 12. I mentioned it to the folks at work and some other friends. So far 3 of us are going! We can always add tickets if more people decide to come, because it's general admission. Pretty cool to come all the way to Germany and see one of my favorite bands just 30 minutes away!

WOOO WOOO WOO WOOO WOO WOOOO!!!

Yes, I met with the landlord today as planned and paid the rent for the month of October as a deposit. My friend Katze came with me as an interpreter since my German is still quite limited. The current tenant moves out the middle of September and then the landlord wants to paint the apartment and renovate the terrace. He wants to put plants all around the terrace and verified that I would be willing/able to water them ;-). I don't exactly have a green thumb... but hopefully I can manage water, and they are outdoors.

After meeting with the landlord I strolled the Hauptstrasse a bit to learn the neighborhood. There is an awesome bakery across the street! Plus, the guy running it was quite friendly and happy to speak English for me. I stopped into an internet cafe that sold phone cards and found tons of deals for calling cards. I ended up paying 5€ for a phone card that gives me 335 minutes to the US! At 1.49 cents per minute it is far cheaper to call my mom from Germany than from Boston!?!? Then I stopped into the Vodafone shop a few blocks away and got myself a German handy (cell phone) and service so I have a local number for my friends here. Also, it's bluetooth and will give me 60k/sec internet connectivity on my laptop and/or PDA, which is nice because: 1) I won't have internet at home until I move in October, and 2) I don't know my way around well out here, so having access to mapquest on my PDA is quite convenient.

When I finished my exploration I met Katze and her friend Gina for Thai dinner outdoors at Universittsplatz. We then went to a local pub called the Destille where Kai bartends. The Destille is one block from my apartment, which will be quite convenient I'm sure. On Mondays Kai runs this "name that tune" game called quick pick. We met up with Katze's roommate and several other folks there and crammed 8 people into a tiny corner table. I had a sip of a German beer called Jever, but I didn't like it. There were a couple I tasted that didn't seem bad... who knows, maybe I will give this stuff a try. Anyway, our whole table teamed up for the quick pick game and we won!! I think I was a key player since 18 of the 20 songs were English. I recognized a few that no one else got. One of them was this song Peter's band did for their Berkley show a few years back. I saw them rehearse it a lot, and I videotaped the show (and edited the recording, etc) so I knew it very well. The song was Tush by ZZ Top. They only played a little of the guitar riff and I might have been the only person in the place to get that one. It was a really great time. I am *so* going to love being in Heidelberg, not only is it the most beautiful town I've seen here, but I have made a lot of great friends!

Okay, so I saw the apartment tonight, and it was everything I thought it would be. Having experienced so many places being taken before I could see them, I decided to come a few minutes early to my 6pm appointment. If I really liked it, I wanted to make an offer before anyone else. I showed up at 5:50pm and by 6pm I had called the landlord and told him I wanted it. Actually, my friend Kai used my phone to relay the message for me, since the landlord speaks German. The landlord said he has an agency trying to rent the place out, but I can have it as long as they haven't already signed someone to a contract. He thought that was unlikely though, because typically they would inform him before signing with anyone. On the assumption that no one has signed, we have made arrangements to meet Monday evening to exchange contact information and answer each others questions about the apartment, the contract, and references. So... it sounds like I will get it... and it was definitely an awesome apartment!

The greatest thing about the apartment is the location! It is right on the Hauptstrasse (literally "High Street")... for those in Boston, it is similar to Newbury Street, but without cars because the downtown is a pedestrian zone. For those not familiar with Boston, it is the main street through the most well-known part of Heidelberg. Hauptstrasse is a pedestrian only cobblestone street lined on both sides with shops, cafes, restaurants, etc. It runs one mile from Bismarckplatz through the Alte Stadt ("Old City") to the castle. If you read any literature about Heidelberg it will talk about the Hauptstrasse (or Hauptstrae). The street is one of the main sights to see in Heidelberg. A few other Heidelberg sights include:

- Alte Brcke ("Old Bridge"), which is just a few blocks from me. It is the 9-arch brick bridge crossing the Nekar river. You see it in almost every postcard of Heidelberg.

- Brckentor (Bridge gate), which is on Alte Brcke.

- Universittsplatz ("University Square"), which is on the Hauptstrasse about a block to the left from my door.

- Heiliggeistkirche (Holy Ghost church), which is on the Hauptstrasse about two blocks to the right of my door. This too is typically in almost every postcard of Heidelberg. The spire looms tall over the city and from my window you'd think you could touch it.

- Marktplatz ("Market Square"), which is next to Heiliggeistkirche.

- Haus zum Ritter (Knight's house), which is next to Marktplatz. This is the oldest private building in Heidelberg (1592).

- And, of course, the castle, which is a short distance beyond Haus zum Ritter.

These are the most popular attractions of one of Germany's most popular cities and they are all within a 2 minute walk from my front door!

Now, the apartment itself is the top one in the building and takes up the 4th and 5th floors. The main level has a nice bathroom (shower, but no tub :-( oh well), a nicely sized kitchen, a large living room, and a terrace. The kitchen has a refrigerator, sink, etc already installed, which is a rarity in apartments here. The kitchen belongs to the previous tenant, but he's going to sell it to me so he doesn't have to move it, and I don't have to install one. It doesn't include an oven/range because he didn't cook (hehe, bachelor's kitchen) so I'll have to get that separately, and I'll need to buy a washing machine and light fixtures, but that's a pretty short list. The main room is quite large and has beautiful new hardwood floors (the entire apartment/building was renovated just 2 years ago). From the windows of the main room you can look down onto the hauptstrasse or over the rooftops of the buildings across the street to see "Philosophenweg" and the forest on the north bank of the Nekar river. You can also stick your head out the window and look down the street to see part of the castle itself. On the opposite side of the main floor you can walk out onto the terrace, which for good or bad, is on the quiet/private side of the building away from the hauptstrasse. I think I prefer that because I can go out there for peace and privacy. If I want to see people, then I can just go onto the hauptstrasse itself. On the second level is the bedroom. It is large and because it's in the roof also has nice skylights. Additionally, because it takes the entire upper level, it spans from the hauptstrasse side of the building to the quiet side, giving me windows onto both. The hauptstrasse can be noisy on weekend nights with all the pubs, but the closing the windows is enough to block all noise. The usual downside (especially in the summer) is that one must pick between air/breeze and silence when trying to sleep. However, in this apartment I can close the windows on the street and still have a window on the quiet side for air, a very nice feature if the next summers are anywhere near as hot as this one was here. Well, that is my description... I'll put up pics after I move in. ;-)

Well, I began hunting for an apartment yesterday. My friend Kai and his girlfriend Katze helped me decipher the german classifieds in Heidelberg, and they pointed out the ones they thought were favorable for size, parking, amenities, etc. Though the ads were only one day old many places we called on were already taken! I got an appointment for the tonight to see one place that wasn't taken yet, but a half an hour before the appointment they called and told me not to come because it had been taken. So, my friends and I started looking at the places that were only moderately interesting. On my "C" list, was an apartment that had the ideal location, and some nice amenities, but was unfortunately only one room. I didn't think that a one room place would work for me, but it did sound quite nice and I thought it would be good just to get out and see something by which to judge other places, since I hadn't yet managed to see any of the places my on my friends' "A" list. We were able to get an appointment for 8 pm tonight. I showed up with my friends and we checked the place out. They loved it, but I could not be comfortable without a separate bedroom. I explained to the guy showing us around that it was beautiful, but that I needed another room. At that point this gentleman in the corner (who had been lurking quietly in the room as we were showed around) jumped into the conversation and asked whether my only problem with the apartment was the fact that it was only one room. I told him that was my only issue and that I loved it otherwise. He then told me that the apartment on the top floor (4th floor) had a separate bedroom, and a larger main room, and a terrace, and was available the end of next month. He tried to get us in to see it tonight, but the person still living there was not ready for a visit and said we could come at 6pm tomorrow because other people were seeing it then, too.

I am so excited!!! The apartment sounds ideal and more suited to what I want than any of the other places I have even called about. The other places had a garage, or garden, or were larger, but none were in the Alt Stadt district where I really wanted to be! And, the way the opportunity came about is very encouraging. All of the attempts I made to find housing on my own met with nothing but closed doors, and then the most ideal place was handed to me while I was looking at something else! That is my God at work, no doubt about it! I strained and struggled uselessly when He had the perfect place chosen for me all along... I just needed to trust. I'm so quick to forget that this trip was His idea all along and not my own plan. I tend to revert back to leaning on my own strength and planning, rather than looking to Him. Anyway, I know this is Him because it's exactly how He operates... giving me a place that is better than any I found on my own, in an unusual way, completely apart from my own efforts (oh, and get this, the current tenant in the apt. is a software developer from Boston, how uncanny is that?). Even my friends in Heidelberg are shocked that I might end up with my dream apartment from my very first visit without even using a real estate agent, because it is very hard to find housing in Heidelberg. So to get something this ideal, without a realtor, this quickly is just unheard of. Now, it is not mine yet, and there are plenty of gotchas that could prevent me from getting it. I don't know yet whether this is the place God has for me, but I know He showed it to me. Maybe He showed it to me to give it to me, or maybe it was just to wake me up to the fact that I wasn't including Him in the process. Either way, I am encouraged, because if this is not the place, He wouldn't show it to me unless the place he has for me is even better.

Well, today was a highly productive day of orientation. I learned my way to the office and my way around the office (a little). I got a badge for work, my military id, and several other things... most of which involved pictures... early in the morning... on 5 hrs of jet-lagged sleep... following an entire night of lost sleep due to the time difference... in miserable 95 degree heat, with no access to air conditioning. Oh, and did I mention these pictures will follow me the whole time I'm here. :-(

On an upside, I did get quite a lot accomplished, so I feel ahead of the game... and I managed to get the very last fan at the store. So I should sleep much better tonight.

Well, today was the day... just as planned... I left the US, and arrived in Germany safe and sound. The first day brought only a few mishaps, and all of them mild. ;-)

Upon arrival Buca and I managed our way to the baggage claim where I immediately spotted my unusual Rubbermaid trunk on the baggage carousel. It was significantly dirty and beat-up with duct tape placed over the opening latches. When I checked it as my baggage just 9 hours earlier it was in fine condition with an elastic cord tied around it for added closure/security. I didn't think too much of that, but made a mental note to verify later that all contents were present. I then waited for my more typical pieces of luggage, a large red duffle bag and dark-green wheeled Samsonite suitcase. A few minutes later I spy a bright red duffel bag that looks like mine, as I wait for it to get closer I notice the item following it is a purple & green rubbermaid trunk with one yellow latch and one pink latch.... just like the one I've got beside me... except the one on the carousel is in nice condition, sans duct tape, and is tied in an elastic cord. Not only that, but the item following the rubbermaid trunk on the carousel is a dark-green, wheeled Samsonite suitcase. I quickly place the trunk I have back onto the carousel and retrieve my correct baggage. Who would think there would be only one red duffle, one green samsonite suitcase, and two identical purple & green plastic rubbermaid trunks with yellow and pink latches on my flight? Good thing I spotted the second one... ;-)

I wanted to spend my first day settling in at home with Buca as much as possible, but I did need to get a few supplies. So I decided to make an excursion to the grocery store. To limit my time and money spent in the store I decided to grab a hand basket rather than a large rolling cart. After selecting a basketful of groceries I headed for the checkout. The checkout isle seemed the same as home, and I wisely avoided the '10 items or less'-type lane. I emptied my basket onto the beltway and placed it in the stack at the front of the belt. Then I noticed that the women ahead of me placed their goods back into their shopping cart as the clerk scanned them, and there were no bags nor bagger at the end of the lane. I thought this must be part of their strong recycle/reuse philosophy and I turned and grabbed my basket back from the stack before I got to the clerk. Bad idea. She glared at me for having the basket in my hands, when it is *obviously* supposed to go in the stack at the beginning of the lane. So I made extensive attempts to get it back there but couldn't get through the line or around in another isle, so eventually she just told me to leave it. Then she told me the total, which I gave her, and she moved on to the next person, while I stood there with no basket and a table full of items. I finally asked confusedly, "Don't I need the basket for these things?" At which point she directed me under the beltway (where I'm not accustomed to looking for anything) to a stack of plastic bags. Ahhhhhh! So I took a bag and hurriedly shoved my things into it. She then barked that I owed 18 cents for the bag. I gave it to her and scurried away with one overflowing bag and several boxes and things in my other arm. Sigh.... well, at least I know how it works now.

I will have to ask my friend Kai what the German equivalent for "I'm sorry" or "please forgive me" is... I have a feeling I'll need to use it a lot these first few weeks. ;-)

Today I took Alex, my roommate's 14 year old son to a place in South Boston called Castle Island. I don't know whether it is really an island, but it is a beautiful place with lots of waterfront. It consists of a number of beaches and a loop (maybe 3/4 mile?) of paved pathway perfect for walking, biking, or skating. The weather was sunny and hot, which is perfect for Castle Island because there is a constant sea breeze. I took my camera and put together a pictorial story of our entire day... check it out.

Here is the photo album for the day: Castle Island Adventures 

Well, I have a target date now! August 11th. There is still a matter of some paperwork that will need to be approved before I can go, so the date could slip, but the approval is likely to come through by then and we need to begin preparing so that we are ready to move once the paperwork is set. So Buca and I will most likely be on an airplane to Germany on August 11.

So MITRE held this cool event this year for employee appreciation. It was basically a mini-carnival, with games, rides, food/ice cream, etc. I took my roommate Judy and her son Alex to the festivities to enjoy the events and see a little of MITRE. Unfortunately it rained the whole day... not too heavy, but just enough to get everything and everyone (without an umbrella) wet. The real highlight of our day was a boxing match between Alex and I in an inflatable moonwalk-type ring with oversized gloves. I won't give away the winner... but the fifth picture (Image4.jpg) is a good indication. I claim that my higher center of gravity was my downfall. ;-) ... and hey, I'm a girl, no one ever taught me to box!

Here are some pics from the event: Boxing Match 

After driving on the Autobahn for even one day, it was clear I needed some experience driving at higher speeds than those I'm currently accustomed to. My boss races Porsches and I asked him where I should start if I wanted to learn/practice high speed driving skills. He recommended Skip Barber's school in Connecticut and I consequently enrolled in their One Day Driving School. It was a blast and I really learned a lot. We spent the morning doing braking trials in a Dodge Neon, learning the most efficient way to stop the car without ABS. Then we hopped in a Dodge Dakota Pickup truck and practiced skid recovery techniques on a wet skid pad. Next, we practiced emergency lane changes back in the Neons again. And we finished the day by speeding around an autocross track, first in a Neon, and then in a Dodge Viper. The autocross gave us an opportunity to use all the techniques we'd learned throughout the day (except the skid recovery, unless you botched something ;-)). I absolutely loved the experience and it got me completely over my fear of turns. I was so into it, that I signed up for another class. I am debating whether I will do the Two Day Driving School next, or the Three Day Racing School. Tragically, I was so focused on the event, that I didn't even think to bring my camera. I will be sure and take pictures at the next class.

I took a weekend trip out to Germany to decide whether or not I wanted to move there. During my two days there, I checked out the job site and visited friends in Heidelberg. I absolutely loved my visit. It was better than I'd imagined it could be. During my trip, and in the week prior, God addressed each remaining concern that was causing me hesitation in my decision. He opened every door and left me with no doubt that He is sending me... now I begin the adventure of learning what He is sending me there for. ;-)

Here are some pics from my trip: Heidelberg 

I took a short-notice trip to Florida to do some maintenance on my family's boat. I was able to get quite a lot accomplished in a few days (see my pages about Encore's restoration for details). My trip was almost all work, but Sunday morning my mom and I got to visit with several friends at church. And, I, of course, brought along my camera ;-).

Here are some pics of that visit: Friends and Family