Friday, October 26, 2007

New pix


I've scanned in some new pix from my trip down to Switzerland and Bavaria. Check them out at this link:
Not much else going on. Will be heading down to the eastern part of the country soon for an exercise but not much in terms of sightseeing. The weather has turned sour and the travel season has gone belly up. We are, however, planning to hit up jolly old England in the not too distant future. Should be cool.


Wednesday, October 17, 2007

When I'm not on vacation...

...I am in the middle of a war. From a distance at least. Living here in Germany amongst the happy village fests, the gorgeous countryside, and family, it is easy--almost too easy-- to escape this reality. I just finished watching a segment of Ken Burns' WWII documentary The War and it donned on me how lucky I am. Luckily, I wasn't an Airman in a B-17 or civilian in our village of Bann. According to a small website that describes the history of Bann, this place was nearly destroyed by Allied bombers during their advance on the Western Front. Before that it was smashed by the French during the Napoleon era campaigns. Unlike the GIs from WWII or today's service members who are currently in some ditch in Afghanistan, I'm not dodging bullets and carry on much like everyone else does back in the US.

From time to time, however, the realities of war come home. It hits when I review the requests for movement which, at first blush, look like any other piece of paper. Dig deeper and you get a running commentary of the those who were not so fortunate. Hits even harder when I have the honor of going out to the aircraft that is bound for the US and seeing these guys who I've read about moments before. Thankfully, most of these guys sport huge grins as the ascend the ramp to their litter onboard...their lives spared by other heroes up the hill at Landstuhl Med Ctr.

It hit when Jen's brother left for Iraq. Seven months later, it hit when I took a call from him telling me that we was on his way home without a scratch. To this day, I can remember exactly where I was, what I was wearing, what Julia was doing, etc when I took that call.

It also hits when I read in the Stars and Stripes about the heroic service member who saved his buddies while engaged in a firefight. Sometimes the guy is from LA, or ,California or has been at a base I was once stationed. It hits...hurts... knowing this news will likely never reach the average American. Why? Not because the feed gets lost somewhere in cyberspace but because the average American isn't at war. If Jay Leno did one of his famous street interviews and asked people on the streets of the Burbank Media Center to name the countries where we're engaged overseas or to name someone they know who is serving in the military, he probably would get the typical dumbfounded stare. Ask them what's new with the Olsen twins and they could probably rattle off the name of their Wilshire Blvd lawyer, the designer of their red carpet attire, and what they had for dinner last night (wait, do they even eat anymore?). The Navy SEAL who's being awarded a Metal of Honor...posthumously? They'll tell you how inhumane it is for the military to be exploiting our innocent sea life. Is this true in all cases? I don't know. Jay Leno comes on way too early for me to watch :)

Like yin and yang, these moments range from triumphant, funny, disappointing, tragic, etc. I just wish the former would be told back home more often. Regardless of what is going on back home, I'm enormously proud to go to work each morning to do my small part in this campaign. Most of the jobs I've had both in and outside of the military haven't even come close to replicating this feeling. It's super motivating.

I promise this will be my only posting about this subject. Is it travel related? Not exactly. It's just something that struck me. After reading my previous posts, I realized I exclusively focus on the positive travel experiences...almost as if I am bragging. Reality check: being stationed here at this time in our history involves a lot of that yin and yang I described earlier.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Straight outta California...



What a great feeling! Jen and Julia are back in Germany and we're all together once again. I hate to say it but they're both wishing they stayed in CA with the 30 degree drop in temp. CA: Indian Summer. Bann: Icicle toes in the morning. Hard to get used to I'm sure.



We headed out to Luxembourg yesterday to celebrate a wonderful Fall day. The "ville" of Luxembourg has wonderful Fall foliage and perhaps the coolest park in this region. Take a look at the pic on the left. This place is so close but so disctinctly different than Germany. It is a perfect blend of France, Germany, and Belgium. In other words, great chocolate, great cars, and great food. Is it perfect? Well, no. The average age tended to be around dead and there isn't much to do outside of the city but as a day trip, this place is perfect.

.As a retrospective, here is a pic of me and my first hitchhiker: Leonhardt. This guy was walking--stumbling is a better way to describe it-- literally in the middle of the road on the way to church outside of Berchtesgaden. I couldn't help but stop and help this guy out. Thankfully my friends in the car didn't mind that much and he seemed really appreciative. Super nice guy. Made for a great photo op. Who knows...maybe he is writing in his blog about those nice Americans who stopped and gave him a lift to his church. You never know.
Check out some additional pix from the last month. http://s31.photobucket.com/albums/c351/grego108/Oktoberfest%20and%20Berchtesgaden/When Jen and Julia were back home, I hit up Switzerland, Austria, Bavaria, Belgium, and many villages within. It's time to give the Trailblazer and oil change and some much needed downtime.

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Bastogne and German Soccer







Bastogne, Belgium was great but it was totally unexpected. For one, the military museum was alright but it was a bit on the bland side. A nazi uniform here, an American M-1 there...all very nice but it was sort of a yawn. What made it interesting was that I was the only American in the entire museum. It was a surreal feeling...sorta looking from the outside in. However, the Belgians seem extremely appreciative of the Americans for liberating their villages even to this day. That was cool.




Before heading out, I decided to hit the t0wn. Whatever the Bastogne liberation museum lacked, the town of Bastogne more than made up for it. For one, the waffles were to die for! I am convinced this is why America liberated this town to begin with. They were fantastic. Belgians are also famous for their beer that is brewed by Monks. Fortunately the stores are open on Sunday so I was able to pick up a couple different varieties of this beer called "St. Bernardus Abbey" and it was delicious. Nothing like the German stuff but still really good. Germany has some really strict brewing laws which prevent anything more than a few ingredients to be used in beer. No such thing in Belgium. Regardless, their beer tasted like a premium microbrew you might find back in the US. Soooo good! Here is a pix from the town of Bastogne:



Today (Sunday) I am heading out with a buddy to go see the Kaiserslautern Red Devil Soccer team lose to some hapless team from Eastern Germany. Needless to say, K-town isn't fielding a great team this year but the games are fun to go to anyway. Having ten thousand raving mad fans maintain a level of intensity through the entire ninety minutes of a game is nothing like I've seen before. Couple this with the crisp cool air and clear blue skys, and the result should be a great time.



Fall has definitely set in here in Germany. The travel season is rapidly coming to an end. I am going to try to maintain this blog weekly but no one wants to hear about all the TV we watched as we sat a home on a gray November Sunday. No worries...