Alpine Ski Mission

Heaven found atop the Alpenspitz, Garmisch-Partenkirchen

With only a few days leftbefore Jen and the family make their triumphant return to Germany, I hit the autobahn and headed for the Alps for a ski mission. On Sunday morning at 0' dark thirty I piled into the Trailblazer, set the GPS for Garmish Partenkirchen in Bavaria, and drove as fast as I possibly could. Garmisch, a picturesque town at the foot of the Bavarian Alps, is definitely the place to be in a miserably cold German winter. While the rest of the country hibernates and complain about our former president, a lucky few souls brave the elements and hit the slopes.

Rather than slide down the alps on my snowboard, I dedcided to rent some skis for a change. I made the switch to snowboarding about 12 years ago and hadn't skied since. After a few minutes that old familiar feeling came rushing back and it's like I'd been skiing the day before. I forgot how much skiing trashes one's thighs so needless to say, I was looking forward to a night of jacuzzi and bier on Sunday night. Fully recharged, I was ready for some more abuse the next day. We left Garmish in the rear view mirror and crossed the border into Austria. There we skied the juicy powder of Ehrwald until my legs were ready to fall off.

Thankfully I had a great wingman for this mission. My buddy Brett came along for the trip and he's an old friend I knew from Luke AFB. A good time was had by all. Luckily he had the guts to bring his gucci camera with him during our ski sessions so as soon as I get his pix, I'll post them on the blog.

Quick note: The German DJs in that part of the country love the song "Rehab" by Rhianna. I must have heard that song a dozen times this weekend. Good song but is it really worthy of heavy rotation? They also played a song in honor of President Obama. While the song begins with the Chorous, "Give us hope, Obama", it quickly devolved into "Give us Dope, Obama". Those nutty Germans.


More to come!

Gondola to the top of the Hausberg Mountain

Eastern Exposure: Budapest!

Just returned from a long weekend in Hungary. Since Jen has let it be known she doesn't do Eastern Block countries, this was my big chance to head out on a little adventure behind the old iron curtain. Was it cold? Uh huh. Was the hearty Hungarian food tasty? And then some. Was it worth it? Definitely!

Here are some pix from the trip:

Parliament Building/Icy Danube: If this looks cold, you would be right.

I froze by butt off on Sunday. At the foot of Castle Hill in Buda. In the backgound is Matthias Church and Fishermen's Bastion which was built to honor the Magyar (Hungarian) defeat of the Turks

Statue inside the Széchenyi Baths: Look closely--the boy is taking a leak on his dad.

Transylvannia Castle in the Main City Park--there were no less than 5 architectural styles included in this amazing building

Me and a relic of the Evil Empire--the Trabant. These were the original Smart Cars.

Soviet Statue relocated to the new Momento Park. Rather than melt down/destroy all of the Soviet monuments, the Hugarians tore them out of the city and put them in a park on the outskirts of town where tourists pay good money to check them out. That's capitalism at it's best! What a 180.

Tank Driving ad. Only in Hungary.

Out on the pub crawl. Ran into a group of French & international students from Tolouse who couldn't have been nicer people. Great cultural exchange over some good Hungarian beer and gulash. This guy (alcohol-induced memory loss...can't remember the name) was originally from Tunisia but grew up in France while his girlfriend was from Columbia. Some of the other folks in the group were from Norway and Argentina (not to mention native French). Our guide for the night was Hungarian. I told them I felt like I was in the United Nations.

Not just any Micky D's. This was the first one opened behind the Iron Curtain.

On the way home from Hungary, I am convinced Jen would have had a good time. The Hungarians reminded me a lot of the Germans. Sorta formal but not stuffy. Also, the place was pretty cheap. They haven't yet converted to the Euro which made everything about half price other other countries in Europe. For example, I got a great meal w/wine at a hip retro restaurant called Menza in the heart of the city for around 15 dollars. Who knows? Maybe I will return again with family in tow.

Video of Our Village

With the winter chill setting in, I found some time to slap together short video on Youtube. This "film" shows some of the sights and sounds of Bann--our village here in Germany. Take a look and let me know what you think: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbKKYLXnuKA

It's tough not to think about warmer weather during the "dog days of winter" here in Germany. Here is a pix of Luke and I in a much warmer Paris from last summer.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Everyone!

The video above was taken last night just after midnight struck here in Bann. For Germans, New Years is their 4th of July. The entire city erupts like a war zone. The last time Bann looked and sounded like this was 1945 compliments of the Allied Air Forces.

This was my third consecutive New Years Eve here in Bann. I always seem to be on call these nights (lucky me). Even with family back in the states, I still entered the new year with a kiss from our dog Reagan at the stroke of midnight.

Not sure about all of you but I've had it with 2008. I've got a great feeling that 09 will be much better. We'll wait and see. 2009 will be our last here in Europe so as far as travel, we are going to make the most of our limited time here. We hope to go back to Ireland, Italy, and France this year to close out our "Three Year Eurotrip". Glucklish Neues Jahr!