Slàinte! Guiness and Summer Found in Co Kerry, Ireland

Talk about the luck of the Irish. Last year in Dublin we just happened to stumble upon a rare weekend of sunshine. Oh yeah, it was the middle of summer and the Irish were complaining they hadn't had a sunny day all year until that very weekend. Fast forward a year or so and we find ourselves in a very sunny yet again. This time it was for Saint Paddy's Week. Strangly enough it felt like summer to us who live in Germany. It felt great!!!

The bright, warm sunshine we encountered as we stepped off our Ryan Air flight was definitely a sign of things to come. In retrospect, this was one of the best trips we've taken since we've been stationed here. It's impossible to cover everything but easily the best thing about Ireland is the very friendly people. Ireland is aptly named the land of a thousand welcomes and we discovered why when we checked into our B&B. Our host, Michael and Barbara, were extremely welcoming and kind. Rather than customers at a non descript hotel, we were treated like family. They even kidnapped me one night and took me out to a local pub for a few rounds of Guiness.

One of the biggest surprises was the food. The bread over there was simply delicious and the soup was amazing. Also, I was never a big fan of Guiness until this trip. They always say that the stuff tastes differently in Ireland and they're right. Part of the problem was that there is a technique to drinking this "blonde in a black dress". The trick is to wait a few minutes after the pour to let the drink settle. A local helped me out and said that drinking it too quick is like "heresy around here". Good tip.

Finally we got a chance to rub elbows with the locals at a pub called "Danny Mann's" in Killarney. There we watched the Irish rugby team win the "Grand Slam" for the first time in 61 years. Talk about Irish Pride! These guys went nuts everytime their boys stuck it to the Welsh. Even though we didn't really understand the nuances of the game, we got the gist of it and had an absolute blast.

Until later, Slàinte "Slan-juh" (cheers!)

Cute sign at the Ladies View, Killarney Natl ParkDingle (an Deingan) HarborA Couple Cute Irish Ladies in DingleWindy Ventry Strand, Dingle Peninsula

"Jaunting Car" on the way to Muckross House outside of Killarney

Celtic Milestone Marker outside of our B&BThe White, Orange, and Green overlooking Dingle Harbor

Torc Waterfall, Killarney Nat'l Park

Luke eyeing my Guiness at Danny Mann's Pub in downtown Killarney

Navy Days Revisited

Nearly a year has passed since my cruise on the USS Mt Whitney. Time has really flown by! Don't get me wrong, I am in no hurry to board another warship for a long time...the memories are plenty! A friend of mine, Maj Claudia Eid (centered), shared her pix with me and fortunately they're a lot better than the ones I took. Check it out--

Me off the coast of Calabria, Italy (The old Country!)

Officer Stateroom--Six to a room, baby!

Underway Replenishment courtesey of the USS Patuxent

Manning that 50 Cal while transiting the Straights of Messina

The Final Countdown!

Only a few months to go for us here in Europe. We're now into the double digits and before we know it, we'll be back in the US. Very exciting yet sad at the same time. Before we leave this land of compact cars and large plates of schnitzel, we've got some serious traveling to do. Starting next week, we start our European farewell tour with stops in West Ireland, Amsterdam, Bruges, Blk Forest, and Italy.


In the mean time, we've been knocking around Germany making the most out of this prolonged winter. We did our sixth Volksmarch in the medieval town of Rothenberg ob der Tauber a couple weeks ago. We've taken most of our friends and family there and it never fails to impress. We stayed in an Army base in Ansbach just outside of Nuremberg which happens to be the city where my Uncle Shelby was stationed in the fifties as a tanker. It's hard not to feel a connection to this place for that reason. Anyhow, Rothenberg was great (as always!) and the pictures simply don't do the place justice. Take a look:
Luke andI muggin it up for the camera

Check it out goth kids: A creepy cemetery...sooo cool!

Last weekend we headed north for to a former monestery for an Easter Egg Market. Germans and other Northern Europeans are famous for their ornate Easter eggs so we were anxious to check them out. To simply call them Easter eggs is an injustice...these were individual works of art. Many were painstakingly painted by hand. We even broke down and picked one up for our son, Luke. If you look close enough at the pix below, you'll find an egg with a couple ducks...that's it.

Aside from the market, we were really impressed by the grounds of this place. No captions necessary...the pix came out great!