Slices of Life: The Little Things That Are Distinctly German

Not much travel going on these days. Baby Luke is now here and we've all been a little under the weather. As we slowly get back into our top travel form, I figured now would be a good time to reflect on those aspect of life here in Germany that make this place unique. After all, I am guessing most people would think of two things when they think of Germany: WWII and Oktoberfest. Ah, but there is so much more below the surface. Here is a quick list off the top of my head:

-Balconies with oversized Window boxes spilling over with colorful Geraniums

-Sunday closures
-Volksmarching
-Red lights at the cemetery
-Carbs
-Religious displays
-Houses close together/distinct villages
-Walkplatz
-Windmills/multiple trash cans/green culture
-Autobahns/traffic jams (staus)
-Rolladens
-Biergartens/beer culture

-Devotion to soccer
-Houses that are never finished/little deferred maintenance
-Active elders
-Nutella
-Christmas Markets

I've noticed that with a few execptions, I'd be hard pressed to find these in the US. It will definitely be hard to leave many of these behind in next year when we head back home.

Our German Gummi Bear

Lots of pix of Luke up on the net. We had a professional photographer take some shots and you can check them out at the website http://www.babysmile24.de/. When you see:
"Sie haben einen Code...
5-stellig Klick hier
12-stellig Klick hier "

click on the one for the 12 digit code. The code is 0015011-7RD7M. That will bring you to the photo gallery.

Take a look!

Needless to say, we were a little (okay, very) apprehensive over the prospect of having a baby in a foreign country away from friends and family. As we look back, we can honestly say that it has been a great experience. We've been very fortunate to have some great friends over here in Germany. We've had about two weeks worth of meals dropped off at our house. It means the world to all of us. Also, we've been lucky to have a great experience at Saint Johannes--the german hospital where Luke was born. It was a 180 from our experience with Julia and the berthing resort in Arizona but it was still a very positive experience.

Happy One Week Birthday Baby Luke!

Our son Luke continues to do really well. He's home from the hospital and is adjusting well to our house. Thankfully he sleeps through the night unless he wants to eat. What a relief! Julia was a night owl.

This last week has been a week of firsts for Luke. He did his first trip to church on Sunday, first time meeting his "brother" Reagan, and first of many leaky diapers. Speaking of firsts, Luke's first trip took place on Sunday when we all headed over to Heidelberg. While we were hoping to do some walking on the great trails that surround the city, the winds kicked up and dropped the temps to below freezing. Too cold for our little guy. Instead we decided to cruise the Marktplatz pedestrian district and grab some dinner. Regardless of the weather, it is really hard not to have a good time in Heidelberg.

Looking forward to coming home in April. I've been away for way too long. Last year this time I was in New Orleans celebrating Mardi Gras and haven't return to the states since. By the time I get home, it will have been over a year away from the US and over 15 months since going to CA. Time to hit the fast forward button on life and get home!

Pictures of our little "prince"

I've found a few minutes to upload some pix of our new son, Luke. Julia still refuses to call him by his real name but insists on calling him Baby Prince Phillip (from Sleeping Beauty fame). To me, he might as well be called Julia Jr. since he looks so much like his big sister when she was born.

We are headed back to the hospital today and the plan is to have the entire family back home tonight. Needless to say, things get rough when it's time for JJ to leave mom at night but oh well. Things will soon return to normal.

Can't wait to come back to CA and show Luke off to his Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends. With any luck he will be on an airplane headed home as soon as his passport arrives in late March. Until that time, our little German boy can't leave the "Fatherland".

Luke is a completely healthy boy. We couldn't be happier about our little gummi bear.

Last but not least, Jen is doing really well. While she was initially anxious to leave the hospital, she said she is really getting used to having people cook her meals, call on her, and clean up after her. Jen's quote "It's like being a celebrity". Anyhow, more pix to come soon.

Baby Luke is Here!

Quick note: Our son Luke was born this morning at 0130 local time at Saint Johannes Hospital in Landstuhl. He weighed in at 7 lbs and is really healthy. Jen is also doing well and is staying with our son until around Friday or Saturday at the hospital. It was quite an experience but it is one I will have to write about later. More to come including pictures when I can catch up on some sleep :)

Baby Update/What's up with that on the door?

What's that writing on our front door? It's epiphany chalk. Read about it at this link: http://www.german-way.com/christmas.html In short, it is a really cool German tradition where little German kids get dressed up as the three kings and go from door to door collecting "gifts" for the newly born Jesus (the money ultimately goes to charities sponsored by the Catholic Church) and write a blessing on your door.

For us, the knock on the door came on 5 Jan and I took Julia with me to answer the door. Keep in mind we had no idea what was coming and we were shocked to see the kids dressed up like that. Even better, Julia was wearing one of her many princess outfits so she fit right in with the "Three Kings". They said some stuff in German and then wrote the phrase 20+C+M+B+08 on our door which is said to bless everyone entering the door for the rest of the year. Really cool stuff.

Different subject: No baby yet. Any day now. We are looking forward to seeing our son Luke! We had an appt with the OB doc yesterday and everything is looking good. Unlike his sister, Luke is in no hurry to come out. Can't blame him. It's cold outside!

Here's a pic of a very pregnant Jen standing on the ice of Lake Gelterswoog down the road in Hohenecken. I believe we took the picture on Christmas day so as you can imagine, her belly is even bigger now.

Merry Christmas!

Was it a white Christmas in Germany? Well, sort of. We had so much frost that all of the trees turned to white and enough frost accumulated to give the appearance of snow on the ground. Good enough! With bright sunshine and lots of frost, it was a wonderful Christmas morning here in Bann.

Merry Christmas to everyone back home! Jen, Julia, Luke, Reagan and I all wish we could be back in California and are looking forward to being home next year. We made the most of it over here. Luckily, the in-laws are here to help us celebrate this year.

Speaking of in-laws, Chef Gary has been busy making an assortment of Christmas dishes with a Martin family twist. In their family, they shun the traditional Turkey and Ham for all things Italian. Knowing this, I took Gary to the Pronto Italian grocery store in K-town and we bought all things Italian for Christmas eve and Christmas Day meals. We also bought what appeared to be Amaretto as an apertif. Big mistake. I took a shot of this stuff after our dinner last night and nearly lost it. I immediately switched back to Gluwein (the traditional hot spiced wine consumed during Christmas time in Western Europe).

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannakuh, Sweet Kwanza, Good Ramadan, Joyous Winter Solstice, etc!

Lost in Translation

Some things just don't translate well. These cream filled...uh...treats came in white, brown, and black.

A year ago when we were on our way to Bavaria, we passed a moving truck that allegedly owned by Mr. F_cker. I tried to take a pix with my camera phone but he blew by us. Later on, we came across a store called Schmuck's in Munich.

The one below takes the cake. Look past the cute pix of our princess and see the type of Pasta they were selling in Sorrento.

We're hoping to add another video for Christmas. Stay tuned...

20K Roadmarch through Bastogne? "Nuts!"

I shifted gears yesterday from the routine and headed up to Bastogne, Belgium for a little walk through the woods. This wasn't just any walk, though. This was the 63nd Anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge and to commemorate the glorious allied victory, they hold a 20K march around Bastogne. The route took us through the very battlefield where many years before, the 101 Airborne Division struggled to hold on to the ville of Bastogne during the surprise German counterattack known as the Battle of the Bulge. Check out some additional history behind this battle which can be seen at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Bastogne

As for the walk, I was accompanied by a Navy Chief Petty Officer from my unit at Ramstein. Not only is he an honorary Californian (spent about 7 yrs at Camp Pendleton before coming to Germany), he also served in Iraq during the Battle of Falluhja. Definitely interesting to get his persective on things which kept my mind off the strain of hiking six hours with a 40 pound rucksack strapped on our backs.

Perhaps the coolest thing about the march was seeing all of the reinactors decked out in WWII garb. There must have been nearly a thousand "troops" in Bastogne yesterday. They too were walking right along with us which really gave one the sense of what it was like to be back there during the battle. Even better, they brought all their toys out as well. During the march, we saw everything from tanks to jeeps to C-47s dropping a bunch of paratroopers overhead. It was too cool. The only thing that didn't exactly replicate the battle was the weather. While it was super cold (a high of 31), the sun was bright and shiny. During the actual battle, there was snow everywhere in the Ardenne forest and the visibility was poor which prevented the Americans from using our superior airpower.

As the story goes, the senior ranking American officer, Gen McAullife, was approached by a German emissary who informed him that he and his fellow Americans were surrouned and suggested they surrender. He replied, "Nuts" and the German were dumbfounded by his reply. Apparently, something was lost in translation. Anyhow, they eventually got the message and the seige continued. As a tribute to this uniquely American reply, many of the hikers ate nuts at the end of the hike. Honestly, I was too spent at the end of the whole thing that the only thing I wanted to do at the end was to have some delicious Beligan beer. Se magnifique!

The day ended with a parade through the main drag through downtown Bastogne. Seeing the American flag and Belgian flag side by side at the head of the parade was too cool for words. Moreover, the honor of leading the parade went to a group of US Army soldiers (the real thing this time). Seeing a group of their veterans from the battle march side by side with American soldiers was also very touching. Unlike some other parts of Europe, the Belgians are still very friendly with Americans and still are very grateful for the sacrifice of our soldiers in December of 1944.

European Christmas Markets

Right about now the temperature is close to freezing just about every day and we are lucky if we have seven hours of daylight. Almost seems like a recipe for depression, eh? To prevent the bah humbug setting in, Germans (and some the neighboring countries) make the most of the moment and put on the best Christmas Markets in the world. When I was in Portugal earlier this year, I saw vacation packages that were created specifically for the German "Christkindlmarkts". Pretty amazing stuff.

Last weekend we decided to forgo the local markets in Landstuhl and Kaiserslautern and headed to Strasbourg, France. Hands down, this place was the most elegant market we've been to yet...not to mention the most crowded. The entire city center/pedestrian district was totally decked out with lights and decorations for Christmas. As you can see in the picture to the right, Strasbourg's version of Notre Dame Cathedral towered over the entire affair which only added to the ambiance.

While decorations and little nick knacks make up the primary merchandise at these markets, the big draw for many people (including us) is the wonderful food they sell at these events. The French are mad about crepes. I picked one of these up and had it filled with Nutella which is a cross between peanut butter and chocolate. Jen and Julia hit up the local botique du chocolat and gobbled up an absolutely delicious eau clair (which I had absolutely no problem ordering since no translation was needed). The highlight of the evening was when we decided to eat dinner at a Le Gruber which was a restaurant that caught my eye the last time I was in town. This place is right in the middle of the action and is known for their decorative red lamps as seen in the picture to the right. This place was so charming! Even better, our waiter spoke English. Thank god. My French is little more than bon jour and merci. We all loved it. The best part about it was that we had a table on the third floor that had a panoramic view of the bustling market below. Needless to say, this one is going to be hard to top.

Joyeux Noel!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Check out the video I attached. Not only will you see us as we get ready for Thanksgiving but you'll also get to see Julia pretending she is a dog, pretending to be on Broadway, pretending to be a cook, etc. Pretty good stuff.

Being away from friends and family is always tough on Thanksgiving but rest assured we made the most of our day. Jen made a great turkey and Julia decided to play with me instead of hanging on her mom all afternoon. It worked out great. We also got to watch a little of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Julia, however, lost interest really quick.

As I write this, dinner is over and football is now on TV. We're all stuffed and the sleepy juice from the turkey is sinking in. Julia and Jen are practicing Christmas Carols and once Julia goes to sleep (early I hope), Jen and I are going to watch Oceans 13 which I picked up on the way home.

Tomorrow, we are going to brave the crowds at the base exchange and do some Christmas shopping. One of the benefits of being stationed in a country where they don't celebrate Thanksgiving is that there will be absolutely no rush on the stores outside the gate tomorrow. No such thing as Black Friday in Germany. Also, traffic flowed completely normal today. Besides the occasional farm vehicle slowing things down, I was able to go full speed to and from work today. Good times.

Anyhow, this Thanksgiving I have so much to be thankful for. A healthy baby on the way, no snow today, a princess for a daughter, most importantly, I am thankful for wonderful friends and family. Happy Thanksgiving!

Here comes the snow...

Being from Southern CA, I still get a tad excited when snow falls outside. I am sure it's a novelty and it will wear off in time but for now, I'm still happy to see the white stuff fall.

Now driving in this stuff is a different story! Rewind to the early nintien when Jen and I were first dating and we drove the T-Bird up to Big Bear in Feb to meet up with the family. We made it past the artic circle just fine but once we were on the road to moonridge, the car started to slide towards a snow bank. I recovered control in time and we fared just fine. Fast forward fifteen years and the same thing happened during our drive down to Garmish for the long weekend. It's the craziest thing! One minute you are going along just fine and the next minutes, it's as if some kid with a remote control started to control the car. We all decided that from now on, we're taking the train rather than driving in heavy snow.

We stayed at the Edelweiss resort hotel which is fantastic. With their spa, pool, gym, American food, woodburning fireplace, we never wanted to leave the place. See the pix below of the girls who look relieved to finally be there.

Edelweiss is in the middle of my favorite region of Germany: Bavaria. I'm not sure if this is where our German relatives are from but I definitely feel a connection to the place. Bavaria is home to all things distinctly German such as the Alps, Munich, Oktoberfest, liederhosen, etc. Ironically, Bavarians don't consider themselves German much as Southernerns didn't consider themselves Americans before the start of the Civil War.

I asked some Germans outside of Bavaria what they thought about this and they rolled their eyes and said with considerable distain, "Those Bavarians think they are sooo special..." I didn't admit say anthing to this guy but the truth is there really is something special about Bavaria. For one, this place is hands down beautiful. You see cool villages nestled in the middle of a forest, half timbered construction, soaring mountains, etc. Also, Bavaria is the Catholic hub of Germany. As a Catholic, it was great to see that these guys weren't afraid to be proud of their religion. Many of the buildings with beautiful religious murals painted on the side and crucifixes are displayed everywhere. And you better believe the biggest and grandest building in most villages in this area is the Catholic church. Finally, the traditional greeting in Bavaria is "Grus Gott!" instead of Guten tag. This loosely translates to "Glory to God". Jen wondered if a greeting like this would ever fly in PC minded America. Uh, no.

Anyhow, the trip to Garmish was great (besides, of course, the drive to and from). We stopped in Munich on the way back up and at lunch at the legendary Hofbrauhaus. The beer at this place comes in these massive one l liter Kugels (steins). Here's a rare pix of the entire family at this place. If you look closely, you can see Baby Luke in Jen's belly.

Auf Wiedersehen for now...

Happy Halloween!

A few days before Halloween, we headed down to Frankenstein Castle (its real name) in Baden Wurttemberg which is around Darmstadt area with some friends of ours and had a blast. The castle transformed into a haunted house of sorts and was crawling with creepy ghouls and monsters. Let's just say the adults love it, the kids...well, not so much.

On the left is a cool pix of JJ and I inside one of the cages within the castle. As you can see in the pix, Julia clung to my side the entire night. Hey, first time for everything.

After the trip to the castle, Jen and JJ went home and I headed to Grafenwoehr for a week for a work related trip. Graf, as the local army guys call it, is a bustling training ground for our Germany based soldiers and I was there to plan an exercise for next year. The trip wasn't much to write home about but the cool thing about Graf is that it was once a training ground for the German soldiers during WWI and WWII. After 1945, Graf, including the rest of Bavaria fell into the hands of the Americans and we've held onto this post ever since. As such, many of the half timber houses remain intact and are still used today. In fact, the centerpiece for the post is what they call the tower. This thing is about 300' high and is extremely ornate. I've never seen anything like it. It was one of those "Only in Germany" moments.

On a different note, we are now officially at our halfway point for this assignment. Thus far, our family has visited France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany,and Ireland. I can tack on England, Turkey, and Portugal as solo trips. Not too bad. Anyhow, we are headed down to the Alps soon to mark the occasion. We plan on enjoying the newly fallen snow and will be sure to post some pix.

New pix

I've scanned in some new pix from my trip down to Switzerland and Bavaria. Check them out at this link:

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c351/grego108/Switzerland/

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.

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.

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.

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...