Stockholm Surprise

Tick-tock tick-tock. Our time here in Europe is running out...FAST. Because of this we felt compelled to see as many places on our impossibly long "must see" list as possible. Scandanavia was next on our list. So many places to choose from but fortunately we were able to get cheap airline tix to Stockholm and we took full advantage. So last Friday we headed north for our Swedish getaway.

A few brief observations of Stockholm and Sweden:

1. The place is expensive! Sure the dollar is weak against the Euro but against the Krone, it is monopoly money. Everything is pretty much triple what it would cost in the US.

2. Everyone speaks English...fluently. What a relief. Fortunately we were able to manage with the one word that is too easy for us Yanks: Hey. Hey in Swedish means hi. Too easy.

3. Stockholm is really underrated. The place was gorgeous and the skyline was incredible. It reminded Jen and I of Seattle/Vancouver. Water ran through the city and the architecture was stunning. Many of the old historic buildings never were bombed and are in prestine condition. Ah the joys of neutrality (and isolationism).

4. The Swedish people were very nice. Example, if they bumbed into you, they would say "excuse me". This concept is lost on most other Europeans but not the friendly Swedes.

5. There were 7-11s everywhere. As an American growing up with a 7-11 on every street corner, seeing these stores was a taste of home (not to mention the taste of a slurplee)

6. I know I'll get in trouble for saying this but Stockholm, hands down, had the best looking women in all of Europe. Jen even mentioned to me that the girl taking our order at McDonalds would win America's top model if she entered the competition. I'm sure she was right. To make matters worse, they were young women everywhere. To all of my single male friends, I leave you this message: Go North! You'll thank me later. Now I hear Kazakhstan has some hotties walking around but I have to base this on places that I've visited.

Here are some pix of us around town:

JJ and I at Skansen Open Air Cultural Center

A rare pix of entire family taken by a group of outgoing Indian students

Jen and Luke the Viking overlooking the amazing city of Stockholm

The Baldwin European Blitz

As most history buffs know, the blitz was a tactic perfected by the Germans during WWII. The revolutionary concept in warfare called for "lightning warfare" instead of slugging out in the trenches reminiscent of the hell that was WWI. It involved fast maneuovers, intense action against an unprepared enemy, and a general romp through the countryside on the way to the enemy's capital.

Since my brother has been in town, we've adopted this concept and have applied it to travel. I must be in the blood since my parents did the same thing when they were here. They did something like fifteen cities in twenty days. Jen and I did the same thing when we were here vacationing as poor college students. Intense!

Here's a sample agenda from the last few weeks:

Thurs to Sun: Paris

Mon to Thurs: Misc Germany

Fri to Mon: Amsterdam/Leiden

Tues to Fri: Misc Germany

Sat: Wittlich Pig Burners Festival

Sun to Tues: Garmisch/Bavaria

Earlier I mentioned this blitz tourism was intense. I meant exhausing.

On a personal note, I've really enjoyed all of the visitors we've had this summer. Seeing Europe with friends and family is a terrific way to see new places. As for those places we've already seen, we feed off of the excitement of our guests and it's like we too are discovering it for the first time. Here are some pix of places we've been in the last few weeks:

Kiss at the Seine

Jen and Mandi at Eis Dolomiti in Landstuhl

Julia, Emma, and Mandi at Cologne

Bruthas in Paris

Thanks to my brother Daniel for these pix. Lucky for us he was bit by the photographer bug.

Vin & Versailles (oh yeah, Paris too)

Bonjour! Spent the last weekend in Paris and made our way out to Versailles. Rather than throw away 50 euro in admission to this grand palace, we decided to admire the amazing architecture and the sprawling palace grounds. What really made this experience special was that they played classical music throughout the entire gardens and allowed the patrons to enjoy some wine while admiring the grounds. After spending 13 hours of slogging around Paris, it was just what the doctor ordered.

Atop the Eiffel Tower

Speaking of Paris, we ventured out with my brother Daniel, sister-in-law Mandi, and niece Emma. Had a really good time and did much of the usual Paris circuit: Notre Dame-Crepes-Eiffel Tower-baguettes-etc. The highlight, without a doubt, was going up 400' to the observation deck of the tower. We really lucked out. It had been gray and gloomy all day...until we started up the steps (yep, we bypassed the crowds and took the stairs). By the time we got to the deck, the clouds had parted and the sun finally made its glorious presence felt. The picture simply doesn't do it justice.

Sleepy Baby on the Seine Cruise

The night ended with a cruise down the Seine. This was worth every penny! We witnessed Parisians at their best while cruising down the river. We saw everything from romantics making most of the night, stumbling drunks who partook in too much vin, and couples dancing under the stars. Oh yeah, the architecture wasn't too shabby either. After spending over two years in Europe, I've noticed that we pay less attention to the buildings and more attention to the people and their culture. That's where Europe really comes alive.

6 months already

It's hard to believe, but our little guy is 6 months old today. The last 6 months have just flown by. Luke has changed so much and has added so much to our family. As of today he is 17 lbs. 4 oz and 26 1/2 inches, putting him at the 40th percentile for both height and weight. He's got his two bottom teeth and boy does he know how to use them! He's sitting up by himself and loves to roll around the house. He'll be crawling before we know it!

Luke loves:

• his sister, especially when she dances for him



• his milk



• terrorizing Reagan



• taking long walks in the Baby Bjorn with dad



• cuddling with mom



• grabbing anything and everything within arms reach

He's not so sure about:

• solid foods, so far he doesn't like bananas, green beans, peas and sweet potatoes



• sleeping by himself in his crib



• spending too much time in his carseat



• Baby Einstein...tv's just not for him

Luke lights up our days with his smile and his laugh. He loves to play and cuddle. I can't believe he's already half way to his first birthday.

Only a little over a month until Julia's 4th birthday. We're already deep into planning and have decided on a Wizard of Oz theme. Stay tuned for pictures!

Julia the Photographer//A Visit from the "King"

Had a great time catching up with some old friends from the Republic of Texas last week. Our friends James and Kim were out here visiting from the Dallas area and stopped in for a few days. James and Kim are old Army ROTC buddies from my Tech days and they were in Europe. Anyhow, Kim's maiden name is Koenig which means "King" in German. Let's face it, it's not everyday we have royalty in for a visit.

While strolling around Bacharach, our favorite Rhine village, Julia took a halfway decent pix of us all (see above). It was truly a point and shoot affair with no countdown or "everyone say cheese" but it's not bad for one of her first pix.

While they were here, we had the chance to hit up some of our favorite local spots. In addition to Bacharach, we headed over to Annweiler and checked out an amazing castle called Burg Trifels. This was a first for me and this castle was really awe inspiring. Unfortunately my camera crapped out so hopefully James (a great photographer BTW) has some good pix. After hiking down from Burg Trifels, I got a quick shot of the guy off to the right who was playing his little music box with a crank of the handle. It was raining when I took the shot so that is why he is under his lift gate. Nothing spectacular...just a cute slice-of-life experience.

We also hit up Speyer which is home to the famous "technical museum". Since their loss in WWII, the Germans are not big on war museums to nobody's surprise. Instead, they focus on things like technical museums and put all of the cool military hardware on display to show off the engineering aspect of the stuff. For my friend James, who is a pilot and an all out airplane junkie, this was right up his alley. His enthusiasm for the exhibits was infectious.

Speaking of visitors, my brother Daniel and his family are due in tomorrow. It's Daniel's first time to mainland Europe and Mandi's first time as well. We're really excited to have them out.

Our little man's got his first tooth!

Luke's first tooth came in this past weekend. He's been teething for a couple of months now and has been in obvious discomfort so we were so excited to see that his bottom tooth finally pushed through. He is 5 1/2 months now and is growing and changing so quickly. He's 26 1/2 inches and 16 1/2 lbs. He's still smaller than Julia was at the same age, but he's quickly catching up. He's rolling all over the place and is sitting up for short periods by himself. He can't wait until he can chase his best friends Julia. Here are the latest pictures of our little prince!

Ole! Ole! Ole! Running With the Bulls in Pamplona

Last year around this time, a buddy from work convinced me that running with the bulls in Pamplona would be a good idea. As the time got closer, I got more excited about the prospect of risking life and limb on the streets of this Spanish town. Just think—Sangria, massive parties, and sunshine! What could go wrong? Well, that buddy got orders to Texas and wasn’t going to make it after all. By that time I had already purchased airline tix and was already mentally committed to heading to Pamplona. I was going no matter what.

When my dad caught wind of my plans, he wanted in too. As long as I can remember, he has been talking about running with the bulls during the Festival of San Fermin (the official name of the whole thing) and actually tried to make it happen last year. This was his chance and he took it. My cousin Andrew from CA, who is regarded as the family daredevil, also decided to come out for the event.

I’ll skip right to the good stuff—Running with the Bulls. Well, we pretty much stayed up all night on Wednesday night and decided to run on the morning of the 9th. They release the bulls at 8 AM and all the runners needed to be in place by around 6:45 so taking the early train into town was out of the question. Anyhow, my dad and I took the night off from drinking and tried to get a little sleep wherever we could (city park, cathedral steps, etc). Andrew, from what we could tell, went on a bender and when we found him the next morning, he was sleeping on a piece of cardboard on a street. Good times!

Once Andrew woke up we made our way to Santo Domingo street where the workers were busy preparing the course. They’ve got to do this because the night before the streets get littered with beer bottles and trash from the incredible parties that rage all night long. Around 7:30 the streets were packed and we anxiously awaited the first rocket that signaled that the bulls had been released. Up to this point, I wasn’t nervous at all. With around 15 minutes before they launched the rocked, my palms started to get a little sweaty and my heart was starting to beat fast. This, I thought to myself, is going to be freaking awesome! These weren’t nerves…this was pure excitement!

Boom! The rocket exploded high above the crowd signaling the release of the bulls and the crowd went crazy. Because we picked our starting position about halfway through the course, it took about 60 seconds before we could see the stampede of bodies and bulls barreling towards us. My cousin, always the daredevil, seemed committed to waiting until the very last second before sprinting away from the bulls. I waited as long as I could and yelled to Andrew that I would see him inside the bull ring and started running down the street. A few more seconds past and honestly, the rest was a big blur. I do remember seeing the first bull charge right past me. It was a massive brown one with a big cow bell clanking away. After he passed, I tried my best to get the heck out of the way to avoid being gored. I was able to get off to the side and the rest of the herd passed on through. There were about a thousand others who had the same idea and we were all able to somehow squeeze off to the side and cheat certain death. I imagine it was like being a hockey player being checked into the boards.

After it was all over there was an incredible feeling of elation. We all made it into the bull ring, the Spanish sun was shining on us, and most of all we were all glad to be alive.



After Pamplona we made our way to Madrid. I will probably talk about this incredibile city in a different post but in sum, I was able to link up with my old boss Julio. He was el jefe when I worked at Westwood Studios in Irvine during my video game production days. He now lives in Spain and was an incredible host while we were in town. Unfortunately he has his eyes closed in this pix but this is the only one we took.

Finally, here is a pix of Dad and I drinking Sangria in Madrid's spectatular Plaza Mayor.

Bottom line: This one is going to be tough to top.

Why Ryan Air Pisses Me Off

So we found this great fare to fly down to Venice on Ryanair.com (for those stateside, Ryan Air is the Southwest Airlines of Europe). The rate only came out to just under 50 euro for our whole family to fly roundtrip which comes out to around $75.00 Not bad, eh? Wrong. Take off you hoser! Check out my bill below:

********47.97 EUR Total Fare
********90.42 EUR Taxes, Fees & Charges
********30.00 EUR Passenger Fee: Airport Check in
********40.00 EUR Passenger Fee: Infant
********24.00 EUR Passenger Fee: CC
********20.00 EUR Passenger Fee: BAG
*******252.39 EUR Total Paid

Let's recap: 24 Euro for the priveledge of using my visa card to book the tix on the website. Are you kidding? That 20 euro baggage fee is for ONE bag. Also, Luke's ticket was the most expensive of them all. Again, our four month old has to pay 20 euro each way while we only have to pay around 8. Go figure.

So here's the deal: Even at 252 euro, Venice is worth every penny. The place is amazing and we are really looking forward to spending some more time (and hopefully less money) in that magical city. Check out the attached pix I took of the city at sunset from our first trip down there. Good stuff.

We're now officially in the visitor season. We're thrilled to have some company this summer. No, seriously! Our time is getting short here and we're on a mission to see some places we've never been. Our friends and family are going to be along for the ride as we do one last sightseeing conquest of the continent.

Just a quick picture

It's so rare to get a good picture of both kids at the same time that I have to share. This is Luke and Julia yesterday at the local Dinosaur Park.

The ideal place to live???

Ever wonder where your ideal place to live would be? Since we move around so much and have no idea where we may end up next it's a thought that's definitely crossed my mind. Greg and I both took the quiz at http://www.findyourspot.com/ to find out what it thought our ideals places to live would be. We took the quiz independent of each other but strangely enough we ended up with the same result. Our ideal place to live......Phoenix!!! See, I knew I was meant to go back there!

My top 3 were: Phoenix, Tuscon and Las Vegas
Greg's top 3 were: Phoenix, Scottsdale and Charlston, SC

Seems to me we were meant to live in the desert. Check it out and let us know what your ideal spot is.

My Take on Travel with Kids and Pix of Julia's "Boyfriend"

Now that Julia is nearly 4 y/o and Luke is 4 months, I want to write a little about what it's like to tote them along as we see this great continent. It's tough to put into words but I guess the opening lines of A Tale of Two Cities is appropriate: "It was the best of times and it was the worst of times."

On one hand, the kids are great so long as we hit up places they would enjoy. So in other words, parks and gelato are in while museums and nice dinners are out. Case in point: Last week we tried to celebrate Fathers Day at a nice Italian Restaurant in Niedermohr called il Pirata. The place was gorgeous and the food was phenomenal. The kids—well—that’s a different story. We made it about five minutes before Luke started to get restless. Then Julia started to squirm. Mind you by this time the waiter hadn’t even taken our order. I knew it was going to be a difficult one. After a few more minutes of this stuff, Jen and I took turns taking the kids for walks outside so the other could eat. Wasn’t pretty. Looks like we’ll be eating al fresco for the next few Fathers Days.

On the other hand, the kids enrich our travel experience. For example, when Luke was getting crabby at the restaurant mentioned above, we took a walk around to calm him down. As we did the Italians who ran the place took turns passing him around and playing with him. Before the night was through, Luke was helping out behind the bar, taking orders, and seating customers. It was too cute. The same thing happened during our trip to Cinque Terre. Europeans (especially Italians), love the Bello Bambinos. In a way, the kids are a great cultural icebreaker. When we were in Paris, Julia played with a cute little French Homme while in a park just off of the Champs Elysees. When I take Luke around our neighborhood here in Bann, the otherwise reserved Germans beam a huge smile when they see him. It’s fantastic.

Obviously we would have a much different experience if we were here without kids. Romantic dinners at sunset, afternoons looking at Rembrants and Matisses, etc… These will have to wait. If anything, this just means we are going to have to come back here when the kids are grown up and off to college (Julia at ASU and Luke at ND of course). Until then, you can find us at the park, at the zoo, and at playground eating gelato…and having a blast doing it.

Now for some more pix. First, here is a pix of Jen and the kids at the entrance to a gem mine in Idar Oberstein...

Next is a pix of Julia and her "boyfriend" Dylan...And the best part of traveling with kids...

My German hospital experience (warning...it's a long one)

Greg's been after me for a while to write about my experience going through my prenatal care and birth with Luke at the German hospital. It was definitely a 180 from my experience with Julia and from most people's experiences so here it goes.

We found out we were expecting on our 8th anniversary, May 22, 2007. While Greg and I were both really excited I was a little nervous about where the baby would be born. We had our first prenatal appointment (more of a consult) at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the Army hospital down the street. Needless to say the nurse at LRMC did not give me the warm fuzzies. In fact I walked out of there in tears. I was really torn as to where to turn next. Greg looked into the possiblility of me going home to CA to have the baby. My biggest concern with that is that he would miss the birth. So we were off to St. Johannis, the local German hospital also in Landstuhl.

When I met my doctor, Dr. Buchler, at my first appointment I was kind of shocked. He's a bit of a hippy and wears birkenstocks most of the time. Looks can be deceiving though and his bedside manner could not have been better. He reassured me that all was well and showed us our first pictures of little Luke. The technology in the hospital was second to none. My prenatal care was fantastic. I had ultrasounds, including the 3D version at every appointment and the staff was amazing and caring.

When I was about 7 months along we took the tour of labor and delivery. This was a huge shock. The hospital where Julia was born in AZ was like a resort. This was nothing like that at all. There were contraptions of all kinds in the room (i.e. birthing balls, strange things to hang on and a weird bed that didn't look like a bed at all). There were bathtubs in a couple of the rooms as well. I was okay until they told me that all the recovery rooms were shared and there are no curtains in between. Talk about no privacy. Also, the Germans use olive oil instead of wipes to clean up the baby's poop. I was really upset again on the way home. It was just too unlike what I was used to. At that point, I really didn't have choice. I should have skipped the tour...Ignorance would have been bliss.

On to the delivery and after care. Luke took his time coming. We walked and walked and basically did everything to try to evict him, but no luck. Finally one really cold Tuesday night I started having contractions and they came fast and furious. We were really worried about the ice on the roads and getting to the hospital in time so we headed down the road to St. Johannis. It was quiet in the delivery area. Just us and one other American couple. They hooked me up to the monitors and checked the dialation then we were free to do whatever we wanted. I chose to take a nice relaxing bath. I would later realize that this would be the reason I would not get an epidural in time. The bath was so relaxing that I had no idea that the contractions were getting closer and closer together and more and more painful. By the time I asked for the epidural it was too late. Luke was born about 45 minutes later, drug free! The midwife was amazing!!!! Dr. Buchler didn't expect Luke to come so quickly and didn't end up making it to the birth.

I was moved into my hospital room about 2 hours after Luke was born. It was a shared room and even though Luke slept soundly, the other baby in the room screamed all night long!!! I didn't get one once of sleep even though I was exhausted. I finally fell asleep in the morning and in came food, then cleaning people, then nurses. At the point I was about to lose it I was moved into my own room.

Once I had my own room things were amazing. The nurses pretty much left me alone unless I needed something. Luke and I were able to spend lots of time bonding and cuddling. After Julia's 20 month stay in our bed I swore I would never sleep with another baby, but there I was cuddling Luke in my bed all night. A nun brought me my meals and oogled Luke. The staff was absolutely amazing in every respect.

I can honestly say that having a baby in a German hospital was an amazing experience that I will never forgot. Before Luke was born I could have gotten on a plane, left Germany and never looked back. Now I will always have a little piece of this place with me.

I leave you with a list of the differences between having a baby in an American hospital and a German one.
1. In Germany there are no hospital gowns. I labored in yoga pants and a tank top.
2. There are no traditional beds for birthing. They are designed to give birth in various interesting positions
3. Oil olive instead of wipes.
4. Babies are swaddled in towels and cherry pit bags are used in the bassinets to keep them warm.
5. The nurses are really hands off. No interrupting sleep for vitals, etc.
6. I had to bring all of my own toiletries, including towels and hand soap. Nothing is provided for you except the basics.
7. Dinner was cold cuts and bread served around 4 p.m. Thank God for the refrigerator in the room and my amazing husband to bring me munchies.

I'm sure there are more, but I can't remember at the moment.

Soon I'm going to try a post on what it's like to live over here as an American. You might be suprised at the differences!

Takin' to the streets

Last year I was thumbing through the Stars and Stripes and I came across an article about off-beat things to do in Paris. The "Paris Roullier" event caught my eye. Come to find out that the Parisians shut down many of their main streets on a given summer night and turn it over to the hordes of rollerbladers. What a cool concept! Imagine, rolling through the streets of Paris on a pair of rollerblades with a few hundred kindred spirits.



When I learned the city of Kaiserslautern decided to follow suit, I was in! It turned out to be an unforgetable experience. I met around two hundred other rollerbladers in the city center and at 8:30 PM, we were off. The 15K course was really easy and very scenic. We cruised past hundred year old churches, post WWII construction apartment blocks, beautiful parks, and even a US Army barracks. What a blast. The 82 degree weather didn't hurt either. Unfortunately my new phone isn't sync'ing up with my computer so additional pix will have to wait.




On a different note, I have to brag about my son Luke for a few minutes. I know this isn't really travel related but I can't contain myself. Luke is too cool! Unlike his sister, he absolutely loves daddy time. Luke, Reagan and I go for long walks through the forest when I get home. It is turning out to be one of live's simple pleasures. Honestly, the nature walk I had with my boys today easily topped my lame trip to Cinque Terre last week (but then again, that didn't take much).



The pix to the left is one of my recent favorites. It's tought to tell from the pix but Lukenheimer's shirt reads, "Dad's Team". That's my boy!

Finally, a big THANK YOU to all who read this blog! Until I wrote the article on Cinque Terre, I honestly thought no one actually read this drivel. So many people commented on that one posting that it became obvious that there is a nice little audience out there. Good times!

Photos of Cinque Terre

Left Pix: Here's Jen, Julia, and Luke chillin out during our hike to Corniglia. We both agreed that this bar in the middle of the trail has a 1 million euro view from their window seats.

Right Pix: Here we are waiting for our stinking train to arrive. What I like about this one is that it isn't your typical picture...you know...the one where everyone strikes a lame pose and stands at attention.

Good stuff. There are lots more pix at Jen's snapfish page. Go to snapfish.com and search for user jlbaldwin66. I'm a photobucket user and I'm not sure how snapfish works but I think you may need to be "invited" to view pix. If so, send me or Jen an email and we'll make it happen. Otherwise, take a look. Some good ones on there.

So, Jen and I have both agreed that we are going to take it easy for a while when it comes to long distance traveling. We are really excited to have some great friends and family come out this summer and are going to focus on showing them a good time. What we hope to do is to go beyond your "typical" sights you might find in some Frommers Guide. We want to show everyone the places only a local would know. For example, we have a lake down the street from us called Gelterswoog that is absolutely incredible. Its got a beer garden, incredible views, a sandy beach, and great hiking. It may be nothing special to a tourist on the whirlwind two day tour of 16 countries tour of Europe but this place isn't to be missed.

Damn, I Need a Beer...

...It all started out so well: We headed back down to Italy for a long weekend in Cinque Terre along the Italian Riviera. The weather was great, the wine was aflowin', and amore was in the air. THEN THE FREAKING ITALIAN TRAIN STRIKE BEGAN and it was all downhill from there. After a couple days in this Italian paradiso, we found out that most of the trains were "sopresso"--on strike--no go--so sorry. Come to find out that this sort of thing happens damn near EVERY TIME they have a long weekend. It was right about then I was longing for Germany where you can set your watch by when your train leaves the station. Long story short, we missed our flight out of Milan and got only a few hours of sleep last night. After an extra five hundred dollars and a half day of missed work later, we finally made it back to Germany.

Okay, the truth is Vernazza and the rest of Cinque Terre is great. The hiking was incredible, the people were very warm, and our son "Lucca" was the Prince of Vernazza for the weekend. I'll be sure to post pix and some more positive commentary when I get a few minutes. The bottom line is, however, this trip was one I would rather forget. Hopefully in a few years I will be able to sit back and have a good laugh at this travel nightmare. We'll have to see. Until then, I'm going to sip my German beer in my German house with my German gummi bear of a son back here in Germany where the train workers don't extend their fiesta an extra day by going on strike.

Napoli Revisited

Naples, the capital city of southern Italy. Sounds nice, right? Not so much. Or at least that was my first impression when I first visited the city of vespas, pizza, and graffitti last year. Yet this city, which happens to be the birthplace of pizza, deserved a second chance. This time around, it didn't disappoint at all. The trick was to get beyond the absolutely downtrodden Piazza Girabaldi which is where the central train station is located.

Travel author Rick Steves describes Naples as intense and "Italy in the extreme". He is so right. To most American travelers who project their values on this place, this sort of place is a total turn off. Omaha, Nebraska it ain't! In Naples, you see grit everywhere. It reminded me of a scene from Backt to the Future II when Marty McFly goes to Hill Valley in the near future and finds it to be a run down slum with Biff's casino being the crowning jewel of the town. Yup, there graffitti everywhere, traffic laws are non existent, and the people are loud and passionate. Once you get past some of the high negatives, I found myself in love with this city. Yes, it was intense but it had a really cool vibe to it. I saw kids playing soccer in a piazza, I ate the most delicious pizza that cost me a whopping one euro, I drank Moretti bierre in an alley cafe as the local Neopolitans casually made their way to and fro without a care in the world. It definitely grew on me after a day or so.

While I was there I decided not to do the traditional European tourist rut of going to all of the museums and hitting up the hard rock cafe along the way. Instead I sought to blend in as much as I could. My hair was a bit longer during my trip since I'd been on the ship the previous two weeks and I was able to integrate with the local without too much effort. The fact that my looks favor my Italian side and didn't tote around my All-American looking family didn't hurt either. Within an hour or so, the locals were trying to speak Italian to me. Oddly enough I was also mistaken for a Spaniard a couple of times...that one threw me for a loop. Anyhow, I decided to let the city "wash over me" rather than go from attraction to attraction. I strolled the streets which were draped with laundry, dodged Vespa scooters driven by ten year olds, and ate the most delicious Mozerella di Buffalo cheese I've ever had.

After getting my fill of the city of Naples, I headed out to the Island of Capri. Touristy? Yes. Stil worth the trip? Absolutely. Traveling in May definitely has its advantages. The "shoulder season" promises nice termperatures and fewer crowds. This meant that the main piazza was filled with the Herbs and Mildreds from Sheyboygan, Wisconson and the rest of their tourist buddies but as soon as I got out of there, the island was not overrun at all. As a reward, I got to experience this drop dead gorgeous island without feeling like I was being crowded out (think Eiffel Tower in June or Munich's Oktoberfest). Words simply cannot do this place justice and as soon as I get my photos developed, I will post them here on the blog.

Grazzi and Ciao tutti

Fair Winds and Following Seas

It's been way too long since I've updated this blog. Don't blame it on being lazy, however. For the last couple weeks I've been at sea on the USS Mt Whitney http://www.mtwhitney.navy.mil/default.aspx, the command ship from the US Navy's 6th Fleet (see crappy phone cam pix below). This was one of those experiences that I am sure I will be telling my grandchildren about...

When I joined the Air Force I never had any idea that one day they would put me on a ship for a couple week cruise for a major wargame. After all, the Air Force conjures up images of dusty bases in Middle America, not cruises the middle of the Med. Regardless, I was very glad to have had the opportunity to get my sea legs.

The biggest adjustment was getting used to the sleeping arrangements. I had a stateroom that was the size of a walk in closet. Oh yeah, there were six "racks" or bunks in there as well. Needless to say, things were pretty cramped. I was fortunate enough to get a top bunk so I technically had another foot or so of headspace but for some reason, the Navy put a couple crossbars right on the head and foot of the bed. I am convinced this was designed specifically so people would bash their heads into it...which I did...every night. Also, being on a ship means being inside for about 23 1/2 hours a day. This was definitely tough to get used to.

While certain aspects of shipboard life were tough to swallow, others were not nearly as bad as I thought. For example, the food on the ship was phenomenal. I'm afraid to hop on the scale after this cruise. It's no wonder why most of these Navy guys who were part of the permanent crew of the ship usually carried around a bit extra around the midsection. Also, I really enjoyed watching some of the cool "gee whiz" moments such as a ship-to-ship cargo transfer, watching the anti-missile weapons tested, and of course pulling into and out of port in Gaeta (see pix of me about to go aboard our ship).

As soon as I get back to Germany I will be sure to upload some pictures. For the moment I am taking it easy in Naples awaiting my flight back to the fatherland. Also, I've got plenty of stuff to share about Naples as well but that will have to wait for another blog entry.

Ciao!