Ibis Saarbrucken City Saarbrücken

Tracy and I are going to buy some gorgeous pieces of furniture during the next three years. Of that we are almost certain. It pains us now to see so many beautifully crafted antiques (book shelves, schrunks (armories), desks, tables, etc.) and know that they're out of our reach for now. The pieces you see pictured here were all somewhere between $1,300-$3,000, but honestly worth every penny.

This morning Tracy and I met DeAnna and Andrew at a bazaar near Ramstein AFB ...

... is that I am the foreigner here. I knew I was going to meet with a German in an office of Germans (even if they are employed by the US government) to go to meet Tracy's and my future German landlord. And I don't speak German. When associating with people from other countries, I am accustomed to it being more of less on my culture's terms, though I never thought about it until now. Plus, I am used to ...

... Tracy also bought a beautiful drawing of a dog for her office. I expect we'll go back there. After Luc's, we went to Landstuhl, which you've heard about. From there we went to the third antiques store, Freddie's antiques, in Hutschenhausen. With a name like Freddie's you might expect the store to attract Americans; it does. But the furniture was awesome, if too expensive. There were bookcases, armoires, beds, dressers, etc. with fabulously worked pattens and low-relief ...

... a homecoming.

Here is the photo of me already looking better than 5 days before. The French nurses were excellent in ensuring that any scars resulting from the injuries to my face were minimal.

I was airlifted to Ramstein airbase and then transported by ambulance to Landstuhl.

If I were to describe my treatment there, it would be first ...

This is where the Air Force base is and its only about 7 min away. It's basically a little America here...they have everything from gyms and a pool to a shopping mall. It's really convenient and really nice to have a place to work out and somewhere where I understand what everyone is saying and what's going on...but I'm in Germany! So I am going to try not to come here too often.

So I technically live in Henschtal, but it's easier to say Glan-Münchweiler because its the town next town over and a bit bigger. Henschtal is beautiful! We seriously live in the country and it's such a neat change. The people are really warm and friendly and sadly they all speak English...the Elsner's know everyone and I am quickly meeting all of the neighbors!

... went well. On our last trip we struggled to communicate with anyone and it affected the general moral of our trip. This time, much different so far. We are coming across a lot of English speakers to help us on our way. We had a funny little mishap today that forced us onto the freeway for several kilometers. In France the freeway ...

... small) a lot of people just park on the side of the road.it allso seems there are lots of winerys aroud here. i have tasted the best wine ever here,and im not a wine trinker. there is allso a local castle by the last knight of germany that you can check out, with a hotel for overnight stays.

Being stationed in Kaiserslautern, Germany, I went to Pirmasens about a 20-30 mins drive down the road with my friend Shaun. We went to the West Wall, a German fortification running just about the entire length of Germany on the French, Belgian border. On the way back we stopped in Hamburg to the Roman ruins that are there. Back in Roman times hamburg used to be a pivital point in the road to Trier and other Roman destinations.

It was an early start to the day with a 6:30am departure from our hotel in Frankfurt for a 3 hour train ride. The train was a specially chartered train, called the "Aussie Express", we had 1200 crazy Aussies en route to Kaiserslautern. I have never experienced anything like it. The atmosphere on the train was brilliant. We were joined on the train by Reg Regan, and we was going up and down the ...