we finally have a free weekend, so we decided to jump in the car yesterday and head to Strasbourg, France ... word is they have a great Christmas market ... so we got up early (by our standards) and were on the road by 9 ... 2 hours later we were in Strasbourg.

Strasbourg is in the Alsace region of France ... an area that has fallen under German & French rule a number of times throughout history ... given that, its no surprize that the area has both a German & French feel ... you will see half-timber houses all over, but can't walk a block without seeing a crepe stand.

we have had a chance to drive all over Europe ... from Italy and Portugal to Ireland & Slovenia ... i have to say that French drivers are some of the worst ... it can complete chaos on those tiny roads in the middle of town ... a complete free-for-all. we get into Strasbourg and we suddenly felt that we made a bad decision ... gridlock! we eventually make it to a garage near the city center which luckily had free spaces ... or so we thought. we get into the garage and the only thing we find is clueless people driving in every which direction (but the right one) searching for spots that don't exist ... we did the same for 30 minutes and just had to leave. first time i have ever paid $2 bucks not to park. i wish we knew enough French to be able to bitch someone out.

so it was out into traffic again ... eventually find another parking garage and -- again -- it had availability. i wasn't getting my hopes up, but we entered anyway. this was a complete disaster ... get this ... there was one lane for both directions of traffic ... 7 small levels of parking with one lane to accomodate people coming & going!! it was frustrating to the point of hilarity ... people were stuck coming up and going down, trying to turn around, trying to do anything. we eventually made it up to level 7 ... it was time for a drink

beyond the driving/parking situation, we had a great time wandering the town and checking out the market ... it was pretty mild, as it has been across all of Europe in December ... reached 10C or 50F. there were lots of craft & food stands ... all centered around the beautiful gothic cathedral. the town is especially beautiful because it has a series of canals running through it











each year, Strasbourg features a section of the market dedicated to the crafts & food of another European country ... this year Romania had its own section of the market ... it was cool checking out what they had to sell ... lots of wooden crafts and some great food...













it was a great day ... got a few gifts and things for us ... started to get rainy, so we headed home ... ... luckily we had no problem leaving the garage ... woo hoo!

the weekend is finally here ... couldn't have come soon enough ... i was so exhausted last nite that i didn't even here the cat knock the alarm clock off the table next to me. Harmony is in Florida visting the family before i meet her in Detroit in a couple weeks for Chuck & Beth's wedding ... i can't wait! been 9 months since i've seen everyone ... will be a fun, but short trip.

My wife is so wonderful ... she made all kinds of great food before she left and put it in the freezer for me ... i will be eating like a king while she's gone ... just like i do when she's here!

well the weather is too nice this morning to be inside, so i'm off to wander ... hope everyone has a good weekend! t

things have been busy here, so i haven't had time to write about last weekend ... Harmony had to attend a conference in Hamburg as part of her duties with the Women's Club ... i tagged along and explored the town on Saturday while she did her thing

Hamburg is the second largest port in Europe (next to Rotterdam) and is the second largest city in Germany ... the people there seemed rather affluent, since there are some major business headquartered there. still, it is first and foremost an industrial town and the focus is the port



the city was heavily bombed during WWII, so there is a combination of new & old buildings ... as always, the Germans have done a fantastic job of restoring historical buildings to their original design

the weather was mixed over the weekend ... got some sun in the morning but, by the time Harmony joined me mid-afternoon, the rain started to fall ... luckily the rain cleared out at nite so we could sit outside and eat dinner in the beautiful area around Deichstrasse.



the old rathaus (city hall) is the major architectural highlight in Hamburg ... see the pic at the top ... another highlight was the huge park/gardens that dominate a large area in the city ... there are miles of trails, ponds, fountains to explore ... some areas felt like a tropical rain forest ... they even set out chairs/lounges in secluded areas of the park for people to use ... it was amazing to see right in the middle of a large city



it was a great weekend ... walked all over the place ... had some great seafood ... really enjoyed our first time in the north of Germany. the weather on sunday wasn't all that great, so didn't get a chance to see anything else on the way home ... we'll go back some day.

oh yeah ... got a chance to borrow a pre-production Corsa to drive up there ... fantastic new small car ... suspension & powertrain are tuned well enough to cruise comfortably at 180 km/h ... got flashed by the traffic camera once, though ... i'm sure the ticket is in the mail

hope everyone has a great weekend .... there is a street festival on our street this weekend (Taunusstrasse Fest) ... should be fun and don't have a long walk home! t

knowing that our 4th anniversary was coming up, we began looking online for cheap tickets on Ryan Air ... having only a weekend, we didn't want to go to far ... also wanted to go to a country we hadn't been ... so in the end we chose Scotland ... $0.01 round trip tickets (plus Euro 40 in taxes) ... score! the land of bagpipes, kilts and Sean Connery ... romantic, eh?

we took off friday nite and were in Glasgow by 9:00 ... again, having only a weekend, we decided we would limit ourselves to just exploring Glasgow ... its a big town with plenty to see & do. we hopped on the train from the airport that got us right downtown ... our hotel/pension was on the west end so we took a taxi ... dropped our stuff off and went off in search of dinner ... ended up having some great Indian food ... like london, there is a large Indian population in Glasgow ... great food!

the little pension we stayed at was great ... perfect location to explore from ... the old gothic Glasgow University and Kelvingrove Museum were right around the corner ... it was about a 15 min walk into the city center. my only complaint about the place was that the fire alarm went off in the middle of the night ... thankfully no fire, but not the way i want to be woken up.

they served a full Scotish breakfast there ... eggs, tomato, porridge, beans, potato, sausage ... definitely a good way to start off the day. spent all day saturday wandering the town ... they have a great hop on - hop off bus service there ... takes you to all the main sites in the city ... got a chance to see a lot of cool places, museums, architecture ... most of the museums in Glasgow are free ... so just wander in and spend as much or as little time as you want.

The museums were fascinating ... odd collection of social/cultural history, ancient history, nature, art, etc ... this photo here is of the recently re-opened Kelvingrove Museum





by late afternoon, some rain had moved in, so we decided to catch a movie ... in english ... a real treat for us! saw the new 'Pirates' movie ... by the time it was done the rain had moved on ... still cool (60s) and damp ... something else we're not used to in Germany ... has been in the 90s.

we spend the balance of the weekend eating some great food...drinking some great cask ale ... found a great pub called the drum & monkey ... went there twice





explored Glasgow University on Sunday ... beautiful school ...









we also walked to the north side to check out the botanical gardens ... nice place on a sunday afternoon ...





we had a great weekend ... got a chance to explore a new place ... see some great museums, art & architecture. only one key thing was missing ... not one mention of Sean Connery ... i dreamed of seing him in some dark pub asking the waitress for some "spicy mustard" in a way that only Sean Connery could ... turns out, he's an Edinburgh boy ... Glasgow and Edinburgh are like oil & water, i guess. i will have to return to Scotland again and continue my quest for Connery

thats all for now ... we're enjoying a nice quiet weekend at home ... our close family friend Mike is recovering well from a recent heart attack, and i'm thankful for that ... Harm's brothers just started school this week ... ha ha ... Niko's first day of high school (makes me feel really old) ... thats about it. hope everyone is well ... later! t

Summer vacation is now over ... had a wonderful 17 days on the road/boat with Harmony, the Costas' and the Morrows (family friends) ... we started in Athens, explored Arna --the village where Alex's dad lived when he was young, hopped through the Greek Isles and ended up in Tuscany for a week ... needless to say, I took a few pictures!



We left on a Wednesday night ... flying from Frankfurt to Athens where Alex and the Morrows were waiting for us ... got up early the next morning to head toward Arna ... it was a four hour drive throughthe Peloponnesian puninsula -- us in a big 9-passenger van ... hats off to Alex for the van driving skills!



stopped through corinth to see the man-made canal...



also made a stop in Mycenae to see the ancient ruins there



we spent 3 nites in Arna, giving us a chance to see the area, meet Alex's distant relatives and learn about the family history there ... its a small town of only a couple hundred, so every knows each other and knows of Alex ... it was a fascinating time and a beautiful place





this is the house that Jim (Alex's dad) lived in





the pension we stayed in was beautiful





we then headed back to Athens for a couple of nites ... this gave us time to explore the town ...







it was then off to the islands...first stop was in Mykonos...







we spent a few days there ... had some great seafood, went snorkeling, relaxed at the beach, etc ... we made a fascinating day trip to the island of Delos ... Delos is the site of an ancient civilization ... ruins still exist here intact from about 2,500 years ago!







after 3 great days in Mykonos, we boarded a ship and headed for Santorini ... Santorini was easily one of the most beatiful places i have seen ... steep cliffs rise out of the Aegean and are capped with stark-white towns ... we spent 3 days seeing the sights here ... we hiked the 12 km trail along the cliffs from Oia to Thera ... we also charted a great sailboat for a day to see the area by sea ... had an amazing time











one of the highlights was swimming in the hot springs at the volcano ... the water smelled like sulfur, turned your skin orange, and had a gross mushy bottom ... it was awesome!





it was then on to Italy, where we rented a villa in Tuscany for a week ... it worked out perfectly for everyone ... we could do as much or as little as we wanted ... Harm & I had our own car, so we had a great time seeing all of the hill towns









our friends Todd & Liza were in Italy at the same time, which was great because we were able to meet them in San Marino and get the real tour from a local!







before flying home, we had one last day of vacation to spend in Rome ... although we only had one day, we were able to see and learn a lot ... thanks to our great guide, Rahul









it was an amazing trip ... we saw and did so much ... it was fun traveling with family & friends. Harm & i will be laying low for a while ... detoxing from the great food & fine and conserving what little $ we have left!

oh by the way ... congrats to Deutschland for their 3rd place finish in the World Cup ...enjoy the world cup final tonite! until next time ... t

CLICK HERE FOR MORE PICTURES FROM THE TRIP!

soooo ... we took advantage of the long 4-day weekend and headed south to the french alps ... hadn't been there yet and heard how beautiful it is ... they were right! we stayed in the town of Chamonix ... a small skiing/hiking town in the valley beneath Mont Blanc ... the highest mountain in western Europe.





it was a nice little town ... pretty quiet this time of year ... between prime skiing & hiking seasons. on Friday morning we got up early and took a ride up the worlds highest cable car ... all the way to the top of the aiguille du midi (12,602 ft) ... amazing!





we checked out the views for a while and then boarded a little cable car (just the 2 of us) and rode it over to italy ... very cool ... just dangling over the mountains for about 45 mins



we didn't get to do as much hiking as we would have liked ... the snow line was still pretty low ... though we did get some in. the petit balcon sud trail followed the ridge line between Chamonix and Le Praz ... very nice



after some good hiking, the local specialty -- fondue -- tasted really good!



we also had a chance to visit the beautiful town of Annecy ... spent saturday checking it out ... i would love to go back





all in all, it was a great trip ... beautiful mountains, great weather, good food ... what more do you need? harm's family gets in on saturday ... can't wait! leaving for greece on the 13th ...will post pics from that trip then. hope everyone is well ... wishing you a peaceful memorial day. t

another week, another long weekend ... with things being so busy at work, a three day weekend has hit the spot! harm & i jumped in the car on friday nite and headed west into france ... about 4 hours later we arrived in Reims (rance ... rhymes with france ... no idea how they get that from reims) ... the capital of the Champagne region



the town is known for 2 things: its 13th century cathedral (yet another Notre Dame) and the local champagne houses. we took tours of Taittinger and Moet & Chandon on saturday afternoon ... a lot of fun ... both gave hour long tours of their cellars/caves ... we learned so much about champagne ... actually, we didn't really know anything about champagne until this weekend Taittinger wine caves ... dug by the Romans in 2nd & 3rd centuries







Moet & Chandon ... home of Dom Parignon and the origins of Champagne









on Sunday, we got back in the car and headed north of Paris to the town of Giverny. Claude Monet lived here in the late 19th century and soon the place became an artist comune. Monet's gardens and home are open to the public year-round ... they were truly beautiful this time of year ...











it was a great weekend ... the weather & traffic cooperated for the most part. the champagne was great ... got some to bring home for upcoming special occasions. the gardens were beautiful ... hope my mom gets a chance to see them some day!



although you always hear/read about how wonderful french cuisine is, harmony & i prefer to save our money ... our favorite french food are the cheap sandwiches we can find at the gas stations ... so good!



hope everyone is well .... happy may day! t