Italy, Day Due...that's 2 in Italian ;)

Be prepared for a boatload of pictures!!



We had a wonderful buffet breakfast at the hotel. But b/c of the late sun rising we could only go to the beach after our breakfast...well, if we wanted to actually see the sea, that is. ;) Which left us a grand total of about 20 minutes before the bus left. We ran down to the beach which is on the Ligurian Sea which is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea.








Then we headed into Pisa, the birthplace of Galileo Galilei, "Father of Science". Pisa is an ancient port-town at the mouth of the Arno River in the region of Tuscany. Of course, we were headed to see the famous La Torre di Pisa. Construction on the tower began in 1173 and started to sink in 1178...only 5 years later! If you notice in the pics, you can see how the base began sinking before construction of the tower was finished. The next level was attempted to be straight on a crooked base. The tower took approx 200 years to be completed. It was closed in 1990 and attempts were made to the foundation to keep the tower from leaning any more. When it was reopened in 2001 it was claimed that the tower was safe from toppling for another 300 years. Currently, the top of the tower is 12ft, 10in from being center. Anyway, the tower is actually the bell tower for the cathedral of Pisa. In the square there is the cathedral, baptistry and tower. When we first got there it was just after 8am and very foggy.

The baptistry is in the foreground, then the cathedral and then the tower:




The Baptistry:



As the morning wore on we got better views:







Unfortunately, we couldn't go into the tower, cathedral or baptistry (we heard it has great acoustics)...they were all opening up as we were leaving. Boo. So, we then shopped around. We did get the requisite plastic tower...that was David's purchase. :) Charlie purchased a pen that has a map of Pisa wound up in the inside. So he can pull it out (in a scroll fashion). Cory ended up w/ a marble statue of St Michael for only 5E. No, we don't believe it's marble. ;) And I couldn't pass up the leaning cup of Pisa.



So, we hopped back on the bus for the drive to Roma. We drove straight to the Catacombs of San Sebastiano, Official Website. The catacombs are the underground burial places of Christians (and Jews) during the time of ancient Rome. There are no longer any bodies there. ;)







Inside the basilica (the next few pics are from Lawrence OP on flicker.com...my motto for this trip was if my pics don't come out or I didn't get the pic, I'm sure I can find it on photobucket or flickr):

Saint Sebastian for whom the catacombs/basilica are named. He actually did not die from the arrows, though that is how he is always portrayed.



The ceiling is wooden




My pics:

David and Cory lighting a candle to Saint Sebastian






We then headed to our hotel to check in. The thing about hotels in Europe, in my limited experience of course, is that the rooms are small, at least in our price range. We had to get 2 rooms, one w/ a king bed for Cory and David, and Charlie and I had a room w/ 2 twin beds. I wish we could have had connecting rooms, but we didn't. So, Cory and I had to each take a boy. LOL Our room But we did have nice views:




B/c David was not feeling well, we opted to stay at the hotel that evening. Unfortunately, the hotel was in an area of town that there were no restaurants or cafes. If we had gone anywhere we would have had to take a cab, so we went to the bar in the hotel. Our tour guide, Stefan, had told us it was expensive, but we had no idea!! David had a hamburger/fries, Cory a club sandwich/chips, I had a salmon sandwich/chips, Charlie had fries and we all had a soda. Can you guess how much that cost us? 72 euros which is approx $105 dollars. I am not kidding. So, that was our Christmas Eve dinner! LOL But we were together in Rome...not a bad gig overall. ;)

Trip to Italy, Day 1

Well, it's sort of hard to start this b/c the trip was so huge. I guess the beginning...

We got on our super duper tour bus at 6am Tuesday morning. The bus was nice. Our guide's name was Stefan and the driver, Benny. Cory and David sat on one side of the aisle while Charlie and I sat on the other. It was a nice quiet ride. Since it doesn't get light til about 8, we dozed until then. We had stops every couple of hours for either a break or a meal (breakfast, lunch). We had an amazing view of the Alps while driving through Switzerland. Since the area is so mountainous we spent about half the time driving through tunnels, but this was the view when coming out of one of the tunnels...everyone on the bus woke up and there were a lot of "oooooooohs" and "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahs" and "wows!" Which seemed to last about 10 minutes or so and then everyone got used to the view. LOL We also passed through Lake Como and no George Clooney. Oh well, his loss. ;)






The "truck stops" or "autogrills" that we stopped for breaks/meal were very nice and clean. Not like most in the states. In Switzerland we stopped at Marche. The food was good, but some of it was very expensive. We waited in line and got a bowl of pasta, creamy sauce w/ carrots. The bowl was about the size of a regular cereal bowl and it ended up being 13 euros! Holy crap. That's about $20!



They also had a small store where we picked up a couple bars of Swiss chocolate for the road. I mean, we have to sample the chocolate, right? We got on the bus and David said, "It tastes like chocolate." LOL Everyone around us started laughing.




We arrived in Pisa at about 5pm. We actually stayed right on the coast...too bad it was so cold! Pisa is on the Liguarian Sea which is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea.



Nativity right in front of the boardwalk area:



So, not much of this day as we spent most of it on the bus, but the views were spectacular and we were so excited w/ the promise of what was to come.

More of Pisa tomorrow...

OH! If you have to comment as "Anonymous" I'd love if you typed your name in the box before publishing your comment. I'd love to know who is commenting. LOL Thanks! ;)

December 5 08, Pie in da Face

We have a holiday party coming up, so our unit organized a fundraising event...Pie in Da Face. All the commanding officer and NCO's (Non-Commissioned Officers) had to sit and have pies put in their faces by soldiers who donated. It was all in fun and quite hilarious. I decided that I would donate and pie one of the guys in the face...and who better than my own wonderful husband? It's for a good cause. ;) No one got the picture of me kissing him after the pie...so I did get a sticky face, too. :)



Pre-Pie Picture

Kaiserslautern Christmas Market 6 Dec 08, HUGE entry!

Saturday morning we had an errand to run so we headed out to get that accomplished. Afterwards we went to Miesau. This is the small town that Cory's little post is in. Yesterday was their Christmas market and the goal was a mug. ;) We got there and they weren't even set up yet. So, we left and went to Kaiserslautern's Christmas market. The market is set up in the walking/shopping area of downtown Kaiserslautern. Of course you know the goal. :) A mug. And lunch. Here are Cory and the boys with their lunch...the boys had pizza and Cory and I had french bread w/ a garlic spread (Cory's topping was salami and I had tomato and feta cheese):

Here are other pics of the market:

I did manage to get my Kaiserslautern 2008 mug. Actually, I came home w/ a bunch. The first "gluhwein" (pronounced glue-vine) stand I went to I got 3 mugs, one with gluhwein. ;) When we noticed that 2 of them did not say Kaiserslautern I went back to exchange them. Only to find out that they weren't even selling the 2008 mugs b/c they had run out. I had ended up w/ one from 2003. Well, damn. I HAD to get the correct mug, so we HAD to go to another stand and get another mug of gluhwein. ;) From our post newspaper, the Kaiserslautern American, writer Kerry Solan, "Gluhwein, or 'Glow Wine', dates back as far as 500 BC, long before spiffy plastic stoppers were able to keep wine fresh. Spices and herbs were added to wine for healthy reasons and to make the wine drinkable again."




Next we headed across the street to the old Barbarossa castle. Its remains are dated from the 1200's. It was set up as a medieval Christmas market. The "band" also played and walked around the other market heralding St. Nicholas.













For your viewing pleasure I took a short video of the band:


By that time we knew the Miesau market would be open. And in search of a mug from every Christmas market, we headed back. This is b/c I have a wonderful husband. We had to drive 25 min back there and he offered it and never complained. ;) Here's my mug. Even though it didn't say "Miesau" or "2008" I thought it was an interesting color and got it anyway.

Frankfurt Germany

Last Wednesday (day before Thanksgiving) I had a friend fly to Germany to visit. She was flying into Frankfurt and I had to go and pick her up. This was a huge deal for me. For those of you who are family and friends reading this, you know I have driven all over the US. I am the driver, always, and myself and the boys have driven long distances by ourselves at times. The summer of 2006, I drove from Texas with D and Ch to visit C who was at an army school/course in Washington, DC. So, a one hour drive to an airport is nothing right? Well, in the US I wouldn't have anything about it, but driving in Germany by myself was still slightly intimidating. I'm proud to say that I no longer have any problems with driving in Germany. :D

Anyway, I picked up my friend, G, and we drove to downtown Frankfurt. Finding a parking garage was a bit difficult, but we persevered and found one just around the corner from where we needed to be. The main goal was to go to the Frankfurt Christmas market or Weihnachtsmarkt "is a street market associated with the celebration of Christmas during advent, mainly the four weeks preceding Christmas Day. These markets originated in Germany and Austria but are now being held in many other countries." (Wikipedia) Also, according to our post newspaper, "The history of Christmas markets dates back to the 14th century. After farmers had sold their crop, they paid their workers. After attending worship services during Advent, those workers spent their money right away at little markets set up around the church. most common items offered were sweets and toys. There were also craftsmen selling baskets, pottery, spices, clothes and Christmas tree ornaments. And not much has changed. :) The Frankfurt market had plenty of stalls selling Christmas decorations, clothing (gloves, hats, scarves), toys, food and drink. We tried the bratwurst. Well, I had a different type of wurst (sausage), but I'm not sure what it was. And the most popular drink is gluhwein. It is a warm red wine flavored with cloves and cinnamon. Since I was driving I opted for the kids orange cider. It tasted like warm tang. But I was really after the mug it came in. Each village/town/city that has a Christmas market has its own mug. Here I am proudly sporting my Frankfurt Weihnachtsmarkt 2008 mug, as well as a closeup. I won't mention that I have a new sick obsession of collecting Christmas market mugs. :)






After the Christmas market we walked over to an observation tower. Here are pics of Frankfurt from the tower:




There is lots to do in Frankfurt, but we had to head home.