It's always better with family

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Well, after more than three weeks of traveling occasionally with colleagues and often by myself, I have landed back in Germany and was greeted by family - My cousin Kris (McFall) Salo and her family. After a lot of time in hotel rooms and English conversations that were limited to work related issues, it was nice last night after getting here (almost 9 hours from the time I left the hotel until Kris and Thom picked me up at the Weisbaden train station) to sit in a living room and carry on an "adult" conversation (of course with Justin and Teagan jumping around).

This morning I had an interesting experience that deviates from your typical "tourist experience." Thom is a Lt. Colonel with the Army here in Wiesbaden, and they were holding some official Army ceremonies today. The 3rd CosCom is being shut down in Wiesbaden and relocated to Ft. Knox, and several of the units within that division are being "decommissioned." (Thom will hopefully correct me if I got these terms wrong). They held a big ceremony today with pomp and ceremony and military bands and marching soldiers and booming artillery fire and German "Governors" and the like and Thom and Kris invited me to attend with them. It was really interesting as part of the ceremony involves taking the unit's flag, rolling it around its flagpole and then covering it with a special cover. These flags then are sent to the national archives. It was a fascinating experience and I thank Kris and Thom for inviting me to attend.

The next few days will be a nice chance to get to hang out with family before returning to my own family. Kris and Thom have some activities planned to show off this are of Germany and I am looking forward to sharing a few more stories and photos before I return home next Wednesday.

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