Blogs from Germany, Europe - page 969

I was stationed in Germany three times. Once when I was single from 1983 to 1984 at Schwienfurt. The second time in Wiesbaden with my brand new family from 1990 to 1993. And the last time was from 1996 to 2003 at a small town of Hanau, about 15 miles south of Frankfurt. Fleigerhorst Kaserne used to be a German Air force base during the second World War. It survived the war because the Allies could not pinpoint the air base from the sky and therefore could not bomb it. The secret was water. The Germans would pump about two inches of water into the airfield when an attack is imminent. From the sky it appears to be a lake. Germany has a lot of history, castles medieval fest and beerfest. On weekends we would drive ... read more

There is no doubt that he's Italian. At first sight, he could be an important business man with his nice suit and greasy hair. Turns out he is not. He's on vacation from his job as a truck driver. He has visited his girlfriend in Denmark over the Christmas holidays. A girlfriend who lives in Sweden, due to bad politics in Denmark...!?! Wonder if he got that right... But again, wonder what is the language of communication between him and the girlfriend, considering his English is still pretty early in the developing stage. Nicholas offers me a piece of his orange. I decline the offer. He won't take no for an answer. Late orange dinner it is. Learning practical stuff seems to have had a low priority in his life. Like finding the way to the ... read more

Saturday (Temp. 8deg. Rainy) (No hairdryer!) Had breakfast in nice breakfast room after terrible sleep, too hot & saggy bed. Walked to Marienplatz, saw Glockenspiel at 11am in old town hall, very cool. Went into big, very busy book store, no English books. Went into little cuckoo clock shop, lots of markets again, like Strasbourg & Lyon. Found an Australia 'Ned Kelly' Bar. Too many people out, very busy shopping. Back to hotel for awhile. Went back to Aust. Bar for lunch, very Australian, great to be in a 'familiar' surrounding & have a hot meal. Barman was Aussie. Looked for English movie cinema, couldn't find it, back to hotel. Down to hotel bar for coffee, too hard to order food again, back to room about 6:45pm. A bit bored, watching winter sports again.... read more

Phew!!!! The only real way to descrýbe the last couple of weeks. Apologýes ýn advance for the poor typýng......Turkýsh keyboards are a lýttle dýfferent. OK......so sýnce leavýng Securýcor (whých was only 11 days ago) so many thýngs have happened. Fýrstly I have to thank everyone who made ýt to my goýng away drýnks at ONeýls ýn Shep Bush......great nýght......of course you all dýd your best to ensure that Shan and I dýdnt sleep and sure enough we ended up at a frýends house at 2:00 am......the bus to Stansted left at 3:00am...so no týme for sleep straýght from house to bus to aýrport to plane to Salzburg whých I can hoýnestly say was a very rude awakenýng.....I admýt I felt rough very rough......We wýsely decýded that there was no possýble way I could drýnk any more ... read more

Whilst the UK partied over the Queens Jubilee weekend I decided to miss this oncein a lifetime opportunty and head to Germany for the long weekend. The main reason for the trip was to catch up again with Jeorg, a friend I'd met travelling in SE Asia, but also to try to see a little more of Germany rather than the Bier Gardens and Bier Halls which had so dominated my previous trip. Before Germany however I had to manage to successfully overcome a Friday night in London. I was faced with a dilemma. My flight left Stansted at 6:50am. Stansted Expres starts running at 5:00 and takes 45 mins to get to Stansted......which would get me to the airport about an hour before the flight.....that was tight. The problem I faced though was that Hammersmith ... read more