Guten Tag!

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Guten Tag friends and family. Thanks for checking out my first blog entry.

Figured I would start this trip off by giving all of you a glimpse into how my flying experiences have gone the past few years. It seems like every time I have flown I either get searched or my baggage does. This trip to Frankfurt, Germany was no exception.

While going through Detroit Airport Security I went through the body scanner. After this I was escorted by two TSA security personnel to a private room where they gave me an intimate pat down because there was a body scanner image "anomaly" that showed up in my groin area (insert comments now). What a great way to start my European adventure, haha. My buddy Chuck and I then flew to Brussels, Belgium for my connection and sure enough somehow I pissed off the metal detector there had another pat down.

Once arriving in Germany, my friend Sam picked Chuck and I up from the Frankfurt Airport and we drove 1 1/2 hours to the town Steinbach am Glan. There is actually a Wikipedia website of the town at this site http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steinbach_am_Glan , you can copy and paste it but in order to understand the page you'll have to have your browser translate it to English.

My friend Sam and his wife are both officers in the Army and are stationed in a base 20 minutes from their house. We were introduced to their awesome house and Sam's spectacular German beer collection. We unpacked and went out to eat at this restaraunt located near city. I decided to try the Jagerschneitzel and a Cola-Vizen. Jagerschneitzel is a friend pork cutlet covered with gravy and mushrooms. The Cola-Vizen is a beer/soda mix, as if you took a light beer and mixed with a Coke......and it is very very good. Later that night my friend Sam had a few Army friends come over and I think I tried at least 6 different German beers before the night was over 😊

The next day Chuck and I woke up late due to jet lag and we hung out around his brother's house for awhile until his wife got home from the Army base. After she got back we decided to tour some castles.

We drove 30 minutes to the first castle Burg Lichtenberg. The castle is pretty small compared to others in Germany however it is cool because it still relatively intact and its the only castle in Germany to never be sacked. This castle was built around 1200 AD and it was never conquered by attacks or destroyed and was the only undamaged in the Palatinate after the Palatine war of succession....more information about the castle located here if interested http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burg_Lichtenberg_(Pfalz)

After touring this castle we went to Rammstein Air Force Base which is only 20 minutes from my friend's house. Rammstein Air Force Base is the largest support point of the U.S. Air Force outside the United States and the headquarters of the United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE), the United States Air Forces in Africa (USAFAF) and the Headquarters Allied Air Command Ramstein (Ramstein HQ AC), a NATO command authority for the management of air power.

While there we went to the "EXChange" to get some souvenirs and other supplies. This Exchange wasn't just a huge store, it was a two story mall that had everything from Taco Bell to a Harley Davidson Motorcyle Dealership, it was pretty sweet. We left the Air Force Base and came back to the house I'm staying at and had dinner and this is where I leave all of you right now....

Tomorrow (Friday) my friends and I are visiting 3 castles that lie in a string beside each other. The are called the Altdahn Castles (like below), then we are driving to Austria to stay with a family who lives there and is best friend's with my buddy Chuck.

http://www.keithlaney.net/Legendary_Castles_of_the_Palatinate/Altdahn/altdahn_castle_group.htm

Check back in a few days and I'll post some pictures of the castles tomorrow and bring you up to date about my visit to Austria!

Thanks everyone for reading!

Ryan

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Photos

Steinbach am Glan
The town of Steinbach am Glan

Comments

[Adam Roth]

Looks great!
Ryan the your trip looks AWESOME! Keep the blogs coming. Take care.