Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!

Last night, we went to Trunk or Treat. Obviously, as Americans who live overseas, there are not the typical trick or treat options that there are in the United States. So, we went to the Army post Schinnen, in Holland, for trick or treating on base. They did it this way in Aviano, too. People just set up booths or decorate their cars and hand out candy to the kids.

Jackson was a glow worm this year. He was a cute one, too. He passed out pretty quickly in his stroller, but we had a good time walking around and checking out the costumes. I've decided that I want Jack to be a bee next year. There was an adorable little toddler running around as a bee, and it was absolutely precious.

Spanish Night

I joined a really neat organization last night called International Women of GK. It's a social group that gets together once a month to get to know the other women, of all nationalities, across the NATO base.

It's an interesting thing to observe, actually. There are so many nations represented at Geilenkirchen, and the fact that this organization exists is intriguing. There were Americans, Canadians, Italians, Germans, Turks, and plenty of representatives from other countries too.

Last night, the women of Spain hosted the party. They were dressed in typical costume, and talked to us about different customs in Spain. They demonstrated a cider pour, and passed out samples of excellent hard cider. They made a meal of a really yummy bean and pork soup of some sort and what I think was an onion torte. It was really good either way. They also did a raffle of typical Spanish gifts. I didn't win - typical.

What was so interesting to me was to see all these women from different countries come together to socialize and conduct business - in English. We are pretty fortunate as English-speakers in the world to be able to understand so many because so many speak our language. It's pretty incredible.

I was only disappointed that I really didn't interact with women from other countries. Baby steps. My focus was just to meet some nice Americans for the moment. I sat at a table with some really great people, one of whom was new like me. I'm going to like it here!

The good ole USA is hosting next month, and I hear that the theme is going to be Fourth of July. I look forward to it!

Burg Satzvey

We went on our first family adventure in Germany on Saturday evening. There is a castle, called Burg Satzvey, about an hour from here that dates back to the 1400s. It is still inhabited by a count and countess who open up their property throughout the year for different festivals and events.

This weekend was their Family Halloween festival. What a fun time! First of all, the castle and property are beautiful. They do an excellent job of keeping it up. There were great Halloween decorations, and lots of stalls selling food and other items. We had an excellent meal of German fair food. For us, it was gulaschsuppe and hot waffles with hot cherries on top for dessert. Excellent!

The festival had lots of great live music and even a giant maze. The maze would have been fun to walk through sans baby. I thought, though, that with it being Halloween there were probably things waiting to jump out at us, and that would not be cool.

Burg Satzvey hosts medieval jousts during the spring, so we will definitely be back.

Here is Jackson looking oh-so-excited about being at the castle. What a stinker.

The Newest Casa Cooper

We move in on Nov. 1! We can't wait for visitors!

It's Cold Here

Our little Jack is adjusting well to all the new things around him. The biggest change: cold weather! It's already pretty cold here. So, yesterday, Jack got to wear a winter hat and mittens for the first time. He didn't quite know what to do with them.

On the househunting front - this is going to be difficult. Our options yesterday: a stunning incredible dreamhouse that is not in our budget; a so-so house not in our budget; and an ugly 1960s house that is in our budget. Sigh. We are broadening our options today and lowering the number of bedrooms we want so that we can look at more houses. This is one of the most frustrating parts of moving overseas (especially in October after the summer PCS season is over).

Deutschland!

We are here in Geilenkirchen! Here are some thoughts from our trip here:

1. Edelweiss Lodge & Resort in Garmish. Definitely worth going. It was beautiful (the lodge and the town). Food is vastly overpriced, however, especially considering it is a military resort. I mean, we would not have minded paying it if the food was actually any kind of quality, but it really wasn't.

2. We stopped in Ramstein Sunday night. Ah, Ramstein. I love it. My family was stationed there 1988-1991, and I was so excited to go back. We stayed at the Gruner Woog (now called Hotel Anna), which is where my family stayed when we first moved there in 1988. My friend Liz and I stayed there a couple of years ago, too. Frau Anna is just as wonderful as ever!

3. Ramstein just opened a new mall/BX on base. It is INCREDIBLE. Those of you in the United States would probably not understand the magnitude of what I am about to say, but there is a Macaroni Grill there! And, a real bookstore! And, lots of shops! And, the BX has a selection! Of everything! The baby boy clothing section alone made me want to weep tears of joy.

4. Yesterday, we left Ramstein and drove to Geilenkirchen. We are staying in an amazing guest house. Today, Chris is checking in with the new squadron, and I am...watching British satellite TV. Oh, and doing laundry. I'm assuming we are going to start househunting today as well. I can't wait! I learned some serious lessons about European homes in Italy, and am excited to apply my newfound wisdom on this hunt (ie. just because it's a quaint, picturesque, old European house doesn't mean you want to live there). Here's one thing I'm pretty sure of - I doubt there will be any scorpions anywhere around. Hallelujah!

Zugspitze

One of the biggest tourist attractions at Garmisch is the Zugspitze, which is the tallest mountain peak in Germany. It's a big deal to ascend to the top, and Chris and I don't like to turn our backs on a challenge.

From the moment we started talking about doing this, though, I had a bad feeling about it. You see, I can't stand heights. But, I wanted to conquer my fear.

I also was nervous about the baby. But, everyone we talked to kept assuring us that it was fine. So, I had my checklist: blankets, pacifiers, etc. I wanted to make sure that we didn't do anything to hurt the baby's ears, and I have a perpetual need to make sure he is warm enough.

We learned some serious lessons that I would like to pass along. First of all, there are two ways to get to the top. Both involve catching the Zugspitzbahn (train) in Garmisch. Then, you can either disembark at Eibsee station, take a look at an amazing lake, and then take a really long cable car ride up to the top OR you can take the train further to Zugspitzplatt and take a shorter cable car ride up.

My thoughts were that we should stop at the lake on the way up, and then take the longer train ride down the mountain. It was recommended that, either way, we not take the long cable car ride down the mountain, because it might hurt the baby's ears.

Bad choice. We should have taken the short cable car ride BOTH WAYS. If you are in any way at all afraid of heights, do not take the long cable car ride. In fact, you can drive to Eibsee, so you can make the lake a totally separate trip for yourself, and have time to really enjoy walking around there.

From the second we started going up the mountain on the Eibsee cable car, I wanted to fall crying on the floor with my baby. I thought it was horribly scary. I think I was the only one, though.

Also, by the time we caught the cable car, clouds had rolled in. About halfway into our scary trip up, we could not see a thing, because we were entirely surrounded by clouds. I don't know if it was worse that I couldn't see anything or not, but it wasn't a good feeling.

So, we got to the top. Jackson was doing great, Mom was not liking it at all. There is a restaurant and cafe at the top, so we thought we would stop for a drink. The service was terrible, however, and I was getting antsy at the top, so we decided to just leave and descend the mountain. Besides, we could not see anything as the clouds were entrenched at this point.

We took the shorter, far less scary cable car ride down to the train station at the Zugspitzplatt. Sigh of relief. There was a glacier, a little church, a wonderful cafe, and, oh yes, rain turning into snow. Sigh. This was where you could supposedly get a great view, but we were not taking the baby out in the rain, and, again, no view because of clouds.

The train ride down would have been fantastic, but this is where Jack decided he had had enough. And, where Mom started to feel like a horrible failure for ever bothering to take her child up a mountain. Jackson lost it and screamed for most of the ride down. Sorry to all those trapped on the train with us.

So, moral of the story is this. If you don't like heights, still attempt the trip, but on the much shorter cable car ride. If you have a baby, really think long and hard about it. Either way, make sure there are NO CLOUDS in the sky when you decide to go. It was 47 euros per person. Ridiculous.

Here is the view from our hotel room (Zugspitze is the peak all the way to the left):


Here is what we could see from the bottom of the short cable car platform once the clouds had rolled in:

Arrivederci, Aviano!

Wow, we are gone from Aviano! In what seemed like a whirlwind departure, we left the area and took a gorgeous drive up past Garda, Bolzano, Innsbruck, and finally arrived in Garmisch, Germany.

We are here for a few days of relaxation at the U.S. military Edelweiss Lodge & Resort before arriving at our new home in Geilenkirchen. It's been a nice day of reflection here as we have gazed at the magnificent mountains and just adjusted to being in a new (amazing) country.

Here are a couple of reflections:

1. Jackson is only three months old and he is now in his fifth country. He was born in Italy, and has been to Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, and now Germany! He is an awesome traveler (thank goodness!).

2. Just FYI for those still in Aviano: when you are PCSing, the single best thing you can do to make your move easy is to hire a cleaning lady to clean your FMO appliances and the empty house. Seriously, it is worth the money!! Don't cheat yourself out of this.

3. We had an amazing blessed three years at Aviano. I can't believe it's over. We made so many incredible friends, got to see so much, and will miss Italy tremendously.

Here is a picture of Chris and Jackson when we stopped briefly in Austria last evening. It's perfect with mountains in the background and the cows and pumpkins around them. I love it!

Shop 'Til You Drop!

We took our last trip to Venice on Sunday. You would think that my priorities would have been to gaze out over the Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge, or to sip on a capuccino from Piazza San Marco while reflecting on the beautiful cathedral in front of me. We definitely did all those kinds of things.

But, my big priority was to bid arrivederci to all my favorite shops. I scored a great shopper's farewell, too. In every one of my shopping destinations, I got a free gift! My mother is proud. I did get some great Christmas shopping done. In fact, we got quite a lot of gifts for our families.

I feel like I do need to put in a plug for one of my favorite jewelry stores in Venice. If you have not been to Rialto 79 (at the foot of the Rialto Bridge), you have not received quality Murano jewelry while getting quality service too. The lovely store owners always reward me with an "Aviano discount", and on Sunday they gave me a bracelet to match a necklace I was buying. Their jewelry is just stunning, and I always receive compliments on what I wear from that store.

If you see something you like, but don't see the color you are looking for, they will do what it takes to make you something there on the spot. In fact, one time I was there, they even left the store to go get more glass beads in the color I was wanting. They are lovely people.

We will miss being able to jump on a train to go to Venice whenever we would like. I have really enjoyed that whimsical city, and hope I can return one day.

Less Than a Week To Go!

Phew! We are finally checked into lodging on base. We have handed our house back to our landlord, sold a car, and done a million other things to get out of here. Jackson is doing great with all the chaos, and we are leaving Italy on Thursday.

Last night, we had a going-away party and it is just so sad to be leaving. Tomorrow, we head to Venice for our last day-trip and, you never know, our last trip there period.

Here's our little pumpkin, just as an update for everyone: