Oh. my. God.

Oxford University. is. amazing.

I've never seen anything like it. Remember the dining hall in the Harry Potter movies? That's a REAL dining hall at Oxford and only one of many, many amazing buildings there. No, I didn't see that dining hall, but I saw many other spectacular buildings.

I've posted a few photos to give you a taste. Stay tuned.

Heading to the land of Harry Potter

I've moved into a temporary apartment with no internet access, and I'm not really supposed to do personal work on my work computer. . . so there won't be many updates for a while. I should move into a permanent space in August or September.

I'm taking tomorrow afternoon off work and am flying to London. Friend Robin will meet me at Heathrow, and we'll ride the bus to Oxford. She's studying medieval literature at the university there for the summer, and I get to hang out in this glorious medieval town with her. I'll return on Sunday.

This is the life

I can't believe I forgot to post a note about the day trip to Nuernberg Sunday before last. Friends Vic and Reba were there for the day while passing through on a 2-week river cruise. I drove over and picked them up at the port, and we spent the day together.

It was a straight shot from the port to the altstadt, the old city. We found a great Asian restaurant and had a yummy and leisurely lunch outside by the river. Then we walked around for a while and had gelato (Italian ice cream) and coffee.

We spent about an hour on the ship chatting before they were on their way to their next port. I've never seriously considered taking a cruise, but this one seemed like a great way to spoil yourself. You spend the nights traveling down the river and almost full days in port exploring various cities -- or you can stay on the ship if you don't feel like going out. The rooms on the ship were very comfortable, and the ship had plenty of windows and lounging space, both outside and in.

The best part was getting to spend quality time with old friends so soon after moving overseas. It was a most memorable day.

Neustadt and Regensburg

Yesterday I took a quick road trip to Neustadt an der Waldnaab to buy a couple of gifts . Neustadt is known (by Americans here, anyway) for its crystal and porcelain factories and the Kathe Wolfahrt store, which specializes in Christmas ornaments. It was an easy 50-minute drive over.

I got a very late start for the drive. I'd just wanted to have about an hour in town as I didn't want to be tempted to buy too much, but I ended up with only 20 minutes before the crystal shop closed. I was able to get the two gifts that I needed immediately and can return another time for others.

Today I drove over to Regensburg with a woman who is a contractor on post and who is staying in the same hotel. We had a nice lunch and wandered around the altstadt -- the old city. Regensburg is described as the "best-preserved medieval city" in Germany. It's also considered one of the least known, so while it has tourists, it doesn't necessarily have the hoards that other, more famous cities have. Its history dates back to the arrival of the Celts in about 500 B.C.

The old stone bridge in Regensburg dates back to the 1100s, and some houses were built in the 13th century. The best-known landmark is Dom St. Peter, or St. Peter's Cathedral. It's a massive cathedral that was built from 1274 to 1520. Perhaps from the photo you can get a slight feel for the size.

This was a relaxing weekend spent wandering around Germany again. Now it's time to prepare for the work week, which starts bright and early tomorrow morning.

Tschuess! So long for now!

Happy 4th of July

Okay, so I'm in Germany and it's way too cold for early July. It's been in the high 50s-low 60s all but two of my 12 days here. I haven't been able to wear most of the summer clothes I brought, and I wish I'd packed more sweaters, darn it.

I found out that we usually gets lots of snow in this part of the country in winter. And the terrain is very hilly. So. . . sorry jk, no racy car for me. I found a 2000 Honda CR-V that I'm going to buy next week. A good German car this age or newer would've been much more expensive, and I think I'll be happy with this for now. I can always trade in/out/up later if I want.

As for the food. . . ahhhh, the food. I've had good German, Italian, Chinese and Thai food. Can't get all THAT in West Virginia, by golly. One of my favorite German foods is spaetzle, home-made noodles. I've had them several times. Yum. Time to start exercising, or I'm going to be as big as a house by Christmas.

I took this photo today while I was out driving around the Bavarian countryside. This is in the village of Hohenfels.

More soon.

First day of work and all is well

I arrived in Germany Friday morning, had a relaxing but mostly rainy Saturday wandering around the countryside with my new boss. We were going to do a walking tour of Nuernberg, but it was raining. We did go to a small concentration camp because the rain let up where we were near there. I spent most of Sunday relaxing, napping, watching movies (on loan from the boss) in my hotel room .

All is well. I've already been to GOOD German, Italian and Chinese restaurants. I've breathed the fresh German air, done some sightseeing, relaxed.

On the official side of life, I started in-processing today. For anyone who hasn't been around the military or worked on a military base, consider it like your first few days on the job. . . you get your school or work ID card, you get your e-mail account, fill out some employment paperwork, start learning the ropes. I did about the same.

Today we were on my boss's post, Rose Barracks in Vilseck (where I also stayed the weekend), and tomorrow we go to Hohenfels where I'll be working/living. I'm hoping I'll find out about my housing arrangements. I'll see my new office for the first time. Have a lunch meeting with someone.

And, importantly, I'll get my rental car. I sold my car in Silver Spring so am already starting to look for a car here. Am hoping to find a good, fun, not-too-old used car. We'll see. Cars are expensive here.

All for now. I'm hoping I'll have internet access in my hotel in Hohenfels. If that's the case, I'll update this soon.

Final Stateside update

I'm back in Silver Spring relaxing at K&P's house. I fly late tomorrow afternoon.

I should've known better than to book anything but the first flight out of Lubbock. My 1:55 p.m. flight was pushed back several hours, so I had to be put on a later connecting flight to DC. I arrived at 1:15 a.m. The only bright spot was that the gate agent who flirted with me also gave me an upgrade to first class, so the 3-hour flight to DC was lovely. If I'd realized he'd upgraded me, I would've thanked him profusely. As it was, I guess he was happy with my flirting back.

I had a relaxing visit with the friends in Suffolk, spent part of the next day in Newport News, then took a back highway back to the DC area. Newport News doesn't seem nearly so bad now that I've lived in Huntington, WV, for two years. (WV wasn't bad, per se, but it was a small town with not a lot of amenities.) The further away I get, the happier I am.

HOUSE SAGA UPDATE: The third roofing company agreed with the second (the roofer I've used before) and said the house definitely does NOT need a new roof. It just needs to have some things fixed. I can live with that. The plumber who was called in, also someone I've used, said some repairs for the shower are in order but the whole thing doesn't need to be replaced. I'm awaiting word from the realtor that the buyers will accept my paying for the roof repairs. Hope to have everything signed and agreed upon before I leave tomorrow afternoon.

So. . . I guess that's about all the news that's fit to print. I'm finally feeling excited about going to Germany and am looking forward to experiencing Bayern (Bavaria) to the fullest. Gruess gott!