Deutschlandin' it up
This past week felt like it flew by, maybe not for Jim, the LT I'm shadowing, or the other soldiers in A-Battery, but this being my first week away from LDACistan, where minutes felt like hours, days, weeks, everyday felt way quick.
After an unusually busy week, all the LT's were ready for a night on the K-town, so myself and the other cadets rode on down to the city center and had a nice experience of the local night life. After sucsessfully dispatching some meter boards and a pint or two of the local brew we grabbed a cab back to the hotel, but not before chowing down on some specatular donner kababs. (A meter boad is kinda what it sounds like: they take a meter long board, place 15 glasses along it and fill each one with beer, and not the cheap stuff either. It's good to have a friend help you out with those.)
....
If you know me at all, you may know that my absolute favorite way to start any day is with some combination of running, coffee sippin, and some readin time. This Saturday was perhaps the most enjoyable morning I've had all summer, nay, all year.
I woke up in my hotel room, opened the 4th floor windows, and let the cool German countryside breeze flow freely into my temporary domosile. I think I was the first cadet awake and I was pretty sure Jim was still snoozin so I made the most of the next few hours by myself. I immediately got started on an exploritory run to greet the weekend. II explored a good bit of Voglweh, before heading back to my room about 34 minutes later. (Considering how I've hardly been able to run over the last month, half hour runs are pretty good.)
There's a local backery just across the main road near the hotel that I hadn't been to so my breakfast plan for this morning was a no-brainer. Some of my fondest memories of childhood travel across Europe include visits to a local backery. Seems no vacation day in Europe is complete without a fresh, powdery baked good to get you on your way. I hopped the small wall, crossed the street, and got myself some sort of iced, cinnamon bun with a lemon danish thing and a small coffee. Pround that I had nearly made my whole order speaking German, I headed back up to the hotel room to feast on my spoils. I sat in my cushy chair, windows open, bible in hand, and nibbled away, savoring, soaking in every second. Life doesn't get much better, truely.
The cadet staying across from me, Geoff, was awake now and ready to get his day started too. We walked down to the nearest bus stop and 10 mintues later we were back in K-town. There was a little festival and live music going on when we got there. We couldn't have asked for a better day. We met up with Jim for a late lunch. We strolled around a good bit more and stopped in to a few of the mainstreet stores where I picked up some more appropriate attire. All I had with me were some army related shirts I brought from LDAC.
The clouds started getting dark and rain followed. We took refuge in a local diner/bar/coffe shop. Why hasn't America picked up on this concept!? Jim and I got a bailey's coffee topped with thick, but not too sweet, whipped cream and a dusting of nutmeg. Did I mention I love Europe?
Before Jim dropped Geoff and I off we swung by a local grocery store, Globus, upon my request and picked up a few items...well I actaully got quite a few things. I couldn't help it, there were just so many snacks and drinks that were all new and packaged in really cleaver containers. I'm definitely gonna have to stop back here before heading home.
....
After another morning of sleeping in, I got to meet up with Penny Gibson, an old family friend I hadn't seen in several years. She and her husband, Dean, took me to the officer's club for brunch as we caught up.
Later Jim picked me up and we visited some old castles. Apparently castles out here are a dime a dozen. The ones we visited were small and mostly destroyed. It had been a while since my last stroll through old ruins. It was a fun time. I'll have to post some pictures later on.
Back in my hotel room, I decide it's high time I went on a little off base run. I started down the road towards Kaiserslatern, and after going down several new roads I found myself on a dirt bike trail. I kept telling myself I would turn around after just the next corner but I kept going. I ended up returning to Voglweh from another entrace around the back where I found a whole big system of trails. Running can be so incredibly rewarding sometimes. I only scratched the surface of this trail system. Definitely something I'll have to explore more later.
The 10 day FTX starts early tomorrow. Not really something I'm looking forward to considering how much FTXing I did in Ft. Lewis but at least this one will be way more chill and I'm sure I'll learn a lot. A four day weekend awaits us afterword so I'm sure it'll be worth it. We plan on going to Paris for the duration. Should be a pretty wicked sick time. Now, though, sleep needs to happen.
After an unusually busy week, all the LT's were ready for a night on the K-town, so myself and the other cadets rode on down to the city center and had a nice experience of the local night life. After sucsessfully dispatching some meter boards and a pint or two of the local brew we grabbed a cab back to the hotel, but not before chowing down on some specatular donner kababs. (A meter boad is kinda what it sounds like: they take a meter long board, place 15 glasses along it and fill each one with beer, and not the cheap stuff either. It's good to have a friend help you out with those.)
....
If you know me at all, you may know that my absolute favorite way to start any day is with some combination of running, coffee sippin, and some readin time. This Saturday was perhaps the most enjoyable morning I've had all summer, nay, all year.
I woke up in my hotel room, opened the 4th floor windows, and let the cool German countryside breeze flow freely into my temporary domosile. I think I was the first cadet awake and I was pretty sure Jim was still snoozin so I made the most of the next few hours by myself. I immediately got started on an exploritory run to greet the weekend. II explored a good bit of Voglweh, before heading back to my room about 34 minutes later. (Considering how I've hardly been able to run over the last month, half hour runs are pretty good.)
There's a local backery just across the main road near the hotel that I hadn't been to so my breakfast plan for this morning was a no-brainer. Some of my fondest memories of childhood travel across Europe include visits to a local backery. Seems no vacation day in Europe is complete without a fresh, powdery baked good to get you on your way. I hopped the small wall, crossed the street, and got myself some sort of iced, cinnamon bun with a lemon danish thing and a small coffee. Pround that I had nearly made my whole order speaking German, I headed back up to the hotel room to feast on my spoils. I sat in my cushy chair, windows open, bible in hand, and nibbled away, savoring, soaking in every second. Life doesn't get much better, truely.
The cadet staying across from me, Geoff, was awake now and ready to get his day started too. We walked down to the nearest bus stop and 10 mintues later we were back in K-town. There was a little festival and live music going on when we got there. We couldn't have asked for a better day. We met up with Jim for a late lunch. We strolled around a good bit more and stopped in to a few of the mainstreet stores where I picked up some more appropriate attire. All I had with me were some army related shirts I brought from LDAC.
The clouds started getting dark and rain followed. We took refuge in a local diner/bar/coffe shop. Why hasn't America picked up on this concept!? Jim and I got a bailey's coffee topped with thick, but not too sweet, whipped cream and a dusting of nutmeg. Did I mention I love Europe?
Before Jim dropped Geoff and I off we swung by a local grocery store, Globus, upon my request and picked up a few items...well I actaully got quite a few things. I couldn't help it, there were just so many snacks and drinks that were all new and packaged in really cleaver containers. I'm definitely gonna have to stop back here before heading home.
....
After another morning of sleeping in, I got to meet up with Penny Gibson, an old family friend I hadn't seen in several years. She and her husband, Dean, took me to the officer's club for brunch as we caught up.
Later Jim picked me up and we visited some old castles. Apparently castles out here are a dime a dozen. The ones we visited were small and mostly destroyed. It had been a while since my last stroll through old ruins. It was a fun time. I'll have to post some pictures later on.
Back in my hotel room, I decide it's high time I went on a little off base run. I started down the road towards Kaiserslatern, and after going down several new roads I found myself on a dirt bike trail. I kept telling myself I would turn around after just the next corner but I kept going. I ended up returning to Voglweh from another entrace around the back where I found a whole big system of trails. Running can be so incredibly rewarding sometimes. I only scratched the surface of this trail system. Definitely something I'll have to explore more later.
The 10 day FTX starts early tomorrow. Not really something I'm looking forward to considering how much FTXing I did in Ft. Lewis but at least this one will be way more chill and I'm sure I'll learn a lot. A four day weekend awaits us afterword so I'm sure it'll be worth it. We plan on going to Paris for the duration. Should be a pretty wicked sick time. Now, though, sleep needs to happen.
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