Coleman Barracks

I always feel compelled to post an image with every blog. I suppose I'm use to seeing words and images together - a storytelling thing..

Anyway, we're slowly, but surely, settling in and getting our bearing. We're painting the house, taking German classes and assimilating as much as possible. It's a process.

I work on a remote Kaserne near Sandhofen, right off of the Autobahn. It's called Coleman Barracks. It's really an air field (Called Coleman Army Airfield). It was a concentration camp for a short time; 1944-1945. It's small and very empty (for all intents and purposes). You can tell that it was a bustling place in its time but now the "cold war" is over, these places are going away. It's scheduled to close in 2010 or 2011. I hope to stay to the end (unless something better comes along).


Driving on Coleman at sunrise this morning.

Life Begins.. Kind Of

Summer starts high school tomorrow. I'm opening the photo studio to shoot DA photos starting tomorrow too. We will be in our house Friday! We can't wait! Our lives are beginning here, we can feel it.
The questions that I'm writing about now are, "When do you feel like you are no longer a 'tourist' and become a member of the community?" "Is it over time? How do you measure that? Can you?" I feel small changes taking place. Work and life begins, I'm becoming familiar with the area. I see less and less of the Tom-Tom. I know where things are, what food is good, where to buy my favorite pastry, things like that. Things are changing.





170 Kmph

We've been very busy lately. Summer starts school Monday, Jean and I have been in a "cultural immersion" class in Heidelberg all week and we moved to a different hotel. Internet connections aren't as easy to get here as in the states, hence the delay in posts, emails and general communication. We'll get better when we get in our house and get settled!

We are now staying at the Alexandros Hotel & Restuarant in Kaefertal. It's MUCH BIGGER than our previous places. We have our own rooms and the shower is huge! The best part is that there is authentic Greek food a few steps from our door!

Here is an abstract Autobahn and Beer Bottles video. FYI: 170 kmph equals 106 mph. The idea here was the these beer bottles that I had rolling around in the back of the car, kept tipping over and almost breaking. It's all about the autobahn and beer here, okay?



(6.6 MB WMV Movie)

63 Letter Word

This is the longest German word (37 letters) I have ever seen. It was one a truck at a market. It also has one of the MANY great street names in Viernheim (our adopted village), Beethoven Straße.

"Food Retail Trade Company, Viernheim, Germany"
August 20, 2006

"Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz" won a special award as the longest German word of the year. The monster word consisted of 63 letters, 20 syllables, and ten individual words—all to express a law having to do with British beef (Rindfleisch) and the so-called "mad cow disease."

Exploring Mannheim (Again)

We trained into Mannheim today (yesterday). Mannheim, at least to me, is a secret as far as tourists go. In other words, there are very few tourists - I like that. I like that a lot. The city is loaded with things to do; shopping, eating, looking at art, history, listen to people on the street corners ranting and raving or just people watching. It's a great city. I've always wanted to live in a place where I could sit in the cool shade on a sunny day and drink a Milchkaffee while watching people. Now I do!!

"Milchkaffee, 1.70 Euro, Mannheim, Germany"
August 19, 2006

I love to people watch in Mannheim. There are so many people! It's like New York or Paris to me that way. More than watch them, I like to try to capture the nuances with an image. It's hard to do, I'm still thinking of ways I can make this happen...
This is shot through glass, but Germans through glass look very interesting to me. Germans love to stare at you... I do it right back and take pictures.. they last longer!

"A German Through Glass, Mannheim, Germany"
August 19, 2006

"Lucky on the Straßebahn, Mannheim, Germany"
August 19, 2006

Watch Lucky's trip on the train to the National Theatre in Mannheim here (4.4MB).

Ladenburg, Germany

Ladenburg is a beautiful, and very old, city. Depending on who you talk to, it's either Germany's oldest city or has the oldest university in Germany. We had dinner in a restuarant that was built in 1638. It was an experience to eat in "Die Kartoffel" - they serve you a very nice salad, a nice big potato (of course) with delicious Sahne and then your steak comes out - it's sizziling and raw on a very hot stone! You cook it to your liking on the stone (yes, a stone and it stays hot a very long time).. amazing stuff!


"Haupstrasse, Ladenburg, Germany"
August 16, 2006


"Street Scene, Ladenburg, Germany"
August 16, 2006


"Steak and Stone - Die Kartoffel, Ladenburg, Germany"
August 16, 2006


"Die Kartoffel, Ladenburg, Germany"
August 16, 2006


"Quinn Enjoying a Medevial Meal, Ladenburg, Germany"
August 16, 2006