Ringing in the New Year

First off, let me just say, there are Christmas posts in my brain which are forthcoming when I can upload the associated photos sometime after Sunday when I'm reunited with my lap top. Due to Ryanair's strick handbaggage allowance and rediculous checked baggage fees, we traveled with one piece of hand luggage for 11 days and I just could not get my lap top into my 10 kilo limit. On to New Years, I'm currently preparing to head to a friend's apartment for what I anticipate to be a calm NYE in comparrison to my ringing in of 2008 in NYC. We will be eating fondu and setting off fireworks. I'm a bit skeptical about tha latter activity as all of Germany has fireworks for tonight as NYE or Sylvester (yes, like the cat) as it is known in these parts is the only day fireworks are legal and absolutely everyone takes advantage of this. As a fireworks novice, Patrick bought me the XL kids pack, consisting of poppers and sparklers, but he has 15 rockets and 80 of those red explosive sticks for himself. Fireworks are for sale at all the grocery stores, home depot type shops and most likely gas stations for the last three days of the year. Here's to hoping I make it to the New Year ;) Good Slide!! See you on the other side.

Please Excuse my Technical Inability

Somehow my last post turned into a link to one photo but the links on Merkel and Bad Wimpfen, etc. still work. I don't know how to fix this. I also don't know how to add more than 5 pictures to a post (I think I solved this problem) and as you may have noticed my blog layout is pretty boring. I guess this all means I should learn htma. An suggestions? For now, I'm just going to post 5 more photos her and 5 in a following post. On the topic of Christmas Markets, Patrick and I met up with Paulo, an old college friend of mine (think frehman year in Bressler) who hapens to be living about 30 minutes away and was in town for business and looked me up on Facebook (now that's a good reason for social networking mom). We went to the Mannheim Christmas Market by the Water Tower which also happens to be the one "scenic" thing in Mannheim besides the Castle. I hear there is a museum in the castle but I digress. Are you geting into the Christmas spirit yet?

The oh so Famous (or not) Water Tower, it is actually pretty and surronded by fountains in the summer. RI Representin'

On the way out, we saw Barbara...

standing under this "secure" disco ball in a tree.

(M, that one is for you) This is the Heidelberg Christmas Market from after work last Wednesday. One of the many incognito trash cans.

I love how the candy booths look, so much color and sugar!

My colleagues and I in a wine cellar at a Christmas party.

>

Angela Merkel is in Town

Frau Merkel came to Mannheim (sorry the English press didn't yet cover it) for the first time as Chancelor today. She was actually giving a speech in the building across the street from my office as a guest of a University of Mannheim Professor at the ZEW (translates to Center for European Business). Tried as we might via the 4th floor window, 3rd floor window and a solo attempt by ours truelz for a viewing and photo, I could only get as close as her cars (3 Mercedes and an Audi, all black, 2 registered in Berlin and the third from Bonn) and didn't want to look suspicious to the police by taking a photo. Suprisingly for an American such as myself, the security was minimal, a few uniformed police and a couple of plain clothes guys on foot patrol and no closed off street. In fact, you can find way more security on a Satrday in and around Mannheim soccer games - and they aren't even in the 1st league! According to the article I referenced above, she was in town for only 2 hours to hold the presentation and then she left via helicoptor. She as one black away from the Castle and didn't even visit it. Since my whole Merkel experience (or lack there of) was a bit of a disapointment, I've included the following photos from the Christmas Market we visited last weekend in Bad Wimpfen. Of course, I felt obliged to include the standard Christmas 1/2 meter sausage (in case you forgot I was still in Germany). It is an old walled city that has remained mostly old and I look foward to visiting in the daylight/spring but it was the perfect back drop to a traditional Christmas Market. You can even bring your own mug! This weekend we are hoping to go to Nuremburg - the mother of all Christmas Markets, I only hope it can live up to its reputation.

A peek into my Office

It've wanted to put these up for some time now but I kept forgetting to take them and then I got new furniture so I figured now would be the best time. Here's a look at the place I go everyday, the Lehrstuhl for Marketing III, otherwise known as the Department of Marketing 3. Basically there are three marketing departments at the university, soon to be four. This is different than what I was used to from URI where there was only one marketing department and several marketing professors. We have 3 departments each headed up by a professor and each working towards their own research in a style of their choosing. Each individual department is responsible for teaching classes in the B.S., Masters and various MBA programs at the University and the Mannheim Business School (which is seperate from but intertwined with the University in a way I'm not yet 100% clear on). So, without further explanation, here is my office, starting with the name plate.
the view from my window
the before shot with my small desk and couch
after the new furniture came, note the second desk for my future roomate

This is the man who looks like he is going to jump. He's standing on the ledge in the middle of the second floor of the Mannheim Business School building and I'm not sure if he is intended to look like a jumper or just be a symbol of a business man, regardless of intentions, his positioning is ironic.

Snow in November

Last weekend it snowed in Mannheim. On Friday I heard a rumor of snow expected nearby but was asured that Mannheim was not getting any yet. Saturday morning proved my source wrong. We woke up to find the back yard covered in snow. By Sunday morning the snow was completely gone and it snowed again in the evening. This time Patrick and I were out on the town. We tried to go to a Christmas market that did not exist and ended up at the Starbucks by the market place. I hapily drank my lebkuchen latte and watched the flakes sprinkle down on the palm trees out the window - so weird! Of course, I had to take some photos of snow covered palm trees and the bike that was locked up to one of the plams.

Happy Thanksgiving

Since Thanksgiving is not a holiday in Germany (it really means nothing to Germans), we don't get Thursday and Friday off and have to settle for a postponed celebration on Saturday. Thus, yesteday served as Thanksgiving. I didn't take many pictures of people but the food was a huge attraction. The bird was about 7 kilos, around 16lbs. in American terms, and barely fit in our oven. In fact, our oven is permantly damaged as a result but it was delicious. Here are a few photos of the spread, and this is not including dessert which went largly untouched due to lack of space in everyone's bellies. In an effort to be good hosts, Patrick and I were prepared with 10 bottles of wine (5 white and 5 red). W anticipated that everone would drink wine with dinner but also know some people would need to drive home so we also got 3 large bottles of soda and 2 different types of juice. The reality of drink choice completely shocked me, all soda was completely gone, neither juice was touched and only 2 of our 10 bottles of wine had been imbibed. In addition, Sam and Enrico brought some wine, one bottle was gone, they left one with us and took 4 back home and 2 other bottles of wine were left as presents. Which means we now have more wine than our (usually empty) wine holder can handle. Patrick is already having thoughts of Feuerzangenbowle.

We were 10 people and managed to reach 30% Americans this year. It was a bit of a joint Thanksgiving with my friend Sam, we each invited friends and did some of the cooking and everyone got along nicely. Sam and her husband, Enrico have a cute baby girl who is about the same size as the turkey as you can see in the photo (the baby is the one dressed as a cow in case you couldn't tell) All around a good effort and a great evening.

Before

After

The Rate of Exchange

Thanks to www.xe.com I can monitor the ebbs and flows of the, sometimes fragile, Euro/USD relationship. Since mid to early October, the dollar has been strengthening against the Euro (or the Euro weakening against the dollar). This would normally have been a welcome suprise, up until September I was getting paid in USD. However, just as Europe became a realistic travel destination for Americans once again, I traveled to the US and returned to work in the Euro zone where my salary is now paid in Euros. One year ago, shopping in the US meant an automatic discount of about 40% on everything because fo the exchange rate. As Christmas approaches this year, the Euro is only worth about 1.25 (good for buying Euros with USD). In fact, I've been in the market fora flight to Boston. In the past it has ALWAYS been cheaper to purchase flights, and everything else, in dollars. Now, I can actually save between $20 and $60 by buying the exact same flight on the US website in dollars. This example got me thinking about what else may be cheaper in Euros at this point and I did a little searching. As one may imagine, typicalls American products like Dell and iPods are still cheaper in dollars, only marginally based on the actual number being the same. Products imported to both countries, such as UGGS are still significantly more expensive in Germany but this is probably due in part to greater taxes on clothes and in the case of UGGS, they have only recently been introduced to the German market and are not competing with copy-cat boots. European makers, such as Longchamp (France) are actually cheaper in Germany now. When I bought my large Longchamp tote in Miami in 2007, accounting for the exchange rate of roughly 1.50, the price was almost the same on both continents and it ended up being cheapest to buy at the airport tax free. Now you will pay 79 EUR in Germany and $125 (before tax) at Nordstroms, realizing a discount of about $25 or 20% buying in EUR. Some things, such as flowers and frozen pizza, have always been and continue to be cheaper in Germany while shoes and electronics will cost you less stateside. The exchange rate can only account for so much as taxes are 19% on everything you purchase in Germany so shopping in NH will help increase the value of your dollar. For the first time, I find myself contemplating purchasing a flight in EUR and hoping if I wait a little longer the EUR may fall just a bit more and, with a bit of luck, rise in the months leading up to my trip.

Returning to my (German) home

It is weird to think that in 2 years I have lived in as many German states. I've only ever lived in 2 states in the US in all my 23 years there, and one was a temporary home while working at camp. This weekend, we will drive up to Braunschweig to attend a birthday party and visit friends. Braunschweig is in the center of the country, about 5 hours north of Mannheim but most people from the south of Germany (where I live now) think BS is in northern Germany. Since Patrick comes from a town an hour out of Denmark, it is hard for me to see BS as northern. I have no reference for the western part of the country but I tend to identify much more with northern Germans on traditions and perceptions. If you can drive from the top of RI to the bottom in an hour, you can do Germany top to bottom in about 8, Germany is comprised of 16 states. Everyone in Germany has the RI mentality when it comes to distances and somehow I'm the one convincing people that 3 hours isn't so bad and anything less can easily be done in a day. I digress, the main point I was trying to make is that I am now returning to a place in Germany where I have friends and favorites. This weekend I am hoping to visit several of both. On the favorite front, we will hopefully find time for the lion statue, ice cream and sunday brunch and I am also excited for the mall (which you may remember from posts in 2007 is not so exciting) including the best craft store in all of Germany! A´highlight in the friend category is a new baby who is about 7 months old and I will meet for the first time. I usually hate long drives but today I am beyond excited to get in the car for the 5 hour drive with Patrick and our necessary stop for dinner at McDonald's or a rest stop serving schnitzel mit pommes (there's no eating healthy on the road). It's always nice to go home.

Pink

Aparently pink puts me in a good mood. Yesterday, I woke up in a rather depressed mood and I dressed myself in a pink dress and brown leggings (they also make me happy through comfort and warmpth), after a quick consultation with Patrick, however, I changed to a lt. brown skirt and white sweater for a more professional look since I had a meeting with my boss. Today I woke up and decided it would be a good day, when I realized my jeans were not yet dry, I grabbed a pair of black pants and, without consideration, a bright pink shirt and my redic cardigan with giant black polka dots. Somehow, bright clothes put me in a good mood especially when it is grey outside. I also feel more inspired and productive but maybe this is based on my decision to have a good day or the coffee I drank this morning. Either way, here's to a good in spite of nature.

The Lunch Countdown

Lunch has become a significant part of my day as a doctorate student. It is the one point when we all drop what we are doing, lock up our offices and walk a couple of blocks to eat and socialize (mostly within the department, sometimes with others). It's also, more often than not, the first food I eat all day. We typically leave between 12:15 and 12:30 to go to lunch and one of our most frequented places is a Pizza/pasta/salad shop called Clarissa. Their pizza is amazingly delicious, cooked by a legit Italian and so cheap, 5.90 will buy you any pizza on the menu and a Coke (light for me). The pasta dishes look nice and cost the same but I'm just not a big pasta friend and while I always tell myself I should try the salad, I've never seen anyone eat one and I'm worried I'll be disapointed since I know how good the pizza is. In 2 weeks, I've eaten there 3 times. I'm not sure where we are going today but it's that time of the afternoon when someone will pop their head in my dorr and say lunch. Right now, I'm having a bit of a craving for a chicken patty with sauce and cheese on a bulky roll from my high school cafeteria...mmmm! There's something so weird about that combo that it took me years to finally try it but once I did I was hooked and am happy to report I stopped by my former high school in May and it's still on the menue and still tastes the same (I had to have one). I guess I haven't anticipated lunch this much since high school.

Rise Dollar Rise!

In the midst of this terrible financial crsis, the US dollar has been gaining strength on the Euro like crazy. As of two minutes ago, http://www.xe.com/ told me the exchange was $1.24 to 1 EUR. That is about ten cents stronger than when I first moved to Germany two years ago, and the EURO costs 4 cents less today than when I went to t he ATM last week! Mostly, I've been paying attention to the USD/EUR relationship for obvious reasons but thanks to a new format on http://www.ex.com/ where they display popular currencies at a glance, I noticed the USD/GBP ratio is 1.53/1 which is about the rate it was in 2003 when I lived in London. At that time, in 2003, the USD/EUR ration was about 1.15/1. Which makes me think that the EUR is holding its value better than the GBP. It's also kind of interesting that it took a global financial crsis to bring the dollar up. I'm going to start paying for everything I can with my dollar based crredit card from now on ;) In case you were wondering, it's safe to go to Canada again, the USD is worth about 1.29 Canadian dollars today.

Stepping into Year 3

It's weird to think that I've been living in Germany for the better part of 2 years. In that time I've...

• lived in 2 apartments in 2 cities, 5 hours away from each other
• had 3 different jobs
• visited over 2 dozen German cities (and towns)
• joined a team
• never been to Oktoberfest or Karnival
• fell in love with Christmas markets
• eaten countless döners and schnitzel
• rode zero bikes
• only swam in the ocean once
• traveled to almost all scandinavian countries (except Sweden)
• made new friends, then moved and started over
• became friends with 4 other Americans living in Germany
• got engaged
• went camping once (Denmark 07)
• flew to the US 5 times
• spent 1 night in Toronto due to snow
• driven in Germany (once)

I'm sure I could come up with several more things I've done over the past 2 years but I'm going to leave it at that, please feel free to add any milestones I've forgotten via comments. In recognizition of the begining og my 3rd year in Germany, I'm going to go try and sign up for a German course.

Currency Exchange

The Dollar started to gain value against the Euro about a month ago, right around the time the current financial crsis started to his Europe and talks of a 700 billion dollar bail out plan began. In the past month international markets have been up an down and down and up. I don't have much money in the stock market and I don't have a 401K but these fluctuations have had a significant impact on my life.
As an American living in the Euro zone but maintaining a dollar bank account I watch the currency exchange rate a lot more than most and can tell you there is a seemingly strong correlation to the stock market. Unfortunately for me, I was in the US while the Dollar gained on the Euro and as soon as I return the dollar is instantly down 2 cents to the Euro. Ultimately, I shouldn't complain at all as the dollar was at it's lowest in comparisson to the Euro a few short months ago but for me the timing, couldn't have been worse. I spent the last 3 weeks in the US and in 2 days I begin a new job where I will be paid in Euros. It felt so nice to think of my Euro income in dollars at a ration of 1:1.60 and now I'm looking at 1:1.35 - it's like I've had a decrease in pay before I even begin. I guess if this is the worst I see of the financial crsis (more expensive trips home) then I shouldn't complain. While in the US, I really began to realize the seriousness of the situation. People are losing their jobs or seeing decreases in hours. Consturction is being scaled back and layoffs are more prominent than last year in this volitile industry. I'm thankful to be living outside of the US during this time but worry for my family and friends at home, for the economy and for the reutation of our nation. I am thankful that Bush is about to be out of the Whitehouse and hopefl that Obama will make it in and be able to enact change. Now more than ever, I see a need for a strong government and hope that my country will be able to come out of this "financial crsis" on top. I'm off to secure my place as an absentee voter...

Vigeland Park

While in Oslo, we visited Vigeland Park this was one of the first things I heard about when I started trying to find things to see in Oslo and it was not disapointing. Wikipedia tells me it is 80 acres and home to 212 schulptures. All of the schulptures are made of bronze or stone and all are naked. The park was beautifully landscaped to showcase this art but mostly I loved the emotions in these stone faces. Here are some of the photos I took in the park.

Oslo, Day 2

I realized Oslo was a costal city but I never thought about how much of our vacation was about to be spent on boats. Our second day became boat day. We woke early up on our boat hotel because we had made reservations for a lunch cruise thanks to our Oslo Pass. The woman who took the reservation weeks before we left told us we would need to arrice at 9:00am to pick up our tickets for a 10:30 departure. I wanted to get off to a good start so we arrived around 8:45, picked up our tickets and were instructed to wait...so much for getting an early start. With an hour to go we thought we popped into City Hall, this is where the Nobel prize is awarded and the tour was includedi n the Oslo Pass but aparently the tour starts from the back of City Hall, we entered the front and it was more difficult than we anticipated to get to the back fromt he front so we looked at the posters outlining Oslo's commitment to being a Green city and then headed outside to walk along the harbor. We popped into a shopping mall to learn that none of the stores open until 10 and returned to the waiting spot for our cruise. It is worth mentioning that the sun was shining at 9:00am and had given way to serious storm clouds and rain by the time we boarded the boat. We were able to get 2 of the last places under the deck tarp which promptly soaked half of my body. I am prod to say that we stayed outside to eat lunch when most people headed in for cover. We say across from 2 Italians, next to 2 Australians and behind us heard a brit, 2 girls from the north of Norway and a German couple, there were several Asians on our cruise as well but they sat indoors so we didn't get to determine where they were from. The lunch was a Norwegian prawn buffet. I saw photos but somehow didn't realize how much work skinning prawns actually is...and then I got a pregnant one, screaming ensued and Patrick threw it overboard to some eager sea gulls. There were several with eggs and I quickly lost my appiteite but the bread and butter was delicious.

The cruise stopped at Oslo's version of Berlin's Museum Island. It's actually not an island and the museums are spread out but the houses in this area are the nicest ones in Oslo, we sailed by a house with it's own giant budda and an amazing boat. We took in the FRAM museum and the Kontiki Museum. I learned a lot from both museums as I was not familiar with any of the voyages. The FRAM museum is a triangular building which was literally built around the boat right at teh water's edge. The rain stopped about the time we entered our first museum and my right side dried right around the time we were leaving the second museum. We stopped for a pizza dinner at a local chain called Dolly Dimples and headed back to our boat in time to avoid a second rain. We were exhausted and happy to stay in out of the rain and plan the next day.

I've been Absent...It's not about to Change

Sorry about that, I was suddenly inspired to revamp my blog and then I got really busy and despite the fact that I have alot of posts in my head, I haven't had the time to get them on here. I guess this is what happens when I don't spend any time in airports. SO many things have been happening and will each get their own posts soon (I promise). First of all, I'm officially done with my job (even though I will be working unofficially for 1/2 day on Monday) and unemployed. I won't be unemployed for long becasue I am about to begin my doctoral studies at the University of Mannheim. I'm wicked excited and a bit nervous, if you're interested you can read the CV of my soon to be boss. I've recently learned that I'll have some free time between now and my start date of October 15th and thanks to Lufthansa was able to get a cheap flight to Boston, it was such a good deal that Patrick's coming too. He likes to remind me that he gets 25 vacation days each year so he'll be putting 10 of them towards this trip and we're hoping to combine a family visit, a friend's wedding, a suprise birthday party, our own wedding venue sourcing and a New England vacation in the time that he is there. We're also hoping the Euro will remain strong against the dollar for the next month as we are both looking foward to a visit to Wrentham ;)
However, in light of the big plans we have, including a wedding and 60th birthday party next week, we are going away for the weekend. We will be visiting the Castle Neuschwanstein which is a 3 hour drive but before I leave, I'll leave you with Wikipedia's insight into the Disney Castle.

Oslo

Did you miss me? I haven't posted in awhile because it was finally time for our trip to Oslo, aka my first real vacation that did not involve the US. The trip was delightful and ended up with a serious boat theme. We started out our vacation with a quick visit to Braunschweig where Patrick attended a Bachelor party for one of his college friends and I hung out with a bunch of my English teaching colleagues and SingStar. It was really nice to see "old" friends. We had a lazy morning at the local breakfast buffet and then I met up with Patrick for our drive onto Kiel where we would spend the night with his parents and hop on the Color Magic to Oslo the next afternoon. This cruise is not your typical cruise, it's a cruiseferry, it only takes a night to get to Oslo and that is the only destination so you can do a 2 night cruise and have 4 hours in port or, like we did, you can choose to stay longer in a hotel and return on a later voyage. We stayed 4 nights, the first two were spent at a B&B called MS Innvik or as i like to call it our boat hotel. It was actually pleasantly suprising despite the fact that we slept in bunk beds. The beds were comfortable, the location was great (right across from the train station) and the view was amazing (all we saw was the new oper house right out of our port hole). To top it off, breakfast was included and involved make your own heart shaped waffles. So we disembarked from the Color Magic, dropped our suitcase - yes we both packed all we needed for 6 days into one communial suitcase - at the Innvik and then set off to explore Oslo. Day 1 involved loosely following an urban hike I found on the internet which was great if not a bit too ambitious. Unfortunately I didn't save the link so I can't share it but I'm sure Googling Urban Hike Oslo would be a good place to start if you're interested. We saw a lot of the sights along the main street and spent some time at the fortress. One of the first stops on this hike was the cathedral which was, unfortunately, under construction so it looked like a huge box. By the end of day 1 we were tired from walking and excited for Day 2 which could appropriatly be titled Boat day... Below are a few photos of us and/on the Color Magic

Painting to avoid people

Last night, a friend of Patrick's called and asked if we would be able to provide a place to sleep for a friend of his girlfriend. Aparently she was planning to stay in his apartment overnight to catch and early morning flight while he and his roomates were away. The problem was that he forgot to leave the key with the neighbor. So about 3 hours before she was due to arrive he called us in a panic and asked if we could provide shelter. Now this put me in an interesting place. Of course I didn't want to say no because then she would be in a terrible situation but I also didn't want to spend my Saturdaynight making idle German conversation with a stranger. Patrick being the ore compassionate one, was ready to say yes in an instant. I, on the other hand being DSL was worried about the awkard situation that would leave me feeling uncofortable in my apartent. We came to the concludion that we would let her stay and I would just be doing something when she arrived so I didn't have to get into an awkard evening of German small talk and it all worked out...kind of. I hung out on the porch painting which actually intrigued her and let to small talk but it was in English and she was interesting enough for the 20 or so minutes she was awake considering she got in around 11:30 and needed to leave before 7:00am. < >

In case you are interested, I've included 2 pictures of my painting. This was my first attempt at shading and painting a big flower and I quite like how it came out.

New Style

I've decided to revamp the blog. I'm going to make an effort to write shorter posts and include more links to the things I am talking about. I will still add my own photos when I have them. Hope you see this as an improvement.

Vacation

In exactly one month from today, I will board the Color Magic and start my first real vacation as a working adult which does not involve traveling to the US. I'm beyond excited...Oslo, here we come!

The Army does NOT mess around

American Independence Day in Germany sounds seriously anticlimactic but thanks to my softball club and the US Army it was actually a great celebration. Last year, the holiday, which has always been a personal favorite and deep seeded in childhood traditions, was celebrated by a last minute BBQ at our apartment in BS. This year, I didn't need to give it much thought as the baseball/softball club I play for put up a sign in June announcing a party for American Independence day. When I woke up on the 4th, I dressed in red white and blue (there's a photo to prove it), I had waited for this party for weeks. I heard stories of grilled cheeseburgers and hot dogs, American beer, corn on the cob, cocktails and even watermelon and all were present except for the watermelon. There was even a live band playing a mixture of country and classic rock songs and there was no shortage of American flags.

A few days before the 4th a fellow American told me about a German American festival hosted on the Army base which puts on fireworks. I'm a sucker for fireworks on the 4th and it was not hard convincing Patrick that fireworks would be a mandatory part of the night so we planned to leave the party at 9:45 in order to get to the festival for 10:30 fireworks. This was plenty of time to make the 15 minute drive and find a parking spot. We got lucky and found one of the last illegal spots when we arrived and headed in the direction of the two men walking down the road assuming they were going to the same place. They were and we soon arrived at the gate, showed our ids and excitedly looked through the chain link fence at the carnival full of people. Suddenly we were in a very long line. Turns out everyone needed to go through a metal detector. We stood in this line for about 30 minutes. Just when we advanced to the last 1/4 of the line and behind a row of thick trees, the first firework shot off. We missed all but the grand finale (we saw that from outside of the fence) but continued in to enjoy the festival. A true mix of Germans and Americans, I almost felt like I was in Pawtucket. I haven't seen so many baggy shorts, long Ts and baseball caps and the DJ in the food tent was straight hip hop! I loved it!!! Saddened by the missed fireworks, we vowed to return on Sunday for the fireworks show which symbolized the closing of this week long festival. The photos here are from Sunday when we enjoyed such American delicacies as A&W Root Beer, taco salad in an edible bowl (mine) a burrito (Patrick's) and American ice cream - peanut butter cup all while listening to a country band from Montana. It was a classic American evening. < >

The German American Folk Festival has been going on for 52 years or as Patrick pointed out "It's as old as my [his and mine for that matter] dad!" This year I truely have the Amred forces to thank on Independence Day - both for all the service men and women who have fought for Independence over the years and for putting on a great event and a fireworks display that could rival McCoy