Munchen - August 6-10

Munich, and pretty much everything about it, was crazy. We got in Friday night at around 2300, and of course all the hostels were already full. Seems to be a trend in these European wanderings of mine. However, we were able to get a really cool room anyhow which was only about a block from the Hauptbahnhoff (main train station). The room was huge, with four single beds (for myself and the three other guys I went with), it had a little kitchen, and obviously a bathroom, all for little over 30 euro a night. It even had a balcony.

That night we wandered over to one of the discoteks and checked that out, and yes, they were playing technoized American music. Again.

The next morning we went out to wander in the Alstadt. It was awesome. The buildings there were even better than the ones in Neuremburg. The Glockenspiel (sp?) was huge and awesome, St. Michael's church was under reconstruction (but had a life size tarp over the scaffolding with the front of the church painted on it) but the inside was beautiful and the catacomb containing the past German royalty was very interesting. We also saw the Bavarian Parliament building and many other random, large, beautiful, most likely very expensive buildings and scultpures all throughout the city.

One of those very large and old buildings happened to be the Hoffbrauhaus, which I think is the biggest beer house in Munich. It was in fact very large, with an inner courtyard filled with loud Germans eating, smoking, and drinking themselves silly. We of course had to sit down and enjoy some of their bratwurst and one of their pint glasses of beer (its great because you burn off all the calories you gain from the beer after you've lifted the glass for the fiftieth time).

On Sunday we went to Konigschloss Neuschwanstein (Castle Neuschwanstein). We tried to hook up with a tour at the Hauptbahnhoff, but they were already full, even though they said don't both calling for reservations (frustrating). The tour lady was really nice though and she said we should just follow her and she would try to get us through the line into the castle.

This is when I would say the adventure in Munich really started. By the time we got to Neuschwanstein and had lunch it was already about 1400, and the tour lady said she was unable to get us tickets into the castle. The line being a two hour wait, we decided it would be best just to go up and look at the outside of the castle. It had been a nice, warm, somewhat sunny up until the time we started walking up the mountain, at which pointed it proceeded to pour. And pour. At one point I was standing taking a picture, and looked down to realize a flash flood had occurred around my feet where it had been dry only thirty seconds ago. Anyhow we made it up to the castle, and also up to Marienbrucke (a bridge overlooking the canyon next to the castle as well as the castle itself) and got some really good pictures, even though we were unable to get inside.

We, being the tough army studs that we are, and used to placing pain in front of brain, decided not to buy rain coats or umbrellas, and instead just endure. Of course it stopped raining once we got back down to the bottom of the mountain, but we were already sufficiently soaked.

Odd anecdote: Before we got up to the castle, we had grabbed lunch from a little vendor in the town below. Just after lunch I randomly ran into Matt McCreery, someone who had been a senior in the Gonzaga ROTC program when I was a Freshman. Its odd how small the world really is.

So, soaked and tired from our walk around the mountain, we made it back down to Fussen. We left Fussen at 1700 Sunday afternoon, and made it back to Grafenwoehr at 0600, Monday morning.

The first mishap was when a tree fell across the tracks of the train taking us back to Munich. This caused an hour long delay by itself before they moved us to another train, and then that train had to backtrack to find an interchange to get us back to Munich. We made it to Munich at around 2200 that night. From there we were given a pass on a bullet train to Nurenburg, and a taxi voucher from Nurenburg to Grafenwoehr. We should have gotten back to Graf around 0200 that night.

But we slept through our stop at Nurenburg. We all awoke to the conductor's cheery "Welcome to Wurzburg. The time is now 0100, and this station is the end of the line." So we had to get on the next train back to Nurenburg, which was supposed to show up at 0200 but was an hour late. From there we were able to take the trains and a taxi back to Grafenwoehr, where I immediately changed into my PTs and made it to first formation. I then slept through just about everything I did Monday.

So thats that - hopefully none of my other travels end the way Munich did. Oh and I have conjunctivitis - but I already went to the German optometrist and got eye drops so its doing better. This week should be fairly slow, but we are going to Prague this next weekend for our four day, and then we got to the field Tuesday through Friday of next week - and then I'm done. Saturday the 21st of August I'll be going to Nurenburg to begin my solo adventure from Germany down to Italy for about 9 days. And I'm looking forward to it.

Aufwiedersehen!

August 3 - 5

So I haven't posted in a few days, primarily because there hasn't been much to post on. Quite honestly I cant remember what happened on Teusday (Aug 2), i guess that goes to show sometimes there is just not much going on around here.

Anyhow, yesterday I got to spend some time on the weapons systems along with the privates. So basically I learned how to assemble/disassemble the .50 cal, the 240 coax, and the M-9. *boredom warning* (I think i'm going to write that everytime i'm about to unleash a bunch of technical military jargon that you might not care about) The .50 goes on the Abrams right above the tank commanders (TC) hatch, with the TC being either the PL, PSG, or an E-6. The coax is actually inside the tank with a firing port right next to the 120 mm tube, and the other 240 B on the tank is right above the loader's hatch - basically the coax and .50 can be controlled from inside the tank by either the gunner or the TC using the aiming systems inside, while the other 240 machine gun can only be controlled when standing up with your head outside the hatch. The tank also has two grenade launchers on either side of the turret, because it really needs more firepower. seriously.

So anyhow, yesterday I got a cold and was exhausted because I, for some random reason, hadn't been able to sleep the last two nights. So I went to bed at 1730 and slept till 0430. Getting eleven hours of sleep works wonders for your sleep, and also serves as an excuse why I didnt answer anyone's emails yesterday.

Today we did a little more weapons training, and my PL introduced me to/enlisted me as his slave for all his paperwork. I treated it as a learning experience, even though all of the sergeants were giving my PL a really hard time for making me do his paperwork for him.

Oh yeah, thats what we did that was exciting Tuesday - I talked to my Company Commander for an hour after the training meeting all about what I wanted to branch, where I should pick my first station, and generally how to structure my career to get into SF/Delta. So Tuesday wasn't actually a waste, I actually learned a lot in that hour of instruction.

Otherwise not much going on. I have a meeting with the battalion commander tomorrow (its just sort of a welcome meeting for everyone) and we should head out to Munich around 1700. Then we'll be in Munich for the weekend, hopefully I'll be able to make it to Dachau, and hopefully enjoy more of the German culture.

August 2

Honestly, its not that I'm really that bored its just that I have to stop at the USO to check my e-mail etc so I figure I might as well post on the blog as well every day.

Today was a little slow, but still a lot of fun. PT was a 5 mile run, and the rest of the workday was comprised of PMCS (like half the acronyms we toss around, I don't know what that one stands for either) - basically maintenance and performance checks on the tanks. Of the four tanks in Charlie 3, my LT's is the only one that's broken - figures. So aside from crawling around the tanks some more today I also went elsewhere in the motor pool and bugged the mortar platoon and the Infantry guys. Bascially I had the specialists teach me the basics of the three main vehicles in our unit - the Abrams, the Bradley, and the mortar vehicles (now I've forgotten what they're called, 133s or something to that effect). The Bradleys were of course the coolest, being Infantry, though I thought they might be a little less fun when I was told the troop carrying space (which looked like it could fit maybe 6 or 7 soldiers) could actually hold 15 Infantrymen at one time. No wonder they come running out as soon as the door drops. What I also didn't like was the fact that the PL stays in the Bradley when his squads dismount - and I'd rather be on the ground with my soldiers than sitting back in the track.

So we're supposed to start training with these vehicles soon - and I'll try to find some way to get my pictures uploaded.

Aufwiedersehen!

Nurenburg July 30 - August 1

So we got a 3 day pass for this weekend due to the fact that the unit here at Graf is on block leave. So me and four of my friends went down to Nurenburg. The trains here are actually pretty cool - I was thinking about it and so far  I recall this weekend was my first train ride (that I remember, I was probably on a train when I wasone or two when my family was over here). Anyhow, we got to the Hauptbahnhoff and there were thousands of people evewhere, very disorienting. First thing I did was run to the bookstore to pick up a map, and ended up getting one that was Espanol - so I had a Spanish map of a German city, very conducive to understanding the current situation. Anyhow, we made it up to the Hauptplatz (city center) where there were a million people, at least, and about 200 bier tents and food stands (I'm exaggerating, of course, but there were lots). We made it to the tourist place where the guy must have spoken 15 languages. He helped meut, pointed us to some hostels, and we left. The hostels were all full. So we went to the bigger hotels, where they wanted 185 euro (around $250) a night. For a minute we thought we were going to be sleeping on the street, till we found a little motel/bed and breakfast owned by a little Croatian lady that spoke no English. At all. So thankfully there was a German in her restaurant that spoke a little English, and between my terrible Deutsch, his English, and her Deutsch we finally got a room for 25 euro a night, which was a steal considering. So then we went out and ran around the Alstadt, looking at all the cool old churches and buildings, going up the castle on the north end of the Alstadt overlooking the entire city of Nurenberg, and enjoying the gut Deutsch bier.

We slept in the next morning, and got up and wandered around the city some more, enjoying the food and sights. I got sick of looking like an American, and had to go buy some clothes that would allow me to blend in a little better (I'm going to come home looking like Eurotrash). We tried getting out to the Doku-Zentrum, one of the old Nazi rallying grounds, but the bus system was messed up (well, we were a little lost too) so we didn't make it out there. We ended up sticking around the Hauptplatz, enjoying the music, food, and bier. We ended up in a small bar under neath the castle where the waitress was a South African whose mother was German - she spoke Deutsch and pretty good English, which was a life saver. We ended up making a few German friends, including the owner Wolfgang, and made it home just after midnight. Took the train home in the morning, and now I have the afternoon off before we start some hardcore training this next week.

Tschuss!