Happy Fall! The colors here are not as beautiful as NC, but it is quite lovely in its own right. Two weekends ago, Ben and I traveled to the western side of Germany, where it butts up against Belgium, to the small village of Monschau. Ben is reading a WWII book called A Time for Trumpets, and this village is talked about in the book, so he decided he wanted to take a road trip. I am of course always willing, so the first 3 day weekend we had, we took off. The first night we spent at Ramstein AB near Kaiserslautern. That was neat, because they have a real Chili's restaurant on post there and we got to eat a great American meal! We also did a little shopping, since Ramstein has a great BX there. Then on Saturday we drove for about 3 more hours NW, just south of Aachen, to Monschau. It is a quaint little dorf (village) with cobblestone streets and medieval buildings. We stayed in a 400-year old inn with a great stone cellar restaurant. We wandered around the streets, just drinking in the beauty until it got dark. On Sunday, we got up, ate our free German breakfast, and took off on an exploration to find the Belgium town of Malmedy, where a WWII slaughter of American soldiers took place and is
memorialized at a place called Baugnez 44 Historical Center. That was a neat place, with a walk-through museum which explained what had happened there in 1944. Of course, the narrative (on an audio player you hold like a phone) was in several languages, so there were some older folks going through it too who could have been either Belgium or German and were probably alive when it occurred. That made it more real and moving somehow. After we finished in Malmedy, visiting the memorial in the field where the 83 American soldiers were killed, we drove back to Monschau and walked around some more. We enjoyed the gorgeous fall weather and views and Pommes Frites with Mayonnaise! These photos are from that trip.We haven't heard much from Stephen lately, as he has had to deal with a major brigade move to Kirkuk and a new job as the Headquarters Company Commander of the 18th Engineering Brigade. He has been in Iraq since April and will be there until next fall. Please pray for his safety.
The weather here is getting colder- we had our first snow flurries just briefly one morning last week. The highs are generally in the 40s during the day and the 30s at night. It is foggy a lot too, but it usually burns off by noon. We are still trying to figure out the radiators in our house- sometimes we burn up and then later we are freezing. All part of the adventure, you know! The Weihnachten Season (Christmas) is coming and we are both looking forward to the Christmas markets and Gluhwein (a hot mulled wine).
I hope to see many of you next week when I fly to Nashville for a conference, then drive to Knoxville to see my dad and Asheville to see everyone else. I hope to be in Asheville by the 10th and in Hickory on the 13th and 14th. Ben can't come this time, but hopefully next year!
Come see us! Airline tickets are pretty cheap right now, so it might be a good time to plan a trip to Europe.
Auf wiedersehn!
Nan & Ben
