Back in Florida

The primary focus since our return has been finding a suitable practice for Shelly. We have run through all the options from buying-out a practice and going for it alone, to working under a larger "corporate" model, to finding a partner. At present (8:33 PM on Tuesday, November 20, 2007), after 3 weeks of interviews, discussions, decisions and reconsideration's, we are still undecided. The likely option is starting out under a larger corporate practice since this would provide Shelly some of the business experience she didn't gain in the Army and allow Shelly to network and for us to decide exactly where we want to be long-term. But we are waiting out an opportunity that is a good fit.

In the mean time we have had the chance to spend a lot of time with family and trying to relax as much as possible while living out of a suitcase and on the move from week to week. We are essentially gypsies; we have no home, no phone or mailing address of our own. BTW - I think 10 days is when you start to wear out your welcome.

Anyway here are a few pictures from lovely Florida. We have been graced with excellent weather; most excellent.





Stephanie was in the area for a conference last week and stopped in on both sides of her meetings. The four of us took a trip downtown for gelato, a walk and to watch the sun set over the harbour.

Madison learned to say "sun set" and spent the rest of her time rearranging shells by the sidewalk.





















Other than Shelly's interviews, we really don't have a lot to do so we try and get out as much as possible. We spend at least a portion of each day at the park and when we aren't meeting family for dinner, we like to head out for the sun set. On this glorious evening we went out to Siesta Key. Madison is clearly enjoying the wide, white-sand beach.





Near the Sarasota harbour there is a great playground (with a choice location right next to the water) and kiddie splash fountain. We had been down here a couple times in the evening but the splash fountain was closed. On this day our target was only the playground, but the fountain was open and I had conveniently packed a swim diaper in Madison's bag. Game on!!




We arrived in Gainesville over the weekend and will be here through Thanksgiving. After the holiday we head back to Sarasota for a week where we will house sit for Shelly's dad. Convenient, eh. Hopefully, during that week we will get some resolution on the practice situation and be able to start looking at getting settled. It would be nice to have a house by Christmas, but for that to happen the job situation will have to get firmed up soon. I am not holding my breath.

Stay tuned.

--Ed

Normandy and recent activities

Hello, everyone. We have had a lot of activity lately. First, in September we made a cross-Europe road-trip to Epernay and Normandy as our final adventure overseas. Shortly after our trip I brought Madison back to the States and spent just over two weeks home before returning to Germany to help Shelly with the final phases of our transition. On October 24th, Shelly, the pets and I made the big flight home and we are all back on U.S. soil. Hooray!!


Here are some shots from our Normandy adventure...


This is our B&B in the area near Epernay, the Champagne region of France. This was a convenient stopping point as it was close to half way to Normandy, but far enough from Paris that prices were not out of hand.













Another selling point of stopping in this area - champagne. This is one of the many chateaus; this is a "local" house in that their champagne is not widely distributed. Small timers.












Champagne anyone? Shelly snapped this shot while on a tour of the Mercier facilities. Mercier is the most widely consumed champagne in France. Yeah, we bought a case for ourselves.



























Our B&B in Normandy didn't offer dinner so we went into Bayeux to look around and find something to eat. It turns out that the French are not on Madison's schedule so no restaurants were open until after 7:00 PM. Madison doesn't do waiting when she is hungry so we ducked into a deli for supplies and had a picnic on the grounds of the cathedral.

On our first full day in Normandy we made our way directly to Colville su mer for the American cemetery and to tour the sites of the D-Day invasion.






It is relatively pointless to try to describe the grounds at the cemetery (there are others, but Colville su mer is the most famous) so I will let the pictures due the talking. One thing that everyone notices is how immaculate the grounds are kept.

























Omaha beach, directly below the cemetery. The two perspectives - defensive forces (German) on the left, attacking (American) on the right.




This is pretty much the entirety of Omaha beach, looking to the north/west in the direction of Point du Hoc and Utah beach. The photo is taken from the ruins of a German artillery emplacement.













Shelly and Madison taking a load off before we made our way further up the coast.

























From Omaha beach we worked our way up the coast to Point du Hoc. The cliffs in the picture on the left were attacked by a Ranger battalion. The Rangers had to scale the cliffs in order to knock out German gun emplacements the allies believed to be located here. As it turns out the guns had been moved and the Rangers found them several days later. The encampment was heavily bombed; I am standing in one of the smaller craters left by the extensive bombing.




We made our way south and east to Arromanches where we stopped to have lunch. In almost every eatery we dined they had these high chairs where you lift up the tray, put the little one in, and then bring the tray back up over your kid. Every chair indicated that the tray locked in place, but none of them actually did. This made eating very entertaining - for Madison.

























Arromanches was one of two sites for the Mulberry Harbours - huge concrete casements manufactured and towed over from Britain. German forces where known to have set explosives on all the usable harbours along the French coast so the likelihood of capturing an intact port was unlikely. The need for a port was necessary, however, so the Americans and British built the two pre-fabricated harbours. The second, at Omaha beach, was destroyed two weeks after D-day by a storm, but the first is still somewhat in tact in Arromanches.







Madison playing on the beach during low tide - the Normandy beaches have some of the largest tidal variations in the world.














Here you can see a portion of what remains of the artificial harbour. The scale of the port, 4.5 miles from one end to the other, drives home the industrial might brought into play during the war.



















Enough said.





















The following day we took a break from WWII history and paid a visit to Mont Saint-Michel. From our perspective, Saint-Michel is more likable from the outside than inside. Once the island comes into view as you approach, it is really quite stunning. Inside however, the place is crawling with tourists and shops selling trinkets. The abbey is nice, and you can wander around freely, but it isn't anything special. Of course we have seen about a hundred cathedrals at this point.





The person that works at McDonald's that decided to put the play areas at their restaurants is a genius and should be giving huge sums of money from the company. Talk about establishing brand loyalty at a young age; Madison was hooked by 16 months. This all started because my sister and I meet at a McDonald's when the Ballards have watched Madison for us in the past. Then on this trip to Normandy, Shelly and I stopped once or twice a day at a McDonald's just to give Madison a chance to run around a bit. Now we can't pass the golden arches without Madison pointing them out to us. When we do stop, Madison is very pleased.















Back on the WWII history trail we stopped at Longes Sur Mer, one of the only place where the German artillery pieces are still in their casements. A bit of trivia - several scenes from The Longest Day where shot here.






Shelly and Madison at the German forward observation post; it really is quite a view from this spot.









On our return to Germany we again stayed at the same B&B in Epernay. On our way in we stopped at yet another American cemetery and war memorial; this time a WWI memorial dedicated to the Marines that fought in the battle of Belleau Wood.


















In the woods behind the cemetery, where the battle took place, there are trenches and cannons still in place. I have pictures and I posted them, but they have vanished. I will see if I can get them off our laptop.







More McDonald's fun for Madison.










We had a great 3 years touring Europe and we hope you enjoyed keeping tabs on our adventure. I will keep the updates coming as we get settled here in Florida.

Well, that is all from Europe (as I complete this post in Clearwater, Florida - yes, the weather is AWESOME!). -- Ed

Over the last couple of weeks...

...we have been enjoying intermittent downtime and giving a little payback to Tracy and Chris.

















This box got left out for me to use to mail something, but Madison took it over and was using it as a chair while watching Baby Einstein. Lately, we have been dragging Madison around the room in the box; which she loves - a little too much. Madison has figured out that shoes go on her feet, and likes to step into our shoes if they are laying around; this particular pair is a bit too much for Madison to handle.

Over the Labor Day weekend we packed up the whole family, minus the cat, and went up to Tracy and Chris' place to watch over the kids so that T&C could enjoy their anniversary in Paris.



We took the kids to Hoensbroek Castle one day to get everyone out of the house and moving around. The Ballard kids had been here before, but Shelly and I had not. The castle is surrounded by an actual mote, something that is actually somewhat rare for the castles we have seen in Germany. The castles dates from 1250 and you can explore a large amount of the grounds on your own so it is a fun place for the kids.















It would be even more fun for the adults if the folks at the castle would "hold onto" the kids for you.









Three jokers for sure. Silly, yes. Entertaining, not so much. Maryn, Will and Madison did enjoy kicking around the castle, and there were even some old fashioned games set up in the courtyard that the kids messed around with.

Ireland and the return of Netzer

I had kept up with Mike by text message and his blog while he was kicking around Bavaria. We knew Mike was hitting most of the high points and having a good time, but we got the full story when he arrived in Hanau on Thursday night. Mike had a great time in Munich, drank a lot of Augustiner and HofBrau and really enjoyed the sights.


Mike also came bearing gifts; a sweet Augustiner shirt for both Shelly and I, and a beer mug to add to my growing collection - there would be further additions in Ireland.

Mike enjoyed the Augustiner beer so much that I think he might seriously consider starting a distributorship in Florida. Once you leave Germany and return to the world of Miller Lite a person can take desperate measures to satisfy their new appreciation of beer - real beer, not bubbly water. Hey, I'm in!!

So after a late night catching up with Netzer and breaking in my new beer glass we were up early on Friday for the drive to Frankfurt-Hahn to catch our Ryan Air flight to Kerry, Ireland. We had been told by multiple sources to skip Dublin and focus entirely on the southwest corner of the island. Kerry and Cork counties are well known for their spectacular scenery so we set out to hit the Dingle Peninsula and Ring of Kerry; which highlight the dramatic natural beauty of the southwest coast.


We hit the ground in Ireland and it was time to pick up our rental car. Our itinerary dictated that we needed our own transportation because in this part of Ireland public transit is few and far between. Mike had reserved the rental so he picked up the car while Shelly and I waited for our luggage.

Doesn't Mike look thrilled to begin his driving adventure? The roads in Ireland, at least out in the countryside, which is where we spent the majority of our time, are narrow and moderately (at best) maintained. It took Mike a full day to get adjusted to driving on the left side of the road, and he got an ample dose of ribbing from Shelly and I as he dodged on-coming traffic, sheep, stone walls, bushes and construction zones. At the start Mike had trouble getting the feel for where the left side of the car was, so Shelly and I did our part by yelling "wall" or "cow" whenever Mike compensated a little too far to the left. We thought for sure that by the end of the weekend our Nissan would have suffered some significant damage, but since Mike had purchased the insurance and collision damage waver, all we needed to return to Avis were the keys and the tires. Bang up the car all you want Mike, just don't lose the keys or blow out the tires!! We saw several tourists who had cars with shattered side-view mirrors and scraped sides; so anyone planning to rent a car in Ireland would be smart to get the insurance - as much of it as you can. We gave Mike a load of grief, but by the second day he had adjusted and was zooming around like a local, and since we had places to go and things to do, we let Mike continue at the helm instead of spending another day getting Shelly or I adjusted to wrong way driving.


Setting out onto the Dingle Peninsula we took the more northerly route which brought us through the Connor Pass and afforded us our first good opportunity to stop. As you pass Brandon Bay and start working your way south and through the pass there is a stopping point on the left, there were several cars parked and the view back towards the valley was quite something. I would love to show you pictures, but almost as soon as we stepped out of the car we were enveloped by low clouds, rain and 40 MPH winds; which made any scenic pictures pointless. These weather conditions followed us for pretty much the entire weekend - it was a real Irish welcome.

This picture of Shelly is right at the pull off; the little waterfall is formed from a stream that runs down from above. We saw several people climbing down and decided that whatever is up there must be worth seeing since there were a half dozen others braving the wind and rain to reach the top.


What we found was a small lake, and what would have been a great view of the valley and Brandon Bay below if not for the bad weather. The three of us spent half and hour or so enjoying the view (what we could appreciate while getting blasted by wind and pelted with rain) and climbing our way back down to the car. Below is Mike on the way down to the car, and he actually has a picture of Shelly and I as we took the photo on the left by the lake.







We returned to the car and made our way through nearly unnavigable conditions down to Dingle. Food and drink (beer) were in order so we stopped at The Dingle Pub (clever, eh) for a Smithwicks and some bar food. Mike and I each hit the Shepard's Pie and Shelly opted for the fish and chips.



This is typical "bar food" and anyplace that advertises "bar food" will carry these types of dishes. For more inventive cuisine you have to visit an actual restaurant. Ireland gets a bad wrap for the food, but we had great meals all weekend.

After lunch we found a room for the night and set out to complete the loop around the tip of the peninsula. We had thought about staying further out along the loop, but during our drive it was evident that Dingle was THE only real town within at least an hours drive. Our sights were actually set on a small town called Dunquin which our tour book indicated might be a good place to over-night. As we drove through the most recent of many scant villages, Mike asked when we should hit Dunquin. After reviewing my map I decided that the 6 buildings we had just passed was the metropolis of Dunquin. Decision made - finish the loop and roll to Dingle to firm up the room we found at the Archway Lodge. We had some concerns about finding lodging on the fly, but after arriving we realized this was definitely the way to go. B&B's are abundant both in and around the main towns, and the variable pace of travel makes predicting where you will end the day very difficult. Our original plan was to make it off the Dingle Peninsula and onto the start of the Ring of Kerry, but it had been a long day of sitting in cars and airplanes so we were happy to make camp in Dingle and hit the pubs - hard.

Saturday, and we are heading to the Ring of Kerry. Friday's action was pretty much washed out by the rain; we had hoped to do more out of the car sightseeing on the Dingle Peninsula, but the weather made any outdoor experience only briefly tolerable. Hopefully, Saturday would be better.

I mentioned the conditions of the roads, well here you can see for yourself what drivers deal with. This is a nice picture and all, but pay attention to the size of the road - that road is for TWO WAY TRAFFIC!!! In order for two cars, and at times coach buses and trucks to pass you have to ride the yellow line, and this does not afford much room for error. The locals zoom around like they are on I-95 but for the rest of us, namely Mike, it is white-knuckle time.

As we set out from the Archway Lodge heading east across the Dingle Peninsula, the weather was a repeat from Friday. However, by the time we made the turn south to Killorglin and onto the Ring of Kerry the inclement weather was starting to lift.





We made our way pretty much straight on through the northern portion of the ring without much stopping, until we decided to take a detour off the ring to Valentia Island; which had a sizable town where we could stop for lunch. In these two scenery photos, the first is of the coastline on the Ring of Kerry. The second is of the lighthouse and coastline on western end of Valentia Island; in the vicinity of some mysterious animal tracks (see below).



As we were kicking around the island looking for a lunching destination, we ran into a guy who gave us some inside information on the island. From what we could understand from the fast-talking, heavily accented Irishman (who, like everyone it seems, was overly nice) Valentia Island had a lot to offer that we tourists might not find in a tour book. First, this is the origin site of the first trans-Atlantic telegraph cable; laid in 1866 to Newfoundland. Second, there are dinosaur tracks somewhere on the island. We had seen a blurb in our tour book about the telegraph, but nothing about any dinosaur tracks so we were a bit sceptical of this information. As we started our drive up the hill, towards the western end of the island, we saw signs pointing us towards....dinosaur tracks. Holy cow, the dude wasn't pulling our chain!


We decided to postpone viewing the tracks and first hit the old slate grotto. The grotto was well, a grotto, and not terribly exciting. However, there was a bit of climbing available nearby which afforded a great view of the most westerly end of the island - if you could withstand the hurricane-force winds blowing in from the Atlantic. There was no rain so this was an improvement. Baby steps.




OK, so on to the dinosaur tracks. The tracks are located on the rocky coast, at the water's edge just off to the left of the photo of Shelly and I. The Tetrapod tracks are 385 million years old. Discovered in 1992, these are the oldest in-situ record in the world of a vertebrate walking on land. Pretty cool.


We had spent much more time on Valentia Island than we had planned and the day was getting on. Our plan had been to make it all the way around the ring and stay the night in Kenmare, but that plan was not looking good. When we reached the car we broke out the map and Shelly informed Mike of where we were, and were we needed to go. The conversation went something like this - We are here (Valentia, about 35 miles around the ring) and we need to get here (Kenmare, another 70 miles around the ring), and we have only about 2 hours if we want to find a B&B that is open. With this, suddenly, timid Friday Netzer, turned into local Netzer and we were zooming along the roads like we had been driving them all our lives - or at least for more than 24 hours. It was all for naught however as we decided to bag Kenmare for the day and stay at a mid-point along the ring so that we could take in some of the sights on Sunday. Along the way, we stopped to take in the view at a lookout spot, and have a beer at a bar/restaurant/B&B conveniently located on the side of the road. We got to talking to the owner and oddly enough she spends the winter in Dunedin, Florida. Small world. The lady informed us that making Kenmare was unlikely, but that a small nearby town called Sneem would be a good alternate and that one of the area's best restaurants, the Blue Bull (above) was located here. She also called two B&B's before finding us rooms at The Bank House - a very quaint B&B run by a very welcoming husband and wife team. A note: this was August 18th, Shelly's Birthday. We indulged in chocolate fudge cake after dinner and the kitchen included a candle for Shelly. You just never get tired of how nice the people are here.


Sunday, wrapping up the Ring of Kerry. Again on Saturday, the weather was not entirely in our favor. We had some decent moments while we were on Valentia Island, but overall it was hit and miss. Today, things got much better.










We started out by back-tracking to catch a couple of highlights. First, the Staigue Fort - the most well preserved Iron Age fort in Ireland. We got pretty lucky in that there were no tour buses at the fort so we were able to kick around pretty freely.










I posted this picture just to prove that blue sky does exist in Ireland. No Photoshop job here, that is real, genuine blue sky; sun and all. Too bad it didn't last.








We set out from the fort to see one of the few beaches in this area of Ireland. Our host at The Bank House had suggested we visit the beach so we were determined to find it; so determined that we drove back and forth along the same 10k stretch of road for 30 minutes until we found the correct turn - which happened to be the only real intersection within 20k. The beach we were trying so valiantly to find is behind us in this photo. If only we had brought repelling gear we could have eliminated those bothersome roads.

After about 45 minutes walking along the beach and through the adjacent park, we got back in the car and rolled to Kenmare; the Ring of Kerry finally completed. Once in Kenmare we had lunch (great fish and chips and soup) and booked a room. One of my goals had been to stay at a pub/hotel, and O'Donnabhain's, our lunch destination, fit the bill perfectly. Lunch and rooms taken care of, we hit the local information office to inquire about nearby hiking opportunities. The information office presented us with several options, and we opted for Gleninchaquin Park; again, another recommendation that hit the mark perfectly.


Here we are as we set out on our hike - the red trail, called Over the Waterfall. The hike would take us around a ridge, by moutain lake, further up the ridge, over the waterfall (go figure) and then back down the opposite side of the ridge to the welcome center. The hike is rated a grade 4, which to us was mildly strenuous and a bit technical with the wet conditions. The estimated time to complete is 115 minutes, and I think it took us right around an hour and a half. There are two longer hikes which loop around the upper ridges surrounding the two lakes, but we didn't have enough daylight to hit either of those.








One of our better scenic shots, taken at the base of the waterfall, looking out of the valley towards Kenmare Bay.











A couple of candid shots of my hiking partners. In the photo on the left you can see the first lake, Cummeenadillure (yeah, I grabbed a brocure), in the background.










The photo to the right was taken after we crossed the bridge over the waterfall and stopped to appreciate the view; the water you see in the distance is a series of rivers and lakes that lead to Kenmare Bay.







Our hike accomplished, and our final night in Ireland. Definitely worthy of a toast. Notice, we are all drinking Guinness, even Shelly. Guinness in mainland Europe is better than what you get in the States; the product you get in Ireland is another step, or three, up the freshness ladder. Everywhere you go, everyone drinks Guinness. There might be a few Smithwicks here and there, or a Bulmers, but Guinness rules with an iron fist. The really odd thing is that almost every bar serves Bud and Coors. Why?!?! I could not get a straight answer. We did notice that a lot of the young crowd drink the American swill; maybe our weak, crappy beer is OK for under-age kids or something. The cool thing about Guinness is that every bar tender pours it the same - straight, quick pour to about 3/4 full, set aside to settle for a couple minutes, then top it off. A freshly poured Guinness is a much different animal than what you have at the completion of your pint. It is a smooth (milkshake as Mike calls it) drink without much after taste compared with a less smooth, more bitter ending. A pint was too much for Shelly (it made her feel full) so she went with a "glass;" which is a smaller serving, and as a result maintains the "milkshake" quality throughout. Shelly even went so far as to say that a fresh Guinness in Ireland is the best beer she has ever had. It is good, worthy of a trip back just for a pint.




Monday, our final day and we were up early to grab breakfast and hit the road to the Kerry airport. The drive to the airport took us through the Killarney National Park where we made a quick stop for a photo op. Yes, the sun is sort of out, but the winds were still howling.

All in all, Ireland was a blast - inspite of the weather. We feel we didn't get to see the best of the Dingle Peninsula, and the slow pace around the country roads limited our pace somewhat, but these are things you cannot control so you have to just roll with what you got. I think all three of us agree that Ireland is one of the places we would like to visit again. The Guinness Brewery tour would be nice.

Upon our arrival in Germany we headed back to Hanau where Mike and I repacked for an over-night and rolled back out for the Ballards to pick up Madison. Time dictated that we would not make it up to Holland before Madison turned in for the night so we would need to stay the night and head back to Hanau on Tuesday morning.

Shelly had to work on Tuesday so she stayed behind while Mike and I hit the road. Tracy and Chris fed us well, as always, and Madison seemed to have a great time hanging out with the Ballard clan. We did a short stop-over in Koeln (Cologne) to visit the massive cathedral and then continued on our way home.

Wednesday saw the departure of our last visitor - Netzer. Shelly and I had a great time, and a lot of laughs, both at and with Mike. We have had a great time in Germany, and it has been made all the better by seeing so many of our friends and family. Seeing a friendly face from home is priceless for us. To everyone that has made their way over the pond, thank you for spending your vacation with us.

--Ed