Weekend Wrap-Up (4-Day Holiday Park & Rothenburg) - (Germany) Day 228 - 231

Me with my wife and daughters on the Free Fall Tower at Holiday Park

Friday: This morning we surprised the kids and took them to "Holiday Park". It's a smaller theme park than Europa Park (which we visited earlier), but it's also a lot closer (only about a half hour from Heidelberg). It's also cheaper, and for what it is, we had a lot of fun. We arrived shortly after it opened at 1000 and stayed until almost closing time at 1800. Spending the day at the park was probably the perfect amount of time to go on each of the adult rides at least once, and then let the kiddos ride their favorite rides over and over again. By far the best ride is the Expedition GeForce roller coaster. It had a long line, but we had a blast riding it! There are some smaller roller coasters, a free fall tower, a log ride and a river raft ride…so there was plenty to do and keep us busy all day long. It was a good day for all.

The family riding the Teufelsfässer (Devil's Barrels)

Saturday: We traveled to Rothenburg once again. This is probably one of our favorite cities in Germany so far and we wanted the kids to see it before they leave. Rothenburg is about a 2.5 hour drive from Heidelberg and is a great medieval town. The old city has a wall surrounding the city, which is where we started out. We walked a good portion of the wall letting the kids explore the wall and the city below. We then walked around downtown checking out the many shops full of all kinds of souvenirs. The kids loved checking out everything from medieval weapons to Christmas ornaments. Each shop is a little deceiving, they don't look that big until you enter and they seem to keep going and going…especially the Christmas shop.

Hanging with the kids in Rothenburg

We were taking a bit of a gamble bringing the kids here hoping they would like "sightseeing", but it turned out to be great. We ate lunch at an awesome Italian restaurant, the only disappointing thing about the place was that we had to eat inside because there were no tables available outside. Rothenburg is a great place to sit outside and eat, you can "people watch" for hours. We then made our way to an ice cream shop before eventually heading home.

Eating "Eis" (Ice Cream) in Rothenburg

Sunday: We used today as a day of rest and packing. We took it easy and did a lot of laundry before packing all the kids suitcases. We did take the kids down to Heidelberg one last time and bought them each a souvenir to take home and remember Germany. We also had one last ice cream and walked around downtown enjoying the street performers and just taking in our last full day with the kiddos.

A street performer in Heidelberg that amazed the kiddos

Monday: Today I had to take the kids back to the airport. It was a pretty emotional day for everyone. We stopped by my wife's work and had lunch with her before leaving. We arrived at the Frankfurt airport 2.5 hours early…and I'm glad we did because the line at Condor Air was amazingly long. We waited and waited…folks that were in line for a flight to Vancouver were then allowed to go to the front (upsetting my impatient kids). We waited some more and then folks in line for a flight to Baltimore were allowed to go to the front (which upset the kids even more). We finally arrived up front after about an hour and a half waiting in line. We checked the bags and received the boarding passes. I was also able to get a pass to take them all the way to the gate which was nice. We waited in line for security and then made our way to the gate. They were already boarding by the time we got there, but it didn't really matter because they wanted all my kids to board last since they were unaccompanied. This gave us time to hug and say our good-byes. I then had to wait until the plane pulled out before I could leave…that really sucked watching them leave. It will most likely be next summer before I see them again. I wish the command sponsorship paperwork would have gone through, then at least I would have had one of my kids…but that is the government for you…slow as hell.

Weekend Wrap-Up (4-Day) - (Germany) Day 200 - 203

Me and the kiddos posing in front of our Hotel Castillo Alcazar at Europa Park

Friday: We woke up pretty early, we were planning on leaving the house at 0630, but it ended up closer to 0700. We headed off following SPC Whirlwind and his family to Europa Park, which is about an hour an a half away. The ride was uneventful except during a stop at a rest area, SPC Whirlwind and I helped push a German guy's van so he could compression start it.

We arrived at close to 0830 and checked into our hotel, well technically we went in and were able to get our tickets to the park but we have to wait until 1500 before we can get the keys to our room. We headed into the park and my kiddos headed to one of the major attractions of the park "Silver Star" a large roller coaster that turned out to be pretty cool. Europa Park is very similar to the DisneyWorld theme parks. It doesn't have Mickey Mouse, but it does have "Euro Maus". Everything from the monorail that travels from the hotels into the parks, to a large Epcot Center like ball called "EuroSat". More than that there are a ton of similar rides. The place is made up of several "countries" of Europe and each country has it's theme and particular rides. All in all it's a pretty awesome theme park and will entertain the very young all the way to the old.

I'm really glad SPC Whirlwind came because after the first few rides I had a pretty bad headache. I think the roller coasters shook me up a bit too much, my back and neck already give me problems…and this didn't help. Then I went on the "Blue Fire" which also messed with my guts, and I forgot my motion sickness pills at home. So SPC Whirlwind was his usual hyper self and went on all kinds of rides with the kiddos. I spent the rest of the day going on old man rides…rides that were easy going and gentle. Not really what I had planned, but the most important thing is that the kiddos had a great time!

We spent the night in our hotel Castillo Alcazar which had rooms to sleep 5. Everyone passed out within minutes of laying down.

A photo of the place we stayed...Hotel Castillo Alcazar

A view of Europa Park from our hotel room

Saturday: We woke up and ate at the included breakfast buffet at the hotel. After that we headed out for another day in the park, only this time it was just our family as SPC Whirlwind and his family only stayed for the day yesterday. I felt better and took some Motrin before we even started the day to help keep the pain away. I think we hit almost every ride in the park and even a couple shows before the park closed at 1930.

We then headed home and hit a "stau" on the autobahn. This is a traffic jam and when it happens on the autobahn (because of a wreck or construction) the backup can be long and time consuming. You will sometimes see people out of their cars, just hanging out. This one happened to last about 45 minutes and we eventually arrived to see a semi which just seemed to be stalled in one of the lanes causing the backup.

Once home we relaxed and took it easy.

Check out a few more snapshots of Europa-Park:

Created with flickr slideshow.

Sunday: A day of rest for us. I had initially planned a day trip to a city nearby, but everyone was a bit tired from Europa Park…so we just hung out at home, cleaned, went grocery shopping, and watched TV. My wife introduced the girls to one of her favorite new shows "New Girl" and my girls started a "New Girl" marathon. I think they are determined to watch the entire first season in one weekend.

Monday: Unfortunately my wife didn't have the day off like me, so I took her to work and then hung out with my kiddos for the day. In the afternoon we headed to the bowling alley here on PHV and did the $1 a game special. Good times and family fun.

After I picked up my wife, we had family dinner as usual and then watched "Star Trek". I've been a star trek fan my whole life, so it was fun to watch the movie with them…I'm not sure if I'll be able to get them to watch the older ones though, I guess we'll see.

Weekend Wrap-Up (4-Day) - (Korea) Days 180-183

Looking up at part of Lotte World. There are a number of levels, the bottom has an
ice skating rink. On the very top there are "hot air balloons" where you can ride
around and see everything from the top down.

Saturday: I slept in until about 0900 and then did my weekly load of laundry and video chatted with my wife and kids. I also called my dad to make sure he was OK after all the tornadoes hit. I heard on the news that some touched down in Arkansas as well. He said the closest one was about 3 miles away from him and that everything has been fairly well for now. I also checked my LES and found that my separate rations finally went through. Paperwork that should have taken a week or two ended up taking 6 months. It also took me going back to the company on 4 separate occasions. Luckily I had backup copies of all the documents. I also sent numerous emails to the guy who I turned everything into the second time at our company. Finally I will not have money taken out of my check anymore, and I received back pay for the last 6 months. What a pain in the butt!!

I did some schoolwork until I got a call from the young hawaiian asking if I wanted to go to lunch at the KATUSA Snack Bar. We headed there and had a pretty good lunch (love that place…good food and it's cheap). We then walked to Itaewon and I did a little shopping. I was looking for souvenirs for family back home. I wish I had more cash, I could have spent a lot! There are so many odd shops and street vendors out selling pretty much everything you can think of and plenty of stuff you would never think of.

I then headed back to my room and started doing more homework. After a while SPC Roy came over and we went swimming. Unfortunately the hot tub was out of order, so it was only the pool with no relaxing ending. We then came back to the room to change and headed off to the Main Post Club here on post to eat dinner, have a few beers and play some pool. Pool wasn't cutting it and SPC Roy needed to scratch his ping pong itch. We headed over to the Moyer Rec Center and played ping pong for a while.

Once I got back to my room it was time for more schoolwork…will it ever end??? When I finished I watched "Bloodsport". It's a great old Jean-Claude Van Damme action movie that I hadn't seen in some time. It's about a guy who participates in the Kumite which is a full contact mixed martial arts tournament. (Kind of like an early version of the UFC, but with no rules). Ironically the bad guy in the movie is a South Korean. I also forgot the movie is based on the life story of an actual guy named Frank Dux. Pretty impressive!

The entrance to Itaewon. The place looks so different during the day!

A performance of dancers in Itaewon. I guess during the summer they
always have something going on here.

Sunday: I woke up around 0900 again and made a pit stop at Starbucks before heading to PFC Pickle's room to watch the UFC. So glad they play them for free here on AFN. It was a pretty good show with the main event of Rampage vs. Hamill. I've always been a Rampage fan after seeing him as a coach on The Ultimate Fighter. He cracks me up. He put on a good fight and beat up Hamill.

I headed back to my room and video chatted with my wife for a while before starting schoolwork once again. I then headed to the gym to work out. PFC Pickle and the young hawaiian met me there. We were going to play basketball, but they had setup the court for volleyball use…grrrrr. We decided to lift weights instead. While lifting weights a guy was in there who I in-processed with when I arrived here in Korea. He said he already found out where he'll be heading and ironically it's Ft. Lewis which is about 30 minutes from my hometown. I wonder when I'll find out where I'm going. I was told not to even ask until July 1st. I guess time will tell.

The young hawaiian wanted to go see The Hangover 2, so we all ate dinner and met up to head off post to the iPark Mall. Unfortunately when we arrived we found out it wasn't playing. I thought the young hawaiian had checked, but he just assumed it was playing. SPC Roy actually met up with us at the theatre and said "Plan B" was to go drink. So we headed to a nearby restaurant and ate some chicken and drank soju. We then headed to Itaewon only to find out my favorite bar (The Rock and Roll Bar) is closed on Sundays. We ended up in a very poor excuse of a bar called "Spy Basement". We were the only ones there and the waitress was very old, she couldn't get any of our drinks right. What's funny is two of us were only drinking beers. We played a few games of pool before heading to another bar where we had another couple of beers before calling it a night. PFC Pickle stayed the night in my room using my roommate's bed since he was gone for the weekend.

This is one bar in Itaewon that I do not want to visit...
although it may make for some interesting photos.

SPC Roy on the left and the young hawaiian on the right playing pool in "The Spy Basement"

Sometimes the bathrooms in Korea are fully functional, but they lack privacy.

Sometimes the bathrooms don't want you to put the toilet paper in the bowl...
then it gets a little stinky!

Monday: I woke up about 0830 and started to get ready. PFC Pickle and I then headed to the food court for lunch and headed our separate ways. SPC Roy rented a car and picked me up. We then headed to the office to pick up our KATUSA and SPC Mick who had to go in to turn everything on for a ROK meeting in our conference room. (This is the meeting that pissed me off a few days ago when I found out we had to come in on our days off…I get to go in tomorrow). We headed off to a theme park in the middle of Seoul called "Lotte World". The theme park is about half inside and half outside. It has a couple roller coasters, some water rides, some big drop rides as well as a number of other smaller rides. It kind of rips off Disney in a few areas…their main castle looks very similar to Disneyland's Cinderella Castle. All in all we had a good time. SPC Roy brought his young son and I helped him watch him which was fine because I had a bit of nausea. I believe this was caused by riding in the back seat on the way in (motion sickness), or too much soju last night. It was probably the combination of the two. I went on a few rides, but was happy just people watching and checking everything out…am I getting old??

When we left we headed to a Thai restaurant…that was until SPC Mick spotted a TGIF. I thought we should eat anything except American food while here, but SPC Mick was pretty excited about it. It turned out to be pretty good, and I was able to get some ice cream over a warm brownie so I can't complain. We then headed back and dropped off SPC Roy's baby. Once we were baby free we headed to have some more drinks. I actually didn't want to drink at all after last night, but I was out voted. We drank a huge pitcher of beer and or course there was more chicken ordered. (SPC Roy tells me Koreans do not drink unless they eat as well).

I got home late, but stayed up a while…..I had plenty of schoolwork waiting for me.

The trolly in Lotte World. Just like any other theme park, there are a number
of employees dressed up.

Looking down at part of the inside portion of Lotte World from the "hot air balloon " ride

Outside with me posing in front of the castle centerpiece.

Tuesday: I woke up around 0900 and video chatted with my wife. I was planning on going into work at 1000, but got a call from SPC Mick telling me I didn't need to go in until noon. I video chatted a while longer. It is my second anniversary today (well in the states, since I'm a day ahead it was actually yesterday for me). 2 anniversaries and I haven't seen my wife yet. I'm hoping the third time is a charm and I get to spend it with her.

I headed to work and opened the conference room up, then turned on the system. The meeting didn't actually start until 1300, so I actually sat around watching TV for an hour waiting for the ROKs to arrive. I could have come in around 1245 and had time to spare. Once they arrive and were good to go, I took off. I headed back to my room and had lunch while video chatting with my wife some more.

I headed to the PX and then to get a haircut, but the place was packed. Everyone decided they needed a haircut today. I left, I don't have time to sit around for that. The rest of the week they will always be at least one or two people just waiting to cut your hair as soon as you walk in the door. I headed back to my room and did some schoolwork.

SPC Roy came by and we went to the gym to play basketball. The gym was packed, so we decided to go to the bigger gym "Collier Field House". This gym is much bigger with the main court and side hoops as well. The only problem is that it's located across the post, so if I don't have a ride I never go there. We started shooting around and about a half hour later the young hawaiian came in with one of his co-workers. We ended up playing 2-on-2. They beat us pretty bad the first game. SPC Roy didn't want to play again, but I told him we needed to beat them! I got on fire and from then on it was over. I lit it up and there was nothing the young hawaiian could do to stop me. We beat them 11-2 (one point per basket). Of course we had to play one more game as a tie breaker and we beat them again pretty bad. It gave everyone a good workout and we left happy because we kicked some butt.

We celebrated by going to Pizza School and grabbing some pizza and eating in my room...an end to a pretty eventful weekend.