I am alive

Does this work?

Also behind the castle walls is an enormous wine barrel. A teenager is leaning on a normal-sized barrel to show scale.

Inside the castle walls...

Slip sliding away

Did I say not in good shape?

Heidelberg

For Day 2 of Mannheim, Jen took me to the nearby town of Heidelberg where there is a castle from the 1600s. The castle has been through some wars and fires so it is not in good shape. Then we walked down to the Christmas market, has some Gluwein (heated wine) and hung out. The whole time in Heidelberg I had Carianne strapped to my back.

Cribs

The alligator hovers above the crib while keeping a watchful eye and tooth over the baby.

Smoke Stacks on the Horizon

...as seen from Jen and Doug's place.

 

Church along the Rhein

...near where we parked.

 

Trail to Rhein

...and feeling fine.

 

Autumn is coming... to get you!

Nathan plays with the depth of field again and then "leaves" it alone ;)

Fall already!

This leaf looks jet-lagged.

Pinky and the Brains

Carianne got tired of people asking if she was a boy on our trip so as soon as we got back to Germany, she put on her pink clothes.

 

Priority Boarding

12-12-06 to 12-13-06

I flew to Germany with my sister, Jen, and her four month old daughter, Carianne. I suppose it was inevitable that I would be mistaken as the father of the little one and I stopped correcting people after a while. I was amazed at how much more respect and appreciation people gave us. Even beyond priority boarding, people would just get out of your way more, be more understanding if you bump them and a gentleman even came up and gave us vouchers for free drinks on the flight. Maybe we looked pitiful. I think travelling with Carianne gave me a glimpse at what having a child will be like one day and I am both excited and scared. I have an enormous amount of respect for what my sister is going through.

We arrived to Frankfurt, and my brother in law, Doug, picked us up. Jen, Carianne and I took a nature hike over to the Rhein, which is close to where they live. I hadn't gotten much sleep on the flight so I hit the hay pretty early.

And.... We're Back

Howdy, I have been travelling again but a lot has changed around here since May, so let me get you up to date.

First of all, I have updated my blog design and look. Colors are happier and hopefully easier to read. The blog archive looks different. Also I have the page only display the last 5 posts now. Let me know if you have any feedback on it to make it better.

Second, and most important, I have gotten a new camera. It was hard to put aside my old one, but I really wanted something smaller, lighter and longer lasting battery life. I am proud to say that I purchased a Casio Exilim EX-Z1000. I am happy with it so far and let's see how it goes.

I have been travelling for about 5 days now, however I didn't bring my laptop and I was even questioning whether I wanted to blog at all this time since my trip is so fast (12 days and 4 countries). However Alessandro and Vittorio were nice enough to be busy and let me have a computer here to take over.

Now, without further ado, I attempt to catch you up on my travels.