Alright, Alright, Alright…
Well, thank you for the complaints on staring at the same stupid entry for 4 weeks! Sorry! I have been busy…and without interenet server mind you! I feel all connection to the world has been lost. We are still working on that situation.
Anyway…this last week I was in Hamburg! It was really cool. This is a picture up top. I was attending a seminar at an institution called Haus Rissen. It is a school where people come for classes on German/world politics, economics and foreign policy. Our class was a mixture of German and American military discussing these issues. It was good to have input from our German counterparts and see what they think on certain issues. For example, does anyone know why we still have military in Germany after the Cold War? What do German’s think about Americans? What do Germans think about their own government organization. What do they think about the Euro and the European Union. It was all really good stuff.
We also had a Hamburg tour and a harbor tour. Hamburg is a big port town. It was amazing seeing some of the huge ships that can hold 2000-5000 containers! Then on our city bus tour we first went through the port side and because of that we went to where the sailors used to entertain themselves…in the red light district! Wow, that was weird. Didn’t think I would ever be in a red light district. I guess prostitution is legal. It was interesting though that they can’t come out openly in the streets till after 8 because there are kids and families still out! It was a sight to see. Then we went to other parts of town. It is a very rich area. Lots of big houses. Millions of Euro each. Crazy. Downtown is beautiful and there is tons of shopping. All the most hoity-toity shops. They also built a mall…180 stores and 4 floors! Wow! There were 3 or 4 Christmas markets also so I went checked those out too. Curiously, most of it is food and drink. They have something they call Gluweine that is a hot alcoholic beverage. And lots of sausages. Man, you can’t get away from sausages here. But there is some Christmas stuff to look at and the atmosphere is fun. We are gonna check out our local market on Wednesday. It’s our anniversary! 
Well, we are looking forward to Christmas. Kristin’s parents have arranged for us to fly into Utah for one week. Dec 23rd through Dec 31st. All the Baillio side will be gone…but we’ll be back in February…not that that will be any easier to see anyone. We will be in San Antonio then.
Well, Merry Christmas everyone and a Happy New Year!
