London, England

The American dollar has been stronger lately against the Euro and the British Pound. I don't understand how, given the state of the American stock market right now... either way, we decided to take advantage of it and we made a short, weekend trip to London, England.

Here we are in front of Buckingham Palace. The statue behind us, in the center of the ring road, was built in in dedication to Queen Elizabeth. The only time they allow you to tour the interior of the palace (the staircase, etc) is in the summer when the Queen is on holiday. She was home this weekend. We saw the changing of the guards, however the changing of the horse guards was much more exciting. These guards watch over the royal carriage and horses and when they change duty, there is a big parade down Buckingham Palace Road and as they pass the Palace, they salute the Queen, as you see in the photo below.After seeing the palace, we went on a walk through St James's Park. You can walk along the River Thames, have a seat on one of the many benches and watch the swans, pelicans,etc. You can see the London Eye in the background of this photo:After walking a while in the park, you run into a woodan building. This is "Inn the Park" which is a restaurant that sells picnic like snacks to go or you can sit in the restaurant inside or out on the balcony and have lunch or tea and dessert. I got a kick out of the name of Kurt's beer. Here are both of Kurt's Old Speckled Hens:Of course we made a trip to "the city" and saw the houses of parliament and Big Ben. All of which was really beautiful when lit up at night:Here we are eating some fish and chips in a good ole' English Pub in Mayfair, enjoying some of "London's Pride" :We also made a trip out to see Westminster Abbey, the church where all the Kings and Queens of England are crowned into power and also where they are buried. There is a section inside the church called "Poet's Corner" where many famous poets are buried such as Woodsworth, Dickens, Browning, T.S. Eliot, etc. Now, take a guess who else is buried here... Charles Darwin.We visited the Imperial War Museum, which had rooms and displays about every war in history. There were films, life sized model houses, the breakdown of the details of each war, etc but it was way too much to see in just one day. Here is Kurt with the world's largest "bullet":Here is the Tower of London. We got a tour by the guards and heard the stories of the many prisoners held in this fortress or beheaded here between the 13th nd 18th centuries, including "A Man for all Seasons"... his name? Come on, you all read this in high school's English literatrure class... Sir Thomas Moore. There are 20 towers in total in this prison. This one below is the tower that currently houses the crown jewels, including the Imperial Crown. Sorry, we couldn't take photos inside, but it was quite impressive!White Tower, this is where the "most esteemed" prisoners were kept. In it's working time, there were no stairs, so as to decrease the risk of escape.The London Bridge! We got some warm, roasted hazelnuts from a vendor and walked the bridge and down the walkways of River Thames, as the sun went down (not that we saw much sun in London) and the city lit up in lights.

On Saturday night, we got tickets to see the musical "Wicked". This is an alternate tale to the "Wizard of Oz", from the Wicked Witch of the West's point of view. It was great!

Kurt found his Hard Rock cafe, so of course we had dinner and got him his shirt. Interesting... this is the only photo Kurt took the whole time we were in London... so I thought it worth posting:

We really loved London. Whether it was the history, the architecture, the entertainment, the fact that everyone spoke English for a change or a combination of all of the above, we had a great time!

Tag!

Okay Katy, so I am about 1-2 months late on this - but it's finally here :)

Here's how to play the game. Post these rules on your blog; List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself. Tag 4-6 people at the end of your blog by leaving their names.

3 Joys: -My friends and family! -Kurt has a saying he says to me every morning when I wake up. I can't help but start my day with a smile when I hear it. -Watching God at work

3 Fears: -Sushi -Emergencies at work -Having someone I love die, before accepting Christ

3 Obsessions: -Chocolate and pineapple, though not necessarily together -Cuddling with Kurt and watching movies (even if we'd seen it a hundred times before) -Cleaning - yes, my name is Connie and I am obsessed with having a clean home... I got this from living with my brother Jim for 6 months

3 surprising facts about myself: -Normally, it would surprise people that I hunt, operate large farm equipment, sky dive and scuba dive... but you are all well aware of those things because of this blog... :)

Prague, Czech Republic

We went to Prague for the long, holiday weekend with some friends of ours, the Fitzpatricks. Once we crossed the border, we had to stop and exchange currency. For 200 Euro, Kurt and I got over 4000 Czech crowns.... which seems like a lot of money... until you go to buy dinner and the bill comes to 800 Czech crowns for two people (which is really only equivalent to about $40 so it isn't that bad for downtown Prague... but you feel your heart sink when you hand over a 1000 crown bill!) Here I am in one of the squares:Here is a picture of the Charles Bridge. In the movies, whenever the spies are racing through Prague, they usually are running across this bridge or racing under it in a speed boat. As you walk across, you see huge statues on all sides, artists selling their paintings and hand made jewelry and musicians playing accordions and violins. It was really pretty at night when all the oil lamps were lit up, fog rolled in off the water and there was a bad playing jazz form the 50's while people danced. I loved it! Here is a picture of the Prague Castle. We hiked up a VERY steep hill to get there. It was dusk once we got to the top but you can stand at the gate and look out over the entire city, it was beautiful. This is where the Czech president resides and we were able to get there in time to see a changing of the guards ceremony. Very neat! There is a big cathedral on the palace grounds but there was a wedding party taking photos on the steps so we didn't go inside. I'm sure every bride and groom wants to have Kurt and Connie in the background with their cameras and backpacks... but we decided to start charging for that :)

This is "Old Town Square" at dusk. It's bustling with people and music. It seems the life of the city only increases as the sun goes down! All the shops stay open and the restaurants all have outdoor seating with musicians playing and walking around the tables. A typical Czech dinner consists of a very tender, boneless meat (either pork or beef) on a plate covered in any number of gravies (coming from Wyoming, I only know how to make one gravy - the one for biscuits and gravy... but apparently there is a whole family of gravies!), cranberry sauce and a number of Czech dumplings (which are a very heavy, but sweet bread). You won't leave the table hungry! Here we are on our last night in Prague. We walked down this one part of town with very narrow streets with a lot of stores. In Prague, they make a lot of wooden puppets on strings and they dress them in these beautiful costumes. They are pricey and you wouldn't exactly buy one for your 4 year old nephew... but they have theaters and you can catch many plays on any given night. They also have a big concert hall where they have on stage musicals and concerts playing on a nightly basis.

Oktoberfest in Munich

We made it to Munich for Oktoberfest! On Friday morning, Kurt and I piled into a car with some of the nurses and doctors I work with and we made the supposed 4 hour drive (which took 6 hours due to construction). When we arrived in Munich, our hotel didn't have our reservation and they wouldn't accept our confirmation number. After 2 hours of trying to convince the manager we had rooms there and we had already paid for them, calling the US (having the manager tell us in his best english "this phone number is closed for the year"), having a bank in the US fax a copy of the transaction deposit to show that we had already paid them, etc etc... we were a little nervous. How difficult would it have been to try and find a hotel room in Munich in the middle of Oktoberfest for 6 people? Hmmm... camping in the gas station parking lot anyone? They upgraded us to a suite in attempt to apologize but only to have further complications arise from that. To make a long story short, call to confirm your reservations you make through an online site, before leaving. Thank goodness it all worked out!

Steps to a good Oktoberfest: Wake up at 5am, grab a brotchen (German bread) for breakfast at the train station, get on the subway into downtown Munich and follow all the liederhosen and drindels to the fairgrounds. Find the tent you wish to spend the day in and note the mass of people at 7am in line! Find a back door entrance that no one else seemed to notice. When the beer tents open at 9am and the mass of people shove you so hard against the crowd in front of you that it's a wonder anyone survives to make it into the tent, stagger your bruised and battered body inside and locate a table and sprawl across it, claiming your territory. Beer thirsty Oktoberfesters rush past you in search of an empty table. Talk about madness!When your waitress comes to your table and asks "how many of you are there?" what she really means is "how many beers am I bringing to you?... not "what kind would you like?" or "do you want an espresso since it's 9am?" She'll fool you with her appearance too because even though she's in a drindle and probably has 5 grandkids at home, she'll come back carrying all 6 LITERS of beer... I felt very feable and weak at that moment... I notice Kurt shrank back a little too ;)

After a few hours, make the wise decision to get a gigantic pretzel to get something else into your stomach...

Around 2 pm, people around you are standing on benches, singing along to the German music and clinking glasses across tables and isles. You have Australians beside you, Italians across from you and Germans singing above you (my jacket made a good rain coat for the beer raining down on me). Decide with a couple of your friends, that it's time for a change of scenery. Bid the rest of your group (and husband) farewell as you go in search of the other sites and sounds of Munich.

German homes and buildings are beautiful when they deck the windows out in overflowing beds of geraniums like this... BEAUTIFUL!

After admiring the women in drindels walking past you all day, make the decision along with your friends that you should all buy one too. Don't have any logical rationale for doing so. Look in 5 different stores and return to the first one you saw (kind of like shopping for a wedding dress!)

Go out to dinner for some authentic ITALIAN food, enjoying a nice espresso afterwards while listening to the musicians outside the restaurant. Meanwhile, the other half of your commrades (including your hubby) are still having a jolly good time enjoying the Oktoberfest beer. Hop on the subway and meet back up with them at the hotel where everyone is wore out and ready for a good night's rest :) And there you have it... a grand Oktoberfest!

Wine Festival 2008

We went to the town of Bad Durkheim for this year's wine festival with one of my co-workers, Lora. If you are anything like me when it comes to wine (I get tipsy off of one glass), you have to order your wine "shorle" which means "with water". This way, you get to sample many wines of the region, as opposed to one glass. Kurt and Lora enjoying the festival:

I used to go with my youngest brother, Geoff, on the rides that spin your cart while the whole platform spun in bigger circles at the same time. I saw this ride at the festival and got to reminicing. Kurt and Lora agreed to go on it with me... but only to regret it later. Each time around, the ride kept getting faster and faster... until the only thing I could do was stare at Lora across from me, which was the only stationary thing in sight and pray the ride would end. Kurt and Lora didn't volunteer to go on any rides with me after that . In fact, I didn't volunteer to go on any either. I guess I'm just not as young as I used to be ;) Here is Kurt and I BEFORE the ride:

Labor and Delivery Nursing

I have been working as an RN on Landstuhl's Labor and Delivery ward for almost 4 months now. I love it! I remember seeing my first delivery in nursing school and how it brought tears to my eyes. Even after being a part of countless births, that kind of amazement still hasn't left me. There is something about witnessing life coming into the world, that leaves you in a state of complete awe and wondering how anyone could not believe in God.

I love watching the interaction of the parents during the labor. You can really tell how strong a couple is, during this crucial time. Most of the time, the husband is coaching his wife, encouraging her and offering his support. The wife will want to be holding his hand every step of the way and will often look at him in her moments of weakness, to gain strength. Then, when the baby is delivered, my absolute favorite moment is looking at the parents' expressions when they see their child for the first time. I always have tears in my eyes when dads start crying. It's always hard when the dad is deployed downrange. We have a webcam and after the delivery, we can connect to the dad's unit in Iraq or Afghanistan so they can see their child for the first time on the camera. Sometimes, it's a number of months before the dad can make it back on R and R (time off) to see their wife and child.

Of course, there are deliveries that are not as smooth or as joyous. I've been a part of a few deliveries where there were genetic anomolies with the infants, one delivery of a stillborn and one neonatal resuscitation (chest compressions and all). Kurt says there are nights I still talk in my sleep, running through the events of that resuscitation all over again.

A labor and delivery nurse has to be alert to every subtle change in the fetal heart rate and the mother's condition or we could miss something huge such as an abruption or fetal distress. Throughout labor and during the delivery, things can go wrong very quickly and we have to be ready to intervene. I also perform cervical and speculum exams, triage calls on the phone, circulate for c-sections in the OR, offer constant support, encouragement and coaching during the labor process and do teaching after the delivery and help transition the newborns in the first few minutes of life... some days you really have to "have your skates on" because it can get really busy. We have had to go on divert numerous times because we run out of beds and can't take any more patients. We then have to send them to other hospitals on the German economy.

I am blessed to work with such a great medical team. The nurses, doctors, techs and midwives on our floor are so impressive in their critical thinking and how they handle situations and patient care. They really are an amazing team to be a part of.

I am on night shifts now... so even though I have tonight off, I'm back tomorrow night, so I just keep to the nightshift schedule. It's 0330 and Kurt is sound asleep in the next room. He's so adorable when he's asleep. Sometimes I love just laying there awake beside him just to watch him sleep (this whole marriage thing will make you sappy like that). We just went 2 and a half days without seeing each other because we were working opposite shifts. We don't exactly have Walmarts, coffee shops or grocery stores that are open 24 hours in Germany either. It'll be at least another month before I'll be back on dayshift.

All in all , I love what I do. I didn't ever picture myself being a labor and delivery nurse but now that I'm here, I don't ever want to leave it.

Paris

We took the ICE train and went to Paris for the weekend. It was great! Beforehand, we made a list of all the things we wanted to do while we were there and we were able to do each one: Climb the Eiffel Tower, have a picnic in Champ de Mars Park, get Kurt a Hard Rock Cafe Paris shirt, eat duck, walk along the Seine River, visit Notre Dame Cathedral, eat crepes for breakfast and lunch, shop along Rue des Champ-Elyees, eat pastries and creme brulee, visit the Louvre, and go to Ile Sainte- Louis. Ahhhh, what a weekend! It rained both Friday and Sunday... but that didn't stop us!The Louvre Museum. You enter through a glass pyramid and go underground to get to the museum. Very impressive museum... for the first two hours. It was enormous and we didn't end up seeing the whole thing. However, we did see the Mona Lisa!Notre Dame Cathedral:

This is the restaurant we ate duck at:

There are creperies all through Paris... here I am with my nutella, banana and almond crepe:

Sampling the pastries:

We spoiled our taste buds on this trip. On our last day, as we were enjoying creme brulee and espresso, Kurt made the comment "Well, we'll be taking a few extra pounds home with us... that's kind of like a souvenir, isn't it?" :)

We walked from our hotel at Gare de l'Est to the Eiffel Tower which was basically on the other side of the city. It was a pretty walk because we walked along the Seine River but by the time we got there and then climbed to the top of the tower, we were both extremely wore out!

Here we are at the top of the Eiffel Tower:

Here is what we did right afterwards:

We got a variety of cheese, meats and crackers and had a picnic under the Eiffel Tower. Here is Kurt opening our bottle of French wine:

We stayed to watch the sunset. The Eiffel Tower at dusk

The tower was beautiful at night when they had it all lit up: That brings us to the end of our romantic, weekend retreat to Paris... "au revoir!"

Sky Diving!!!!

I took Kurt sky diving for his birthday present this year (how am I ever going to top that one?!) It was amazing!!!! We jumped tandem from 14,000 feet, so we had our instructor harnessed to our back. Kurt and I went up seperately since we each wanted video and as you'll see, the plane was too small to get two videographers on board with both of us and our tandom guides. When you first stand on the edge of the open door and look down you can feel your heart wanting to beat out of your chest! Then you step one foot out on the platform and then roll out... it was amazing!! At first, you feel like you're tumbling... then, you level out and you just feel a lot of pressure from the air on your body and face with land very, very far away. I got to fall through the clouds at one point which was also pretty sweet - a cool mist and you can't see anything but you know you are moving very fast! Then, when the instructor pulls the parachute, everything is still and all you hear is the parachute blowing in the wind and you can see for miles... it was awesome!!!

Our instructor Christian, loading his and Kurt's parachute... we didn't want to distract him for obvious reasons!

Kurt getting geared up...

Kurt walking out to board the plane...

Kurt, after his parachute opened...

Kurt, Christian and our videographer, Albert after their jump!

Connie's turn! Here I'm getting into my harness... Here I am boarded onto our little one propeller plane...

Gliding after my parachute opened...

Christian and I after our jump!We did it!!!!! We had video taken during the sky dive and it should arrive in the mail, sometime late next week... so I'll try and figure out how to put it on the blog so you can see us make the big jump! Wa-hoo!!! What a ride!!!