Richard the Lionheart Fest

25 July - Annweiler, Germany. We attended the Richard the Lionheart Fest in Annweiler. It is a small town south of Kaiserslautern. It was a very nice fest of Medieval flavor. It is to celebrate the time when Richard I, King of England and a bunch of other places, was held prisioner in the local castle - Trifels - on a mountain above the town. Richard mainly lived in SW France but was King of many lands. On his way home from the Crusades, Henry of Saxony (part of Germany) held Richard for ransom on baseless charges. Since it was illegal to hold a crusader for ranson, the Pope excommunicated Henry. Richard was brought to Speyer, 1 hr SE of Kaiserslautern. He was handed over to Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor, who held Richard I in the castle in Annweiler. Henry VI demanded and was paid a ransom from England but was also excommunicated from the church by the Pope. Richard was the King of England at the time of Robin Hood and the brother of King John who assumed the throne upon Richard's death in 1199. Robin Hood is said to have served as an Archer on the crusades with Richard. The fest was nice. Food, stalls of different items for sale and several medieval acts on several stages from archery demonstrations, fanconry, puppet shows a Knights village exhibition. Alot of people we in clothes of the times, beer serves in stone mugs, gooooooooood food. Knights walking thru town...... Sampling the local cuisine :) Jamie at the fest....Trifels castle where Ricahrd I was prisoner is in the background on the hill.

4 July BBQ with Stoffels

4 July - Laura and I travelled to Leiwen to cook a traditional American 4 July Holiday BBQ for our FAVORITE GERMAN Family - the Stoffels. They invited Petra's brother and his wife and two of their employees from Poland. It was great fun. We arrived at 1000 and began cooking. Laura, our favorite Aussie in ALL of Germany!! flew in from Berlin. She does not miss BIG American meals!! especially if it includes ribs!! She was a great help as a sou chef!! It was all American tradition from eating outside under the tree to eating ribs with fingers, paperplates, plastic cups and ICE COLD BEER!!! The full menu was: Beef and Pork Ribs Hamburgers with the works - Mike cooked them - excellent!! Hotdogs with the works Potato Salad Baked beans Cole Slaw Corn on the Cob Deviled Eggs Apple Pie Peach Cobbler Blackberry Cobblee Vanilla Ice Cream Belgian Beer Stoffel Wine American lemonade Sweet tea Petra's brother, Jurgean, brought a wonderful Rose from his wineyard. It was great - Mike and Alfons helped prepare the ribs. Petra allowed us to INVADE her kitchen. She was once again a wonderful and gracious hostess!! We love Petra!! It is days like this that make all the bad days at work jsut go away!! Everyone enjoying the meal Alfons supervising Michael as he sauces the ribs before their long 3rd cook in the oven.

New House

30 Jun-2 July - We packed up all our stuff and moved to a new home on base. Our landlord informed us last year when he bought that he wanted to move onbase. We enjoyed our home in Krickenbach very much and it will be missed. It was a great experience for Jamie living "on teh economy" as we say here. Not having the bakery next door is going to be missed as well as our favorite little Italian restaurant :)))))

Our new house is part of a quadplex. It is 2 floors, 2.5 bath, living room/dinning room, kitchen, 3 bedroom and carport. It is 2 floors so ALOT smaller than what we had. A few advantages: icemaker in the fridge, hotwater in the clothes washer, more cabinet space in the kitchen, closer to school and work and other activities, more channels on TV. We will be here a year then somewhere else next summer

Kennedy House, Vogelwegh Housing

World Cup Fan Zone - GER v ENG

26 June - Germany vs England - Klassika!! These two have always been BIG soccer rivals. I went to downtown Kaiserslautern where they have a Fan Zone set up to watch the Germany World Cup soccer games on a HUGE outdoor screen. There were maybe 3-4ooo people there. It was a nice day, sunny, about 80 degrees and a slight breeze. There were about 15 England fans there in the middle. It was a great atmosphere - alot of Flags, people with flags on their faces, shirts, hats, etc and of course food and beer!!! Very nice atmosphere as well. The crowd just eruped when Germany scored a goal - and they scored 4. Everyone was happy. Flags waving, screaming, singing. You just cannot beat being in Europe during the World Cup. After the game, everyone filled the streets waving flags, blowing horns, screaming, etc. Restaurants are filled with people and have TVs set-up to watch games. You don't have the same atmosphere in the US with football or any other sport. Really, Soccer is the only major league sport. In the US, we have the big 4, NASCAR and Soccer is only popular around World Cup time. Here, soccer is part of life - the same as schnitzel, fries with mayo and beer.

Many of the older Germans are leary of showing outward pride in Germany and that is understandable given the past they remember. The younger Germans are quite happy to paint their faces, wear goofy hats or hair bows and wave flags everywhere and are proud to scream and sing at the top of their lungs. Even some immigrants are showing German national pride and that is a good thing. Germany is ever growing as a nation of immigrants. Roughly 18 of the 82 million people in Germany have immigrant roots. 9 of the 23 players on the German WC team have immigrant roots. Unfortunately, there are those 1% of idiots that still want ethnic purity and are unhappy when Turks fly the German flag at their home or store. Today, Germany is a beautiful country with a diverse mixture of people. A temendous amount of history and everywhere were we have been - wonderful people and great food! Germany is moving on from it's past and building a great future. We are happy to be here and enjoy all Germany has to offer.

I was asked by a German friend of mine what I thought about the US losing to Ghana. I said I was happyt he US won the group and how Ghana played a much better game than the US and how we did not take advantage of our opportunities. I asked him the difference between the US team and the German team in the World Cup. The US is supposed to lose. When we lose - that is the way it is supposed to happen. Germany loses - it is a day of mourning!!

Saturday, I will go back to the FanZone with Laura from Berlin. We will watch, drink, scream, and yell with the same pride as everyone "DEUSTCHLAND!! DEUSTCHLAND!!"

about 10 sec after a goal to make it 3-1. I have video but it won't post here. You can see the England fans in the white shirts in the front on the rightof the photo. One has the England flag on her back. Don't make me tell you what it looks like. the TV screen is the black thing in the back.