I've Arrived!

It's 9:05 a.m. here and 3:05 a.m. back home. I've just gotten up, after sleeping about 12 hours! I don't think I would've felt so ragged if it hadn't been for my spider bites! I had to buy/take Benadryl at the airport, and between that and and a couple beers at an airport pub with dinner, I slept fairly well through the 8 hour flight! The flight was non-eventful....thank God! No water landings, no sudden drops in altitude, really not even turbulence. However, I did NOT get to see the stunning white cliffs of Dover on this flight over like last year because of some cloud coverage and because my seat was right next to the wing. It's all a trade off...no turbulence, no view. :-)

Emilee was waiting for me when I arrived, passport control was a breeze (just waved me on through), and so we were headed for Kaiserslautern in no time. Although the "foreignness" didn't hit me this year like last, the autobahn still gave me a jolt! Emilee told me that although I had my international driver's license, there was still some other paperwork I would have to complete because of something having to do with their car being an American car that was shipped over....I just looked at her and said, "Well, right about now I am thinking we don't have to worry about that. I am not so sure I want to drive here!" She just laughed and assured me that not all roads would be like that one.

First stop was the Base where I was issued a new temporary I.D. card, then to the Base credit union for me to exchange euros. Emilee said I got a better exchange than she did just about 3 weeks ago....so that's good. I didn't exchange all my money because I am waiting to see where we will travel. Prague doesn't use the euro, so I don't want to have to exchange twice and lose money.

Like last year, I found myself saying over and over, "The weather here is perfect!" It's not just the temperature....It's more than that. It's the breeze, the smell of the air, just the whole thing. The last week in Florida, I felt I was in a perpetual state of perspiration, never cooling off. Here, it's just, well, perfect!

Emilee's apartment is so cool, literally and figuratively! It's like an apartment you'd see in an IKEA ad or a WEST ELM ad. She's fixed it up so nicely. This year, instead of sleeping in her extra room, I am in the loft. The windows do open and let in such a great breeze! Here are a few photos of her place:

My bed in the loft ~~ Looking downstairs ~~The art gallery seen from the living room

Shortly, we'll be headed for the train station to see about taking an overnight train tonight for Berlin.....More about that later.