Travel The World

A gorge near the town of Garmisch.

The town of Garmisch below as seen from a restaurant.

Another beautiful scene from Garmisch

A friend of mine, who's been living in Germany for the last 20 years or so, sent me this view from his hotel in Garmisch, Germany.  Wish I were there.

Still in Nijmegen, this photo was of one of my best friends in the military.  We thought this was making a statement what with him being in the army.  I lost touch with him as with so many others I served with--remember, this was pre-internet days.

Another picture from Nijmegen.  My army buddy and I are posing with a soldier from the Italian military.

This is a great picture!  A little Dutch girl came out to offer us some of her bread as we were marching by.  They really appreciated what we represented--a symbol of the allied troops that liberated their country from the Nazis.

Here I am with some of my teammates in a pre-march poker game.  Had we known what we were in store for the next day, we might have tried to get more rest.

Prior to the march, teams from various countries had a chance to socialize with other teams.  I believe this group was from Sweden (with the exception of me in the background).

Last week, I found some Kodak disc negatives in an old box that I had forgotten about long ago.  I knew they were from the '80s but had no idea what type of pictures might be on them.  The first challenge was finding a photo shop that could scan them since this type of film went out of style in the late '80's.  Fortunately, I did find a shop but they warned me that doing this would be a bit expensive with no guarantee of the pictures' quality or even if they'd come out at all.  Well, I picked them up yesterday and the quality was relatively good.  The subject was also a pleasant surprise as these pictures were taken in 1984 in Nijmegen, Holland during the annual four-day march.  This event occurs in July of every year and both civilians and military teams participate.  As a matter of fact, my army team was chosen after six months of intensive training and being culled from an original group of about 150 to only 12 participants. ...

Here is the last one from Carnival '85 in Venice.  I especially like this picture because it shows a good view of the harbor and the Adriatic.

Another shot from Venice, 1985!

It's amazing what you can find in old boxes.  I was digging through one the other day and found this picture of two girls dressed up for Carnival in Venice, 1985.  I was visiting there from my home base in Augsburg, Germany during my time in the army.  Such pictures bring back great memories for me.

On the top, Field Station Augsburg Germany in 1983 when I was 21 years old. On the bottom, just outside Kabul, Afghanistan in 2008 when I was 46.  I'm standing next to a downed MI-24 holding my 9mm. I'd like to go back but I'm afraid I'd never want to leave!

A blast from the past!  This is a picture of the 1984 Field Station Augsburg, Nijmegen team.  This team trained for six months to enter the Nijmegen, Holland four-day march which follows the same routes utilized by the allies during Operation Market Garden.  Anyway, we had to march a total of 120 miles with at least 10kgs in our rucksacks.  I know that doesn't sound like much but it's excruciating after a long day of marching.  FYI, I'm second row, third from the right.

Wow!  I was digging through my files the other day and found this picture from 1984.  I was in the US Army at the time serving in Augsburg, Germany (back when there were two Germanys).  This was a picture of the 1984 Nijmegen team that went to the Netherlands to compete in the annual, four-day Nijmegen march.  I believe this picture was taken about a month before we left and right after a training session.  Anyway, can anyone pick me out?  If you can, please compare this picture to the pictures in the slideshow to the left that were taken almost 25 years later in Afghanistan.  I haven't changed a bit, have I?

I've been brushing up on my Latin lately so felt inspired to post this picture.  I think I took it in 2000 during my last trip to Italy.

Ohhh!  There was such a nice breeze blowing that day and the temperature was perfect.

On the outskirts of Prague . . . I do love Europe so!

Not far from Dvorak's tomb also near Prague.