Hey guys, since I last talked to you I have left Cologne and spent some time visiting my friends Harry and Sam and have now returned to Bamberg.

On Friday morning, Grant left out for the airport in Cologne and I got up to say goodbye to him. After getting a couple more hours of sleep, I checked out of our place there and got on the road to Kronach, where my good buddy Harry lives. It was a long and miserable 4 1/2 drive, by myself, and mostly in the rain.

Upon arrival in Kronach, however, all was good again. It’s always a great time visiting Harry in his hometown as everyone knows him there and I always feel like a bit of a celebrity when I’m with him in Kronach. I have known Harry since 2005 when we were both working as cooks at the Army base in Bamberg, so this was probably my 5th or 6th time visiting him in Kronach.

I’m a huge fan of his mother’s cooking (particularly her goulash), so he arranged for us to go to her place and have some dinner before heading out on to the town. And head out on to the town we did – until about 4am!

Friday night was a great time, but we were both pretty wiped out on Saturday. We literally sat around all day and watched soccer and played a little bit of FIFA. And nothing else..haha

On Sunday, we returned to Harry’s mom for another fantastic home cooked meal – this time German style ribs. I could sure get used to going over to Ms. Anna’s place to eat all the time!

After lunch on Sunday, it was time for me to get on the road to see my other buddy Sam, who is living close to Ansbach (which is where I was stationed from 2002-2005). I first met Sam later though, also when I was working as a cook in Bamberg in 2005. We had a nice time on Sunday evening, going out to a local gasthof for dinner and picking some tunes in his living room and just generally reminiscing about the old days and also our recent trip together in Slovenia (together with Harry) when I first arrived to Europe in June.

On Monday, Sam offered to take me all through the old Ansbach/Katterbach army post so I could see some of my old haunts and also see all the changes that have been made there since I left in 2005. That was an interesting trip down memory lane, but unfortunately I was not feeling very good on Sunday and haven’t really been feeling well since due to a cold that I have managed to acquire. But considering that I made it through a 6 month trip in Europe and was only sick once prior to now (food poisoning in Serbia), I guess I can’t really complain about catching a cold at the end of my trip.

Anyways, here are some views of Katterbach Kaserne – where I spent 3 years of my life in the Army:

On Monday evening, I returned to Bamberg and Klaus and Inge’s house to unpack the car and try to get some rest due to the cold I was suffering from. O

On Tuesday afternoon, Klaus and Inge returned from their 4 week trip in Florida and I went to pick them up at the train station to bring them home. It was great to see them again and in the evening we went to their favorite local restaurant where they treated me to a good German dinner to celebrate my birthday.

Tonight, I’m just relaxing and hoping to finally sweat the cold out overnight because tomorrow is a BIG day. In the morning, I’ll be headed to Nuremberg to pick up my wife Anna-Maria, after having not seen her since October! I’m very much looking forward to her arrival.

This will probably be my next to last blog post, as I am flying home on December 17. But in the meantime, I’ve got a few more people to see and one more big job this Saturday for my birthday/going away party. So I’ll talk to you guys again in about a week!