Germany

Hello! Here are the pics from my 3 week TDY to Germany! I trained for three weeks, but at night and on Sundays we were free to wander Germany. Good times had by all!

On Our Way to Germany Underneath The English Channel on the Chunnel

This is the Chunnel, its a giant train that you drive your car onto and then actually goes underground the English Channel and comes back up above ground in France! Those are the guys I went on this TDY with!

Our Tent Site

Random German Village Pics

Mmmm, Ausfahrt

Ramstein Castle

Me at a Castle in Ramstein

Ramstein Village

My Favorite Place to Drink in Germany

The 5L Beer (Hefe-Hell)

The tastiest beer in the world, Brauhaus Hefe-Hell, is brewed in house at the Brauhaus and served in a 5L tube!

German Road Signs (Arrgghh!)

London

Here are some pictures of my travels around London during the day. Rather than spend the day visiting one historical thing I instead wandered around aimlessely and looked at everything. We saw all the major sights, and ate lunch at the Horniman's Pub (I had bangers and mash, it was delicious). I still have yet to find Diagon Alley though. -Cheers!

The London Tower

The Tower is so large its hard to take one comprehensive picture of it, even these dont do justice to the size of the Tower

On My Way To Hogwarts!

Kings Cross

Shakespeare's Globe Theater (Outside)

Shakespeare's Globe Theater (Inside)

A Prisoner?

This is the London Tower Bridge

My Room

Here's some pics of my room, I thought I should post them before I move next month, especially since my new room will be way different as no storage units were provided. I might try ordering a loft bed or at least bed risers so I can have more storage room.

New Bike

Check out my new mountain bike! Its a Diamondback Response. Ryan and I hit the trails at Thetford Forest nearby; they recently built on to the expert trail so there was alot of new obstacles and jumps to navigate. The only problem was the mud, since England is so rainy mountain biking can be a real mudbath. When I was done riding I actually had to put my bike in the tub and give it a bath as it was much too cold outside for it.

Mud Bath

New Year's In London

Well I was fortunate enough to spend my New Years in London next to Big Ben and the London Eye with some of my friends from work! We rode buses to London and took the tube up to the London Eye so we could find a place to watch the fireworks. Unfortunately about 1 million people (No Kidding Either!) had the same idea. By the end of the evening there where so many people in London we were literally body to body for about 15 square miles. However there was a very posh luxury boat that floated right under the fireworks, and for the right amount of pounds we were able to board, and rather be packed in with everyone on the streets, we were sitting with some of Londons wealthiest on a fancy boat with open bar and tasty food on the deck of the Talhamn Castle Boat! What could be cooler? Well how about the greatest fireworks show I have ever seen in my entire life!!!!!!!! The fireworks were shot off from boats on the river and from the London Eye itself! It was insane! So Insane I can't describe it , but I managed to make a video of the fireworks which I will mail out to my family members! I also have one of the countdown. The videos are a little erratic because I was hopping all over the place, but still pretty cool. We toasted at 12:00 when Big Ben was ding-donging and then the fireworks started. The grand-finale was so tremendous and we were so close that the vibrations actually made my stomach hurt! It was crazy!! After that though, we had to descend into the croud of about 2 Million brits, americans, germans, french, and every other nationality on earth. it was pretty scary, especially since the British Police closed off of all of the tube stations due to congestion, and we only had about an hour and a half to make it back to our buses through a crowd of 2 million on foot across 6 miles. Lets just say Im glad im in good shape! Those Brits really love to fight though, you should have seen it, they went crazy, fighting each other, climbing onto phone booths and bus-stops. It was a complete riot! Fortunately we made it back to the buses ok, and Alex's wife was the only one who was pick-pocketed; she had her cell phone stolen. I had all my valuable strapped to my leg. Overall though a great experience, im just glad I got on the boat rather than stay on the streets. Next year we will probably do the same thing, but instead of going back to the bus were going to get a posh hotel next to Big Ben and crash there after the night. I have posted some cool pics, but it was dark so it was hard to get really good photos. I will get better ones when we go back to London in the daylight. I did see both buildings V blew up in V for Vendetta, the Old Bailey and Parliament, although they did not happen to suffer destruction while I was there. Well enjoy the pics, and Im going to try to compress the videos and post them soon, Adios!

This is the London Eye as viewed from the water, keep in mind it is about as tall as a skyscraper! It was not running when we were down there because it had actually been rigged to launch the fireworks directly off of it!

This is Big Ben, and believe me, it was not a disappointment,
it is totally amazing in real life. I hope to get some better pictures
when I go back to London in the daylight.

Here I am with Big Ben!
(Seriously thats me with Big Ben!)
((In London!))
(((England!)))

Here we are over the bridge next to the London Eye, all of us looking mildly insane.
(In order left to right, Ryan, Me, and Alex)

The Greatest Fireworks Show On Earth

Stonehenge

Here it is, Stonehenge! I couldn't actually go inside the stone circle, but their was a path so you at least you could walk around. I was able to snap these cool pics though. For those of you who didnt know, Stonehenge was built a few thousand years before christ, or the politically correct term "Before Common Era", by Aliens.

 

Josh and I at Stonehenge

 

 

Old Church