Final Picture Post

No no no, not of all time. That would be ridiculous. The pictures from our trip are finally organized enough for me to leave them alone. This required a new upload and new albums though. Here are the links for the new albums.






Europe Part 1



Europe Part 2



Part 2 isn't up yet, but it will be after lunch!

Update!

I assume you already knew that we were home. But if not, we're home. The last couple of days were a mess of running to trains and planes and sitting on them. nothing was delayed for more than 30 minutes or so. Picasa yelled at me for having such a large folder so I'm splitting up cities. You'll find this album full of Paris and this album full of Normandy and Berlin, including the great hair straightener disaster at the Chateau. No skin was harmed, but some bangs were sacrificed.

I'm still missing pictures from a couple of cameras which didn't cooperate with my computers ports. I'll update you more later. Most folks have the day off. I am not so lucky.

Sachsenhausen and exhausted.

I'm sorry for not posting yesterday. We're in the home stretch, trying to see as much as possible. It's alot of walking and half the group is sick with light colds, nothing major though. This just means that when you hit the room, you hit the hay.

I've updated the pictures with older pics from Emily and I, as well as new stuff up through Yesterday afternoon - Sachsenhausen.

The notable part about yesterday's Sachsenhausen concentration camp tour was the fact that the weather was pretty miserable (rainy, 40's with most of us unprepared) yet the conditions presented to us by our tour guide made us feel comfortable (sometimes). We heard stories about prisoners being forced to stand in counting lines for 12 hours in below freezing, snowy weather and fine-tuning mass extermination methods. Sachsenhausen was a men-only camp. The Ravensbrück women's camp we almost went to was further away and harder to organize.

Today we just hoofed it all over town, taking another walk down the Unter den Linden, shopping, Checkpoint Charlie and a short stretch of the remaining wall.

We're about to hit up a concert in Berlin tonight and chill on the roof of our Hostel. Tomorrow is the day train back to Paris, a little more time in the evening with David and Mary, and then a short night of sleep before flying home!!

Normandy and Berlin

Is that a weird title? We spent last night on a train, so internet and space were not available. Sorry. You get a bonus today as I finally snagged Amanda's camera and added her pictures to the mix. Our cameras have the exact same time on them, so you'll find pictures taken at the same time shown in order.

We woke up from our swanky Bayeux Chateau and checked out a local D-day museum before heading to Normandy yesterday morning. The museum was good, but it focused on certain details in a confusing way. The navigation lady in the car wasn't too specific on the location of Omaha beach, so we found ONE OF the access roads to a part of it. Getting lost in the French countryside is fun because you see real country life. We saw ALOT of real country life...

The American memorial and cemetery was very well done. It is huge and gives almost as much information as the Bayeux museum in an easy to understand way. It also focuses on many of the individual stories of those who died.

It's getting busy in here, so I'll wrap up.

It was a long drive back to Paris and MUCH worse traffic than on the way out. But we made it on the train with five minutes to spare. It was VERY tight, but we all considered it our favorite bonding time of the trip so far. Better pictures should surface eventually.

Today, in Berlin, our schedule slowed down. We don't have nearly as much planned for this city, so we just walked until we were done walking. We made our first pass through the Unter der Linden and saw the Queen of the Netherlands escorted to the Brandenburg gate by more security than I think our president would see on the road at one time.

We've all agreed that the Germans seem nicer about tourists. And Berlin feels much more like an American city. We checked out the Lindenbrau brewery for dinner and enjoyed a great variety of German food. Now it's laundry, card games and sleep in what we think is the coolest hostel ever. This place is great. Fast, free internet. Large room. Clean environment. Fun staff and lots of little conveniences.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Road trip through France

Today we picked up the car. The reservation says your car will be "similar to" the one displayed. Right. It was only a 7-passenger vehicle when we found out that there were seats under the luggage area in the back. You can stick Becky anywhere, so it worked out fine.

Driving around Paris may have been frustrating, what with all the one-way streets and how hard it is to read an intersection before you get to it. But it was not difficult or scary after a couple of times around the block. In fact, we were behind on our list of landmarks to visit, so we made a few trips around the massive Arc De Triumph round about in order to catch up.

The ride to Mont Saint Michell was beautiful, between tolls. We promise to upload EVERYONE'S pictures (these are just mine) when we return.

After Mont Saint Michell, it was a quick drive to Bayeux where we are now resting comfortably in some pretty swanky rooms. I wore the robe they provided just because I can. We blew our food budget here for a nice three course meal. The Escargot was excellent, probably because it was swimming in butter. This is one of our few chances to get some peaceful sleep (not just because the girls are down the hall) so as soon as these pictures are up, I'm outta here. I'm sorry for confusion on the last upload. It looks like they went to a new album. They are all moved back now.

https://picasaweb.google.com/kevin71481/ParisBerlin

Enjoy.

Saint Chapelle, Louve, Confused, and Cruise

The only reason I'm staying up to blog is because this connection is so freakishly slow tonight that I have to do SOMETHING while waiting for all of these photos to upload. I promise no depth to the conversation. Check out what pictures got uploaded before it just got too slow.

https://picasaweb.google.com/kevin71481/ParisBerlin#

Yesterday we hit up Versailles and the Eiffel tower, then finished the evening with dinner and hanging with Dave and Mary in their apartment. Versailles was beautiful. They haven't quite finished planting flowers, but it's pretty close and the temperature is perfect. The garden is vast and took half the time. We forgot their sun was the same as our though. Almost everyone is a little pink. The palace is vast and much of it isn't even on display. The Eiffel tower is cool, but not a must. The lines are horrid so we walked up the first level and took the elevator to the second.

Today, we had a late start. We got in late the night before to find a concert going on nearby which kept someone up all night. Then, morning noise woke me up pretty early. There was a note on Dave and Mary's building directing us to a nearby cafe. Apparently, they got tired of waiting for us. The neighborhood around their apartment is the perfect place to see normal French life and find normal priced merchandise and food. You'll see breakfast and our fun waiter who is expecting us to help him out when he and his brother visit Chicago next year...

Today was much more walking than before, but our feet have quit whining about it. Saint Chapelle (sp) is beautiful, but quick. After a while, I got tired of trying to figure out which biblical scene we were looking at. There are hundreds, I believe, from creation to revelation.

Next, the Louvre. Everyone else took 2-3 hours in the Louvre. I booked through in an hour and a half then, checked on our rental car. We understand now why it takes a couple of days to see properly. It's certainly the best museum experience ever. The building it's self is more impressive than Versailles. It's hard to imagine the size from these pictures. It's the two levels above ground and two below. Easily four or five football fields long on each end.

The team did a little shopping along the river and then took our sweet time trying to find the dock for our cruise. It only took an hour to find!

There are plenty of other sights to see, but the best we can do is drive by the Arc de Triumph on the way out of town tomorrow - to Normandy! Ya, I'm a little nervous about driving in Paris. It's not as crazy as some countries I've been in, but the streets are narrow, lanes are iffy and intersections seem confusing. Eh!

This connection is trying to die on me. Must publish!

Versailles et le tour Eifell

Currently unable to upload pictures, but can sum up Versailles in a quote from Emily. "They know me too well. Everything I want to touch is covered in plastic"

Getting there and Notre Dame - Update!

TIRED!! People get really cranky without sleep PLUS jet lag. Matt was probably the only person who slept more than a few hours the night before we left. So, flight delays and a few wrong turns in Paris did not go over well, but it was fine! We slept more than enough last night to make up for it. No more sleep walking.

Pictures are up! Check 'em out. Nevermind, I uploaded them with security and it won't make them public, even if I ask nicely. Fixing it later.

Try this!

Our plane changed twice before we actually left Chicago, but we only got to Paris about half an hour late. Air Canada is probably my favorite airline so far. There is at least four inches of extra leg room compared to US carriers and their entertainment systems for international flights are light years ahead.

We stumbled around Notre Dame while we waited for the Hostel to open up and climbed the 275 steps to the top. No time for thoughts on the place. It was beautiful. The hostel is perfectly fine, though we may regret some rooming decisions. Girls talk alot...

We met up with Amanda's friends in Paris, Mary and Dave, for dinner. They were VERY helpful in planning our next day. Do I have to mention the food?

Looks like this outlet is not working, so I'm shutting up.

Final Countdown

In less than seven days we will once again be enjoying leg cramps and minimal sleep while watching the same movie over and over again. International flights! Isn't it great that we can so easily complain about modern marvels?

I wasn't nearly bright enough to think of "Final Countdown" because it was sung by a group named Europe. My only thoughts were Arrested Development. Thanks for setting me straight Butch. By the way, watch Arrested Development on Hulu. It's awesome

Story is I'm tagging along with a group going to Paris and Berlin this Thursday. No missionaries or projects. Just chillin'. Even on vacation, I would probably plan the trip down to the minute. But everyone else is smarter than that, so we have quite a bit variabilitiness..ing built into the trip. I'd tell you the plans, but you'll just have to check the blog and facebook to find out. That's right, I'm making an empty promise to keep you up to date.

Our team has enjoyed several planning meetings. Taking official minutes and teleconferencing with remote members. Meet the team

Matt is a mysterious fellow. An engineer who loves sports and apparently traveling. That's my version of you in a nutshell dude. Matt has already survived one international trip with Becky and Amanda (pictured).




Becky. She's the crazy killer bunny. You're already familiar with her. Moving on.





Alyssa. Will probably finally admit to having a huge crush on me by the end of this trip so that we can get married by July. I'm on a tight schedule here babe.


Emily and Amanda. Emily ain't from round here but is taking the long drive to get here just in time for the trip. Emily and Amanda are great friends and we know that Emily can probably put up with us after watching our skype show a few times. Amanda is our team Nurse.

My pre-trip jobs included acquiring transportation while in Europe and the self assigned geek stuff. You can be sure that if we get around to getting you updates, you'll find them on the blog or facebook, so keep an eye out.

This trip should be a great chance to relax and enjoy new things (my favorite). It should also be full of opportunities to to get to know each other and people we run in to.

Ephesians Escape!

Check out our Turkey team blog at http://teamturkey2010.blogspot.com/. YES, this counts as me blogging again!!!

Gonna be sore in the mornin' again

I was graciously invited out to the lake house a couple of weeks ago. For some reason I had this calm and peaceful weekend in mind on my way out there. Chatting with new friends on the porch.

Kickin' it back in the hammock.

Good meals with friends at the kiddie table.

Nice view.

Some simple activity.

Idiot. What was I thinking.



Those guys felt it the next day. But even though they played harder, they were not as sore as I. There were a couple of show-off's too.



This is a man utterly confused. What was I looking for? Is that my camera?

It was definitely great prep for a summer retreat later this year. A good workout and you can't miss all the great food the Clark fam offers every time.

Here's some video goodness of Terry at the helm of pain city last weekend. Good stuff.

Keystone Pics Day 1

Well I didn't finish the post about the church move NOR the one about my new job. But traditionally, I can't let a single day go by without posting ski pictures. We're in Keystone Colorado with a crew (not pictured is Jeffrey, Nan and Lyall). You can find an ever growing collection of pics at the Picasa album for day 1. Enjoy until some explanation can be added.

If you don't see the link, here it is:
http://picasaweb.google.com/kevin71481/KeystoneColorado2010#

New York Is Here!

There's a week of Birthday updates to give you as well as odds and ends, but something much more important is happening today. The 2009 NYC team (here's last year's) has left and touched down in the big apple. Team members are Ron, his daughters Amber and Jasmine (Yaz), Andrea and daughter Emily, Peter, Charly and Matthew (hope I didn't miss anybody). The team left early this morning. I started harassing them with text messages at 8am and they started getting images back to me shortly after. If Peter and the gals keep up with the text messages, you should get some decent updates throughout the week here as well as whoever else they are in contact with.

(Jasmine, Matthew, Peter, Charly)

On a mission for cinnabons!


One of the MANY highlights of the trip...FOOD!!!

Stay tuned. Today they probably had orientation and a little sightseeing in Brooklyn. Most likely, the promenade (stock photos below)

1st and 2nd

I once again come to you too tired to offer a worthy post of narration and humor. Please accept this raw data and enjoy it.

My own video from the weekend is now available (below) as well as someone else's from YouTube showing the second freeze frame attempt. There was some confusion about the timing of the event which resulted in two attempts. There were somewhere around 40 people involved from what we could tell.

This was the first attempt at noon. I made the decision to stay out and video tape (aka wimped out) not knowing yet that there would be a second freeze at 1pm.


Here's the 1pm version, in which I participated. Our crew is not visible in this person's YouTube video until the very end where, unfortunately, Becky and Elizabeth (a friend of hers who told us about the freeze) get called out on an unrealistic high five.


I don't remember the streets being this crowded last year. Weather it was our timing (we spent a long time in line at the port-a-potties this year) or a different choice in route, we definitely avoided it by heading further north after this clip.


The girls got a free shoulder adjustment while bobbing and weaving through the street like we were being chased.


Moving on to Saturday. Once again, I choose sleep over blogging. The updated photo album documents a marvelous breakfast...at 11am, Josh's new status (be sure to ask him about it), Chinese food sharing at P.F Chang's, ice cream at the Plush Horse, my brief foray into close-up photography while the girls took way too long in the bathroom, and finally, fireworks in Itasca, the second largest in the state. Which ones were the largest? NOT Peoria's!!! :-P

Taste Of Chicago

I love visiting big cities. Wouldn't wanna live there, but you know. Though we dropped on the floor upon arriving back at casa Gottemoller, walking around downtown all day was fun. Of course, that means there's no way you're getting a commentary.

Not pictured is Jen, Ben's awesome sister. Here's the pictures, in which you will find a jaunt in BenG's Solstice, freeze frame at the bean (video to be converted for you when I get home), Willis Tower Skydeck (formerly known as Sears Tower which we will still call it because who wouldn't?), Giordano's Pizza, The craziness that is the Taste Of Chicago, waiting for fireworks, the craziness that is getting home from the fireworks, and the girls having ice cream at midnight.

There's my bed. Good night.

Cedar Point Explanations

So the background of this Cedar point photo shoot is that one of our fearless leaders, Peter, planned a trip for all us singles to check out his family farm and Ohio's finest roller coast park, Cedar Point.

The pictures pretty much speak for themselves, though you may not know who everyone is. I'm sorry. Gotta live with it. Mom, you can ask me who the girls are later. So here are the highlights.

Four separate 4-hour drives were required for the trip. Not a bad length. Perfect for naps and trying (but failing) to squeak through without potty breaks. I was one of the many guilty parties.

The farm. This is the warm and friendly home base we had for the weekend. I love farms.

We got to the park at 10am and stayed until almost 8pm. Definitely good for getting plenty of rides in. Considering the short lines, good weather and the logical progression from ride to ride which Peter lead us on, it was a packed full of good times. It is my opinion that this place had some of the most thrilling rides available.

Favorite picture of the weekend.

Scariest ride on the face of the earth. Noah is fired!! (just kidding...you're not fired)

The generous fam who put up with us all weekend! Thank you!

And son.

Cedar Point Photos

No time to post but here is a link to the Cedar Point album and fun at Pete's farm from this weekend!

Wrap It Up Fuzz Ball

There are yet more pictures posted on Picasa for you. Alot of other folks took alot of great pics, but organizing them in a viewer friendly way is a serious pain. You may notice that a few captions have been put on the pictures. They are a fun way to help describe the scene and comments on the pics are welcome.

I'm sorry that my heart has not been into blogging this week. We'll hopefully get a Bible study post up later today.

In Action

Here's the video I promised. After looking through all the stuff from today, these ones from Thursday don't seem nearly as good, but it'll be a while before more get uploaded. Check out the album for the rest of my pics. I'd like to post the rest of the team's photos as well, but it's getting late.

For those keeping a close eye on weather for us, we will probably be coming back through Kansas in the morning out of lack of better options (road closings) and just to be safe.

Good night!

Ski Flyby (Kari, PeterH, Ryan)


Great conditions Thursday (Kari, Josh)


(Josh, Kelli, PeterH)


PeterH was doing awesome on the blues.


BenHobbs caught some air (and snow)

First day on the mount

Don't forget to check out the picture album, fully up to date now.

New skiers, Kristi and Andrea, headed off to ski school for the day and the rest of the group (minus fearless leader Lyall) headed off in a group starting with the good ole green "Schoolmarm". A long and easy trail which scurries all over the front of the Keystone slopes. Eventually some of us were adventurous enough to hit the back two mountain faces. Alot more difficult separating the inexperienced from the speed demons (by about a quarter mile).

Twas fun being able to remember many of the routes we have been on in past years and know ahead of time what we were getting in to.

Conditions were nearly perfect with somewhat clear skies, high (but below freezing) temperatures and a few inches of fresh snow.

Ryan found that his natural position skiing is the same as in ultimate frisbee. Butt on the ground. Everyone has had their share of falls, proving that no one is holding back.
In the evening, chef Lyall almost outdid himself cooking a huge meal, including steak leftover from a church event.
Most people fell limp wherever the plopped down after dinner. Lyall encouraged us to share a little bit about recent things we've learned from scripture, or our favorite verses. Most years, the first day is pretty rough, but we've agreed that this was one of the most exhausted first night groups ever. No one stayed up past 9:30.



Second day

Andrea missed the first half of ski school on the first day due to a ski boot malfunction, so she went back to catch what she missed on the second day. Before then, however, she got to take a trip up with us in the Gondola.

Perfect opportunity for a group picture. No one missing this time!

The conditions fluctuated between not so great to perfect with heavy snow and low visibility before lunch and clear skies after. Still high temps below freezing.

Today a few of us followed Lyall down the back mountains testing out some new blues and a black diamond. Nothing serious though.

(PeterH not pictured)
A long lunch back at the condo cut the ski day a little short with only a couple of hours left after that.

Too late to blog about the evening. You'll also get some video next time around.