Planes, trains and automobiles

We are staying at the new KMCC (Kaiserslautern Military Community Center) Lodging Facility.  It is a brand new 10 story hotel located right across the street from the new Air Passenger Terminal.   Our room is on the 8th floor and looks south toward the flight line and the terminal.  I am totally enthralled with the view!  You can see the city of Landstuhl in the distance in the picture below. I have always known I had a tendency to voyuerism because I can honestly waste hours and hours just people watching.  I am told I inherited this from my adorable grandma Beth along with her love of traveling. 

Planes:  The majority of the planes I have watched come and go outside my window are big heavies (dad, you know what that means)  Lots of C-5's which are really, really BIG! In fact, NOTHING is as big as the C-5 except for the russian version.  Also some C-130s, some C-17s and a KC-135 now and again.  The passenger jets come in several times a week from states and the contracted cargo planes bringing and taking everyones household goods!  I keep watching for ours, but no luck yet.  Mike checked on them last week and they are estimating the middle of November.   One mystery I have yet to figure out is everyday I watch many people come and go into the terminal, but have only once seen anyone actually get on or off any of the planes on the tarmac!??!   I will keep on this until the mystery is solved.


Trains: Trains are still an unkown for us.  We hear they are expensive and take awhile to understand how to get where you want to go.  We are saving the train blog for another day!

Automobiles:   This is a fun topic!  First of all, BMW's are like Chevy's over here....they are everywhere!!  There are also lots of Smart Cars that look like little fancy golf carts, lots of Opels, and actually any other car you can think of.  We were so surprised when we were picked up from the terminal in a huge four door Ford.  I even saw a hummer once.  We finally found a perfect car for me to drive around ( I think Mike is hoping for a truck).  It is a 2007 Mini Cooper S.  Dark green with white hood and bonnet stripes.  6 speed and wow does it go fast!!   TJ and Mike had it up to120 mph on the autobahn Sunday on their way to Priesthood session re-broadcast!   I squeal too much when they go that fast, so they don't do it with me in the car anymore :)
I can't believe how fast cars go in the left lane of the autobahn.  It's truly frightening.  If you think traffic moves fast in Salt Lake City, think again!   
We took the mini on a road trip last Saturday up to Trier.  It is the oldest city in Germany dating back to several years before Christ.  We got a late start and the traffic in downtown was crazy, with busses honking at us etc.. so we didn't really get out and explore, but we will next time.  There is an old stone gate/building that is several stories tall that was the gate to the roman city back in 3 AD.  It is still standing and quite amazing!
Well that 's it for now...tomorrow we have a walk through at the house and we will move our meager belongings in on Wednesday.  I can't wait!


Love and miss you all so much!
-corri