This weekend marked the big
Eiffel Bazaar on
Spangdahlem AB, Germany. In our part of the world, this is a pretty big thing. Vendors from all over Europe come over to
Spang and fill up two huge hangers with their treasures. Then we military folks climb over each other to buy them up and mail them off to family members back in the states for Christmas. Oh, and maybe get a few things for ourselves as well. Armed with my Christmas shopping list, Russ and I dropped the kids off at
TLF and started our shopping. (The kids have seen one too many Polish pottery dish, and much more than their share of tapestries. They were happy to hang out in the room, play on the computer, and watch some TV.)
After walking around for a little bit, we spied this beauty. We've always been fascinated with these clocks, and wouldn't mind adding one to our household some day. On closer inspection...
Yep. That's right. It's
MY castle engraved on there.
Schloss Neuschwanstein. I know. Spying this castle on items has cost me big in the past, but it's fate, right? It's a sign that maybe
this is
our clock. After waiting for a while, the owner was free to come over and answer our questions. It's hand made/carved out of birch by a craftsman in their shop in Bavaria. That isn't regular glass on the front. It's crystal. He proceeded to bang his fist against it so hard that I jumped about a foot in the air from the noise. It didn't break. Apparently crystal is pretty tough. The entire thing is custom made, and the wood is held together by screws, not staples. We inspected everything, listened to the chimes ringing, and learned all about the chain winding mechanism. It's wonderful. We need this clock. How much, you ask? We were curious about this, too, so we inquired. It's only $5,000. Now at this point, things are a little foggy, because to the best of my recollection, Russ lost his lunch and I passed out.
After regaining our composure, we assured the kind man that we'd think about it and continued our shopping. Next, I spied a little antique bench. I've been looking for a bench
forever. 1 1/2 years to be exact. This one is perfect. My hands were still a little
shaky from my last encounter, so I didn't get any pictures of it. The kind lady demonstrated to me how the back actually flipped up to form a table top on the bench, thus turning it into a kind of buffet table. Amazing. Again, no pictures, so you'll just have to take my word for it on how simply
wonderful this piece of hand carved goodness is. A little nervously, I asked the price. $1,000. The room spun, but I managed to keep my balance this time. Russ clamped his hand over his mouth. I thanked the lady for her assistance, but we still had Christmas shopping to do. Our relatives needed treasures. After walking around the two hangers for a bit longer, we realized that we just weren't inspired to buy anything. The perfect gift can be very elusive. We decided to head over to
Ramstein to check out something we had in mind for Brandon, as well as finish up the other shopping we had to do. A little over an hour later, we were in the stores. We spotted what we had come to inspect. Yes, Brandon would
love this. Russ turned over the price tag and ...$1,000. To our credit, Russ did little more than make a little grunting sound. Other than an uncontrollable twitch in my left eye, I think I handled it pretty well, too. Fine. We'll just get the other things that I needed and head back to
Spang. Or not. They were either out of what I was looking for, or just didn't carry it any more. I did find one thing on my list, but that was it. An entire day of shopping...for one little thing. Disappointment. Back to
Spang. We had decided to treat ourselves to a mini vacation and spend the night before heading back to Belgium.
Spangdahlem AB has, by far, the best
TLF we've ever stay in. The suites are really big apartments. Three bedrooms, an office, two bathrooms, a full kitchen, a washer and dryer, and a
TV in every room. It's awesome. Unfortunately, they only had pet friendly rooms left. No biggie. We don't have pet allergies, so no big deal, right? Um, no. It would seem that the pet friendly rooms have some sort of thick rubbery plastic covers on their mattresses. Permanently attached. Even with a mattress pad and sheets on top of that, it's hot. Very hot. And each tiny movement of a human body makes a noise, not unlike the sound a pack of firecrackers makes when you light the end and toss them into an empty barrel. There is no sleeping with that sound. At all. Many, many, many sleepless hours later, we started for home.
Giftless, exhausted, and not quite so filled with the holiday spirit at this point. Still, on the positive side, we still have our money. And there are many more Christmas markets in our future. Here's hoping we find the perfect gifts at the next one. And maybe a little therapy wouldn't be out of the question. I'm just saying.
Just so that the Moms fully appreciated our shopping experiences over here in Europe, we hauled them over the Spangdahlem and Ramstein Air Bases. They even got to go into the biggest AAFES in all of Europe. I know. It's exciting.
There is a great view of the Mosel River valley just off the highway on the way to Ramstein.
This is where all that Riesling wine we love so much comes from.
The Moms got to ride on the famous Autobahn! That is an experience in itself. Just remember to keep an eye on the signs, so you don't miss your Ausfahrt due to the high speeds. 
We decided to head out to Germany again for the weekend, but this time, we were heading to 
This also means another means another trip on the Autobahn. With the leaves starting to change into their fall colors, it was a beautiful drive. In the US, I knew a few people who drove cars like BMWs and Mercedes. Here, just about everyone has them (European and American), and I'm quite sure that the reason why is mainly the Autobahn. 
Here's where we ended up. They were actually very well maintained and clean. 
The only real downside to the place was the bathroom. This shower/tub combo was something out of a 1950's horror flick that takes place in a mental asylum. You can practically hear the scary music playing when you take a shower. I kept looking over my shoulder for an escaped patient 
This was the big draw to this base! This is the largest BX in the entire world and it just opened last month! It was really big and impressive, and is basically just like a mall in a huge city. I had flashbacks of Dallas while we were walking around inside. There is a massive food court with all the fast food we know and love from the states, as well as lots of interesting local shops all along the main 
Back on the Autobahn and heading home to lovely Belgium.
We weren't too far into our trip back home when we came upon this glorious view! Wow! Pictures just can't capture how impressive this was.
This is an area of Germany that we'll have to check out when we have more time. It was already pretty late on Sunday afternoon, so we hit the road again.
I thought this was pretty cool, too. They planted crops on the side of these steep hills. How would you like to be the one plowing on that angle? Not me!
Apparently Sunday is harvest day in Germany. We saw quite a few tractors working away in the fields.
We had a great weekend exploring yet another place in Germany. Once more thing to cross off of my list of things to see in Europe.