The Road Less Traveled: an improbable fiction

On the Road Again!

2011-08-21T16:16:00.008+02:00

So, as if July hadn't had enough travel, I decided to drive up to Hamburg from Vienna to get our boxes from storage in our attic there. I thought I would share what turned out to be a very *interesting* trip with you!

I started out by picking up the rental truck from a company here in Vienna, and was waited on by what appeared to be a teenage girl who seemed far more interested in the fact that I was from FL, than in helping me get the rental truck! Ah well! About a half hour later I was on my way!

The first part of the trip was uneventful (so we'll skip that bit!) As the tank reached about half, I thought: I think I'll go ahead and fill up so that I'll get better gas milage! I stopped at a rest stop on the Autobahn, and to begin with read the signs wrong, and ended up on the semi truck side... :/ After some finagling and driving - for a very short moment - the wrong way on a one way in the parking lot, I got to the gas pumps. I was, understandably, a bit out of sorts due to the recent events, but still thought to look for any sign that the little car (a bit smaller than a US mini-van) might possibly take any special type of fuel. There were no markings in the car that mentioned it. The "helpful" girl had not mentioned anything, and when I opened the little door to the gas tank, I didn't see anything. What I didn't notice was a small little sticker on the INSIDE of the little door that said 'diesel' ...

I think you've probably figured it out by now. I filled up the second half of the tank with regular when I was actually driving a diesel! I noticed it first as I was putting the nosil back on the gas pump. I thought: Well, Lord, I just read this morning about how You'll give Your angels charge over us to keep us, and I thank You that You'll keep me safe and get me to HH! What I can tell you from this experience, is that, with some angelic help, a diesel WILL drive on half a tank of gas and half of diesel! I wouldn't, however recommend it! ;)

My first stop on the trip north was in a little German town called Würzburg, where my bike had been confiscated from me on one of my trips in July (I wasn't permitted to have it on the type of train I was traveling, but having a bike in Germany was new to me, and I didn't know that rule at the time!) I've been trying to get them to ship it to me since then, but the man in charge of lost and found (where the police kindly dropped my bike for me!) was not interested in going out of his way at all to get it to me! I, hence, decided that on my trip to HH, I would make a 1 hour detour and get it myself!

Getting the bike was no problem at all! The guy I'd dealt with on the phone was gone for the day, and the guy who was working didn't even make me pay the 15 Euro fee I was supposed to have to pay to spring my bike from jail!

The problems started when I got back in the rental truck (which btw had no A/C on the roads that were about 97 degrees according to roadside signs!) to crank it... It wouldn't do anything. I thought, OK, I'll give it a minute more, and try again: still nothing. I went to the nearest shop (which happened to be a different auto rental store) and the guy there was very helpful and called the nearest shop of the company I rented from for me. They said that they couldn't offer me a trade because: 1st I had rented it in Austria, and 2nd because they had none of the model I was driving. They offered, however to send an employee over to see if he could jumpstart it. It thought: I don't think the battery's the problem, but OK!

When he got there, he got in, turned the key, and it cranked perfectly! 5 times in a row! I said: wow, I tried that three times, and it didn't work for me, to which he replied, while holding up his hands: healing hands! I thought, or an angel of the Lord!

12 hours after leaving Vienna, I made it safely to HH, but unfortunately all of my able-bodied friends were working night shift, so after three hours I had loaded (much more than I thought possible) into the little van, and was on my way to crash at some friends' house on the couch. The next morning meant a leisurely breakfast with the friends, then on my way back to Vienna.

As I didn't have to stop by Würzburg on the way home, I took what the GPS told me was the quickest route. Little did I know that meant I was going to be driving through the Czech Republic! Not only did I drive through the Czech Republic, but directly through downtown Prague - wow, it was beautiful! It happened to be rush hour, so I got to see A LOT of it! ;) Below are some pics that I took with my phone while sitting in traffic! Not only did I drive through Prague, but also through many very, VERY small towns and even through fields (where I thought: please GPS, get me home!!! And about 10 hours later, she did!)

Love and hugs!

While approaching Prague, I was reminded that I have not lived anywhere that I didn't understand the signs in about three years! Quite a feeling, let me tell you!

Cobblestone streets in Prague!

One of the beautiful buildings that I got to look at for SOME TIME while waiting to move in rush hour Prague!

I got gas, er, diesel in the Czech Republic, and yes, you're reading correctly, it cost 339.00 per LITER! This was, of course in Czech Koruna, of which one equals about $0.06! Still not the best price, but much better than one might first assume!

One of the fields I drove through. This pic I stopped to take because...

...as you can see, NOTHING was coming!

Another example of signs that made me go: huh?

At times, there were other "travelers" taking the same scenic route!

When I saw some of these roads, I thought: is THIS really the quickest way between Hamburg and Vienna!??!

And finally, a pic for Pop - no, I promise I wasn't looking at the phone as I was taking this picture - I was still looking at the road!!!

And the adventures in Europe continue! Sidonie has started rehearsals for Deloris (the Whoopi character) in Sister Act, and has been told that she might get to play her as soon as previews (which begin in about two weeks!)

On the job front for me, I got hired to teach voice, acting and dance for The School of Pop Music here, and will start in September, I also interviewed with a very well respected dance school to teach jazz, modern, and musical dance classes, as well as private voice, and should hear back from them soon! At church this morning, I got asked to sing with a gospel choir that will be at the church in a couple weeks, so things are picking up, as you can tell!

Don't be a stranger!

This, That, and 65 hours on the Train

2011-08-08T23:18:00.016+02:00

...That's right, folks, during the month of July, I spent a total of 65 hours traveling! But before we get there, let's look back at June.

In June, Ali Baba was running which meant that I had several free days at the time. During one of those breaks, I was offered a voice over gig in Hamburg, so I took a train up (no, that's not included in the 65 hours!) and, among other things, had an audition, did my first German to English translation VO gig, and saw the above artist working his magic on the streets of HH!

For most of June, however, I was in the little city of Hanau.

It's called the 'Brothers Grimm City' because it was the birthplace of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm (of Grimm's Fairy Tales). Because of this connection, the summer Theatre festival where I worked is committed to performing plays and musicals every year based on the fairy tales of the Grimms (and others)!

As promised, some pics of the process of preparation for Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves.

Here, the Set's nearly finished, but for some painting.

Because the set had to serve three different productions at the same time, there were elements that we didn't use as often as others, and likewise for the other two shows. Here's the set as it looked when we began each night.

Marc Urquhart, our hard-working director from Australia via London.

There was, of course, down time during tech rehearsals! Here, Daniel-Erik found a secondary use for the snacks we had brought that day!

Hartmut, my back-stage neighbor, decided to try on his hat (with hair attached) backward!

Frederich Rau, our Ali Baba, had the same idea I had about taking photos!

At the end of June, I got some very special visitors! Here we are (without Ma because she's taking the picture) walking around Hanau.

The also got to enjoy the beautiful garden behind my house in Hanau!

Mr and Mrs Loos, my landlords, work very hard in their garden, and it shows!

They're really the sweetest landlords anyone could ask for!

I told them that if ever I worked in Hanau again, I would not hear of staying anywhere but with them!

After the jet-lag had worn off a bit, the parents came to see the show!!! Unfortunately, the summer weather we'd been having seemed to have faded a bit, and it was quite cold to be seeing an outdoor production, but they braved it!

So, here are some pics from my show that the publicity department at the theatre took during the final dress rehearsal.

The ghosts, coming to the aid of the heroine.

Such fun dances! Lots of smooth movement, into very sharp hits like the one here, and it all ended in lots of dervish whirling!

Patrizia and I opened the big chorus number "Gerüchteküche" or Rumor Mill.

I also got to play the drum you see here during the show!

There were two of us additionally used as musicians, Tony, also American, played the Sitar, and several Asian flutes. Fun!

The costumes were absolutely magnificent! This was the costume that I opened and closed the show in - I was covered in gold from head to foot!

Because this is a fairy tale theatre (and even though our show was not at all geared toward children) there were LOTS of families in the audiences, which meant: lots of autographs after the shows. The kids were adorable. I had one boy tell me he had seen the show 4 times, and was planning to come back again!

During the rehearsals and run of the show, I was contractually not permitted to cut my hair or goatee. This of course meant that I brought my buzzer along with me to the final performance. Rather than cutting it all off at once, however, I decided to have a little fun for the after party! ;)

Backing up about three weeks...

at the beginning of July, I began the many, many hours of train travel that would amount to a total of over 65 hours.

This was my typical position during the train trips!

My first stop on the way to my job in southern Bavaria, was in Klingenberg where someone special was playing Aida for the first time!

The view from the mountain where Sidonie's theatre sat at the top of wine vineyards.

Even though Sidonie's show had opened about two weeks prior to this, I hadn't gotten to see it yet because of my Ali Baba performances!

We all got to see it together! (Ma always seems to be the one taking these pictures... Don't worry, there are some pics of her too - I took them!)

During June, before Sidonie's show opened, there was a sudden shortage of costume assistants, and things got hectic to the point that the designer was not going home and was just sleeping in the shop for a couple hours before getting up to keep at it. Sidonie offered my help, and they were overjoyed. One of the things that I got to do was to design and build the dress that Sidonie wore for the opening and closing of the show (the museum scene, for those who know the show.)

She was absolutely brilliant (not to mention gorgeous!)

Here's a picture of the Nubians coming to sing to Aida after they discover that their princess is in their midst!

After seeing Sidonie's show, we had to keep moving because we were headed another 8 hours south on the train from there.

Eventually, we arrived in beautiful Kiefersfelded, Germany (right on the Austrian border).

Sidonie got to come join us a couple days later, and we were able to spend her birthday together!

One of the birthday activities, after I got off work, was thrift store shopping! Ma and Sidonie found traditional Bavarian dresses (Dirndl) to try on, and Ma liked hers so well that she bought it! The Bavarian women thought she was adorable in it!

I got to show the folks around the gorgeous little village of Kiefersfelden.

The reason I was really there, however, was that I was the director of dance for the International Performing Arts Academy (IPAI). IPAI is a summer study program for American Musical theatre and Opera artists, and it gives them a chance to come and intensively study their craft with instructors from all over the world in the quiet and secluded Bavarian village of Kiefersfelden. They then have an opportunity to audition for major casting agencies in Europe, and to perform a program that they've worked on for the 3 1/2 weeks of IPAI before an audience of townspeople and industry professionals.

IPAI is what first brought Sidonie over to Germany, and the rest is history! The students this year were super talented, and I thoroughly enjoyed working with them!

After I got off work on another day, the 5 of us took a walk over the boarder into Austria!

The cold weather was behind us at that point, and it was H O T!

On my day off, Ma, Pop and I hiked up to a beautiful lake just over the Austrian border, called the Hechtsee.

We got funny looks from the locals as I stopped to take pictures of the tiny little wildflowers along the way ;)

Despite the fact that Dad had hurt his knee in a motorcycle accident just before coming over, they handled the hiking very well!

The views once we got there were well worth it!

Ma and Pop were happy to take a minute to SIT and enjoy the view before I drug them further along!

On one of Ma and Pop's last days with me in Bavaria, we took the train one stop into the next town over the border into Austria, called Kufstein. The Alps were breathtaking from there!

We visited the fortress castle of Kufstein, and got to see inside the tower prison which had double barred windows, although, as you can see, it wouldn't have done a prisoner much good to have gotten out anyway, as they would have fallen onto the rocks beneath (and still been within the castle walls!)

We all found something to photograph at the same time!

With the heat we were experiencing that day, the tunnel passage was a welcome 20 or so degrees cooler!

On one of my last days in Bavaria, before moving to Vienna, I was able to experience a very special church service with a dear friend, Christine Fankhauser in the next village up from Kiefersfelden, Oberaudorf.

So, I arrived in Wien (Vienna) about two weeks ago, and have been getting the lay of the land, and trying to get the apartment setup, as Sidonie's been thrust into 6 day a week rehearsals for Sister Act. Last Friday, I had the pleasure of showing some other Americans who were visiting Wien for the first time around the beautiful city! We went to the Schoenbrunn Palace...

and we visited the treasury, among other things!

The treasury here contains the largest cut Emerald in the world - it's about the size of my fist, and is 2680 Carats!

So, one thing that I failed to mention...

After Ali Baba closed, I decided to get my hair cut off as well! I went to a barber and told him I wanted it cut off! He hesitated a moment, and went for it. I think the first cut was probably about 7 in of hair before he started trimming! So, here's the new do!

Hope you are all doing very well! I'd love to hear from you!

Hugs from Austria!

P.S. Sent out LOTS of resumes and headshots, and the interviews/auditions start on Thursday! Until I book something steady, I'm working to finish my one man show, which should be done soon! I'll keep you posted on what's coming up next!

High Five!

2011-06-01T23:16:00.005+02:00

Apparently, on the fifth anniversary, one is traditionally supposed to give a gift of wood, but I think I'll give a gift of words instead. I'm so very proud of you Sidonie, and I'm happier than I can say to be Your Forever Love!

Five years ago today, I pledged to love and cherish Sidonie for as long as we both shall live! There are many reasons that I love Sidonie, but I thought that I would write down 5 reasons that I love her even more today than I did five years ago. 1. I love that through all our adventures (and we are some adventure-having people!) Sidonie has been the perfect partner! Not that either of us is always perfect, but that we compliment one another so well, and work so much better as a team than we could have individually. Sidonie you're my favorite partner ever!

2. I love that Sidonie challenges me to grow spiritually and as a leader. Iron truly sharpens iron, as the Word says, and I'm so very happy that we're able to sharpen one another, and drive one another to draw closer to God, and to live the Love that the Lord has shown us, for all to see. Sidonie, you are the best iron to sharpen me!

3. I love that, no matter what's going on around us, we can come to one another for counsel and support. Someone once asked us who our second best counselor was (or should be) - with the first being, of course, the Holy Spirit. The answer: one another. Sidonie, you are the absolute best, second best counselor ever!

4. I love that whatever we're doing, whether it be working on an audition one of us has coming up, or washing dishes from the party we had the night before, it's always more fun to do it together. Sidonie, you're the greatest helpmete I could have asked for!

and finally,

5. I love that Sidonie goes out of her way to show love to people. Sidonie doesn't just do nice things for people, she thinks long and hard to come up with the most meaningful, thoughtful, and memorable thing, and then painstakingly plans and executes her plan with a flair of creativity that I wholeheartedly admire. Sidonie, thank you for being a living example of what it is to go out of your way to show love to those around you!

I'm so very excited to see what the next five years bring, my Love! I know that whatever it is, the team of you plus me can take it on and take it out! I love you, Sidonie!

Your Forever Love

Drumroll, please...

2011-05-06T23:15:00.004+02:00

My website is finished! Woohoo! check it out at: christopherryanmfa.com :D

Hope you are all doing very well! I'm in the throws of rehearsal for "Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves" here. We open on the 20th, so stay tuned for plenty of rehearsal stories and pics of our very cool costumes and set coming up!

Let me know how you are when you get time! :D

Hugs from Hanau!

PS: You can also check out the musical site (although it's in German) at alibaba-musical.de

New Thang

2011-03-05T18:54:00.017+01:00

Merry Christmas! :D OK, so I know it's been a while... I can't promise that I'll be starting back with regular blogging, BUT what I can promise is that this will be a blog like none you've read before!

Things have really picked up since the new year, and we've had loads to do! Because the time since my last post has really been filled with lots of working together with Sidonie, we decided to do a joint blog. There will be links throughout this post taking you to bits of the story told on Sidonie's blog: pleaseshinedownonme.blogspot.com Our story begins right here:

Enjoy!

So, we will begin with Christmas, since that's where we left off...

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NEW YULE

Merry belated Christmas to all of you! ;) Nothing like Christmas in March, right? Just in time to remind you of Christ's birth as you prepare to celebrate his death and resurrection!

Some friends came over on Christmas day to have fun and eat yummy food with us. Danny and Terry are both new to Germany from the States, and knowing exactly how they may be feeling, we decided to give them a traditional (at least for us) American Christmas morning!

We filled stockings and packages with lots of American food and snacks - the Ritz Crackers were a big hit!

Sidonie with one of her packages Christmas morning...

...and a bag...

...and me with a package...

...Wow, we seemed to have taken lots of pictures with packages this Christmas...

When Sidonie finally got in to one of her packages, she wasn't quite sure what the gift was...you'll have to check on her blog to find out!

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NEW FRIENDS

We hung out with another new friend a good bit around Christmas and New Year's (which was also his birthday.) Boise is from LA, and just came over in November to play Mufasa in The Lion King here!

We went to see his show and got a backstage tour! As many times as we'd seen the show, we'd never had a backstage tour - such beautiful props and costumes in this show!

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NEW SHOW

After celebrating Boise's birthday, we got right down to business and began revising and rehearsing for our show, which you'll find here!

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NEW SHOW 2

At the same time we were working on Head Over Heels, we were making revisions with Sidonie's agent to her one woman show, long in the making... Diva Lessons: Eine Lehrstunde für Diven (a study guide for divas)! Sidonie wrote, and I designed the show, and we had a blast working together on this fabulous project! We're going to be doing it again, fo sho!

The opening of the show, where Sidonie began as a gorgeous saaaaangin' silhouette.

It quickly became apparent, however, how very gorgeous this sangin' Diva silhouette really was!

This pic's a little dark, but can you guess who this practically perfect diva is?

Notice the Fa-habulous dress - I found it at a second-hand store here in Hamburg for...wait for it...20 euro! I had to take it in by several sizes, but it was just TOO perfect! Work it Hunny!

Throwin' some ABBA in the mix!

This song either came from Little Shop of Horrors or Wicked, what do you think? ;)

Finally, Sidonie performed the big number from the hit musical coming to Broadway soon: Sister Act. And she was, indeed, "Fabulous Baby!"

Hope you enjoyed our little adventure game, and do stay tuned, as we'll post more about the exciting things we've got coming up this summer and next year as soon as possible! Much love from both of us in Hamburg to wherever you may be :D

This, That, and Vienna...

2010-12-10T21:19:00.012+01:00

So, lots has been going on! I'll give you a few of the highlights! Enjoy :D

We hosted Thanksgiving again this year for all of the students at Sidonie's school here in HH. We knew it would be bigger this year due to word of mouth from two years ago.

We had lots of very yummy food! Sidonie and I made lots of Southern American specialties (we thought about making some Jamaican as well, but thought we'd keep it simple for them! - We had our own Jamaican evening the next week! ;) In addition, we asked everyone to bring a drink or a dessert, and the other two Americans brought some Mac and Cheese, Green Bean Casserole, and Sweet Potato Souffle!

We had a great time and ended up with 25 people for Thanksgiving! We had several people come up and tell us how thankful they were to have been invited to their very first Thanksgiving! We continued my family's tradition of going around the group to say what each one is thankful for. Tears ensued, as is also the tradition!

After Thanksgiving, we started preparing for our upcoming auditions - in VIENNA! We both had an open call for the major production company of Austria, and I had a call for another musical that Sid had already auditioned for in a different city. Vienna is beautiful, and I think if we were to ever live in Austria, I could handle living there!

We got there in perfect time for the Weihnachtsmärkte (Christmas markets!!!) This one is called the Viennese Christ Child Market.

It's one of the biggest and most famous in Vienna, and is located in front of the beautiful Rathaus (City Hall.)

One of our favorite stands there is a book stand (we are our mothers' children!) They have many, many children's books about Christmas and about the reason we celebrate. One book was by Max Lucado and was about a little puppet and how he discovered that no matter what other people thought or said about him, he was special and beautiful to the one who made him. Made us cry! Moms, you have to visit at Christmas and we'll take you both to Vienna!

There were also many stands with amazingly beautiful Christmas ornaments which are nearly all hand painted.

A blanket of snow had fallen just before we got to Vienna, and it just made the markets all the more special. This blanket of snow makes me think of Disney at Christmas (of course, their blankets of "snow" are really synthetic fibers, but it looks the same, right?)

You can't tell exactly, but the tree behind us had red, heart-shaped lanterns hanging all throughout it. :)

There is another very famous Weihnachtsmarkt in front of Schloß Schönbrunn (Schönbrunn Castle!) That's right, it's a Christmas Market in the courtyard of a castle. Absolutely beautiful!

You can see the gates behind us here.

We met our friend and Sidonie's colleague from Buddy last year, Pia, there! She's Swiss, but was also in Vienna for the audition, so we got to see her! Woohoo!

The Castle Christmas Market really had some wonderfully beautiful hand made Christmas gifts. One could have spent a fortune there! Here's a stand with decorations out of real flowers and leaves, that will hold their color for at least 3 years. They said they would still be beautiful after that, but that they could only guarantee the vibrancy of color for three years. Wow!

A couple pictures of the Castle as the sun was setting (at 4PM!)

There's a VERY large Christmas Tree in front of the castle, as you can see!

We also saw a musical while we were in Vienna. We were so excited that we got to see it for only 5 Euros!!! We got Standing Room tickets, and had a thoroughly good time!

The next day, after the auditions were over, we had a bit of time to see more of the city. We went to the Wiener Naschmarkt (the Viennese Farmer's Market.) This was BY FAR the biggest farmer's market I'd ever seen, and they had a huge variety of things, for example this selection of fresh herbs and spices!

Here are Sidonie and our friend Dave, our host in Vienna, and also one of Sidonie's colleagues from Buddy last year, walking though the Naschmarkt.

Don't those veggies just look scrumptious?!!!

I saw this basket and thought of you Ma! Too bad I didn't know what you were working on at the moment!

Another tradition of the Christmas Markets is Glühwein (glow wine.) Sidonie, Dave (also a vegetarian and health-conscious person) and I found an organic stand with many different varieties of glow wines. We all got different varieties!

I maintain that my white glow wine was the best choice! Mmmm!

Dave also showed us an English/American import store around the corner from his house!

They had MANY, MANY things that made us go: "awww...I remember when I saw this on the shelf..."

We didn't buy anything, but it made us wonder why there's not a store like that here in HH...hmmm, maybe we'll open one! ;)

We had enjoyed the Christmas Market at the Castle so much that we decided to go back and visit it with Dave!

We took a short cut through beautiful Vienna on the way!

These were all hand-painted! If I thought I could have gotten one home without it breaking...

I decided to take pictures instead!

Dave also took us to the back of the castle where there are beautiful gardens and a maze and all sorts of pretty things - which were all covered in snow. :D

That evening we met Sidonie's director, Steffi, from Buddy (who lives in Vienna) for tea. We met her near the Stephansdom (Spephan's Cathedreal.) It was a foggy day, but it just made it all the more ehtereal!

There was a very long parade of folks holding candles and singing a song (in Latin.) Not sure what this parade was about, but surely something to do with advent...!

Beautiful Christmas lights in the shopping streets of Vienna!

Wow!

And, finally, the beautiful snow on the ground outside the apartment of our voice teacher. We're cat sitting for her at the moment, and I do mean at this very moment, as she's taking a week trip to Turkey! The kitties: Pippin and Rosie say hello!

Hugs From Hamburg!

Our New Digs

2010-10-25T21:49:00.020+02:00

Howdy folks!

I'm back to blogging now that we've gotten set up in our new apartment! When we first got back to Germany, we were busy looking for a place to move here from Essen, where we lived last year, in addition to auditioning for work. We stayed for about a month with our good friends in Essen, the Janz family! We all had a wonderful time, and we'll very much miss our fun times of prayer and worship together, our family dinners, our movie nights with Nette, and our deep conversations with Phil! Our Essen parents: Manni and Irene Janz helped us move up to our new apartment in HAMBURG about two weeks ago now! Thank you Janz family for a fantastic time of getting to know brothers and sisters in Christ, and for adopting us as your oldest two kids! We love you! :D

It was also a huge blessing the way we got into this apartment - we were basically the only ones who looked at it - unheard of in Hamburg! That's like being the only ones who want an apartment in NYC or Chicago! Our new apartment's practically downtown (5 minutes/two underground stops from the central station!) We've got two grocery stores in 5 minutes walking distance, access to three different underground lines within 5 minutes walking distance (which means we don't ever have to wait on a bus - hallelujah!), and are only 20 minutes from our church (as compared to about an hour last time we lived here in HH!)

After moving in, we decided on paint colors, and proceeded to paint an accent wall in the bedroom, living room, as well as the top half of the kitchen. We also had to get some rugs, lamp shades, and various other things that were either not in the apartment or that we didn't yet own. We're very pleased with our paint color choices and how everything turned out! What do you think? We've now gotten everything unpacked, and washed our two weeks worth of laundry - phew - in our new to us washer that our church in Essen gave us (since it was just sitting the the cellar! Thanks guys!) They also gave us our vanity (which there are no pictures of because we're not satisfied with the shower-curtain situation at this point - more pictures will come, to be sure!) Here are the ones we have so far...

Our front door (from the inside, of course) with the poster above it that our church family in Essen gave us when we left. You may not be able to read them, but all the little bits are individual notes of encouragement, prayers for us, or scriptures! What a blessing our Essen church family was!

Our shoe rack. As you may notice, there are no summer/FL shoes on this rack. That's because Winter is upon us here!

The view when you walk into our bedroom.

Our bedroom overlooks the street and the apartment buildings on the other side. It's a one way street and, despite the fact that the hospital is at the end of the street, is nice and quiet!

Our two wardrobes are on the wall opposite the bed, and have between them...

Our desk - which Sidonie painted the same color purple as the accent wall!

As our room is quite large, we have room for a sitting area. This is on the wall opposite the windows (directly in front of you when you enter the room from the foyer. Notice the VERY soft sheep skin rug in front of the couch. We like it a lot! :D

Directly in front of you when you enter the living room from the foyer.

The wall to your left as you enter the living room.

The view to your immediate right upon entering the living room.

Looking toward the opposite corner of the living room.

Once you step into the living room, you can see through to the breakfast nook.

Our beautiful view from the breakfast nook!

You can see here one of our three orange circular rugs. We couldn't find an area rug or runner that we liked and matched our orange/navy motif, so we got three little round rugs instead!

The picture/TV/bookshelf wall of the living room.

Closer photo of our picture wall!

The Fall view from our living room window!

Our shelves with dappled afternoon light. Beautiful.

The view straight in front of you as you enter the kitchen.

Our little peeping tom window that looks through from the kitchen to the shower!

To your right when you enter the kitchen.

Because of the relatively small amount of counter space, there's an extra fold-down counter top to your left as you enter the kitchen - very useful!

Our kitchen window overlooks the patio.

Our patio view is also beautiful and green!

We're so blessed to be back in Hamburg, and are already planning a reprise of an American Thanksgiving in Hamburg!

Love and Hugs to you all - let us know how you are!

I'm BAAAAACK!!! (part 2)

2010-09-14T18:17:00.024+02:00

OK, so here's the second half of our exciting trip to the States! (Unfortunately, there are some stops where we didn't get any pictures ;( so you'll just have to imagine those bits!)

We went up and met Allie, Jeremy and their two adorable boys in southern GA. Iain is smiling for the camera here! ;)

Little brother Cory tried to do the same - too cute!

When it got to hot at the park, we went to a library and read some books! I told Iain he could pick out 5 books for me to read. He did, and we did. I did not specify that each book could be read only once, however!... Kids are so clever!

We had a blast seeing them and getting to know the sweet little boys Iain and Cory are becoming!

We decided to take one last picture before we parted ways. When Allie saw that Cory had his passie in, she said: why don't you give that to Mommy so we can take a picture. This was his reaction:

Bwaaahahaha!

We got to visit Nanny (my dad's mom) a lot while we were in Tally which we were very glad about. She had a stroke about 2 months ago, and was still in the hospital when we were there. The doctors, however, expect her to make a full recovery - praise God! Love you Nanny! :D

We also took Harper to visit Aunt Bernice, my Mom's Aunt. She is 92 years old, and going strong! (She had traffic school while we were there because she had been given a ticket for speeding! Yes, she still drives!) She lives in a retirement community, and loves it! We didn't plan it, but as it turns out, she and Harper were wearing matching outfits on the day of our visit!

She loved her Buddy Holly glasses and German flag!

Love you Aunt Bernice!

Arlene, Sidonie's Mom, got to come up to Tallahassee with us and stay for a bit after Ashton's graduation. Here are the moms looking at a Youtube video! Aren't they cute? We love them!

I got to hang with my brother a couple times while we were there. He's crazy busy between full time school, full time job and a full time 9 month old, but he's gettin' it all done, plus doing music gigs on the side! I'm very proud of you, Jared! Miss you!

Harper is such a joy! We love and miss you Harper lou!

Because she loves Eric Carl books and happens to have an Eric Carl onsie, we decided to do an Eric Carl shoot!

On our way south in FL, we stopped off at my Uncle Wayne and Aunt Joan's house. We had a wonderful evening chatting and sitting on their very cool new screened in patio (which unfortunately we took no photos of!) We also enjoyed playing with their two cute puppies - well, one's a puppy and one's a veteran, but they're both adorable! Here's a picture of 'Bo Holly!'

We visited lots of good friends from our church in Orlando, 360. Unfortunately, we didn't take ANY pictures! A couple of our friends from there were able to go to lunch with us after church on Sunday. We went with Michelle, her daughter, Emma, Todd and Lori, and Chip and Bonnie to Macaroni Grill - it was great fun! The next day, we met Gigi at Panera Bread which is where this picture was taken, so here's our lone representative for all of 360! It was great to see all of you guys again :D Much love to you all!

Brian, who wasn't able to join us for lunch because he had to be at work, got us into his job for a day - Disney day! Thanks, Brian, we had a great time! We went to three of the four parks and rode our favorite rides, saw our favorite shows, and visited our favorite places! It was loads of fun!!!

Here we are in Epcot's Germany! We got to speak German with the employees there, and discussed the outrageous hike in prices of the German chocolate! Fun times! John, one of Sidonie's colleagues from her time at UCF, joined us for the day and rode all the fast rides that Sidonie didn't want to ride with me - thanks John!

Next we visited with my Cousin Tara and her beautiful daughter, Brionna!

She was shy at first, but we had her laughing and reading books by the end!

She has one book that's her favorite. We read it several times over! By the end I could quote it ;)

Brionna also showed us how she can walk behind her little push cart (and how she likes to chase the dogs with it!)

We also got to see my Uncle Scott and Aunt Cindy (who was just recovering from back surgery - ugh!) and my other cousin, Ashlin!

She's gotten older, but not really any taller...oh well, that's OK! It was great seeing them all!

We met up with Sidonie's friend from FSU, Miriam and her husband Chris at our usual restaurant: Moe's! Mmmm!

Their little guy, Christopher, is just as cute as can be!

We got to have a fun and brief chat with the very busy Ms. Laura Hodos! It was so much fun to catch up over juice at Whole Foods! We had a blast :)

That same evening we met up with my "sisters" Chasity and Jana! We had gotten to stop at their parents' house on the way down to Orlando (and forgot to get any pictures...) but we hadn't seen Chasity or her kids - they had to head home and to bed before we got there. Two of Chasity's three kids came down with them. The oldest, Joshua, was not feeling well, so Joe, Chasity's husband stayed home with him. Landon was a little shy to begin with - he didn't remember us from last year.

Lydiann was OK with me holding her - provided I had the food!

If not, she was happy to sit in her stroller and look at me!

What a sweet face!

After much tickling...

...from both of us...

...Landon was our new best friend!

Such a sweet little guy!

He decided that even though it was night time, he should put on his shades before they headed out - Mr. Cool! ;)

We met up with another of Sidonie's FSU friends, Annie, and saw her two little ones at the play area in the mall!

The last time we saw them, the oldest was only a few months old. Now she's taking ballet! Here's first position!

And HERE'S a tondue!

This was the first time we'd met the little guy, and he was a ham!

Here they are posing with their Buddy Holly glasses!

By the end of our play time, all shyness was gone and we got big goodbye hugs!

When we got to Miami, one of the first orders of business was meeting the new cousin, Cameron!

Cameron is Sidonie's Cousin's 4th boy! He is so calm and he loves to cuddle - too cute!

Look at that big ol' grin!

Chad, the next oldest, dressed up for us. Here's he's a pirate!

And here he's Woody! I was certain we'd taken pictures with the older boys, but I can't find them anywhere...maybe they're on Jude's camera - please send them on to us if they are Jude! :D

We also met Nyema! She's the newest granddaughter of Sidonie's pastor in Miami!

Just before we headed back, we hung out with one of Sidonie's friends from highschool, Nicole. Her little guy London and I had a blast playing ball together!

We got to hang out with many other friends and family members in all the cities we visited, and there were many people that we really wanted to see but just weren't able to for one reason or another. So, for all of those friends and family with no pictures, whether we got to see you or not, we love and miss you too! Next time let's take a picture together!

Sidonie's Mom and Dad brought us to the airport to see us off. And here we are - back in Germany!!!

PS: That was GERMANY for all of those planning your trips to come visit US!

Until then!

I'm BAAAAACK!!! (part 1)

2010-09-11T09:10:00.011+02:00

So, I know it's been way, way, way too long since my last post, but I'm back at it now, I promise! After I got back from my tour, we had guests beginning the next day up until just before we left for our FL vacation! We really wanted to make it up to NYC and VA, but, alas, it didn't happen this time around ;( We did, however, get to see lots and lots of people in FL! Here are some highlights of our FL adventure 2010! Enjoy :D

Jessica Sidler Folsom was our first visitor from the US! We had great fun picnicing and hanging out around Essen!

The afternoon that Jess left, Sidonie's Mom and cousins Lyn and Monique came!

A couple of days later, Lyn's husband Kenny and their little guy, Malloy, came over! It was the first time we had met Malloy, and he was adorable!

We went around the area doing various things. As you can see, they visited during the 3 weeks of German summer! We're getting ready to take the train to Köln here. It was about 95 degrees, and there's no A/C in most places in Germany...

After the cousins went home, Sidonie, Mom and I went up to Hamburg - Sidonie and I were working with a musical theatre workshop there. We got to meet and talk with a lot of aspiring and talented US Musical Theatre Students - a good time was had by all. Mom headed home and we headed back to Essen to wrap things up there. We moved our things into storage under our church, and we stayed with some friends from our church for the last couple of days before our US trip.

On our last Sunday at our church here in Essen, our Pastor's wife, Sarah, made this very thoughtful poster with lots of cards for people to write blessings and notes and verses on. The congregation also gathered around and prayed over us for our upcoming trip and all that was happening as we planned our next step when we returned! It was absolutely wonderful!

Sarah and Tommi's boys, Benni and Joshie made this card for us with the help of their cousins. They also sent us this stuffed animal as a going away present. So sweet!

We got to the US just in time for Ashton, my brother-in-law's, graduation! He graduated from FSU with a Sociology degree, and is planning to save up to go to law school! We're very proud of him - GO ASHTON!

Mom and Dad joined us for a little post-graduation-celebration at a restaurant in town.

Shortly after that, we were able to see a musical put on by Pyramid Studios, the school for developmentally disabled adults, where Jared, my brother, teaches! It was terrific! The following week, Sidonie and I were able to do a musical theatre workshop and talkback with the Pyramid students. It was such a blessing to see the enthusiasm of these students - thanks for that opportunity, Jared!

We also got to meet Jared's beautiful 9 mo. old daughter, Harper, while we were in Tallahassee! She's gorgeous, and I'm not just saying that because I'm grossly biased! We had a blast in Tally spending time with my family and seeing Harper's personality and not just her face in pictures! What a precious little one. We love you, Harper!

My parents are pretty much amazing and can do everything! My Mom knitted this dress for Harper, so I decided to do a Harper photoshoot in it!

She gets very excited when she sees Grandpa (or Aunt Sidonie!)

Pointing was the newest trick when we arrived!

Since we had so much fun with the photoshoot indoors, we decided to do one outdoors!

Aunt Sidonie is VERY FUNNY!

SO precious!

Cousin Deb and her Pug, Cousin Sarah, came to visit while we were at Mom and Dad's. Sarah, however, was the only one who joined in the photoshoot-fun! ;)

Well, I'll keep it short and sweet this time, but don't worry, there's much, much more to come...stay tuned!!!

One Leg to Stand On...

2010-07-10T01:34:00.021+02:00

...the last leg, in fact - of my tour! Because we were in so many different places, I'll keep the commentary brief and stick to the exciting photos! So, here goes!

In Bodenfelde, we were literally across the street from a wheat field - and the mountains ;)

These decorations were in my bathroom. I think she may have been used to clean the toilet at one point...

I think they had passed their time for display as "cute nic-nacs" long ago!

Spring had come (even if the thermometer didn't show it) and the flowers were blooming - and smelling YUMMY!

We did our second (and last) evening performance of The Glass Menagerie in a little city theatre with an audience ranging in age from highschool through elderly. It was great to have such a diverse audience, and to be performing in a real theatre rather than an assembly hall! They even had tickets! Very cute!

Beautiful sunset in Elsdorf-Westermühlen! If you held your breath, you didn't even smell the cows ;)

Eutin town square with their "Maibaum." all of May is a celebration of spring in Germany with these pretty May Poles erected in every city.

Some of the old religious instruments were displayed in the Cathedral in Flensburg.

I thought: I play most of those! Thanks, Mom!

Such pretty windows!

Beautiful sunset in Havetoft. This was about 9:30 PM - a good indication that German Summer was fast approaching!

With late Spring (Spring weather lasted all of about a month) we saw the arrival of lots of pretty wild flowers.

And some cultivated ones as well!

Our apartment in Hamburg (where we stayed for another two weeks near the end of our tour) had lots of beautiful flower gardens!

I had lots of fun, walking around the house with camera in hand.

If I'd had my macro lens with me, I'd have gotten one of the many bees buzzing around, alas!

The Rudolfs were such lovely landlords - this is the walk up to the house there in Hamburg.

The reverse view - of the house.

This was our apartment - it was attached to the house where the Rudolfs live. Small but beautiful, and very close to friends of ours in HH!

Speaking of friends, Here's Lili at two! Sidonie had an audition in HH while I was there, so we got to spend the weekend together at Tim, Betsi, and Lili's house! Loads of fun!!!

By now, Summer weather had officially hit. Everyone was enjoying the Alster - big lake in the center of HH.

We also performed near a small island called Poel. We decided to visit after our performance.

This is the North See. It certainly wasn't a FL beach, but it was nice, none the less!

There was also some agriculture development on the island (and really cute little houses!)

Wheat field.

Another little one that I got to see in HH was Romy! She's so big now!

She's 7 months old, and has the cutest round cheeks you've ever seen!

We spent some time in a little place called Sinzig. It was a nice flat and a pretty area, but the landlady was AWFUL! She sent a bill to the office claiming that we'd broken things and put pots away with food in them (which we hadn't - eww!) Oh, well, the office took care of half the extra charges, so, once we split it up, we only paid about 10 Euro each. Pretty pictures anyway!

Our flat in Sinzig was up on the mountain and overlooked the valley - gorgeous view!

I went for a walk on the Saturday morning, and it had rained the previous night - there were LOTS of these very brightly colored slugs crawling about.

And, of course, pretty dew drops on leaves!

The architecture in Wismar was very unique. It really didn't look like a German town at all.

Apparently this artist thought so too - he was sketching the same buildings in the previous photo.

I saved the best for last...

While in HH, I got to go see the Tutunkamun exhibit that's been touring the world.

I've always loved Egyptian history, so this was a dream come true.

It was gorgeous, and every bit as amazing as you'd imagine it to be.

Absolutely breath-taking.

These were some of the "helpers" that were brought into the tomb to do the unpleasant work for the deceased in the afterlife.

Can you imagine how heavy these earrings must have been to wear?!?

The throne (and seal) of the youngest Egyptian Pharaoh.

So, that was the final few weeks of my tour! Now for some goodbyes...

Bye, Marmaduke (and your cake.) I'll miss you both, but not the fat suit that came with you!

Peace out, Jimmy. Keepin' it real.

Goodbye Tom. It was fun while it lasted!

And with that, this touring chapter of our lives is closed. More to come on my time back in Essen with Sidonie and all of our exciting visitors! Stay tuned! :D

The Adventures of:

2010-05-26T19:34:00.061+02:00

and...

And the saga begins...

Our relationship began with Jesus, literally and artistically! We got to know each other doing a production of "The Cotton Patch Gospel" in which I played Jesus!

This was Sidonie's first show, and she was fabulous! Here she is singing her heart out!

Here we are at Christmas in 2004, we'd been "long-distance dating" for about a semseter at this point. After 4 days of officially dating, I moved 12 hours away to grad school. It was a very long 10 months!

Can you feel the love tonight?

2005 was the first Christmas we spent together! We decided that since we were engaged, we really wanted to be together on Christmas morning. Sidonie spent her first Christmas morning away from home, and we were happy to introduce her to all our Christmas morning traditions - including the Christmas morning picture! ;)

This was the first time that Sidonie was able to come visit me in VA (where I was going to grad school.) She rode up with my parents to see my last production of my first year: "Guys and Dolls" Here we are laughing at something in my sunroom - the best part of that house...

The next fall, after Sidonie had graduated FSU, she decided to look for a job in VA so we wouldn't be long distance any more! (Thanks, Babe!) She found one and moved up! Sidonie's Bestie, Julie May, came up to VA for a visit a couple months after she moved. We had lots of fun on the swings outside Sidonie's house. Good times!

We ended up using this photo on the bookmarks that one of my childhood friend's Mom made us as a gift to use as wedding favors!

The night of our engagement! Sidonie had no clue, but didn't she look stunning?

We were just a little happy to be engaged! Can you tell?

Skip forward 6 months or so...We had a wonderful "Pre-wedding reception" at my parent's house in Tallahassee for all the folks who couldn't make it down to Miami for the big event! It was loads of fun! :D

I think we were just a little excited about the upcoming week...can you see our Wisdom Teeth?

Here we are rehearsing for our grand exit!

One of the most important parts of the ceremony (after the actual union bit and the communion, of course) was when our parents all prayed a prayer of blessing over us! It was beautiful! Thanks guys.

We had to make our kiss dramatic - no one would have expected anything less from the two of us!

As rehearsed, we ran out to the steel drums playing "Under the Sea!" Hehe!

The grannies were hot (with reason) so we decided to take our granny pic sitting down. Nana thought Sidonie was giving the flowers to her! ;) So cute, aren't they?

Here we are with my Ma and Pop!

Here we are with Sidonie's Momma and Daddy!

The closest to a "Wedding Portrait" we wanted to get ;) Don't we look schannzy?

After we got engaged, literally the FIRST call we made in wedding prep was to our friend Kenneth Pietrobono - a brilliant photographer - to book him for the event!

Sidonie's childhood friend, Ms. Sullivan, as she's known to her students ;) was terrific as our wedding stage manager!!!

I think this may be one of my favorite wedding pictures! We were having such a great time! :D

We had a wonderful honeymoon in Jamaica! It was my first time there, and we soaked up lots of sun and ate plenty of YUMMY Jamaican food!

Just after we got back to VA from Jamaica, Sidonie and I worked on a musical theatre summer camp together hosted by my grad school. We did a production of "Once On This Island" which I costumed (with my friend Heidi) and Sidonie music directed! Sidonie also worked as a guest artist playing Asaka. What a fun experience pouring into the lives of all these very talented youngsters!

During the "Once on This Island" run, I directed a one act play called "Craving" (by Heather Hargrave-Roberts) And Sidonie had an occasion to wear her wedding dress again - she played Esther! Here I am with my "Craving" cast - they were terrific!

More fun with some of the "Craving" cast and good friends, Desiree and Beth!

At the beginning of my last year in Grad School, I got to play Lloyd Dalles in Noises Off for my Thesis Role! It was a blast, and, as you can see, it was set in the good ol' 80s!

My family got to come up and see the show! We had an all-round wonderful time!

Our friends Anna and Justin threw a Halloween party and we went as Kip and Lafawnduh! We were a smash hit! We've come up with several other killer costumes since then, but I think these were our all time best!

On our way down to Miami, we stopped at a fast food restaurant and met our first "nephew" from the Brannon Family - Iain!

He was an adorable sweetie pie!

During Thanksgiving break, Cousin Deb (yes, that's what we really call her - she likes it ;) took family portraits for us! Woohoo!

We decorated our very own Christmas Tree together for the first time in 2006!

My Mom graciously (and tearfully) parted with many of my childhood ornaments and Christmas decorations for us to use on our tree! (Thanks Ma! ;)

We also went out for a nice relaxing dinner with some friends at a Mexican restaurant just before we left for home that Christmas!

Our first children, Fred and Ginger, the Ferrets, came to live with us at Christmas in 2006 - we soon found they had very strange sleeping habits!

On our trip to see family for the holidays, we enjoyed true FL weather!

We saw a movie with some friends in Tally, and...

Went to Animal Kingdom with Mom in Miami!

In early 2007, we hosted an Oscar party at our apartment in VA Beach - it was loads of fun, complete with Sidonie's fully sequined Oscar-gold dress ;) Fun memories of times with good friends who now live many, many miles away!

We recorded our first song together in 2007, with the help of the very talented and extremely resourceful Jimmy Smithson!

You can see Jimmy in the background here - he was in the booth listening to us as we worked!

For my birthday, we went on a very fun trip to Busch Gardens in VA and listened to a new cast recording on the way - The Scarlet Pimpernel (which I would be fight directing later that year!)

We got someone to take our picture on the kiddy-roller-coaster (it turned out not to be so "kiddy!")

We got to celebrate our first anniversary with the wedding of our dear friends, Lindsey and Todd. We also decided to go on a date when we got down to FL - here we are all dolled up!

Sidonie got a cool new haircut from her favorite hair dresser in Tally! Faux-hawk all the way! ;)

We decided to take the family portrait a bit randomly since we had so many family members at my parent's at the same time! My immediate family + my Aunt, Uncle, 2 Cousins and one of their wives (and dog) + Sidonie's Mom and brother! Lots of fun!

In the summer of 2007 Sidonie and I got to work together to plan, teach, and direct a summer musical theatre camp for kids! It was an awesome experience, and we've even found out that several of those kids have gone on to continue a pursuit of musical theatre! We couldn't be happier!

Since we were in town to direct the musical theatre camp, and for me to fight direct "The Scarlet Pimpernel," we decided to audition for the show as well! :D

We deemed the show's subtitle: "A Gentleman Always Changes!"

And that we did! It was the show of a million costumes!

On our way to Orlando for Sidonie to begin grad school at UCF, we stopped off to meet our new "nephew," Joshua (son of my "sister" Chasity)! He was such a smiley, sweet baby!

When we got to UCF, Sidonie landed her first straight theatre lead! She played (brilliantly, I might add) the lead in August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson!" I was so proud of her!

During 2007, Sidonie and I spent quite a lot of time auditioning for good ol' Walt. Here is a photo to attest to the hours we spent on the floor of the audition building!

Sidonie got a job with Disney, and got her Equity Card through it!

We decided that we wanted to host family Thanksgiving at our house for the first time - it was WONDERFUL!

Thanksgiving weekend, we took more family photos!

Mom and Dad tried to get into character for the silly shot! ;)

Just after Thanksgiving, we moved into our first house! We had a very cool place in E Orlando, and we had a blast decorating it together! (I'll spare you the photos ;)

Right before Christmas break 2007, we went with Sidonie's UCF colleagues to one of the Disney Resort restaurants. It was DELICIOUS! AND, we had a staff member personally walk the Vegans among us down the buffet letting us know what was Vegan-friendly! What a yummy treat!

2007 Cleveland family photo at Mom's house in Miami! :D

Fred and Ginger enjoying the Season of Celebration!

For Christmas 2007 my Hunny got me the most thoughtful of gifts ;) I had an entirely Sweeny Todd-themed gift! I even got to see the Broadway tour of the show when we got to Miami!!!

Meeting our newest Brannon "nephew" Corrin!

Such a sweet and peaceful little boy!

We went down to Miami for a visit, and Nana was staying with Mom! :D

Early Spring 2008 brought performances of "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" where I got to play Mr. Tumnus - so much fun - and make lots of great friends!

For my birthday, Sidonie got free tickets for us to go to Universal Studios (from a friend we sang with at church - Thanks Todd!)

It was a beautifully sunny FL morning, and we were set for a fun-filled day!

We got to meet Curious George (and the Man in the Yellow Hat too, of course!!!)

We were ESPECIALLY thankful for the sun after we rode the water ride! Brrr...

Birthday excitement continued as we took a trip to Disney!

Speaking of Disney, not only were we able to go for free, but we were able to bring some folks along with us! Here's Sid with my little cousin, Megan on her first trip to Epcot!

Megan was absolutely enthralled with the fireworks!

Post fireworks glow/waiting around so that the traffic leaving Epcot would clear! ;)

We were also able to bring our friends Brit and Joshua. Sidonie met Brit at UCF, and we had lots of fun together during our time in Orlando!

We got to take our good friends Desiree and Josh (who had never been to Disney and were on their honeymoon at a beach house not too far away) as well! It was great because we hadn't been able to go to the wedding! What a blessing that Disney job was!

During our time in Orlando, I taught and designed for several colleges in the area. Here is one of my Costume Design classes with their final project - an apron. Can you pick out the student who didn't come to class very often?

In the summer of 2008 we went on our first mission trip together!

We had an amazing time loving on a lot of kids who were from fatherless homes of drug addicted mothers (who most likely sold themselves to afford their addictions.)

This little boy, Jeffrey, wouldn't let go of me after I "rescued" him from a tarantula (the first one Sidonie and I'd ever seen!) We wanted to take him home with us!

Our church sent backpacks for all the children with lots of necessities as well as some toys and candy. This little girl was absolutely enraptured by her Dora doll. This was a wonderful experience for us to both grow together, closer to our friends who also went on the trip, and most importantly, to minister the Lord's Love to these hurting young ones!

Just after we got back from the D.R., Sidonie left for a study trip to beautiful Bavaria! Not only did she have a great time and learn a lot, but she was also invited to attend Joop van Den Ende Academy in Hamburg, and, after praying about it, we decided to make the move to Germany. One great adventure led to an even greater one!

Sidonie actually had her birthday in Bavaria, but I had a surprise party for her with our Orlando friends when she got back. It was also a bit of a good-bye party as we only had 2 weeks from Sidonie's return to the States to our Big Move!

We, of course, had to eat at our favorite Pizza place in O-town before we headed out as well!

Upon our arrival in Germany (with our 10 bags in tow!) we met Afsaneh (af-sahn-uh), our wonderfully loving host (who, by the way, offered to host complete strangers in her home because we are friends with someone who met one of Afsaneh's friends at a ministry conference!) Communicating with Afsaneh was interesting because our German skills were MINUSCULE and her's are not much better. We learned a few Persian words along the way!

We shared a twin bed in Afsaneh's home for the first month of our life in Germany. During this time Sidonie was starting school (in a, then, foreign language) and I was daily pounding the streets looking for a job!

About two weeks after we arrived, Afsaneh managed to communicate to us that we were invited to the wedding of some good friends of her daughter.

This was our first Afghan wedding, and we found that dancing was compulsory (even for folks who didn't know what they were doing!) We had a blast, and when we left at 2 AM the bride said it was too bad we had to leave so early! They really do throw a party :D

About a month after we arrived, Afsaneh had planned some re-modeling in the room where we were staying, so we had to find another accommodation, and quickly! Some other friends from church set it up for us to stay in the church until we could find an open apartment. We only stayed there for one night before some other friends from church said that they had an apartment that they were looking for tenants for as they had just gotten married!

Our apartment in Glinde (a suburb of Hamburg) was a perfect place for us to host THANKSGIVING for Sidonie's colleagues from school! This is Sam the Turkey ;)

Our second time hosting Thanksgiving was very different from the first time we hosted, but it was so much fun to share such a special day with Sidonie's colleagues!

I even made a turkey so that they would have the full American Thanksgiving experience!

Because of budget and time shortages, we had Christmas in Glinde. Our Christmas tree was VERY small, but cute none the less! ;)

We celebrated New Year's with some great friends from our church in Hamburg, the Wiesenbergs (Lili's parents ;)

In early 2009 we began attending a cell group at the Wiesenberg's. Such wonderful times of worship and sharing together!

In late spring we were able to work on a show together again! I was hired to direct a show for one of the English Language Theatres in HH, and I "hired" Sidonie to be my stage manager! We had an absolute blast working together again, and we had a super cast and a wonderful show to boot!

We also got to spend time with good friends at the fair that comes to Hamburg every quarter!

At the end of the spring semester, Sidonie got her job in "Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story" which meant we were leaving the school, and HH. She got to sing a song of her choice at the end of the year showcase, and tore it up with Blessed!

After leaving HH and before heading home to the States for the summer, we went to Bavaria and taught workshops for the musical theatre program that Sidonie had attended the previous summer! Bavaria is BEAUTIFUL!

When we got home, we got to see lots of friends...

...visit familiar places (like the garden where we got married)...

...and catch up with all of our family! We were in Miami for Nana's birthday (Sidonie's Grandma) and got to go see her. She turned 97 and when we asked her if she knew how old she was she said: "hundred and something..."! We love you Nana, and we'll miss you until we see you again with Jesus!

We also got to meet many little ones who came into the world while we were in Deutschland! This is London - he was not interested in smiling for the camera although he did plenty of smiling when I wasn't taking a photo!

We got to meet my Cousin's new little one: Brionna!

See my "Sister Chasity's" adorable little boys: Joshua,

and Landon! We had lots of fun playing with blocks!

At the end of our wonderful, but short, trip home to the States, we came back to Essen in time for Sidonie to begin rehearsals for Buddy. I was on the job hunt again, and amidst all of that, we managed to decorate our apartment! I love decorating with you Sid!

I got a job playing Tom in The Glass Menagerie.

Unfortunately, this job meant that I had to tour! ;(

My apartment on wheels!

We've treasured the moments we've had together since I've been on tour, and we have both learned to value one another even more than we previously did! For out two week Christmas break, we decided to take a vacation to London!

Neither of us had been to London, and we had an absolutely marvelous time relaxing, being together, and seeing lots of theatre! This is Sidonie with the London star of Sister Act: Patina Miller.

We also got to see many of the very cool London sights: behind Sidonie are the London Eye (Ferris Wheel), Big Ben, and Parliament!

We also walked over the river to see Shakespeare's Globe Theatre! Surreal!

We walked through Hyde Park...

peeped the Queen's digs,

And saw a show in the theatre where Buddy played in London!

Speaking of Buddy, Sidonie show opened just as my rehearsals for my tour began!

She was fabulous in the show and fierce at the premier after party!

The Buddy Premier party lasted well into the night (we're starting to fade here! ;)

At one of Sidonie's Buddy events, there was the possibility to dress up at have your picture taken "as Buddy!" Who could have resisted? ;)

Valentine's Day 2010. I got to come home for Valentine's Day this year which was a bit of a surprise! We had a great time at our favorite restaurant just being together!

Happy 4th anniversary, my Love! I look forward to spending many, many more years with you by my side. I'm so thankful for the gift of you! With all my love.

Weeks 12, 11, 10, and my Birthday!

2010-05-01T16:55:00.014+02:00

So, things have been quite busy on the work front. We're not really having any more shows to do, but there have been some mishaps with sound equipment (my area of responsibility on tour) which I've had to deal with, and we've had to move accommodations MUCH more frequently than before Easter. Anyone who has lived on the road knows from experience how difficult this aspect of touring is! We went from 2-4 weeks in each accommodation to practically two accommodations per week! That bit's been a bit crazy, but it'll be alright.

I've only got 9 more weeks of tour left - hard to believe! I also have two long weekends during that time, and I'll get to spend those with Sidonie :D On the audition front, Sidonie has another audition coming up in a couple weeks in HH. We're both waiting to hear about an audition that we've both applied for (requested an audition slot for.) And I'm in the process of applying for another audtion which would happen in early June. We'll keep you posted when we know any concrete news!

Because my birthday fell on a Tuesday this year, Sidonie was not only off the day of my birthday but also the day before, so she came to visit me in Brühl, a little town near Köln, for my birthday! She got to come in the afternoon before and we walked around Köln together before having a very yummy birthday dinner out at an Arabian restaurant (that we'll take any of you to who come visit!) It was delicious! After our shows on my birthday, Sidonie and I got to come back to our accommodation there in Brühl and relax together. She got me the DVD of the Disney musical The Princess and The Frog for my birthday, so we watched that together and just had an all around relaxing afternoon and evening! She went back home to Essen the following morning. It was a wonderful birthday!

Just before I headed back to tour, the weather finally decided to warm up and the sun showed its face in earnest. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the weather in the park just behind Sidonie's theatre!

One of the first places we visited was Monschau. We didn't actually perform in this little "village" in the valley, but it was very near where we performed, and our contact teacher gave us the heads up that it was beautiful...

...she was right!

As you can see, in the building of Monschau, they weren't terribly concerned with houses being perfectly square! I took lots of pictures of houses like these - I knew you'd get a kick out of this Pop!

Sidonie and I took pictures of the Köln Cathedral on the evening we were there walking around - it's very well lit at night, as you can see!

The next cool place we visited is called Aachen. It's a very old town with plenty of legends to go with its age!

The legend of how the beautiful Cathedral of Aachen was paid for by the devil in exchange for the soul of the first mortal to enter the Cathedral after its completion can be read here. And yes, I felt, and the devil's thumb is still there caught in the door where he slammed it after being tricked by the cunning people of Aachen!

Side view of the Aachen Cathedral.

After Aachen, we moved to a VERY small town called Nettersheim. There was ONE train platform, and a train that ran once an hour - during the day!!! There was, however, plenty of beautiful nature to enjoy/photograph!

Our landlady in Nettersheim was my favorite so far! She was so sweet and helpful. She also had a very cute puppy named Temo (which I somehow neglected to take a picture of...) She asked me questions every day about English. She's 70 years old and says that her parents didn't want her to go to school more than was required because they wanted her to work, so she didn't get to learn English, and she says she's too old now, but I told her it's never too late! When I told her I was going on a walk one afternoon, she told me about this beautiful path through the forest and around the mountain!

Among all the beautiful creation was this odd little stump with a chair carved into it!

Just around this bend was a path that climbed up to a spectacular view...

...of the whole of the valley!

Here's the sign for the climb up to the view. The Eifel is the area of Germany that we were in, and Blick means view, so this sign advertises a view of the entire Eifel valley! (I wasn't disappointed!)

The next stop on our tour was Luxemburg! This tiny little country, which makes the fourth European country we've performed in, is situated both geographically and linguistically between France and Germany. Most people there speak both French and German as well as their own Luxemburgian which sounds to me like a mixture of the two! This is a view of Luxemburg from the courtyard of our flat just across the river in Germany.

The River "Sauer" which divides the two countries at this point.

On my walk, I found a beautiful tourist trail up a mountain.

There were lots of pretty things to see and photograph! ;)

Lots of Cherry Trees blooming.

I just liked this one, so I figured I'd share :)

Here are some pretty flowers for you to enjoy! Spring has arrived!

After our show in Luxemburg, (which went very well - the kids asked very intelligent questions afterwards) we went walking around! We ran across a Finnish street performer doing push-ups on this thumbs...

...and flipping over people and chains - I love the reaction of his audience volunteer on the left!

We also saw some very pretty buildings and bridges.

These flags were displayed on an old casement of the castle there in Luxemburg city.

Last, but certainly not least, I had to include this picture because this sign made me stop in my tracks laughing!

Love and Hugs to you all! Until next time :D

Catching up...

2010-04-11T21:28:00.009+02:00

First off, sorry for the long lapse in posts... Between not having strong enough internet connections and having so much to do/prepare for, I've neglected my blog.

Here's the quick run down:

Sidonie's audition went very well! My audition in HH also went well, and I got an invitation to another round of (show-specific) auditions over Easter break! So, I ended up having an audition in Amsterdam the first week of Easter Break and an audition in HH the second week of Easter Break! Sidonie also had a show-specific audition in HH during the first week of Break. They all went well, and Sidonie and I are both waiting to hear. I finally had my driving test and passed with 0 errors! Woohoo! I have my official German Driver's License complete with (non-smiling) passport photo. You're not allowed to smile for your passport photos in Germay... :/ Also over our two week Easter Break, Sidonie had her upper right wisdom tooth out! She's been having some serious mouth pain off and on for about a month, and she's been to several dentist offices and gotten several (conflicting) opinions as to the cause and potential solutions for the problem. Long story short, after an emergency Dr. visit, we ended up getting the one tooth pulled. We're just trusting that this will take care of the pain! I'm back in Soest now, and we'll begin performances again tomorrow. We have 12 weeks remaining on tour. Sidonie and I are in the midst of planning for our US trip this year, and we'll keep you posted as to when we may be in your area! ;) Now for some pictures...

Bad Iburg: as you can see, we lived directly across the street from a CASTLE! It was very cool - although there was very little else to do in the entire town!

View of Bad Iburg from the hill on which the castle sits

This is the inside of a Cathedral in Hamm - my colleagues thought it would be very exciting to eat a Ham sandwich in Hamm, so they did. It was less exciting than they thought it would be;)

The Cathedral in Xanten (pronounced Zan-ten) was very pretty!

Another steeple in Xanten.

After my audition in Amsterdam, I did some sightseeing!

The large Cathedral in downtown Amsterdam.

Very prevalent in Amsterdam are Sex Shops - I just took a picture of the sign to show you that this establishment really exists! The air in this part of the city was thick, and I do mean thick with Marijuana smoke - uck! It stank so badly and had so many unsavory stores that I quickly left for more beautiful and historical parts of the city.

I got to visit the hiding place of Anne Frank and her family. It was very moving, but we weren't allowed to take photos or video inside the museum, so this is a sign on the door going in ;)

The view in front of the Anne Frank House (which has changed very little in the 60+ years since Anne lived there.)

While the majority of written signs in Holland are in English and Dutch, and practically everyone there speaks English well, it was nice to find that I could read and understand about 90% of all the Dutch I read because of its close similarity with German - listening comprehension, however, was an entirely different matter!!!

In addition to the Anne Frank House, I got to visit the Van Gogh Museum! It was AWESOME! Not only is the building stock full of original Van Goghs, but there are also several paintings by his contemporaries including one by Manet and two by Monet! I absolutely loved it!

.Again, of course, no photos are allowed inside the museum, but they have these larger than life prints on the wall outside so you can enjoy them as you wait in line!

Love and hugs - I'll try to be a more frequent blogger now that I've finished with this set of auditions and am back on the road! :D

Essen to Berlin to Hamburg to Essen in a weekend!

2010-02-20T22:30:00.013+01:00

Hiya folks! Thought I would give you a quick update on things here. I had my audition for Stage Entertainment on Tuesday, and it went well! It has been quite the interesting time trying to get my driving test taken care of, so I've not done that yet...hope to be allowed to within the next couple of weeks. Sidonie is doing well, and she's getting ready for her trip to Hamburg tomorrow. I've still been able to come home over the weekends which is very nice! I don't know how far I'll be away when we change accommodations on the 26th, but hope to be able to come home some then as well. OK, so that's the summary. Here are some details:

I was originally supposed to audition in Berlin on the 12th, but then realized that I had mixed up the days we had off, and we were working on the the 12th. I then looked online and found that we had the 16th free and there was an audition in HH on that day. I decided to still take the trip with my colleagues up to Berlin so as to see other colleagues, and our friends Janin and Sven there in Berlin. I got to spend Saturday and Sunday with Janin and Sven who showed me all over Berlin (we took a 7 hour walking tour which was only interrupted long enough to get something to eat!) We were exhausted by the end, but I had so much fun seeing everything! (I'll put some pictures of our tour on a bit later.) On Sunday we looked at a couple other things, none of which were open/had tickets available, but we had fun anyway. Then we relaxed at their apt and watched a couple movies! It was a fun couple of days!

On Monday I took the bus from Berlin to Hamburg, and stayed with our friends Bettina,Tim and Lili! I had my audition for Stage Entertainment on Tuesday morning. It started with a fun little dance combination and then we got slots for our singing call. I wanted to do this open call because the role I'm interested in for next year is a falsetto role, and I've never done any falsetto songs for them. It went very well! The casting director said after my song: "Well, THAT was falsetto!" He then asked me for a high belt song - which I didn't have with me. The music director said to just vocalize with the piano. He said to start with an F. I thought - an F? Well, I won't have too far to go (my comfortable top is a G/G#.) I determined to just sing and not try to count and see which note I was on as that would only make me nervous. After I'd finished, the casting director asked the pianist what note that was and he said Bb! WHAT THE HECK? Well, thank you Lord for that supernatural note! Because this audition was just an open call, it's not terribly likely that there will be any job offers or even call back offers from it (although the latter is possible,) but it was a great opportunity to show them an aspect of my skill set that they hadn't seen yet, and to remind them that I'm still interested in working for them. :)

As far as my license goes...Let's suffice it to say that German bureaucracy is well entrenched and the paperwork necessary for ANYTHING to happen here seems to have no end! I had to take a trip to Soest after one of our shows to go to an office there and submit an official request to be allowed to take the driving test ?!? That paperwork required me to be there so I could show my passport and US driver's license. The paperwork was sent to an office in Berlin and will take about 3 weeks to complete. Once it is sent to the driving school, I can call them to set up an appointment to take the driving test. Once I take the test, I have to bring that paperwork with me BACK to Soest where I receive a document which allows me to drive here. I will then receive my official German driver's license in the mail...!!!!!!!!! All that, AND I have to surrender my US license. After research, however, we found that we could still drive in the States (when we come to visit) with just our passport for a month at a time! Phew! What a long and arduous process! On the positive side, I should be WELL prepared to take the test when the time FINALLY comes to take it!

Sidonie and I have really enjoyed being so near one another and being able to see each other every weekend - it's been very nice! We're hoping that my new accommodation near Düsseldorf will also allow me to come home for the weekends. In other Sidonie news, she is heading up to Hamburg tomorrow for an audition. I won't be able to make this round of auditions for this company, but I'll be able to catch another one in Amsterdam in late March as we have two weeks off for Easter break! In other random exciting news, I was asked to give a testimony at church today and did so in German! That's a first! The pastor also had us pray over the Church saying that we've been such a blessing to them here and not knowing how long we'll be here with our next job coming up, that he'd like it if we would just pray over the church. It was such a special time. We've met some wonderful people here, and are going to be sad to leave them when the time comes, but that is the journey God has us on right now. Get to know people for a year or so, and then move on to another place! We're so blessed to have made so many wonderful friends all over the world. We love and miss all of you that we're not with at the moment!

OK, now for some pics...

Sven and me (yes, he is that tall) in front of the Richstag (Parliament.) We would have gone in, but the wait was HOURS long - um...no thanks! The Richstag was re-built after the war because when Hitler took power, he burnt it because it represented a democratic government, then during the war it was further destroyed by bombings. the exterior portions were able to be saved, and the re-build just built around the salvageable portions, so now the building is partially old and partially new!

This is the Rote Rathaus (Red City Hall.) It is so called because during the time of W and E Berlin, there were two city halls, and to distinguish between the two, this one was called the red one! It now serves as the city hall for all of Berlin and still goes by the name Rote Rathaus.

A bit of the river Spree with the Berliner Dom (cathedral) in the background.

Berliner Dom (with the famous TV tower in the background.) The Dom survived the war, so it's actually old, whereas many of the structures in Berlin have been re-built to resemble their older yet sadly destroyed predecessors! The ball of the TV tower turns a full 360 every hour, so those dining in the restaurant contained within the ball are given a full bird's eye view of Berlin every hour!

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SOME ADDITIONAL PICTURES HAVE JUST BEEN ADDED - FROM MY PENTAX WHICH WASN'T WITH ME WHEN I FIRST POSTED THIS! ;)
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A cool 3D painting in our flat here in Essen.

Monument in Berlin.

A very old map - you can still see the black line crossing the Spree which divided E from W Berlin!

The German version of the White House.

Janin and Sven (yes she is that much shorter than him!)

Brandenburger Tor: the oldest structure in Berlin! Notice how the center passage is a bit wider - it was for the king. The two passages to the left were exits and the two to the right were entrances (for non-royals, of course!)

Train station.

Holocaust memorial.

Every one of these pillars is a different height: representing the various people whose lives were taken senselessly in the Holocaust.

Here's a bit of home - the US Embassy!

Notice the different colored spots in the stone? These were little pock marks caused by explosions at the end of the war. Rather than re-build buildings with damage like this, they just filled the holes with cement and called it good. You can find them all over downtown.

This is one of the cars from E Berlin - they were the only cars available for purchase, and there was a waiting list of many years to purchase one!

Portions of the Berlin wall which used to divide E from W Berlin.

Me in front of a portion of the wall which is still standing as a memorial.

Checkpoint Charlie - where the US and Russian sectors met after the war.

I couldn't help myself! This is a more recent picture of my BEAUTIFUL niece, Harper! Don't I make pretty nieces? ;) I can't wait to meet her!

Love and Hugs!

If April showers bring May flowers...

2010-01-31T19:36:00.009+01:00

...what does January snow bring?

That's right folks, snow, and lots of it (by Floridian standards anyway!) The Germans tend to agree that this winter has seen unprecedentedly large amounts of the white stuff. We've not had more than about 4 inches on the ground at once, but we've had that amount regularly for practically every week of the winter so far! Pretty until it all turns to dirty snow mud ("Schnee Mansch" in German!)

In addition to walking/slipping/falling through the snow/Schnee Manch/ice, I'm also studying for my German driving test. Because I'm an official German resident and have been for more than a year, I have to get a German license to continue driving for my company. Thankfully, I can take the test in English (technical German is beyond my speech level at this point!) The test, however, seems to have been translated by a German who did well in English class, and not by a native speaker...let's just say that sometimes I look at my study book and tilt my head, wondering what in the world they could have intended to say... :D I hope to be ready to take the test at the end of this week...I'm working very hard to get all the info in my head - you can only miss 2 of 30 questions on the test and the questions that are not FITB have between 3 and 9 possible answers - one of which incorrect causes the entire question to be counted wrong! PRAY! I'll keep you posted on how it goes after I take it.

In addition, I'm in the process of preparing for the open call for Stage Entertainment (the company that produces Sidonie's show.) An open call (for those non-actors out there) is an opportunity to audition for the entire range of shows produced by the company. The auditionees will be considered for open roles in all the shows Stage Entertainment produces, nationwide. I'm excited about it, and am preparing a new song that I've never done before (there's a particular role I'm interested in, so I'm singing a similar song to the one he sings.) I've wanted to sing "I (Who Have Nothing)" from Smokey Joe's Cafe since doing the show seven years ago, so I'm excited to be working on it! My audition is on the 12th in Berlin (we'll be performing near there at that time.) I'll keep you posted on how that goes as well!

In other fun news, we just had a wonderful week with a good friend from FL! Julie May came over and got to spend the entire week with Sidonie! I got to see her a bit last Sunday when she came in, and spent this past weekend with her and Sidonie. We had loads of fun! YAY for American friends visiting!!! We'd welcome more visitors...hint, hint! ;P

OK, now for the random smattering of photos from this past month...

The owner of a small woodwinds shop I found in Köln - very cool shop!

A whole case of handmade wooden flutes of all different types - I wanted to play them so badly, but he was just about to close...:( At least I got pictures!

I thought these Clarinets were beautiful!

Holzblasinstrumente: Woodwind Instruments.

Also while in Köln, I found a beautiful little chapel called Groß St. Martin - literally "Big St. Martin!" They had a brief history translated into English, so here you go!

Groß St. Martin

A pretty and quaint little side street in Köln.

On the side street, I found this really nifty little English Book and Tea store! They had both new and used books in the English language. I could have stayed in there for hours!

But, I need to go see this! This is a window of the Kölner Dom (Köln's Cathedral.) This is the most famous attraction in Köln, and it is HUGE, and quite impressively beautiful!

I think my favorite part was the stained glass casting colors on the walls inside the cathedral. Absolutely gorgeous!

This is the main hall of the Cathedral.

Artsy fartzy picture I took while sitting down to pray. The kneeling benches were made of wood - not the soft padded ones I've seen in Catholic churches in the states!

Look - it's me at the Kölner Dom!

I think my favorite aspect of the exterior were the gargoyles! It reminded me of Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dam! These gargozles were "drooling" icicles!!! SO funny!

Exterior view of the Dom.

More of the same from a different side.

They had the list of services in German and English.

I'll give you one guess as to who the statue on the right represents! ;)

A pretty frozen lake! Woohoo!

More of the lake!

The musical Hairspray plays in Köln!

A couple more parting shots of the Kölner Dom.

Love and Hugs to you all!

This and That

2010-01-23T22:01:00.003+01:00

Hi folks!

There's not really a whole lot to share, as things are in a bit of a groove at the moment! I don't really have many new pictures since last time because we've been in central Germany which was bombed pretty badly during the war, so there aren't really any cool old buildings to take pictures of ;) But never fear, I'll find more beautiful photo-ops before then end of this tour!

My company and I have been in Duisburg for the entire month of January, and we'll be there through February 8th. After that, we'll be heading to Essen for a couple weeks. This is good news because Duisburg is a short train ride home to Essen, and when we're here I'll just have to take local transport to come home! It's been very nice to get to see Sidonie every weekend! We really miss each other when I'm on the road. We're praying that next year God will bless us with great jobs IN THE SAME CITY (preferably in the same show!)

Speaking of next year, we have auditions coming up for several different things. You can keep us in your prayers that we'll both get great offers from these auditions, and that we'll be able to get into the same show for next year! I have auditions on the 12th of February in Berlin. These are "open auditions" which means that the company is considering auditionees for all the shows they produce. This includes shows like Wicked, Sister Act, Tarzan, and many others. Sidonie is going to audition later in the month (the 24th I believe) as they are bringing the auditions to her theatre here in Essen (unfortunately, I'll be in a different city at that point!) Sidonie also has an audition earlier in the month for the lead in another show, and I'm waiting to hear about an audition for a new German translation of Into the Woods.

We're both steadily working on our German language skills, developing relationships with our colleagues and other German friends, and enjoying every moment we havetogether. One thing that being in different cities certainly teaches you is to appreciate the time you have together! We miss all of you and look forward to hearing how things are with you!

Love and Hugs!

And To All a Good Night (Part 2)

2010-01-04T15:30:00.010+01:00

So, here are the additional London pictures, as promised. Enjoy!

There were lots of memorials on our way to Trafalger Sq. This was one of them for women involved in WWII.

Trafalger Sq!

False advertising! No such thing exists!

One of the famous London double-decker busses!

Sidonie laughed at my ability to capture the moon, Big Ben, and the London Eye all in one night shot!

Big Ben at night!

Westminster Abby from the rear.

Houses of Parliament.

Although I'm not at all interested in going into politics, this is a pretty swank building on the list of "buildings to work in as a politician!"

Outside the Houses Of Parliament was this statue of Winston Churchill! Cool, huh?

On our way to St. Paul's Cathedreal (where Charles and Diana got married.)

St. Paul's!

Behind St. Paul's was a cool statue of John Wesley.

The front of St. Paul's.

In case you can't tell, we walked all the way around St. Paul's ;)

Some pretty architecture near St. Paul's.

Sidonie on London Bridge (which, thankfully, didn't fall down!)

Me on London Bridge with Tower Bridge in the background!

The famous Tower Bridge!

The Tower of London.

When we got to the Tower Bridge itself... :D

"Mind the Gap" is a phrase one hears quite frequently when taking the London metro (or Tube as they call it.) They don't really mean that there's a gap at all, but simply that there's a slight step down from the train to the platform. Then again, I suppose "Mind the Slight Step Down as You Exit the Train" doesn't have the same ring...

Another funny (but very helpful) sign. This "Look Right" and "Look Left" is painted all over intersections downtown for tourists from the rest of the world where we drive on the other side of the road (and, hence, look in the other direction first before we cross the street!)

Sidonie got to go shopping for some new winter clothes as part of her Christmas - here is most of the outfit she got! Very cute, huh? I'm in love with her!

Guess which musical theatre character I am...

Now? (David Hasselhoff was not harmed in the taking of these photos.)

I think I could use a shave. Maybe I'll get one here at this Barber's Shop on...

FLEET STREET! OK, maybe not...

Here we are on Fleet Street!

For those non-musical theatre enthusiasts, Fleet Street is the real life place where the fictional story of Sweeny Todd takes place, and look what we found on Fleet Street...that's right! A barber shop on the second floor above a cafe called EAT! Just like in Sweeny (Yes, we know we're musical theatre nerds for taking/posting these photos, but we're OK with that! ;)

Hope you enjoyed the second installment in my series. Until next time (which will hopefully be sooner than later!)