Burj Al Arab Hotel & Plam Island

Ray was able to visit the Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai.
From the sky lounge you can see the Palm Jumeirah...the man-made palm island behind him.

U.A.E.

Ray is in the United Arab Emirates from June 2008 till January 2009. He likes this deployment a little better than some of his others. He still works long hours, but it's not a harsh. He is still working on his masters and maintains a 4.0gpa...he's my hero! ;-)

Venice Italy

Ray toured Venice just before deploying to the United Arab Emirates in June.

Luxembourg

I LOVE LUXEMBOURG! This tiny country is absolutely beautiful! Not a speck of trash or anything distasteful anywhere in sight. The roads are excellent, the people are friendly and the pastoral scenery is breath-taking.

Belgium

We arrived in Arlon Belgium the day after the international gay and lessbian affair week. It was was sorta strange to see a heavy set man walking to breakfast in heels and a dress. Not too many folks out and about at 8am, so we were able to get a good cafe and we had the best cappuccinos in Belgium! They can sure make a good cup of coffee there!

The buildings were lovely and the sculpures were very interesting. I took a pic of a big owl guarding the entrance to a pharmacy...I thought Ginny would like it since she loves Owls.

Portugal

Portugal was lovely with nice beaches. Ray thought I would be able to talk to the locals, but Portugese sounds like russian to me. Some of the words have similar spelling to Spainish, but it sounds very different. They really like the splashy colors and modern architeture. It's a litlle too funch for me.

Germany

Ray and I went to Germany in May. It was BEAUTIFUL! We did wine tasting...beer drinking...sight seeing...rivering cruising...and of course some shopping. The coo-coo clocks are lovely. The coo-coo bird is a real bird in Germany that destroys eggs in another bird's nest and then leaves its own eggs in place of…for the other birds to care for and hatch. Interesting eh? Some clocks are very intricate and of course they are VERY expensive. Even the tiny-tiny cheap ones are close to $100. Big ones can go between $1000-$3000.

This one is about $1500.

We saw many beautiful, fairytale castles…and is that a princess I see?

Lets not forget the phenomenal beer! Oh yeah…it’s so much better than the beer in the U.S.

If you come to Europe...I recommend Germany!