Here is the link to our traditional Christmas family webpage The Pobanz Family Christmas 2008. We have now arrived in the US to visit family and look forward to sharing these special days with them. Happy Holidays to all our family and friends!

My father, Jimbo, through the years!

My brother, Jeff, through the years!

We just got back from a wonderful cruise that took us to several new countries in the Black Sea and a visit to the Holy Lands. It was an amazing experience, and we made it home safely with the exception of my ankle, which I will explain later. The itinerary was as follows:

Day 1: Piraeus, Greece
Day 2: Istanbul, Turkey
Day 3: Istanbul, Turkey
Day 4: Varna, Bulgaria
Day 5: Odessa, Ukraine
Day 6: Constanta, Romania
Day 7: At sea
Day 8: At sea
Day 9: Haifa, Israel
Day 10: Limassol, Cyprus
Day 11: Alexandria, Egypt
Day 12: At sea
Day 13: Piraeus, Greece

Here is a link to some family photos we took on the ship. Yes, I did not shave the entire time on the cruise, so I look horrible but the family looked so nice that I had to add them. I will post more pictures very soon. I am still trying to catch up at work and at home!

Yes, I am still alive! I have experienced a downfall of modern techonology, which has been defined as jet lag, jetlag, or jet-lag. Any way you spell it...it stinks! I am still trying to recover from it and so is my family. This round has been a bad one.

All this jet lag has been brought upon us as a result of returning from a trip to the USA where we had a blast. We experienced family, movies, Lagoon, eating out, the Frontrunner, loads of shopping, and my 20 year high school reunion all in 2 weeks.


The family at the Frankfurt airport

I have uploaded some pics from our trip here...

Well, it is the eve before our long trip to the USA. I am looking forward to spending time with family, catching the latest movies that don't hit Europe for a year, eating some unhealthy fast-food, and attending my 20 year high school reunion should be quite entertaining.

Jolyn and I had the opportunity to attend an event called the Basel Tattoo. No, this was not the tattoo event where people were getting their bodies painted. We are talking about the original meaning of the word:



Here are a few pics from the event:


Bret with the Rhein river in the background


Jolyn making her way through the crowds


One of the bands in formation

It was nice to do something a little different than what we normally do!

Well, what an eventful weekend. We have been down to Italy numerous times in the past and always seem to just drive by Milan on our way to some other destination. We decided to make a weekend excursion to see the famous mural painting "The Last Supper" at the Santa Maria delle Grazie and do a little bit of shopping in one of the most renowned world capitals of design and fashion.



Day 1: Shopping
The shopping went according to plan. In other words, there was a lot of looking and little buying - whew! With the likes of Gucci, Versace, Salvatore Ferragamo, Fratelli Rossetti, Etro, Loro Piana, Luis Vuitton, Prada, Valentino, Cartier, and Tanino Crisci, one could get into a lot of trouble financially. We had a riot people watching at all the various piazzas. We are sooo not in style. :)

Day 2: Church
We went to church today but not to our usual one. We were in the Santa Maria delle Grazie where "The Last Supper" and the lesser known "Crucifiction" by Giovanni Donato da Montorfano are. The funny part leading up to seeing these works of art is that unbeknownst to us, there are a zillion churches in Milan and the surrounding area named Santa Maria delle Grazie! The navi took us to some obscure church were we all thought that there was no way that the paintings were located there. Well, we were right and late for our pre-booked tour. A good, rather great Samaritan ended up driving and we followed him to the right church. We gave the staff the explanantion and they whisked us inside. We were amazed at the high level of security and the sectioned off doors leading to the 2 murals. Only 25 people are let in at a time, and you only have 15 minutes to admire paintings that you could study for days. It was a wonderful experience nonetheless. The painting is rich in symbolism with a multitude of references to the number 3 (Holy Trinity), from the 12 Apostles in groups of 3, to the number of windows in back of Christ. With the various detailed expressions depicted as a result of the news that one would betray Him, da Vinci makes "The Last Supper" a sight to remember.

My recommended links are:
The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci in high definition
The Crucifiction by Giovanni Donato da Montorfano

Our drive home proved to be quite entertaining as well. Instead of going through the Gotthard tunnel, we basically went on top of the Alps through the Gotthard pass, which coincidentally is not open for very long in any given year. With the traffic backed up for miles before the tunnel, the pass proved to be the right decision. It also turned out to be much more scenic - duh - a straight, dark tunnel through the Alps versus a windy, open road over the Alps.



We uploaded many pictures from the trip, which can be found by clicking here!