Hi Shari,
Arnie skiing? So he must have recovered well from his recent hip surgery I read about in the news. I'm really looking forward to Terminator III, which is due this summer. Perhaps you can convince him to join our cruise, so Anja & me would have someone to talk German to

And this would then be the first time ever I asked someone for an autograph. Usually I'm not into autographs, but Arnie is so special
Fiona,
4 weeks in a row isn't the rule. We are only entitled to three weeks in a row, but I coordinated it with my colleagues and then it works. And I usually only do it every second year. 2001 we split our vacation 2x 1 week and 2x 2weeks plus some single days. Anja and me always want to keep the flight time and the vacation time in proportion: For one week we wouldn't fly more than 4 hours, for two not more than 8, and everything extending to more than 8 hours flight time requires at least 3 weeks.
And finally the large number of vacation days may be reduced in Germany within the next years, if the economy stays as bad as it is

Unfortunately it won't reduce the number of unemployed, when the people having a job work more, but that's how it goes.
For the time being I have 31 days, Anja has 30. 5 days equal a week, but you can stretch your vacation time by including holidays.: i.e. we included our Reunification Day in our Florida vacation to save a day. And additionally I can accumulate overtime on my time-account, but this can only be done at my company's discretion.
If your planning to park at the Port you should check out the Radisson Hotel: They offer a Cruise Special with a night before the cruise, a lunchbox, transportation to/from the ship and parking at the hotel. And you would meet a whole lot of well known -at least virtually- people.
Art & Cathy,
today we found a notice from our mailman. Perhaps it's your mail, Anja'll pick it up at the post office tomorrow. We'll keep you posted.