Hey Gang:  I just found a couple of Star Parties here in Europe.  Took a while but found out they call them "Teleskoptreffen" over here.  I'm going to one near Frankfurt, Germany, (in a town called Gedern) 1-4 May 2008.  here is the link:

http://www.teleskoptreffen.de/

Here is another one, in the Bernese Alps in Switzerland, from 29-31 August 2008.  This looks like a phenomenal location!

http://www.teleskoptreffen.ch/starparty/index.en.php

Will see if I can get a kitchen pass to do the one in Switzerland...  Its a bit expensive down there, but its only four or five hours drive from here.  What a great venue though!

I'm green with envy!

I just returned from the Vogelsberg International Star Party in Gedern, Germany, yesterday.  Gedern is about 40 kms NE of Frankfurt.  The party runs from 1-4 May, but I only went for the evening of 2-3 May, as I had other commitments.  This was my first visit.  I'd guess there were around 800 people a this shindig, from all walks of life.  Americans, Swiss, Dutch, lots of Germans, and many others.  Had one 30 inch Dob there, one 24 inch, a couple of 18 inch Dobs as well.  Guy camped next to me had a nice 11" Celestron Orange Tube on a nice motorized mount.  Lots of 8" Dobs, similar to my Orion, but made by GSO and marketed under the name "Galaxy".  It rained part of the day, but as the sun started to set, the clouds completely exited and we had a very clear sky.  The site is in a field, in a valley, surrounded by hills and completely secluded from roads.  No moon, really dark.  Really good seeing.  My first effort was to try and get a view of Mercury, at sundown.  I bunch of us gathered with our binoculars on a hill, trying to find it.  My new Celestron SkyScout was a hit, since we used it to determine where to look.  Unfortunately, it never cleared the glare of the sun.  Later, Thomas, a school teacher with his family who were camped next to me, helped me pick out M57, the Ring Nebula, in my scope, using my Nebula filter.  Amazing and unbelievable!  I really thought most Nebulas were best viewed in astrophotographs, but not this one.  It was shimmering, just lovely.  He also showed me M13 on his scope, as well as three galaxies in Leo.  For myself, I found M44 by accident while looking for M67 - I love surprise discoveries!  Then I found M67, which was just lovely, at 120x I could make out lanes in it.  The guy with the 11" SCT also had it, so we compared.  by 1 a.m., I was losing my battle with the dew on my Telrad and finder scope, so I packed it in.  Woke up at about 5:45 a.m., curled into a fetal position in my sleeping bag, half frozen.  I finally decided to get out of the bag and the tent to try to warm up.  When I got outside, there was ice on the tent!  It got that cold!  I stupidly brought my summerweight sleeping bag, though everyone else complained about the cold as well.  Anyway, after swapping star stories with my new friends for a while, I packed up and headed back home to Stuttgart.  It was great!

Great report Bondservant ! Like my last post here stated ! Green with envy! Sounds like the time of greatness . What a great experience . Thanks for posting . 

Thanks Astronig.  I'm hoping to get a kitchen pass for the one in the Alps.  I understand from the folks at this last star party that the seeing gets really good above 1700 meters.