WASHINGTON–Think you’ve got big plans for Memorial Day? You’ve got nothing on Reps. Russ Carnahan, D-St. Louis, and John Shimkus, R-Collinsville.

Both have signed up for European get-aways during next week’s Memorial Day recess (or “district work period,” as lawmakers prefer to call it.)

Okay, so they are work-related trips. Carnahan, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, has signed up for a seven-day congressional trip that starts in Slovenia, with a second stop in Italy. Glen Campbell, his spokesman, said the journey is part of a three-decades-old effort to foster “transatlantic dialogue” with key allies and Carnahan will be touring a U.S. Air Force base and attending a “major meeting” at the NATO allied command headquarters.

The Washington Post reported that the trip also featured a night at the Opera in Venice, but Campbell swore his boss has no tickets to that event.

Shimkus’ travel plans will take him to Berlin and Turkey. The Collinsville Republican is the top GOP member of Congress’ delegation to the NATO parliamentary assembly, which is holding its spring session in Berlin. In between various meetings, receptions, and the like, Shimkus will be taking a tour of the Berlin Wall, before heading to Turkey for meetings with government officials there.
Other area lawmakers’ have less glamorous plans. Sen. Christopher “Kit” Bond, R-Mo., plans an “energy tour” around Missouri. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., has booked time with her family, a speech in St. Louis to a drug court conference, and campaigning in Florida for presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.