Germany 2008: Berlin, part the first

Berlin was cool. I was really expecting to totally fall in love with it and want to marry it. A couple of things conspired to head that off at the pass, but I did fall in serious like with it.
Thing one was a nasty sinus infection. I get them every now and then thanks [...]

Autolust, part 2

About a month ago, I posted about wanting a new car to replace the Lumbering Beast. In some weeks of driving the new commute, I’ve determined that the Lumbering Beast gets approximately 19 mpg on the highway. That’s NOT good. It’s rated (in 2005 numbers) 17/21. It gets more like 15/19, though. I need to [...]

Germany 2008: Dresden

Dresden looks a little, um, run down on the way in on the train. Is this because it was in the East Germany? I don’t know. Maybe that’s just Dresden.
The Hotel Mercure was über-swanky. Upscale modern accomodations are always welcome. The teenagers were in awe. We were merely pleased.
Snow. Cold. Rain.
Bus tour of the [...]

Germany 2008: München

München is more Euro-feeling than Heidelberg for some reason. Nice and clean for a big city. Lots of weird internets + phone booth joints for, I am assuming, the immigrant population.
München Hauptbahnhof is BIG and cool. Excellent wurst and pommes. Lots of Germans wear the Jack Wolfskin products. Sorta like the German The North Face [...]

Germany 2008: day 1, Heidelberg

Generaly observation: Heidelberg is a tourist-y town. Hotel Ibis was nice. Euro-flavored, clean and comfortable. Bathrooms were quite small, but okay. Didn’t really see much of the town except for the area around the university. Photos to come.
Doesn’t yet feel very non-American yet (other than the speaking German all the time). I am haunted by [...]

Traveled.

I return, victorious, from my European conquest, whereupon I did indeed tour much of southern and eastern Germany (including the majestic formerly-walled city of Berlin) and managed to avoid doing any of the following to a teenager:

wring neck,
assault with a broken beer bottle, or
throw in front of (ubiquitous) speeding U Bahn Train.

I did:

call one (or [...]

The Jet Set

I reached into my wallet today to pay for lunch and realized the only cash I had on me was Euros.
Yes, I’m preparing to leave the good ol’ U.S. of A. and go to Germany. I’ll be gone all next week. Here’s hoping my housesitter doesn’t wreck the joint.
No posts until I get back, and [...]