Germany's Celebration

Mike Meyer's SNL character Dieter from "Sprockets" didn't do anything to lift the staid image of the German volk. But beneath whatever crisp exterior really exists in the Deutsch, lies a fun-loving, happy and kooky persona.

Enjoy some pics from the lastest celebration following Germany's nail-biting win over Argentina.

Cheers!

Vienna

Vienna. What a rockin’ town. (I’m playing air guitar with Strauss).

In fact, I’d say that Vienna is easily one of the most livable cities I’ve ever visited. It had charm. It had history. It had Mozart drunkenly leering at ladies and peeing his name in the snowy streets. My kind of town.

Seriously, the town was great and very much worth the visit. It is the essence of the word charm. For the first couple minutes, I felt like I had to go to finishing school just to walk around. Then I saw the rollerbladers.

To add to the charm, it had an oddly disproportionate amount of palaces and pomp for a country slightly smaller than Maine. But that was due to those Ka-razy Habsburgs who ruled half of Europe for the better part of 500 years.

During that time, they set up some of the most beautiful royal grounds in Europe, complete with gardens, statues, fountains, strolling grounds, and, of course, hedge mazes. These are now all open to the public to get lost in.

Here I'm at the Brunn part of the Schönbrunn Palace posing like Arnold, an Austrian often mistaken for being a German.


And here you can see my bowel reaction after drinking the water from Slovakia on the previous day. Unlike Bratislava, the water in Austria is very good and safe to drink - the best in all of Europe they say.

The town also had a popular and touristy shopping area that had all the glammer and glitz of Chicago's fancy-pants Magnificient Mile. Das über cool!

The funny thing about Austrians is that they speak German, look German and are often mistaken as Germans (Adolf, Freud, Mozart, and Porsche – they’re all Austrians). But, unlike the Germans, these volk prefer schnitzel to sausage and wine to beer. They also don’t have as many rules as the Germans. Which is good. The one odd rule they do keep, though, is that grass is sacred and anyone who sets foot on public grass is immediately shot through the chest with a laser beam. Scary.

So, as you can see, instead of stepping on the grass, Kate tried eating the beautiful foliage. Unfortunately, it affected her allergies.







But we did a little too much walking than was healthy, as Kate's frizzy hair and swollen hands could attest to. The exhaustion was nothing that a coffee (melange) and a apple küchen couldn't cure. The only sad part was that we didn't have more time....to take more pictures of Kate's hair.

Pics of Bratislava

I think I hit the max on the number of pics I can post, so here are some more.

Cheers!

Bratislava

Ah, Eastern Europe. Although once home to communism and oppression, Eastern Europe is now known widely throughout the world as the place where college students get tortured and murdered. Luckily, when Kate and I went to Bratislava this past weekend, we survived (the locals must have smelled that we graduated).

Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and home to cheap beer and cheap women. Although these two tonics are usually sold separately, you can readily find both in any corner pub. Taking advantage of both are the Brits. Yes, the Brits, who might as well hoist a flag up on the main square because they have completely fallen in love with this town.

Although only located only 40 km down the Danube from Vienna, this town shares little with the Austrian capital. Previously, the only thing I knew about Slovakia is that the nice, industrious lady (who is not an obstinate old cow) who lives down the street from my mother claims to be Slovakian. But on this trip I learned:

1) The language needs more vowels.
2) The word “backwater” can describe the town in so many ways.
3) Eastern Europe gets HOT in the summer.
4) Air conditioning never caught on outside of the States.

The last two things I learned should describe the majority of the pictures shown. In most of them, Kate asked before I took the picture if I could see her armpit sweat. “No, honey. Of course not,” I fibbed.

Each time she believed me.

This picture shows a bad attempt to portray exhaustion after climbing up to the town’s castle, which sits on a high bluff overlooking the Danube.

Ands this next one appears to be a medieval musical instrument only used at raunchy Eastern European parties where Stolichnaya runs as freely as my bowels after drinking the local water.

In all, Slovakia was good. If I were a single Brit looking for cheap beer and cheaper women, it may have been better. But, I’ll settle for avoiding torture any day.

Rick and schnitzel, a perfect pair

In case you have missed our oh-so-subtle hints, we LOVE visitors. Unfortunately, after viewing the pictures in this post, you may choose not to come so as to avoid imminent web-humiliation. That said, we had our second (Rob and Eric count as one) "house" guest yesterday (we are still in the hotel). Rick came to visit!!!

Rick is a college/Chicago friend who had a one-day layover in Frankfurt on his way to India. He is visiting India for three weeks, and we are very jealous of his trip. I feel a little silly being jealous of a trip to India since we do live in Europe, but I am envious none the less.

Though his time here was short, Rick arrived with a list of things he wanted to do in Germany. We managed to accomplish everything on his list. This was the list as he presented it to me.

1) Get licked by Pecos
2) Watch some World Cup soccer (on a screen)
3) Eat a pretzel
4) Look at shoe stores
5) Sit outside at a cafe and enjoy a pastry and coffee
6) Help us carry a new set of table and chairs for our balcony
7) Have a German beer
8) Eat an insane amount of wiener schnitzel
9) Make himself sick on wiener schnitzel
10) Eat some Ritter sport (a German chocolate bar)
11) Watch commercials on Armed Forces Network (they're all aimed at public service)
12) Have a marvelous hotel breakfast
13) See our new apartment from the outside
14) Make his flight to India

Below is evidence of numbers 7-9 on the above list.


























































P.S. We like comments. They make us feel loved and let us know that people actually read our blog.

Italy vs. USA

Drunken, bawdy, rowdy, and loud,
Those Italian fans were certainly proud.
They watched the game and let out some cheers,
No one can say they weren't fueled by the beers,
Which they rose with gusto and flair and force,
By the end of the night, their voices were hoarse.
They thought they'd triumph without even a scratch,
But the Americans presented quite the match.
So despite their unruly and disorderly ways,
Their passion didn't help the way their team played,
For the final end score was one point to one,
With the Italian team scoring for both teams, what fun!
So the Americans, for whom certain death was wrought,
Now have another chance to lose to the lot,
Which will certainly come, as the team's such a goner
That we'll probably lose to the players from Ghana.
But at least we can say we weren't mangled up,
And have yet another game in this awesome World Cup.

Roadtrip: Bacharach

Roadtrip time!

The Rhein river valley in Germany offers dozens of quaint towns, each with its own unique charm and, of course, wine. Today we went to one of the more famous towns, Bacharach, named for Bacchus, the ancient Roman god of wine.

Although I've wanted to go to this medieval walled town only meters from the river's banks for a while - ever since I heard Rick Steves say it's his favorite town in Germany - this was the weekend to do it. It was wine fest weekend.

But today, the old buildings, which date back to the time of the dinosaurs I think, and the Rhine river, which once splashed up against the medieval walls, were the only attractions, as we were a couple hours early for the wine. However, Pecos and Kate and I enjoyed the town just the same.

Pecos saved some rocks (Rhein steins) from drowning and then bowed down in servitude to the holy god Bacchus.

We then hiked up the mountain to the old castle, which overlooks the wine valley, to get a good view of the town. But what we found was even better: a ping-pong table made from stone! I was astounded.

The "ground" in the castle grounds was also stone, which was very neat. You could see that there were obviously stairs carved a thousand years ago (as you can see from our shot) but mother nature has eroded them over time.

We finished our trip with a vegetarian Döner kebap picnic in the park and took some awesome pics of Pec. Seriously, they were awesome. He should be with Tyra on that model show.

As always, Pec pics can be found on our shutterfly account in the June 2006 folder. (Here's a preview). Ask for the info if you don't have it.

Tonight is Italy vs. USA. (Maybe we'll have some wine then). Pics of rowdy Italians coming up soon!

Silent patriotism

Yeah, so I totally flubbed the Saudi Arabia thing. But while you, my dear readers, were all quick to point out my utter lack of knowledge about soccer (which, I might add, many of you didn't even know that the World Cup had started. Yes, you can admit it. This is a safe zone ... ) no one has been able to identify the flag that I did post. 10 points and a scoop of pistachio ice cream for the first person to name the country.

Kate and I took advantage of being American today, eating a hunka hunka Baskin Robbins on base and watching the movie, "The Break-Up" on the big screen for $4 each.

Tomorrow is a wine fest in Bacharach - Rick Steves' favorite town in Germany - followed by the donning of patriotic, red-white-and-blue apparel while we sit at a crowded, outdoor Italian restaurant, eating Italian food, and being encircled by baudy, drunken Italian soccer fans, trying not to get our asses kicked. Yes, we're asking for trouble. Will we be justified in cheering? Probably...assuming the U.S. actually scores this time. Will we actually cheer? If we want to provoke a kick in the groin.

It's silent patriotism.

Here's a picture of Kate not posing correctly.

And we successfully had our first "house" guests stay for two nights this week. (House is in quotes because, yes, we still live in a hotel.) Ladies' Man Rob Homeyer and his Soldier/frat brother Eric Thies successfully survived two days of Pecos licking. What hospitality!

You could be next, you know. Book your tickets now for a good face-licking.

Here's a pic of our guests and us together, at a good Bavarian place. They had schnitzel - we had veggie dishes. And we all had beer.

Below is another pic of Rob. I don't know which is curiouser: Rob or the little Euro car.

Vienna and Bratislava next week. Pics to follow.

World Cup fever and strawberries

World Cup fever has spread like the legs of a prom date. Country flags are proudly displayed in every nook and from every vertical surface available - and not just German and Brazilian flags. In addition to the popular soccer-country flags and even in addition to the rarely seen flags of countries whose main exports are dirt and flies (e.g., Cote de Ivore, Ghana, and Angola), I saw flags of teams not even in the tournament. I'm talking about the Saudi Arabian flag and even this one:

This weekend also marks the height of strawberry season in this part of Germany. There are strawberries everywhere; so much so that the Germans don't know what to do with them all, so they're resorting to putting them in random places that don't normally have strawberries, like with anchovies on pizza and, as this picture shows, in champagne. I think I saw a German strawberry merchant use them for fish bate.

There's also a local fest going on in Wiesbaden this weekend. Apparently after 11 p.m., local fests turn into social affairs for 16-year-olds girls with lax parents who don't mind them drinking in public. Here's a pic that I took inconspicuously (you can tell by the odd angle).

Anyway, all is good here. Just another pointless excuse to publish photos.

Also, notice the name of the imbiss in the first pic. Classic.

More pictures of the damn dog

Well, as luck would have it, the nomadic Sandpeople came rolling into town to watch some World Cup soccer (they root for Brazil, just like everyone else) and they brought with them their new recruits - including Pecos.

So, we captured him (literally - see the picture) and tried to re-acclimate him to normal life. But, his heart was still apparently with the nomadic way of life. He muttered something about searching for Zion.

Anyway, he's back. More World Cup news to follow.

Hiking in Germany

It was ka-ka-ka-ka cold in the mountain tops of Central Germany this weekend. Probably reaching a high of about 55 degrees, with the wind bringing it down to the mid-40s. But the mossy stumps and dappling sunlight bouncing off the numerous spruce, fir, and beech trees that dominate the upper-storey of the local Taunus mountains made for a magical forest adventure. I swore I saw a gnome.

Down in the valley of Wiesbaden, however, the weather is nicer and the gnomes are fewer (save the dreaded underwear gnomes!).

Last night was pizza, champagne, and a movie. Tonight is Indian cuisine. It's not bad living. Book your tix today! We'll even take you for a ride in our new car, the Ford Ka, which we'll buy in a couple weeks. This is its actual size.

Run-away pooch

Due to the protestations following Pecos's most recent display of liberation, the usually happy dog has become inward and focused on his spiritual self. As a result of this contemplation, he converted to the fundamental religion of the Sandpeople, who owe their fame to the Star Wars movies.

After conversion, the shamed pooch joined a fundamentalist Sandpeople league and has fled Wiesbaden.

This is the last known picture of the Texas hound. If you or anyone you know has any information on his whereabouts, please contact the nearest police station. He could be armed and dangerous.

Pecos is a Brat-islavian

Well, Pecos isn't actually Bratislavian, but Justin and I are heading to Bratislava at the end of the month. In case you're as geographically ignorant as I am, Bratislava is the captial of Slokavia. A hop, skip, and a jump away from Bratislava is Vienna, the capital of Austria. Bratislava and Vienna are the two closest national capitals in the world, at least I think that's what Justin told me.

In other exciting news, I drove in Germany for the first time today. This may seem not-so-exciting to most, but for me it was a big deal. Now we just have to buy a car, and I'll be able to drive again.

I know this is a lame post, but I'm trying to post more frequently to keep our ever-growing fan base happy. I also threw in a Pecos pick to appease his fans.