Hotel Beth Needs an Upgrade

Interesting how my lack of posting could imply two totally opposite situations (nothing happening vs. too much happening). Luckily this pause is for the better of the two reasons. My mom and Molly have been in town for the past 2 weeks and we have been busy adventuring (well, they were adventuring, I was still working). It was a great visit, but it just went too quickly!!

They went all over Bavaria including Neuschwanstein castle and also down to Salzburg. Last weekend we all went on an adventure together to Straubing and then Nurnberg. What do you mean you haven't heard of Straubing?! Just another fault in the American school systems I guess. Ok ok, I'm absolutely kidding. In the train on the way, a guy asked us if he could join us on our Bavaria ticket (since you can take up to 5 people for the same price) and paid us. Then he talked the whole way there. Which in the end was a really good thing because the track was closed right before our stop so we had to switch to a bus, but of course this announcement was only made in German and I am definitely not that fluent yet. So a big thank you to Christoph for helping us make it to Straubing and for sharing his brownies.

We went to Straubing in hopes of seeing the "Dance with the Devil" display. Apparently this "artist" created this big display in the city center with 1,500 garden gnomes all making the Nazi salute. But of course we get all the way there only to discover that the display was taken down the Monday before. Oh well, at least we now know where to get the best Doner in Bavaria.

Then we went to Nurnberg which is the second largest city in Bavaria and it the lebkuchen capital of the planet. I LOVED Nurnberg. Every corner had a lebkuchen shop! I definitely need to go back there to see the rest of the city. It is a great mix between a medieval city and Munich. Oh and we found the best little chocolate shop where you can drink all sorts of amazing hot chocolates! And one of my favorite things in the city was the Marriage merry-go-round. It is actually a fountain/statue with what I am guessing is the pitfalls of marriage or something. I'll have to post pictures as it is indescribable.

Then before Mom and Molly left yesterday we did Christmas. So I get to play with my gifts for an extra 2 months! It was great. What can I say, having your mom around is always great. For example I discovered a bag of Halloween candy this morning (on Halloween) that she had hidden for me. Oh how I love peanut butter and chocolate (and my mom!).

Next week is the week of travel for me so hopefully I'll have some more good stories soon!

He Just Gave Up . . .

I don't know why I love this story as much as I do but, well . . . I just do. So today I got a call from my internet provider. The guy called and when I picked up and said, "hello" he said, "Oh do you speak English?" and I of course said "yes." Now at this point there was not an audible sigh, but I could actually feel the blood drain from his face. So he started off well, saying that he was from Alice and then asked if I had a handy (aka cell phone) and then proceeded to begin a little spiel about switching. However after about 2 sentences (for the record his English was very good and I was totally following) all of a sudden he just paused and then hung up! He actually hung up on me in the middle of his pitch. I couldn't believe it. All I could do was laugh. I mean he was doing so well and everything. Oh well, maybe tomorrow I'll get a telemarketer who let's me actually hang up on him.

Schützen-Festhalle (Again)

I had the fantastic opportunity to return to the Schützen-Festhalle tent at the Wiesn again today. I was invited by a colleague from the German OE to join him and some other reinsurance guys at the tent, so well, of course I joined. It was much the same as the last time except that I got to experience the reason behind the name Schützen. One of the guys is friends with the owner of the tent, so we got to go to the back of the tent and do some Schützen (translation: shooting). So apparently the name of the tent has to do with the relationship with a shooting club and the members of the club can enter the tent anytime they want and use the air-gun shooting range in the back. We had lessons with these two old German guys and then got to shoot. I can proudly say that not only did I hit the target all 5 times, but I actually scored quite well. We even got certificates, pins, and our shooting strip. What can I say, just when I think the Wiesn can't get better, it goes and has a private shooting range in the back where I don't make a fool out of myself. Oh Munich . . .

So Much to Say (i.e. Amanda, Vanessa, Italy, and Oktoberfest)

Wow, I just realized how long it has been since I have really written a full update. The crazy part is that my lack of posting is not a result of nothing going on, but in fact just the opposite is true. A little over 2 weeks ago my wonderful friends Amanda and Vanessa flew into Munich to visit me. Let's just say that the stories I could write about these last 2 weeks could easily provide the plot for about 6 different movies. We've got comedy, action, romance, but luckily no drama. Where to start . . . ?

Well let's just do this chronologically. Basically the best part is Vanessa's story. Now I don't think I can do this totally unbelievable, movie-perfect turn of events the justice it deserves in this format. Therefore my advice is to either ask her about her epic story, or ask me the next time you see me in person. (Quick recap: 30th birthday, airplane boy, rental cars, midnight driving, cop, Mannheim, . . . )

Once the girls got back from Vanessa's adventure it was time for us all to go on our next adventure. First tid-bit of potentially helpful information I will pass along is that you can't take a rental car from most Western European countries into Croatia. This could be helpful for you to know, like it would have been helpful for us to know. But I guess the consolation is that instead we just drove to Verona and Venice. (Nice alternative, right?) Verona provided good wine, nice views, a dog named Carlos (at least we decided that), and Juliet's balcony just to name a few. Now this might just be me, but I find it a bit odd that thousands of people (yes I acknowledge I was one of them) go to a spot where a fictional character supposedly lived. Best part is that rubbing the Juliet statue's right breast is supposed to bring a new lover, so we got to watch not only this old woman and this teenage boy with bright red cheeks molest a statue. (I'll show you the pictures later.) No matter how fun it was, we only stayed in Verona for half the day because Venice was waiting.

In Venice we became quite aware of someone smiling down on us, because Amanda was able to secure for us a very nice hotel for a fantastic price. They went out of their way for us, it was amazing. I was not only a fan of the concierge because he saved us from sleeping in the car, but because he paints a beautiful picture (in an Italian accent). When we asked about Venice he quickly summed up for us what Venice has become. And I quote "Venice is like Disneyland." Wow, was he right. Now for the record I like Disneyland and this is not a criticism, but it is a very astute observation and analogy. Venice is amazing and somewhere everyone needs to see before they die. The canals are fun and trying not to get lost is also fun. But if you don't like tourists or souvenir shops then you may want to go during the off season, during the week, on the southwest side of the island. Just a heads up.

We stayed in Venice for the entire day and then the next day headed for home. On the way we stopped in this little town called Soave where the great wince comes from. It was a quite little town, but had a fantastic old walled-in medieval city center. Then just outside of Munich we had to stop for gas and of course there was a gas station, a McDonalds, Burger King, and a Subway. It was like being home again. So far I had avoided american burgers joints here in Europe, but we were hungry and this was the coolest McDonalds was the coolest one ever. It had outdoor seating with heat lamps, huge outdoor play area, indoor play area with basketball hoop, a McCafe, a fireplace, an upstairs area with video games, and then a toilet that cost 50 cents. What is the deal McDonalds? If you hadn't had such a great bagel sandwich I would have been very upset.

The last day both girls were here in Munich was the first day of Oktoberfest. So of course we had to go. It was interesting, really just a huge carnival with the same rides over and over, and tons of the same food options over and over. Then of course there are all the drunk people throwing up, and falling on you, and being wheeled out on a gurney. Really brings out the best in people.

While the girls were here they allowed me to force the German lifestyle on them. We ate Bavarian twice (!), had the very traditional Munich weisswurst breakfast, and tried out 8 new restaurants. I hope they had as much fun as I did! So who's next? Oh wait, that is already decided. My mom and Molly are coming in 3 weeks. I have a lot to get done before then, because once they arrive I won't have another free weekend in Munich until Christmas day! With that being said I had better run and get some stuff accomplished!

Another Item Crossed Off the List

What do you call 2 masses of beer, half a chicken, singing "Ein Prosit" about 20 times, several thousand drunk people, and more lederhosen than I care to mention? That's right, Weisn (aka Oktoberfest)!! I had the chance to actually go to tent tonight at Oktoberfest. It was great. We sat, drank, ate, sang, and (I personally) did some major people watching. Now that I've been I think I can cross it off my list, but it really was quite the experience. Lots of drunk discussions and English pop songs with the cheapest rights always lead to a good night, right?! Hopefully I'll be able to post some picture later, but for now just know that I have basically just experienced the world's largest carnival/beer drinking event and made it home successfully in one piece! Come join me next year!

Munich and I Are Going on a Break

At work today they asked me to help out during the renewal season in our Dublin office, and of course I said yes. For 5 weeks, from November 16 until December 18, I will be working in Dublin! Hopefully I will be able to come home on some of the weekends since it will be Christmas Market season here in Germany, but if anyone wants to meet me in Dublin during that time I will have an apartment to myself. This is just one more advantage to being childless and single! And it seems like I just keep jumping from one beer capital to another. Interesting . . .

5 Days and 1 Bottle of Sunscreen (aka Sardinia)

That's right, in 5 days I used almost an entire "Urlaubs-Grosse" (vacation sized) bottle of SPF 30 sunscreen, but I managed to make it with only a 1st degree sunburn. I thought that wasn't too bad for 5 days on the beach in Sardinia.

I was with 4 friends on the northern coast of Sardinia for the past 5 days. The parents of my Italian friend own a sumer house near Porto Pollo (basically the kite surfing capital of the world) and we stayed there, about a 20 minute walk from the beach. The weather was perfect for all 5 days (hot and not a cloud in sight) and at only point while floating in the water I was looking up and could only see bright blue. I have never experienced that before and it was so cool.

I don't have much to tell since basically we laid on the beach and read and went swimming in the Mediterranean sea for 5 days. Then at night we went out for a fantastic dinner at some restaurant and then saw where the night took us. Once it was to a party on the beach with the rest of the entire island. Another night it was the city's street fair with all handmade items. One night for dinner we went to a restaurant where basically you get what they give you, and Good Lord is it good. We ate and ate and ate, and each thing was fantastic. Everything was traditional Sardinian food (which surprisingly doesn't include much seafood) including the pork, which I have to admit was amazing even though I am not a big pork fan. This place was one of the best dining experiences I have ever had. It is worth a trip to Sardinia just for this place. I could talk about the food for days.

One of the days we took a day long boat tour of the northern islands. We stopped at a few beaches and swam and also stopped in the middle of the Mediterranean at one point and jumped off the boat for a swim.

In general, the most unnerving thing about the beach was that I was without a doubt the whitest person there, probably the whitest on the entire island. It was crazy! Buts it is nice to know that I won't have a leather couch for a face at 35 like most of them. As far as the locals go, the one nice things is that for every woman on the beach that made me self-conscious about my body there were 2 others that made me feel good about myself.

Oh and the random event of the trip: in the bar on the beach we met an ex-Navy guy who retired in Sardinia who has actually been to not only Nebraska, but to a Huskers football game! I think he was more excited about this than I was. He kept talking about how nice everyone was and then even called his brother in the states to tell him he had met a girl from Nebraska. Just goes to show how great we must be when we leave that kind of lasting impression!!

This was without a doubt 5 of the most relaxing days of my life. And truth be told I didn't know the beaches in Italy were this beautiful. It reminds me of Greece, water so beautiful you would think it was fake. I was hard to not "accidentally" miss my flight.

Kaufbeuren, Tempting . . .

Yesterday the chief actuary of Allianz Re invited the department out to his house in Kaufbeuren for a garden party and city tour. Apparently the universe wants everyone to move there because the day was absolute perfection. If it wasn't a one and a half hour drive from Munich I would be looking for a house out there right now.

We arrived at his beautiful home in the mid-afternoon and proceeded on our tour of the city. Let me just say that a city is so much more interesting when you know the history and have a private tour! It was another medieval city with the remnants of the city wall and a small chapel that was built something like 800 years ago! Just amazing. Then we proceeded back to his house and had Kaffee und Kuche (it is a tradition in German households to have coffee and cakes at 4 pm everyday. Unfortunately/fortunately this doesn't happen at work!) I could definitely get used to that though!

Then we sat and talked and watched the kids play and then they announced dinner was ready. Dinner?! I didn't know this was going to be part of the day and man was it a good part of the day. There was everything from quiche Lorraine, summer salad, shrimp, salmon wraps, and more. It was fantastic. Then we sat and drank and talked until it was time for dessert. Just when I thought I couldn't eat another crumb out came the tiramisu and Linzer torte. Well you can't say no to either of those so of course I had to try both. (I mean come on, I have to really experience the culture. Food and all . . .)

I think I was finally back in my apartment by 2 am, so I would have to say the day was a success. Now if only I could have a house like Marcus's in a city like Munich for a price like in Nebraska with weather like San Francisco. And while I'm wishing, I'd like to speak German better also.

Medieval Festivals in Germany Make Sense (History Wise)

Today I met my colleague Kornelia and her boyfriend in this little historic German city called Schongau. The city sits on the top of hill and still has the historical wall from the middle ages around it. They were having a Medieval festival in the city center and it had all the trimmings. Everything from people in full out costumes, lots of Bavarian food, wooden swords, massages, and of course "witch-oil" for all your witch-protection needs.

Then we went to the lake and laid there for a while in the sun before having an eiscafe, which is coffee with a scoop of ice cream in it. (It is just as good as you think it is!) I am so excited that Kornelia and her boyfriend will finally be moving to Munich next month. This way our adventures will be easier to organize and we can even play some Settlers of Catan!

Well, That's a First

I can't remember the last time I went to a romantic comedy with a group that consisted of any guys at all, but tonight I went to see The Proposal with not just one, but 4 guys. In fact, I was the only girl. The best part was that they actually liked it so I didn't feel too self-conscious about having suggested the movie. Luckily at our standard post-movie bar I got some reinforcement in the female sense so I could more easily defend our gender! Then we proceeded to plan a group trip to Amsterdam in October. All in all I have to say it was a very productive night.