Germany's Venice (I'm not buying it Hamburg, but I guess every country wants one)

Not only did I finally make it to a German city outside of Bavaria, but I also made it to my new furtherest north point in continental Europe: Hamburg!

I took the train there Friday after work and discovered that first class in the ICE is really the way to travel, especially when for most of the 6 hour ride I was one of 2 people in the entire car. Now even though I had been warned, it was still a bit surprising to step off the train and realize that I was definitely not in Munich anymore. I've never walked as fast and looked as angry as I did trying to get out of there without any encounters. Seemed to work, no one even offered me drugs.

The first day we (another ex-pat and myself) headed out to catch a harbor cruise (actually we just took one of the public transportation boats to save some money because they all go to the same places) but on the way to the docks we saw a few of the churches, including the St. Nicholas church which was mostly destroyed during the wars and what remains of the structure is now a memorial. Plus it was the world's tallest building for a while in the 1870's!

There were so many interesting boats and things in the harbor. For one, there was a "Mississippi Queen" (old paddle steamer boat) which inevitably means that "Mississippi Queen" was then stuck in my head for the rest of the day. Anyway, from the harbor boat ride we saw the super rich area of the city where the houses on the water look like small hotels, scratch that, they looked like large hotels containing people with too much money. I guess it makes sense since Hamburg is Germany's richest city, but still.

Next we hit up HafenCity which is a new area of Hamburg that is and will be Europe's Largest inner city development and it is right on the river. Could be a fun place to live. Especially since one of the many new buildings is a huge Philharmonic Hall designed by Herzog & de Meuron (designers of the Tate Modern, the de Young, the Allianz Arena, & tons more). I know I could live in this area because not only were the Stand-Up Paddling World Championships going on in the harbor that weekend, but there is this coffee roastery which is huge and not only has about 10 different types of coffee brewed at all times, but the espresso based drinks come in either organic, strong, or mild! AND they had muffins (or according to the receipt, kuchlein = "little cake"). We also went to Spicy's spice museum which I had expected to have lots of cool spices to buy and what not. Nope, it was a warehouse room full of old dried spices, panels on the walls with information about different spices, and some spice props. That was it. I guess the little bag of black peppercorns that we got "free" with our entrance fee is now the most expensive pepper I have ever purchased.

We had planned to go into St. Michaelis church next, but couldn't because there was a wedding starting. After that, since it was still daylight, we decided it was time to walk through the Reeperbahn district. This is the infamous red light district of Hamburg, but it isn't just "shows" in the area, there are also all the shops and theaters that you could ever dream up. Let's just say it was a pretty quick walk through.

Then a nice little fresh fish dinner and off to catch the ferry to The Lion King. Yep, Hamburg loves The Lion King musical so much that they have built a theater especially for it and you have to ride a ferry across the river to get to it. It was fantastic! Oh and all those hours I spent as a child watching The Lion King have finally paid off: I was actually able to follow the dialogue in German! I knew those weren't wasted hours.

Second day we got up early and headed for the fish market. Every Sunday morning at the Fischmarkt they have a huge farmer's (well, more like importer's) market. We missed most of the yelling and fish throwing since that happens before 7 am, but we got in on some of the great deals. For example (don't roll your eyes at me, these were amazing deals!) I bought 5 big bananas for 1 euro, about a pound of blueberries for 2 euro, and 10 red & yellow bell peppers for 1 euro! The only crappy part was that I had to carry it all around for the rest of the day. Totally worth it though.

Then we walked around the Binnenalster and the Aussenalster lakes which were very pretty, had another great meal, and then I caught the train back home to clean and less drug-prevalent Munich.

Heat and Humidity in Hungary

I spent 5 insanely hot and humid days in Budapest, but only managed to see 5% of the sites. I did however become very familiar with the Margits island, especially the swimming pools.

Now for the part where I unconfuse you. I was accepted as a volunteer (Helping Hand) for the Allianz Sports competition held in Budapest. Every 4 years employees from all over the Allianz world come together and compete in several different sports. There's swimming, track & field, tennis, basketball, volleyball, badminton, soccer, chess, and a few more.

My responsibility was the catering at the swim location so I got to stand there in the over 100 degree heat from 7 to 6 one day and 7 to 4 the next and watch people swim. The fun part was watching the Hungarians in the other pools practicing diving and synchronized swimming. It was so much fun to watch and now I totally believe them when they say their national sport is swimming.

One extra fun part was that my colleague and I got to ride to Budapest in one of the board member's car. Needless to say he wasn't in there too, but they had to get it to Budapest to pick him up at the airport and drive him around the whole time so they figured they'd save 2 plane tickets and send us with the car. No surprise, it was a large, powerful Mercedes and had built in massage in the back seats. My kind of travel.

The first night we headed to the city center for dinner. Lit up at night, it is a gorgeous city and I only wish I had had time to see it again in the daylight too. Then only for about 3 hours on the first full day were we able to explore the city, so we headed to Castle Hill where there is the Fisherman's Bastion, Matthias church (with the best roof in the world), the castle itself, and the most spectacular views of the city. You could see the amazing Parliament building across the river in Pest perfectly from up there. What I really liked about the adventure to get there was that as we sat in the tram we realized we didn't know which stop we needed or where exactly we were going. So we asked the nice girl next to us who then not only explained it to us, but said she didn't have to be at her next appointment for a bit and could take us. So she went with us on another subway and then walked us to the bus stop. This is where we learned that during her summer breaks from school she is a model and I could totally believe it! What can I say, taken to Budapest by a car and driver and then escorted around the city by models. Nice city!

The first night of the games the only event was the half marathon and amazingly only 5 of the over 100 participants had to be taken to the hospital! But one of my colleagues from FFIC won the half marathon for the 18-29 year old male division. But he didn't even know until the medal was announced. The rest of the opening ceremony was spent catching up with other FFIC colleagues. Such fun.

The second and third days were very much the same with lots of standing, filling of fridges with water & powerade, sweating, and running back and forth between the pool and the restaurant to make sure things were running smoothly. The evening of the third day was the closing ceremony which was lots of fun. Dinner was delicious except for the part where I missed dessert because I went to the bathroom and ran into Jessie there and we talked right through the course. But the bathroom was discussion worthy. It was like a space ship or something. The stalls were like (tiny) little space portals, and the water in the sink just flowed to the floor behind a big glass panel. Just weird. Any way, later we all stood around drinking and talking and meeting more new people. Then I was finally convinced to go in to the room with the bands and dancing. We danced all night and it was fun except for the part where I had a big cut in the bottom of my foot from all the broken glass on the floor. (When I got home I used tweezers to pull out 7 large pieces of glass from my flip flops. Scary.)

All in all I loved Budapest and need to find a time to go back and see the rest of the city. Plus I didn't even get a chance to buy any paprika which is not only what Hungary is known for but is also very tasty and useful! Next time.

FirmenLauf (aka The Ultimate Patience Test)

Tonight I took part in the Firmenlauf which is basically the Corporate Challenge in Munich. There were over 30,000 people taking part and everyone of them was there to make me crazy!! Basically I hate crowds in general and this was a crowd of Germans so they drove me extra crazy. They are pushy and completely unaware of themselves on the path. Instead of a 6 km run I am certain that I did at least 9km with all the back and forth I had to do. There were so many times tonight that I was standing in a huge crowd with no one moving and then them just pushing. I got to the point where I would actually retaliate (ok, so really I would just purposefully kick the back of people's feet who were being especially rude. Sounds dumb I know, but made me feel a tiny bit better.)

It took place at the Olympic park with the finish line just inside the stadium. It was cool to run in through the tunnel into the stadium, except for the part where there was a thunderstorm going on and it was pouring down rain at that point! When running and seeing lightening strikes around me I calmed myself with the statistics of me being the one hit and not one of the other 29,999 people. The odds were in my favor. But the worst part was that the rain made the salty sweat on my forehead run into my eyes and it burned!

But in the end it was pretty fun (albeit a bit wet, cold, and frustrating). Oh and I'll never understand the desire to grab a cold beer directly after a run. Give it a few minutes people, but no, I am in Germany so your post-run options are water, some sort of pop, and beer. I think I was the only one who didn't have one, but I don't regret that one bit!

Ulm . . . Check

Spent a beautiful day (the first in a long time) in Ulm:

World's tallest church steeple . . . check

Leaning tower . . . check

University of Ulm and botanical garden . . . check

Awesome sour cream-nut cake . . . check

Salad spinner . . . check

A Wedding in Rome

I had the honor of attending the wedding of a friend from college in where else but Rome! I spent 4 days in the Eternal City and had a fabulous time.

After arriving at my hotel late the first night I took a little stroll around the area to, well I'll admit it, find some gelato. Luckily I was successful and found great gelato right next to the Trevi Fountain. Lit up at night it is very pretty and all of the people hanging around make it fun.

The next morning I met the families of the bride and groom for a tour of the Vatican. (Another country to cross off the list!) After the hotel's traditional Italian breakfast (and I mean very traditional, only white toast, croissants, and espresso in a big coffee thermos) I decided to walk from the hotel to the Vatican and luckily I gave myself what I thought was way too much time to get there, because I ended up being only right on time. The tour was definitely the way to go for the Vatican. I would have had no idea what all I was looking at and would have probably walked right through the Sistine Chapel without realizing. (Plus with the tour you get to skip ahead in line!) The only bad part was that there was an old man in our tour group and we lost him! About half way through, the guide noticed he wasn't there and even with all of us looking we never did find him. Well I guess now he has an unique souvenir from his tour of the Vatican, the little device that allows you to hear the guide through an earpiece.

After that we all needed a break and headed toward Piazza Navona for lunch where we braved the cars and scooters and went ahead and sat nearly in the narrow street. But we did get some entertainment when a van driving past us coincided with a large crunching noise. Once we decided that it didn't sounds like a person being hit we saw that a guy had just opened his car door as the van passed and well, you get the idea. I felt really bad when we had to watch him try to force the door shut of his tiny car.

Anyway then I headed back with my friend to the apartment they had rented so he could pick up his fiance and meet the priest. The unfortunate part here is that she had been hanging out at the apartment in order to wait for their lost luggage to be delivered. (Don't worry, they are smart people and carried on all the wedding clothes.) So while they went to the meeting with the priest I hung out with one of her friends in the apartment and relaxed, talked, walked to the Spanish Steps (right around the corner), and then had some heavenly Italian coffee. It was a fantastic afternoon hanging out in Rome. Then that night all the friends of the couple went out for dinner together, followed of course by gelato. It was such fun!

The next morning (day of the wedding) I met my friend and his family for a tour of the Forum, Colosseum, and a bit of Palatine Hill. I am really glad we had the tour because otherwise I fear the Forum would be just a bunch of [presumably] really old stones to me. Understanding the history made it much more interesting and impressive. Seeing the Colosseum was really an unique experience and I didn't know what to expect because it is one of those iconic places that you hear and talk about all of the time. I didn't know how I would react to finally seeing it and making this intangible place tangible.

Well, next adventure for the day was the wedding! On my way to the church (in Vatican City!) I was told to take the metro and just as I was taking out my map to verify the stop I heard my name and turned to see my friend, his family, and her family!! Praise the merciful Lord! I would never have made it on my own. Then on the subway he asked if I would do a reading during the ceremony and once I verified it wasn't in Italian or Latin or anything I said of course! The church was just inside the Vatican walls and was beautiful, no flowers needed. The ceremony was very nice (in English thankfully) aside from the random woman in the back digging through her plastic bag collection and the other random woman who was first up for communion during the service. My other favorite part was the photographers who took so many pictures (from the same spot) that they will be able to make a flip book of the ceremony in lieu of a video. Then we followed them around St. Peter's Square taking pictures and you would be amazed how many strangers took their picture too. Why would you want wedding pictures of people you don't know?

Then to the most wonderful reception at the Spanish Steps. We were too early for the restaurant so we hung around the steps and had pre-dinner drinks (mostly beer) from a portable snack stand. Then into the restaurant for dinner on the patio. It was perfect. The food was heavenly (risotto, duck, and brownies with gelato) and the wine never stopped flowing. I had one glass the whole night (ok so really it was just a magic glass that was constantly full). It was such a fun night that when they finally kicked us out at midnight they walked me the long way back to my hotel so we could see the city at night and not let the evening end.

My plan was to sleep in the next morning, but the smell of the Italian espresso got me out of bed by 8. So off to explore the rest of the city. I saw the Pantheon (suggestion: go at 9am because it was just me and about 8 other people there at that point and I have heard that normally you can barely fit in there with all the people), walked through the food stalls at Campo de Flori, had some amazing Italian cookies, went to the Villa Borghese (where I attempted to do some note taking but was so annoyed by the guys trying to give me roses that I left in a huff), and had tartufo at the Tre Scalini Cafe (just a scoop of very good chocolate ice cream with chocolate chunks on the outside and whipped cream). Then I accidently found a few more sites while trying to find the Repubblica. Then time for a short siesta. That night I met some of the others in town for the wedding for dinner. Had a great meal (surprise, surprise) and wine.

Next day was spent finishing off the sites. I had more cookies, some pizza bianca, gnocchi, and anything else I could justify. When in Rome . . .

At one point I crossed the river to check out the other side, but decided I must have walked onto a Hollywood sound stage. It was way too stereotypical, so much so that I couldn't bring myself to even take a picture.

Oddly enough one of the highlights of the trip was that the museum directly across the street from my hotel had an Edward Hopper exhibit going on for another week! I was so excited. The exhibit was absolutely amazing. I am not an art (especially painting) person, but his art is something else. I spent a long time in that museum just marveling! It was perfect aside from the little girl crying the whole time and whining for her "mama." Honestly, it was beyond the point of ridiculous, teetering on rude. Which reminds me, I had some run-ins with several rude, or maybe just inconsiderate and oblivious, Italians in Rome. Interesting because this has not been my experience in other Italian cities. I guess Rome is just Rome.

Bavaria's Yosemite

Berchtesgaden and Konigsee are what I would deem the Yosemite of Bavaria, or maybe even Germany for that matter. They are located in the southern most tip of Germany, nestled into Austria.

I visited the area over a long holiday weekend and lucked out that the only 2 days of nice weather we have had during the past month and a half happened to be the 2 days we were there. I can't describe the area in words very well, but the pictures have been posted so you can go and see what I mean. The lake is one of the clearest in Germany and is located right at the base of one of the highest mountains in the country (Watzmann). This is also where the Eagle's Nest is located.

We did some hiking and found some amazing waterfalls and smaller lakes. Then we stopped for a small snack at the farm on the far coast of the lake where they advertised fresh milk and buttermilk and when they say fresh then mean fresh. To get to the little farm house we had to walk through the pasture with the grazing cows. So much fun. Then when we ordered our mug of fresh milk the woman took two mugs and dipped them into a huge bucket of milk in the back. Nothing like lukewarm milk straight from the cow.

Chocolate, Waffle, Chocolate, Beer, Chocolate, Chocolate, Waffle, Frites, Chocolate . . .

That pretty much sums up my 4 day trip in Belgium. Unfortunately at the last minute I had to go alone, but it was still a great trip.

I left Thursday morning as we had it off for Ascension Day. In my research on Bruges, Ghent, and Brussels I discovered that in Bruges there is a basilica called the Heilig-Bloedbasiliek (or Basilica of the Holy Blood) which has a phial that supposedly contains a few drops of Jesus Christ's blood. Every year they hold this huge parade with the Holy Blood as the centerpiece and it just so happens that this parade is on Ascension Day. That decided my trip for me. I went directly to Bruges the first day to see the parade. To be honest I was very pleasantly surprised. I am pretty certain that most of the town participates in the parade where different stories from the Bible are acted out. There were hundreds of people in the parade. My favorite part was the attention to detail from the painful but authentic sandals to the real baby as baby Jesus to all of the live animals. There were camels, donkeys, chickens, a flock of sheep, falcons, and more. Amazing. It was like a parade, play, petting zoo, concert, and church sermon all in one! It lasted about an hour and I was glad I had spent the time waiting farther down the route so I had a good view of it.

After that I explored the beautiful city that is Bruges. I think it might actually be my favorite city now. It has the picturesque canals, great medieval architecture, and chocolate on every corner (not to mention the Belgian waffle stands). Plus there was a carnival going on there too so I checked all of that out. That first day I tried lots of chocolates and traditional cookies. (I'll summarize all of my chocolate discoveries at the end.)

The next morning I got up early and managed to leave the hotel on schedule and thankfully so. (Oh and I love that at breakfast in Belgium you actually get fresh Belgian waffles. Heaven!) I went to the Belfry first (the big tower in the city center) and since only 70 people are allowed up there at a time I had to wait about 15 minutes. But by the time I came down the line was out the door. Anyway it is a really tight, spiral staircase all the way up, so much so that I might have had a little claustrophobic freak-out moment on the way up. But I worked through it and made it up the 366 steps for the great view.

Then I headed to the Choco-Story museum. I learned a bit about the chocolate production process and a lot about the history of chocolate consumption. Then we watched a little demonstration on how they make pralines (and of course got a sample). Oh and in the chocolate art area they had a life-sized chocolate Barack Obama (and there were only about 6 pieces of chocolate art and none of the others were of people, just Obama).

Before heading onto Ghent I went to the Halve Maan Brewery tour. It was fun and there were even good views of the city involved. Plus at the end you get a free beer. No complaints.

Then the 20 minute train ride to Ghent, where I tried to plan my time in Ghent. Unfortunately I was so tired at this point (and maybe at a sugar low) that I couldn't find the motivation to really seek out everything there. It was surprisingly beautiful (again, what a difference a canal makes) and since I didn't see most of it now I have an excuse to go back to Belgium.

Then on to Brussels for my last 2 days. Word of warning here: have a map of Brussels with you before arriving at the train station, because you can't find a city map in the Central station. This especially becomes a problem when you only have your hotel address and the memory of the sentence "near the central train station." Luck was one my side though and the 3rd building of the first street I tried was my hotel! Then the concierge who checked me in offered to take me around the city the next day after he got off work in the morning at 11. It was a nice offer, but as soon as he mentioned going to Salsa too, I figured this was not the best idea. Needless to say I had to sneak out of the hotel the next morning so that I didn't have to tell him I didn't want a personal tour by a stranger who knew where I was sleeping that night.

I confess, in Brussels I did one of those hop-on, hop-off bus tours. I know, I know; but there were lots of things to see and some were outside the city center, plus it gets boring walking around all day alone, so this way I got someone to tell me all about the city. I wont list all the sites, that's for you to see when you go visit.

I did seek out the Manneken-Pis fountain and was a bit disappointed because his outfit that day was just a straw hat. Plus the fountain was much smaller than I had imagined. In fact most of the chocolate replicas around the city were larger than the real thing.

Oh I almost forgot, Saturday was Gay Pride Day in Brussels and they had their huge parade that day too. It was just like San Francisco's, except slightly more mellow (but not much). The hardest part is trying to cross the parade route and not get covered in confetti.

I had a late lunch/early dinner so as not to have to sit alone surrounded by groups of people staring at the girl eating alone. I had the mussels and they were wonderful. Another tick in my list of must-do.

The highlight of the last day was a chocolate demonstration at La Maison des Maitres Chocolatiers. If you are ever in Brussels you MUST do this. It is sort of a chocolate co-op in the Grand Place and everyday at 4 they offer the workshop/demonstration. There were only 3 of us and we went up into this workshop room and he talked all about history (which only slightly involved chocolate) and kept quizzing us on all of these historic events. Regardless it was very interesting and he was very friendly. Then we made some pralines. The best part is once it is over you go back downstairs and get a hot chocolate and samples of some pralines. The price for the whole thing was something like 8.50 euros and it lasted over an hour, we got a 5 euro hot chocolate, and probably another 3 euro worth of praline samples. Best deal of the trip. Oh and the best praline there was the rosemary-orange praline.

So now for the chocolate experience. I had all sorts of different chocolates from about 10 different shops. I easily ate 10 pralines/chocolates each day, in addition to the frites, waffles, and cookies. I tried every interesting praline I could find including banana, mint, coffee, tiramisu, lime-chili, peanut, creme brulee, rosemary-hazelnut, and more. My favorite places were Depla, Chocolate Line, and Laurent Gerbaud.

Definitely one of the top 3 trips of the past 14 months!

How Did I Miss You in HIstory Class, Prague?

My first thought on the way into the Czech Republic was that they were still using some sort of medieval communication system involving fires. From the plane I could see these small fires in each little city and also along the horizon. They almost appeared to be in back yards and then in town centers. I started to wonder what I had gotten myself into. Do they not use phones yet, or are they still worried about being invaded? Luckily the owner of our hotel explained later that night that is was Witch's Day and that all over people have bonfires that day. In fact on a late night stroll through Prague that first night we saw not only bonfires but also people dressed as witches and whatnot. Pretty fun.

Oh I should mention, I went to Prague with another ex-pat from FFIC, Brigitte. She is only in Munich for 4 months, but might actually manage to make more trips than I will in 2 years!

So anyway, the first night was quite fun because we checked into our hotel. Not normally a particularly "fun" experience, but this time it was. So about 2 blocks from our hotel the cab pulls to a quick stop and 2 police officers approach the car and shine flashlights into the back and then the driver pops and hood and the trunk. Then they walk around the car with one of those giant dentist mirrors to check underneath. After a couple seconds of worry, then a few seconds of just strong curiosity I notice the American flag a few meters ahead. We are about to pass the US Embassy. Then right after the Embassy is the police station and then upon parking in front of the hotel I notice the building across the small street is the German Embassy. This is just about the safest area of town! At this point the hotel owner greets us at the door, invites us to sit in the small lobby/entry way, gives us some water, and tells us everything we want to know (and more). It was fantastic. He gave us maps and recommendations and general city advice (taxis, pickpocketers, and money changing) and then the history of the house. It is 500 years old. Then to our great room right off the entry way. It was enchanting.

The next day we met the owner's (Jan) son, Jakob. After out great breakfast we got the "Jakob" version of what to do/see/skip for Prague. He basically told us all of his father's restaurant options were ok, but we should instead listen to him. Then he gave us more information than we could have ever dreamed of. It was all great though (which is not usually the case for hotels!) One of the first stops was for a trdelnik which is a fantastic Czech sweet treat. It is dough wrapped around a cylinder and cooked over a fire and then covered with sugar, cinnamon, and almonds. It was as good as you are imagining!

Then we headed up the big hill for the castle, monastery, and cathedral. Here is where we joined the other 5 million tourists! I still can't believe how many other tourists were in this city. I believe it is actually one of, if not the top tourist destination in Europe! Now that I've been there I can agree with this statement and also understand why. It is so beautiful and so diverse. I don't understand why we don't learn more about this city in history class. It has so much history. More than many other cities I've visited lately.

Anyway at about 2pm we decided to stop for lunch and went to one of Jakob's recommendations. The restaurant is called Palffy and is a very high-end, elegant place that offers an inexpensive lunch menu to encourage business at lunch. Since it was a perfect day we sat out on their beautiful veranda (although the dining room was so relaxing and charming I wouldn't have minded eating there either). The food was fantastic! Ostrich carpaccio, cod with beautiful veggies, and ice cream profiteroles for dessert even thought they weren't actually on the menu. A perfect relaxing and delicious lunch.

Lots of other great little stories from this afternoon, but I don't want this post to go on too long and this way you'll have to ask me about them and show you've actually read this post! They're really some of the funniest stories, so ask me.

Anyway, that night we had a super rushed dinner in order to get to the orchestra concert we had tickets for. At the traditional Czech restaurant we ordered a pork knee and let me tell you it was a once in a lifetime experience, because I will never do it again. Once I finally got a bite that wasn't pure fat it tasted rather good, but that took so long and was way too much work. It was funny though, because it came out on this hanging device and was thus suspended for us to eat off of. Oh and also, the Czech beer was good, but I am not understanding why the big to do.

It required a mad dash through the city, but we made it to the concert and it was worth it. It was in the Municipal House concert hall and was Czech composers: Smetana and Dvořák. Very beautiful both musically and with regards to the venue.

Sunday was the Jewish Quarter day (since of course everything is closed on Saturday). It was a very educational and moving day. From the Jewish cemetery with stones upon stones, to the old synagogues turned into museums on the history of the people and the faith for the past couple thousand years, to the Old New Synagogue which is the oldest in Europe, and finally to the Spanish Synagogue which was the most beautiful. Oh one of the best parts was at the entrance to one of the museums the old man checking the tickets invited me to join him in his booth. I might have considered it had he been about 60 years younger, but he was adorable.

Then to the third of Jakob's suggestions, Cafe de Paris, for lunch. And with that one Jakob was three for three on recommendations! Then we followed it up by sharing 2 cookies, and a slice of chocolate cake at a nearby bakery which cost a grand total of 31 crowns (which amazingly is only $1.50! You just have to love that conversion.)

What The Earth?!

So I just went to the dentist in Germany and um, what was that?! As a fellow "highly developed" country I expected the experience to be similar to that in the states. A scrape here, some pain there, and then the spinning buffer thing, but no. I spent 10 minutes on paperwork, 5 minutes waiting, and then 5 minutes in the chair. I didn't even see the actual dentist. The dental assistant looked at each tooth while blowing high pressured air at them and then poked at my gums with that super poky thing. Then he said "great teeth, everything looks good, and come back in 6 months." For what? I don't think you'll be seeing me again, even if you are across the hall from my apartment.

While Your Insanity Amazes Me, Your Vision Astounds Me

Well King Ludwig, I finally saw the last of your palaces (another unfinished project) and I must say that I am impressed. The palace (part of which is a replica of Versailles) on Herreninsel is gorgeous. The gardens and fountains and the views all make me want to be royalty from the 1800's regardless of all the lack of modern medicine, suppressive treatment of women, and general non-existence of gelato stands.

My opinion of the islands may have a bit to do with the fact that the day was beautiful (until the storm appeared out of no where) but I don't think my opinion would have changed much if we had been there on a less sunny day. Unfortunately because of the un-forecasted and quick moving storm we had to cut our time on the Fraueninsel short, but I hope to go back sometime to check out all of the ceramics which are made on the island.

The most random part of the trip was the woman who we started talking to on the boat ride back who offered us a ride to the train station since it was raining. We actually took her up on her and her boyfriend's offer. The ride was so funny though. She had lived in New York for a while and is quite well travelled so we talk a lot about what we all missed from the states. The top of her list: beef jerky, KFC, and Dunkin' Donuts! Wow, really?! Most of those are the things I am glad to be far away from!