Last Day in Vermont...

We had quite an eventful day today for our last day in Vermont!!

We started the day with a tour at Ben & Jerry's. Let me tell you, the mint chocolate chip sample was fantastic. We then did a little shopping in Waterbury, and stopped at The Alchemist, a great little brewery. Their brew pub was devastated by Hurricane Irene, so that wasn't open, and won't be for a few months as they rebuild. However, we stopped in for a sample and some swag of their Heady Topper IPA. YUMMY!! Bringing home eight cans.

We drove to another dairy farm (goat) and it's just not in the cards for us. We got there, and it is like you need to go up to their door and knock. Not our style, so we left.

We then went to Rock Art Brewery in Morrisville. And um...Morrisville stinks. It was like every farm field had just had a dose of liquid manure put on it. It's like it got in my mouth and I could taste it. It wasn't pleasant. But the beer was good at the brewery.




We then headed to Montpelior, which is the cutest little city. See us with the State House in the background.

We came back to Burlington, had a drink and an app at The Vermont Pub and Brewery (and frankly, it sucked), and then had dinner at The Farm House again. Pate, cheese, meatloaf...I'm still full and that was three hours ago. GH - we need a serious workout boost when we are back.

We'll be getting up at 4:00 am to get ready and leave in time to catch our flight in Boston at 11:25.

We really loved Vermont!! I highly recommend it. Ta ta for now, until our next adventure!

Overheard at Delta Delta Delta

Those earrings make your WHOLE HEAD SPARKLE.

Leaf Peeping

The leaves are about at peak here, and after three absolutely GORGEOUS days, here is a typical view...

To Get To The Other Side...

A lot of stuff crosses the road here.

Dinner Adventure

So we went to A Single Pebble. We got there, got seated, and found ourselves next to a table of 8 where two of the men had the loudest voices that carried and resonated so horrifyingly I thought we might have PTSD. They left before we even ordered thank God, or I would have needed counseling.

We ordered potstickers (fabulous) and Mushi pork (also fabulous). However, we got the spicy pork on the advice of our waitress who said, "I like spicy, so if you do, I would get it." I affirmed that we did indeed like spicy and our order was placed.

Let me just say this: that Mushi pork was so fucking spicy, AND about 211 degrees, that at one point while I was eating it I actually became frightened about what was happening to me. But you know me...I'm resilient. I finished it all.

I highly recommend that restaurant and that dish. Just go in with eyes wide open...and soon your nose will be running.

Friday Dinner!

Decided. Heading to A Single Pebble for some top notch Chinese food. Thanks again to KK and JH for the recommendation! We have not been let down.

Shopping and Drinking in Northern Vermont

After leaving Shelburne Farms, we took a very scenic drive down to Middlebury and visited:

- Otter Creek Brewing: good but not great, the brown ale had severe diacytle issues and made me gag.
- Vermont Soap Factory: cool little joint, we walked in and Chris said very quietly, "My nostrils are burning." Bought some soaps.
- Danforth Pewter Factory and Store: HIGHLIGHT!! They make absolutely gorgeous pewter dishes, serve ware, jewelry - all in the traditional way. Totally scored a great necklace. Loved it. (Side note: tragedy struck as Chris dropped his new sunglasses and -CRACK- the lens broke. Thank God for the Sunglasses Hut - all better with a new pair!)
- Drove through a covered bridge. Not as cool as the other one.
- Bobcat Cafe and Pub: had a sampler, very good beer, bartender was about six and a half feet tall and, I swear to God, his arms hung down to his knees. He also had a big, deep, booming voice. The whole thing freaked me out and we didn't stay long.

We are now relaxing a bit and figuring out where to eat dinner. Tomorrow? Waterbury - breweries, Ben & Jerry's, and shopping and eating. What else??

Annual petting of a cow? Check.

After an alarming encounter with heartburn in the middle of the night, we got up this morning for a full day of touring, cheesing, beering, and shopping.

We started the day eating at Penny Cluse Cafe - yes, I had the pancakes and MAPLE SYRUP. It was outstanding. Chris had the Zydeco breakfast - think black beans, eggs, and andouille sausage. Our waitress from last night recommended it, and it did not disappoint!!



We then traveled a few miles south to Shelburne Farms. It was pretty cool, I have to say. As we walked the 3/4 mile to the farm barn, we checked out these chickens and I hung out with one.



Have you ever seen a chicken run? It's not a trick question. IT IS HYSTERICAL. They kind of pick up speed very quickly, and not only bob up and down but side to side. I wish we took video, I laughed out loud.







We then went up to the barn where I hung out with this cow, and petted her...as is my thing. Good luck for another year!!! WOO HOO!!

Nap and Dinner

After a much needed post-brew tour nap, we got off to a slow start for dinner. We went to American Flatbread where they have pretty damn good pizza. Now I'm ready for bed and an adventurous day tomorrow - we are heading to Stowe and Montpelier.

Maybe tomorrow will be more blog-worthy.

Burlington Brew Tour

Good beers. German lunch. I'm shit faced.

Enough said.

Why do we always have a toilet story?

So in Germany, it was that Chris was supposed to sit down to pee - complete with instructional picture.

Now, in the hotel, the toilet is so high off the ground! My feet literally dangle when I'm sitting on it. (And I'm using the word "literally" correctly, not for affect.)

I look like Edith Ann in the high chair.

Patty loves Chris; Chris loves Patty

Happy Anniversary to us! I think this sign sums up our 15 years of wedded bliss.

We were thinking about our wedding and the funny things that happened. My favorite is the clip from our wedding video in which my sister in law KB (who wasn't my SIL at the time) was caught saying randomly, as the camera rolled by, "He's GOTTA be an asshole!!!" No one has any idea WHO the asshole in question was, nor what she was talking about - we didn't at the time, or to this day. I just knew that AB should ensure that he didn't screw it up and lose her. Ahh...memories.

To celebrate our big 15, we had dinner last night on the advice of friends KK and JH at the Farm House. EXCELLENT beer list. We both had an Allagash White, and we also both had the Hill Farmstead Abner - a double IPA. Holy shit was it good.

And then there was the food! Two cheese plates (it was a special with a 1/2 glass of beer), the country pate (I think it was pork, but it didn't matter...it could have been a cat and I would have eaten it), Chris had a burger and I had the mac and cheese with bacon.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm good.

If you are ever in Burlington, you have to go here. I'm guessing we'll stop in again before we leave. :)

Today we head out on our Burlington Brew Tour. It will be a balmy 56 degrees today, but sunny. PERFECT for drinking.

Scott Covered Bridge

Scott Covered Bridge was built in 1870 near Townshend Vermont. It is in excellent condition, and so, so, so cool. I love covered bridges. I know that it is because as a kid we would go camping (yes, I did camp as a child which is why I hate it now) in Southern Indiana, and go to the Parke County Covered Bridge Festival.

It reminds me of my dad, persimmon and vanilla ice cream, the town square in Rockville. I walked down to the end of the bridge, and it felt exactly like it did 30+ years ago - quiet, cool, and you could just hear the river below. We'll try to hit a few others while here, but this one was the first and it was fabulous.

Beer & Cheese Road Trip - Thy Name is New England

We got up Wednesday morning after our 9 hour stay at the hotel in New Hampshire (not to be confused with the John Irving book of a similar name) and headed to breakfast. We found a charming little New England spot and had a unique breakfast.

OK, we actually went to Panera. But it was still good and hit the spot.

We took off north through NH and made our first random beer stop at a little brewpub called the Flying Goose. It was in New London, NH and had a respectable list of beers. We got the sampler, and the place smelled great - we had just enjoyed our amazing Panera experience so didn't eat, but the beer was good. Chris picked a Berline Weisse for one of the beers and he said it was excellent. It tasted like vinegar mixed with pee, but I trust that it was to style.

We then stopped at Poverty Lane Orchards & Farnum Hill Ciders where we sampled some heirloom apples and some cider. The apples were FUN-KEE. But they were amazing! Some had weird, almost nutty flavors, and some were had weird textures. We bought a couple of three different varieties...there were all different sizes, as you can see. I wish we could have gotten a big bag and somehow gotten them home to make a cool pie. Of course, we also got two bottles of cider. Amazing how I can figure out how to get that home.

We then tried to go to a dairy/creamery, and drove our bitchin' mini van up a long, dirt road for about 3 miles. When we got there it was like someone's house, and I didn't feel like I should just jaunt up to the door and say, "Can we taste your cheese??" So we wound our way back down the scary road and went to the Grafton Village Cheese Store - pretty standard. But we bought some cheese. We also got some meat sticks from the Lawrence's Smoke Shop and Country Store.

After screeching off of the highway once we saw it, we had a 10 minute stop at the Vermont Country Store (where I spent $7 on a milk chocolate/cashew patty) we landed at Harpoon Brewing for a sampler and some snacks. It took us another hour and a half to finally land in Burlington at our hotel.

This completes the first boring post and blow by blow of our trip yesterday...more blogs later about our anniversary dinner and covered bridge!

Hello New England!

After and uneventful flight to Boston, we arrived about 11:30 last night. It then took over an hour to get our luggage, since Logan International has some issues with blown fuses on their luggage carriers. They finally just did it manually.

We then took the shuttle to the rental car place...where "Ford Fusion or like vehicle" actually means Kia mini van. It was either that or a Cadillac or Crown Vic. since I'm neither a rich retiree or drug dealer, we went for the mini van.

Once we finally got to our hotel in Manchester, NH, it was after 2:00.

Once we get up and around, we'll drive to southern Vermont for leaf peeping, cheese, and some small town adventures!

You gotta be shitting me...

One last post. While Chris and I were sitting in the Keflavik airport in Iceland, guess who we ran into???

Our good friend Kim from high school! She was coming home from a week in London for business.

Can you believe that shit?

It was a great way to end the trip - reduces my anxiety when I fly with others. :)

Until next time - au revoir, auf wiedersehen, so long, farwell...

Goodbye Europe!

Last morning in Paris...slept in, got croissant and a bagette to finish the cheese we bought last night - a fabulous breakfast in bed.

Then went for a little walk to say goodbye to the Rue Cler. We will miss the Fromagerie the most!

We will definitely be back to Europe, and spend more time in certain places.

Pray for an uneventful trip home! Thanks for following along with our blog - I hope at least some of it was entertaining. See everyone soon!!

XOXO - Patty & Chris

Favorite things, and other thoughts...

Here is a quick run down of favorite things and some observations of our time in Europe:

- Favorite City Overall: Cologne - we both agree!
- Favorite Food (1 item): (P) Foie Gras at Le Petit Cler, (C) Goulash in St. Gilben
- Best Beer: (P) Schneider Weiss, (C)Ayinger Ur-Weisse at the Brewery
- Worst Food (1 item): (P) Potato soup on the Castles Tour, (C) Bratwurst...same tour
- Least poop on the street: Cologne
- Best transportation: Munich S-Bahn and U-Bahn
- Worst transportation: that fucking coffin of a train sleeper compartment overnight to Munich
- Best Dessert: Chocolate Petit Pots at Le Petit Cler - we both agree!
- Best thing overheard from another tourist: (P) The Austrailian guy on the castles tour, upon smelling someone smoking meat yelled, "Ummmmm...SCHWEINE!!"
- Best tour: Sound of Music tour - we both agree!
- Best cleavage: Munich...big boobs everywhere
- Best see-through shirts: Paris
- Most disturbing biking apparel: Flourescent green shorts, shoes, socks, helmet in Amsterdam
- Most proud moment: (P) Ordering a bagette and an eclair in French, (C) remembering where the gift shop in Salzburg was from memory after having been there once 9 years ago
- Least proud moment: (P) taking the bus up to Neuschwanstein...we could have walked, (C) he doesn't have one because he is apparently perfect
- Biggest meltdown: (P) Losing it in Cologne after a week of overwhelming travel, (C)sitting in that fucking coffin of a train compartment wanting to punch the conductor
- Best Couples Moment: Picnic in the Parc de Champ de Mars in the view of the Eiffel tower
- Worst Couples Moment: we haven't really had one, and for all of you that are saying, "Riiiggggggghhhhhhhhtttttttt..." I'm serious. Because you also know I would tell all.
- Funniest moment: (P) almost losing my eclairs as a gust of wind picked up and I had to lunge for them, (C) almost falling out of the Sound of Music tour van and knocking down two more tour attendees as he ran into a hotel to pee (tiny bladder)
- Best Hotel: Dom in Cologne, fantastic hotel, service, beautiful room
- Worst Hotel: Hotel du Cadran in Paris, but ONLY, ONLY, ONLY because the Wi-Fi sucks and you have to go into the hall for full bars - otherwise it is phenomenal
- Worst toilet: Amsterdam apartment - it had that weird shelf rather than just a bowl with water - think about it, gross
- Worst rule: Munich apartment - Chris was instructed to pee sitting down

Last Tango in Paris...

Well, tonight is our last night in Paris. We went out for dinner - shared a croque monsieur with a fried egg, picked up a bottle of wine and two eclairs and now are hanging out in our hotel room watching the French Open...in French.

I've decided that I've done a good job trying to speak French when I can. I have a new found respect for folks that have English as a second language, or as no language. It's very intimidating to be somewhere where you have no idea what anyone is saying, beyond words that everyone knows like "merci."

Even though I think I have done a good job, I have recollections of high school French class where I could read, write, and listen extremely well, but when I opened my mouth, I sounded like PeeWee Hermann: "Mare-See Blah Blah!!" Sorry to my French teacher Mr. B - it's all gone after all these years...however, Mr. B was my English teacher as well and I pride myself on having excellent grammar and speaking skills in my native tongue.

Paris is an incredible city - and the culture in Europe is amazing as well. Right now, I'm vowing to walk more, or even get my fat ass on my bike this summer, because frankly, after seeing these folks, Americans are really bloated gas bags.

So we will be back in Paris someday, spending more time just being here and being in the moment. Au revoir, Paris!

Smith Identity

Chris said to me the other day, in a serious voice, "Go to the middle of the Pont Neuf."

I asked what in the hell he was talking about, and he said, "It's from the Bourne Identity. He is in Paris and he says to some guy, 'Go to the middle of the Pont Neuf and take your coat off and I'll call you.'"

Then he said, "I never knew what that was."

I laughed out loud.

So here is us...on the Pont Neuf.

Notre Dame

Notre Dame was absolutely awe-inspiring. It was more incredible than I had imagined. We took a million pictures, and every corner I went around, there was more to it and more to take pictures of!

Just check out the pics!

After Notre Dame, we went to the French Deportation Memorial - a memorial to the 200,000 French people who were killed by the Nazis. The memorial was very moving. You go down a narrow stairway into a high walled structure, and the only openings are to the sky and a grate that lets you see the Seine. Even though Notre Dame is only a block away, you can't see anything but sky when you look up, and it is very sound deadening. There are 200,000 crystals inserted into a wall - one for each person murdered. Very moving. And very well done.

After that, we walked around quite a bit more before heading back toward the Musee d'Orsay for a tour. The line was L-O-N-G. So we didn't stay. Save it for next time!

St.Germain de Pres

We started our walking tour in the St. Germain de Pres neighborhood. Saw a number of churches, and did some shopping before lunch. Super cool vibe, lots of great stores, gagillions of cafes.

The weather was pretty good, cool and windy, and cloudy with pockets of blue sky and sun. So sometimes it was cold, but if you got into the sun you were OK. Definitely good weather for walking a long way.

The pictures are of churches that we just walked by.

The first one is St. Germain de Pres - the oldest church in Paris

The second is St. Sulpice, and the third is just some random church we walked by.

All were amazing. And built anywhere from 900 to probably 600 years ago. Unbelievable and beautiful. I was awestruck, and we hadn't even gotten to Notre Dame yet!!

Breakfast of Champions

Chris and I left early today for a day of walking tours of Paris. We stopped at a Boulangerie Patisserie, and I got (of course) une croissant chocolat. (Side bar - FP at work, you can edit my horrific French grammar and spelling later.) Chris got a caprese sandwich - both were fantastic and we were off for what was to turn out to be a day of 5.5 hours of walking around Paris.

Quick itinerary, specifics to come on other posts:

Morning - Left Bank Walking Tour, St. Germain de Pres area
Lunch - Pizza Positano
Afternoon - Historic Paris Walking Tour, Notre Dame, etc.
Early evening - wine, cheese, bread

GH - we need some SERIOUS working out when we get home. Although we have put probably 35-40 miles on our shoes on this trip, there has been NO strength training. We need to work the cheese and beer off quick!!

Ah...Paris...

Sat in the park at sunset drinking champagne and eating a bagette and eclair...what could be better? More days in Paris...that is what.

It's a small world after all...part deux

So the week before we left, Chris and I went out to dinner at a restaurant in our neighborhood called First Course on 56th and Chicago - by the Kowalski's.

We were sitting at a table next to an older couple, and when Chris had to take a call from his dad, we started chatting. We talked about going on our trip, and it turned out they were going on a London/Paris trip, and would be in Paris the same time we were.

So tonight Chris and I walked over to the Parc du Champ de Mars to sit in near the Eiffel Tower and have our champagne and eclair. When we were done, we were leaving and as we walked by some people sitting on a bench, I noticed they were speaking English. Something sounded familiar, and IT WAS THEM!! Their names are Paul and Carla and they were wonderful.

I said, "HEY! It's the First Course people!" And we talked to them for about 30 minutes until the Eiffel Tower lit up. They took our picture - see other post.

Can you believe that? In a city of millions, what are the odds we would run into people that we met briefly in a restaurant in our neighborhood??

Mon Dieu...

Chris and I shared the bottle of champagne from FP (thank you again) before dinner, and then went for dinner at Le Petit Cler. #1, I'm hammered. #2, it was FANTASTIC.

We shared:

1) A prosciutto and cheese on open toast sandwich
2) Terrine of fois gras with bread
3) Petit pot chocolat

Holy mother. It was the best meal I've had in Europe. Although we will both need to get our cholesterol checked immediately upon returning home.

We then stopped and picked up a bottle of champagne and "une bagette et un eclair chocolat." I was proud that I ordered the whole last part in French. Although they probably felt bad for me. Heading out in a bit to sit by the Eiffel Tower, a manger notre eclair chocolat et une bagette avec champagne.

La Tour Eiffel

And there she was...just around the block really. As beautiful as I imagined. The sky today was the brightest blue I feel like I've ever seen, and it was PERFECT for our first day in Paris.

We walked around quite a bit, but the Eiffel Tower, the Seine, and the Rue Cler.

It is everything I imagined and more...and two days is definitely not enough in Paris.

Oprah, Over and Out...FINALLY

Now for the non-Europe vacation part of the blog. I am so sick of CNN and BBC News. That is basically all you can get here in English. You'd think I would be really up on world news at this point, but alot has been discussed about Oprah.

Many of you know how much I loathe Oprah. And I don't even think "loathe" is an appropriate word to indicate my real hatred. However, after reading through a story on CNN.com about her last show, I think I can fully relate to what one person blogged:

"So long you bloated sack of estrogen."

Perfection.

Champagne? Oui!

Thanks to FP for the champagne that was waiting in our room when we got to our hotel!!

As a born and bred Parisien (sp?), he has been an amazing and outstanding resource for what to do, where to stay, and how to get the most out of Paris.

MERCI, mon ami!!

Paris Driving

I thought I had witnessed some crazy driving in Amsterdam, Brussels, and in Germany.

Those countries have NOTHING on Paris. On the way from the train station to the hotel in the taxi, I literally thought I was going to die.

There aren't any dividing lines on the street - maybe if there were, people might use them as a suggestion. As it is, I thought we were going to kill at least three people on scooters/motorcycles, and one pedestrian.

I have no idea how no one dies every 5 minutes. FP, my hats off to you man - if you can drive in this, you can drive everywhere.

Train to Paris

Well, the train was definitely better on the way from Munich to Paris. Certainly not the Four Seasons, but it was 50% bigger than the last compartment, and we did have our own private bathroom. That was good.

So, while I don't know that I will do that again, it certainly was an adventure I will not soon forget.

But I did forget to take pictures!!

Volcano? What volcano?

Many of you may be wondering why I haven't blogged about the volcano that erupted over Iceland since we are flying IcelandAir.

Let me make this clear: THERE IS NO VOLCANO AND NO IMPACT TO OUR TRAVEL PLANS.

Almost on our way to Paris...

We are just sitting at Starbucks waiting to board our overnight train to Paris. God willing it won't be like the last one.

And as a special treat, we have called the hotel in Paris and have asked them to have the shuttle pick us up - the shuttle is a driver who will be holding a poster with our name on it!! Total swank!! Thanks again to FP from work who is an awesome friend and who booked the hotel for us after scoping it out last Christmas.

Now THAT is anal.

Our apartment in Munich is really, really nice. Impeccably clean, big and roomy, fully equiped, very well maintained. And it is that way because of the owners. She is quite anal and has rules to follow when you stay there. But frankly, we thought, whatever, as long as it is clean, what do we care?

Then this picture was on the toilet in the bathroom. Poor Chris.

It's a small world after all...

So for our last day in Munich, we went on a brewery tour of the Ayinger Brewery. Ayinger Ur-Weisse and Brau-Weisse just happen to be two of my favorite beers, and I think NJST and TL like them alot too.

Well, we hoofed it to the brewery (after a 45 minute train ride), going the long way around in the blazing sun (now it was GORGEOUS weather today, but not used to the sun yet, so we were sweaty).

When we got there, I walked up and said my name and she said that the tour was in German, and I said, no problem.

Then an older man said, "Are you Patty?" And I said, "Yes, do I know you?"

He laughed and said that they asked him and his wife if they were the Americans under my name. We got to talking and they are staying at the apartments we are staying at!! Now come on, what are the odds.

They were SO nice. Rich and Liz are a retired couple from North Carolina, like to travel, and were spending the week in Munich. At the same apartments! We spent most of the day with them, eating lunch and talking.

Now, you are all going to think this is mean, but it was so nice to talk to someone other than Chris, and he said the same thing. And it was so nice to just talk to people on a shared topic.

So there you have it. It really is a small world, on many fronts.

Salzburg and the Sound of Music Tour

Yesterday we got up at 4:00 am, and took the train to Salzburg. It was a beautiful day after some early morning showers, and I actually got a little sunburned!

Salzburg is great - and one day there is definitely not enough time. Especially when the SOM tour took 5 hours. We almost missed it, because it was a 30 minute walk from the Hauptbahnhof (train station) to the pick up place. We walked by it, then found it, then had to go get cash. She was ready to pull away as we were racing up.

But we made it - there we are next to the gazebo!

The tour itself was good - a little cheesy, but lots of information on the movie and the real Von Trapp family. The alpine villages we stopped at were simply beautiful. Chris is sleeping so I can't remember any of the names of the villages...

It was a good day, but hot and tiring. We got home, ate at Ayinger off the Marienplatz, and then came back to the apartment to pack, get organized, and pass out!

We are checking out today, heading to the Ayinger brewery for a tour, hanging in Munich, then off to Paris on the night train. And it better be right this time or I will really be pissed.

King Ludwig's Castles

We took a giant tour bus on Sunday to visit three of King Ludwig's castles: Linderhof, Hohenschwangau, and Neuschwanstein.

Side bar - there were four kids from Minneapolis on the bus. One guy lived around 22nd and Colfax. Small world...

There was also a woman and a guy from Chicago and Chris and I were trying to figure out their story. They were obnoxious. I thought she was his mom, Chris though his older sister. She worked for United. I'm not really sure who she was, but at one point she said, "Are your parents going to be mad at me for taking you." And then he said, very firmly, "I'm 22 years old. They are mad at me because I'm not calling them." Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm........

OK, back to the castles...

We actually got to tour Linderhof and Neuschwanstein, but didn't have time for Hohenschwangau. Linderhof is the little white castle, and it was beautiful. Apparently it was more Ludwig's home. Loved it.

That last picture of me is how I needed to walk through the castle with our backpack. I felt like I had one of those pregnancy vests on. But basically, if you put the pack on my back, that is how I have looked every day for the last 9 days - like a pack mule.

Then we went to Neuschwanstein - it is very cool, but there is about a 1/3 mile trek uphill to get there. We took a bus. I'm not proud of it, but I wouldn't change it. The views from the castle were breathtaking - not hard to see why someone would pick that spot.

We didn't get to tour Hohenschwangau because there just simply wasn't time. I was disappointed by that. It would have been nice to see all three. Next time.

We did get to stop in Oberammergau. NUTCRACKERS!! Shipped them home, will arrive in a few weeks. Fetish fed.

Tours, Tours, Tours

Sorry for the delay in postings, we've been on two days of tours!

Day 1 - Tour to King Ludwig's Castles
Day 2 - Sound of Music Tour in Salzburg

Individual posts forthcoming...otherwise too many pictures.

Beer?

Yesterday, our first day in Munich, and we went to Schneider and the Hofbrauhaus.

Pictures. Simply yummy.

Visit to Dachau

After we took a nap after our uber-stressful trip to Munich, we got ready and went to visit the Dachau Memorial. I'm not sure how I felt about it.

There are people taking lots of pictures, but somehow, I didn't feel right about that. I think the most recognized picture would be of the gate that the victims walked through that says "Arbeit Macht Frei" or "Work makes us free." That kind of makes you sick to your stomach.

They do an excellent job with information, but there is a lot of it, and it feels very generalized, so you don't feel like you get to think about a person, versus people. On the other side of the continuum, there was the Anne Frank House, which is certainly more about one person that a group of people. It was an overwhelming amount of information, and I'm glad we went, it just didn't give me the same emotional one-two punch like the Holocaust Museum did, or the Anne Frank House.

That is probably a terrible thing to say. SJ at work has been there, so I'm eager to discuss with her when I am back and get her thoughts.

Terror Train

OK, language alert. Lots of F-Bombs are going to be in this post.

So Chris and I get on the train last night in Cologne to come to Munich. We're supposed to have a double deluxe sleeper with private bath, shower, and double bed.

Um, not so much. The fucking train only had second class cars with private rooms that had bunks and only about 18 inches from the edge of the bunk to the wall. CLAUSTRO-FUCKING-PHOBIA. It was horrifying.

I probably only slept about 2 hours, and couldn't wait to get off the fucking train.

Now, you may ask, did we get on the wrong train? It is an appropriate question. But I don't think we did. There was only one train to Munich at that time, and it was the heinous one.

What the FUCK? I am assured that this shouldn't happen when we go from Munich to Paris overnight on Tuesday. It had better fucking not, or I am going to LOSE MY SHIT.

Killing time in Cologne...

Tonight is our last night in Cologne. We are killing time until we leave.

Hotel check out was at 4:00, and our train to Munich doesn't leave until 11:46 PM. You know, it isn't easy killing seven and a half hours. Here is a brief rundown of the evening.

- Walked to the hotel Chris stayed in 9 years ago with his dad.
- Went to the Bier Museum and had some Kolsch.
- Went to the Eau de Cologne museum - bought some cologne.
- Went to our hotel bar and had some Kolsch.
- Went to Pfaffen for dinner - had some sauerbraten and halven hahn...and Chris had some Kolsch
- Now we are at Starbucks...yes Starbucks...using their free wi-fi for two hours until 11:00...at which point we will go back to our hotel and sit there until 11:20-ish.

It's not easy killing time. More tomorrow from Munich!

Liverwurst? LiverBEST.

I LOVE LIVERWURST!

I forgot that one on the post from before. But it is true.

Who'd a thunk it?

Screaming, crying children out in public are just as annoying in a different language.

Burt Bacharach

So as I mentioned, we went to Bacharach yesterday - it's in the Rhine River Valley.

It's very picturesque, and we took quite a few pictures on the river cruise of the castles along the way. In the picture of me and Chris, that little castle over Chris's shoulder is the one in Bacharach.

We did a wine tasting, and then had lunch. The wine tasting was a little messed up because the woman didn't speak English and instead of getting the sampling of sweet (lieblich) Reislings, which I love, we got the sampling of dry (trocken). They weren't bad, but just not what I wanted. I did, however, become completely shitfaced.

We stumbled over to a hotel restaurant and I got roast beef, and Chris got wild boar Sauerbraten. We also got salads, which was nice because I was missing green vegetables. It was fantastic!! So yummy.

Had another glass of wine, ran to get the train, and the passed out all the way back to Cologne.

Butt Dialer

Funniest moment yesterday in Bacharach? Cooz butt-dialing me from her cell phone.

This happens alot actually, and between the call that I took, and the three or four text back and forth, I think that little convo cost me about $16.

But it was worth it.

Stressterday

Yesterday was a very stressful day. Our plan was to:

- Get up at 4:00 am, get ready and organized
- Get to the train station by 6:15 am to eat breakfast
- Board the 6:53 am train to Koblenz
- Walk 30 minutes from the Koblenz train station to the K-D boat dock
- Board the 9:00 am boat from Koblenz to Bacharach for a three hour Rhine River cruise

Here is what happened.

- Went to bed at midnight, because I still have jet lag
- Got up at 4:00 am, got ready and organized
- Got to the train station by 6:15 am to eat breakfast
- The 6:53 am train to Koblenz is 40 MINUTES LATE causing us to miss the boat in Koblenz
- Went back to bed for an hour because I was so tired I was slurring my words and got on the 9:53 train to Koblenz
- Hopped a city train to Bacharach then boarded the 11:15 am K-D boat from Bacharach to St. Goar
- Took the train from St. Goar back to Bacharach to walk around.

There was alot of hopping from one train to another and the boat ride was a total snore (thank God it was only 40 minutes and not 3 hours like we planned).

So not a bad day, just stressful with too much moving from place to place.

Rick Steves Would Be So Proud

Chris did laundry the other night - the 2.5 gallon ziploc bags worked really well. The picture is of our bathroom in Cologne.