Ahhh, to be a tourist

I've heard from a friend that Rick Steves is in fact a pretty cool guy. "I don't know", I said. "He seems like kind of a geek and his travel show absolutely bugs the hell out of me." My friend then went on to inform me that Mr. Steves tailors his show to the typical American tourist by highlighting the big attractions, playing on the cultural stereotypes of a place and basically dumbing down travel to make it easy for first-timers. My friend further told me, after having attended a Rick Steves talk, that he has some crazy travel stories and is a very down-to-Earth type of guy with a pretty satirical and witty sense of humor. I guess Mr. Steves has found his niche and is doing quite nicely and probably does help out a lot of people and those people really enjoy his show. It is nice to hear, for such a well-traveled guy, that he really isn't as big of a bonehead as he seems on the TV.

See, I'm more of an Anthony Bourdain kind of guy. I love his travel/food show, "No Reservations" and really enjoy reading his literary works. He's a tell-it-like-it-is, politically incorrect, no-holds-barred type of host who focuses more on the locals perspective rather than the just-off-the-boat tourist types. He shows you things in cities that most normal tourists will never see. That's how I like to travel. Away from the crowds, away from the tourist traps, away from the disneyland-esque features of a place that attract rubes like flies are attracted to a pile of my dog's........well, you get the point.

However, I must state that we ALL are guilty of being the tourist I have learned to loathe from time to time. It just can't be helped. No matter how much prior research is done before a trip, you still tend to gravitate towards the most popular sites the first time you visit a place. They are magnetic and have to be checked off of the list of 'must sees' before you can move on and really start exploring. I mean, you go to Paris, you're going to see the Eiffel Tower. You're more than likely going to wait in line for three hours to enter the Louvre. When in Rome, you're not going to miss the Colosseum. You're more than likely not going to miss seeing the Sistine Chapel and Vatican City either. Hell, you've traveled that far and spent that much time on a plane, more than likely sitting next to some stinky Euro or a screaming baby, so you're not going to skip out on these iconic places.

I've been labeled as being 'lucky' and 'fortunate' and people say they are envious of the places I've lived. The lucky and fortunate part are true and I don't dispute this and I have absolutely no complaints. However, being envious of my life may be a bit of a stretch. What a lot of people don't understand is that I also work a full-time job in these places, deal with mundane tasks such as mowing the lawn, grocery shopping, paying bills and everything else that makes living a responsible life in today's modern world possible. I hagle over my cellphone bill with clueless Vodaphone employees, deal with medical bills that are incorrect and put up with nosey neighbors who just can't seem to mind their own business. Same scheisse, different country. However, Germany is not America and dealing with the differences in the culture and dealing with them in a different language does tend to raise the blood pressure just a wee bit higher.

"Yes, but you live in EUROPE! EUROPE is GREAT! We were there for two weeks and had a fantastic time and can't wait to go back!"

Yes, you also had your room cleaned for you daily, didn't have to cook meals or shop for your food, had disposable cash which the main purpose of is to spend frivilously, had two full weeks to leisurely roam around and see what you wanted.................. It's just not the same when living here and you're dealing with limited vacation time and choices such as "should I go see my family at Christmas or take a week in Chamonix to ski?" Trust me, it's not easy making these decisions. You tend to hoard your vacation time and try to use it in the best way possible, and believe me, it's not for one week trips to the spas in Baden Baden or to go hang in Amsterdam and then London. Instead, three-day weekends are used to travel to places further afoot and normal weekends are used to hit up areas within a reasonable driving distance. No matter what type of a trip it is, though, you're going to come back exhausted, worn-out and just a bit more disillusioned on the whole Europe travel deal. Then you go back to work on Monday and hope you don't fall asleep at your desk.

So no, don't be envious of me. I'm envious of YOU. I'm envious of the obvious tourists I see casually strolling down the narrow streets in Lisbon, taking the time to peacefully enjoy the city, even if they are waisting half of their time seeing some of the obnoxious built-for-tourists sites. More than likely, I'm the obvious tourist walking very quickly by you trying to escape the traps and pitfalls that someone like Rick Steves showcases on his program. I'm the guy with the map out, looking for the places I'm least likely to run in to groups of non-residents to try to get a REAL feel for the place in as little time as possible. It's a crappy way to do things, but when your options and time are limited, you do what you have to.

I realize that I won't live here forever so I really do try to be more than just the typical tourist when I travel. I've enrolled in the crash course "Real Europe - 101" and let me tell you, the professor is tough as nails. I know that it may sound like I hate the tourist hordes that descend on the continent every summer, but really it just all boils down to jealousy. Yep, I'm lucky as hell to live here, but damn I wish I had more time to enjoy it!

Future plans include taking over Mr. Bourdane's job when he retires.......

Pre-Wedding Bliss

We are now down to 30 days from the wedding and 28 until many guests arrive. Family and friends are flying from Oregon, Washington and Minnesota to Munich and Nuremburg for a whirl-wind wedding weekend/vacation.

I’ve been doing a lot of planning and making lists. Nate and I finally sat down last night to look over all my lists while having dinner and checking out Gasthaus Grosshauser again. Lists for times, flowers, guests, music, helpers, vendors, and questions. This time I arrived with center pieces in hand and Nate toting his newest camera for a few more pictures to send to the DJ and photographer.

While waiting for dinner, we set up the center pieces and looked at new ways to set up the room for better flow and spacing. Nate also took a picture of me as Bridezilla, that famous wedding monster. Actually, we were faking that to show the size of the room two ways for Nate’s amusement. It looks something like the huge people in a tiny room from “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory.”

So, now, we continue to progress through the days and small tasks to get ready for the wedding. Nate says his job is to keep me stress free, to keep him stress free. No stress here. My dress is in, every box has shown up with wedding supplies I could not buy here, and only a cake to bake and altered suit coat await us. Not bad. Our guest room is also the home of all things wedding. And Nate thought we couldn't fit anything else in the house :)

Now I’m looking forward to the between things, like the Parsberg Volksfest, maybe a couple weekends camping, and a baking weekend.

Can’t wait until you all get here; we’ve got a lot of fun planned!

Revisiting the past in Mittenwald, Germany

This past weekend Dawn and I traveled down to Garmisch, Germany to do some camping at the Edelweiss Lodge and Resort's "Wilderness Campground". One of us will put up a full post on our trip soon - probably once we're finished going through the 600 or so pictures we both took (pics now done and can be found HERE). Now, however, I'd like to share a little story about one of the most memorable incidents that occurred on my student exchange trip to Germany back in 1990. The pictures in this post are mostly from my trip to Germany back in 1990. The last 4 are from our trip last weekend.

Nineteen years ago, I and a rag-tag group of Roseburg High School students, traveled to Germany to take place in the German-American Partnership Program student exchange. The first month of our trip was spent in northern Germany around the town of Lüneburg where we attended some classes, explored the countryside and lived with our host families. The next month was spent traveling to other locations in the country which included spending a week in Berlin, taking a boat trip down the Rhine River and eventually ending up in Munich.

This story begins in Munich, my favorite city, by far, on the trip. At this point in my life, I had never seen a city like Munich before. The architecture, the plazas and squares, the unique Bavarian lifestyle, the Alps in the distance, the enormous English Garden city park...... It was almost too much for me to take in and appreciate at the time. On one particular day while the rest of the group went to visit the Dachau concentration camp, I was allowed to roam free, unencumbered and unsupervised, around the city. I had already been to a few of the concentration camps with my host family in northern Germany and asked not to go on this particular trip. I wanted to explore more of Munich on my own! This was truly one of the most fun days I ever have had in my life. I'm 17 years old, in a foreign country, visiting an amazing city and there was no one to tell me what to do or where to go. It was fantastic! When I reconnected with my group later that evening, I learned that we would be taking the train to Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the Alps south of Munich the next day. I couldn't believe my luck. All day I had been enjoying Munich, but off in the distant loomed the Alps, teasing me with their green slopes and snowy peaks. The only thing that could beat the day I had in Munich would be a trip to those distant mountains, and we were going the next day!

The train trip the next day to Garmisch only took an hour and a half but seemed like an eternity to me. I really had no interest in the town of Garmisch itself, I just wanted to get up in to the mountains to do some hiking. Upon arrival at the train station, I was ready to start climbing. After my previous day of freedom, I thought that it would be no problem to take off on my own to do what I wanted while others did what they wanted. This would not be, however. As a group, we slowly wandered through town, looking at cheap souvenirs, admiring the kitschy Bavarian tourist crap displayed in the store fronts, finally ending up at the Hausberg Gondola two hours later. It was torture for me. I had no interest in cheap lederhosen or felt hats - I wanted to get up in them thar hills and do some exploring! Finally, as a group, we loaded in to the gondola and headed up the mountain. The views were spectacular and just wetted my appetite for what lay even further up the slope.
After exiting the gondola, Jamie Peters and I asked for permission to wander off on our own. We were granted this permission but given explicit instructions to be back at the train station by 5 PM. "No problem", we thought. "We'll climb this mountain and be back down there with plenty of time to spare!" And climb the mountain we did - and fast! We found a nice trail that headed uphill, ending up near the ski jumps that were used in the 1936 Winter Olympics. One of the most memorable things from the hike up was getting passed by a guy going downhill on a bike. I'd never seen a mountain bike before and thought this was the coolest thing ever (and a new hobby of mine was begun upon my return to the States). After snapping a few photos at the top of the mountain, we quickly headed back in to town as time was getting short. We did get a little lost trying to find the train station again, and in our wanderings, ran in to our group who were also lost. Finally, our fearless leader and chaperone on the trip, Frau Barr, got us going in the right direction but we had to run to make the train back to Munich. I think Jamie and I took the "Run!" command a bit too literally, sprinting well ahead of the group and hopping on the wrong train. We also led another of our group astray who ended up joining us on the adventure to come.

Shortly after realizing we were on the train heading to Mittenwald and not Munich, we became a bit panicked. Hearing our worries, an American backpacker on the train tried to help us out but only informed us further of the predicament we were in. There were no stops between Garmisch and Mittenwald and this was the last train of the day between the towns. This was not good. We had to be on a train to Frankfurt the next morning at 10am. Although fully appreciating the pickle we were in, I took it all in stride. The views from the train window were amazing and the Alpenglow hitting the peaks at sunset was beautiful. Bolstered by my 'alone' day in Munich only 24 hours earlier, I decided we would make the best of this. Upon arrival in Mittenwald, I would ask around for alternative travel back to Munich. If that failed, I would then try to book us in to a hotel for the night with plans to take the first train back to Munich in the morning. We had a couple of obstacles facing us, though; first, none of us could speak German very well, especially in a Bavarian dialect. Second, we were very low on money. Our chaperone doled our money out to us daily, leaving us with little on-hand cash (in retrospect - what a stupid policy - especially for instances like this!). This was before the days of ATMs or cell phones, which leads us to the third obstacle - our chaperone had no idea where we were!

I tried to remain calm once we arrived in Mittenwald while Jamie and Jeff were going a little crazy. To help further keep my wits about me, the first thing I did was find a beer garden and order me a half-liter pilsner. Hey, when in Rome (or Mittenwald)......... After enjoying the beer, I found a hotel and asked about rates for the night. I don't think we had enough money between us to cover even half the cost of one room which was pretty pathetic. The desk clerk at the hotel was very nice, though, asking around about buses going back to Munich that night. She said to check back with her in an hour or two to see if she had found us any seats. So, there we were in Mittenwald with little money, no travel options at the present time, no room to sleep in and no real plan except to wait for the train in the morning. What to do? Yep, go get another beer. Jamie and Jeff were still pretty frazzled, but I did get them to calm down a bit and enjoy a small beer each. We eventually headed back to the hotel and were informed that there were no available buses that night. At that point, I really didn't care. It was a beautiful evening and we were in a beautiful place. I would be happy sleeping on a park bench, waking up to the glow of the sun on the mountain peaks and taking the first train back to Munich. Jamie and Jeff conceded that this was the best option available to us and that it was smart to stay in one place in case anyone was looking for us.

Across the street from the Rathaus was a nice little park with some cozy little benches - one for each of us - with a beautiful view of the Karwendelberg Mountain which towered over the town. For the first hour, the plan was working fine. We sat around, chatted and laughed at our predicament. We started to get tired and decided to try to catch some sleep. That's when the Polizei (Police) showed up and kicked us out of the park. They didn't speak English, our German was bad and they weren't very happy that three Americans were destroying the beauty of the town by sleeping like bums in the park. Fair enough, but where to go and what to do now? That's when we heard it - the shrill voice of Frau Barr, calling to us from across the street. It was close to midnight at this point and she was in a state of irate panic. Relieved, yet angry at the same time, she came over to us thankful that we were okay, but pissed at the situation we had put ourselves in. She kept mentioning parents and the embassy and a bunch of other crap that I just blocked out. We were fine, we stayed put like we should have and handled a bad situation the best we could. She was lucky it wasn't some of the other kids on the trip because it could have turned out a lot worse for some of them!
Frau Barr was able to get us on a bus at 1am that night that took us back to Munich. It turned out to be a bus of older travelers on some kind of tour of Europe. They got a kick out of us being on the bus with them and the trip back wasn't bad at all. We made our train the next morning, arriving in Frankfurt at our hotel, the whole group back intact. I wonder if we should have told our parents that the hotel Frau Barr booked us in Frankfurt was in the red light district with hookers hanging right outside the front doors? Nah, we'd put her through enough!

So, that's the story. While down in Garmisch last weekend, we ended up having some time to kill and decided to drive the 20 minutes to Mittenwald so I could relive this experience from 19 years ago. I was able to find most of the places we visited in the town and take pictures of the places I'd been. A lot had changed in Mittenwald, but it was great going back. I never thought I would see that place again, but there I was. At first, I kind of wandered around with a silly grin on my face remembering the experience and taking it all in. I eventually snapped out of it and Osu, Dawn and I had a great couple of hours exploring the town. Thanks, Dawn, for taking this trip down memory lane with me!

July skiing and camping in Zillertal, Austria

One of the big things we realized after this trip was that being a weekend warrior in Europe, well, kinda sucks. We've found that a general rule of thumb when planning our trips is to add an extra hour of time for every 100 kilometers we are going. It doesn't matter which way we head from our little town, the rule applies no matter if we're heading to Holland or Dresden or Austria. Google maps says it's 3 hours to get to our destination in Austria which is 200 kilometers away? Simple - it will take us 5 hours at the very least. Yes, Germany does have the autobahn, a free-wheeling fast-paced strip of pavement where a seemingly disproportianate collection of asshole drivers congregate. Yes, there is no speed limit in places, but this doesn't help much when there is construction every 10 kilometers, the Dutch ground-force hauling their ubiquitous camping trailers clog every uphill section in existence and traffic jams stretching as far as one can see crop up seemingly anywhere and for no reason. Still, we put ourselves through this every couple of weeks and have really started to wonder, is it worth it?


In most cases it is, but do too many of these weekend trips back to back and you will eventually burn out. A typical summer trip is as follows; Pack Thursday night, rush home from work Friday and hit the road. Arrive at destination at 9 or 10 PM, set up camp/check in to hotel, find something to eat, get to bed late. Do whatever on Saturday, fighting the crowds along the way. Sleep after a long day of doing whatever we were doing. Wake up Sunday and decide whether or not we feel like getting home late that night or not, do whatever, make the long drive back home, unpack, sleep. Monday, go to work early, get home, clean up the rest of the mess from the weekend, do laundry and then start to plan the next trip. It's really not all that relaxing.

This latest trip pretty much followed the recipe above, but we did have a good time. We arrived at our unbelievably overcrowded campsite near Mayrhofen on Friday night just in time to pitch our tent and get everything in it before being hit with some truly crazy thunderstorms. After getting the tent up, we pretty much spent the next 4 hours stuck in it because of the weather. It was some of the strongest rain I have seen in years and the thunder and lightning was impressive as well. Osu did not enjoy it, but he behaved pretty well for being imprissioned in the tent with us. Our friends who were supposed to camp with us this night ended up not being able to find us for a couple of reasons. One, the weather was so bad on their drive down (we missed this) that they arrived hours later than expected and it was dark by the time they found the campground. Two, when they got to the campground, there was no way to find us amongst the hundreds of other tents pitched in the 'tent-only' area which was simply a grassy field next to a road tucked in with all of the camp trailers.

The next morning we awoke to some much nicer weather and headed up to Hintertux for some snow skiing. I love going to this place in the summer. The crowds are thin, the snow isn't all that bad and the views from up there are amazing. We did end up meeting with our friends at Hintertux - us after having slept in a soggy tent and them after a night in a beautiful 4-star hotel. After skiing, we headed back to the campground and had a nice relaxing evening together, caught up after not seeing each other in a while, cooked a good dinner and then proceeded to bed. Surprisingly, we all managed to get a good nights sleep and woke up fairly early on Sunday, cooked a good breakfast and then packed the camp up and left.

The weather was gorgeous on Sunday, so instead of heading back home via the autobahn, we drove some backroads up to Achensee on the border of Austria and Germany. This seemed like a great plan not only to us, but to half of Europe as well. The place was absolutely packed and we didn't end up sticking around for long. Our next stop was the Aying brewery east of Munich where we stopped for one of the most meat-laden lunches I have ever had. It was good, but damn! I felt like Fred Flinstone when I picked up the plate of ribs and the chicken I ordered. No human should be allowed so much meat at one time!

We eventually got home around 6 PM that evening, not rested, not relaxed and tired as hell. Even a full-nights sleep didn't prepare us for work the next day and it was rough for both of us. But, that's how it goes out here and I guess we've learned to live with it. It is frusturating, though, knowing what's out there but how hard it is to actually enjoy. Too many people, too many cars, too expensive, too many people and not enough time. The camping in no way is anything like what camping in the US is like. I now know why the Euros buy tents that look like small apartment buildings for camping - if you don't, someone will inevitably pitch their tent two feet from yours. You need a buffer and a 500 square foot tent will provide this I guess.

Anyhow, we'll be off camping again next weekend again but hopefully in a less-crowded area where we are able to enjoy a little more solitude. The place where we are staying labels it as a 'wilderness camping experience', but that remains to be seen. I'll report back on that when we get home, hopefully with a little more energy and thought.

(wow, that was some bad writing. probably the quickest post I've ever put up, though. And I'm tired.)