Skiing at Ochsenkopf

A new video I put together after spending a day at one of the local ski hills with some friends last Sunday.  I was using a new camera this day and didn't quite get all of the settings dialed in properly  I apologize in advance if watching this makes anyone nauseous!



Link to Larger Video

A bit of a different Christmas

First of all, we'd like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!  We wish we could be with everyone at this time of year.  That is one of the hard things about living overseas - being away from family and friends during the holidays.  Heck, we have a big enough place now - how about you all come over and stay with us next year :) 

This Christmas, we are taking it pretty easy.  This morning we are leaving for Dresden and are staying for two nights in this fantastic city.  We only decided on this plan late last week, having heard from numerous people that the Dresden Christmas market is THE market to go to in Germany.  We actually hear this about a lot of the different markets around the country (and in France and Italy and Austria), but too many people have told us too many times now that Dresden truly is one of the special ones.  We've been to the Nurnberg Christkindlmarkt - more than a couple of times.  We did Rothenburg ob der Tauber last weekend.  We've been to Hexannager and the Regensburg markets, Salzburg, and numerous other small markets around our area.  They are all great!  But, Dresden is one we really want to check out.  When we asked each other "if you could only go to one more market, which one would it be", we both answered "Dresden".  

So, Dresden it is.  We're really looking forward to it!  We'll be returning home on Christmas day with plans to take it easy, eat a lot of food, and watch a lot of movies.  It sounds delightful to me!

Merry Christmas!

(All of the Christmas Posters I've created this year can be found HERE)

Finally - Pictures of the New House

Of course, when I finally get around to taking some pictures of the house, the place is an absolute disaster. See, we just returned from Rome yesterday and still haven't fully unpacked. Before we left for Rome, we hosted an early Thanksgiving with many of our friends. We never got the chance to fully clean up before heading off to Italy either. So, excuse the mess in the pictures, please. We usually are much cleaner people! On top of the dorm room-esque look of our house, we received our first big snowfall of the season last night (and it continues to come down as I type this). So, instead of seeing our nice green lawn and the various rosebushes and other plants, you can really only see a blanket of white surrounding the exterior of our place. I'll make sure to take more pictures in the spring, especially after we plant our garden.

It's probably been evident that both Dawn and I have been very busy these past few months. It's made it really hard to post much to the blog lately. It's also been hard for me to find any time to put many new pictures up from the trips we have taken. Hopefully I'll be able to get some of them up soon, however -especially for the bigger trips we've taken. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy these pictures from the house - you can find them on my Flickr Site (<----- click on that link)

ps - I've created many, many new posters and placed them on my Taku Posters and Photography Site. Please take some time to look through them and tell me what you think! A lot of the posters are from trips we've taken, so it will give you some idea of what we've been up to!

All moved in!

We’ve finally got all moved into the new house. It’s all setup and ready to go, except a few parts of the kitchen, not bad for a week and a half. We’ve got new rugs, since most of the house is tile or laminate, tons of wall space, and a nice big yard. Osu is adjusting well, although he wasn’t sure if he was going to be left here.

We went out exploring a bit this weekend. Nate got the bikes all ready to go, and Osu was happy to follow along. We started in our town and headed through the woods towards Mausdorf and then rounded back passed Godlricht and back to our house. Osu was pretty tired afterwards, but very happy. He is still recovering from the ride, which has made him run a little slower on our trip through the woods a different direction yesterday.

Currently, Nate is out in Austria. He’s headed down to Grossglockner, then driving the Grossglockner high Alpine road, and stopping in Hintertux to ski and head home. It is all for work, so he says J Nate will also be stopping in Innsbruck to get some cityscape pictures.

If all works out well we want to head to Strasbourg, France this weekend. The city looks beautiful and has a lot of history as well. But, you should read the history yourself; I don’t remember ANY history for very long.

The View Has Indeed Changed!

Greetings All!

This past weekend we made the move to our new locale in Ursulapoppenricht (yes, it's a mouthful).  We have actually managed to get a lot done in the last few days, although a lot of work yet remains until the pictures are hung, shelves are stocked, and things are organized.  Slowly but surely, things are getting accomplished, however. 

The picture at the top of the page was taken from the office/workout room in the new house.  We don't really have a front porch anymore, so I figured the most interesting view would make the best banner for this page.  Yes, that is a train that passes the house, but luckily, it is not a commuter line.  I've noticed that the train comes by two to three times a day, and also luckily, not at horrific hours.  You may also notice that we have no neighbors on this side of the house - just fields of corn, rapeseed plants and some other unidentified green stuff.  It's quiet (except for the train passing a few times a day), peaceful, and a nice change from the 'city life' of Parsberg. 

We'll start to update this blog a little more often as we get further settled in.  Finally, things are starting to calm down for us.  It's a nice change!

The view from our front porch will be changing very soon

Unfortunately, that view won't be as scenic as the castle from our current yard, but we are both very excited about the move! Yes, it's finally happening. On October 1st, the movers come to haul our stuff 53.2 kilometers to the north. I've been alluding to the fact that a move might be imminent for the past couple of months, but I haven't been very forthcoming as to why. Basically, I am not renewing my government work contract and will be free from the constraints of a cubicle, 12 demanding bosses, irrational work demands, and performing tasks that I have found boring and unchallenging for the past 10 plus years. Instead, I will be doing my art, photography, writing, and web work fulltime from home. I have a few solid things in the bag right now, but also have 1,000 other ideas to implement and try out. I am really looking forward to these new challenges and opportunities!

As for Dawn, she has renewed her contract and will continue working at her current position where she is very well-liked and is doing a great job. The best part of all this is that she will no longer have to make the one hour slog each way to work every day. Instead, a 20 minute, very easy drive, will put her at the front door of her office. No more 4:30am alarms, no more getting home at 6:30pm after a long day, no more cramming in workouts and exercise in to her already busy schedule. We are both looking forward to her having much more free time after the move.

I will update our situation a bit more in the days to come - and when I'm more coherent. The last month of travel and work has left me a little thin on energy! The remaining weeks of September will not provide any respite either. We'll get through it, however, and very much look forward to kicking back in our new digs and enjoying our new lives starting in October. Yes, things are looking up!

A Few More Pictures from our Trip to Italy

The poor weather this past weekend gave me a chance to go through more of my backlogged photos taken on trips earlier this summer.  Slowly, but surely, I'm getting through them all.  Below are some various pictures taken while on our trip to Cinque Terre, Italy at the beginning of July.  Besides staying along the Italian Riveria, we also spent a couple of days in the Alps of Italy in the Brenner Pass region.  I really liked this area.  Although busy with tourists, it was tame compared to a lot of places in Austria, Switzerland, and Germany.  I'd really like to go back to this area in the future to do a bit more exploring.  There are also a few pictures from Mutters, Austria, where we stayed the first night of the trip on the way down to Tuscany, and I've included a link to some pictures from Mittenwald, Germany, where we stopped on our drive back home.  Here are the links to each set: 

Colle Isarco, Italy (Brenner Alps)
Mutters, Austria
Mittenwald, Germany

and Three Weeks Roll on By..........

Yep, we've been a bit busy.  Well, more tired than anything.  Work has kicking both our behinds - and hard.  A few little side projects have eaten up pretty much any spare time we've had outside of work, hence, the lack of  posts on here recently.  Let me assure you, however, all is well.  We're just..........tired.  So, here's a quick rundown of what we've been up to, that is, if I can part this haze that has enveloped my brain this evening and remember that far back.

In no chronolgical order due to the difficulty I'm having thinking, here we go:

1)  Last week was spent in Berchtesgaden.  We didn't ski, but we did get out for a winter boatride on the Konigsee, did a bit of sledding and were able to take a few long hikes in the deep snow.  Overall, a really good weekend.

2)  I've started working on a website to help out other gout sufferers who like to lead an active lifestyle.  The template for the site is pretty much done, but there is still a lot of information to get down and reorganization to go through.  I hope to work on this some more next week and have it up on the internets sometime in the next month.

3)  I haven't done any writing or editing recently, but have been thinking a lot about it.  This may sound bad, but I'm waiting for Dawn to be away on her work trip in two weeks so I can come home from my day job and really start hacking away at the manuscript.  There is a lot to be done on this still and I will likely have to re-write a lot of it in order to achieve a more focussed direction and to make it more topical.  It all does kind of tie in with the website, but they can be worked on independently.

4)  Pictures.  I'm always working on pictures, reading about perfecting the craft and doing my best to adhere to practice some of the techniques and procedures I read about.  I also just started working on a photo website gallery today which took a lot of preparation time the last couple of weeks.  Here is a link to the preliminary site:  http://www.frozenriverphotography.com/  Many of the pictures will be changed - right now, many of them are just placeholders.

5)  Dawn has done a lot of baking the last couple of weeks using her new bakeware she just received.  She's made some darn good cookies and cakes as of late and luckily, she takes most of her creations to her office.

6)  Dawn has also been traveling for work a lot more recently.  This has really cut in to her free time and her time at home.  After a long drive to and from the office and a full day at work and then cooking dinner (she refuses to let me cook - I wonder why?), it doesn't leave a lot of time for much else.  Well, she has been putting in a lot of time planning our trip back to the States this summer and fighting my insurance company to get the money back that they owe me.  That has not been fun.

7)  We did our taxes

I'm sure I'm missing a lot in there, but I'm tired, dinner is almost finished, and we're going to spend tonight relaxing and watching a movie.  We haven't done that for some time now.  It sounds good to me!

The pictures from the trip to Berchtesgaden can be found HERE  Here are a few samples:


Our ski carrier

It wasn't hard to find an empty seat to eat ice cream at here

A bit of ice on the shore of the Konigsee

Dawn on the trail on the shore of the Konigsee

Travel Information for coming to Germany

First of all, let me say, Dawn and I are extremely excited for everyone to arrive in two weeks! We know it's a long journey over here and we appreciate that so many of you are taking the time to come spend a very special day with us! We know it's the first time for some of you to Europe, and even if it isn't, it can still be a little confusing and you may not know exactly what to expect. For this reason, we've got some information to help you with your trip, packing, and even some information on a few of the places we plan on visiting while you are here. If you do have any specific questions on something we haven't covered, please feel free to email us at any time.

Money

Most of Western Europe and an increasingly large part of Eastern Europe uses the Euro. The only countries in Western Europe that do not are Switzerland and England/N Ireland. You will need Euros while you are here in Germany, but don't waste time acquiring them in the US. There is no need for this anymore. Almost all ATM machines in Germany will accept your US-based ATM card and they will give you a better exchange rate than many banks. Because of this, Travelers Cheques are also not necessary. When you need some cash, it will be readily available. Your first Euros can be obtained at the airport when you arrive. Credit cards are also accepted in many places and do give the best exchange rates, but use isn't quite as wide-spread as in the US. It's always good to have some Euros in your wallet, just in case!

Weather

For most of the year, the weather in Germany is, well, pretty cruddy. However, September and early October are usually pretty darn nice. Nights can get relatively cool (low to mid 40s) while days are usually warm and sunny (60's up to 85). There is a link on the right hand side of this page that will give you the forecast for Parsberg. I have checked the 16 day outlook and it is looking dry and fairly nice in two weeks. I will update this section as September 17th gets closer as the German long-range forecasts are notoriously bad.

What to Bring

Because of the variable weather, make sure you pack a variety of different clothes that cover all conditions. Even though the weather is normally pretty nice this time of year, you can also experience short-lived torrential rain storms (just ask my brother - we did find a good sushi place in Munich while trying to get out of the rain though!). Also make sure to bring a comfortable pair of walking shoes. The cobblestones take their toll on your feet! Other things to bring include your medications, extra contacts or eye glasses, small toiletries such as soap and shampoo and any Bavarian clothes you may have if you plan on joining us at Oktoberfest. If you do forget something such as a toothbrush, you'll have no problem picking one up in Parsberg. There is a drug store next to the hotel that most of you will be staying at.

Travel and Day Trips

Dawn and I have planned some day trips while you are here that should prove to be a lot of fun. The area we live in is surrounded by a lot of interesting sites and cities all within a short drive or train ride. If you'd like, take the time to visit some of the links below to learn a little more about these places. At the bottom of the page is a map showing the locations we plan on visiting. The yellow house is Parsberg and the red symbols all represent planned or potential day trips. You can click on each symbol to bring up links to more information on each place.

Parsberg

This is the place we've called home for over a year now. It's a quaint little town close to nothing but central to everything. We like it. It's basically got everything you need to survive including numerous grocery stores, some shopping, a HUGE furniture store, a castle, a few guesthouses a couple of churches, pharmacies, drug stores, the main hospital in the region, a drug rehabilitation clinic, a halfway house for crazy people and a gas station. So, if something goes medically or mentally wrong while you're here, you're covered! More info on Parsberg, if you can read German, can be found here: http://www.parsberg.de/ If you can't read German, enjoy the pretty pictures!

Regensburg

This is a cool city. It lies along the Regen and Danube river and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There are some old Roman ruins within the old city and many other fantastic buildings, narrow streets and a nice shopping area to explore. Regensburg also boasts one of the largest cathedrals in the region, and I must say, it is quite impressive. Regensburg also claims to be the birthplace of the Bratwurst and is continuously battling for this title with Nurnberg. The current Pope is also from Regensburg. You can read more about this city here: http://www.regensburg.de/tourismus/international/english/through_the_ages.shtml http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regensburg

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

This is one of the more picturesque places that Dawn and I have found in Germany and Europe. Rothenburg is a beautiful, medieval walled city that is a destination for tourists from around the world. If you only have the energy or time to make it on one of the day trips, this is the one to go on! Hours can be spent wandering the twisting lanes, checking out the unique shops and exploring the old castle fortifications. The world-famous Kathe Wohlfahrt gallery is also located here and open year-round for you to explore. Read more about Rothenburg here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rothenburg_ob_der_Tauber http://www.rothenburg.de/index.php?get=121

Munich

As some of you may know, the day Dawn and I get married coincides with the start of the world-famous Oktoberfest in Munich. Be thankful we won't be going down there on the opening weekend, however! Instead, we've planned to visit Oktoberfest and Munich on the following Monday which should ensure lighter crowds and easier access to the beer tents and attractions. Munich is by far one of my favorite cities in Europe. Even after living here for over three years, I have not fully explored everything it has to offer. Unfortunately, we will only be down there for one day. We plan on going to Oktoberfest and then visiting the Marienplatz area and if there is time, sections of the English Garden. There is too much about Munich to write in such a limited space. Please check out these links for more information on the city and Oktoberfest: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich http://www.muenchen.de/home/60093/Homepage.html http://www.muenchen.de/Tourismus/Oktoberfest/7548/index.html http://www.muenchen.de/Tourismus/Sightseeing/Attractions/7569/index.html

Nurnberg

We don't have an organized trip planned to this city, but if you are looking for something to do, this is a great place to visit. Nurnberg is a short and easy train ride from Parsberg and offers up many attractions to keep you busy for the day. We love going to Nurnberg for some of the great restaurants located there, to visit the castle and to visit the great museums located in the city. Just ask and we can help you plan a day trip here any time. I have provided some links for Nurnberg in the map above. Just click on the red icon to access these.

View Parsberg, Germany and the Surrounding Area in a larger map

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!

How to fit in as a German while in Germany

This entry is meant to be a simple guide to help those who may be planning on coming to Germany at some point in their lives. The great thing about Germany is that things really don't change much as the years roll on, so feel free to bookmark this and use it even if Germany isn't in your plans until 2025. Everything written will still hold true, probably until the turn of the next century. This guide can also be helpful for those that may never even step foot in this wondrous country. Use a few of the hints written here to gain favor at your local German restaurant, because everyone knows more gravy is better than less gravy on your knodel.

No matter what they say, Germans still love David Hasselhof

It's seriously freaky. I've seen grown men weep when one of his videos comes on at the local Gasthaus. I think it's out of respect and joy, but sometimes German emotions can be hard to read. The picture to the left was taken at the local Rewe grocery store in my town. The Germans try to indoctrinate the kiddies at an early age. I think there is even an hour of "Hasselhof Appreciation" at every kindergarten in Germany twice a week ensuring the youngsters carry on the love-fest for this cultural icon. But, ask a German while in Germany how many Hasselhof records they own and they will look at you with a quizzical expression as if they have no idea who or what you are talking about. They go to great lengths to keep Germany's love affair with the Hof a secret - I'm not sure if it's out of selfishness or shame. Either way, never approach this topic directly. Before coming to Germany, watch some Knight Rider, endure a few episodes of Baywatch, learn a couple of the Hof's songs - they will just know you are one of them without you saying a word. If you put in the effort and truly learn to embrace the Hof, don't be surprised when you get invited to sit at the Stammtisch (locals table) hoisting brews with dudes in lederhosen and slamming one liter mugs together while shouting, Prost!

German Fashion - the socks and sandals thing is true

I still remember being laughed at by a large group of German High School students when I was on exchange in Germany the summer before my senior year. Our group had been in Berlin the week before and I had found a screaming deal on some Birkenstocks at the KaDeWe department store. Both Jamie Peters and I bought a pair. However, I was the only one who decided to wear them to our first day of classes at the Gymnassium (German HS). To this day, I still believe I was laughed at because I didn't wear socks with my sandals. Oh, I tried to at first, slipping the sandals over my socked feet as I was getting ready to leave in the morning. I felt silly, though, and ended up going sans socks for a more natural, and in my opinion, more comfortable sandal-wearing experience. To this day, I still won't wear socks with my sandals even after experiencing this humiliation. I am in the minority, however, while living here. Check out the chap in the picture on the right (taken today). Fair enough, I've gotten used to seeing such things over here, but this guy had Mickey Mouse socks on for craps sake! Mickey Mouse! Anyway, I still get looked at funny when going sockless in my Birks or Tevas but I just don't care. For anyone visiting, though, I do recommend packing some sandal socks to avoid getting stared at, or worse yet, laughed at. There is a fine line with acceptance over here and this can only help you.

More German Fashion - this one geared towards the ladies

I don't have a lot to say on this. I can only pass along what I have observed and learned while living here. For some God-awful reason, 85% of Bavarian women above the age of 40 dye their hair. I'm not talking highlights or casual touch-ups either. I'm talking dye colors that defy nature. Colors that will never be found in a box of Crayolas. Colors that don't exist on the ROY G BIV color spectrum. I don't think it is absolutely necessary for a visitor to go to these lengths since the practice is not ubiquitous, but doing so may gain you A LOT of favor with the locals. If you do decide this is an avenue you want to take before coming to Germany, just be aware that you may experience a lot of stares and even spontaneous crying from little kids who happen to gaze upon your 'do before landing in ze Vaterland.

That's it for tips tonight. I'll add more in the coming days. Hey, I'm here to help. If you have any specific questions about Germany or any worries before coming over, I'd be happy to address what I can. I don't know everything about this country - yet.

Okay, time to go put some of Hof's music on and slowly drift off to sleep.........

Observations in Germany - Part II

The Miraculous German Grocery Store Que

This is definitely not unique to Germany, but it is something I notice happening a lot more here than in other places. Let me explain. Say you're standing in line with 7 other people at the grocery store and are in the only checkout lane open. You're standing, waiting, perusing the tiny bottles of liquor at the checkout stand as more and more people pile up behind you. You've been waiting for approximately 10 minutes and still are buried deep in the line. Suddenly, the checkout next to you opens up. What happens? The last person in line, the person who has only been waiting for 15 seconds, runs - and I literally mean runs - over to the newly opened checkout while the person that was in front of them waiting for, oh, I don't know, maybe 40 seconds, fills in behind them. As you stand there, pissed that these people have essentially 'taken cuts', you watch them merrily pay for their goods and leave the store while you are still standing and waiting, while four others are still in front of you. The miraculous part about this is that nobody ever gets upset when this occurs, as if it's a part of life in Germany that one must accept to get by. "Hey, today maybe wasn't my day, but by golly, tomorrow it could possibly be ME that gets to cut in front of everyone else! Oh Joy!"

Yes, this is a big pet peeve of mine and always has been. In America, I would speak up when I saw something like this happen, usually being my smart-ass self to make the point. Most people usually got the hint and would shuffle to the back of the line where they belonged. However, I'm not quite so vocal here in Germany as I am a visitor and most people in my tiny town know it. No use in being the a-hole Ami, so I just accept it as another cultural quirk and move on. After three years here, it doesn't quite grate on me like it used to, but I still find it a valid issue to highlight about living here. It does catch most newcomers by surprise!

I was going to make an animation displaying exactly what I'm talking about, but instead, I made the animation below which was much more fun to create. It really has no point, but I was bored and tired and it gave me something to do. The video is a bit small, so click HERE for a larger version.

Observations in Germany - Part I

I'm sure that some of you who have never been to Germany before may be wondering what day to day life is like over here. You may be asking yourself questions such as "Do Germans really wear leather pants and cute little hats with feathers in them?" Or, "Do German kids really start drinking beer at the age of 9?" Maybe you've always wanted to know what it feels like to drive a car down the Autobahn at 140 m.p.h. or if the McDonald's in Germany serve schnitzel burgers with a side of pretzel fries and a 12oz glass of peach schnapps to wash it all down. Well, thankfully you have us to answer these questions for you and to even bring you some insight in to the German culture and just how different it can be for a foreigner living here.

From time to time we will be bringing you our 'Observations from Germany.' Usually these will be things that even make us, two Americans with a few years under our belts in Deutschland, pause and ponder over the little cultural differences we encounter every now and then. These are meant to be light-hearted and fun, but in most instances, are true from our perspective. I'm sure most foreigners visiting the US could point out just as many curiosities pertaining to American culture and make just as much fun of us. But, if it weren't for these differences, what would be the fun of traveling and experiencing new places? With that in mind, let me bring you Part I in this series:

Navigating German Sidewalks

In most of the places I've lived or visited, negotiating a sidewalk is a fairly easy task and something that almost anyone can figure out no matter where you are. Most people around the world tend to like their personal space and will give a generous berth as they approach one another. This allows everyone to maintain a steady pace while also staying within the confines of the relatively safe sidewalk. This can be more difficult when walking in groups, but still, most people tend to have this figured out from about the age of 10 or so. When two groups are on a collision course, each group will respectively file behind others in their group so that everyone can pass each other comfortably without impeding the progress of the others. The only place that I've seen this break down is in Tokyo, Japan, but that place is crazy-busy and sometimes the rules just can't be adhered to there. Just in case my writing isn't clear on this subject, I've created a short animation that shows how two groups of two approaching each other would normally behave in order to make it a pleasant experience for all. Please click the 'Play' button below.

Pretty simple, right? Everyone continues on with their day happy and content without a care in the world when this type of sidewalk behavior is followed. However, upon moving to my new town in Germany (Weiden id Opf at the time), I tended to get out and explore on foot as much as I could. The more I did this, the more I began to notice something quite curious about the typical sidewalk etiquette in my little town. People simply did not move out of the way, especially while walking in groups. The worst happened when I would be walking alone on a two person-wide sidewalk, approaching two people walking side by side coming at me. In almost every instance, I would be forced to step in to the street or to hug a wall while they passed me, often with a bump to the shoulder, and giving no acknowledgement that I even existed. I just didn't understand it. It got really interesting when I would be walking with someone else and encountered this scenario. It was akin to playing chicken or red rover as a child. Even though I was super, super, super good at those games as I kid, I found myself on the losing end of these events in Germany more often than not (like, always). I just couldn't crack these people and always ended up jumping off of the sidewalk or in to a doorway in order to preserve my two foot, no-touching, personal bubble. I've illustrated a worst-case example in the animation below. Viewers be advised.....

So, the big question then is, what happens when two groups of Germans approach each other? After over three years of living here, I still am not positive how this is done and I don't think I will ever know without a diligent and time-consuming study of this phenomenon. I kind of think of it like one of those atomic colliders where atoms are shot towards each other at the speed of light, smashing together creating a fiery mass of destruction and chaos. I'm positive this is going to happen as I just can't see either group giving way to the other. Sometimes when I do see groups of locals walking towards each other down a confined walkway, I duck for cover behind the nearest dumpster or light pole or even a small child, just waiting for the world to be sucked in to a black hole. Each time, however, I open my eyes after a few minutes of agonizing end-of-the-world anticipation, only to realize that the sun is still shining, people are still milling about eating their ice cream and that I still can't stand Barry Manilow music. By some miracle, the groups have eased by each other without incidence, acting as if they hadn't almost inadvertently destroyed the planet. I just don't get how they do it.............. Special schooling? Telepathic communication? They all have those little roller skate shoes that allow them to quickly maneuver around one another at the last instant? I have no idea and I don't think I ever will.

The Weekend - a short summary of events

Yes, I do realize that most people really could care less about the mundane and boring details of our lives. So, if you are one of these people, please stop reading now because this post isn't going to be all that exciting. I just thought I'd put something new up while Dawn is in the kitchen doing her cooking thing. It's not like I have much of anything to do anyway, so without further ado, here's what we did this weekend. Yippee!

Friday evening: Dawn and I drove up to our friend Judy's house about an hour north of us for a wine tasting party. I had reservations about this since I really don't drink nor enjoy wine, but, I was pleasantly surprised and actually had a great time. It isn't often that we get to hang out with our ski buddies outside of the ski season and it was great seeing everyone again. The party was actually a lot more organized than I originally thought it would be. Judy actually had a guy come over with a number of different wines and everyone got to sample each one. The guy was a German and he was kind of an arrogant douchebag but we had a good time messing with him, taking advantage of his lack of full understanding of the English language. We did get to sample some tasty wines, however, and even ended up buying a couple of cases. We bought one crate of your basic every day table wine and then a case of red ice wine which is extremely rare and can cost upwards of 1000 dollars a bottle in the US. So, after spending 300 Euros on wine, eating some wonderful food and hanging out with some good friends, we headed home, happy we made the trip up.

Saturday: We didn't do much this day. We did drive to Regensburg to explore the Donau Shopping Mall which was a good waste of time. The weather wasn't particularly nice so it was a day best spent indoors. I bought a new camera bag at the Saturn Store and Dawn bought three bottles of wine at some little snobby coffee/wine/sweets shop. We drank one of the bottles that evening and it turned out to be pretty decent. I think I even liked it more than Dawn. On the way in to Regensburg, we noticed that a festival was going on. We stopped and took a short walk along the river where I snapped the picture on the right. The picture on the left was taken from the upper level of the parking garage at the mall. The fuzziness of the picture is from the metal barrier put up to prevent people from jumping from the garage - I'm sure something that happens often due to the crap weather Germany has 97% of the time.

Sunday: We woke up fairly early on Sunday morning and were pleasantly surprised to find that the weather had cleared leaving a deep blue, cloudless sky. A nice change from the dreariness of the previous day. I usually try to get up early on Sunday's anyway. The only TV show that I really make an effort to watch is on at 8am; Anthony Bourdaine's "No Reservations". Basically, it's a cooking and travel show and I can't get enough of it. After watching this, Dawn left to do some grocery shopping on post while I lounged around and did......nothing. It was nice. Dawn got home around noon and had a particularly strong desire to eat some ice cream. Hey, it was gorgeous out so why not take a walk and get some ice cream, even if the morning had only ended 10 minutes earlier? It turned out that a lot of others had the same idea and the new ice cream parlor in downtown Parsberg was quite hopping. After Dawn got her ice cream, we continued on and found ourselves down at the train station (left). I then asked Dawn if she wanted to walk down to the Hammermuhle Valley where a picturesque creek can be found, something that would make Osu very happy. I'd actually never been down to the area before but Dawn and Osu had run through there on a few occasions. I was pleasantly surprised at what I found and definitely plan on returning very soon, probably by bike. So, our short walk to the ice cream parlor ended up turning in to a 2.5 hour walk and hike which was very enjoyable. I needed something like this to get my walking legs back as it had been some time since I'd done anything strenuous due to the broken jaw. A nice warm up for some hikes we plan on doing very soon in the Bavarian Alps. (For some reason, the blog software won't put the darn space in here. Must keep reminding myself, it's free, it's free, it's free.....)

I took a few pictures today and have posted them to my Flickr site if you'd like to check them out. Anyway, the weekend was nice and relaxing, something we all needed. We plan on being away for at least the next three weekends so some time spent at home was welcome. This coming Friday we leave for Dublin and are very excited about that! I'll have a trip report soon after we come back...... Cheers!

Rothenburg ob der Tauber -- Revisited

Nate and I have had some interesting discussions about Germany and places we’ve traveled and would like to see again. Having both been to Germany during our high school years, we have stories and our old pictures, some that are in the same areas.

Nate’s group never went to Rothenburg, but I always remembered that I liked the town. The pictures I looked back were not so good, and really do not do the town any justice. Looking at them almost made me wonder if I remembered the right city. So, as a beautiful day was here, we traveled about an hour and a half to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, “Rothenburg over the Tauber.”

The town is on a plateau overlooking the Tauber River. It was bombed during WWII, but they gave up the town as to not be destroyed. The town was quickly rebuilt and is quite a tourist place now. They also make these schneeballen , snowballs, which are deep-fried dough balls sprinkled with powdered sugar or covered in chocolate.

Packing up the dog, we grabbed our cameras and hit the road. What started out as a lovely day, turned a little cloudy as we drove towards Nurnberg. Great. Neither one of us had jackets, so it would be perfect if it started to rain. Driving in and out of road construction, we made it to Rothenburg, and most of the clouds were gone. Although when we arrived we noticed that they had a race going on through town, which had a few shops open, perfect for buying a couple little things.

We headed through the city wall, not what I remembered, but intriguing. I knew at some point I’d remember more, but the rediscovery was fun. We climbed the stairs to the top of the wall. It seemed as though we could walk all around the town from the top of the wall. Half attempted to start we took a few pictures and climbed back down to walk through town.

Meandering through the people running and a stop a linen store we made it to more of a pedestrian area. We were in awe of the beautiful buildings, the kind you picture in your head when you think Germany. The houses were made of large beams and a plaster in shades of green, yellow and pink. The roads were tiny cobble stone paths, barely wide enough for cars.

Two small tables outside a restaurant called to us, as we were starving from not having lunch yet. Osu sat patiently while we ate, watching the people on the street. After finishing and throwing Osu a few fries, we wandered down the street and found some festivities for the half marathon and headed back in the other direction.

Ah, we’d found the city I remembered. The wide open square with the old Rathaus, that’s where my picture was taken 11 years ago. There was a small stand selling fruits and vegetables, a fountain, and a lot of people. Seems they all came out since the clouds had gone. We wandered down to the church with no scaffolding and then into a shop with sketches and paintings. We bought two more additions for our walls at home, a Europe map from 1572 and a sketch of Rothenburg's famous Plonlein street. The wonderful lady also told us some cool history of the drawings and town.

We headed down the street to a park outside the West Gate for a few

pictures, and then back down to the famous street corner. A violinist was playing and people were eating their ice cream. The building behind the player is in the picture we bought. To determine when the picture was drawn, you look at the beams on the second floor. If they are ‘X’s then it was after the reconstruction in the 1950 or 1960s, but if still bowed, then they are the original beams. It’s funny the things you learn from the towns people, if you happen into the right shops.

After a few more pictures it was getting late in the afternoon. We had much more to see and discover, but it’s not too far from home. Next time we’ll leave earlier in the morning, as it is an all day tour.

*Nate has added his photos from Rothenburg to his Flickr site. You can find them HERE

Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich........Parsberg??

I still remember a certain T-shirt from my youth that I would see from time to time in my home town of Roseburg, Oregon. The shirt was a knock-off of a popular shirt found in most tourist destinations around the world. The T-shirt simply said "Paris", with a picture of the Eiffel Tower, "London", with a picture of the London Bridge, and "Roseburg", with a picture of the world-famous Mt. Nebo weather goats that occasionally wandered off of the hillside to block traffic on Harvard Avenue and Interstate 5 when inclement weather was imminent. With this T-shirt in mind, I would like to introduce you to the town I've lived in for the past year, Parsberg. It's no Munich. Heck, it's not even an Ingolstadt or even a Weiden (not that you would know the latter two - that's my point). It's Parsberg, a small hamlet with 6,000 residents lying smack dab between Regensburg and Nurnberg just off of the A3 Autobahn. As small as it is, it still is the king of the kuhdorfs (cowtowns) for this area and the center of the universe for many people that call this small chunk of the Oberpfalz (a district in Bavaria) home. A lot like Roseburg, actually. But even more redneck (Bavarian-style) and in many cases, more backwards.

One way to give a tour of a place via the internet is through pictures. This blog does limit what I can show you, but I will do my best to introduce you to the sights and highlights of Parsberg in a digital format. You can click on the pictures for a larger view of what I see every day. To begin, I must inform you that Dawn, Osu and I did go for a walk this morning and I had this blog entry in mind when I took my camera. I didn't get all of the pictures I wanted, but enough to give you an idea of the hell we live in (just kidding!). On the left is Dawn and Osu in front of our house ready to embark on our one hour journey. As you can see, they carried none of the supplies. That was left to me - the man. Typical. Osu has gotten so lazy in his old age. Dawn - well, she has no excuse. Except she did have to manage Osu. On most days, that can be enough.

The sign pictured to the left is just up the street from our house. In German, "Stadtmitte" simply means 'city center'. I guess it must also mean town or village center because it’s quite a stretch to call Parsberg a city (see picture to the right – that is downtown). Lupburg is an even smaller town approximately two kilometers to the east of Parsberg. It’s a quaint little dorf (village) but nothing to really write home about. It does have a castle ruin which makes for a good destination on a bike ride, a grocery store and lots of old people. That’s about it. Dietfurt is a town that is actually larger than Parsberg about 20 minutes south in the Altmuhl Valley. This town, although larger, doesn’t really offer much either. It is set in a nice location but there just really is no reason to ever go there. In fact, the town is so boring and bland that there is actually a bypass built around it which is quite rare in Germany. In most instances, driving through any small town here can be a chore. Thankfully, even the German road engineers recognized the pain caused by driving through Dietfurt. Kudos, German road dudes!

Parsberg actually is a very nice place to live and has most of the amenities to meet your basic needs. The town proper contains four grocery stores, four or five pharmacies, three eye glass places, a smattering of decent restaurants and a few stores that are worth poking your head in to every now and then. The main hospital and the main schools for the area are also located here along with a small train station which is conveniently on the main line between Nurnberg and Regensburg. It also contains a lot of very, very old people. This would explain the abundance of pharmacies and eye glass shops. If you were to combine mine and Dawn’s ages, we would still be 30 years younger than most people in town. I’m talking these people are OLD. The funny thing is, they probably walk more each day going through their normal routine than the average American walks in a week. But, that is one of the great things about this town – you literally can walk anywhere within the city limits in 15 minutes or less and really don’t need a car at all. This is truly one of the things I love about living here.

The crowning jewel of Parsberg has to be the Parsberg Castle. Really, there is nothing else in town that can compete with it. It sits on the highest and most prominent spot in town and is visible from virtually anywhere you might find yourself in Parsberg. To call the thing a castle, however, is overstating matters a bit. I like to refer to it as the ‘big pretentious poorly-designed non-castle looking residence perched on the hill’. For some reason, every time we go for a walk up to the castle grounds, I get all worked up thinking about the people who used to live in the place, sanctimoniously peering down on the paupers living and working at their feet, casting a leering eye at the merchants and farmers whose back-breaking work made their lifestyle possible. But then, as if on cue, Osu takes a wee on the castle wall and all is right with the world again.

Okay, so maybe I went a little overboard when describing the denizens of the town and their ages. Parsberg does have a lot of very old residents, but there are also some younger ones - enough in fact that there are actually two small bars/clubs in the town. Dawn and I have yet to visit either establishment other than to order a couple of very crappy pizzas during a lazy afternoon last summer. We once did try to go up to watch a soccer game one evening, but both places were so packed full of fans cheering on Germany that we just went home and watched ‘Old School’ for the 50th time. Besides, we’d know the outcome of the game easily enough. If after the game we heard screaming and yelling, car horns honking and fans singing their favorite football songs, we’d know that Germany had won and had moved on in the EuroCup. I think on this night they did win and the noise kept us up quite late. But, since it does seem most Germans in this town don’t work, it didn’t matter that it was a Sunday night and the start of the workweek was only hours away. Football uber alles, I guess…….

There isn’t a lot more I have to say about Parsberg. Well, actually, there is but I don’t want to bore anyone to death. Parsberg, although a very nice and enjoyable place to live, definitely is not a place anyone plans to visit for an extended vacation. I do see the occasional tour bus rolling through town, but usually it is on its way to somewhere a bit more vibrant and exciting. I kind of like it that way, though. I can do calm. I can do quiet. This is the type of place Norman Rockwell would have painted. You know, if he were German. Not a bad place at all.

If you’d like to see some more pictures from Parsberg, be sure to visit my Flickr site. The link is up there on your right…….