The Holidays

That’s right…my second installment. Forgive me for making it so short but here it is…what I did for the Holidays.

For Thanksgiving, I had my first thanksgiving dinner. Lady Fair and I invited over the upstairs neighbor, Her friend N and her American boyfriend H, one of my friends and his guest, and one of my subordinates without a family. We got ten liters of beer from St. Martin Brau (the brewery down the street), opened up one of our bottles of wine from Meran, and laid out an awesome feast. For snacks we had chips, tomato and mozzarella, brochette, and garlic bread. The first course of the meal was a spicy pumpkin soup provided by LF’s Co-breader, and then came the main meal…My first attempt at an Oven Roasted Turkey, which turned out perfect, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, cranberry sauce, mixed vegetables with a cream sauce prepared by LF, Stuffing, and pan gravy (which I burned because I left it on the hot burner while eating my soup). Other than the gravy and the Cranberry Sauce, everything was quickly devoured. Desert consisted of LF’s backed apples, stuffed with Marzipan, cinnamon, raisins, and nuts and covered in a vanilla-cream sauce. In addition, I baked (from scratch except for the crust) six pumpkin pies, and we had LF’s homemade egg liquor. It was a pleasant evening, and everyone enjoyed themselves…so much so that Anja, the neighbor upstairs, found herself a new boyfriend.

Christmas was more or less a three day event between Christmas eve at our house, Christmas day with LF’s mom, and the 26th at her dad’s with her sister; but the main event was Christmas eve. On Christmas eve, LF’s father and step-mother came over for dinner and I also invited a new guy to the company, TS David, who will be taking my old position at work. We had a very cool evening. LF’s father and I drank a bottle of my red Italian wine, and dinner consisted of “racklette”. More less, what it was, was a table top electric grill. LF and I had cut up pork, beef, chicken, and a larger variety of vegetables, and then everyone just puts on and cooks what ever they feel like. It’s good because everyone talks, eats, and sits at the table for hours. In the evening after dinner, in German tradition, the Wiennachts angle came to deliver presents…well more accurately, Rolf, LF’s father, took KS to his room and entertained him while LF and I moved presents under the tree and tied sparklers to the Christmas tree—yes, we really did have fireworks on a real Christmas tree. After words we opened presents and drank Fuer Zamboule, a hot spiced wine with rum and melted sugar. Much better than any gluhwein…this stuff tasted delicious and gave you a great buzz.

Okay, okay…due to popular demand, I’m writing again and not going back on a promise I had made months ago…well, to make up for my inactivity here is the first, although short, installment of a rapid series of post intended to bring you, my massive audience, up to date on my adventures.

We go back, way back—to the first weekend in October…actually lets go back to the last weekend in September instead. It was the middle weekend of Oktober fest—the world renowned beer drinking festival in Munich—and I had planned a trip down with several friends. That is, until both Lady fair and I came down with some kind of stomach bug that kept us from straying too far from home.

Okay…now we can skip ahead to the next weekend. Having recovered from the sickness, we decided to hit up the last weekend of the fest…after all, this could very well be my last opportunity to attend before I go back to the States. Well, we drove down to Munich Saturday morning intending to meet Pudder and Kelly and to hit one of the famous beer tents. Well, running a little late, we got the call from Pudder while we were still parking, that he and Kelly had already made it into the Hoff Brau Tent.

Well, Lady fair and I parked the car and took the metro to the event and then walked about for a little while. To my surprise, and mild disappointment, Oktober Fest is nothing like it is portrayed to be in the movies. Mostly, it is a lot like a county fair, with Farris wheels, candy booths, carnival games, and bumper cars. All the bands, singing, and drinking, takes place in one of the beer tents. In turn, each of the tents have there own theme…everything from traditional Bavarian to Rock and Roll. Well apparently there are three ways of getting into a tent. 1. Get there super early (8-9 a.m) and beat the crowd. 2. Pay hundreds of Euros for a reservation almost a year in advance. 3. Wait in lines sometimes as long as four hours and still face the possibility that you won’t get in.

Of course, since this was my first Oktober Fest, I had to go to a beer tent—specifically the Hoff Brau which Pudder was already in. The problem was that I didn’t buy a reservation, and we were too late to beat the crowd. Lady Fair took me around to a side entrance to try and talk security into letting us in, but that didn’t work. After waiting about 15 minutes, I broke down and took a piece of advice that my friends from the week before gave me…I pressed a 20 euro bill against the window and signaled the security worker that I wanted entry for two. He then grabbed a buddy and the two of us were escorted past the crowds and inside.

The atmosphere inside was a lot like the original Hoff Brau Haus. Bavarian themed, they had hops hanging from the ceiling a band playing a random variety of music, and a crowed of patrons that sang, shouted and drank to their hearts content. Lady Fair and I eventually met up with Pudder and Kelly where we both had a couple litters of beer before heading back outside to buy some souvenirs and eventually head back home.

A Trip in September

Okay, okay…I know. I have failed to live up to my promise—at least one posting per month. Well here you go, even if it is a little over due, enjoy…

It was Labor Day weekend and I had four days off, so after work I headed home to Lady Fair. It was a busy afternoon of packing bags and checking maps. Eventually, we ate dinner and I went to bed to snap a few hours of sleep. We got up some where around midnight and hopped in the car for the long drive through Bavaria, Austria, and into Italy. Our destination was Meran a quaint little city nestled in a valley in the Italian Alps.

Amazingly enough, the drive down didn’t take nearly as long as we had expected it to. So, as we pulled up to sunken church still hidden in darkness, he hopped into the backseat, wrapped up in my emergency blanket and stole another two hours of sleep until sunrise.

The sun came up and we leisurely made our way through the mountains to Meran. Now Meran is a unique place. I can’t think of anyway to describe it other than quaint. The whole valley was crowded by orchards and vineyards to the point that anyone walking down the street could pick their fill of grapes, apples, figs, or pears with out giving a pause. The valley was truly picturesque with a frothing yet tame river through the middle and orchards climbing their way up the towering mountains on three sides. Hidden amongst the apple trees were any number of farm houses mixed with pensions and gasthauses and more than a few restaurants. It was something out of a movie with an air of lazy contentment lingering everywhere.

So, Friday morning we arrived in town and stopped at three places before getting our room at a small bed and breakfast. We went to the backer for some fresh breads, the butcher for kamin wursten, salami, and speck, and finally to the dairy store where I selected three small blocks of cheese from large variety. With breakfast in hand, we moved on to our pension to settle in and then headed out to begin our weekend of hiking, eating, and drinking.

As far as hiking goes, that first day we bit off a little more than we could chew. We picked some trails that didn’t look too difficult on the map and made out to climb the Mutzpitze, a mountain roughly 2600 meters in height. Well I wasn’t kidding when I said climb. What started out as a leisurely hike, turned into and adventure near the top. The trail became treacherously steep, rocky, and to make things absolutely nerve shattering, there were shear slopes on either side of the trail. Once we made it above the tree line, my vertigo quickly set in. Tunnel vision for nothing but the ground and Lady Fair’s lovely ass was the only thing that kept me going, but even that quickly became insufficient once the wind started to blow by my ears. This far after the fact, I am having trouble finding the words to describe that absolute terror that gripped me on the hike, but I can tell you that the countless bombs, sniper attacks, and mortar fire I faced in Iraq raised about as much emotion in me as finding a quarter in the street after winning the lottery compared to the level of fear that mountain instilled on me. I had never been so absolutely scared in my life. I eventually made it to the top, but I reduced myself to hyperventilation and almost to tears. I was terrified. Eventually, we had to climb down the other side, which was even worse than coming up, when at one point my fear peaked. I had to make a short pause while hugging a rock when I felt myself get warm, stop shivering and my fear just seamed to melt away. It was crazy…I just stopped feeling fear and even thought the trail became unbelievably narrow at times, I was able to walk at a perfectly calm and normal pace.

The hike took us long enough that we missed the last gondola down to the valley and so had to walk the entire way. The end result was that our exertions from the first day left us exhausted and sore the rest of the weekend. The rest of our hike were much easier and much shorter. Still, I had a great weekend. Lady Fair and I enjoyed a variety of wines and foods, we drank beer in beer gardens on the mountains, and even threw pine cones at a goat. It was a beautiful place, both fun and romantic. It was a perfect spot for our romantic get away.

A Trip to the Ancients

It was about 4 am when Lady Fair rolled over and hit the alarm clock, last Friday morning. Instead of lying in bed like we usually do when the alarm sounds, we both rolled pretty quickly to our feet. I dressed as she went to wake KS and before long we had the car packed and was on our way to Nurnberg. It was about a 45 minute drive to where we met Lady Fair’s cousin who showed us where to park before taking us the rest of the way to the Airport, and shortly after the sun rise, the three of us boarded the Airplane. We let KS have the window seat since it was his first plane ride, and after a short layover in Zurich we found ourselves in Athens by Mid-afternoon.

We didn’t do a whole lot on Friday. We walked around the tourists center of the city during the day, enjoyed the view of the Acropolis from our hotel, and a meal of some dry, over cooked lamp chops, and went on a night time stroll where we exchanged gifts commemorating our 6 months together (though our 6 month mark had already come and gone).

Saturday, we took the Metro to Port Pireas where we caught a ferry boat (KS’s first boat ride) to the island of Aegina. There we walked around the fish market, bought a painting, and spent the better part of the day at the beach.

The water was nice the weather hot…in all it was a great day for the beach and the picnic of fresh fruits and nuts that we bought at the market. Everything was beautiful right up until the time that Lady Fair and I were messing around in the water and she was stung by a jellyfish. As evening started to close in, we rented a little paddle boat. Lady Fair and KS paddled me around in for and hour as I tried out me rod (the same rod my dad gave me as a gift when we met in Hawaii last year). To my surprise, I caught a fish within the first 10 minutes of fishing and caught a second one soon after. Now, granted they were only tiny fish (see pic below), but I was still happy. I didn’t expect to catch anything. After my second catch I spent the rest of my hour trying to show KS how to use the rod. He managed to master the technique of holding the rod, but casting led to more time trying to untangle knots than actual fishing. As for reeling…”Langsam…ein bischen schneller…Langsam…stop,” he was starting to get it, but needs a lot more practice than the 20-30 minutes we had before having to return to shore.

Sunday was spent walking through the different historical sites of Athens. We saw a variety of ruins…and did a lot of walking.

Street Party

So once again, my weekend started in Vilseck as I was attending yet another work related class (I’m hoping this will be my last one for a while). After class on Friday I headed to Kupferberg to meet Lady Fair at her Dad’s house. About an hour drive from Vilseck it was a pretty quick trip and much shorter than trying to pick up Lady Fair from her house. Anyway, Friday night we had a pretty quiet evening. Dinner consisted of a vinegar and oil salad, spaghetti with a mushroom cream sauce that her father cooked, and a small glass of wine. It was like every other meal I’ve had there—pleasant, if quiet, with me only picking up bit and pieces of the conversation (Lady Fair and her sister have pretty good command of English, but the rest of the family have a very limited vocabulary and so makes conversation somewhat difficult). After dinner we helped set up for the party (Straβe Fest) and then headed into Kulmbach where we watched Shrek 3. Now it seemed good enough, but I felt like the first two were a lot funnier. Then again maybe it was because I was watching it dubbed over in German and so probably missed a lot of the more subtle jokes. After the movie we the Zentrum and had a couple of drinks at a bar. I was surprised to find that Kulbach’s night life was almost non-existant. There was only a few night clubs, none very “happening” and seemed like everyone was teenagers. It was definitely nothing compared to the party scene I was used to seeing from Bamberg, Erlangen, or München.

Saturday, the two of us headed into Bayreuth, did a little window shopping, walked around the city and ogled at some Ferraris at the Ferrari dealer. Mid-afternoon saw us back at Kupferberg for her dad’s party. A typical, German street party, all the neighbors came over to Lady Fair’s Dad’s house and drank some of the local Beir (Dunkles or Hefe Weiβen) and gorged ourselves on roast pig, kraut, and other salads. Eventually, a couple of the younger neighbors separated themselves from the rest of the much older crowd and joined lady fair and me at some good old fashion American drinking games. First we played beer pong where Lady Fair and I destroyed the competition, and then since that wasn’t going fast enough we moved on to Quarters where both Lady Fair and I got a little more drunk than we intended, but since were spending the night again it wasn’t a big deal.

Sunday with only a mild headache, we started the morning off with a traditional Weiss Wurst breakfast, that made me feel pretty fabulous. Then Lady Fair, T, the two dogs, and I headed to a unique place to go hiking. The translation of the name is Rock Labryinth, and it was a trail through the woods that winded its was through a some really awesome rock formations. The hike involved a few steep climbs and a lot of ducking, crawling, and squeezing to get through, it was a lot of fun and there was a lot of cool things to look at. Then again…most of you know that I enjoy hiking even where there isn’t anything to see. After the hike, we made the drive back to Zapf, were we dropped off our bags and then headed straight to Roth were we had dinner in our favorite beir keller, were I drank what I consider hands down the best beir on earth and had my new favorite appetizer Zweibel Käse with my meal.

Grabfeld Rallye

Okay…The last week has been pretty crazy, so I’m a little behind the curve for this posting. I’m writing about last weekend, 29 June through 1 July. I may have told some of you, but Lady Fair is a big fan of Ralley Car races. In fact, every year for the past seven or so years she has been working one race in particular (The Grabfeld Rallye). Over the years she has done a number of jobs ranging from document inspector, to Curb security. This year, she saw fit to include me, and so I was volunteered to help work the race.

So Friday, after work, I swung by and picked Lady Fair up and headed to the race headquarters. I worked until about 11 pm with Lady Fair handing out document kits to drivers and logging vehicle inspections. It may sound kind of boring, but it really wasn’t. I had the opportunity to check out just about all of the 180 or so Ralley Cars and saw some pretty interesting individuals. The real fun, however, came on Saturday. As luck would have it, my part of working the race was to drive the Last Car. So with Lady Fair as my Co-Driver, I was to drive the course behind all the other cars signaling the end of the Ralley and the opening of the roads to public use. What that really meant, was that I could drive as fast and as reckless as my car would let me without fear of police or other traffic. It was awesome!! We roared down narrow country roads, did power slides around corners, and had a blast that only 4-wheeling in the dunes of California can match. And what about after the race? Well, we went back to the main tent where the party was at and waited for the winners to be announced.

Rock im Park

As promised…my first posting for June….

The time…All weekend. The place….Nurnberg. The event….ROCK IM PARK. One of the largest open air events in Europe with 35 bands and an expected 150,000 people to attend, Rock im park looked like it would be one party that I couldn’t miss. Especially considering bands like Good Charlotte, Megadeath, Korn, Linkin Park, Velvet Revolver, White Strips, Smashing Pumpkins, and Evanescence just to name a few were on the venue. Of course it wasn’t exactly easy, see I’m away working in another city for a few weeks and Lady Fair, currently without a car, had a dog show that she was to attend on Sunday.

Well, after work on Friday, I packed up the sleeping back and tent and headed to Nurnberg were I was able to meet with Lady Fair. After a short adventure trying to find parking spots, we finally grabbed up all our stuff and headed to the camping area outside the concert. Now you’ve probably heard the term “Tent City” before…but this was just ridiculous. For kilometers around the event tents were pitched practically on top of each other with various trash piles, grills, and kegs throughout. Drunk/stoned people were everywhere. We hiked through out the massive camp for nearly an hour before we found a clearing to pitch our tent in. With Dave and the rest of the gang still at work and such limited space, we knew that linking up with them in the tent area would be a nearly impossible task. Instead we decided to just set up camp and head to the event and leave the rest to fend for themselves or to call up when they got there.

Harrison, a friend from my time in Missouri that I just happened to run into in Vilseck, accompanied me down to the concert, so with three of us camp was set up in no time. Unfortunately Harrison didn’t have a ticket to the event, so before we could get in we had to set off to find some scalpers. I know it sounds shady, but I had a little experience with ticket scalping in the states and was pretty sure the process worked the same here in Germany. With Lady fair being a native speaker and my past experiences, I didn’t share any of the worries that she and Harrison held about being able to get in.

It was while I was negotiating a price with some dude that looked like a pedophile that the mixed blessing came. What had started as a beautiful morning and turned to a gray afternoon, soon became a drizzle while searching for a ticket and then turned into a torrential down pour. A nice looking couple in their thirties approached us and sold us their tickets for a good deal less than the original box-office price—they didn’t want to brave the weather. Well it was great that Harrison got his ticket, but unfortunately we were drenched in the process. The weather let up eventually and while Harrison and I who had suffered worse had no problem enjoying the event, Lady Fair was miserable. Cold, wet, and miserable like she probably never had been before, she was almost in tears. She wanted to spend time with me, but didn’t want me to miss the concert that I had so badly wanted to see and yet couldn’t stand being wet. In the end she braved it through Korn and Die Artze, and I walked her back to camp so she could get dry and warm. I had planned to come back later to catch Mega Death.

Saturday went much better. Though the morning was gray and we caught early showers, we stayed dry in the tent through the worst of the weather and by the time we headed to our first show the weather was starting to clear up a little. Our first show was Lez Zeplin…and no, I didn’t misspell it. Don’t feel too bad if you didn’t catch the “Z” in there, I didn’t either. Lez Zeplin turned out to be four broads playing Led Zeplin songs. To tell you the truth, they were actually very good even if I was rather disappointed that I had been misled. Other bands we saw that day were The Hive, Linkin Park, White Stripes, and Evanescence. All of the shows were fantastic with the exception for the White Stripes, who apparently only have one decent song and otherwise play shit and don’t bother talking to the crowd at all. They almost bored me enough to make me think about leaving…but Lady Fair really wanted to see Evanescence so we stayed and suffered through the shitty show.

After being up all night Saturday night, I headed to the Dog show with Lady Fair early Sunday morning. It was a little bit boring…but four cups of coffee, a piece of cake, a worst with brotchen, and coke (along with a good book) kept me from falling asleep.