Glückliches Neues Jahr, Everybody!

Seems like everytime I look back on the year that was, I always ask for a do-over. Nope, not this year-- let's get this one over with, and move on to bigger and better things. Happy New Year everybody-- may 2009 bring you all of your resolutions fulfilled, good luck, good fortune and splendid health.

Small Selection

Much like coffee shops in Seattle, Nuremberg is able to pull off multiple bookstores that are all very close together-- and all of them are doing just fine. Within about 200 yards there are 4 bookstores on one of Nuremberg's main shopping streets, the Karolinenstrasse, each with its own vibe and specialty. The English-speaking expat community here is fairly small but vocal, so each of these stores has a section of varying size to cater to the Englisch (as it's written in German), mostly bestsellers and the like, but a couple skew towards the classics as well.

Jakob Buchhandlung, the true bookworm's hangout in the area reminds me of a very organized Shakespeare & Co., the notorious Paris bookstore. As much as I like going there (the walls are covered with fascinating old photos and maps of the area), Jakob's English section seems like an afterthought, located as it is off to the side of a busy corridor, and its shelf space covers perhaps 10 feet x 10 feet in size. While it does have an intriguing selection, it is also hopelessly tiny. Which brings us to this photo (click on photo for a larger view): This is a sliver of the store's "S" authors section. I defy anybody to find another bookstore in the world that has Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's children's classic The Little Prince next to Salinger's Catcher in the Rye , next to Charles Schultz' Snoopy 2 in 1 Collection.

Road Trip: Bamberg & Munich

After the exhaustion and anticipation regarding our apartment move-in (update: The kitchen countertop and cabinets won't be installed until January 13), we had to keep our cabin fever in check-- there was far too much going on here to go road tripping, and we still haven't checked out all Nuremberg has to offer. But with an enforced-- by German law-- vacation period for B and a lull in the construction visits, we decided to check out this here Germany place on a couple day trips.

First off was the city of Bamburg, a UNESCO World Heritage site, owing to its near-intact status (as opposed to destroyed in the war and rebuilt, or new construction posing as old construction). We went on something informally called "the castle road" for a little while which was a winding slow trip through the countryside... with no castles. Hmmm, somebody needs to have the Rick Steves' truth squad look into that-- mind you we weren't on the route all that long. Earliest references of Bamberg date to the 900's, and it's a very nice town indeed. While we went to the equally old and well-preserved city of Rothenberg back in August, I prefer Bamburg-- Rothenburg, for all of its positives tends to come across as an aggressive tourist trap-- think of Colonial Williamsburg with chain mail. No, Bamberg seems to strike the happy medium between working modern city while keeping its well-preserved heritage. We had a late start to the day, so we got there near dusk and marched straight up (up, and up) to its most prominent landmark, the 12th century Michaelsberg monastery on one of the seven hills that surrounds the city. It was in the low-30's when we attemped this, but the good workout was all worth it when we got these great pictures. By the time we got back down to the city proper, it was REALLY cold and dark, so a local dinner at the hipster restaurant frequented by the local university students, and we were on our way back home, but not before we got lost leaving-- yes Virginia, in-car GPS devices don't know when the bridge is out. A few wrong turns later we got straightened out and were back home in 45 minutes. We'll definitely be back.

The following day we went to Munich specifically to see the Deutsches Museum, the European equivalent of the Smithsonian. Hate to say it, but it is all sort of a blur right now. We got up early to catch the earliest train permissible, and it only took 1:46 station-to-station. The Museum was exactly 3 subway stops away (and the subway system connects with the train station), so all we had to do was go downstairs and hop the next U-Bahn, then walk 300 yards to get to the place. Quite impressive-- mix up Chicago's awesome Museum of Science & Industry with Seattle's (Boeing) Museum of Flight, add a pinch of NYC's Museum of Natural History and you're almost there. The place was a zoo however-- lots of folks seemed to have the same idea and took the whole family (bored teenagers too!) along. By 3:00 and after hours of walking through authentic-looking mineshafts, futzing around with Guttenberg printing presses, exploring a recreation of caveman-era dwellings, and enjoying close-ups of all manner of ancient sailing vessels, spacecraft and airplanes we were pooped, and finally took our leave at 4:00-- plenty of time to make our 5:06 train back. We then had the it-was-a-bright-idea-at-the-time to walk back to the train station in 28-degree weather. Now, maybe I'm just an ol' country boy from Nuremberg (population 500,000), but the Munich sidewalks and thoroughfares were utterly packed, probably the densest I've seen in a long time-- mind you, I've been to/lived in New York, DC, Los Angeles, Boston, etc., but this was... really starting to tick me off. We made it back in time alright, but the experience left a negative impression of an otherwise great world city-- I expect that it was a function of everybody being on vacation more than anything else. Finally, a word on European trains: they are some of the cheapest and efficient ways to get from one city to another, and often faster than going by car. We purchased a single "Bayern" (Bavaria) ticket for 28 Euros, and that is good for same-day round trips of up to 5 people (!) per ticket anywhere in Bavaria, plus all surface/local transport (bus, subway) when in the city-- a hell of a deal. Unfortunately, no pictures-- even though we had the "good" camera with us, it was too crowded wherever we went, and I believe we suffered a bit of sensory overload. Sorry everybody-- I have to go back to Munich in February for a work thing, so maybe I'll get a few pics at that time. And we'll also be back to take in the sights of the Munich rather than just one overcrowded destination as well.

Fröhliche Weihnachten, Y'all!

Wowsers, is this going out late-- it's 1:11am on the 26th here in Europe, but still around Christmas Dinner time on the East Coast, so we're not too late in expressing our sentiments. After the last great push to clean the place up and move all the furniture in (I swear, we are singlehandedly raising the GNP of Sweden with all of the IKEA furniture we bought) on Christmas Eve, we spent most of Christmas day preparing for a dinner with some similarly "stranded" friends who just left here less than an hour ago. Our one indulgence today was a quick walk to the Nuremberg Altstadt in the late morning to really see the city when it's near-empty. We ducked into St. Sebald's Church, a Romanesque-era structure whose construction began in the 1230's (pictured), paid our respects, and then went to... kind of embarrasing here-- Starbucks, which was mysteriously (miraculously?) open, one of only 2 shops in all of the city with the lights on and people inside. Back to the apartment, more cleaning (me) and cooking (B), and received our guests just past 6:00 local time. A nice, chill evening overall. Tomorrow we sleep in-- yay! Now that's a gift we can use. Merry Christmas everybody!

Cool Nationalism

Spotted in our local electronics/appliance store (around the corner from the Swarovski toaster, post below), a German flag-themed refrigerator (Kühlschrank in these parts). I think it would be kind of neat for the rec room or whatnot myself. This model comes to maybe my chin height, and is considered a "large" fridge in Europe. Now on sale for 1111.00 Euros, about $1560.

Festival Of The Last Minute

Have money to burn? Love toast? Are you, in fact, a complete moron? If you answered "yes" to all three of these questions, pard, do I have the gift for you: A toaster bejewelled with (no joke) actual Swarovski crystals on its frosted glass exterior. That's it, this thing just toasts bread. Price? What's the saying? If you have to ask, you probably can't afford it... but the tag comes to 189.95 Euros, or a shade over $265. Oh well, I imagine this is the exact sort of thing that will get marked down on 12/26.

Grocery Store Fun: Knowing Your Demographic

Germany has its quirks, like a complete and utter lack of 24-hour anything, and nearly everything closed on Sunday. So food shopping can take on a certain degree of urgency and importance. With Christmas a few days away (meaning stores close at 2:00 on Christmas Eve, and stay closed until 12/27), a few friends scheduled to come over on Christmas Day, and the cupboards already bare, we steeled ourselves for an onslaught at the local Martkauf store (which closes at 8:00 M-F).

We're cruising the booze aisles (our first attempt to stock up), and I see this bit of unintentional hilarity: a rough, cheap Vodka with the bonus of... a winter cap attached to the top of the bottle in packaging. Seeing as the only folks who would drink this rotgut are the same types who plan to pass out in the park overnight, I'd say that the marketing department knows their clientele, and knows they can and will use the hat.

The Next Porsche, 5 Months Early

So B and I were walking around our new neighborhood on the way to a nearby wine bar, she looks at this car covered up with tape and spangles, and asks me what the heck is that fugly thing? I did a double take, then a mild freakout-- I knew exactly what this was: a Porsche Panamera, an auto that won't be "officially" revealed until April 2009. Price tag is slated to be between $125,000- $175,000. We were standing in front of what is called a "test mule," a disguised streetworthy newer-than-new car that is usually driven by engineers as a test bed for suspension, transmission, engines, etc. This was one block over from our apartment, which is about 2 hours' drive from the Porsche factory in Stuttgart. Nervous that a Porsche engineer would come running out of a door at any second, I squeezed off a couple shots on the camera phone. Don't let the ugly disguise lull you: this is a big, ugly car (click on photo for close-up-- notice the fake window treatment, painted-on kidney grills on the hood near the windshield and tape over the taillights to make it look more "BMW-ish" at speed). The funny thing is that "professional" shots of the production (non-disguised) Panamera are readily available online-- not the least of which being Porsche's own website-- but to see one in the flesh, on the road was still pretty cool. Ghastly styling though.

Goggomobil!!

Taken about a month ago. I'm a car nut, but I must admit that I haven't heard much about about the manufacturer "Goggomobil." Wikipedia has a small entry, saying that this Bavarian company made small autos between 1955-1969 before being swallowed up by BMW. At any rate, this car was in absolute pristine condition-- but its shape and overall size made it look a bit like a clown car. From what I can tell, this is a mid-1960's model.

Clearing Out The Backlog-- Weisser Turm

As most of our friends and family are slowly going stir crazy in their snowed-in houses this weekend, here's a shot taken a couple weeks ago of "snowy" Nuremberg. We keep being told that it never snows here, but it's been coming down pretty regularly (albeit very lightly, then melting) since late November. Here is a shot taken from "my" Nurnberger stand (see below entry), looking out to the Weisser Turm. That means "White Tower," and it was indeed painted/plastered white for hundreds of years, and I believe will be yet again (it has been covered in scaffolding for most of the fall, undergoing upgrades and structural improvements). Unfortunately, I don't know much more about the tower's history itself, but it lies directly over one of the most used U-Bahn (Nuremberg subway) stops, so folks have to enter the tower to get to the escalators and elevators-- pretty cool. The small castle-like building in the front (as always, click on the photo for a closeup) was one of the earliest entry gate towers in medieval Nuremberg, and it was kept, even though the city greatly expanded around it. The small temporary structure in front of the entry gate houses a couple guys dressed as shepherds, and some barnyard animals, including a camel, for the holidays. Not to be nitpicky, but this is a Two-hump camel, indigenous to the Gobi desert, and not the middle east. I'd have taken a shot of the camel, but every time I go near there one of those shepherd dudes rattles a can in my face, demanding money.

Clearing Out The Backlog-- Street Food Ed.

While we're still knee deep in moving-in issues, here's a photo of something known to all residents and visitors of Nuremberg: a sausage sandwich called, appropriately, a "Nurnburger." That's 3 plump sausages on a kaiser-type roll, and these are generally sold for 2 Euros ("3 for 2" as some say). This shot was taken at my favorite outdoor stand in the Altstadt, in the shadow of St. Jakob's Church and seconds before I slathered it with mustard and popped it in my mouth. I'm usually really mindful about what I eat but boy howdy, I can eat these puppies all day they're so darn good. I force myself to limit my consumption to one Nurnberger every 3 weeks.

So Much For German Timeliness And Efficiency

... and we're back.

Recounting our seemingly epic struggle to actually get into our apartment and getting on with our lives just isn't worth it-- there's not all that much entertainment value in it, and all the pent-up anger and frustration will seep out. Suffice it to say that we did not, in fact, move out of the hotel on the 9th or 10th of December, but on the 13th (that works out to 78 days in the hotel)-- and the apartment wasn't 100% ready then, and it still isn't now. But it's liveable, and that's what counts. We just got the internet hooked up today, and I've been working on getting all my ducks in a row, contacting language schools for another round of those fun times, and continuine to receive the daily trickle of workmen to finish off this task or that, and so on.

More entries about the move-in to come-- but it's good to be back online so we can get some news (the TV still hasn't been hooked up, and probably won't be for a couple more weeks). Now, what's all this about a shoe-throwing incident?

Service Interruption

Well, it was bound to happen-- we're finally moving in to our apartment. We were SUPPOSED to be in there on December 1 (come to think of it we were supposed to be in there on October 31, November 10, and November 15 as well), but we actually received the keys today. Now... if only they have the bathroom completed by the time we leave the hotel for good (Wednesday morning), all will be well.

Internet access will be a bit dicey in the meantime though-- while there is the possibility of near-immediate service, there is also the distinct chance that it will be weeks until we can get the proper service and hardware green-lit for the place. So for now, we will go silent-- but stay tuned, because our time in limbo has come to a close, and we can get on with the business of living our lives in our own place. Should be fun.

Feuerzangenbowle!

Here's a recipe of an awesome holiday drink B and I first sampled this week, now that the famous Nuremberg Christkindlesmarkt outdoor Christmas Market is in full swing. While most folks drink the sickly sweet hot mulled wine known as Gluhwein, we've been enjoying the "other" national holiday drink, Feuerzangenbowle (pronounced "foy-er-zan-gan-bowl-uh")-- aka Flaming tongs punch, and it's frankly better-- it adds the kick of alcohol (rum) to the wine, isn't as sweet, and is generally made with higher quality ingredients. And for the cool bit: you light this sucka on fire-- for a while.

Most recipes are variations on the same thing with occasional differences like the quantities and types of spices. That being said, the below recipe is (for the most part) shamelessly lifted from Palm Beach Illustrated, with parts of other recipes tossed in, and as closely matched to observations of a specialist bartender who made the drink in front of us. From personal experience, the best Feuerzangenbowle's we've tasted actually used a lower-proof (90 proof), quality rum, and the wine was a mix of quality reds from Italy and Germany. The real trick is finding the "sugar hat" (see photo), as the caramelized sugar is key to enjoying the drink, but like the recipe says sugar cubes-- quite a few-- will do in a pinch. Prost!

Ingredients
3 bottles of red wine (2-3 liters total)
2 cinnamon sticks
1-2 oranges
1-2 lemons
5 cloves
1 German Zuckerhut/sugar cone*
1 bottle of high-proof rum


In a large pot or kettle mix together the red wine, and cinnamon sticks. Cut up the oranges and lemons (optional: make peel spirals), crush fruit to release the juice, and add to the punch along with the cloves. Warm to a steaming mixture. Do not boil!


Place a German sugar cone (Zuckerhut, sugar loaf)* on a metal rack/screen or clamped in metal tongs above the warm punch. (Substitute sugar cubes if you can’t get a Zuckerhut.) Slowly pour high-proof rum over the Zuckerhut or sugar cubes and let soak for a minute. Carefully light the Zuckerhut or sugar cubes and let the flaming sugar caramelize and drip into the punch mix. Add rum as needed to keep the flame going until the Zuckerhut process is done. Serve the punch hot in mugs or hot-tea glasses.


*Zuchkerhut: A German sugar cone or sugar loaf is made of compressed Raffinade (refined sugar) in a cone shape. (If you can’t get the real thing, substitute sugar cubes in the recipe above.)

Cheap Gas? In Your Dreams

While gasoline prices have dropped like a stone across the USA, spare a thought for folks abroad, where gasoline is NOT subsidized as it is in the States. This picture shows my gas total for a fill up earlier this week: 55.01 Euros for 45.88 liters, at a price of 1.199 a liter. "Wow! Only 1.19 a liter," you say. Well, let me do the conversions for you:

45.88 liters = 12.12 gallons
55.01 Euros = $69.78

That works out to $5.76 a gallon. And the price has dropped from earlier this year as well. Now you know why Europeans drive such tiny cars like the Mini and Smart car.

Nuremberg Quick Shots: Vice Edition

In this shot we see a few of the unfortunate everyday realities of German (or Northern Bavaria, anyways) city life: gambling parlors and cigarette dispensers. These gambling places (seen on the far left, with the standard blue-orange storefront, click on pic for larger view) seem to be mostly of the video poker and slot machine variety, and there are plenty of them outside of the city core. They must be popular, because another one just opened about 5 minutes' walk from where this photo was taken. And yes, that is no trick-- there are 2 cigarette machines within 10 feet of another, flanking that doorway. The funny thing is that there was a third cigarette dispenser another 40 feet away! In an attempt to deter underage smoking, these machines require an ATM card to be put in before dispensing the smokes-- it is the buyer's choice whether or not to charge the card or pay cash. Average price for a pack o' butts? 4 or 5 Euros-- about $5.05-$6.35 at today's exchange rate.

Nuremberg Quick Shots: Cool Door Handle

Over here on the, ahem, funky West side of town I spied this door handle on the Kolb Pretzel company, a wholesale bakery that sells to street vendors, hotels, etc. (closed for the day when I took this shot). Nice touch. Furtherstrasse, just outside Gostenhof subway station entrance. The bicycle in the shot is a "Hercules" brand bike, quite common here.

Hey Dude, How's Your Language Class Going?

Hard to believe that I'm stinking up my German class, even though I'm LIVING in Germany, but 4 weeks of intensive classes later (5 days/week, up to 4 hours/day), here we are. It surely doesn't help that more than two-thirds of the students in this "beginners" class have taken formal German lessons before in school, or have German spouses/partners at home to practice with (leaving us actual beginners in the dust), and the teachers justifiably feel the need to keep up with the majority... but I'll own up and say that dagnabbit, I'm just not getting it. When I enrolled, I was also told that this was in fact a 1-month class-- which was good: December is shaping up to be a busy time, what with the apartment move-in finally rolling around, plus the usual holiday bustle. Whoops-- now we're all hearing that this is a 2-month course (broken into 2 halves-- I'm at A1.1; the A1.2 unit starts next week), but I'll be spending all of next week unpacking and supervising/assisting two separate furniture deliveries and the arrival of our cargo container from the States, plus the usual waiting around for the phone/internet/cable guys to wander in, and any other mop-up work that a move entails while B is at the office.

I did not come to Europe to be the Ugly American-- that guy who will only converse in English and not appreciate the local culture, and I honestly do want to learn the local language. So my only solution seems to be re-taking the A1 course when it is offered again in January-- because I would be so far behind after dealing with the move (plus the fact that I suck at this already), that taking the final in late December to move to "A2" level ensures failure, and I'd have to take the course again anyways. At least sitting on the sidelines for a month will save me some stress and The Company (who generously offered to pick up the tab) some tuition money. Let the record show that I've failed exactly one class in my life, a college math course 21 years ago that I had no business being in anyways (and as liberal arts student would never use), so this is a humbling and frustrating experience. Scheisse!

Thanksgiving & Holiday wine tips

Just because you didn't ask doesn't mean we are without heavily biased opinions on, well, pretty much anything under the sun. But when it comes to matters of the grape, we here at TAE would like to throw in our 2(Euro) cents to all of our friends back home. Thanksgiving is celebrated only in the USA, and to really rub salt in the wound, my bride will still be in China and I'll be here in Germany hanging with some expat friends, both vegetarians. Sounds like a lovely evening with Tofurkey and gluten-free stuffing in my immediate future-- hence the pressing need for some good booze.

I really can't do any better than to defer to my long-suffering wine go-to guy Bruce Bauer-- bon vivant, sybarite, all-around goodfella, and proprietor of Portland's Vino, recently named one of America's best wine shops. I first met Bruce during one of Vino's first weekends in business, and bless his heart, he was there for me when I wanted to educate myself about wine, yet could only afford $10 bottles. His patience, good humor and decidedly non-snooty attitude kept me coming back. Vino's mantra is "if it tastes good, drink it" sounded like good advice then as now, and Portland (which has its fair share of food and drink elitists) is a better place for it. And on a personal note, his fab Friday Tastings were one of me and B's regular places to start up our weekends during our courtship. Thanks dude!

But on to the subject at hand: Click HERE for a direct link to Bruce's recent guest article to online foodie resource Culinate (a worthy place to bookmark whether you're a whiz in the kitchen or overly-reliant on a George Foreman Grill like me) and his piece "Holiday Wine Choices." As far as individual brands and varietal recommendations ask your local merchant (most already have some wines picked out and featured for holiday meals), but I see that Vino has stocked up on the Louis Perdrier Rose Champagne (pictured above), an unbelieveable steal at $9.95/ bottle, and one that flat-out smokes most $25 sparklers. Champagne/sparkling wine effortlessly pairs with just about any food you can throw at it, which is why it's great to have always a bottle or 3 around. For wine buffs this Perdrier is terrific stuff at a laughably cheap price; for non-wine buffs who only drink Champagne on New Year's Eve or in their Mimosas, it'll be the best fizzy they've ever tasted. And folks let's get over the pink wine thing: True enough, Franzia and white Zin have killed pink-colored wine's cred in the public's eye, but Rose wine has nothing to do with those sugar bombs and is the great meeting ground for folks who love white wines but don't like reds and vice versa. I mean, come on: did you know that the most expensive Dom Perignon Champagne is a Rose? And if I may go a little rogue here: Despite living in a country widely known for its white wine excellence, I'm not a fan of the stuff myself and always look for a red that will match up well with turkey-- I recommend a fun, fizzy Lambrusco-- think of it as sort of a red wine champagne (avoid the overly-sweet cheap stuff and look for the $10-13 bottles-- you can thank me for the lack of a hangover later), or a good Gamay Noir/ Beaujolais, and you're off to the races.

And for all of our foodie friends on both coasts and abroad, read and bookmark Bruce's blog: Eat. Think. Drink. (link HERE), a freewheeling, delightfully opinionated, occasionally profane, rollicking great read from a lover of fine food and drink that singlehandedly gives blogs a good name. Do check it out.

Vacation planning: Greece, South Africa and... Kazakhstan(?) make their pitches

Living in Europe has its undeniable charms, and presents great opportunities for anybody with the travel bug. Being centrally located in Western Europe as we are is a pip: Paugue is a 3-hour drive south; Vienna is less than 5 hours away. We can also leave our apartment here at noon and be in Paris for dinner. So it goes to figure that the tourism advertisements will be slightly different for us here on the Continent than in the Oregonian's Sunday travel section. As I've noted before, we get the Euro/Internation version of CNN and BBC here, and I must say, some of these tourism commercials make a compelling case-- I never knew that Poland (city of Lodz pictured) looked so darn nice, or indeed is one of Europe's up-and-coming economic powerhouses. Other commercials need some work though, or at least need to polish their pitch to viewers. Here are some of the catch-phrases of the countries (or cities) aired daily on English language TV:

South Africa: It's Possible
Greece: The True Experience
Slovakia: Little Big Country
Croatia: The Mediterranian as it Once Was
Yemen: One Country, Many Destinations
Lodz (Poland): Where Everybody Feels Like A Star
Warsaw (Poland): Fall in Love with Warsaw
Gdansk (Poland): We Make Things Happen
Ghana: See The Passion, Feel The Warmth
Aberzijan: The Oriental Charm of Europe
Montenegro: Wild Beauty
Armenia: Noah's Route. Your Route
Kazakhstan: A Huge Country in the Very Heart of the Eurasian Continent

Man, those Kazakhstan guys really needed to use a focus group with that catchphrase, eh? While I must say I never gave much thought to spending any time in, say, Croatia or Gdansk, the commercials made me re-think that-- which is what they are supposed to do. Some of the smaller countries' ads noted above didn't do it for me-- with all due respect, the Montenegro commercial was shot on videotape and basically involved some middle aged dudes tooling around on their mountain bikes with a local folk song playing in the background. Yemen? To be kind, I'll say that while it has a lot of history, it's just too unsettled right now for my tourist Euros, plus some of the pictures I've seen really don't make me want to dig out the passport. We're still picking out where we'll go on our first trip (weekend or otherwise), but in my Yank mindset, I didn't realize all the possibilities available. The nice thing is that with the economy the way it is, a lot of these places (especially countries outside the European Union) are easy on the wallet-- your money goes a lot further, and they are throwing some crazy good packages out there in the scramble to pick up Eurotourists.

Going native, musically speaking.

"Going native" is the internal term used by Peace Corps officials for volunteers who get a little too attached and enthusiastic to their assigned surroundings and culture, and who, instead of building wells or teaching agriculture, start living amongst their charges and participating in their local customs and rituals. By policy, these folks invaribly get "forcibly returned to their own culture," another internal term. Not that I'm going to start wearing lederhosen anytime soon (or even the ubiquitous rust-colored corduroys with wide wales), but I found myself actually wanting, heaven help me... a Falco album since I got here. Perhaps it was the not-bad biopic movie of this Austrian pop star I saw on the flight over, maybe it was the subconscious desire to learn more "everyday" German as opposed to the academic version, but I did the deed, and purchased an abbreviated compilation (culled from his final 2 albums and a few stand-alone singles) of Falco's later, post "Amadeus" material, which showed the guy moving in a darker, harder techo/club direction after his sales declined and the record company basically left him alone. As a new student to the language, I must say that Falco has perfect diction, so I can pick up a lot of stuff. Even though it's actually pretty decent (then again I like techo) I'm still a tad embarrassed to own this, and B forbade me to play this CD in the car. Ever.

One thing we can agree on is the band Deichkind (literally, "Dike Kid"), a German electronic band (they use the term "ghettotech"). Lots of gritty, dirty beats, and an overall sense of humor mixed in with the occasionally menacing music. Unlike Falco, I did not purchase this CD (named "Arbeit Nervt," an excellent disc) for the vocals/lyrics-- truth be told, I rarely listen to lyrics, which is good, because the vocals are buried in the mix here. I first happened across this band when MTV Germany aired a music/fashion clash, with the band and the models sharing the catwalk. These guys (wearing what appeared to black trash bags decorated with day-glo tape) were flat-out wild, and you could tell they were really ticking off the models, which was great. I've sent the video for their single out to a few folks already, and it's really worth a watch-- the fact that they are singing in German doesn't detract from the CRAZY visuals in any way shape or form. Click the title to view ARBEIT NERVT (which, loosely translated means "work sucks"). Strap in for a wild ride.

A minor sin, committed weekly

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm finding it a little hard to find a decent cup of coffee in this town. This will change when we finally move into our own place and dust off the French press, but for now we're at the mercy of the local coffee shops and cafes. Most shops (and believe me, I've visited a lot) serve a basic black coffee that is highly acidic and bitter, no matter how much milk you dump into it. But I still need to slake my coffee jones, and the closest thing to "meh" quality I've come across has been in the regional powerhouse (130+ locations) bakery known as Der Beck. So 3-4 days a week, I go down to my local branch of this Bäckerei with my books to order a cup of joe and a pretzel and camp out at a window table and study for a spell, an indulgence that sets me back a cool EU 2.20 (about $2.75). Oh, and just as in Asia, the concept of the bottomless cup of coffee is not in evidence anywhere I can see in Europe.

Neunhundertneunundneunzig: actual word or Muppet song? Let's discuss.

Nope, it's a word. It's the spelled-out term for the number 999. It's weird because you have to say "99" as "nine and ninety" in German (all double digit numbers are like this, actually). If that seems kinda long for a word, that isn't so bad-- not when our accountant has the title "Wirthschaftsprufungsgesellschaft Steuerberatungsgellschaft" on her business card. But numbers are easy enough, in that they have a very logical pattern/system with no deviation once you get to the number 20-- it's a breeze after that. Doesn't that image look familiar? It's a still from the classic "Mahna Mahna" song from Sesame Street/Muppet Show. Click here to see the video in all its glory.

I think Steve Martin was channeling my language teacher

Back when he was doing stand-up comedy shows, Steve Martin had this wonderful bit about his frustration over the obtuseness of the French language:

It's like this, let me give you an example: Chapeau means "hat." Oeuf means "egg." It's like those French have a different word for everything!

This quip springs to mind whenever I learn more German vocabulary. I joke that it's an economical language except when it isn't-- the same word (with the same spelling) can mean different things. You are supposed to figure it out through context, but sometimes that can be quite tricky. For example, "Paar" can mean either a few or a pair. "Da" can mean either "here" or "there," which makes it truly one of the great weasel words of any language-- you know, like "where is my present?" "Oh, ist da" (and run out of the room). "Eis" can either mean ice cream or ice cubes. "Bitte" (an everyday word) can mean either please or you're welcome/my pleasure. And so forth-- there are A LOT of examples. This economy of words doesn't exactly make up for the overuse of words in other realms though. The word "The" in German is one of the knottier problems new students have to learn. It could be one of (technically) 16 different words, (but thankfully only 5 different spellings)-- it all depends on the noun and the verb it's used with. You figure out the noun from its article, or more bluntly, ahem, its sex: All nouns are masculine, feminine or neutral, so when you learn a new word, you have to also learn its article-- so the word for car is never just "Auto," it's "das Auto" (neutral). There are no hard and fast rules for masculine or feminine nouns though, and even sexism can't point you in the right direction. Sure, flowers are feminine (die Blumen), but then again so are little boy stalwarts like spiders and snakes (die Spinnen, die Schlangen). Verbs can switch stuff around in a hurry though, but I'd just as soon not go into that right now-- my head hurts. This isn't an easy language to learn, but I'm swinging away.

Can't a guy get a decent cuppa around here?

For all of Europe's history with coffeehouses and cafe' society, there is a distinct lack of places to get a decent cup of joe in the area. Espresso isn't a problem, but a simple palatable black coffee is a rare bird indeed. I've never been a huge fan of Starbucks, but while downtown this past weekend, we happened into their bustling branch (one of four in town) on the edge of the Pegnitz river that bisects Nuremberg. B was immensely enjoying another beverage, Glühwein (hot spiced wine), traditionally served in Germany at open stalls at Saturday market during Christmastime and even bought a special Glühwein cup-- no open container laws here, folks! It was a crisp late fall day, and this shot (as always, click on photo for larger picture) was taken from Starbucks' side patio, with the Fleischbrücke (literally, "Beef Bridge"-- no idea about the origin there) and St. Lorenz church in the background. Much to my disappointment there is no such thing as an Egg Nog Latte, just some regional specialties-- like Dark Cherry Chocolate Latte (a black forest cake in a cup), Toffee Nut Latte, and Lebkuchen Latte (Lebkuchen is a type of cookie available primarily at Christmas that is closely associated with Nuremberg-- it's kind of a soft chewy fruity gingerbread, and it's wonderful). Sorry for the blurry picture of the menu-- the angry mob behind me jostled my camera as I snapped the shot.

Everything I needed to know about language happened by the time I was 7...

So here I am slogging through German class. It's a difficult language with a lot of rules (and just as many exceptions to those rules), and I'm sure I'll be discussing (OK, railing on) this some more in future posts. Due to its sentence structure being completely different than English, our teacher spends a lot of time talking about grammar. OK fair enough, but what trips me up is those terms-- you know, "possessive pronoun," "predicate" and stuff like that. Everybody uses pronouns and predicates in everyday language, but outside of copy editors and language teachers who remembers the exact meaning of the terms? Certainly not me, and I'd like to think I have a reasonably decent handle on the English language. Stuck for a good nuts-and-bolts resource, I called up the power of the interwebs and headed straight for my original teacher in such matters: School House Rock. For those of a certain age, this was education craftily disguised as entertainment beamed into the house every Saturday morning during cartoons, and I can think of no better or longer lasting lessons in numbers, history or grammar. I mean, who doesn't remember "Lolly Lolly Lolly Get Your Adverbs Here?" So I pulled up "Rufus Xavier Sasparilla" to brush up on my pronouns, and "The Tale of Mr. Morton" (a new one for me, first aired in 1993) to get the straight dope on predicates. And just because I was feeling froggy, I checked out "I'm Just A Bill" (about how a law comes into being) and my personal fave, "Three is a Magic Number." The song lyrics are readily available online, and most/all of the videos can be found on You Tube among other places. The School House Rock! collection is available on DVD, and any parent (or nostalgia freak) could do a lot worse than to bring this home. The true kicker is that my German got better after I finally figured out what the teacher was talking about!

Talking bread, talking heads, or bad reality: Our local TV options

G: To paraphrase a Springsteen song, we've got 42 channels and nothing on. Due to the international flavor of this hotel, we get a little of everything here TV-wise: Plenty of German channels, but also Russian, Polish, French, and Italian as well. As far as English-speaking channels, we have CNN Europe, BBC World news and... some MTV. I say "some" because this is MTV Germany, and more than half of their programming is in German. But at least I can actually watch music videos! An alien concept back home, I know-- music videos on MTV?!? Anyways, MTV Germany also airs old reality shows from the American market (from both VH1 and MTV), so German kids get to watch such tripe and long-ago cancelled shows like "I Love New York," "A Shot at Love with Tila Tequilla," "The Hills," "The Real World," "From G's to Gents," "Brooke Knows Best," "Next," and other assorted embarrasments in English with German subtitles. I shudder to think what the Germans think of the USA if this is their primary exposure-- because it shows that young Americans (at least the ones on TV) are a bunch of horned-out, low-IQ, astonishingly shallow famewhores. The real embarrasment? We find ourselves watching this crap, because it's in English, and you can only take so much world news-- if this junk were on my TV in Portland, I'd run out of the room.

One really weird program of note is on the German Kika network-- sort of like Nickelodeon or Disney, in that it's children's programming. At night though, they have been showing the same clip for months, in a constant loop. The character is "Bernd das Brot" (Bernd the Bread), and I could've sworn it was a sponge until somebody clued me in. Anyway, this is a talking loaf of bread, and he's a bit cranky. Supposedly, Bernd das Brot is funny stuff geared for kids, but this one clip seems very, um, existential to me-- mind you I really don't speak the language, but it basically entails Bernd in some sort of purgatory, and trying to escape and then this purgatory morphs into a hipster lounge at the very end. Just the puppet against a white screen. Talking. For 17 minutes. In a constant loop all night long. This must be stoner heaven. For the brave and foolhardy, this particular clip is available on You Tube ("Kika Lounge"), but you'd be better off reading a comic book, doing Soduku, trimming your nails or getting a head start on your Easter plans. Not that it stops me from checking it out when I'm flipping channels-- it's an absolute rubbernecker moment. But then again the only reason I'm flipping the TV is because "Pimp My Ride" is at commercial.

Nausser Haus

G: Originally a residential building facing St. Lorenz Church in central Nuremberg. First built as a fortified residence, subsequent occupants have added to the building as the security aspect became less important. These days, the lower floors house a cell phone shop and a basement pub. Nuremberg was one of the most heavily bombed German cities in WWII, and one estimate I've read has it that about 80% of the original buildings didn't survive (or only partially survived). The city decided to rebuild instead of re-start, and I think it's a much better place for it. But we've gotten pretty good at spotting exactly where the original stone ends and replacement/repair stone begins. Click on the picture for a close-up and you'll see what I mean-- there are wildly varying colors of stone. Also note the sundial (the scrolled paper thing) about 2/3 up on the building. The fencing in the foreground is protecting the newly-laid cobblestones leading up to St. Lorenz. That's right, they replace cobblestones with more cobblestones!

I'm sure this means something different in German, pt. 1

... spotted on the side of an ambulance, Westtorgraben (street), outside the Altstadt. Click on photo for bigger view.

Radio Silence

G: Sorry for the lack of posts this month. Between the interminable wait for our apartment to be ready (latest setback: the floors aren't dry enough to install the tiling... which means that the kitchen can't be installed, or the contents of our shipping container moved into the place, yada yada), I've been taking intensive German language classes-- 4 hours a day, 5 days a week-- in a neighboring town, and the homework assignments can be a grind, plus B's workload has been definitely been kicked up a few notches, so she's been clocking in long hours. Add to this the fact that B will be heading off on business to China for a 2 week stretch on Sunday, which really throws a wrench into our move-in schedule.

But... not to whine. What's the old Chinese curse? "May you live in interesting times." I'll likely get around to fleshing out then posting some fragmentary entries and pictures I currently have saved in "Draft" status, and B will hopefully get enough computer access to post some pictures of China during her downtime there. So... as they say in radio, stay tuned!

Vote. Because it is your right. Because so many people do not have the right. Because our forefathers fought for it. Because our mothers fought even harder for it. Because people both young and old around the world would die (have died) for this opportunity. Because our friends who live in the same country, the same state and the same city do not have the same rights as we do. Because it's today. Because you have time. Yes, you have time. More importantly, because you have an opinion. You must vote. You MUST. Vote.

NOOOO !!!!!!

G:  Well, it's official.  Thanks to the recent rains befouling this fine city, the ready/move in date for our apartment has been pushed back to December 1.  Meaning another 2 weeks here at the Hotel Maximilian.  There's worse things in life, but when we started this journey, we never thought we'd have to be living in a small hotel room for 2 months (it was sort of hinted that the Nov. 15 "finish" date for the apartment was actually pessimistic).  As has been mentioned previously, we just sort of feel like we're in limbo here, and would like to get on with things (not to mention receive our winter clothes-- it's 29 degrees and lightly snowing outside tonight).  Life goes on, and the upshot continues to be the free breakfast and 2x/week maid service-- all in all, not too shabby.  And for the 3 people who don't know whose cat that is, that is the notorious Jesse, who adopted B and myself (dog people both) in Portland, and proceeded to take over the house-- nevermind his actual owner and residence was 3 doors down.

Coming soon: the Chips Ahoy Yankees vs. the Super Mario Brothers Red Sox

G:  Really, this whole naming thing of sports teams has gotten out of hand.  Remember the good ol' days-- when the SF Giants and 49ers played at Candlestick park, not 3Com Park, or (currently) Monster Park?  I guess somebody's got to pay for these astronomical player salaries, so let the rampant commercialization begin.  I mention this because the local hockey team has allowed a corporation to actually remove the name of the city(?!?!), and replace it with the name of one of their products.  So instead of the Nuremberg Ice Tigers, we have the Sinupret Ice Tigers (Sinupret is a nasal decongestant made by the Bionorica company, who have a 10-year naming deal with the club).  For what it's worth, German hockey is just a half-step down from NHL level-- a lot of NHL pros end up their careers here, and the Ice Tigers are doing well this season.  Like a lot of Euro sports teams, the Tigers' sweaters (jerseys) are emblazoned with a raft of other sponsors.  So beyond being named for a phlegm inhibitor, these blokes also have to deal with having the name of a local women's clothing store chain on their back-- Mister Lady.

... Because nothing says "classy" and "rich" like Champagne in a can

G:  You hear about it all the time:  American celebrities shilling for foreign companies, and the advertisements never come to the states (like Richard Gere's Lancia car commercial-- Lancia left the states in 1983!!).  Anyways, I spotted this at the Marktauf supermarket this past week, a point-of-purchase display for "Rich" brand Prosecco featuring everybody's favorite celebutard, Ms. Paris Hilton.  Prosecco is Italy's take on Champagne, and if it's anything like the gag-awful Sofia sparkling wine in a can (from the usually solid Coppola winery), the "bubbles" are injected into standard wine, like soda pop.  Ewwww.

Our (soon-to-be) apartment

So we came to Germany in August for our look-see visit to get the lay of the land and to do some minor apartment hunting. Nothing too serious or intensive. More to give us a well rounded idea of what was available on the market in our price range. The very first one we saw happened to be the one we ended up picking. Not because of how it looked for you can see from these pics that there is a lot to be done yet before we move in on November 15 (pls God), but because of its potential. The owners of the apartment are planning on moving into the apartment after we vacate and they are going all out on the rennovations and appliances.  There will be a private patio out front, heated large italian tiles in the living/dining room area. Beautiful hardwoods in the bedrooms. Designer floor to cieling tiles in the bathroom. And most importantly, a kick ass kitchen. Most apartments here in Germany (and Europe I believe) are rented out here with no kitchen. As in, you walk into the apartment to view it and there is this completely empty room with water and electrical hook ups. No lights. No counters. No oven. No dishwasher. No stove. No fridge. Nothing but the walls and floors. Not us. The owners of the apt are going over the top with high end everything. We won't have to spend $2K out of our own pocket at Ikea for the cheapest kitchen they have. We'll have an amazing kitchen that costs over $10K that includes zebrano wood countertops and an American sized fridge with an icemaker. Nobody and I mean nobody has that here. And the apartment will come with kitchen, hallway and bathroom lighting. Also normally not included. Normally, you have to buy all your own lighting for your apartment. As in you have to buy all kitchen, cieling, bathroom, hallway and bedroom lights. Basically, you get the space and have to fill it from scratch. I think the toilets, showers, bathroom mirror and bathtubs are the only thing that come with the apartments normally. 

Our soon-to-be-ready (pls God) apartment is also quite large compared to other local apartments. It's around 1200 sqf compared to most others hovering around 400-800 sqf. I think most of this is due to the lack of compartmentalization in our apartment that you'd normally get in a european apartment. Most apartments here have a long and narrow hallway leading in from the front door. Each room is set off of this hallway. No rooms connect. Again, this is for most of the older apartments here. Our apartment is one huge front room that will be the entry/living room/dining room. It butts up to our open/raised kitchen. Then there is a pantry, hall closet (closets are very rare here. you normally buy an armoire), large bathroom/laundry room and two large bedrooms at the end of a short hallway. All rooms have several large privacy windows that are mirrored on the outside. You can see out, but you can't see in.

We are on the ground floor. Partially submerged actually. This should help with heating and cooling bills actually and it's also the reason why the rennovations are taking so long. The weather has been cool and damp lately and the water sealant that they are basically coating the outside brick facade and internal brickwork with is drying ever so slowly. Once that is done they can finish the inside and then focus on the external work. They'll be adding balconies to the few floors above us and creating a private patio for us. The courtyard will also be finished and landscaped and the building will be re-painted. All by years end. Of course, because the sealant is taking so long to dry we have our doubts about the move in date. I think it will be more like end of November. That's ok though. The company will be ever so kind enough to pick up the hotel tab until then.

These pics here basically show the apt. from the outside and do not paint a pretty picture. Yet. Fortunately, G and I have lots of vision and just know this is going to look fabulous when it's all said and done. We can't wait to show you the finished result pictures!

How the mighty have fallen...

What you're looking at is a poster for a double bill of Metallica and AC/DC, who played Nuremberg last Friday (10/17).  Even though this is the second largest city in Bavaria, it's rarely a stop for top name acts.  I'm not a huge fan of either band, but it does smart to see these acts, who each could easily sell out football stadiums a few short years ago playing a 10,000 seat hockey rink.  The true kicker?  You can barely see it on the poster's left side, but admission was 6 Euros-- about $8.00

Looking down the street to St. Lorenz Church

Altstadt (old city), weekday morning.  Just so you don't think Nuremberg is one of these Ye Olde Medieval towns filled with guys selling the leather beer mugs like at the Renaissance fair, what you're looking at is one of the main shopping streets in town, totally closed off to traffic.  There is a LOT of old money here, and that's represented in stores like Louis Vuitton, Hermes, and the like.  St. Lorenz church (built from 1270-1477) is a marvel in and of itself, and has been undergoing a systematic reconstruction since WWII.  Click here for more information and interior shots of this amazing building.

Reasons I love Germany, part 1

McDonald's sells beer (spelled bier in German).  I reckon the food's the same, but this may help to wash it down better than a Mr. Pibb.

Getting settled...

G:  Apologies for the lack of posts lately.  B is getting situated at her job which is starting to head into a busy period again, and I'm falling into a routine of my own.  As some of you know, I don't actually have an actual "job" here per se, but I'm staying plenty busy, and I'm rarely at the hotel during the day.  Part of it is going through all of the silly hoops one must do with any sort of move; the added whammy is that it's in a foreign country where I don't speak the language, and the rules are all different.  I've mentioned our tiny kitchenette in a previous post; the problem with the small fridge here is that it doesn't hold much, so I go food shopping 2-3 times a week for the staples.  Beyond that, I spend over an hour every weekday morning walking to the city center to physically move money from one bank to another because my bank back home (who shall remain nameless) is unable to transfer the money electronically.  So I walk to the lone downtown Deutsche Bank (who has an agreement with my USA bank that I won't get charged the highway robbery 3% transaction fee+ foreign ATM fee+ international fee), withdraw my maximum-allowed 500 Euros, then walk another half-mile to "our" bank, and hand a wad of cash over to be deposited, usually to a teller that doesn't speak English (this is a VERY German bank, whose website and ATM's don't even offer English as an option).  Good times.  Believe me, physically moving your entire life savings in tiny bits takes a while.  Actually, it's not all that bad-- the weather has been behaving, I've been taking plenty of pictures along the way (pic posts coming later this week), and I find myself walking several miles every day on top of the long walks B and I take in the evenings.  I'm also doing some writing work for an old employer, and the benefit is that I can take the laptop to the hotel lounge or courtyard, or any number of coffee shops and do my stuff from there.  Boredom is a killer, and I'm planning on staying busy for the duration.

"You don't need to speak German here... now here are your German instructions"

G:  That's pretty much how it went down when I picked up the cell phones (which, again, are referred to as "handys" in these parts) from the local T-Mobile shop 2 weeks ago.  I was advised by our (British) relocation agent/fixer to make sure the phones were reprogrammed to give English instructions/commands, and to deal with this one specific salesperson who is the go-to person for all of the agencies' American, Brit, and Aussie clients.  The salesperson wasn't available when I went in, so the store manager picked up the mantle, and finished the sale (don't ask me why, but we had to shop for phones and sign the contracts on one day, then come in a couple days later to actually pick up the phones).  I asked about reprogramming them to English, and the manager basically blew me off, said it would be a breeze to do it myself-- it was all in the manual.  And that's when he told me that a person could get along just fine in Germany without speaking a single word of German.  Hoo-Kay, fair enough.  So when I got the phones home, I set to getting them reprogrammed... except that the instructions were printed in German.  And Portuguese.  It took another trip to the store to set things straight.  

Fall in Nuremberg

We took a nice long walk around the Altstadt wall on Saturday and were dazzled by the brilliant colors of gold, red, bronze and green leaves everywhere we went. They were a beautiful contrast against the dark grey sky. Fall is in full swing here in Nuremberg.

Here is a panorama shot of the Design museum we poked our heads into as well. It's only a few meters away from the old wall and stands out in stark contrast with its uber modern design.

All photos are still from our new Sony Ericsson W891i cell phones. Not bad though we think.