Daytrippin'

Apologies for the extended delay in posting everyone-- remember when I said I don't much care for trade shows? Well, I don't. On top of comically bad show accommodations (really? an RV in a gravel parking lot in 90 degree heat??), I missed my train connection to Friedrichshafen (thereby making the journey 5.5 hours in length), and I managed to injure myself at the show itself. A week of popping muscle relaxers like Tic Tacs and slumping on the couch followed by some mop-up work brings us here.

We've been trying to hit Bavarian cities of interest every few weekends or so, and the result has been a mixed bag. Regensburg was quite pleasant, and we very well may return. Wurzburg has an intriguing history, a palace downtown and a large fortress on a hill. But last weekend we chose to go to Ingolstadt, a city that lies almost exactly in between Nuremberg and Munich. Car geeks will know of this city because it is the HQ of Audi, and Gothic horror fans may recall it as being the setting for the book Frankenstein. But we went there with no particular plans other than to wander around the old city and soak in the atmosphere. The verdict? Meh. It's a very pleasant place, but... not a whole lot going on there (we chose not to go to the Audi Museum or view the assembly line). Ingolstadt's saving grace turned out to be the Herzogfest going on that weekend. No, we had no idea either, but it was a Renaissance Fair kicked into high gear-- a whole lot of Larpers who really get into this are the backbone-- though I had no idea you could get a falafel sandwich in olden times. We were warned as we entered to "eat first, then drink the mead, or you will have trouble!" What ye olde ticket lady meant had to do with the insanely lethal Mead Beer whose alcohol content was at least 10% if not higher (by comparison, Ireland's Guinness beer has 4.3% alcohol). So naturally we had a pint of the stuff. Wheeee! In the end, it was a day spent in a nice German town. But next time, I'll head for the car museum instead.

Quick Trip

Off I go to do another trade show, this one in the small town of Friedrichshafen Germany (home of the zeppelin, don't ya know), to help out an old friend and his start-up company. Back next week with tales of trade show zaniness (probably not; I hate trade shows).

It's A Scorcher!

In a rare show of weather solidarity with my East Coast USA friends and family, Europe is getting blasted with record high temperatures as well. Yesterday it was something like 92 degrees; today calls for 94 with a fair amount of humidity. We have the advantage of living in a semi-basement apartment (ground level is waist high as I walk around the place), which keeps temps pleasantly mild this time of year --one of our friends thought we had A/C! This also makes the joint quite the popular gathering place for our neighbors, as we watched more World Cup here last night. As with any unusual weather pattern in this neck of the woods, we have of course been assured that "this never happens in Nuremberg." Feh. I heard that last summer too.

Soccer Game Loss; A Nation Mourns

There is little joy in the streets of Germany today. The German national Fußball (soccer) team lost last night in the semifinals (think Final Four) of the World Cup last night, and from the dour atmosphere permeating everything, you'd think somebody died.

I've touched upon the level of fanaticism that soccer fans have here in Europe, but until you see and experience it firsthand, it's really hard to describe-- maybe NYC and Philadelphia sports superfan level, but even that falls far short of the mark. Simply put, soccer is not a sport but a way of life-- you live and die with your team, and the level of national support for this German squad has been nothing but astonishing to my outsider eyes-- you almost never see German flags on display (or really any overt show of patriotism), but now almost every car has one (sometimes 2-3) on the antenna or window-- all to identify with the soccer team. Imagine everybody treating each World Cup game like the Superbowl, and you're getting closer. At any rate, the German team who were simply steamrolling through the tourney were schooled by Spain and lost 1-0. The best the Germans, known as Die Mannschaft (The Crew) can do now is win the 3rd place game against a surprising Uruguay squad. Germany has an excellent tradition in the World Cup soccer tournament: In the course of 19 tournaments (held every 4 years) Germany have been in the final four on 12 occasions, including 3 championships. They were hoping that this year would be their 4th, but it was not to be. The 3rd place game happens on Saturday; the World Cup Championship (Spain vs Netherlands) happens on Sunday.

On the wacky side of the news, Germany's own Paul the psychic octopus has kept his perfect prediction record intact, and has done better than the high-paid analysts on TV.

Portland: A Gastronaut's Tale And More

Portland! City of Roses! The City That Works! And also, the place we call "home," though that term is being applied a bit more loosely these days-- but more on that some other time.

Our 2 week trip to Portland ended up being a largely positive mixed bag-- as I alluded to on the previous post, it was an odd sense of deja vu-- sure, some things have changed, stores closed, endless downtown reconstruction continues, even more overpriced condos built-- but it felt strangely... normal to be back. As if no time had passed-- not what we expected at all. Given our time on the ground, the main goal was to squeeze in as many friends and family as we could see, and do a bit of a greatest hits nostalgia tour of our favorite haunts. Portland is known for being a foodie town with a great appreciation and respect for drinks as well-- Oregon wine is justifiably famous, but dig a bit deeper and remember that the American microbrewery craze actually began in Portland (and the beers there could give German beer a run for its money), coffee is king (hometown fave Stumptown Coffee now has an outpost in New York City and is doing off-the-charts business), and some of the best cocktail mixologists in North America hang their hat in Portland as well. Seeing as we have NONE of that in Germany (except for the quality beer), we predictably went nuts with the food options. And eat we did-- I easily put on at least 5 pounds and regretted nothing, including that 2 donut and coffee chaser after a big lunch. Good times. Without belaboring the point too much, here's a cross-section of the restaurants, cafes, coffeehouses and bars we toured:

Charlie's At Clinton Corner
Nuestra Cocina
Beaker & Flask
Detour Cafe
Lauro Kitchen
Sesame Donuts
Foster & Dobbs
Urban Grind Coffeehouse
Junior's Cafe
Garden State Food Cart
Pizzicato
Extracto Coffee House
Pho Vinh
The Hop & Vine
Vino
Gem Wine Cellar
Catalina's
Laughing Planet Cafe
Savoy Tavern & Bistro

... plus a few duds here and there that don't warrant the mention.

Shopping wise, we took advantage of the (pretty crappy at the time of the visit) exchange rate and loaded up on all those goodies that are either impossible to find (the nearest Gap store to Nuremberg is in Dublin, Ireland), too expensive to purchase here (you want basic Levi's 501's? Prepare to shell out 110 Euros-- that's over $138 at today's exchange), or plain old illegal-- you know, wildly exotic illicit drugs like Alleve and Nyquil.

Onto the friends and family, we saw -almost- everyone, though sometimes it was only for a group lunch or a drop-in at these folks' work. People were busy, and our schedule was pretty darned packed... but I still regret not being able to see all of my friends. Not to downplay the friends and fam (and former pet) we did get to see-- it was fantastic, and I only wish our visits were longer with each of them.

While great memories were forged and friendships rekindled, it was the inadvertent moments that really stuck out. Stuff like an unexpected free morning which led to me sitting in my favorite coffee shop for hours, sipping on a bottomless cup of fresh roasted java (an alien concept in Europe, I can assure you), availing myself to their free Wifi (almost unheard of), cracking open my pulpy summer reading book, and just... hanging. Or the other time when B and I took advantage of the glorious weather and bounded up to Portland's best-kept secret, Council Crest Park, situated at the highest point in the city and pretty hard to find (no doubt helped by all of the richie rich neighborhood residents regularly removing the direction signs), spreading out a blanket, eating sandwiches and enjoying views like this. Bliss.

And a word of advice about overpacking your bags for the flight home: Gone are the days the airline will look the other way-- be prepared to pay a lot for heavy bags. A whole lot. This is a huge new revenue source for the airlines, so don't expect it to go away. But if you are a frequent flier with at least 25,000 miles on that particular airline you can ask for a reduction of the fee. Pity I only found out about this a week AFTER I was gouged, and the airline ticketing clerk (who just processed my frequent flier card moments before) sure wasn't about to divulge this information. Oh well, the trip ended with a bang.

Getting Back Into The Swing... Slowly

Wow, somebody get the license plate of that truck... we're back from Portland, and jet lag is nigh kicking our fannies-- struggling to stay awake until 9:30pm (this coming from a guy who regularly stays up 'til 2:00am), and fully awake at 5:15am and making breakfast. But we're getting there.

Portland wrap-up to follow-- 2 weeks there (after nearly 2 years away) was both entirely too long, and bitterly short. We did not expect it to be so... normal though-- time really did melt away, and it almost immediately felt like we simply stepped out for a sandwich but returned. Odd, but comforting.

Normal blogging schedule to resume-- soon!