Lebkuchen Time

That chill in the air signals a few things in these parts, not the least of which being the annual local lebkuchen (say "leb-kook-hen") fest in Lorenzer Platz downtown (and thankfully far away from the stinky "Fish Days" running at the same time on the far side of the altstadt). Lebkuchen are closely associated with Nuremberg and while they are available year-round, they really come into the national consciousness during holiday season. Taste-wise, lebkuchen are a bit hard to describe to the uninitiated and my explanation will make them sound iffy, but they are a dense, flourless, chewy cookie that takes the best elements of gingerbread and fruitcake, served up on a base that is similar to a communion wafer. I know it sounds like a strange combination but believe me, these things are good, and extremely addictive. How big are lebkuchen in this country? big enough that Starbucks Germany rolls out its lebkuchen latte every winter. Sorry for poor quality of photo-- some assclown jostled me as I took the shot of this stand. Here you can see the different varieties-- the cookies are available plain, glazed, or dipped in white or milk chocolate. Cookie size is around a 4" diameter.

Culture On The Cheap

Every Wednesday night, Nuremberg's Germanisches Nationalmuseum (sorry, no amount of photo-fixing will make this camera phone shot any better) stays open late and offers free admission, so B and I went down there this past week to check out their latest show Mythos Burg (roughly translated, it means the myth of castles), and it was an OK exhibit that attempted to deflate the notion of castles being full of brave knights and fair maidens-- nope, they were grubby places where a lot of people lived and worked in constant paranoia (castles tend to get marauded a lot), though they had it a lot better than the poor schlubs toiling for them down there in the fiefdom. It featured a lot of materials from museum collections all over Europe, even a minor painting from old master Peter Paul Rubens (note: I'm speaking of this P. Paul Rubens, and not this Paul Rubens), who actually purchased a castle in the 17th century, lived in it, and it tended to show up in his works a lot in the background. Showboat.

While hardly a gotta-see destination the Germanisches Nationalmuseum still has a lot going for it, and it's a place where folks can see old master artwork, a substantial armor collection, modern sculpture garden, an expansive musical instrument (especially from the Renaissance-era) section, artifacts from pre-Roman settlements, one of the earliest globes of the world (Nuremberg was an important map-making city) and so forth. Due to its broad collection-- this isn't specifically an art (or archaeological, architectural, weaponry, etc.) museum, but it still is pretty good. And once a week, it's free-- not too shabby.

Really? Christmas Decorations in October?

Took this photo this very afternoon at the high-falutin' Karstadt (think Macy's or Nordstrom and you're on the right track) department store downtown-- they are setting up Christmas decorations before Halloween (or Great Pumpkin day, whichever). This follows a news item I saw where the new Black Friday (deep discounts on Christmas gifts) is now around Halloween time. Sheesh. I haven't even started eating my Halloween candy (not that we have Halloween as we know it here, but I just had to say it). Hey, why is Santa dressed up in an American Flag suit?

OK Then, What Am I Supposed To Do In Here?

Men's room admonishment, The George Tavern.

Ewww Part 2

Taken in the Munich train station. Mr. Porky Pork Scratchings (pork rinds to you and me) are actually a British product, but given German's love of the pig, I'm a bit surprised I don't see these around more than I do. Here's a mildly amusing commercial as a bonus.

Altogether Now: "Ewww"

Spied at my local Rewe (say "ray-vay") supermarket, we have corn (mais) and popcorn-flavored yogurt. As my good buddy and regular reader RW in Seattle can attest, there was a time I'd eat/drink pretty much anything (within a broad latitude of reason) on a dare... but even though this is a lot more palatable than the Ouzo shots and habanero peppers of our younger stupider days, I'll take a pass on trying these out-- taste matters to me now. FWIW, this same company also makes malted milk ball and poppy seed flavored yogurt as well.

Cue The Black Helicopters

After reading a report today that MySpace (remember them?) routinely hands over user information to its advertisers and other interested parties, I was reminded of the following video which shows that Facebook users should be less concerned with the site's regular programming glitches which allow enemies/employers/ex-girlfriends, etc. on the front side to see your information, and a lot more concerned with all those folks on the back side to whom you have already signed off your privacy rights-- corporations and (if you are to believe this video) intelligence agencies.



Now, I'm far from being a conspiracy theorist, and I am very aware of the genuine benefits of social networking sites... but until I can find one that actually gives a rip (a genuine rip) about user privacy--and this is coming from a guy who writes a blog post for all the world to see 2-3 times a week-- I'll take a pass. As for folks who say "(fill in the blank) is the best/hottest/most happening site out there and everybody is on it," I seem to recall they said the same about Friendster and Chatroulette too.

Yes, Please Get This Out of Your System Now

So B and I are going to spend Christmas in Paris this year (it sounds really sexy until you realize that airfare is about the same as Seattle to Oakland on Southwest), and as you may have heard there is open rioting in the streets, primarily in Lyon, the second largest city in France, as well as a Paris suburb. The reason these folks are protesting has to do with the French Senate passing a bill that will raise the official retirement age from 60 to 62. The reason the rioters are largely younger people (plus the hooligan element who are using this as an excuse to trash cars and buildings) is that the unemployment situation in France is pretty high, and the kids feel that this situation will make jobs even more elusive. Certain labor unions are performing sympathy strikes as well, blockading fuel refineries and making gas and jet fuel scarce. The situation appears to be easing today, but we'll see about that. My knowledge of France is far from comprehensive, but like the Italians, strikes and protests are quite routine and normally short-lived. I doubt that anything will be resolved anytime soon, but here's hoping for a Festivus miracle.

Old Armory

Here's a shot of the old Armory in the Nuremberg Altstadt. I don't have much in the way of information about it, but it's been around since at least the early 1700's as evidenced by this copperplate etching from 1723. The building was partially destroyed in WWII and has been rebuilt. These days, it's a police substation.

My Blog's All Grown Up!

I knew this guy who insisted that you didn't "make it" in the business world until somebody took (or at least threatened to take) legal action against you-- at that point you were officially a threat. So I guess I'm big-time now. Apparently this little online outpost of mine was upsetting enough to EMI Music Distribution that a post I wrote a couple days ago was pulled down without my knowledge or consent. I received a service violation notice this evening from Blogger.com telling me that I was airing copyrighted material, and that I couldn't show it. What they were referring to was a video of a 28-year old song. EMI, If you are reading this... wow, don't you guys have something better to do, like working to outlaw Auto Tune and finding good unsigned bands? But anyways, the idea always was to introduce the band and a great song to more people, get the curious to maybe buy a CD from these guys (something that I, in fact, did myself last week) or buy the tune digitally, perhaps even pick up a book written by the former frontman (something I still plan to do, bad taste in my mouth notwithstanding). Not stealing fellas-- helping. Get it right.

Right Name, Wrong Specialty

And... completing the string of puerile posts we have this photo from my physician's building. Does anyone need more of a translation than "Arzt" = Doctor? Didn't think so. Not much else to say other than these guys would have a ball riffing on this.

One More

I thought I had gone through all of the racier photos (all 3 of them!) in my folder this week, but may as well get all of these out at the same time. Here's another shot from our summer daytrip to Ingolstadt, a sleepy university town and world HQ of Audi with a population of 125,000. Presumably, this shop is more efficient at selling smut than its German or Austrian brethren. As an aside, I've detected a distinct dislike between the Swiss and Germans-- one guy I know opined that friction exists because "The Swiss are what the Germans only wish they were" (i.e. punctual, efficient). Whatever. It's still a strange name for a store.

Grounded

Often in error; never in doubt" is my motto, but I would like to backtrack on a recent post I made about flight options from Copenhagen to Nuremberg.

If I am understanding this correctly, SAS Airlines' subsidiary Cimber will not, in fact be flying the route as was previously announced. That being said, it still appears to be all systems go (sorry, link in German only) for SAS codeshare partner OLT to fly this route starting on 2 November. No reasons are being given, and it's the airlines' perogative to alter tentative plans up to the day of the launch, though I suspect one airline may be enough for now, and perhaps SAS is taking a wait-and-see approach to this.

Pervy Germans

Completing the inadvertent theme of my adoptive countrymen's ribaldry over the last few days, here's a poster I photographed in Munich a few months back. While adverts like these may pop up in places like independent newspapers, clubs, and the flyers those skeevy guys hand out in front of Vegas hotels back in the States, it should be noted that this was photographed about a block from the art museum in a tony part of a city of 1.4 million. Ads of this type are so common that it's really not a big deal here-- attitudes towards sexuality in Germany (and Europe in general) are notably relaxed, bordering on blasé. The irony here is the seeming disconnect between posters like this and the fact that Bavaria is generally considered one of the more conservative regions of the country.

Saucy Germans

This billboard for the Nuremberg city playhouse is all over town (and I believe those are tiny cake figurines). Translated, it means "The new playhouse: 8 premieres in 3 weeks! Off to paradise!" That's showbiz, I guess. Stuff like this doesn't make anybody bat an eye here-- it takes a lot more to get a rise out of Johann Citizen.

Those Crazy Germans

Sorry for the window glare in the photo. You really don't have to speak German to understand what this advertisement is about. This is the full-size poster/window display at my local Apotheke (drug store), shilling for a feminine, er, extinguisher product. The running (and not terribly funny) joke about German drug stores is that there are no actual drugs in them-- they are all filled with herbal and natural remedies. If you want drugs, then show up with your doctor's prescription and they'll fill it, usually by the next day.

Reflections on Year 2

With very little fanfare, we marked 2 years in Germany the other week-- actually, I think we were in Austria with B's Mom on the actual date and sort of forgot about it, but we enjoyed a belated bottle of champagne this past weekend so all is well.

I wish I could impart some sort of bigger picture, some sort of "lessons learned," but... um, not much here. We've both become a lot more patient, that's for sure-- dealing with a comically stifling bureaucracy and an impenetrable language (come on, do we really need 16 different ways to say the word "the"?) does that. We count as friends people from all walks and professions that, to be honest, we normally wouldn't come into contact with back home-- everybody from IT whiz kids to high-flying execs to musicians and artists, and we're pretty proud to be in their circle. We've been to places I've only read about in travel magazines and dreamt about visiting "someday." On the whole, life is good. Oh sure, I'd love to be busier-- I'm one of those weirdies who finds happiness in a full workload, and I'm getting there in a fashion. But in the end--and as was completely expected-- living in Europe has changed us more than the other way around. And we really wouldn't have it any other way.

Expat Summit!

Spent some time this afternoon with the good folks behind Regensblog Cliff and Sarah (note: photo not actually of Cliff on the right, and camera-shy Yours Truly on left; this is just a rough approximation), here in the big city with Sarah's brother for some culture and R+R. It was good to catch up and realize that the expat experience is pretty universal for all people. More on this (and our conversational threads) in the days and weeks to come.

In case you are wondering exactly who is in this photo, why it's none other than Kieran Hebden (better known as Four Tet) and the artist known only as Burial. Their recent collaborations were some of the most name-checked beats on the alternative scene last year. If you're curious, follow this link to the brilliant, dizzying song Wolf Cub.

TSIMH: Echo & The Bunnymen, "Crocodiles"

The Song In My Head Today is 80's alt-rock heroes Echo & The Bunnymen doing an incendiary live version of their song "Crocodiles." In their prime, these guys could blow anybody off the stage, and it's pretty obvious that a certain well-known performer stole most of his cooler on-stage affectations (like weaving other disparate lyrics into the song you're currently performing) from Echo's Ian McCulloch. Long live the Bunnies!

Travel Options

Normally I defer to regular reader/commenter Cliff's blog to get the latest travel scoops, but this tidbit just came onto my radar last night. If you are like me and dislike massive connecting airports like Amsterdam's inefficient Schiphol (which one wag re-christened "sh@*hole") or rabbit warren/marathon endurance test that is the Frankfurt airport (seriously, Moses walked less than what a standard coach class traveler covers there to get a connecting flight), and don't get me started on the nine circles of hell known as Paris-Charles de Gaulle... there is now another option to get to little ol' Nuremberg. Thanks to 2 different airlines' upcoming schedules, travelers can now transfer at the acclaimed Copenhagen airport. SAS Scandanavia (Star Alliance member) flies nonstop from several US cities to Copenhagen. From there, folks can take either SAS partner Cimber-Sterling or one of Germany's oldest airlines, the overachieving OLT (also an SAS codeshare partner). Thanks to these new direct flights, I do believe we will take advantage and check out Copenhagen ourselves soon and see what all the rave reviews are about-- er, but not in the wintertime.