Sachertorte

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, Ryan decided to make Sachertorte for this month's supper club dessert. Everyone always quickly claims all the other parts - appetizers, main, sides - and leaves desserts wide open for Ryan to offer up a new concoction. Sachertorte, this time.

We have a funny history with Sachertorte: even while we travelled to Vienna (2008), walked by the Sacher cafe, and read about it in guidebooks, we kept walking past because the cafe was full of American tourists. It's like we have a radar in our hands that starts to electrocute us if we get closer. You can pick out the brands on their fanny packs (Polo or Kirkland) or the common color selection (blue umbrella, red windbreaker). Nowadays you just look for a gut and sloppy clothing.

I'm being overly-dramatic, since in intimate situations we've made neat connections with other Americans - like the two sisters we met in Triberg (2006), the only other room taken in our ancient hotel, and they were so excited about their schedule of Black Forest city hopping, seeing more and more churches, and checking off the sites on their guidebook. We all picked out our Cuckoo clocks together, hugged, and said goodbye.

But on that cold evening in Vienna, seeing the bright lights of the Sacher hotel, the gorgeous black dots of cake on everyone's table alongside coffee, it all wanted us to come in and try out the famous 1832 torte...but alas, no, we boogied across the street, around the corner, and out of sight. (We did end up somewhere much more local, with hilarity ensuing.)

So...Sachertorte...Ryan surprised me with the selection, but I was super excited to watch him build his masterpiece. I guess I never realized that the key to the yumminess is the layer of Apricot jam in between the cakes. He bought Hero brand, the best, and he went to town.









More history on Sachertorte.

The result was loved, adored, and eaten by all.

Tschüß!!

Photo Recap: Days 12-14, Amsterdam (Europe 2008)

From my journal:

We arrived late - many trains seemed to be running behind - and made our journey to the hotel on tram. Immediately, you are in a beautiful town of great old buildings. Picturesque canals and bikes everywhere. You are also in the center for early 20s hostel travellers looking for a good time. Chance brought us to Amsterdam, so we had no expectations really.

We ritualistically dropped off our bags [at the hotel] and in moments were on the streets hunting for food at 10 p.m. There weren't too many options, places were closing, and we were suffering from not having seen the city in the day.

So we settled - and I swear that I am still paying for it - we went to McDonald's for a 15 euro meal that really wasn't terrific and gave me such terrible [stomach pains] for two days. Ugh!

How romantic...our 12 year anniversary and most of it was on a train and dinner the first night at McDonald's and the second night at a Chinese takeout. Very dutch?

Doesn't matter because we found the cutest place for breakfast the next morning (after only one expensive beer on the Dam plaza) and returned there the next day.

Yes, we did the Red Light district - which was just annoying because of the fake drug pushers - as well as the Rijksmuseum, sobering Anne Frank House, and the Heineken factory tour. But our favorite part was that cafe, around the block from our hotel, and the brief break before the day.





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That concludes the photo recap of our 2008 Europe trip! In honor of our friend Silvia, who has transferred to Milan, I've updated my feature door (upper right) to a clean, modern Milanese door. Ciao ciao ciao ciao ciao.

Tschüß!!

Cheater Schweinebraten

On our last trip, we had Schweinebraten no less than three times (as many times as I had Goulash) and it all comes down to pork tasting so good in German cooking. I noticed, though, that many recipes take you on a 2 hour journey that essentially roasts the pork, uses the drippings for gravy, and off you go. But when we ordered it during our trip, it seemed like it was really a pork roast that had not been in the oven and had been first cut into 3/4-inch pieces, sautéed in butter, and then served along Spätzle with a mushroom sauce. Divine!

So, I tried to replicate that off the cuff and did pretty well. Pork roasts are so cheap! Just cut them in 3/4 to 1 inch filets, put some butter in the skillet, and saute them until golden brown (I always use an electronic thermometer to be sure). Don't overdo it, since pork can be cooked "medium" and be safe unlike chicken. Anyone who like their bacon a little on the raw side (Melissa U, I'm talking about you!) can corroborate my story.

In München, we were walking back from the Deutsches Museum on the Tal (just past Isartor) and found the "Maggi Kochstudio"! Also known as the "Haus der MSG" we took a peek at the insane amount of product they have! We are more Knorr boys but couldn't resist not picking up a package of Pffefersoße to bring back with us. We made it this night and it was actually a bit like salty pasty glue! Disappointed.

But the pork turned out great! Onion and broccoli on the side...


A package from my grandpa showed up the other day...full of postcards from Germany that he picked up while serving in WWII. They are so precious and show the various places he lived, including Freising, München, and some places in Österreich! I am excited to share them at some time.

Tschüß!

Photo Recap: Days 11-12, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Deutschland (Europe 2008)

The night before we left München to go to Rothenberg, a few guys at the Jodelwirt had said there was a massive snowstorm, people were stuck in their cars, and trains were being diverted. (One guy practiced his business English on me since he now had an American boss and needed to really practice. After we talked for a while, he made a very interesting move (had a bit of an "german efficiency" feel to it) - the conversation hit a lull, so he just said "Thank you," turned back to his table and sat back down with his friends and that was it. Not rude, just abrupt since I had served my purpose and that was that.



No matter to me, we were off to Rothenberg the next day - three train changes and a 15 minute walk from the train station through wet streets and pulling our luggage over cobblestones. The thick, heavy snow was perfect for snowballs and our hotel, the Gasthof Griefen, was spectacularly old and creaky - right in the center of town.

From my journal:

The cutest medieval town you can ever imagine - cobblestones, churches, old buildings, horsedrawn buggies, and OLD WALLS! The best preserved, too, and we literally had it all to ourselves.

After dinner at our hotel, we joined the Nightwatchman tour! as random people gathered in the main square, amongst closing [christmas market] booths and softly falling snow, a dark figure emerges from the street, holding a huge axe-looking thing and a black cloack, with a lantern. Come join the Nightwatchman's tour - it was an awesome tour of the city, with stories about history, love, architecture, and more. We both really loved it and had a drink of Franconian wines after, at "Zum Holle" before hitting the sack.

Other highlights:

* Catching the Nightwatchman giving a tour later that night...in German.
* The Medieval Crime and Punishment Museum.
* Ryan's shoes were officially kaputt (after being soaked through in Ljubljana) and stinky - so we literally ran back and forth between the same 3 stores (on opposite sides of the town) since Size 13 shoes aren't too commonplace. We bought a pair from this cute Polish girl who was still learning German and English. She did know some Japanese and Chinese (the town was very popular with the tour groups). So, the shoes we bought on the last trip in Stuttgart were layed to rest in Rothenberg.




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Tschüß!!

Photo Recap: Days 8-9, Salzburg, Austria (Europe 2008)

Cute, crowded Salzburg. We arrived on a national holiday and in a successful attempt to keep locals from heading to München for shopping, they put a lot of effort in a huge Christmas market. I think three whole huge city squares had booths setup, plus a few non-official clusters of booths in other streets or hidden squares.



From my journal:

For dinner, the place we wanted to see was closed so we walked up into a tiny street tucked past the crowds - and found a tiny restaurant with Weihenstephaner on tap and insane Goulash. I had the deer, which didn't taste like any of the deer I have had before.

It was a little slow, but we ate early and the early sundown plays tricks with your head. It darkens around 4 here.

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I hope you're enjoying the recap of our trip last month! Tschüß!

Photo Recap: Days 6-8, Vienna, Austria (Europe 2008)

From my journal:

I have mixed emotions over Vienna. The people are friendly, [but it is] not as pretty as Slovenia and definitely more modern, but without the chicness of Germany.

Is it a money thing? At the crossroads of Eastern/Central Europe, it seems like there is a very mixed identity and culture.

The sightseeing was awesome and probably would have been better if we hadn't have had the 6 hour train ride plus a sleepless night above yet another nightclub. I can pick them, can't I!

Seeing the Hapsburg palace and treasury was so neat. We saw crowns, clothing and serviing pieces for centuries of Kings. You could spend days in there.

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Top 3 memories:

* The awful 1st night dealing with the disco - using bathroom fans and all to block the noise
* The Hapsburg palace
* Eating fries at an unnamed institution after a loooooong chat perched at a local bar

Tschüß!!

Photo Recap: Days 4-6, Ljubljana Slovenia (Europe 2008)

From my journal:

"Heading here has been the craziest idea since Ryan first popped the, 'Do you want to pick up a BMW in Germany?' back in June 2006. Go to the place Ryan's great-frandfather emigrated from in the 1930s? Heck yeah!

"And as our train enters Austria, I am sad and am missing Ljubljana already. I know we had certainly checked off the tourist sights - but I found myself wanting to start learning the language and not feeling the intimidation I feel with Deutsch. I already miss some of the Jabortnik things, the last vestigates of a Communist era under Tito, but mostly the vivaciousness of the city center - one for the residents, not just the tourists."

Three favorite things:

1) The beautiful Slovenians, especially the Kuhano Vino sellers
2) Buying Ljubljana/Slovenian patches and a pin for Ryan
3) Ordering a wine and lunch all in Slovenian



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Tschüß!!

Parma, Buffalo Mozzarella, & Orecchiette #2

In Milan, after walking somewhat bleary-eyed through the city after landing at 9:00 in the morning and only meeking out a an hour of sleep, we decided a big feast was in order. (This happened to come directly after our 18:30 appt with The Last Supper. Chuckle.) The hotel recommended a neighborhood restaurant that was along the same tram line and within walking distance to Santa Maria delle Grazie. We finished being tourists at about 18:50 and walked through wide and dark streets that reminded me of the upper west-side of Manhattan until we found the restaurant.

Strangely, no one was in there and the lights were off. Ryan tried the door and it didn't open. I know it's Monday night, but... Hm, we walked around the block, and by 19:05 the lights were on and someone was tying their tie at the front desk. Nervously we approached. Part of me felt the big "T" revealing itself on my back, heading to dinner at a little after 7 p.m., "ahh, tourists...American tourists...grab the English menu with the day-old dishes from Sunday night, they'll happily slurp it!"

I tried the door. Pull, pull, it wouldn't move. The guy inside is looking at us a little strange. Push, it opens. Doh, our first intro to Italian street-front door mechanics. We motion for two and he kindly directs us to a cute table by the window in the quiet restaurant. He says some things in Italian, we nod and smile, he gives us the menu and he's off. I reach in my bag and pull out my petite, discreet English-Italian dictionary and start to translate. Next thing I know, a English menu is quietly sat on the table, without fanfare. I'm starting to love this restaurant.

More people came in, eventually, including about 50 children coming to a birthday party in the back; some arriving with parents, some just showing up alone (and probably took the tram alone too). We settled into our groove and not only ordered appetizers, but a primo, and secondo as well. Why not? The food was incredible!

Our favorite - was the Parma and Buffalo Mozzarella we ate for an appetizer. Not only was the Parma the most delicate, melt-in-our-mouth flavor and texture, but the Mozzarella left us speechless. No, it wasn't just sliced up Mozz...some was runny, some was in the middle, all of it was delicious.



Last night, we went in search of a replacement dish. We tried Whole Foods, but they had pulled all of their Parma di Proscuitto because they asked the Italian makers if they used nitrates and didn't receive a response...go figure...so no more Parma there and the Buffalo Mozzarella was $9 for one chunk. We couldn't think of any local Italian deli shops in the entire city...and were about to head to Central Market when Ryan remembered that Costco had some...?? Costco?? To our interesting delight, Costco had a bountiful 12 oz package of Parma for $16. (Remember, in the deli case it's $27 per pound.) While they also had some Buffalo Mozzerella, we had picked up regularly cow mozz at Whole Foods and wasn't sure we were ready for the big Costco package that cost $8 and included several balls.

The results were fantastic...we loved every bit of it...and can't wait to use the extra Parm for a wrapped pork roast or something yummy like that.

Oh, then we made Orecchiette for the second time in a week. F-a-b-u-l-o-u-s. Note the new Le Creuset dish...merry christmas to us! This, along with a new iron (to replace the one I accidentally dropped and dented) made up a functional but fun Christmas.



The pasta was a bit thick and and while Orecchiette technically means "lambs ears" in Italian, we like to think they are pasta contact lenses. Here, Ryan displays the proper application...might want to leave the salt out of your solution.



Tschüß!!

Gemüsegulyas (von Schwein)

A good goulash is always perfect for a wintery evening - when I made this last week, it happened to be cold and foggy here in Austin. Although I now write this in the balmy 60s, I'm thinking back on the two cold nights we had Goulash on our recent trip...first, in Ljubljana Slovenia, and the second in Salzburg, Austria.

So, what is goulash? With its hungarian origins, it's basically a meat and vegetable stew or soup...depending on how thick you make it...with the key ingredient being paprika. Traditionalists say that thickening agents should come from fatty meat not flour and taste should come from paprika not tomatoes. I like a good standard chameleon goulash that does a little bit of everything.



I used a recipe from my "The German Cookbook" by Mimi Sheraton, written in the 60s, and the influences of the decade are clearly present. To me, that's a good thing since I am a fan of 60s and 70s based food. I used pork sirloin roast, since it's both flavorful and cheap, and loved the use of whole, peeled tomatoes!

The two aforementioned times I ate it in Europe used game, whether just deer or a mix of deer and wild boar (Carolignian boar, a regional type) and it was amazing. There is always the fear of deer being "gamey" and I frankly don't quite know where I'd go to get some...but maybe we leave that to the Slovenes and Austrians and my memories.



Notice the cute Christmas tablecloth; thankfully it fit on our table. We bought it last year at the city-wide garage sale and couldn't resist it...it is homemade, a cute print, and other than trimming the yarn fringe it needed no other repairs.

Time to figure out what I should do with the leftover bits of Honey Baked Ham that we have. It's been amazing and I know there is a soup or stew in our future...just not sure how the honey aspect will play into it. Hrmmm...

Tschüß!

Photo Recap: Day 1-2, Austin to Milan (Europe 2008)

After a busy week getting back to work and cleaning things up before everyone else leaves for the holiday, I'm also diving into our pictures and so happy with the results! I'll be posting them periodically through the next few weeks.




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Tschüß!

Almost home

Already, Ryan received a compliment on his Slovenian hat. "Is that
near Slovakia?" she asked. Poor little maligned piece of heaven!

Almost home

14 days of carbs, great drinks, walking, and learning. Ahhhh....

Mid-day Over Iceland

See the moon peeking out of the left corner? A very large and orange
moon. 11 hours and four movies later, we are chilling in Memphis.

Ciao Europe

Heading to the airport now, we will miss you Europe!

At the Heineken Brewery

Last night in Amsterdam

Quite an international mixup here, but we are both sad to leave yet
happy to come home and see our babies.

Saw the Anne Frank house (we both cried), many Rembrants at the
Reiksmuseum, and toured the Heinekin brewery. Then topped off with a
few at a local bar and are back and ready to sleep.

It has been a long but incredible journey that would have not been
possible without the care and love of temporary Austinites Rich and
Sandy. I think they know more about our city than we do and can't wait
to see them. Thank you thank you thank you!!!!!!

ryan has sent you a video message - recorded at the Heineken Experience, Amsterdam

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scott sent a video mail from the Anne Frank House

			scott recorded a video message for you in the Anne Frank House. Click on the link below to watch the video message. If the link does not work, copy and paste it in your browser's address bar.     http://annefrank_engels.bitmove.tv:80/bitmove/annefrank_engels/index.jsp?uid=B9F436EA0C26B5139D544673FE2E05EA&format=wmv     Also, go to the leaf that scott left in the virtual Anne Frank Tree.

scott sent a video mail from the Anne Frank House

			Dear scott, You left a leaf in the Anne Frank Tree and sent a video mail when you visited the Anne Frank House. Click on the link below to watch your video message. If the link does not work, copy and paste it in your browser's address bar.     http://annefrank_engels.bitmove.tv:80/bitmove/annefrank_engels/index.jsp?uid=B9F436EA0C26B5139D544673FE2E05EA&format=wmv

From our hotel window

Can you believe it? Westmarkt church, canals, bikes, so cool. Just
woke, great night of sleep, ready to take on Amsterdam!

Hotel staircase #2

Looking down...

Our hotel staircase

Seriously, it's like climbing a ladder!!

Oh, and other than the drug pushers, the red light district is quite
interesting, like being in Vegas...but it's all serious! Strange.

We're retiring early to make the most of our day in Amsterdam. Unlike
the Slovenes and Ryan, I have no resemblance to the Dutch, really.

Rothenburg

I am writing this from the train to Amsterdam...quite a long ride but
we are almost there.

We left Munchen/Munich mid-morning and arrived in Rothenburf Around 2
and had enough time to rumble our suitcases through the cute medieval
town, check in, do a self guided tour, and walk the old old old wall.
We loved it! The entire countryside had snow on it, and we enjoyed
getting local specialties from the bakeries and cramming them in our
mouths while watching the white forest below.

After another fantastic German meal (we both had Scnitzel which is
technically Austrian) we walked to the main square for the
Nightwatchman's tour! The guy has done it for 17 years and must enjoy
it! He took everyone who gathers on an hour tour with history, facts,
stories, and lots of laughs. We both enjoyed it and laughed when we
saw him later doing a German version.

We ended the night at a wine bar in a cute old house, tried Pear and
Plum brandy, and were in bed by 11.

This morning we saw the Nedieval Crime and Punishment Museum, a
chilling collection of artifacts that make me happy to live in the
21st century! Next we grabbed our bags and headed to the train station.

We also are celebrating out 12th anniversary today and tomorrow!!!
We'll have a late meal because the train is late...but it will be a
good one!

Tschüß!!!

We love München!

We have always loved this city, the approachable size, the Bayerische
food and drink, and the happy spirit of the city.

Of course today we went to the Deutsches Museum, and of closed early
fir an annual staff meeting but we had an hour and a half of free
visiting...it is amazing!

After, we walked on the Englischer garten and then walked for hours
around the Schwäbing area on a misty day.

Night ended up at the Jodel Wirst, upstairs in a small space with the
pictured singer/accordianist/yodeler who made the house roll with
laughter! We didn't understand too much but knew when he was making
fun of the Texans in the room. soo much fun!!!

We hear that Rothenurg has a lot if snow so we are not sure what
tomorrow's travel plans have in store for us...another fabulous
adventure, I an sure!

For Mark

We saw this on the Munchen u-Bahn/subway!!!

BMW Welt

Munich

Munich

Hofbrauhaus!!!!

Ja, I am writing this from the HB haus!!! We had a great day in
München seeing the sights and totally loving the new BMW-Welt and
museum.

We had Weißwurst in Virtulienmarkt and the city is full of yule.
(Jessica...the lush ferns and mosses are beautiful!)

Salzburg night and Munich morning

The lack of updates were to a lack of good wifi in salzburg. What a
beautiful town!

Took an early train to Munich and are ready to eat and drink! More
later!

Tschuess Vienna

Afterva looooong day of heavy sightseeing (man, we hit it hard
yesterday and got so much done, thank you Rick Steeves) we had
traditional Viennese food in a great labyrinth Beisl and pondered the
world from a pew in St. Michaels cathedral.

We ended up at the Bermuda Pub or something like that and people
watched for hours, having a riot of a good time.

I know that Vienna is a favorite for many, but we are longing for a
small town. Tough to find one that is not deserted in winter...that's
why we are packed and heading to Salzburg! "doe, a deer..."

Ohhh we miss our babies super much today but know they ate happy and
well taken care of. I got some egg shell in my bread and Ryan asked if
I was molting! Hahahajaa

Vienna's Bermuda Triangle

But in the place named for something that sounds touristy we actually
found locals, good beer, and a perch to enjoy for a good while. A
brisk walk, and it is nearing 1 again. Oh boy, we need the solitude of
Salzburg to relax our eyes. We are maybe taking an early train tomorrow.

Vienna is windy

Cold and windy and beautiful...lots of museums, walking, and sub-par
mulled wine compared to Ljubljana. This is a big city full of tourists.

Vienna yuuuuuum

Minute 5 of 360

We are in Vienna after a 6 hour train ride and 20 minutes on a bus
from the Sudbahnhof. We did laundry and are exhausted with a busy day
ahead tomorrow.

I can pick these hotels...the second right next to a club. Haha we
should be partying there! But...we'll settle for some ambien.

Adijo Slovenia

Cockta is a coke equivalent that was made when coke was not imported
in the communist days. Ryan liked it!

We are off to catch our 6 hour train ride to Vienna.

Ciao!

On the road...

Heading out for some sightseeing and shopping at the market stalls
before our afternoon train. Didn't sleep as well as we wanted but are
excited for the day!!

Traditional Slovenian cuisine

> By chance, we are in ljubljana on the celebration of the Christmas
> market opening! We were walking back from shopping and saw a crowd
> surrounding the tree in Preseren Square and eventually men dressed
> as devils with chains and long tongues came across the Tromostovje
> (Triple Bridge) that crosses the Ljubljanuca River; they taunted the
> children who were pressed against traffic barriers.
>
> Then, they handed out strange candies that looked like a long
> tootsie roll pressed into a brown pod shape and smelled like anise.
> Then, a guy dressed like a cross between Santa and a catholic
> cardinal emerged from a cart driven by a devil on a 4-wheeler and
> with angels behind him, they handed out bags with candies,
> tangerines, and a baked bread. We even got one!
>
> Singing, dancing, and so on...after, the riverside promenade opened
> with shops, and stands selling mulled wine...MMM we had a few cups
> of red while strolling with hundreds of locals and tourists,
> enjoying the brisk night and lucky break from the rain.
>
> We even practiced out newly-learned Slovenian phrases:
>
> "Dober dan! Rat bi dva Rdece Kuhano Vino prosim? Hvala, adijo!"
>
> That means, "Hello, I'd like two red mulled wines please. Thanks,
> bye!"
>
> Only the basics...after a few of those and a long walk through the
> medieval town we had a traditional Slovenian meal of soup in a bowl
> (mushroom and onion) and I had Game Goulash (deer, boar, etc)
> pictured on the background, and Ryan had pork with mushrooms.
>
> After more strolling in the rain, listening to American music from
> all decades on the speakers and a live singer, as well as Christmas
> music through a Disney-style soundsystem through the streets, we
> have returned for a good night of sleep.
>
> Tomorrow we need to hopefully get rain-free pictures, souveniers,
> and sightseeing before our 4 pm train to Vienna. We get in a bit
> late, but will be sad to leave this beautiful country. It is a true
> gem in an already star-studded vacation.
>
> Lahko noc.....

Traditional Slovenian cuisine

Jabortnik Bathroom

Don't you love a combo bathroom/shower/toilet? 77 euros a night!
Yeaaaaaah....

Laundry aisle heaven

At Mueller, a department store chain in Ljubljana...Ryan was
thrilled...we pay 9 bucks for Vernell and here it is under 2 euros!

Slovenian wine

Ryan secretly snapped this at lunch today...it's a slovenian wine and
was fantastic!

Wet Slovenia

We missed snow in Milan, the flood in Venice (we arrived two days
after), but we got hit hard with rain this morning.

No whining on this trip! We pressed ahead with our morning walking
tour with Marijan, a native Slovene who speaks impeccable English and
is a walking encyclopedia! 3 hours of amazing facts, history,
architecture, and culture through the cutest hidden town we have seen.
I selfishly almost don't want to talk about it.

But it deserves to be seen!

With big smiles, and wet shoes, wet socks, wet everything, we are
drying things off with a Jabortnik-looking hairdryer before heading
off for coffee and cakes or maybe some Schnitzel.

Ljubljana morning

Day 5 - Ljubljana

First, thank you for the comments and emails! We are happy to have you
along with us. We certainly gave grown in travel skills from our last
trip - things that used to trip us up be cause worry and nervousness
now become an opportunity to see a different part if the city. (for
example, turning right instead of left out if the train station last
night into a bleak area of town, or Scott in the WC on the train when
the conductor comes to check tickets, and they are hidden in his bag...)

This brings us to magical Ljubljana. Being here us special to us both
because ryan's great grandfather cane from here. The streets were full
last night of students and young tourists, drinking hot drinks, beer,
and talking in the freezing night air, compounded by the brisk river
that barrels through the city center.

We couldn't pass it up and walked around until about 1 am. I can't
imagine what day will bring to the sights...the bridges, the castle up
on the hill, the church that serenaded us all night (along with rain)...

We meet Marijan, our guide for the morning, in 40 minutes so we better
get going.

Hvala! (thanks in Slovenian)

Tschüß

Drinks in Presersen Square

Wednesday in ljubljana are happening!

Dinner in Ljubljana

I think someone has found their roots..,.

Insider note...our favorite Croatian blog drinks Union beer... Nas
drovska!!

Ljubljana fun

Hello (Dober dan) from Slovenia!

We said ciao to Silvia after another amazing meal that she Christina
(mama) prepared and jumped on the train. After 3 hours we were in
Villach, Austria and changed trains to one headed to Slovenia.

Day 4 - Venice

It's lunchtime and Silvia's mother already prepared lunch for us. (She left for work at 7, came home on our lunchbreak and made lunch, then left to go back to work. She is amazing.) Last night was fantastic, we ate homemade pizza with homemade tomato sauce and chatted for hours with Silvia's parents and friend, Lele. Poor Silvia had to work double-time to do the translation back and forth, and at some points I think everyone wished we could just all speak the same language! You sort of feel dumb that you can't understand someone who is absolutely smart and intelligent...and you know they feel the same way. But after a while, you kind of get what they are saying by watching their eyes and gestures and tone...although sometimes you can get it totally wrong. (i.e. the Ticky, Tocky Balocky comment I mentioned earlier.)

We went to bed around 11:30 and slept sooo well...didn't stir until 8:30. Took showers and went for a walk around a foggy, mystical Venice. It's so neat to take random alleys that lead to different Campos (squares), with beautiful picture opportunities at every corner. We have already taken 250 pictures of our trip plus about 30 minutes of video.

Continuing our tradition of yesterday, we hit some more Cappuchino bars (haha I went to pay for our last round and asked the wrong person so they were about to make 3 more until Silvia corrected me...lol). There are no tourists in the early morning. Lele works security at the airport and says he sees no Americans coming to Italy. Even flights to NYC are full of Italians and barely any Americans. I like that because I don't really want to see anyone else that is speaking American English but from an economy perspective, it is not very good for Venice. They rely on tourists.

Silvia took us to a cute shop to buy some Venetian glass souveniers...real Italian glass made in Italy, not the Made in China crap that a lot of places sell. Terrible, eh? But we have become pretty saavy at spotting the touristy places from the honest storekeepers who want to offer a real experience.

Oh, forgot to tell you the pizzas last night...one was Mushroom and Mozzerella (fresh mozz that comes in a plastic pouch) and the other was Speck and Gorgonzola plus a little Mozzerella. Speck is more smoky than Prosciuotto (sorry for the spelling in the blog, I am not able to spell check on this italian computer).

Ok, Silvia says that I better go eat lunch! Ciao!

Venice pictures

From yesterday

Venice pictures

From yesterday...

Cat and Ryan reading the ads

They have wine for €0,99!!!!

Computing in Silvia's house

Ryan is chatting with Lele, who we met last night at dinner, in
Venetian. Yup, it's different than Italian! Silvia's papa is always
searching for MIDI song files for his band that he sings in. I will
have to find a YouTube of him singing...they are out there!

We leave for Ljubljana in 2 hours and I will be sad to leave...

Venice through the back window

From Silvia's guest room window this morning.

Silvia, Scott, Ryan

Day 3 - Venice

When you picture the most ideal day in Venice - playing by our rules, of course, which means being more of a local than a tourist - what do you picture? Maybe the sweetest local person, a third generation Venetian that actually speaks Venetian (it's different than Italian) comes to pick you up and offers you to stay in her house with original Terazza floors? And walking in her, mother is cooking fresh lunch (Oreccete) with bread and wine on the table. And you are greeted with kisses on the cheek? And what if her mother's cousin worked at a local espresso bar, who teases you while gifting you espresso (with a shot of grappa of course) while chatting like a regular?

Sound good? That's the past 7 hours of our life. And it got better...

After that, we jumped in their private boat and took a private tour of Venice! The Grand Canal, peeking through tiny alleys, while being serenaded by an official gondolier singer...her father...who wasn't really meaning to seranade us but he just always sings. He is sitting on the couch singing something right now as I type on Silvia's computer.

We then walked for hours upon hours through tiny streets, saying Ciao to various friends of Silvia, checking out supermarkets, joking, learning Venetian and Italian and having an amazing time!

A friend of Silvia's has been invited over and along with her parents we are going to do homemade pizza. Haha, I was just trying to converse with her mother and apparently we were talking about how she loves Salzburg and they say that it is a mini-Venice.

Rick Steves would be proud. Actually, he would pee his pants with excitement on how surreal and cool this all is...all because we sat next to someone at the Hofbrauhaus two years ago and started to talk...which turned to sharing a Struedel...

Time for snacks, then more touring in the morning, and then we leave for Ljubljana at 2:55 tomorrow for another first...Slovenia.

More on Venice later.

Tschuess!

Day 1 and 2: Flight and Milano

Ciao! We made it here safely and just had an awesome first day here in Milan. The flight was fine, although we only slept maybe 1 or 2 hours. But we did drink our fill of some good wine so that probably didn`t help too much. As we approached Milan to land, one of the flight attendants handed us a bottle of dessert wine, saying something about not wanting to count it on their liquor sheet and wanting us to have a warm welcome to our Europe adventure. How sweet! This is the second time they`ve done that to us on a flight to Europe!

After landing, we took a 40 minute train ride from the Malpensa airport to the Milano Nord station and walked about 20 minutes to our hotel. It`s perfect, in a great neighborhood area, and a solid 3 star budget traveler hotel. At some points it reminds me of the Upper West Side of NYC with all the families and old ladies walking dogs...but then you see the Milano side of things. People of all gender and ages racing motorcycles down tight streets with streetcars/trams clanging by and small economical cars pushing through. Then, old men riding bikes through a quiet park with huge statues of some king here and Napoleon there.

On the sightseeing list today was Castle Szorza, a beautiful 1300 military fortress which was amazing to behold. We loved seeing the feral cats running through the grassy now-dry moat.

Next, we walked down Via Dante, a pedestrian zone that was carved out of a medieval bunch of streets to celebrate Italian unification, and ended up in front of the impressive Duomo. It seriously is a sight to behold...130 spires and thousands of statues. Got to even creep into the crypt and see an old, dead cardinal encased in silver.

Afterwards, we hit the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, which is something out of the movies. It is a glass-domed arcade lined with shops, four stories tall, built around 1870. We stopped for a cappuchino (yeah yeah yeah I know it`s a breakfast drink around here but it was 11:30 so I think we were ok) and some biscuits before moving on.

Milan is the fashion capital of the world, so we did the obligatory sidewalk stroll of Via Montenapoleone. The Italians are so well-dressed here, beautiful fashion, neat hair, great style. The other awesome thing is we really feel like the only Americans and not everyone speaks English, which is keeping us on our toes and making us feel a bit ill prepared.

Later, we saw the actual The Last Supper fresco in a tiny church...you walk through a series of chambers that takes you to the right humidity since they took 21 years to restore 500 years of grime and touchups. It was an amazing, if not simple, sight. After that, we ate very Milanese food at Cecco. I had Risotto Milanese, a risotto with saffron, along with Tagliate, which is thin strips of beef lightly seared and sprinkled with rosemary. Ryan had Bolognese (oohhh yeahhh it was amazing) and then a Margerita Pizza, which was quite different from U.S. style...thin homemade crust as always but tomato sauce and sprinkled mozz cheese and only one leaf of basil.

Oh and we started that whole feast off with Parma Ham and fresh Mozzerella cheese - two kinds, one that was more formed and the other more runny. Both were deliciouso!

It`s almost 22:00 (10 p.m.) which is my breaking point for staying awake. I`m enjoying one more glass of red wine (it is sooo cheap here! my gosh) and then off to bed. Wakeup call at 7, train at 9, Venice by 12 to see Silvia. We checked with her today and she`s all setup to see us!

A truly amazing start to a fantastic adventure.

Unique moments of the day:

- Again not knowing if service is included in the bill and probably overpaying.
- Going to dinner at 7 and feeling like old early birds since we were the first people in the restaurant. They go for drinks until about 8 or 8:30 and then go to dinner. By the time we left at 9 the place was packed.
- Ordering the house wine in a carafe and experiencing the best tasting italian wine I have tasted.
- Speaking German to bums who are trying to sell things...they can speak italian and english, but German shuts them up.
- Speaking German when I think I am speaking Italian. Not a good idea.
- Trying to type on an Italian keyboard...even more confusing than a german keyboard but less umlauts

That is all - thanks for the well wishes and we are also happy to hear that Sandy and Rich are making out great with the kids back in Austin!

Ciao and Tschuess!!

Awaiting in Austin

We made it to the airport, flight is delayed a tad. Luckily I found
that delta business elite flyers get access to the Continental
lounge! So, we are relaxing in style.

The kids will be super happy with the parents! Sandy even gave Grete
her inhaler by herself, hissing and all! We hope they have fun while
we are out.

Opening a bit of History the Night Before

When we returned from our October 2006 trip, we stowed a bottle of Mitterhein Riesling in our luggage, wrapped in socks (a tip from our flight attendant friend who was pictured on the "4F and 4G" post). While in Oberwesel, which is smack dab in the Mitterhein area, we had an amazing bottle of halbtrocken (half dry) Riesling. We weren't able to buy any while we were there, but in Berlin we found some bottles at KaDeWe and bought one.

We brought it home and on every anniversary, Christmas dinner, Thanksgiving dinner, or random German meal, we were tempted to open it. We never did. It's a 2004...and finally...tonight we opened it.

Tastes of apple, earth, lime, grass, even vanilla and a hint of star anise. Haha, yeah, right, I wish I could smell and taste all those flavors, but that's sort of what it reminds me of...woohoo, special things like that are always cool.

We leave in the morning, we're pretty much all packed, house is somewhat clean, and the fun nerves are starting. Gotta get a good night of sleep!

Tschüß!

Clean-up, Pre-Trip

OK, hopefully I did not mess up anyone's rss feeds this morning. There were a few posts from my old blog that needed to be transferred over (mid-2007) and I migrated posts from our Germany 2006 travelogue to here. Thus, 2006 posts are all accounted for!

If you'd like to browse the Germany 2006 posts, click here.

Right now, we're in the 48 hour bubble for a few more hours...I finished tearing out the relevant pages of our guidebooks and matching them up with paper print-outs of our hotel reservations and subway (U-Bahn and S-Bahn) maps that I printed from the transit websites. We learned the hard way by trusting an old map of the Berlin system...back when the Hauptbahnhof was truly at a different station...and we arrived at the new Hauptbahnhof...which put us about 3 stops back in reality. Confusing!

Ryan had a great idea to reuse some packaging that our travel underwear came in for guidebooks. Wouldn't you know it, the pages fit perfectly! So I have three fantastic stacks of guidebook information, all packed chronologically for the trip!

Today will be toiletries, cleaning the yard (already bagged 5 bags of leaves yesterday), cleaning the cars, and final prep before the big day.

Tschüß!

Glücklich Erntedankfest

We had a nice Thanksgiving here at home, with Ryan's parents and our friend Kris. Lots of cooking and the normal madness that ensues around it; I realize now how key it is to get everyone out of the kitchen to stop dinking around with the dishes that they have been working on. By the end, I had claimed ownership on everything (be damned how much time you had already spent, it's mine to finish up!) and the Kitchen Dictator (Küche Diktator) pushed everything to completion.


Sandy stirring the chocolate pie mixture


Scott cutting into the Turkey


Ryan and Kris lining up for grub


The line-up of food...


Ryan, Scott, Richie, Sandy, and Kris

It was good. More than good, it was fantastic! The leftovers have been just as good, too.

We are officially in our 72 hour bubble (almost in the 48 hour bubble) which is an important mental prep point for us. We spend some time last night packing and are down to the leanest pile you could imagine. We have work on toiletries and I need to do a little more transit research for Milan, but we are in great shape.


The packing list and our initial prep work


Aww, I think Grete wants to go home to the Fatherland!

Today, need to exchange my Smartwool socks (I washed them and they fell apart), buy a new Stuffsack (can't find the other one), and do a bit more research. This is my life now, not work. Travel more, work less.

Tschüß!

Reclaiming 4F and 4G

Woke this morning with the trip stuck in my head; the nervousness is always pleasantly unpleasant. I suppose it's nice to know that I've still got it in me! Not traveling that much for work is making me soft!

Picture from our 2006 sojourn

I my typical "I'm not really superstitious but really am" fashion, I have checked 10 times this week already to ensure we have the same seats that we like on 767s...4F and 4G. I also had to check to make sure our flight to Atlanta had been fixed so that we were sitting next to each other. They moved us onto a different flight (luckily with a shorter layover than the original 5 hours) but couldn't sit us together. The other day I checked and some seats together had opened up so I quickly snagged them.

Today is Thanksgiving and I have so much to be thankful for - a supremely great life with my best friend in the world. We definitely are flying together in 4F and 4G and the past year has brought so much joy and strangely lots of preparation for the next few years (rental house, new salon, etc.). While I always say "we're very lucky" I like to think that "we're very blessed" because I know that good things come to good people and we definitely try our hardest to be that, every day.

OK, time to break open the Bailey's, have a little champagne, and start tearing apart my travel guides. 4 days.

Tschüß!

Chicken Primavera

In anticipation of our trip, I've thrown a few italian dishes into the repertoire. Ellie Krieger has also turned into a huge favorite of mine from the Food Network. She does really sensible, fresh recipes that are very healthy. A few weeks ago, I had tried this Pasta Primavera sauce with fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, asparagus, and a beautiful creamy sauce. I'll be making this tonight for Ryan and his parents plus Melissa and Bobby.



This version has baked chicken with it; I've been recently cooking with the "in bone" chicken, mostly because I like the taste quite a bit more...it seems like you have to work it a bit more to get it considered "done" but it keeps better flavor, better texture, and looks really neat on a plate. Another part of me appreciates the work of having to cut it off the bone on your plate and does make me think about the creature that is providing me nourishment. Without getting super meta on you, it's part of that internal struggle between wanting to not eat meat, wanting to respect the food chain, and enjoying cooking and eating.

Ryan's parents arrived last night and we had a great meal at Hyde Park Grill and a good night of sleep. We just finished breakfast (I started cooking pancakes but was just not pulling through on the delivery of beautiful fluffy and nice-looking specimens...so Ryan had to pinch hit and finish the job) and are going to head out into the fog and rain. Costco, Toys R Us to find this game we've wanted to buy, etc. I need to remember to pull the camera out and take pictures; I regret I didn't take more when my parents were here! I selfishly have a great photo of them in front of some fabulous homemade german food. Sigh!

And if you're counting...8 days until Europe! WOOHOO! Yes, we will be blogging all the way.

Tschüß!

I Heart Rick Steves!

On Sunday, I got to see Rick Steves in person. Wow! What a great experience! Unfortunately for me, there are quite a number of Rick Steves fans...there were a few hundred fanpeople packed into the second floor of Bookpeople in Austin, Texas. Rick played it all cool, making jokes and smalltalk before the presentation got started.

While he was scheduled to start speaking at 1, you could tell he saw the audience was eager and there wasn't a place for other people coming in to sit (although they conveniently just stood in front of you and blocked people's view. I know it's probably the stun of seeing a travel icon and hero right there...but come on, move your ass!). So, he started early at 12:45. Rocking!

I have a feeling that Rick doesn't suffer from speaking fatigue. There are some presenters who jump right into auto-pilot and repeat the same scoop, word for word, they've been hawking for some time. I know I used to struggle with that as a trainer and try to keep each experience fresh and nuanced. It's really, really tough and made more difficult by the expectations of the audience.



The presentation moved from learning about how Rick got started in the travel guide and tour business, amazing information about this trip to Iran (coming to a PBS station near you), how Americans are perceived by other countries, and how he views travelers as ambassadors representing their own country. This last bit struck home, since during our 2006 trip to Germany we really struggled when talking about where we were from: the last place you want to be from is Texas. It inspired "George Bush this, George Bush that" but our thin American skin couldn't see past that they weren't dissing Texas or dissing us, they were simply giving their political point of view and we were making the assumptions.



I did not get a book signed or shake his hand, there were MOBS of people. He did graciously speak for about 2 1/2 hours and reiterates why he's a hero of mine - he chose to be entrepreneurial about something he's passionate about and truly sees the whole picture. And if he's got missing pieces in that puzzle, fine, he's got missing pieces. That's a part of the deal.

My next task in preparing for our trip (which is just over a week away) is to rip up my travel guides (mostly Rick Steves books) and take the cities that we're visiting with me. Exciting!

Tschüß!

"Surely no dude'll be left over hungry"

In Slovenia, they eat horseburgers. Really, they do. While that doesn't quite shock me ("Due to exclusively vegetarian feeding horse meat is the least exposed to food manipulation."), I was bowled over by the website for "Hot Horse" a sort-of local burger chain.

It is a great paradox when you look at the actual words within "Kentucky Fried Chicken". No diff between that and "Hot Horse" right? Where you can get a nice Colt Steak Burger. Because, as the website says, "I dash a natural, juicy, properly thick steak of colt meat, which I've roasted quickly, into a fresh roll and fill it up all together with all the supplement your hart wishes for." Sounds great! I'll have that!

Enjoy the website...I look forward to the nacho, cabbage, and ajvar supplements the most!

http://www.hot-horse.si/en/index.html

p.s. We've confirmed our private tour in Ljubljana with one of Rick Steve's tour guides...I'm super excited for that! Speaking of, we're off to get ready for his talk at BookPeople in Austin.

Tschüß!

German Cooking Roundup

We started the month out right with some great Deutsch Essen...when my parents visited, we made Rinderrouladen (which ended up tasting spectacular!!) and then taught my mom how to make Spätzle. She laughed as I donned ovenmitts and rammed the dough through our maker into the boiling water. I know there are some easier contraptions out there...but as Ryan says, it's no fun unless Scott gets burned.

Then, my Mom helped me make Gherkin mit Sauerraum und Dillsoße. It was amazing! Even Ryan tried and liked it, which was a big win.



My parent's visit was fantastic, we really enjoyed them being in our house. We headed out to the LBJ Ranch for a tour of the Texas White House and also did a great 4 mile hike right in our own backyard!



Another night, Ryan and I carbed it up with Knodeln and a packet of Knorr Schwäbische Käsespätzle...wow, what a difference between packet food and homemade food!



Only 20 days until our trip to Europe! I can't wait! Today, being Veteran's Day, I had the day off and worked on train tickets and adding more details to our planning website: http://germany2008.ryanscottsalon.com. Also went to Barnes and Noble to pick up a new Moleskin journal for the trip. My memories in my 2006 journal are precious and I look forward to documenting our experiences again!

Tschüß!

New Camcorder!

Through my work, I earn "Spirit Points" as you accomplish things...and eventually you can look at a catalog and buy something. Reminds me of when I was a kid and sold Christmas wrapping paper or cards to earn points for random things. Times have changed, since I was able to eek enough for a new Sony Handycam Camcorder! It arrived this week, just in time for our trip to Europe, and we played with it a bit last night. I'm impressed so far! The low light shooting might need some adjusting (not sure if it's a mode thing or if that's how it is) but I think the normal light shooting is amazing thus far.

It writes to the DVD as you record, which is crazy, so no more tape chewing!!! WOOOT!!!!!!!

This morning has mostly been trying to secure a room in Amsterdam - we have one at the Renaissance Inn but staying at an American hotel on our last night in Europe will likely be the last thing on our minds. Really!

Today should be preparing the packing list and tightening up our website for its release to the fam!

Tschüß!

Under 30 days, German Meal Tonight, Train Dilemma Results

I can't believe it's less than 30 days until our whirlwind trip! We are so excited and are also looking forward to the "crunch time" and making sure we've got everything lined up. October was very busy for us, mostly making sure our rental house got the love and attention it needed before the new tenants moved in. It's interesting that all the little things you learn or do incrementally on your own house sure come in handy on when prepping another. Work will continue to be a major focus; unless you're living under a rock, it's both a good and a bad thing to work in the financial industry. Needlesstosay, I am happy to be employed and very busy.

Belatedly, THANK YOU to Adam and c n Heidelberg for your advice and thoughts on my dilemma. I'm going to stick with going through the train ride since we really want to go to Rothenburg, I've endlessly checked flights and other alternatives, and really just need to get moving on this trip. Even cutting the trip in Köln means only one night in Amsterdam...I'm part-Dutch, you know, so snubbing my ancestry is probably a bad thing.

My parents are coming in town today and I'll be entertaining them with a very German meal - Rinderrouladen, Käsespätzle, Gherkin mit Sauerraum und Dillsoße, Salat, Eis. They will be thrilled, they like that type of food. They will be here two nights, leaving on Tuesday; I'm hoping that we can go to Wurstfest over in Gruene (south of Austin). I've always wanted to go!

The clocks moved back this morning - ahh - the extra hour of sleep was nice!

Tschüß!!

Rothenburg to Amsterdam - Ugh!

So...what have we been up to...too much, and we're almost 1.5 months from our Europe trip with so much to do. The largest issue that has been grinding through my head (beyond the market, work, getting our rental house ready, etc. etc.) is the tail-end of our trip in December.

Now, the original plan was that this is our 2008 Germany trip - it's definitely morphed into a Central Europe 2008 trip - through itinerary re-configurations, we've adjusted into a really neat swoop. Milan, Venice, Ljubljana (Slovenia), Wien (Vienna, Austria), Salzburg (Austria), München (Munich, Germany)...lots of ground to cover. Two nights each in Ljubljana, Wien, and München...one night in the other towns. It's going to be fairly fast, but similar to our 2006 trip where we drove during much of the morning or afternoon and experienced the towns at night. In October, some towns were cleared out, shops closed, and we were more than happy to simply stroll the town and skip the touristy museums. In December, I'd imagine we'll have more of the same and less options once the sun goes down...in the small towns...which we're mostly skipping...

...except Rothenburg. Next to Salzburg, probably the big touristy splurge on the trip. (It'll probably be our Neuschwanstein Castle of the trip.) From München it's a confusing, multi-connection feat to get there...only 3 hours or so. The issue is that our flight is departing from Amsterdam on the 14th. And we'd probably want two nights in Amsterdam to catch a flavor of the city. Which means we need to get from Rothenburg to Amsterdam in a day.

Ugh. It's a long train ride. 7-8 hours. We only have one other really long rides like that going from Ljubljana to Wien...but it'll be interesting riding in two different countries.

Should we shave off Salzburg or shorten München to one night and opt for a night in Wurzburg or Köln to soften the train ride? Should we skip Rothenburg all-together and hit another town that is more centrally located?

One itinerary option had us heading from Wien to Prague, Dresden (yes, near Weimar!)...but we really wanted to hit Bayern again so thus the swoop West from Wien instead of North.

Sincerely,

Confused Travel Planner

Seats confirmed on Northwest

Holy crap, we are under the 90-day timeframe from the start of our trip. That fact just hit me right now. I had remembered that Northwest (we fly them on the leg back) does not make seat assignments until 90-days prior to your flight. So, I made a mental note to call them around September 15th and check what automatic seats we were given.

I'm happy with the international flight seats, moved the small domestic seats (why would they book us across the aisle from one another? Bad computer logic.

But...wait...if it's 90-days from the return flight...crap, we have a lot of work to do.

Tschüß!

Ryan's 30th Birthday Party!

Ryan celebrated his 30th birthday on the 30th of August...and we threw a party! Finally, a party in our house. We didn't even have a housewarming (sort of a tradition for us...it takes us so long to get the house "together" and presentable that we always seem to skip that one). But, we had about 26 people over and it went super well! We catered some Chuy's Nacho Bar, which rocked, and everyone seemed to enjoy the food, beer, and wine...did a mixture of beers and for wine Kris brought over a bunch of whites (Tomeresca Chardonnay) and Ryan had selected the Hob Nob Pinot Noir (a french one) that was super.

Sighh...that's done...next stop, Cancun! We leave in a week and I can't wait to help Ryan celebrate his birthday. LOL! Check out the pictures below...

2008-08 Ryan's birthday

In other news, I've checked out a few hotel options in München and reserved a room at the Zurich Marriott using points (only there for one night). Also did some research in Amsterdam. Last night we watched The Counterfeiters, a sobering and powerful Austrian film that won the Best Foreign Film Academy Award last year...great movie.

Tschüß!

Milan Hotels

Been looking at a couple hotels online:

Hotel Milan (http://www.hotel-london-milan.com/) It's pretty utilitarian, only about 100 euros, and I e-mailed them to find out the exact rate and availability.

Hotel Raffaello (link) is a bit further out, a good price, more of a business hotel, but right next to a tram station.

Hotel Spadari al Duomo (link) has a name that means it's right near the Duomo...really funky and fun...just pricey. Hrmph.

I guess I should probably get a guidebook? :) Seems like a lot of neat things to do. You can even pre-reserve a viewing of The Last Supper fresco! They have dates through the end of November...so I suppose I'll have to wait a little bit...

The planning continues...!

Tschüß!

Luggage and Travel Books

In 2006, our travel philosophy of "packing lite" was still in its infancy. I think we did an amazing job and only had a Victorianox rolling Duffel, a large backpack, and our own travel purses. We also stowed two duffelbags inside that we gradually pulled out for gifts and keepsakes. By the time we got to Berlin and then to Düsseldorf it was pretty ridiculous how much crap we were carrying around.



Scott lugging clothes up to the castle in Oberwesel, Oct. 2006



Ryan with our multitude of bags in Berlin Hauptbahnhof, Oct. 2006. Moments before this photo, Scott had realized that we were standing on the wrong platform (Gleiß) and we scurried to not miss our reservation on the train to Düsseldorf...and broke the strap on one bag. Uggh!

At one point in Frankfurt, the duffel was so full and we were walking to a train station (something we'll be doing more of during this trip because we won't have a beautiful car to ferry us around) and it literally started dragging on the ground. I thought that I was just getting weak, but the wheels had heated up and started loosening the bearings! There were lots of angry threats to that bag...even though it was awesome in every other aspect.



Scott with the amount of bags mid-way and just before our walk to the train station, Frankfurt, Oct. 2006

This time, our strategy will be to ship things home when appropriate, reduce the number of clothes and outfit options, stick with one pair of shoes, and go with a new backpack. We looked at some at REI yesterday and found one we both really liked. It has a day-pack attached so when on an airplane or train, you can stow your luggage and have your daypack with iPod, travel guides, journals, lipbalm, etc.



Eagle Creek Switchback Max 22", purchased from www.irvsluggage.com

We'll be able to test them out on our vacation to...Cancun!! I finally told Ryan the surprise, so in two weeks we'll be leaving for Cancun and a five-day relaxing vacation of NOTHING but celebrating Ryan's foray into his thirties. Woot! He's super excited and it certainly means the 2nd half of 2008 is in support of the motto we developed in Stuttgart back in 2006: "Less Work, More Travel."

Last night, on our way back from luggage shopping, I popped into Half Price Books and picked up a little guidebook to Cancun and Amsterdam.

Tschüß!!

Milan: Aperitivo

Great post on two of my favorite topics: saving money while drinking!

http://www.eurocheapo.com/blog/milan-aperitivo-bars-offer-delicious-dining-cheapo-style.html

Deutschland 2008: Travel Notes

Couple of notes on the trip planning so far...proposed itinerary:

Milan - Zurich - Lindau - München - Nürnberg - Rothenberg ob der Tauber - Stuttgart - Bad Wimpfen? - Amsterdam

Sounds like a lot and we'll have to really scrub it down if needed...Rothenberg might drop off the list if the hotel situation isn't the best...or it might be a stop-over on the way to Stuttgart.

When you think about it, our last trip was just as aggressive.

Stuttgart - München - Freising - Oberammergau - Lindau - Baden-Baden - Oberwesel - Berlin - Düsseldorf

But our CTQs are at least 2 days in Stuttgart and 2 days in München. We might even move that to 3, we liked München so much and really missed a lot of things on the menu.

1: Flying
2: Milan - tour - sleep in Milan
3: Train to Zurich (3.5 hours) - tour Zurich - sleep in Zurich
4: Train to Stuttgart (2:45 hours) - sleep in Stuttgart
5: Tour Stuttgart - sleep in Stuttgart
6: Train to Lindau (2:45 hours) - sleep in Lindau
7: Train to München (2:42 hours) - sleep in München
(Note: This train is ALX or the Allgau Express a direct to München!)
8: Tour München - sleep in München
9: Train to Nürnberg (78 minutes) - sleep in Nürnberg
10: Train to Rothenberg (1:30 hours) - tour Rothenberg - sleep in Rothenberg
11:
12:
13: Tour Amsterdam - sleep in Amsterdam
14: Fly out of Amsterdam

Hmmm this is working out pretty well and actually is opening up more days. In 2006, we ended up driving for several hours per day...but using the trains will get us from point-to-point faster, although we will have to make up spontaneity in other ways. :)

OK, more to come later.

Tschüß!!

Deustchland 2008: How we got here

In only a few days, we jumped and booked our tickets to Germany for December...but it did take quite some time to get to this two week vacation and fate just needed to nudge a few last details. Last year, when I was in Utah, I talked about returning with their petsitting help sometime in the future. We were at dinner at Market Street Broiler; the meal and atmosphere was fabulous and represented the genesis of the entire idea. They were on board...then, we bought the second rental house, we furnished, added a shed, bought a lawnmower, all of those frills of domestic and thirtysomething bliss. (OK, unfair, since Ryan is still 29...but he'll freely admit he's 29 going on 39 when it comes to his level of responsibility in finance and around the house.)

So, no return was planned. I even wrote about being sad about this.

Last weekend, Ryan traveled to Salt Lake City for a wedding; his dad mentioned it and planted the seed -- why don't we come for Thanksgiving and then you can head off to Germany for a while? -- are you kidding me? -- no, let's plan it. So, a week later, we did and we're ready to go.

Of course, we are using Skymiles - that's the only reason we favor our AMEX. Since our last trip, we've placed everything we can on that card...including expenses for Ryan's salon. Just a few days ago, we hit 192,000 miles...enough for 2 first-class tickets to Europe. Being so close to December, I was worried that seats wouldn't be available and they were certainly sparse. The Delta website looks and feels like it's working for you, but it's utterly frustrating, it changes by the moment, and when a majority of SkySaver seats are on partner airlines that you can't book online...it sucks. So I paid the $50 fee per person to talk to a human and in 40 minutes we had it worked out.

You can't hold tickets over the phone (which is damn stupid because you can do that online - for free - but here I'm paying someone and they won't?) so I had to put her on hold, call Ryan, get the ok, and we booked it. Done. Das Ende.

Why fly into Milan and out of Amsterdam? It's all they had. Back in 2006, our Delta agent could only get us into Stuttgart and out of Düsseldorf...fate meant for it to happen. We wouldn't have met our favorite city Stuttgart, we wouldn't have drank altebier in Düsseldorf, and we would have only been there 10 days since that was the original plan.

So, speaking of plans, we chatted extensively and excitedly last night on the porch (cooler weather finally, rain) and one possibly route would be Milan, then Zürich (expensive), dann München, und Nürnberg, mit Stuttgart, danach Amsterdam. A little city-focused, but with it being the winter it's more reliable.

Wow...viel spaß, wir machen es sehr interessant. Wir sind am Einkaufen interessieren...mit Sights dass wir letztes Zeit nicht gesehen haben. Und ich hoffe, dass mein Deutsch besser über letztes Zeit sein werden. Wow, wann ich mehr Komplexsatz geschreibt habe, dann ich besser bin muß! (Or is the fact that I screwed up my own self-praise something to be worried about?)

Rick Steves, here we come!

Tschüß!

OMG! Deutschland 2008 is on!

AUS > ATL > MXN
AMS > MEM > AUS

Land in Milan, Leave from Amsterdam, lots of Germany in-between. December. 2008. More to come, but the tickets are booked!!!!!!

Tschüß!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rick Steves Travel Brochure

Dinner last night was awesome -- the Lasagna Rolls turned out ok (note to self -- don't use Black Forest smoked proscuitto) but we made the Dr. Oeteker "Lava" cakes which are little cupcake-sized chocolate cakes with chocolate inside. Awesome! After consuming plenty of vino (we actually drank ever bottle of red left in the house), we walked over to the Horseshoe Lounge for a beer.

It's a divey bar with shuffleboard, beer, and plenty of interesting characters. One old-timer packs a lunch and keeps a bottle of whiskey in there too. My favorite moment was when a lady ran around frantically, "Fire marshall is comin', put out your cigarettes," and I suddenly felt like I was in a speakeasy. When the jukebox held the silence too long between songs, I even held my breath. A couple uniformed guys come in, look around, then walked out. Moments later, with a blissful smile, the lady runs around with a freshly-lit one in her hands and said, "OK, ya'll can smoke again!" Classic Austin.

Yesterday in the mail I received my Rick Steves Tour Guide Brochure!! I admit, I don't really want to go on a tour since I like researching myself and like the freedom of Ryan and I making our way alone. But, Rick Steves has a beautiful ethos about him and I really look up to him as an entrepreneur who is dedicated and passionate about what he loves! I hope to meet him someday. I read through it this morning and am in bliss.

I'm sad that we won't likely go to Europe this year...but we're in an investment phase of our life that will make future trips much easier, especially a little later in life. I find it strange how quickly priorities shift and how open we are to them -- has the culture of multitasking made us this way? I listened to my SWR2 podcast (all in german, which means I barely understood it) about multitasking and its impact on us. We're both super good about adopting change and are open about taking a look at "today" and changing the goal for "tomorrow" in a split-second.

Speaking of goals...we should get ready for the day and do something. Haha! Oscars are tonight, we are going to Melissa's house to watch them. Yay!

Tschüß!!

Messy, messy

Lasagna.

Ceasar Salad.

Goulash.

All of these dishes have something in common with our life right now...filling, a jumble of ingredients, and really really messy. Kind of like the below picture.


(We've cleaned most of that off...seriously, things are dire right now.)

So, what's keeping us busy? Another house. Well, thankfully we're not planning on moving into it, just renting it out. The house out front of ours was for sale when we bought ours, but he took it off the market for a while and then put it back up. We're in our option period and trying to get estimates on some fixes...but it's taking a lot of work to arrange everything and I really look forward to it being done.

I've done quite a lot of cooking lately, which new and old recipes...the goal here is budget meals. I'm focusing more on fresh ingredients (nothing from a can except maybe broth) and good meat. The house thing has put my German hobby on hold a bit, since unfortunately this means we won't be able to go to Germany this year. Sigh. I'll get back on track in a few weeks, I'm sure. I did make a mean Wienerschnitzel last night...

Tschüß!

Europe 2008

A lot of our friends are going to Europe this year: Melissa and Robert are heading to England and France, and then Melissa and Spencer (different Melissa) are going to Italy, Germany, and France.

I spent some time to help the latter Melissa plan their German portion and boy did it get the travel juices flowing. A couple things to note for our 2008 foray (hopefully!):

Linderhof Castle: This is one of the more beautiful castles and it is mentioned often in my King Ludwig II history book that I'm reading. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linderhof.

Starnbergersee (and castle): This is nearby München and the site where it is said Ludwig was drowned.

Andechs Brewery (http://www.andechs.de/index.asp?lng=en: Was on the original list, but we didn't end up going that way when we left München. Instead, we went up to Freising and negotiated our first hotel room auf Deutsch.

Notes on Regensburg:

It's old city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, so it's got some cred.

There is a huge BMW plant just outside of town that you can tour. But, I think it's only in German...which would be kind of hilarious. The BMW plant tour in Munich that we took was in English.

Notes on Switzerland:

We've talked about hitting somewhere in Switzerland. I've heard beautiful things about Luzerne, but my co-worker Peggy said to instead focus on the town of Interlaken, which is situated between two lakes. Get it? Interlaken? Traveling there can be done via train...about 4 hours from Lindau (where I've been positioning us as a gateway city). The train route does go through Zürich though...

Notes on Austria:

Last night over our third Monopolowa and Tonic, we joked how neither of us know Monopolowa Vodka was an Austrian potato vodka. We always thought it was Polish or Russian. That led into a talk about Salzburg (and it's relative close proximity to Bayern. (1 1/2 hour train ride!)

OK, enough dreaming for now.

Tschüß!!!