Superbowl Delay

I am not a huge professional football fan, but will get into the spirit as I do each year in the name of Superbowl parties. I knew I was going to love them when I attended my very first grown up one (you know, one that is mostly your friends rather than your parent's) in the winter of 1999 when TJ and I headed over to Kremer's college house to find our friends watching the tube and Kremer's mom making goodies for all of us. It was really fun, and whether I was at someone's house or a bar each year it has continued to be a good time. Living in Germany will be no exception! Another ex-patriot is a huge sports fan and always finds a way to get the games here, so we will travel to his place in Weinheim on Monday night. Yes, I said Monday night as there is a delay. Remember there is a seven hour difference between Mannheim and the Midwest, so it would be the middle of the night here. FYI Americans...this means that we would really appreciate it if you would not send emails to TJ or myself regarding who wins until Tuesday. In fact, we have been instructed by the host to stay away from the internet all day and the news, TV, whatever...as a precaution so no one ruins it for everybody else. OK? Thanks.
Now on to who I am cheering for. I will be sporting the red clothing this year as I am hoping the Cardinals win. I usually prefer black and gold on all occassions as I am a loyal Hawkeye fan, but not in this case as I still have a special place in my heart for all things Arizona. Also the Arizona QB graduated from my alma mater (UNI) and we also share the same place of employment through college (Hy-Vee). All of these things tip the scales to the only reason I can think of to cheer for the Steelers...they were my grandmother's most favorite team. Sorry, Dot!
We will see what happens...but remember...hush until Tuesday!
Auf Wiedersehen!

French Surprise

I love it when TJ has to go to France for work. Not because I want him to leave us for a few days, but more because I love what he brings home! Last night he arrived with a dozen bottles of wine, a fresh baguette, several types of cheese, and news that a bottle of evian only cost 50 cents in France. Who knew? The best part about the wine, was that it wasn't all wine. TJ brought back a beautiful bottle of pink champagne from the champagne region! I love champagne! Also there was a box of red wine in the mix...he told me he got it to prove that the French do drink boxed wine. Yes that might be true, but Annie hasn't drank wine out of a box since sophmore year at Iowa when Linh used to have her wine and cheese parties! Something tells me this might be a little better than Franzia White Zinfandel.
After he settled in we had a bottle of Pinot Noir and some comte cheese for dessert. It was a lovely Wednesday night!
Auf Wiedersehen

Last Class Hell

I am not quite sure if senioritis exists in graduate school as we are post seniors, but if I don't have that I have something like it. I have 4.5 weeks left of school...forever...and it feels like it is taking forever! And to make it worse, the work load in this class is far more than it has been in past classes. If I were still working it would be a mess, because I would not have time to do anything else besides school stuff! Thank God I can't work here (PS that might be the first and last time you hear that phrase). The theme of this class "research"...and lots of it! And it is not even fun research...it is the kind of research that makes you dig through a database of articles referencing businesses that have successfully aligned departmental strategies with business strategies...blah, blah...can it just be over already?
The sad part is, this is one of the classes that I have looked most forward to through this process and I think if it weren't my last one I would really enjoy it. Here is my suggestion to higher learning institutions...put the classes that are the most relevant in the middle and we will absorb more and complain less!
Auf Wiedersehen

No More Spandex!

Nice weather ended after October and I was finally able to accept men wearing capri pants here. Sure, I think it looks really silly on every man...but nearly every man seems to wear them so I have decided to put it in my "It's Euro" file and call it a day. I do that with many things- wearing only black in the winter, scarves, not matching, skinny's on men...and the list goes on. But there is one thing I can just not accept...in fact I can't even handle it. This would be the amount of men wearing spandex in this country. I am not just talking about your run of the mill running tights...I am talking shorts, capris, and tops. And the men wearing these unfavorable clothes are of all sizes. Now I know that I am a woman who has a closet full of this synthetic material as I have been teaching group fit for years, but I am not a big person and not a man so I think I can pull this off while working out. Yes, in the defense of these male spandex offensors they are working out at the gym, but they are everywhere...and it has gotten so much worse as it has gotten colder! Today was the last straw as I saw a man in an orange polo shirt and black and gray super tight, spandex capris lifting. His outfit was festive enough in color for halloween, and certainly scary enough...but the wrong time of year! At least his pants were black in the crotch area...I think the worst is when I come upon one that has a brightly colored pair on and you can see everything...EVERYTHING! I just don't see the problem with shorts...even the ones of the short variety are better than this. If I can ever snap a good picture without looking completely creepy I will share the horror.
Auf Wiedersehen!

Weekend Update

I am going to start the weekend on Friday afternoon as my visit by the German Polizei is too good to pass up. I had been researching my weekly paper for school and decided to take a break to watch Grey's from the night before when the bell rang. Of course I didn't answer it as I was in my pajama pants and my gym rats gone wild t-shirt, and I wasn't expecting anyone. I heard my neigbor talking to someone and then my bell rang again..."great" was my thought and I opened the door to find a pair of Polizei. They wanted me to identify my husband in a photo from Christmas as he was caught on camera in Bavaria speeding in the rental car we had. Then after I identified him, they had me fill out some paper work wanting me to check a box that said I was driving and then wanted me to sign TJ's name...I was like no way, I wasn't driving I can't do that. They wouldn't understand why I wouldn't sign his name and we went round and round for a while, until finally I offered to sign my own name after they showed me a second picture of the entire car with Tut and I pictured as well. What a mess, and a long interruption in my afternoon! I would really appreciate it if I never had a visit from the polizei again.
That night we went out with some of TJ's work people, an Irish couple, another American ex-pat, and an American visiting the company. It was great! We headed way out past Bad Durkheim to a wine bar first and shared a few bottles of wine and entertained eachother before heading a little further out to a cute little German restaurant where they serve Argentinian steaks. For those of you who don't know, it is not easy to find a good steak in Germany especially when you are from Iowa. All in all, we were out for about 5-6 hours centered around wine and food.
The rest of the weekend was filled with grocery shopping, workouts, and walks with Tut by the river. We have planned to stay home until my class is over and we go to Austria at the end of February, so we are going to be spending more time in our community rather than traveling around. The weather has been getting better here so it will be nice to hang around a little bit more!
Auf Wiedersehen

And We Have a Car, I Think.

I mentioned yesterday how I really needed a car to go and pick up fitmilsch and other things, right? So I marched my butt down to TJ's company via the tram, picked him up, and then we headed to BMW. The woman who is in charge of our lease was there and had spoken with TJ minutes before to let him know that someone was driving our car back from Freiburg as we spoke. This sounds awful, but TJ and I were secretly hoping that it broke down in some safe way as someone else drove it. Unfortunately this didn't happen. We still picked up our rental as we figured it may be a while before we would actually see it. This woman told us that they would take a look at it to make sure it was fixed and then give us a call. I will admit that sometimes I have a tendancy to become angry in situations such as these (you know, when you are paying a lease on an expensive and insufficient product and then the company doesn't care about you until they decide to), but BMW lady did not get to see my rath as my husband started in asking her questions very politely in front of a room full of her colleagues. She dodged every question skillfully acting as if this has never happened to anyone...and almost as if she had no idea what we were talking about. As my temperature was boiling he said, "So what happens? This is the third time since we have had it since November and it keeps needing repair. What should we do when this happens again?" (Or something like this). Her colleagues are all staring at him in disbelief and she says, "We are looking at it again, and this is not normal". What? Could she not understand this? It is alsmost like she didn't understand what we were asking. So, I continued to be passive aggressively short with her and we got in our rental and drove away.
FYI, when this happens again (as I am sure it will)...she will get no call. I will be at her office ready to take no prisoners and will not let her get away with any of the crap she pulled yesterday. And for those of you who don't believe me, call the Evans, Georgia Target or the Wendy's on Riverwatch Pkwy in Augusta, Georgia. They have seen my rath.
We shall see, TJ is supposed to pick up our piece of crap today. And we are also toying with the idea of going to Austria or Switzerland next weekend to snowboard again. This time we will have our dog and a hotel...just in case. Keep your fingers crossed for us!
Auf Wiedersehen

Got Milk?

I think it is time that we discussed the German milk situation. I know it is not popular, but my family drinks a lot of milk...and it seems as though I am always buying it, or trying to buy it. We use it in our morning coffee, in cereal, and also drink it most nights with our dinner. There are several different brands of milk...some in cartons, some in bottles that look like the milk man brought them...and all at different fat percentages. Oh yes, and they only come in liter containers. There is even milk in the stores that is not refridgerated. This is very suspect and I don't know a single American that has braved this route.
So now that you know that background of what is available, I should tell you that I am strictly a skim milk girl. Anything else tastes like a horrible milkshake to me. TJ, on the other hand, will drink anything in date. I have two gigantic problems and then another one. One skim milk (0% fat) doesn't exist here, and the closest thing is called "FitMilsch", translated is "fit milk", and is a low percentage- under 1%, but clearly not 0%. My second problem is that the market closest to my house doesn't ever carry it. They mostly have 3.5% milk and the lowest they carry is 1.5% (hello, yuck), which is fine for TJ, but not me. The closest fitmilsch site is in Ilvesheim at Rewe, or in Edingen at Real. These are both bike rides or car rides away. Even if I did have a car (yes we still don't have one) or it was warm and safe enough to bike, there is no guarantee that it would be available! Sometimes, I will get lucky and there will be one or two liters available (two liters a little more than a half gallon). Clearly not enough. TJ could drink 4 liters all by his lonesome per week. This would be about a gallon. BTW my fridge is a smidge larger than a dorm fridge so 4 liters is a maximum situation. Can you believe the issues I have with milk logistics?
What I would give to run to Hy-Vee and grab an AE gallon of cold, skim milk! So skim milk drinkers, the next time you are lucky enough to pull out a full gallon of skim milk...do me a favor and savor it. And please don't waste it, there are small Annies in Germany that don't have the luxury of drinking skim milk!
Auf Wiedersehen

A New President

This will be my third blog about Obama, which is something I never thought I would do...but I'm doing it. I kind of feel like I need to as people in Germany find this moment in history as important as we do. When we first arrived, during campaign season, people would meet us and want to know who was going to win...or just want to talk about it in general. I thought that was so weird, and now I think it is so cool. Germans at the office have been talking to TJ about their excitement, and even his language teacher wants to hear more about Obama from him during his lesson. We were at a party with a bunch of Germans our age and they were thrilled to hear we supported Obama. During Oktoberfest, we hung out with some Austrailians who were simply excited of the prospect of him being elected. It's funny that most of America was inspired by hope and change, and the rest of the world hoping for change.
Last night TJ hurried home from work, which was difficult as he was on the tram (still no car), to find me tuned in to all the coverage. It was so cool, the sea of people, the anticipation, the oath, and then the speech. Loved the speech!
And the fashion...you go Michelle! I wasn't able to hear or see what she wore to the ball, but she looked great yesterday. And the girls were also dressed so cute. I won't leave out Jill Biden either as I loved her boots! I heard Michelle's designer is only well known amongst designers and she better forget that one now as she will be a very wealthy woman!
All in all, an amazing moment!
Auf Wiedersehen!

Schwarzwald...The Black Forest

The good part about our adventure on Saturday is that we were able to snowboard for a while before all hell broke loose. The Black Forest is not far from us and we had to go to the southern area to get to a decent area to snowboard. The Black Forest is definitely not the alps, but that was good for me this time as I was unsure of the new gear and wanted something a little easier. It is pretty though, even with morning cloud cover.
Here is a couple of other looks at some of the scenary...

Feldberg is smaller and very busy. With only two chair lifts and some hook lifts and a lot of people, the lines to get on a lift were long and congested. This is where I get very annoyed. I think I have mentioned that Germans are giant cutters in past blogs. Its true...we even read it in books before we got here. Well this is certainly true on the slopes, and oddly it is not usually younger people that cut, and also not usually snowboarders. It is always skiers..and they are usually middle-aged or older. They do this thing where they will straddle your board with their skis so they can get closer and then cut! But what the aggrevating part is that their skis can dull the edges of the board...and one woman even scuffed my board with her damn ski. I have never experienced it as bad as I did on Saturday, and never have experiened it in the US. I think TJ got a little too annoyed with the line and spent a great deal of time in the terrain park. He hit some good jumps...and boarded well as per usual. Here is a little snippet of the terrain jumps and a slope view.

As for me I stuck to riding the slopes as my new snowboard is amazing! It is like night and day in terms of my comfort and ability level. I can't wait to see what it is like in the alps with longer and more interesting runs! We could go this weekend and try it out, however, our boards, boots, and helmets are in our car...and who knows where that is.
One more fun thing about Feldberg, we saw tons of dogs. Most of them were just hanging out, some were sledding with their families, but one was enjoying the slopes herself. It was so funny...she tries to chase her owner's skis as he comes down the hill, and then they ride the hook lift back up and she does it again. I talked to them a bit and they had her on a leash, but were going to take it off and see if they would get kicked out. It was very cute! Here is a photo (although not the best) of them in action.

Could you imagine Tut? He isn't that well behaved and would most likely chase everyone and get in the way. Actually, he doesn't love the cold and fells worse about the snow...he wouldn't want to be there anyway!

As for the car, no one would help TJ yesterday and he officially now hates BMW (its about time). He should get a rental car today and figure out what is happening with ours. That should be interesting. I am sure the car saga is not finished and will keep you posted. Tonight we are planning on watching the inauguration with the rest of the world and can't wait to hear what our new president has to say! I also can't wait to hear from my friend Amy to know what it was like to be there today. She has already posted a little bit on the Rowell Crew link, if you are as interested as I am.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Taxis, Trains, and Automobiles

We had this wonderful idea to go to the Black Forest to snowboard because it is only two hours away and we could do a day trip and leave the dog at home. This is a fantastic idea unless you drive a brand new piece of shit BMW! Let's start at the beginning. Somewhere around 7 am we get in the car and go to Feldberg for a busy, but fantastic day of snowboarding where I fell in love with my new gear and got completely annoyed with impatient German Skiers (more on this tomorrow). We needed to leave at 3 pm to get back to Tut and were running right on time. The trouble began 15 minutes after we started back in Hinterzarten, luckily a town in the Black Forest, where we lost complete power and saw a million messages pop up on the navigation system. We were driving past a Shell station when this happened (thank God) and were able to roll in and call BMW service. He got there about 4:30 and started to assess the situation...PS he did not speak any English. Here is a photo of me with our snowboards pulled out (in the bag) next to our lemon and the Service vehicle...complete with snow pants. And it was getting cold.
Here is an even better picture as time went on of TJ with parts of our car discarded and lying in the snow. Notice the license plate...can anyone figure out who this car belongs to? And its getting much darker.

This is where it starts to get interesting. The service guy exhausts all efforts, including trying to jimmy rig a fuse with a copper wire hanger...and nothing! He calls in a tow and arranges a rental car for us out of Freiburg, which is the large town in the Black Forest, and while we are waiting he keeps tryig to get it started, and at around 6:30 it starts. And still...I am not getting in that death trap, I want the rental. Tut has now been in his crate for almost 12 hours and I am on the edge of losing it. The ADAC truck comes (like AAA) and gets us and we proceed to go on another call with him to pick up another tow and get him taken care of first. Its never ending. Yep, not kidding, and I'm about to have a break down. We finally go to the dealer, drop the car, and go to the rental car agency (about 7:45) only to find out we can't rent a car because we had to surrender our IDs and passports to TJ's company so they could submit them to the German authorities to get our German Driver's Licenses. What luck? I have to leave the building because it is 8 pm and I can't get home to my dog who hasn't peed in over 13 hours! Then starts the ugly, loud, and hysterical cry. TJ is inside and comes out to ask if we can leave our belongings in our old car so we can make the train to Mannheim. I think I said yes, but I only remember crying. Some guy takes us to the station and 88 EUR later we are booked on the 8:57 high speed train to Mannheim. Here is TJ at the train station waiting patiently...

And then there is me waiting for the train impatiently, upset about my dog...still in snow gear.

We were stuck on the train for an hour and 25 minutes, so what were we to do? We headed straight to the bar car and drank our way to Mannheim while playing scrabble on TJ's IPOD Touch. Here is TJ in the bar car with our empty glasses...

Thank God for Chardonnay, otherwise I could have easily cried all the way home. By the time we caught a cab and got home it was 10:45. Poor Tut, he was fine and so happy to see us! He hadn't peed for 16 hours and hadn't had his supper yet. I felt so bad, and have vowed to hate BMW for the rest of my life. And never again will we leave the puppy at home without a back up plan!
TJ is going to tackle the car situation today with the help of one of the Germans who can expresss how unhappy we are. We will see how this goes! Tomorrow will be about the good part of our adventure...snowboarding!

Auf Wiedersehen

Morning Routines

Do you have a morning routine? I just realized today that I definitely have one. It used to be get up, get dressed, get to work to teach an early class...or get up, take a shower, and hurry up to get to work if I didn't have a class. How times have changed. Now I almost have a ritual of getting up and opening the shades and immediately taking Tut out for his walk. After we get back I feed him and then make my cup of coffee and peanut butter toast, and then settle in front of the computer to check the blogs I follow and check my email. I have promised TJ that I will be getting a Facebook page in March after I am done with my Masters, so I am sure that will fit in there too. After all of that is done, I check slingbox to see what is recorded from the night before and then plan my day. And my routine takes a little while...its wierd I never remember having any time in the morning to do anything besides making my 15 minute daily trip to Starbucks with Cox after a 6am class. I hope I am able to take more time in the morning for me when I start working again instead of rushing.
Tomorrow my routine will have to start a little earlier than 8 am as TJ and I will be going to the Black Forest to try out my new snowboard, boots, and bindings. The last time I boarded I noticed it was hard for me to control my board, and carving was getting better but still hard to control as well. Why? Oh because my board was way too big for me! Through all of this we upgraded me to better boots as well and I already love them! I'm a lucky girl.
I am interested in knowing if anyone else has a routine that they go through each morning as I think it is amazing that I do.
Schones Wochenende, and Auf Wiedersehen!

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye...

Two of our favorite company friends are headed back tomorrow to the US after over three years on a loan assignment. Libby and Wesley were two of the first people I met when I first got here and we are going to miss them! A small group of us got together at Debbie's house on Tuesday night for a Tex-Mex night complete with margaritas to see them off. Here is a picture of the departing couple... I will miss Wesley, but will miss Libby a little more as we had a pretty fun foursome of girlfriends. Here we are pictured below...from the left is Kristi, Debbie, me, and Libby.

We all have a lot in common including not haveing kids, but instead we all have dogs that we love like our kids. For you non-dog people this would be a good thing! Debbie is the babysitter for Libby and Wesley's new German Shepherd puppy, Hans, and here she is giving him some love before he makes his first trip to his new home in the United States.

Hans was a special guest, our dog Tut would have been a little overwhelmed with two big guys to play with and Kristi and Darren's 4 pound tiny dog would have been trampled. I had to take a snap of Debbie's super sweet lab named Cooper...here he is trying to enjoy his bone before Hans comes to snatch it.

It certainly won't be as fun attending the area festivals when they start up again in April as Wes and Libby were always planning it or present enjoying the festivities. Hopefully they will make it back later this year, otherwise we will have to catch them in Reno when we get back. It was a good time and we wish Wesley and Libby and their pets a safe trip!

Auf Wiedersehen!

Doctor's Office Visit

We went last Thursday, and it was an experience. I actually really liked the Doctor that we saw, he was really nice, spoke great English, even spent some time in a Houston hospital. I shouldn't really say "the doctor we saw" as there was only one as it is his practice...actually was his father's and then was handed down to him (or so I think I have been told). Any way, it wasn't the Doctor that threw me...it was everything else.
It all started when TJ had to come home from work because he was sick (I had already been in a sick state for three days), and then called in the next day because he was worse. His boss is totally awesome and went way above and beyond when asking us if we would like him to call the doctor's office in our town and make an appointment. I am so glad we actually moved to this town as it happens to be the town where TJ's boss grew up and he knows everything about it...including a doctor. So there we were with 4 pm appoinments.
Let's talk about the office...there is no fabric in the entire office which does three things, makes everything a little more sanitary, colder, and of course noisier. Noisy acoustics are a problem when the door to the exam area is left open...and exam room doors aren't closed. HIPPA does not exist here, there seems to be no privacy and people are just a yacking away regarding their problems. Of course I couldn't understand them...but still I felt a doctor's office might be a little more private. And then we have the girls at reception...I liked the doctor, but wanted to drop kick the main lady at the desk. (BTW customer service is horrible in Germany in all situations). So we get up there and I tell her in German "we had an appointment called in for us for 4:00", and then told her our name. I distinctly remember going over appointments in language class, so I know I was saying the right words...she didn't understand me. So I followed up with a "Sprechen Sie English?", and she says offensively "Nein!" Then I go on to say in German "we are sick" and then state our name again. Then this is what we get as a response..."okay I need your names, address, and date of birth written down before you can see the doctor"...yep, all in English. Bitch. To make it worse she then goes on to make some crack to her sidekick in German about English now being a requirement in the office. I wanted to say something like, Bitch I know my speech isn't good, but I can understand everything you are saying! I only had to listen and decipher every word in German class for 4.5 hours for two months! So any way the doctor comes to the window and says, "I am sorry, we do speak English in the office and I will call you in soon"...or something like that.
After we get called in we went into his warmer, more private office/exam room and tell him we are miserable and this is what happens...TJ gets an antibiotic because he is an asthmatic as well as a heavy duty cough suppressant and I get cough drops and nasal spray. TJ is better, I am not. He did give me an emergency prescription for an antibiotic in case I needed it over the weekend...it will be filled today. It doesn't end there as we have to go to the Pharmacy. Here they are called Apotheke, and you can only get prescriptions and over the counter meds...you can't get them at the market and there are no Walgreens. So we get 4 things (including an antibiotic) filled and a box of herbal tea...and we have no insurance here. Guess how much? 36 EUR! Hello, can you say affordable? Anyway I should remind everyone that this is a Socialist country and we pay 19% tax on everything we purchase, so it isn't that big of a surprise over here, but when compared to the inflated prescription drug prices in the US it seems amazing.
The bad news is that I have to go back and pick up the bill for the appointment tomorrow, and of course see the reception lady again...can't wait.
Auf Wiedersehen

Belated Honeymoon...Booked!

Its official, we have finally booked our honeymoon! After careful consideration of about a million places to go and a hundred million things to do we have decided on Spain, well sort of. We are going to Barcelona at the end of May and then taking a five day cruise from that port. The cruise goes to the French Riviera, the island of Sardinia, Sicily, and then back to Barcelona where we will spend a few extra days. I am very excited, not just to go on another fabulous trip, but rather another fabulous trip that happens to be warm one. TJ and I have never cruised, but I hope it is favorable for us because I would like to do a cruise of the Greek Islands and Turkey next year.
We have other trips planned as well, this month we will snowboard in the Black Forest, and next month we are snowboarding in the Tyrol Valley of Austria. I am excited about the Tyrol trip because we are going to experience Apres Skiiing with some German friends for the first time! In March we are going to the Killers concert in Dusseldorf, so we will explore Dusseldorf and possibly Koln (Cologne). The only blank month is April, but I am looking at Amsterdam for Queen's Day and the Tulip Festival, and also Paris...because its Paris.
Until all of these trips TJ and I will continue to attempt to get healthy again. I think TJ is on his way, but I seem to be stuck in sick hell. I plan to blog about our very interesting trip to the German doctor's office later in the week so you can get a glimpse of what sick life is like in a foreign country.
Auf Wiedersehen!

Dublin by Night

Dublin by night is quite an experience. All of the bars that we went to had a traditional Irish band playing (except for the Vat House), so it was really cool to drink and to experience. The Temple Bar area is the place to be at night...that is for sure! This is where you can find great shops, food, and of course pubs! The Temple Bar is also a place...a huge and very popular place. We went there the first night and here is a picture of one of the bars in the Temple Bar.

And the first beer...Guinness, of course...

And good friends, Brett and Jennifer...

The Temple Bar is a big bar that consists of a lot of smaller rooms/bars. It is very crazy in there and filled with people...we had to wait a few just to get in the door! It might have been a little too packed for us so we ended up spending most of our time at Gogarty's, which is officially my favorite bar in Dublin. Its a restaurant, bar, and youth hostel, here is what it looks like from the outside...

And I love that at all the pubs, the name of the bar is branded into the table.

We spent most of our first and last night at this bar because of the fantastic Irish music. We sang Irish folk and drinking songs, and also listened to them jam.

Here is a little snippet of one of jams...PS she can rock the fiddle!

The Temple Bar area was packed on New Year's Eve and we had a hard time getting into eat anywhere, not to mention getting into a pub! We ended up at The Vat House where there was not an Irish band, but plenty of entertainment!

It was not easy to find a table here either so we hung out and everyone but me enjoyed Guinness...I went ahead with the Carlsberg. We did scope a table and eventually sat down so TJ and Brett could have their Jameson Irish Coffees in a civilized manner.

We rang in the New Year at this bar...complete with TJ dancing with the English to the "I would walk five hundred miles..." song to which one of the Englishmen deemed a classic. Who knew? And the next picture would be our first picture together of 2009.

Mostly the music at the Vat House consisted of old American hits, so we sang along and people- watched. And this is what we caught a glimpse of...watch it...it does not disappoint.

Jennifer and I started making up ficticious stories about where they were from, hobbies etc. I thought she may have been a Russian mail order bride, and he a lonely and dated dance instructor. Jennifer thinks she was more Serbian. Who knows...at least we had a good time!
Being in Dublin on New Year's, we thought we would see some fights. We did, but not on the eve. It seems as though some of the Irish celebrate all day on New Year's Day too...which brought us to see many scappy events on New Year's Day. It was interesting, all in all you just gotta love the Irish! Aside from these events, Dublin is great for those of you who haven't been. We liked it very much, and I would certainly like to go back!
More blogging this week, and on a much better schedule as TJ and I are starting to feel better.
Auf Wiedersehen!

Perfection by Jennifer

Jennifer put her expert tasting skills learned at the Guinness Storehouse to use on most of the Guinness pints consumed through the trip. This is a look at her at work, making sure all Guinness is perfect!

Auf Wiedersehen!

Dublin, Take Two

Our first day in Dublin was great walking the city and checking out the sights, and that night some friends of ours from Augusta flew in and met us. It was great to see them, and I promise you will see pictures of them in the next post when I disclose our very fun evenings spent in the pubs...I also have great video. Anyway, the second afternoon we hit the Guinness Storehouse. Even though I am not a huge Guinness fan, but the tour was awesome. It was 15 EUR per person and an amazing tour that took us all afternoon and ended with free pints of Guinness and shopping in the store.
The Storehouse is now a preserved building in the city and its site and surroundings covers a large amount of Dublin real estate. Because it is preserved the new factory will need to built outside of the Dublin city limits. Don't feel bad...Guinness will continue to take in a ridiculous amount of money at this site. Here is the sign outside...

Its a tour, but feels like a museum and is like a million stories high. I also liked it because LCD screens and literature guided the tour, so you could take your time. Here is TJ with some Barley.

Part of the tour takes you through the process starting with barley and ending with a tasting lab before you enter some other historical aspects of the building and the product. Here are Brett and TJ making sure everything tastes okay. They might be professionals after this trip!

On the wall in the tasting lab there is a reminder of how to taste the product in each part of the mouth. So for those of you who love Guinness but have yet to make it to Dublin, here is how to really experience its taste. Our friend Jennifer is really good at knowing when a pint is perfect. I have video that I will put up of her ensuring perfection tomorrow.

At the end of the tour you get a large complimentary pint of Guinness in the top floor bar that over looks the grounds and Dublin. Here is a peak out the giant glass window...

Apparently the Guinness bar at the top of the storehouse is a Dublin hotspot. There are people everywhere. The first one is free, but you can stay and order more. This place is a gold mine. Check out the people...

After the bar we had a fantastic late lunch in the Guinness restaurant. The shopping was great too. The prices in the Guinness store may have been the most reasonable in all of Dublin, and you can get merchandise there that you can't find anywhere else. Last year they sold 1.5 million pieces of merchandise...like I said gold mine! Here is another look us in front of the Guinness St. James Gate.

On the third day we decided to continue with the drinking tours and hit the Jameson Distillery. It is certainly not on the same scale as the Guinness tour, but I liked it. I may have liked it more because I prefer whiskey over Guinness.

It was small and very informative. We went through the process of making whiskey and of course had a Jameson cocktail at its conclusion. Here is a look at some barrels at various stages of aging. You can tell which one is the oldest...it has the least amount in it. Over time the whiskey gets darker as it takes on properties of the barrel, and goes through some evaporation...they say that angels drink it and that is why angels are so happy.

In the same room of barrels I found one with my year of birth on it...good old 1978! Apparently these barrels are only good for 32 years before they lose their magic.

After the tour we headed to the Jameson bar to have a complimentary cocktail...I recommend the Jameson and cranberry. TJ and Jennifer volunteered for something at the beginning that turned out to be whiskey tasting test. Here is a picture of the table of tasters...

A close up of the actual whiskey being tasted...a Tennessee whiskey, a scotch, and a Jameson Irish Whiskey.
Afterwards TJ became a certified whiskey taster. I have always wanted a man to be able to tell the difference between whiskey and scotch...I couldn't be more proud!

After the bar, we shopped and had another late lunch in the restaurant. Another fantastic meal at a historical drinking monument! I think I can deem it offical that Ireland definitely knows what they are doing when it comes to beer and whiskey. I know this as we tried many other beers in our evening escapades to which I will discuss next time. Until then...

Schones Wochenende and Auf Wiedersehen!

Dublin, Ireland

People have been asking me which country or city is the best so far and I never have an answer as can't limit it to just one. I can definitely say that I haven't been anywhere better than Rome for sightseeing...I mean how can you compete with three thousand years of history all in one place. With that said, I think Dublin would be the best place to live in Europe. I really fell in love with the city, but not necessarily with the sights and stuff like that, but rather the way of life. First the economy is doing okay there and everyone seemed to be in a good mood. It is very busy all the time, and it can certainly be deemed a walking city. Gaelic is the mother language, but everyone speaks english (although you might not be able to understand the natives with their accent), and the signs, movies, and TV shows are all in english. And there is the best part...they have diet coke rather than coke light, and have bagel shops on just about every corner. It is just the perfect amount of what I find favorable about the US in an awesome European city.

I have decided to split the postings up into three days, today being about the city, tomorrow about our tours, and then the last one about Irish nightlife. So here goes...

I think I want to live in the cute, and I am sure very expensive Georgian townhomes with the bright colored doors. I just love the plain architecture with the bold accent of the door as pictured below. The most photographed door in Dublin is the one below, and it sits across from the last public green (park) in the city. It has double doors as it once welcomed royalty inside. Apparently only simple people walked through one door. It is supposed to be the most ornate door in Dublin.

I also really like the various streets. Some are regular streets, and others are just pedestrian. There will be no driving for this girl in this city...the driver sits on the other side and drives on the opposite side of the road! All the streets are cute. The one below is a busy one...Dame Street.

We stayed at the Gresham Hotel on Upper O'Connell Street, which is also very busy in what seemed to be a shopping area. It was an old, updated, and charming hotel to which TJ and I felt extremely young. The mean age for patrons is probably 55-60. O'Connell Street is home to the spire monument (marks the millenium), and my favorite Christmas tree ever. Below is O'Connell Street at night.

There are a million bridges, and many of them are simply foot bridges that run over the river. It was cold going over them, but really pretty.

I wasn't blown away by the sights like I was in Rome, but it did have some old and honorable mentions. This is the old parliment house, and I believe is now part of Trinity College.

And then we hae Dublin Castle. It is not big, it is very small and quaint. Irish people are not very big, and maybe that is why they did not need big castles. It was very cute though!

On the back side of the castle was the carriage house and a small park...again minature...

After lunch on the first day TJ and I ran into some churches. The one below is Christ's Church which has been around since the 11th century. It is very ornate, but has a gothic cold feel to it.

I like St. Patricks Cathedral a little better, which was just down the street from Christ's Church. It is about 100 years newer, but less gothic and cold. It is adjacent to a beautiful park and has a great little cemetary. My personal photographer, TJ, got a great shot of it. You can also see how green it is. It was the end of December and all the grass is bright green!

And here is the front of the cathedral. Really it is Ireland...there are a million catholic churches!

One of the most popular areas of Dublin is the Temple Bar area. It was named for William Temple and the original sand bar it used to sit on. The area is adjacent to the river about one street up and is home to little shops and some great food and nightlife. You will be hearing much more about this area in a couple days. Here is a shot of the cobblestone street that runs through part of it.

At the back of Grafton Street, which is another famous shopping area, you will find the largest green (park) in the city called St. Stephen's green. Here is the entrance which is actually a memorial to fallen soldiers whose names are imprinted on the inside of the arch.

Just inside is a pond with some swans in it, a perfect place to get a picture of the two of us!

I wouldn't normally have taken a picture of the post office on O'Connell Street, but on New Year's day there was a protest regarding the Israeli attacks on Gaza in front of it. I know it isn't that exciting, but it is my first photo of a protest!

The weather was a little damp and cold, but I am convinced that you can visit Dublin at any time of year and be okay if we made it through for New Year's. The only thing I would have like to have done was to go out of the city a little and see some of the countryside. I am sure I will go back within the next two years, so I will let you know how that part is.

Tomorrow I will hi-light our tours of the Guinness Storehouse and the Jameson Distillery!

Auf Wiedersehen!