I'm going to Munich when I graduate!

[DNR]

look for internet cafes, keep in touch brah.
Remember, the booze is free on international flights.
Get up and walk around every three hours to prevent DVT*s.
International flights have tougher security and better equipment, best not to bring any smoke unless you want to 'body' carry it.

DNR

*Deep vein Thrombosis

[LaBlueGirl]

You're from the South so here you go:

On my way here to Belgium, I stopped over somewhere in Chicago (have to bust out the tickets to say where).
One of the ticket-taker ladies was so rude if I wasn't late for my connecting flight I would have asked to speak to her supervisor.

When I asked for explicit directions (it was a huge-assed airport) I got treated with similar courtesy.

Cafès in Amsterdam, you can only do stuff while *in* the cafè, per se. It isn't a social no-no, but it isn't like you can get *big* wasted, either.

Sorry, b_b but when I think of Germany I think liederhosen, steins of beer and beer halls and drinking songs:)

Keep us informed, inquiring minds want to know.

[FrankB]

You're from the South so here you go:
Sorry, b_b but when I think of Germany I think liederhosen, steins of beer and beer halls and drinking songs:)

Bockwûrst, Frankfurter, mhhhh....

The province of Saxen is credited for being very beatiful.

Germany has beautiful cathedrals, if you are in a gothic mood, Germany is a place to see.

If you are in a classic mood, Germany is still the homecountry of Goethe, Pachelbel, Buxtehude, Johan Sebastian Bach and Beethoven.

They have good architects, cities don't look as clown-ish as in Belgium.
For the rest, all except the Ruhr : too depressing.

Above all: Germany has the best Trans/techno underground scene

"Lederhozen", pfffft
--
FrankB

[Stavros]

Woohoo! I got some computer time! But, I still want my own computer damnit. I've been suffering through mild "computer withdrawl."

My brother has his laptop, but it can only be charged in the car because of the adapter and, well, 110V plugs just don't fit in 220V slots...and it'd blow up his computer.

Well, this has been interesting thus far.
We spent about 2 days in the airport(s). Our first stop was from Mississippi to Atlanta and that wasn't a bad flight. Neither was the flight from Atlanta to Cinncinnatti. The flight from Cinncinnatti to Amsterdam was a bitch (to my dad and bro...apperently I'm inhuman for being able to sleep in the upright position on a seven hour flight in coach [but I didn't sleep for 7 hours]). I've slept the most throughout the trip.

What I remember thus far:
When we got to Vienna we had to rent a car. We're driving an Opel that's about the equivalent to a Lincoln Navigator in the States. After we aquired our mode of transportation we were off to find our Hostel. We had a map and my brother has played the part of navigator. After driving for about ten minutes and trying to decipher the map (at first we couldn't match street names to streets) dad finally asked if Jim (my brother) knew where we were. His response: "Hell no." We did get lucky and drive down the right road to the hostel and then somehow we got lost, so we had to drive back to the road that circled the inner city. We re-traced our "steps" and lo and behold we got lucky again by dad just picking a random street and turning onto the right street that had our hostel. We pretty much just passed out after walking around and eating a pizza.

The next day, we headed out of Wien (Vienna) and to Hallstättersee (The town of Hallstat on Hallstättersee). We stayed about 3 days there. It was beautiful. We went to the salt mines, and the top of a mountain (forgot the name). Dad and Jim swam in Hallstättersee, but those waters came from glaciers, and that water was too fucking cold for my tastes. After a few days of bebopping round there we left for Munich.

I am now currently in Munich in the lobby of the hotel and I'm tired even though it's the middle of the afternoon. We just came back from visiting a Palace thats just out of the center of Munich. We walked through the palace and to the back of the property. God damn that was a lot of walking. Had to be at least 1 kilometer from the back staricase of the palace to the cascade fountain in the back.

Oh, yesterday we went to Dachau and that was a grim spectacle. There were a lot of students there that leads me to the question, B_B, do kids in Germany get out for the summer? Dad said he had nightmare before going to Dachau, but I was fine. I didn't get chills or anything while at Dachau (which in itself is kind of disturbing). It was interesting, but creepily grim. However, dad said he never wants to go to another concentration camp eventhough everyone should go once and get over it.

Tonight is our last night in Munich and we'll be going by a monestary south of Munich for the day and we'll crash at Füssen (I think I spelled it right).

That's pretty much all I can think of. I do wish I had my own laptop to go wardriving. While we were driving around there were a shitload of Wifi spots. I just wish I had watched the video I have on my computer for cracking WEP encryption and had loaded tools onto his laptop.

Before I go (and it'll be about a week before I get to get back to my computer) I'd like to ask B_B, What kind of car do you have?

Also, When I get back to my house, I'll devote a thread to a few awesome pictures we took while in Europe.

I'll try to keep in touch.

[Stavros]

Also: Why the hell does "Minerealwasser" exist (not sure if I spelled it right, but oh well, it means Mineral Water which is carbonated water). That shit tastes funny and not a good funny. What's wrong with plain H2O? The guy who got the great idea to carbonate water needs his ass kicked.

And I've had the strong desire for McDonald's Hot Cakes and Sausage, but unfortunately that doesn't exist in Europe.

Lots of hot chicks walking around in Munich and especially Austria. The women are a little more heavy set than they are in Austria.

[DNR]

dude! excellent blogging, I can't wait to see the pics, hilarious I am sure!

DNR

[Gogeta70]

Yeah, i want to see some pictures...

[bad_brain]

hehe...first congrats that you picked the right time, the weather is really awesome...
and "Mineralwasser" isn´t just carbonated water, we have 3 "levels" of water here:
- Tafelwasser
this is ordinary water which is carbonated
- Mineralwasser
this is water coming deep from mountains for example, and there have to
be a specific ammount of minerals like iron, calcium, etc. in it.
- Heilwasser
this is the hardcore stuff
Heilwasser ("cure water") is coming from special springs, the water contains
a lot of minerals, so it can help you with specific health problems.
look for water named "Hirschquelle", it´s in green bottles (or brown? I´m colorblind). it tastes really great and is the most refreshing stuff you´ve ever drank, believe me...

and about Dachau, well, I think it´s good when everybody once have seen a concentration camp, just to see what humans are able to do to other humans. I´ve been to Auschwitz once, it may sound weird but you really can feel the vibe of death there. imo it´s good that your dad is not just doing a "fun,fun,fun!"-holiday, it´s good to expand the mind....

what car I drive? a black Diablo of course...
oook...maybe later.....I drive a blue Opel Astra...



LBG: Lederhosn?
well, there are enough people in Bavaria wearing them, but those are...I think you would call them hillbillies in the USA. my sister is living near Munich, so I know a couple of bavarians, those people are...well...a little different... bavaria is calling itself "Freistaat" (free state), which is supposed to imply that they don´t reall belong to germany (but of course they do).
but hey, maybe a dirndl might suit you well (google for that...hehe...), Frank could wear some nice lederhosn then! (please send me a picture of it )

Frank: imo the best place for enjoying great landscapes in germany is bavaria, if you like a little "rougher" climate the northsea area is really good too, especially in autumn. to be honest I´ve never been in the eastern part of germany like Sachsen (well, once in Dresden, but that was for a student party, so I´ve seen almost nothing of the city). the eastern part of germany (I avoid to say "east germany" because that was said when germany was still divided into FRG and GDR) got a bad name because of neo-nazis killing foreigners and setting houses on fire, but 99% of the people there are normal and nice ones, and I have a lot of respect for them because they risked their lives and fought (peacefully) for their freedom. so all in all it´s pretty ok here, but I still will head to Canada as soon as possible..
from what I´ve seen of Belgium on TV it looks pretty similar to some smaller cities here, lots of "Fachwerk"-houses (half-timbered houses?), only a little more colors than here...

[LaBlueGirl]

Also: Why the hell does "Minerealwasser" exist (not sure if I spelled it right, but oh well, it means Mineral Water which is carbonated water). That shit tastes funny and not a good funny. What's wrong with plain H2O? The guy who got the great idea to carbonate water needs his ass kicked.

And I've had the strong desire for McDonald's Hot Cakes and Sausage, but unfortunately that doesn't exist in Europe.

Lots of hot chicks walking around in Munich and especially Austria. The women are a little more heavy set than they are in Austria.

They make ice tea here with sparkling water.....

No Mickey D's?????
gak

I actually went through sugar withdrawals coming here (no Coke like talkin' about) and Mickey D's withdrawals (too expensive in Belgium).

I'll bet the chicks are classy types huh.
Not like the hoochie mama show in the South...

[Stavros]

I'm now reporting from Füssen.

Today was hectic right from the start. We left the hotel parking lot and dad freaked that we couldn't find the digital camera. I had to go back to the room (I'm glad I didn't lock the door) and tore the room apart. Then, my brother also tore the room apart....again. We found nothing and returned to the car and dad had searched the car (but not the luggage) and couldn't find the digital camera. I was bummed that I wouln't be able to upload the pictures. Well, before we got to the monestary dad decided to pull off into a shady area and search the luggage. Lo and behold, dad found the camera in the pocket of one of his shorts. This was important becuase we're just about to go to the Alps in a day or so and we'll see castles.

We got to the monestary and had lunch..well, they did. I don't get hungry often. Dad had a beer and said it was the best one he's ever had. We wanted water.....and got Mineralwasser...for the hundreth time...so Jim went back and got us both a Coca-Cola (which is what I've been surviving off of. Beer is too bitter, well, anything that's bitter is too bitter for me. I have a sweet tooth.).

Well, my dad and brother whisked me off while I was in the middle of typing and we went to check on the tickets at the "Mad" King Ludwig tour we'll be taking tomorrow. Then, we went and rode the luge. It was fun, but the one in Austria (forgot the name of the town it was in) is way better. That said, Jim took a video with the digital camera and if I could find a way to post it in video format.

B_B, regardless of where the water comes from, I'm still used to plain H²O (That's supposed to be a subscript but whatever).

LBG: Haha, yea they're more classy here. There are girls that wear skirts and heels whilst riding bikes.

A few differences I've noticed:

-The guys wear these weird capri-like pants the girls wear in the States.
-People are a lot more cavalier with riding bikes, roller blading and walking in the street. That would never fly in South Mississippi.
-People are more curtious when driving. People stop and honk when we got stuck behind a big vehicle stopped in our lane and let us over to keep trafic moving....very unlike American drivers (who can be complete dickheads).
-The cars are tiny. To all of you who have never been to Europe You'll see what I mean when I do the thread about being in Austria and Germany (It's made by Smart, I think).

I'm sure I'll remember something when I get back to the room.

I'll be in touch.

-PS Right now, we're staying in hotels because Bavarian hostels have a strict age limit of 26, so most hotels I'll be staying at will have a computer for me to get on. So, until we get back to Austria we will be in hotels and not hostels.

[sternbildchen]

"Tafelwasser" is moreless normal H²O.

Try asking for "Wasser ohne Kohlensäure". I'm sure then u will get what you like.

[Stavros]

Another thing that messes with me:

Sun setting. I'm so used to the sun going down at 8 PM (20:00 for those used to 24 hour time). I swear the sun rises at 4 in the morning and that seriously screws with us because none of us brought a watch. We're like, "Oh my God! It's 10! Let's move! Move! Move! And then we get to a clock and it's like 8 in the morning and I'm aggrivated becuase I get about 8 hours of sleep instead of the 10 I'm used to becuase I get to bed around midnight.

I'm sure I'll remember more things. My mind goes blank when I finally get computer time.

[LaBlueGirl]

Sun setting. I'm so used to the sun going down at 8 PM (20:00 for those used to 24 hour time). I swear the sun rises at 4 in the morning and that seriously screws with us

heehee, I've noticed it rising here no earlier than 5:30. (only b/c I haven't woken any earlier than that).
I was also very used to having the sun at noon being directly overhead.
Hard for me to tell time by the sun, now.
So in the a.m., I tell time by the sounds on the street below us and don't rely on the sun.

The days are a lot longer here than N.O.
But then again, so are the winter nights.

Have a good one (you should be up and about by now )

[Stavros]

I figured I was going to skip a day of blogging (today), but something bad happened (not to us).

First, we visited "Mad" Ludwig's castles which was really cool, especially the Fairy Tale Castle. The tour was uneventful, but what happened after the tour was bad.

After we left the tour we went to ride the Alpine Slides again. I went fullspeed all the way down and after my fathter, brother and I got down a girl came in right after dad. Well, while we were in queue to get off some dipshit came flying into the girl completely disopeying the giant "SLOW DOWN!" sign and smacked into the back of the girl. I heard a loud "smack" and turned around and noticed the girl was laying in the track with the sled above her half way off the track and had a lot of blood flowing from her mouth and I immediately knew the girl had lost a couple teeth. Dad got out and helped her and then started looking for the teeth on the track. As we were leaving an ambulance pulled up. As far as I know they didn't find the girls teeth. I hope they found them so she won't have "hockey mouth."

Dad says he thinks she hit her mouth on the pole (that has rubber on it) that one pulls up to stop/slow down.

Today has been uneventful for the most part (as I've said before). We're leaving Füssen tomorrow morning and are going to be staying in a town on the border of Austria and Germany (I think it starts with an 'M', but I'm not sure.) We'll be visiting Zukspitz (sp?) tomorrow. It'll be damned cold for sure.

Stavros out.

[sternbildchen]

Your going to visit "die Zugspitze".

I woulf like to tell you some places you should visit, but the problem is I never liked Germanys landscape so I can't tell you anything ^^. All I've visited in Germany is Berlin ... ^^. And thats it.

I hope u have a good time here in Germany.