We're off again

Mr X and I are headed south to Austria again this weekend for some more snowboarding. We are going to try a different ski resort this time. I am going to do my best to avoid any of those T-bars that they seem to love here. (Especially since the massive bruises I got last time are still decorating my bum and thighs and knees. They've changed from black and purple to a lovely green/brown/yellow.) Talk to you all on Monday. Have a lovely weekend!

France in your (tight) pants

Yesterday, as I was reading my friend Vicky's blog, I couldn't stop myself from chuckling. In an effort to motivate herself into going to the gym despite being down and out with a cold, the lovely Vicky compiled a list of all the food she had indulged in over the holiday weekend. And the list wasn't short. Why was I laughing, you ask? Well, it was probably an embarrassed laughter as I realized that my list was just-as-bad-if-not-worse, but somehow she made me feel a lot better by posting that list. (So thanks Vicky.) I guess it's because maybe misery really does love company... How cruel. Well eat your heart out all you food lovers that are feeling guilty out there, because here's my (much more gross sounding) list:

1.5 small cheese sandwiches (that cheese was buttered into that sandwich - that's the style here...and the .5 is because on the second one I didn't eat the bread, just the buttered cheese)

2 mini sized Bounty bars

1 chocolate crepe

1 nutella/chantilly creme crepe

5 escargots (very buttery)

A bit of chicken liver salad

Cheese fondue (bread for dipping, not a single veggie)

2 full-fat yogurts

1 banana

probably 7 or 8 croissants (not just croissants, they were called butter croissants)
1 chocolate croissant

2 large hot chocolates (a bunch of herbal tea too, but that doesn't count against me really, does it?)

probably 4 pastries from the pastry shops

1 large chocolate nutty confection from a chocolaterie (about the size of a cd)

1/2 of a chocolate mushroom from a chocolaterie (but I bought 8 more "for later")

1 candied kumquat

1 candied cherry

a bite of a candied orange (see below - waaaay better than the other cadied things)

1 crème brulée

1 pear crumble

1 shrimp and pickled beet salad

1 seared fish fillet with rice and some potatoes

1 bowl of french onion soup

1 green salad with no dressing

1 omelet with cheese and a side of french fries

a few bites of Mr X's steak

1 glass of banana and grapefruit soda (Mr X bought banana, I bought grapefruit & we decided mixing them would be brilliant)

1 chicken & cheese sandwich

some grapes

1 sesame peanut honey bar

1 french dip sandwich

How does that sound? Do you feel sick yet? Rest assured that it is very likely that I missed a few things...

Paris continued...

On this trip to Paris we did some of the same things as last time, but also a few different things. One of those things done differently was that we rode a big Ferris Wheel that was set up on the Place de la Concorde. (This is where the famous Guillotine was set up in France. Such well-known people such as Marie Antionette, Madame Elizabeth, Charlotte Corday, Robespierre and Danton were guillotined here. In fact during the Reign of Terror in France - summer of 1794 - in the space of one month 1300 people were executed.) I'm not sure why the Ferris Wheel was set up, but it was fun and provided a unique aerial view of the city. Plus I couldn't figure out how to get the tokens to ride the one in Lucerne so I had to get on this one, right? We rode it during the day but it was lit up beautifully at night.

Another new thing for us on this trip was that we opted to take a boat ride on the Seine. We started out at dusk, by the Eiffel Tower, and went east on the river to most of the main sights and then returned. It took about an hour and I really enjoyed the experience. One thing we learned was that during the summer for about 6 weeks, the city of Paris blocks off the the banks of a section of the river and turn it into a beach. They import ridiculous amounts sand and palm trees to complete the transformation. I don't recall when exactly they do this but I imagine it would be quite a spectacular sight to see. You can read about it here. Here is the boat we rode...

While on the boat ride we also learned that somewhere within the Palais Royale there is an exhibit of the French Military. So rather than going to the Musee d'Orsay (for shame, I know, I know) one morning, Mr X and I headed to see the French Military exhibit. Once again, being illiterate bit us and we ended up enjoying a special exhibit of the French painter Gustave Courbet's life and art pieces. The paintings were all originals and the exhibit was extensive and quite interesting but it certainly was not what we had set out to do that morning. However, it was a pleasure nonetheless. (And some of the paintings displayed were actually on loan from the Musee d'Orsay anyway)

We decided to check out the Red Light District (mostly for the Moulin Rouge) during the bright light of day. Last time we were here we walked through that area around early evening and it was pretty dodgy. So this go around we thought that it might be a bit closer to PG13 rated during the day. For the most part we were right, though we did see a sloppily drunken man gleefully groping a "he-she" plaything he apparently managed to hook-up with at some point the night before.

We also saw a movie one evening while in Paris. I know you might be thinking that it seems a bit of a mundane and wasteful thing to do on our trip but I can assure you, it was such a lovely treat. First off, our feet were aching like mad and it was rather cold and windy outside so we wanted to be sitting and indoors. We passed several theaters during our adventures all day long and we found one that was playing movies in "version originale" rather than "version francais" so we opted for watching the American Gangster movie. It was fun and there were only a dozen or so other people watching with us, which is a nice change from going to the theaters in the US.

Here are the rest of the sites we saw during the trip. (Aside from the ones mentioned yesterday as well)

The absolutely beautiful Sacré-Cœur.

My personal favorite sight of the city, the Arc de Triomphe. (The picture of me with Mr X is from the top of the Arc)

And, of course, the Eiffel Tower.

We left Paris on Monday, early in the afternoon and when we got back we discovered that we had just missed the grand lighting ceremony of the lights on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. We were a little disappointed about that because we had specifically walked that street at night hoping to see the trees all lit up (they were all set up already, of course, so we assumed they would just light them at night- oh well). But in the end it was a good thing because some major rioting began that night as well in parts of Paris, so I'm glad we were gone.

Thanksgiving in Paris

Well, the strike proved to not affect us too badly last Thursday, thank goodness! I guess most forms of public transportation were running about a third as frequently as normal. Luckily Mr X and I just happened to get to all our train connections from the airport just in time to catch the few trains that were running. We found our hotel rather quickly and all was well. The one interesting thing about the strike being in effect was that the French Police were out en masse. They were all over the place, a lot of them in full riot gear. They were running around in cars, on motorcycles, on bikes, on foot, and even on Rollerblades. Here's a couple pics of them. One is of the riot gear and the other is of the Rollerblades. I'm not sure if you can tell that easily, but hopefully you can...

After we got settled into our hotel, Mr X and I headed out. We walked by the Louvre and then admired the Notre Dame for a bit.

Then we enjoyed the Jardins des Tuilleries...

...and then we made our way to the Latin Quarter to explore it a bit and to select the restaurant for our Thanksgiving Feast.

We found the same delightful restaurant we had enjoyed a year earlier with Mr X's parents so we decided to be loyal customers and go again.

So here was our delicious Thanksgiving dinner:

I started out with a very savory escargot plate.

Mr X was going for a healthy salad as his starter. Turned out the salad he ordered was actually chicken liver salad drizzled with a balsamic dressing. I thought it was delicious but he was less than thrilled.


This picture doesn't do it justice, but our main course was a traditional fondue. It was mouth-wateringly good. (As cheese usually is...) The fact that it was far less expensive than the fondue in Switzerland probably made it even tastier.

After dinner we simply called it a night and walked back to our hotel (situated a few blocks north of the Louvre) to call our families.

New Arrivals

I am excited to announce that Mr X and I have become an aunt and uncle not once, but twice in the month of November! That means we now have a total of 15 nieces and nephews. And now for the two new arrivals this month (Please let me know if any of these stats are incorrect!):

Born on November 11th, Jackson Carter Dewey, weighing in at 7 lbs 14 ounces and 20.5 inches long.

(Baby Jackson with his Grandma Dewey)

Born on November 21st, Grant Hays Campbell, weighing in at 8 lbs 8 ounces and 21 inches long.

(Baby Grant with his big sister Hannah)

Much appreciation goes out to the lovely ladies that gave birth to these two boys - not just for the birthing process but also for lugging them around for 9 months in your bellies and the many (hopefully not too many) sleep deprived days ahead of you. May your new babies be happy healthy and unfussy.

Have a lovely Thanksgiving!

It seems our luck has turned...

Remember how we just so happened to be in Vienna the same weekend they were having the "Long Night at the Museum"? ... And then we just so happened to be in Lucerne when they were having "The Big Cheese Festival"? It seems lately that our luck has turned a bit sour.
First it was the transportation strike in Italy on the same day we were flying in to Pisa. Now there is the ridiculously lengthy transportation strike that is still going strong in France.

*sigh*

We fly to Paris in the morning and I'm just hoping that the strike will be finished by then but our odds aren't looking great right now. We'll see what happens. Paris was kind of a last minute change in plans because we found fabulously cheap airfare and crepes sounded like a great Thanksgiving dinner. (Schnitzel and dumplings smothered in gravy on a regular basis is something that I believe only crepes can neutralize properly.)

We don't get back until Monday so you'll have to wait for a new post until then. If you are traveling around during this holiday, good luck and be safe. Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Worse for the Wear

Since we've been over here for a while we obviously haven't seen much of Mr T. But it turns out that the separation from Mr X has taken a toll on Mr T. He's loosing his hair at a phenomenal rate....what hair he has left he's refused to cut until Mr X returns. (A very sweet gesture, I must say. Plus it will make for a nice comb-over eventually, no?)

Apparently he also has days where he just simply cannot cope and he just throws himself to the floor in a fit, crying for Mr X's return. Poor guy...

As you can also see, his eyes are failing him too and that is tragic really, as he won't even be able to see what Mr X looks like after all this time apart. And then there's the weight gain, oh the weight gain! In an attempt to feel closer to Mr X while he is off running around Europe, Mr T has taken to eating entire jars of Nutella on a regular basis because it's "the peanut butter of Europe!"

So Mr T, if you are reading this, hang in there because Mr X will be back in a few short weeks. Please take comfort in that my friend.

Stubai Glacier

Here are some pictures from this past weekend:


This is Mr X (and myself) waiting for the bus to take us up to Stubai Glacier Saturday morning. Those are our rental snowboards. They were awful things, but hey they worked.


This was the view from the top of the mountains. It was incredible.

Me getting ready to go...


Me snowboarding (in my new jacket that doesn't really match my pants - oh well).

Mr X caught a particularly fantastic crash of mine here...I just kind of 'windmilled' down the slope.

We stopped at one point to rest and warm up with some hot chocolate.

Mr X snowboarding. I never am lucky enough to catch him crashing on camera. First of all it's a rare thing and secondly I'm usually in the process of crashing myself.

This was our lunch. Pommes mit wurst. It's pretty good when you're so hungry and cold.

This was a desert we shared. Apfel Streudel mit Vanillasauβ. It was tasty, though we both agreed that we prefer our strudel straight up rather than doused in vanilla sauce.

T-Bar Hell

This past weekend was easily one of my favorites since being over here. That being said, it was also by far the most painful. In fact it was the most physically excruciating weekend I've had in all of 2007 so far. I blame the T-Bar... or perhaps it's my own fault that I'm covered in bruises because I'm T-Bar challenged.

Most of you that ski or snowboard probably already know what a T-Bar is, but for those you who don't, click here to find out more. Here are a couple pictures (from the Wikipedia site I just directed you to) to give you better visual:

As T-Bar lifts were invented long before snowboarding, they are naturally more forgiving to skiers. (That's just my opinion - maybe some of you skiers out there hate them as well.) Anyway, I had never used one of these types of lifts before this weekend and I was a bit nervous to try one based on Mr X's past experiences. In fact, last winter when Mr X was snowboarding by himself on this same resort in Austria, a nasty crash while using the T-Bar resulted in a minor shoulder injury that still irritates him. Mr X has tried T-Bars, J-Bars, and platter lifts and detests them all. As a result of his bad experiences, I told Mr X that I wanted to make sure that I would only have to use chairlifts and gondolas during my first snowboarding adventure of the season.

We headed to the top of the mountain to a run that we'd enjoyed last winter, only to discover a bit too late that the chair lift that we used to take back up from this particular run was not functioning. (Once again, being illiterate can be really unfortunate.) The only way back up was by T-Bar.

After the first wave of dread rushed over me I decided to shake it and be bold and brave. Mr X warned me that using the T part in a "water-skiing" fashion would likely result in failure. He said I was to grab hold, promptly put the bar under my rear and then direct every ounce of concentration I could to making sure I didn't catch an edge on my board and face-plant.

I nervously nodded ambled up to take my position awaiting the bar. As it came, I grabbed it in the water-ski fashion and, remembering what Mr X had said, quickly repositioned it under my bum just as I started gliding up the mountain. Whew! I was on my way. About a quarter of the way up and I was still hanging in there. How exciting, I was actually going to make it all the way up on my first try. I was so impressed with myself. Unfortunately, in that moment I also forgot Mr X's direction to concentrate and... Smack! I face-planted. I scrambled to get out of the way of the rider behind me and sat there watching other snowboarders in an attempt to glean T-Bar tricks from them. (Mr X was in front of me on the lift - moving up the mountain face in fine form, oblivious to me because he was concentrating...)

Attempt number two resulted in me losing grip of my bar almost immediately, much to the dismay of the skiers in line behind us. But my quick thinking prevailed and I simply grabbed hold of the bar Mr X had gotten on behind me and together we took off, each on one side of the T. But about a quarter of the way up it became clear that two T-Bar lift amateurs together were not better than one and we crashed.

At this point I began eyeing the slopes above us, wondering how long it would take me to hike them while dragging my snowboard along. But I needed to prove to myself that I could do it and refused to give up so soon. I decided that I would keep trying until I made it at least two thirds of the way up and then I could hike the rest of the way.

Luckily it turns out that what they say is true, the third time really is the charm. My legs and arms were violently shaking by the time I got to the top but bruised, battered, and sweating I had triumphed! Too bad nearly two hours of the day had disappeared. (Not to mention my confidence and my strength...)

Have you had any terrible ski lift experiences? I'd love to hear the tales... (Just post them in the comments section!)

Miscellaneous pics

I don't have much time this morning since we are getting ready to head to Austria so I thought I'd simply leave you with a few random pictures from last weekend.
In the outlaying parts of a fortress that is situated on a hilltop overlooking Florence there is an outdoor theater. I thought it would be a beautiful place for an evening movie under the stars.

We watched these rowers gliding effortlessly (at least it looked that way) down the Arno for a while.
This dog was just incredibly beefy. I don't think it shows in this picture. Mr X and I followed him around the markets for a while. Everybody got out of his way as he waddled and strutted around like he was king of the world.
There are a lot of these fountains scattered throughout the city. Mr X liked them I guess because he took a few pictures of some random one. In case you are wondering, no we didn't drink out of them. Some of them looked a little too mossy and stained.

Talk to you Monday!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

This week it feels like winter has officially arrived. It's probably due in part to all of the Bavarian towns putting up their Christmas lights and setting up the annual holiday markets in the streets. But mostly it's due to the weather. It finally got cold enough for the rain to turn to sleet and then into snow. And I ♥ snow. It's been snowing on and off most of the week so far and this is what it looks like around here today:

Another reason all this snow has me excited is that Mr X and I are going snowboarding this weekend in Austria, here to be exact. You might be wondering what I'm going to wear to keep me warm and dry since my coat is all stinky. Rest assured because today I found myself a relatively inexpensive alternative:

It may not be of as impeccable quality as Stinky Coat, bless her heart, but I am confident that it will treat me well. Plus Mr X won't be able to track me down on the slopes by my unmistakable eau de stench.

Food glorious food!

As you probably expected, I ate a lot this weekend. I feel it is my duty to eat everything and then report back on it...all in the name of making this blog a more informative and interesting place. So welcome to my (apparently) weekly food post!

Sadly, I didn't remember to snap any pics of the several pizzas I consumed so you get none of that. However I can (and will) tell you all about them, how's that? The fact that I ate 2 entire pizzas myself doesn't necessarily mean that I'm quite the pig I sound. The pizza in Italy is much smaller than its USA counterpart. It's about the size of a large dinner plate. The crust is very thin and not greasy at all. They use maybe a quarter of the amount of cheese that is used on American pizzas. It isn't sliced for you and you don't pick it up and eat it with your hands - you use a knife and fork and eat it very proper-like. If you want to read more about authentic Italian pizza, click here.

Now on to my pictures...

The first picture - we didn't actually eat any of those ham hocks you see dangling in a tantalizing fashion beyond Mr X's head. We just wandered from booth to booth ogling all of the great items and on occasion we had some samples that were being offered. Mr X likes to sample any kind of meat he can but I tend to shy away from it because I'm not the biggest fan of cured pork or meat in general. It's just a bit too strong for me and something about the texture doesn't agree with me. Just take Mr X's word for it that the meat is fantastic.



The next picture - oh yes, I definitely had a few servings of this good stuff. I tried pistachio and some crazy sounding one and a Baci flavored one. Whenever we get gelato it's always a competition to see who ordered the more delicious flavor. Mr X almost always wins, often because I can get a little too adventurous with my selections. Mr X's new favorite? A flavor called Nutellata. I tasted it and I concur, 100%.

Sometimes in the late afternoon when our feet were aching and we were tired, we would go to a little cafe and order some hot chocolate or some herbal tea or mineral water. Mostly I had tea but once I ordered the hot chocolate. Normally I love the hot chocolate over here because it's darker and not very sugary so you can really savor the chocolate flavor. But this particular hot chocolate, while delicious, was just way too thick for my taste. It was nearly the consistency of stew so it might as well have been chocolate soup. Now, I'm sure you're thinking that I'm crazy for not liking it because who wouldn't love a delicious bowl of chocolate soup? Normally I would too but I was just so thirsty that it wasn't working for me on this particular day. (But I drank most of it anyway...)

And finally, a panini from a street vendor. A satisfying, quick and cheap meal on the go. It's kind of like a pizza sandwich. Mr X kept referring to the Tower of Pisa as the "Tower of Pizza" much to my chagrin, so it's fitting that we got a pizza sandwich to munch on while viewing the tower of pizza, right?

Pisa

Monday, our last day in Italy, we set out to explore Pisa a bit before flying home. We thought we might catch a city bus up to the Piazza del Duomo but that turned out to be a bit difficult as we couldn't figure out how to get tickets. We tried the machine but it wasn't working and we kept seeing people just walk right up and get on the bus so we tried that. Once we got on we discovered that you had to validate your ticket in a little machine inside the bus. And since we had no tickets so we immediately hopped back off and ended up taking a taxi. We had the driver take us only as far as the center of the city because we didn't want to pay to go all the way to our destination when we were perfectly able to walk. The annoying part was that as soon as the taxi driver figured out we were "English" he bumped up the meter by a euro. Talk about discrimination.

Pisa is much smaller than I expected so the walk to the Piazza where the leaning tower is only took about 15 -20 minutes. This bell tower was built in stages over a period of 177 years, beginning in 1173. The foundation was only 3 meters deep and set in loose soil so when the third story was being built it began to lean. In 1934 Mussolini ordered that the tower be returned to it's vertical position but the efforts to do so only made it worse. During WWII the tower was spared in the bombing so it remains pretty much intact except for touch-ups to its appearance. In 1964 the Italian government requested aid in stabilizing the tower to prevent it from toppling over so in 1990 it was closed to the public (Evidently it took a long time to come up with the plan) Over 10 years later, in 2001, it was reopened after it had been straightened by 18 inches.

In the picture below you might be able to tell that the tower not only leans but also curves a bit. This is because the engineers, in an effort to compensate for the tilt, built the higher floors with one side taller than the other.Galileo Galilei, whom Einstein referred to as the father of modern science, was born (1564) in Pisa. He lived and went to school in this town as well. There is a story that Galileo tested some of his mathematical theories by dropping cannon balls of different masses from the tower to demonstrate that their descending speed was independent of their mass. There is some dispute over whether or not that actually happened though.

Mr X and I wanted to go up to the top but we balked when we discovered it would cost €15 per person.

All the tourists running around were busy taking pictures in which they were pretending to push on the tower, as you can see from the photograph below. I tried to convince Mr X to pose like that but all I got was a dirty look. (Not that I can blame him because I probably wouldn't have done it either.)After we left the tower area we headed back toward the center of town and stumbled across some (free) botanical gardens so we explored them for a while. It was stunning and I'm sure I can't even come close to capturing it in these pictures but I tried. There was a fascinating building next to the garden with a facade that was made entirely of seashells and coral and other oceanic items.
After the gardens we had some lunch at a local pizzeria where we were served the finest tasting pizzas of the entire trip. Then we walked the entire way back to the airport so we wouldn't have to pay for a bus or taxi. It worked out great (despite a few wrong turns) and we got there in plenty of time to catch our flight home to Germany.

Florence

Mr X and I are back from our trip to Italy this weekend. It was wonderful! On Friday morning we drove to Frankfurt to catch our flight and we were in Italy by 4pm that same day.

On our way to to airport that morning it was around 40 and raining. At the Pisa airport that afternoon it was around 60 and sunny. And on our way back from the Frankfurt airport last night it was snowing.

The transportation strike that was going on in Italy didn't really affect us other than causing traffic to be really slow getting from Pisa to Florence. The little B&B where we stayed was easy to find, spacious and comfortable. A lovely breakfast of warm croissants/yogurt/jam/rolls/hot chocolate was delivered to our room each morning. I had managed to find this place for well within our budget so I was not expecting greatness, in fact I had expected to simply endure a crummy little uncomfortable sort of clean room, so I was thrilled.

We had a delicious and simple pizza dinner on Friday night and called it a night. We spent Saturday and Sunday roaming the city, seeing the sights and doing some shopping for gifts in the markets. Monday morning we hopped on an early bus back to Pisa (our flight wasn't until 4:30) so we could explore that city before leaving. I'll post a bit more on Pisa tomorrow but for now, here are some of our pictures from Florence:


The two pictures above are of the Arno river that runs through the city center. The top picture shows the Ponte Vecchio, the oldest bridge of the city (as you can guess by the name if you know any Italian). During WWII all the other bridges were destroyed except the Ponte Vecchio, which was supposedly ordered to remain intact by Hitler.

These two pictures are of the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, known as the Duomo. This cathedral towers over most of the city of Florence and with it's colorful and striking façade it makes a very distinct landmark. (Between this and the river it is fairly easy to navigate around the city center) To learn more about the cathedral, read this.

The outlying countryside which surrounds the city has that very distinct Tuscan look to it, which I love.
I always find myself mesmerized by the narrow winding streets that sprawl throughout the city so here's one of the 50 or so pictures I have of the streets of Florence from this weekend.

And of course, there's the art in Florence. In my case I especially adore the statues. The bottom statue depicts Perseus holding Medusa's severed head as he stands on her lifeless torso. I particularly like this one as I have always enjoyed the intense stories of Greek mythology and the story of Medusa certainly does not disappoint.

Ryanair Review

My husband and I flew Ryanair this weekend for the first time. I was curious to see how the experience would turn out because I really didn't know much about the airline, nor did I know anybody who had flown it. All I knew was that they fly all over the place here in Europe and they do it cheaper than any other airline (usually) and that alone makes it a go for me. So I decided to write a bit about my experience and what I thought about the airline just in case anybody wanted more information.

Pros:

1) Unbelievably cheap flights: While this is usually the case, sometimes prices can go up in cost similar to other airlines so be sure to shop around if you think the quote is high.

2) Abundance of destinations from which to choose: You can probably get to most anywhere you might want to go (maybe not the main airport in the city but a smaller one or one a bit further away). For example, say you wanted to jump a spur of the moment flight to Morocco. Well, it just so happens that you can easily get to the city of Fez in that country on Ryanair from several different European cities. Voila!

3) Smaller airports makes for a much more speedy check-in and security process: Since a lot of the Ryanair flights come and go through secondary airports in larger cities and small airports in more out-of-the-way locations, there is less waiting in lines to be done. For example, even if you are flying from one EU country to another you will probably have plenty of time for checking in/security even if you only show up an hour ahead of your flight's departure time and that is a luxury in itself.

Cons:

1) They charge for everything.

You are allowed one carry-on bag per person and it can't weigh more than 22lbs nor can it be over a certain size. If it exceeds the weight/size limit then you are required to check it and that will cost you something like €12 per person. You cannot check more than 3 bags and the combined weight of those 3 bags cannot be more than 33lbs otherwise you must pay €8 per kilo (or €8 per every 2.2 lbs, roughly and this is for one leg of your trip) and that could get expensive fast.

If you check-in online (which means you are not checking bags) then you can waive the check-in fee. But if you need to check bags you are required to check-in at the airport. You also can only check-in online if you have "a valid National Identity Card issued by the government of a European Economic Area (EEA) country" which neither Mr X nor I have. So we, by default, must pay the €6 per person fee (for r/t).

If you want to have "priority boarding" (which you do if you are with 2+ people and want to have a chance at sitting together) then you must also pay another €6 per person (for r/t). Priority boarding is nice but also slightly pointless sometimes as about half the people boarding the plane also want to be in the first group to board so they just crowd up in line and it's a free-for-all run for the seats once they are allowed on (literally, people running, cutting-in and shoving). Then they allow the rest of the passengers to board. I would say that priority boarding is pointless unless you really want to sit together or you really MUST have an aisle or window seat. But it is expensive.

If you book online with a credit card you are charged a credit card fee of €12.

If you want something to eat, even some water, it will cost you anywhere from €2 and up.

~~~

On a side note... I read a page in the in-flight magazine where they were shamelessly promoting themselves, something all companies do. They state that their rate of lost luggage is less than 1% which is leaps and bounds ahead of their competitors. I found this to be a bit of an unfair comparison for two reasons: 1- A good number of the people on any given flight simply aren't checking their bags. 2 - They don't do flight connections. You fly from one location to the next and that's it. You're not boarding a flight that starts in Frankfurt and then changes planes in Barcelona before reaching the final destination of Malta. So of course they can make their baggage handling look fantastic compared to everyone else.

Back to the point of my review...

All in all, I would say that if you are looking for a quick weekend trip (thus no checking of bags) Ryanair is fabulous, but if you are going for longer then you might want to shop around with other airlines. I would (and already plan to) use Ryanair again but if I found a comparable price on a more traditional airline I would take that in a second over Ryanair.

Ciao!

Tomorrow Mr X and I are boarding a flight to Florence, Italy. I'm pretty excited about it - it's my favorite place I've been to in that country. It seems that there is a transportation strike going on in Italy tomorrow and so that might prove to be an annoyance. But from what I've read so far it hasn't affected our flight and it ends at 6pm so if all else fails and we can't get from the airport to our hotel we'll just have to wait until 6 to catch a ride. I'm sure we'll figure something out.

Things I'm looking forward to: better weather (here it's supposed to be cold and rainy, there it's supposed to be only chilly and clear), hearing a language that seems a bit more familiar and easier to understand (especially for Mr X), not having any schnitzel/dumplings/gravy/bratwurst for a few days, and last but certainly not least gelato.

Mr X has Monday off so I likely won't post about the trip until Tuesday-ish. Keep your fingers crossed that the strike won't be too much of a bother for us.

Miscellaneous pictures and thoughts

I thought I would just share a few pictures that we took last weekend. Hopefully you'll like them. This first one is of our hotel room in Partenkirchen. Nearly the entire room was wooden so everything creaked like crazy but I liked it.This was the lamp in our wooden room. The bulbs would get so hot that if you got too close you risked melting your hair.

Mr X was breaking out some of his wicked good dance moves during our hike. I was highly impressed.

This soldier guarded the stairway up to our hotel room.

Mr X is enjoying the sun by Lake Eibsee at the base of the Zugspitze mountain. (The highest peak in Germany)

Me on the Marienplatz in Garmisch. (See V - there's plenty of rather boring pictures of us standing beside things.)There are all these cows scattered through out Garmisch-Partenkirchen which we kept taking pictures of for some reason. Mr X tried to milk this one.

This is what Mr X looks like when I'm start getting too irritating. I'm sure you can see why in this case...
And finally... we said goodbye to our beautiful sleek BMW today. How sad. We have to take our rentals in every month for a different one. I don't know why, that's just how it works. It was for the best since the oil change light had come on and Mr X unknowingly stepped in poop before he got into the car. So we were in need of a 'fresh' car. This new car is an Audi. I'll post some pictures of it later.

I Stink!

Quite literally, actually...or rather my coat does. Here is the offending coat. You'll probably recognize it from other pictures you've seen on this blog.

Now let me tell you the sad malodorous tale.

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Once upon a time (last December) I purchased this fine-looking winter coat for two purposes - I needed a warm winter coat as I had none and I wanted a snowboarding jacket with all the bells and whistles. This coat was perfectly qualified and I loved it instantly. My bond with this jacket grew as it kept me warm, dry and comfortable throughout the winter months. Then one unfortunate day in early spring I was enjoying a day of snowboarding in the unusually warm weather and I perspired a bit. By the time I got home my coat smelled like dirty gym clothes. (I swear I'm not an abnormally putrid smelling girl!) So I read the washing instructions and adhered to them perfectly. But after the cleaning the scent seemed to take on a life of its own...it grew into an absolutely horrid and even more offensive monstrous stench. So I washed it 2 or 3 more times all to no avail. Finally, admitting defeat, I stashed it in a spare bedroom where the smell wouldn't be able destroy the downy freshness of any fabric in it's vicinity.

'

Six months later I retrieved my banished coat to see if it had, by some miracle, regained some sense of freshness and I was relieved to find that it had. Woo hoo! So I decided to bring my beloved coat with me to Europe. All was going well over here until, after many meals out, it gradually absorbed the dumpling/gravy/smokey aroma that all articles of clothing worn to restaurants here seem to soak up. So naturally I washed it again.

'

Now it is emitting that monstrously foul odor once more and unfortunately this time I can't wait six more months for the smell to dissipate. So today I am sulking because it seems that in this tale the girl and the coat won't be able to live happily ever after.

'

The End.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen

I keep falling in love with all of these little towns here in Germany that I visit. Each time Mr X and I find ourselves wandering the small cobblestoned streets of yet another beautiful Bavarian city I can't help but daydream about living there. Maybe Mr X and I could find a frescoed little half-timbered house with intricate wooden balconies draped with cheerful flowers nestled in sturdy planters. But of all the quaint towns I have become infatuated with here, Garmisch-Partenkirchen is the most picturesque and inviting to me.

Based on the name alone one could guess that once upon a time it was two separate towns. But in 1935 Hitler forced the two to become one in anticipation of the 1936 Winter Olympic Games which were to be held there. Mr X and I aimlessly managed to make our way to the Olympic ski jump site and as I have never actually seen one of these in person I found it to be very impressive. It is currently under construction because they are adding a second, much larger (and impossibly dangerous looking) jump before the upcoming Olympic qualifying ski jump competition to be held around New Year.

Mr X and I stayed in Partenkirchen on this particular trip and I find it unfortunate that the quiet loveliness of this part of town is usually overshadowed by Garmisch. (No offense to Garmisch intended.) Partenkirchen crawls upward from Garmisch to the burgeoning hills of the Alps so Mr X and I went on a leisurely hike to enjoy the verdant scenery.

**Some notes that may be of interest to you: The author of The Neverending Story was born here and the composer Richard Strauss was lucky enough to live here.**

Whoops I forgot!

I forgot to bring my camera to Wild Game Night at that restaurant on Friday. Cripes! Are you bummed or what? I'm sure you were eagerly anticipating yet another blog filled with strange food pictures but alas, it is not to be. So I will just tell you about it instead: It was a jolly good time. I ordered the wild boar platter and Mr X got some combo plate that had boar, stag, and something else. Mine was better. He had some big giant potato dumpling in the middle of his plate that jiggled like jell-o every time the plate was touched. I had a side of croquettes, which are like giant tater tots but far less cheap and greasy. All in all it was an adventurous night.

Product Review

Today I am going to take it upon myself to review some of the products we have tried from the German grocery stores. These are just Mr X's and my opinions so just because we think something is disgusting doesn't mean everyone will. So here we go...

Weiβkrautsalat

Verdict: Blech -- What I imagine rotten coleslaw tastes like.

Cornichons

Verdict: Pretty Good -- Mr X loves them. I like them. They are sweet but not sweet like bread and butter pickles in the US. I'll buy them again.

Pastry-on-the-left

Verdict: Way better than pastry on the right. It was kind of like a cream puff pastry but better. I won't buy it again because there are too many others I need to try now.

Pastry-on-the-right

Verdict: Mr X says this one is way better than pastry on the left. I don't remember exactly what it tasted like but it was good too. But hey, they are both pastries, right? Have you ever had a bad pastry?

Dickmilch

Verdict: Funny. It's pretty much sour cream (given the name that's fitting, no?). Mr X couldn't resist buying that one - it was mysteriously in my grocery basket when I looked down.

Edalsalami

Verdict: Just Okay. Mr X loves it though. The reason I thought it was just okay is that it is so fatty that when you eat it the fat builds up in the back corners of your tongue and it totally grosses me out. The initial taste it pretty good though, I will admit. This is the very same salami Mr X made those cracker things out of that you saw in the picture in a previous post. And yes, the pickles were the cornichons.

Soft-boiled Eggs

Verdict: Great. Mr X won't touch them though because he hates eggs - therefore his verdict really doesn't count because he's biased. Soft boiled eggs are way better than hard boiled eggs because the yolk part isn't so dry and crumbly - it's kind of soft and moist and much tastier so I like these a lot. Plus they get presentation points because they come colored like Easter Eggs already and that's always fun. Plus it makes the inside of my fridge prettier. I wish US stores did this because I would buy them all the time. As it is, I'm far too lazy to actually make them myself, much less color them. Cost? A dollar.

Well, that concludes this segment of my Product Reviews. This has been brought to you by Rewe, one of the many German grocery stores.

**By the way, they've got a great idea over here for getting people to put their grocery carts away: you have to insert 1 euro into the cart handle for it to be released to you and then if you want your euro back you have to return it to the drop off and when you insert it back into the slot from whence it came your euro is returned. brilliant, no? I hate when people are too freaking lazy to return their carts.**

Guilty confession

I rarely eat at fast food type places such as McDonald's or Burger King or KFC. In fact, I can't recall the last time I ate at one of them....in the states, that is. Yes, I went to McDonald's while I was in Switzerland a couple weeks ago. *blush* You might be appalled right now, thinking, "How scandalous! She's one of those Ugly Americans that goes to a foreign country and heads straight for McDonald's. So unadventurous! What a waste!"

In my defense, when you are walking around for hours and you suddenly and uncomfortably discover that your bladder is in danger of overflowing, well, you get desperate. And McD's always has good clean bathrooms and it is always open and you can find one just about anywhere. This is a very fortunate thing...

Oh, and did I mention that they make a mean cup of hot chocolate as well? They do, and it's not American style either. It is the dark and non-sweet European kind that is oh-so-tasty. Sometimes Mr X and I grab some to go on our way out.

`

I must confess that on this particular stop something on the menu caught my eye and I was hungry and weak-willed so I got it. It was called "rösti creuz" or something like that. I may have it a bit wrong or the spelling is off but here's what it looked like:

Aren't they cute all cut into the Swiss symbol and all?

Upcoming plans

This weekend Mr X and I are going to keep things cheap and local once again because we have a few bigger things planned in the coming weeks. (week after next we are hopping a flight to Florence)

Tomorrow we will be joining some people Mr X knows for dinner at a local restaurant that is hosting Wild Game Night. I guess it is a once a year thing and it's kind of a big deal. I really have no clue what to expect other than ample amounts of meat. So I plan to go armed with my camera and I will post on how it all went next week.

Saturday we will be getting up early and heading to Oberammergau to visit this place. Mr X has never seen it. I have and it was lovely so I am excited about going back. We got a great deal on a place to stay for one night in the neighboring Garmisch-Partenkirchen so we will explore Garmisch and stay there that night.

Sunday we will get up and head home by way of this place - it happens to be a couple hours out of the way but I really wanted to see it and, well, why not?