The Real Budweiser. October 23, 2008

Since 1876 Anhauser Bush has produced a concoction similar to horse urine and slaps the name Budweiser on the can.  Budweiser is also the name of a delicious German/Czech brew first made in 1795.  The American corporation felt somehow entitled to the name however and sued the German (currently Czech) Budweiser over name rights in the early 1900’s.  They won, and sort of didn’t.  Now in each European country there is a different law about what the name for the American brand and the Czech brand must be.  Some countries call the Czech beer “Budwar,” or just “Budweiser,” and the US beer “Anhauser Busch B,” “Bud,” etc.  The birthplace of the original beer is our next destination, the once Roman, once Prussian, once Bohemia, once Holy Roman Empire, once Austrian, once German, now Czech city of České Budějovice!

08.Oct.08

Backpacks strapped on we waited for the street tram to arrive to take us to the Brno bus station for our trip to České Budějovice. The stop lacked the usual machine for buying tickets, so we were thoroughly confused and instead of walking all that way we boarded the tram ticketless for only two stops. The one damn time we don’t have tickets we get checked. Throughout Germany and Austria, and Slovakia we have never been checked and we always buy tickets, now this ONCE an official comes and gives us crap for not having tickets. We got off the train with him and tried very hard to argue, but he was unrelenting. Our bus leaving shortly, and the man threatening to call the police, we didn’t want to deal with even more hassle and were forced to pay an extortionate fine of about $35 per person (for what would have been a 20 cent ticket). No point crying over spilt milk, we walked away to catch our bus to České Budějovice. At least he gave us a pair of very official, ornate looking slips of paper as a receipt for the fine; a nifty souvenir.

We arrived to hop on another bus 30 minutes outside the main city. We got a little lost finding our host’s house, and hoped they were worth coming out this far for. After a close call with death involving a teacup poodle and answering three riddles from a hunchbacked narcoleptic we found their lovely home and quickly learned they certainly were worth our trouble! Our hosts had a home cooked meal ready for us on the table, a very nice room to ourselves filled with house plants, and a nice cushioned IKEA futon as our new mattress.

After dinner we spent the night playing board games, sipping red wine, and thoroughly enjoying their company. Jitka just graduated university and is living on the bottom floor of this three story house with her husband Jirii and her parents living above. Jirii is a character full of energy, but his English isn’t perfect and is spoken with a beautifully thick Czech accent. Jitka speaks flawless English, and Jess and I speak German with her parents who grew up learning their neighborland’s language. We feel an unparalleled level of comfort in their cozy home.

09.Oct.08

Sadly the double J’s couldn’t accompany us to the nearby World Heritage site of Česky Krumlov. So Jess and I bus hopped alone for a couple hours and hit the majestic little postcard city. As always our first goal was to get to a vantage point to see the whole city. Winding through medieval alleys, and climbing stairs littered with fall leaves we made it to the castle gardens with a splendid view of the sickeningly cute city below.

Wandering the park had its pleasures. Back in California we only know the colors green and brown for trees, yet here is a remarkable display of oranges, red, and yellows drifting from the sky like massive snowflakes. In the park we met a druid sorcerer who taught us to call the wind and surround ourselves with leaves. We knew no one would believe us so we took pictures. Ladies and Gentlemen, witness the magic and power:

After perfecting our druid magic we made our way to the castle to present ourselves to the king. Sadly we found only a ticket booth charging us to enter the inner sanctum. Photography was not allowed for it disturbed the purity of the castle, also so the jerks can try to force us to buy postcards. Our tour was quite excellent. We learned of war, feasts, wine, torture, and costume parties. Some truly excellent, well preserved relics lay inside. One room in particular was terrific with murals of an excellent looking masquerade party.

Climbing the tower stairs after made us thankful for elevators, but it is always worth the climb for a stunning view. We love towers, and not in some Freudian phallic way, they are just awesome for checking out the city. Then feeling the tummies a’ grumblin’ we made our way to a Gypsy hangout we’ve heard from many sources is supposed to be delicious. In confusing Gypsy fashion it was closed for lunch making us feel again like that proverbial donkey that starves to death unable to decide which equidistant bale of hay to go eat. Making decisions while hungry is dangerous, but thankfully our stomachs guided us to a place well worth eating; The Two Mary’s. Usually we avoid kitschy places like the plague. When a restaurant states “traditional (regional) food” it is a mediocre tourist version of ancient local recipes. This was not one of those places however; our “Bohemian Feast” was seriously delicious with braised rabbit, potato dumplings, fried pork cutlet, grilled veggies, and washed down with awesome local beer and succulent honey sweet Meade. Like king and queen on the river overlooking our castle we enjoyed our awesome lunch. The only thing lacking was a dirty peasant we could throw into a pool of electric eels and laugh as he writhed in pain; oh the joys of being royalty.

The day ended with more park wandering, discussing the future (like what our robot slave will look like), and enjoying the silliness of the “Museum of Torture,” which felt a lot like the “Dark and Scary Ride” at the Balboa Funzone.

A couple hours and a bus ride later we met Jitka and Jirii at the bus station in České Budějovice. We wandered the city a bit with them and sat down to a good dinner followed by some of the real Budweiser at the Budwar cellar. Much tastier than the US piss beer, we gladly shared a few rounds and shot the shit (not literally, we didn’t have guns).

Heading back to the car we found a wonderfully generous present left by the police; a metal yellow boot decorating the front tire. A simple mistake that even the police admitted was a silly place to forbid parking, and an easy sign to miss. They charged a very minimal fee and removed the wonderboot. Good allocation of police resources, eh? Jitka was awesome enough to be our designated driver and we headed home ending a great day.

10.Oct.08

Jitka’s dad showed us the family cellar with clear implications that the family had lived through communism. The place was filled with fruit and vegetable preserves of all kinds and tons of canned goods. The family also brews their own alcohol from fermented apples picked right off the trees in the backyard. The cellar was filled with enough alcohol to get a heard of male elephants drunk enough to try and screw a pride of lions. We grabbed the bicycle from down below and Jitka, Jess, and I headed out for a tour of the neighboring villages. We biked past towering cathedrals and through rolling fields on this beautiful day eventually climbing a hill to quite an unexpected structure. Jitka had barely even mentioned this place, yet it is one of the more gorgeous castles we have seen. Whenever I think medieval, this is what I imagine:

We didn’t bother going inside the Hluboka castle because they charged a lot, and the aristocracy back in the day tended to get quite repetitive anyway; you’ve seen one medieval ballroom, you’ve sort of seen them all. We biked around more, enjoyed a couple beers at a pub, and then headed to Jitka’s dad’s glass blowing shop. Two crazy Dutch students were blowing quite a fine looking goblet and we got to watch the whole process. It took a remarkably short time to make something so intricate, quite impressive. We all chatted when they were done and they showed us some neat projects, one embedding human ash into a glass globe; awesome.

We biked another scenic route home where we met with Jirii. They both cooked us a typical Czech dinner, which was much more similar to a typical American breakfast of eggs and toast, but with a Czech twist. Then we played board games for a few hours and sipped more red wine. These two are among the very best Couchsurfing hosts we have ever had. It was a terrific couple of days, we should have stayed longer, but tomorrow we head off to Prague!

Česky Krumlov Flickr Pics:

http://flickr.com/photos/flufflebuns/sets/72157608099454121/

České Budějovice Flickr Pics:

http://flickr.com/photos/flufflebuns/sets/72157608099698809/

If you don’t give Gypsies cigarettes, they throw chestnuts at you. October 21, 2008

06.Oct.08

The bus into Brno from Bratislava was easy and short.  For being a former communist country we noticed the Czech have certainly embraced capitalism. In order to travel from the bus station to the tram station one must walk through a massive modern mall that made even some US malls look like a Mom & Pops store. After a quick tram ride we were at our barely pronounceable destination street, where our new Couchsurfing host Jana met us and walked with us to her place.  She showed us our new living area, a tiny mattress on her floor in an apartment with four people, but hey, it’s FREE! Can’t complain about the location in the city either!

After some chatting we headed out to see the city.  Brno is really not on any tourist trail to speak of.  Our guide book says very little about it, yet it really is quite a wonderful place.  Like everywhere else we have been so far, the architecture is amazing, and from the moment we stepped of the bus a massive black Gothic cathedral has loomed on a hill in the distance, beckoning us with its grandeur.  However, before visiting this monolith we must eat.  Jana suggested a student pub where we ate some delicious Goulash with Czech style potato dumplings accompanied by a pint of the truly exceptional local brew Starobrno.

Then we headed off to see the city.  We ended up not exploring too much today, but we had a lot of fun just wandering the town square, people watching, and buying some groceries to cook a simple pasta dinner back at the apartment.

While we were cooking dinner, Jana’s hippie dreadlocked housemate came home complaining about a group of gypsy kids throwing chestnuts at him because he wouldn’t buy them cigarettes. This amused us to no end because back home the whole “Gypsy” thing is just a big joke, but here there actually are Gypsy’s and apparently often a bit troublesome. Obviously there are tons of false stereotypes, but everyone we have talked to has their “Gypsy story.” Also, I don’t know if we’ve mentioned this by the way, but chestnuts have littered the ground our entire time in Europe so far (so it’s not like the Gypsy’s just happened to be carrying armfuls of chestnuts). Everyday in fact we run into people in parks or other public property with bags picking up as many of the little red-brown balls as they can. Delicious to roast.

After dinner we headed to a nearby bar where they have free internet, cheap beer, and tonight a “Russian theme.” The bar is open all day, but the door is oddly enough locked until dark, apparently to prevent Gypsy’s from wandering in… Now, after all these stories, Jess and I half expect at any moment we turn a corner a Gypsy mother to throw her baby at us while another robs us from behind whilst we catch the baby from falling. It is an old Gypsy trick, but Jess and I won’t fall for it, so we remind each other when we see a Gypsy mother to “just let it drop.” But I digress while being mildly racist. So far Gypsies seem like a totally chill ethnic minority and we haven’t seen what all the locals make a fuss about, still we get a good laugh out of the whole thing.

We used the wireless internet a bit & ordered a few beers as people started trickling in. They served free Whorederves (I’m just going to spell it like that to spite the French and their wacky language) which consisted of dried squid and smoked anchovies? When did we teleport back to Asia? In any case it was actually tasty, though Jess wouldn’t know because she couldn’t stomach the fishy smell. Too bad they haven’t banned smoking in bars here though, because we wandered home smelling like ash.

07.Oct.08

Every important city in Europe has to have a castle, it is like the American equivalent to McDonalds…except they have that in every city here too, though the castles are usually prettier than McD’s. The Brno castle wasn’t anything special, since again that little whorederve Napoleon tore down the outer walls, and the Nazis renovated to make it more of a modern palace rather than a castle. Still it was worth a gander, though the exhibitions and museum were closed on Tuesday. So we simply wandered around the grounds and took a self guided tour of the underground labyrinth of tunnels once used as a brutal prison, and again as a Nazi bunker. Here is the prettiest picture we took, a piece of remaining wall:

Winding down through city and parks we came to that awe-inspiring black monolith I talked about earlier. As always I don’t even bother to remember the name of the Cathedral as it is always something boring like Cathedral of St. John, or St. Paul’s Cathedral, Ascension of the Virgin, blah, blah, blah; how about something like “Doom peak,” or “Tower of Souls?” I guess then it wouldn’t be very catholic, but this country is like 48% atheist so you’d think they’d take the time to rename the Cathedrals something cool. We entered the Tower of Doomed Souls and climbed the haunted stairs to a perfect view above the city! We hung out atop and chatted with a Czech couple about more to see and do while in Czech, then climbed back down the long spiral haunted stairs and explored the cathedral innards. The usual gorgeous stained glass, flowery altar, red carpet, holy water, and no Cathedral is complete with out a golden Jesus on the cross.

For atheists we sure go to church a lot, and the burning sensation on the skin for being a heretic gets easier and easier to bear. We then headed down to the Cathedrals Crypt. I would name it something cool again like Crypt of Pestilence, but this place was creepy as all hell, so I think just “The Crypt” suffices. Storing human bodies in a cool dry place prevents the maggots from infesting, thus only the innards are eaten away by our own bacteria and the skin seals around the body making a perfect mummy (I am reading a book on the science of death right now). It came completely unexpected to us that the crypt would be littered with dreadfully eerie preserved human remains. We expected the usual bones and such, but this place was simply weird. One room contained rows of bodies still wearing deteriorated robes, and clutching crosses, while painted in Latin above read “What you are, we once were, what we are, you will be.” After reading this Jess had to console me as I curled into a ball on the floor and sucked my thumb; softly weeping out of sheer mind-numbing terror. Don’t judge me, you would too! Just look at the picture and tell me it doesn’t stop your heart for a moment…

Now scarred for life we headed to a nearby farmers market and picked up some fresh groceries for a vegetable stir-fry dinner. We cooked, cleaned, went back to the same bar to hang out with our host, drink some beers, and choked on cigarette smoke.

Brno Flickr Photos:

http://flickr.com/photos/flufflebuns/sets/72157607956351749/

I thought Bratislava was just a made up city from Eurotrip. October 18, 2008

04.Oct.08

The typical breakfast of bread, meat, and cheese still hasn’t gotten old, though maybe at some point we should throw in an egg for old time’s sake. After we broke the morning fast we headed to the castle overlooking the quaint little city of Bratislava. Walking the street it resembles nothing of a city capital; it is small, clean, and every nook and cranny filled with beautiful architecture. Along the way we saw about three different couples in wedding outfits, some taking wedding pictures and some getting married. Unfortunately they were getting married in the main church we wanted to see the inside of! The nerve of them, don’t they know churches are for tourists? Who gets married in cuirches anymore anyway?!  How about something original like married underwater or standing on stilts in a pool of scorpions (that is my idea, no one can steal it for their wedding; I’m talking to you MIKE AND LAUREN!!!).

We reached our castle destination and from the high vantage point saw in the distance the first evidence of the city being a capitol; a huge sprawl of communist style block tenements. It is great however that they kept the inner ‘old city’ free of such eyesores. The castle was nice, though no entrance and under heavy construction. Still, we enjoyed the courtyards, statues, gardens, and the view.

We simply wandered the city for the remainder of the day, entering a few small art exhibits here and there. One art exhibit had some really trippy stuff like a room of books and mirrors giving the illusion of a massive chamber.  With a small platform to walk on through the room, it made it feel like you could drop down into infinity; not for those afraid of heights.

We went to Tesco Shopping Center because after losing two pairs of underwear Jessica forced me to buy more threatening with “should I call your mother and tell her you only have two pairs of underwear?” I got some snazzy European boxer briefs which I shall wear henceforth with pride. We also got a bunch of groceries from the CostCo-like chain. Back home we made a pasta dinner for ourselves and our hosts.

05.Oct.08

Peter, Stanka, Jess, and I rode the tram out to a remote village with the ruins of a very ancient castle with history dating thousands of years back. We got sidetracked at a beer garden for a couple hours where we drank delightful brews, enjoyed the pleasant weather, and chatted about everything there is to chat about. It is amazing how nearly every Couchsurfer we meet has such similar mentality to us, which always makes for engaging and often hysterical conversation. Peter and Stanka however, are even more fun than most Couchsurfers, and we had a great time just enjoying each others company.

Finally, after we met with two more of their friends from a night before we headed up to the crumbling grey castle. It gave a splendid view of the surrounding countryside and the pleasant weather made the whole trip even more enjoyable. A small museum gave details of the long history of the castle, and we spent some time just wandering the grounds.

We hiked back down and had a few more beers. They also had us try to some typical Slovakian liquor which smelled and tasted like tree sap; not our favorite thing in the world.

We stopped by a pizza place on the way back and tried another national dish; pickled camembert cheese. “Pickled” really just means soaked for a good amount of time in olive oil and vinegar with spices; the dish is scrumtrulescent! The pizza was above par, beer tasty as usual, and the company was full of laughter, especially with everyone teaching tongue twister in their respective languages. I impressed them with my flexible tongue by pronouncing well one especially difficult twister: Skrz brst skrk krk is more or less how it sounds, though of the spelling I am unsure.  Bobor-tsetsky became a popular joke (meaning Beaver Tits), maybe it was just the beer laughing, but just saying Bobor-tsetsky made everyone crack up. It was something silly I’d learned to say from our Polish friend Bobor back in the Himalayas. Czech and Polish languag is very similar. We may not have accomplished much, but it was a day filled with lots of laughing.

Probably one of the best part of the whole stay with Peter and Stanka in Bratislava was their awesome dog Klara.  Super playfull, but terrified of everything. We had a lot of fun having a dog to play with, making us want to get one when we come back home to settle.  Short trip, but pleasant.

Bratislava Flickr Photos:

http://flickr.com/photos/flufflebuns/sets/72157607906634604/

Surrounded by Wieners. October 16, 2008

29.Sept.08

We spent the long morning using the internet messaging future Couchsurfers and reading depressing news about our potential future politicians; Palin with the maturity and intelligence of a 12 year old and McCain the “maverick” promoting change yet voting with our idiot president 95% of the time. It’s amazing none of them believe in evolution as they perfectly represent the human-chimp link. Sorry, I just had to let that out; we want to hear good things about the place we will again call home one day, but all we keep hearing is crap; economic crisis, 700bil Wall Street bailout (like that’s gonna work idiots), more redneck support for nut-job, neo-con, fundamentalist politicians, maybe we’ll just stay here?  Anyway, on with the blog, hope all the insanity back home is settled by the time we get back!

It was incredibly depressing to say goodbye to Klaus as he was without a doubt the best host we have had yet, but onwards and upwards to WIEN! You may know it as Vienna, but the rest of the planet calls it Wien (hence the dish “Wienerschnitzel”). It was a bit of a train ride, but by nightfall we were in a new city and had met our host at the tram stop a short walk from her apartment. We had a nice nook in the corner of her work room on a pile of soft futon mattresses. Our new host Evelyn gave us a detailed map of the city and circled all the highlights we must see before leaving. Sounds great so far and with lots to see we were glad to have planned four days here.

30.Sept.08

We finally got our lazy asses out of the house after sleeping in and jumped on the subway into the heart of the city.  The subway stop is right outside of the magnificent Opera house, and a short walk to a very nice cathedral.  We paid to climb an ugly elevator right through the middle of the cathedral for a view of the city from the top, but it was disappointing as you could only see out little windows with metal bars impeding the view.  We strolled through many gorgeous city parks filled with fountains and statues, and through alleyways curving under massive, gorgeous architecture to a piece of the city center.  There is no real city center in Wien; there is the old city sector which hosts a great number of open plazas.  Just walking through Wien is like walking in a museum, every building is an art piece, all very old yet well maintained, the city is frozen in time a few hundred years ago.  You can almost hear the clip clop of hooves…because of the horse carriages taxiing tourists around.  But seriously, it is so easy to imagine living a couple hundred years ago and taking a carriage from your beautiful penthouse to the opera house to see a symphony performed by Mozart; or at least imagine being a pauper begging to the extravagant aristocracy in their silly poofy gowns and penguin suits.  Either way I’m sure this place was even more magnificent then, without all the cars.  We hopped in to a fancy restaurant for a bite of Wien delicacy, Wienerschnitzel.  Surprisingly it was no better than any other Wienerschnitzel we have ever eaten, but you couldn’t beat the surroundings!

We spent the entire day just wandering around and soaking up the splendor of Wien.  We entered gorgeous cathedral after gorgeous cathedral, but were a bit disappointed with the main Gothic cathedral, with its towering spires, as it was under heavy construction.

Nearing sunset we worked our way back to the opera house where we waited in line to buy standing tickets for tonights show ‘Pique Dame.’  Our spot was in the nosebleed section in the far back above it all, but for only $3 a person it was a terrific spot with a full view of orchestra and stage.  The show was in Russian, but with English and German subtitles on nifty little computer screens in front of everyone.  The singing was awesome, music wonderful (Tschaikovsky), costumes beautiful; all except the story which was really quite silly and simple.  Of course that is how operas go, it is not about the story, but what brings it to life, and with that in mind it was a great experience.

To top it off, the inside of the Opera house was pretty lovely, and the outside even more stunning lit up at night!

01.Oct.08

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me! For my birthday we spent nearly the entire day in the most incredible museum we have ever been to; the Kunsthistorisches Museum. It exhibits art and artifacts beginning with the most ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece, and Mesopotamia, and works its way to the European middle ages. Without a doubt this museum contains the largest collection of the most incredible artifacts we have seen. At every museum we visit there are always some exhibits which are slightly boring or trite, but we go through just in the name of thoroughness. In this museum there was not one boring moment. To make the place even more awesome, all the art is housed in a structure of magnificent architecture sitting opposite the equally exquisite Natural History Museum separated by a garden with statues and fountains. Each exhibition room is ornamented with carvings, frescoes, and paintings adorning the walls and ceilings; the main antechamber and café are particularly intricate. The museum is artwork within artwork within the art piece that is Wien. It was five hours well spent; even the snacks and cakes in the museum café were exquisite.

After our brains were fully immersed with art we hopped in the subway and headed to a few scenic spots around town. One spot in particular was quite stunning; on an island with the old city on one side of the river the new city with modern commercial high rises on the other. We walked towards the old city side after spotting a particularly splendid cathedral along the river banks. I nearly expected rapunzel to let down her hair at this fairy tale castle, though its insides definitely didn’t live up to my expectations it well made up for it just with the exterior.

And that was about it for the day. We went back to our temporary home and Jessica made me a splendid birthday dinner of pork schnitzel and pasta.

02.Oct.08

We have simply seen the innards of too many palaces and decided not to pay the extortionate fee to enter the Schoenbrunn palace. There was much to enjoy for free however, as the massive gardens were dotted with hedge mazes, fountains, statues, and squirrels. We spent a good few hours simply wandering the gardens, enjoying splendid views of the city and chasing squirrels trying to get a good close picture. It wouldn’t have been a problem with our nice camera with its 18x optical zoom, but alas, we have only this point and shoot currently, which is great, except for distance close-ups. Too bad too because though given our best efforts we couldn’t get a good shot and the squirrels are really cute with dark brown fur and pointy ears with tufts of hair sticking off the tip.

We wandered the city a bit more which never gets boring and headed then to the restaurant owned by Jessica’s third cousin. At least we think she’s a third cousin, though people give different opinions as to the exact relation; Karin, the daughter of Wilhelm who is Jessica’s grandma Maria’s brother. In either case it is more relation than ‘father’s brother’s nephew’s cousin’s former roommate.’ There was enough relation to be treated just like close family upon entering her beautiful little restaurant Flein, named so because it specializes in Schwaebisch food from the family’s hometown of Flein. My pork liver was succulent and Jessica’s chicken and spaetzle simply delicious. Best of all however was the accompaniment of Karin who was eager to hear of our travels and had great stories of her own. Talking with her made us rethink our old ideas of opening a local restaurant similar to ‘Flein’ with local organic produce, a seasonal menu changed sometimes daily to allow only the freshest options, and all surrounded by plenty of garden. All in all it was a great lunch!

A couple hours of wandering the city later we found ourselves sitting in a wide auditorium listening to a great orchestra play two hours of Straus and Mozart classics. It was superb, as expected. Upon exit, we found Wien even more a delight by night with all the statues lit up in an array of color, especially with a light mist trickling from the pitch black sky.

03.Oct.08

The day was filled with ever more sightseeing. A long trip with the strassenbahn and bus up to a tiny village atop a high hill rewarded us with a decent view of the city from the top where we enjoyed some delicious organic coffee. Surely the view would be even better on a clear day, but we had to deal with what we had. On the way back down we enjoyed a few more excellent pieces of the city, like city hall, senate house, etc.

Soon we were enjoying another unbelievable meal with Karin at ‘Flein.’ We said goodbye, and headed to Evelyn’s where we grabbed our bags and said another goodbye. Then off to the train station where, covered in sweat from running and just in time, we boarded our train to Bratislava.

A couple hours later we were in a new capitol city. Wien, Austria and Bratislava, Slovakia are in fact the two closest capitols in the world. We met our new Couchsurfing host Peter and his girlfriend Stanka, most importantly their dog Klara, and with an English guy crashing at their place we all headed out to a techno blasting bar with a Simpson’s theme. From Austria to here the price of draught beer was snipped into ribbons. Less than a dollar for a pint of delicious local Slovakian brew! This could be the beginning of big trouble for our livers.

We headed to another bar which was just like out of a movie depicting Eastern Europe. Intimidating guards prefaced a long red-lit tunnel leading to a former bomb bunker filled with flashy lights, make-up, snazzy outfits, hair mouse, and camaraderie complete with that great dialect and booming personality we all stereotype for countries under the former iron curtain. A good night comrade!

Wien Flickr Pics:

http://flickr.com/photos/flufflebuns/sets/72157607835578403/

UPDATE:  Upon re-re-reading this blog I found certain comments at the begining to be mildly insulting to twelve year olds.  There are many twelve year olds I have met in life I would gladly endorse as a president over Sara Palin (I say president because that old fart is bound to die soon anyway).  I sincerely apologize for any insult caused to said twelve year olds.

A homage to the Governator. October 11, 2008

26.Sept.08

We tried for about an hour, but had no luck trying to hitchhike to our next city.  So we moped down to the train station and hopped on for a two hour ride to the home of Arnold Schwartzenegger; Graz!  The citizens used to be very proud of their little Arnie, even named a stadium after him, until he refused to repeal the death sentance on that reformed gang member some years back, then they changed the name of the stadium and renounced him as their child.

We arrived to Graz and took the tram to an apartment complex where after a few flights of stairs met the most awesome Couchsurfing host we have ever had; Klaus.  Klaus instantly greeted us with a very comfortable room, and a delicious home cooked meal!  Klaus is retired and lives alone in a very nice apartment right in the middle of the city.  We had some great conversation over dinner with some local beer and wine, then headed out to meet a huge group of Couchsurfers at a nearby pub.  It was too smokey for us, but the people were great.  When they all decided to go to some dance club we decided to call it a night.  Klaus, Jess, and I wandered back home where we got to meet Klaus’ girlfriend Lisa before going to bed.

27.Sept.08

Klaus prepared us a terrific breakfast of the usual favorites; meats, breads, cheeses, butter, and jams which we ate along with his girlfriend who made for some likewise great company. He certainly knew how to pick the best of everything, and after our stomachs full and taste buds thoroughly satisfied we headed out o explore the city. A massive blue-lit modern elevator took us to the top of the hill where sat the city castle.

The view from the top overlooking the red roofed city with its tall church spires was exquisite. The castle itself was measly, and mostly destroyed by that smelly little man Napolean, talk about small mans complex, he had to knock down every city wall he came by; probably due to his hatred for things taller than him. Anywho it was great atop the mountain and Klaus showed us some wild red berries, which grow everywhere, and are edible with a sweet taste and slimy texture. We headed back down the long way through switchback staircases through a very lovely garden with many wild fruits and berries to be picked and eaten. We meandered through the winding city streets stopping in the usual ornately decorated cathedrals and preserved monuments which make this city yet another UNESCO World Heritage Site (making this like the 30^th UNESCO site we’ve been to on this trip). The city is postcard perfect.

The modern museum (in a large, especially out of place, blue alien spaceship structure) was having its 10 year anniversary, all entrance plus tours were free. Of the many modern art museums we have been to this one was pretty neat. There were lots of weird, freaky stuff and some very clever exhibits. We took a small tour of some exhibits, and though we understood the German it was kind of boring because describing arts complexity seems to be a bit trite, as art is largely an emotional expression. How can there be a ten minute description of how this particular artist decided to bend the mirrors of this specific exhibit to express a reflection of the degeneration of society…what a load of bull shit! It just looks cool, that’s about it and maybe there is some deeper meaning, but if it the art piece doesn’t show the message itself, why should it need to be described? Anyway, cynicism aside it was a particularly neat museum.

After the art exhibits we decided to wander the city more.  Atop the castle earlier we had a view of a beautiful looking gothic cathedral in the distance. We decided it is something which must be seen up close.  It was a bit of distance away, but the walk took us through some neat parts of the city. The cathedral was in fact even more beautiful up close than afar, though the innards left something to be desired.

After stopping at a market for dinner ingredients we hopped on a tram back and were soon home rolling out home made tortillas and cutting up veggies for our famous Quesodillas! Klaus’ girlfriend Lisa joined us later and they drove us out to a small hamlet nearby where we sipped local beer and watched live jazz in a room smokier than the stack of a coal plant. A long and extremely fulfilling day!

28.Sept.08

In the morning, after another killer breakfast, we decided to make a day trip to Maribor, Slovenia. It was only a two hour drive and we stopped by Lisa’s cute cabin off in the woods. A rainbow of flowers in full bloom surrounded by lakes teeming with ducks and fishies; a perfect little oases for nature lovers, did I mention Lisa is a sex therapist; how awesome is she!

After our pitstop dropping Lisa off we headed out again towards the Slovenian border coming to the terrifying realization that we had forgotten our passports!!! Too far along to turn back we just kept going and hoped we could convince the border guards to let us through to Slovenia, although our worry was getting back in to Austria! We found ourselves praising the almighty EU however for completely disintegrating any trace of a border crossing. Without a guard in sight we merrily drove through into a new country, though it would be nice to be getting passport stamps for all the countries we visit, oh well, it is a new world. To our extreme luck there was an adorable wine festival taking place right along the river and in front of the oldest grape vine in the world (no joke).

Tons of live music, cheap glasses of local wine, free fried potatoes, delicious sausages, traditional Slovenian costumes, free samples of home made moonshine, and wave after wave of smiles, laughter, and cheering; what more could one ask for? We explored the city a bit as well and wandered along the river, taking in and fully enjoying a new country we hadn’t even planned on visiting. Slovenia rocks!

Lisa had prepared us an awesome dinner of chicken and noodle dumplings upon our return. Do better hosts even exist? I cannot imagine anyone more generous than Klaus and Lisa, considering we are total strangers and they treat us like close family. As if things couldn’t get any better, Lisa whipped out of the oven a dessert made of peaches wrapped in baked sweet dough, which we ate with vanilla ice cream. A recipe Jessica vowed to repeat many times when we have a kitchen of our own! We played some cards then headed back to Klaus’ place for some red wine, conversation, and comfy sleep under our thick down comforter.

Our stay in Graz was exquisite. The only downfall was my fun little Acer laptop completely pooped on us. The fans stopped functioning, I can only assume due to a short circuit. So now we are without a computer, how sad. Alas it was only a small speck of bad during two days of greatness.  Klaus and Lisa will be missed, they were such unbelievable hosts.

Graz Flickr pics:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/flufflebuns/sets/72157607567312512/

A Night on Salt Castle. October 3, 2008

24.Sept.08

Waking at 5am is never fun, but when you have to catch a free ride to the next city, it is worth the pain. Still dark, we took the U-bahn to the stop and waited for our ride to arrive. They arrived a little late which is nerve-wracking without a phone to call them with, but we were on the road towards Salzburg riding with two Croatian guys, one of whom about to fly to England to study abroad, fun! A short nap later and we were in a new city Salzburg, and a new country Austria (or Österreich) with our new Couchsurfing host Christiana. She went off to work and we went off to explore the city.

We made a pit stop along the way to city center and ate one of the top Doener Kebabs I have ever had the privilege of biting into; already I like Salzburg! We got to the main river and crossed one of the many bridges running over to Maribelle Platz, a huge park built for some fancy aristocrats of the city. The first section we explored was filled with dozens of weird little hobbit-like statues, all of which I had to take a picture next to.  Then we entered into the central part of the gardens which was stunning, with a fountains and statues surrounded by perfect arrays of deliciously bright flower beds.

The Mozart Wohnhaus, or living house (as opposed to his birth house elsewhere in the city) was a waste of the money they overcharged us.  The audio tour was more music than information, and nothing in the house was really astounding, nor were they real relics from Mozart’s family, only interpretations of what might have been their decorations.  Aside from a few nice tidbits, it was a waste of time.

After that we wound our way through part of the old city, finding a piece of the old city wall and ascending a massive flight of steps to get an awesome view from the top. We found ourselves on a large hill mostly undeveloped save some quaint churches and after an hour or so hike through the uninhabited woods we came to a miniature castle.  Nothing too special, but it was nice and quiet tucked away in the forest, and overlooking the boring side of the city.  We sat outside on the deck and sipped some local beer, then made the descent back down.

We hopped into a couple old churches on the way back home, because they are all so beautiful, then stopped by the grocery store for ingredients making the best burritos we could manage.  Christina came home from training to be a nurse and we all enjoyed some Mexican delight, something she’d never tried before.

25.Sept.08

We made a full day of sightseeing today.  We must have visited every church and cathedral in the city, always trying to give each other wet willies with the holy water.  They were all beyond awesome; many hidden through massive alleyways opening into splendid courtyards with fountains, statues, with the buildings covered in awesome domes and steeples.  The insides were all equally awe inspiring, and empty spaces opened up for beautifully decorated graveyards full of bright flowers and statues.  It was a foggy day, but the it gave the city a peacefull air.  We entered a mausoleum which was a great place for pictures of the courtyards and city rooftops.

Next we were on a tram heading up to the main castle up top where we started with an audio tour about the torture rooms/dungeons and a detailed history of the castle.  The views from the top were extraordinary and after the tour we definitely got what we paid for with a plethora of museums about court life in the castle, wartime, and city history.  It was one of the better castles we’ve visited.  A nice bit of info was where the name Salzburg comes from.  It means Salt Castle because the castle was built near a massive salt quarry allowing endless amounts of the best food preservative of the time.  This allowed the castle to hold out against a siege for years, as well as its independent water supply.  The city was never taken by force, but was taken a couple of times through politics.

We ate another Doener on the way back, met with Christina and hung out at the house for the night, getting thoroughly annoyed listening to CNN about the political and financial situations in our home country.  Something we don’t look forward to going back homw and dealing with.  If only this fairytale could last forever.

Salzburg Flickr pics:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/flufflebuns/sets/72157607560914153/

Dirndl und Lederhose überall! October 1, 2008

20.Sept.08

Awaking early we walked to the Bamberg train station to meet our ride to Muenchen. We found an amazing site online, Mitfahrgelegenheit.de which we used to get a super cheap ride with someone driving to Muenchen. It beats standing in the cold with our thumbs out! The ride was simple, the driver was nice, and as we pulled into Muenchen the amount of people wearing Dirndl and Lederhoesen was much higher than the usual NONE. Today is the first day our lives can truly begin, today is the opening day of OKTOBERFEST!!! Back at Mark’s his housemate Steffie came in from the Wies’n (the Oktoberfest field) wearing an awesomely cute Dirndl (the typical German dress you always see in pictures pushing out milky breasts holding 8 liters of beer). Our plan wasn’t to go today, instead make a whole day of it tomorrow, but we could not resist, so we followed Steffie the five minute walk from their apartment to the Wies’n for a few hours of delicious drunken delight in the Spaten tent! We met a ton of awesome people, lots of Steffie’s friends, and just random folks who were unbelievably friendly to us strangers. Oktoberfest was far more fun than I would have ever imagined, aside from being horrifically expensive at 9 euro per liter of beer ($11.25). We limited ourselves however, which is easy to do as little as two liters per person is beyond a sufficient level of drunk. We left a bit early and went messing around with all the drunk people passed out on the lawn. Then we went back to Marks where we headed to market again for a case of beer for the house and more food to cook for dinner.

21.Sept.08

Probably in the top ten best days of this entire trip, we completely rocked Oktoberfest today! Mark’s housemates Steffie & Henning, and their friends Hannah, and Sabine, with Jess and I put on our Dirndl’s and Lederhoesen (or the closest we had) and had breakfast accompanied by a good amount of Augustiner beer (no better way to wake up). Then we all headed to the Wies’n for a day filled with colors,singing, music, smoke, laughter, delicious beer and food, terrifying carnival rides, and tons of smashing glasses to PROST!!!

For those who have never been here is a quick synopsis of life on the Wies’n: There are around 6 major breweries in Muenchen all boasting some of the best beer on the planet. In order of my favorites they are: Augustiner, Spaten, Hacker-Pschorr, Paulaner, Hofbräu, & Löwenbräu. Each brewery has about two tents with different colors and themes, and no matter the small difference in taste they all serve scrumptious beer and food. The tents hold thousands upon thousands of people, below is the Augustiner tent: one that was too packed to get a seat in, but boasts the best beer, and we think the prettiest:

Between all the tents are hundreds of food stalls selling roasted nuts, bread and meat, and a whole variety of other carnival-like treats. Like a carnival as well there are heart pounding rides, two of which we went on thoroughly inebriated when our group was changing from Hacker tent to the Paulaner tent mid day. One of the rides was massive and terrifying, and before my drunk brain could produce enough fear to protest, Jess, Hannah, and Henning dragged me on and shot us unbelievably high in the air at breakneck speeds. Awesome!

There aren’t enough words to describe the fun we had in those tents. Yeah some of it might have been from our brains floating in beer, but all the people were so jovial, the singing and dancing was wild. The song favorites tended to be a simple one: Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, Der Gemuedlichkeit, Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, Der Gemuedlichkeit at which everyone raised glasses and loudly clanked. Translated it is, one cheer, one cheer, to good ambiance (meaning people, happiness, surroundings, everything). Another song apparently came from the latest football tournament (and I of course mean the sport the entire world but the US calls football), the song was just a humming the tune of the first bit of the White Stripes song Seven Nation Army…weird, but we heard it hundreds of times each day. Other songs were simply American and German classics played by the Oompa band’s plethora of brass instruments and drums.

The second tent was Paulaner and after 20 minutes we’d squeezed ourselves onto into a wooden booth and all had a round of Paulaner in hands. After about an hour some older women came back expecting their seats back that they’d left hours before, we laughed, but they squeezed tight into our booth anyway. After drinking just a bit of their beers they got fed up and left, leaving us thirsty poor travelers and students with free beer!!! No matter how drunk our brains were however, we could easily distinguish between beer and what tasted like fruit loops?! They had ordered RADLER?! UGH, it is like 20% beer 60% fake lemon taste, though however awful it tasted, it sure did the trick and we all took turns forcing the free alcohol down because it seemed a crime at the time to waste anything.

I could keep going on and on telling little stories about the Bavarian guy with a funny mustache hanging with us, one group member passing out for and hour and everyone stealing his massive pretzel, standing on the wood tables and dancing, loud declarations of love, and the eventual miraculous stumble back home after the whole festival shut down, but suffice it to say it was an unbelievably fun experience! Most of those memories are a simple blur anyway, just snippets of fun memories remain, and a ton of awesome pictures, some we don’t really remember taking. I guess it’s okay to get so drunk just a couple times a year, but any more I think is just insane, and it is Oktoberfest!! We were spent by the end.

Our group had expanded and everyone fell asleep in unusual places scattered about the house…Awesome day, I cannot emphasize that enough.

22.Sept.08

Due to some miracle in German brewing, no one woke up with a hangover. We were all quite jovial in fact, and after breakfast most went to work, and Jess and I set to doing chores like washing clothes and such. At about midday we went to meet a Couchsurfing group we’d seen organized online on the Wies’n. We got there too late and missed the group, but wandered around taking pictures in the tents we hadn’t seen yet. It was fun to see the festival sober.

We went back to Mark’s where we cooked a delicious early pork schnitzel dinner. Later we ended up back at the CS meeting spot and caught up with the group this time. It was a very strange hodgepodge of German locals, some French guys, other American’s, and us. A nice, if a bit quiet group, all 10 of us went to the Augustiner tent and sat outside chatting and enjoying the world’s best beer by the liter. Outside was a whole different ambiance, none of the insanity of inside the tent, but a good place to chat, people watch, drink, eat, and meet everyone around. The group leader bought everyone chicken and pretzels which was incredibly generous of him! Full of beer and food we went to the quiet cathedral on the outskirts of the festival. We’d always seen it in the distance on the Wies’n, but it wasn’t something we’d visited even last time in ’05. All of us climbed to the very top where we got stunning views of Oktoberfest.

Then we all tried to find a spot to sit at a few tents, but we were too many and they were all packed. Jess and I decided it couldn’t get any better than yesterday anyway, so we simply said goodbye, leaving them a smaller group and better chances finding a place.

23.Sept.08

We’d intended to leave today, but couldn’t find a Mitfahrgelegenheit ride until tomorrow, and both are too cheap to pay the expensive train tickets. Instead we decided to go see a museum we hadn’t seen last time, the modern art Pinakothek. That however was far too expensive and we don’t really love modern art anyway, so we instead went to an old favorite again the Alte Pinakothek. A collection of stunning classical oil paintings from around the 1200’s-1700’s. Simply gorgeous pieces from Rembrant, Duerer, Van Der Werff, and my favorite Peter Paul Rubens filled the museum with a new and excellent audio tour. Even the second time around this museum simply blew us away; arguably more beautiful than the paintings at the Vatican Museum even.

We got home, cooked spaghetti bolognaise, and spent the night playing Pit, Spoons, and other card games with Mark, Steffi, and Henning. It was a lot of fun; they are a terrific group of people, wish they could travel with us!

München Flickr Pics:

http://flickr.com/photos/flufflebuns/sets/72157607438795645/