Trapped in the land of HausMusik

Hello everybody,

Click on the play button before you begin reading to get the full impact of this read.

For the last week I’ve been playing this song in my head over and over and over. I’m starting to believe it’s because German clubbers have been sneaking into our house in the evening and slowly reprogramming me in my sleep.

Every morning it’s boom,boom, boom, boomboomboom, boom, boom in my head. I no longer have a missile in my head, but a constant dance party. I strongly believe David Guetta and Akon, have put subliminal messages into their song ala’ little mustache guy and then given it to the German youth to take over the world.

And I guessed heck, why not share this song with all my friends…you see what I mean, I can’t even stop myself as I write this…reprogrammed…help! Germans love this song and I believe people back home also love this song, because I remember hearing it during our visit.

Germany to my ears...

You walk down to the store and it’s boom, boom, boom,

You walk down to the bank and it’s boom, boom, boom.

I walk with L to work and it’s boom, boom, boom.

By the way this is the clean version of the song.

Miss ya,

M&L

To my Dad.

 

El Caballo

Dad, just in case you didn’t know,

I’ve learned so much from watching you,

Dad, just in case you didn’t know,

I did listen to every word,

Dad, just in case you didn’t know,

We’ve never drifted apart,

And every lesson has been saved in my heart.

 

Dad, just in case you didn’t know,

I’ve always looked up to you,

Dad, just in case you didn’t know,

You did help when I was down,

Dad, just in case you didn’t know,

Your silent wisdom ways,

Will be a part of me until my ending days.

 

Dad, just in case you didn’t know,

I think about you often,

Dad, just in case you didn’t know,

I think about you often,

Dad, just in case you didn’t know,

I love you.

 

Happy Birthday Dad

love,

-Jr.

Vive le Vin

Hello Everybody,

L and I experienced our first French wine fair this weekend. A group of six of us traveled to Strasbourg early Saturday morning to arrive to the chaos that was the “Salons des Vins Vignerons Indépendants” or Exhibition of Independent Wine Vineyards. We stayed Saturday evening for some French cuisine and picked up our purchases the following Sunday and returned home.

I believe France has 11 regions where they grow their wines and while it would have been great to taste each and every one of the wines from said regions, we focused on the Bourgogne-Beaujolais Region. This is the region where the French grow their Burgundy wines or Pinot Noir.

Having lived all her life in one of the best places to make Pinot Noir (Oregon), L figured we’d focus on what we’re familiar with (Pinots) and branch out from there, but where to start.

Of the 100+ Burgundy vineyards that were present at the fair, I researched 15 and while all were good, there were two that really stood out above the rest. So if one does the math, 14 to 16 out of 120 wines are good (according to me) and there were 560 different wine vineyard represented from 11 regions of France, and all the Cognac and Pineau. With that said, it's way to much wine for the liver to take and the palate to taste in 7 hours, plus we only made it 30 minutes before one of our crew members was toast.

Of course we did manage to find some excellent Pinot Noirs for super prices. What’s also great about the fair is, one can get to meet the winemakers and if they speak English or Spanish (German too, but my German’s not so good), you can talk about their wines. We had a great time and I learned quite a bit about French Burgundy wines. L and I both agree that the burgundy wines from the Volnay area of Bourgogne are something special and should be tried. If you happen to stumble upon one at your local wine shop, don’t be shy.

Well here are some pictures of the trip, enjoy

Here’s L thinking, “What the heck?”

“The Great Hall of Winos!”

Foie Gras sandwich anyone…what? Had one for the first time, quite yummy.

Remember when I said one of our crew was toast with-in 30 minutes of our arrival, well here he is (left of picture) trying to get some more Armagnac. Even though the vendor looks annoyed, he actually liked talking to us about all the subtle flavors of his Cognac and kept on pouring. L and I bought a bottle of Pineau, which is made from Cognac, the flavor is sweet and has an awesome pecan aftertaste.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Strasbourg in the evening

Can everyone see the kitty?

Their local cathedral.

The city had some amazing buildings.

Here’s what we brought home. I know…all from the Bourgogne Region, but there will be more wine fairs and next in line will be the BORDELAIS-AQUITAINE region, where many of Cote de blahblahblah come from, but I hear you need a big wallet for these wines…we’ll see.

until next time…

we miss ya,

M&L

3 hours for wine glasses

 

Hello everybody,

Sorry about being M.A.L. (missing and lazy).  Well not completely lazy, L and I visited Prague yesterday (2/8/10).  A quick day trip to look for wine glasses and a walk around the city.

Yup, all the way to Prague for wine glasses.  An acquaintance of ours broke several of his wine glasses, which he purchased in Prague, and wanted to replace them with the same make and model.  Thus, began our trip to find his wine glasses.  Oh yeah he’s also 6’4” and walks at a pace of a slow jogger.  And having been in good ol’ P’town recently packing on the weight, we were in for quite a work out.  It was like sightseeing for the speed walking enthusiast…it was quite fun, plus it was 23 degrees F. 

Here are some pictures.

Trying to find parking

 

 

One of the clock towers.

 

 

 

City Center or Square

 

 

You Know these two.

 

 

 

Getting a feel for the people.

 

Approaching St.Charles Bridge

 

A view of the St. Charles bridge with the city castle in the background.

 

St. Charles…quick make a wish!

Leaving Prague…I like the ladies in the mink.

 

After some chow, sightseeing and hunting for the wine glasses we headed back to the village.  We’re definitely going back for a longer visit.  

love,

M&L

Part 5 and other Anomalies

Hello everybody,

Hope all are having a good start to the year. We’ve been up to nothing, well that’s not completely true, we did go to the movies Saturday evening. We tagged along with a friend of mine, his wife, son and his son’s friends. L thought it would be a good time to find out where the move theater was located.

If any of you have been to the Twin Cinema in St. Johns, then you have a good picture of what our German theater looks like. Beer, popcorn and Avatar. I recommend Avatar. George Lucas should have waited ten more years before he began to tinker with Episode I, perhaps he could have gotten a couple of ideas from James Cameron…anyway moving on, touchy subject for me.

As promised, I would finish our 5 part Street of Kings vacation, but when I began reflecting on what to share or write…I said, “self this is boring, you must return to the olden ways.” With that, I’ve decided to share the pictures of the Rococo church and then some other stuff. Like…beer and food!!! and some other ideas.

Part 5: The Rococo Church

We had to drive an icy road through a forest that eventually opened up to an expansive field covered by jack frost to get to this church, but then…there it was. The clouds parted and rays of pure hope shining over the church as though hugging it, protecting it from the soft blanket of snow that had been gently laid upon it the following evening, revealed it in all it’s glory. And we pressed on and the rays directed us to this unearthly fortress as though softly singing… come to me, come to me. One could hear the faint trumpets in the distance, echoing the church’s siren song. Wide eyed, like a deer caught in head lights seeing it’s life flash before it, I saw every misdeed I had ever done flash before my eyes as well, and the burdens of my life’s misdeeds were lifted from my shoulders. We pressed on, forward still, unwavering …then the needle fell of the record as I opened my mouth to say, “That place is retarded big.” I know not very PC of me, but that’s what fell out of my mouth.

For some reason, at that moment, the roads froze up, the clouds came in and the temperature dropped and I felt like a ten ton baboon was placed on my shoulders…well not really, nope.

Here’s the church.

L, not sure what to think.

The ceiling was amazing. Everywhere you looked you saw some interesting setting.

After what I said earlier, I might not get to see this door.

I tried to get a picture of the entire ceiling, but it was rather difficult. This is the best I could do.

Here is what the church looked like from my view.

And back outside,

I wish I had the name of the church or town, but at the moment I’ve misplaced my notes. I’ll update the name of the place and location next time.

MOVING ON

Food:

Small Lobster.

This was my first time to taste these cockroaches of the sea. I have to say they were quite tasty.

Gin Rummy, I believe is what this game is called. L and I are keeping a running record of our points, we will be playing this game the entire time we are here.

So far, L has about a 1400 point lead, but I think I can catch up, we still have two more years.

Our scores as of present are:

L : 6720 points

M : 5268 points

THE BEERS:

A friend and I traveled an hour north to a small city called, Dinkelsberg to buy these beers . They were the worst beers I have had in Germany thus far.

Here they are:

One would think, with a picture like this it should kick butt, these beers should prevail above the rest…nope not one bit. If you like Hinniekin or St. Paulies Squirrel, then Perhaps you’ll like these beers and that’s being nice, even my native Oregonian beer drinker L poo-pooped the beer.

Also I counted how many beer I’ve tasted and I have now tried 74 different beers…I have a long way to go.

Jean- Luc Update:

Some of you voiced concerns over Jean-Luc’s weight loss and being JL perhaps he did lose some pounds for the cameras, he is French after all. But let me assure you, The Duke is back.

He specifically asked for black and white pictures, he said something about black is slimming, something like that…whatever.

I told him to stop drinking my beer, now look at him, he can barely keep his eyes open. It’s always a struggle when he gets in his moods and then decides he wants to take the car for a spin. I’ve told him the pavarazzi here are not as nice as back home. He just looks at me and goes back to the bottle. Look at that picture, his eyes speak volumes.

SNOW UPDATE:

Snow bunny says, “help.” Of course Jean-Luc just looks at him and walks away with his bottle in his paw.

that’s all folks,

M&L

P.S, If these pictures get back to Jean-Luc… It wasn’t me.