The number of readers of the blog seems to be dramatically decreasing. I would somehow like to blame this on the financial crisis, and get some kind of government payout, and this actually seems like a possibility. Anyhow, perhaps I have misjudged my audience and no one wants to read about idiotic wooden lawn ornaments (see "Fantastic Wooden Heroes") and other obscurities of my addled mind. Who would have known? So today I am going to try something different and write about a trip we took. We went out to Carrara in Tuscany (a couple of hours on the train from [View Full Entry]

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Some people wonder how others can spend months or years "pissing about" and "doing what they're doing" (actual quotes) in countries far away from home. There are the typical how, why and what questions - with what somewhat covered in this blog (and the others on this site, which I assume are great and insightful. (Aside: I cannot read about others travelling, for various reasons, which makes me wonder what you are doing reading this.)) Now the why is something I often struggle with, and most people point to the lack of any kind of life being built, really. I d [View Full Entry]

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The first two photos here are again of our beloved "good-bye, meat". We can see the enormous jugs of beer that my companions and I are "prost"-ing with. Each is 1L. of fermented delight and I can usually put back two of them before my arm gets too tired from lifting (and I am dead). The second shows Stu and I comparing the lengths of our feuerwuerst, or "firesausage", sometimes called "teufelwuerst" or "devilsausage". Each is 1/2 metre long (seriously). Not to brag, but I am sure I could take more than a metre of devil sausage before succumbing to the [View Full Entry]

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I am baffled by this creature we discovered recently. He is clearly some kind of wooden friend. He appears to live in the log, but his head (hat?) is part of the outside structure of the log. They have adopted him as their logo, as well. I don't know what kind of childhood tales they have in Germany (I always imagined a fat, lederhosen-wearing, sausage-devouring, beer-swilling protagonist, but I picture this same character in every image I have of Germany). Father (reading from children's book): And so, he emerged from his log... Astute 3-year-old daughter: So, is he part of the [View Full Entry]

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A recent trip to a "karneval" (translation: carnival) led to some very interesting spottings of things I found hilarious. Not that you will, of course. Meh. The carnival was much more exciting than that introduction. Apparently the origin of the word "carnival" comes from "meat, good-bye", which is an awesome idea - a going-away party for meat. I imagine a few carrots and celeries sitting around a table comforting each other while a hamburger puts on a big backpack at the door and waves to his friends, sad to leave them behind, but looking forward to the trip ahead. The carnival [View Full Entry]

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The funny thing about travelling is that is requires a great deal of money most of the time. Actually, that's not funny, that's depressing. Funny is the Muppets, or the Sea Captain from the Simpsons. Usually, however, I have very little money. This limits my travelling and my goal of doing whatever I want, whenever I want (don't worry, these are mostly legal things). So I am always on the lookout for get-rich-quick schemes. None thus far have succeeded, and that is why I am typing this blog and not rolling about in 100L. of Swiss Chalet dipping sauce (see? Perfectly [View Full Entry]

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The first picture is a photo from the "Floh Markt" (flea market) I recently attended and took part in in Augsburg. We can see that our fine neighbour is selling his favourite old record, "Wiener Blut", and I am sure he is devastated to part with it. Somewhat translated, it means "Wiener Blood", which almost sounds like a kiddie death metal band. But "Wiener" of course is the translation of "Viennese", that is, from Vienna. And the people on the cover certainly do appear to be distinguished Viennese, the "Viennese Blood", through and through. Which got me thinking: why did I [View Full Entry]

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I find this particular creature fascinating. Half rabbit, half devil, all angry. And he wants you to drink his brew. It contains bee honey and red wine, he exclaims. 40% alcohol by volume. The "Wolpertinger" (translation: Wolper-thinger) is a kind of local legend, like the Yeti or Batman. No one knows if he really exists. I am not aware of any Wolpertinger sighting/hunting expeditions, but that might be a very good tourism idea. Venturing out into the night, with binoculars/hunting rifle, drunk on Wolpertinger, trying to find/kill a Wolpertinger. Actually, I am not sure if they a [View Full Entry]

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