Blogs from Germany, Europe - page 945

Christ, what a day. We hit the road from Trier at 8 this morning, German time, for a 548-kilometer (er, 340-mile) burn across southern Germany to Mittenwald, this tiny hamlet tucked away in the Bavarian Alps. A couple of hours in, as we navigated the tunnels and narrow river valleys of the upper Black Forest, a blip of German radio news broke through: ". . . blah blah scheigen fergen swaller explosion blerghof London derkaderk doppel-decker bus auf blahgerzwei Russell Square dergblekkerdanke . . ." Holy crap. We flipped around, and over the next half hour or so, what we gleaned or thought we gleaned from the German gibberish -- neither of us has any working handle on the language -- only instilled in us a deep sense of unease. Did he just say a bus ... read more

Anybody who tries to tell you that the French have mastered the Art of Living has not spent enough time in French bathrooms. Nothing throws this fact into sharper relief than crossing the border into Germany. Even in Trier, an 1,800-year-old wine town just over the line, the contrast is startling. With a nod to the tired old "white people dance like this / black people dance like that" stand-up comedy formula, here's an overview of the contrasting approaches: The bath-tub In France, the bathtubs are all about three feet long. This may be because the French are all so short. Seriously, seriously short. I stand at nearly 6'4" and Ashley's 5'10", and we TOWERED over Paris, almost like . . . er . . . you know, some sort of Parisian tower thingy. We felt ... read more

We´re leaving for India tomorrow! I can hardly believe that this part of our trip is over, and that in a month we´ll be back in Cowboyland... crazy. (side note: my parents ACTUALLY moved! Luckily, I´ve snuck into my program at UBC AND have a place to live next year, so soon enough I´ll be Vancouverbound.. weird to think about now). Anyway, this will be the last blog for Europe, so enjoy, ma´kizzles! We spent about five days in Prague, and that was more than enough. The city itself really was pretty, but to appreciate it you had to get past the sleazy strip joints, swarming crowds, and VLTs as far as the eye could see. On top of that, the locals (understandably) seem to hate the tourists for ruining their city´s charm, so it wasn´t ... read more

I’ve just returned from 10 days of a wonderful seminar course. Where better to study about Organic Design and Architecture than up the hill from url=http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?ovi=1&zoom=7&mapdata=GL7GBbQZ5kxr%2b6R6G83g6ZGrkw7KrpTTyXDgBG1XYVhEPfLcQFRmKic3Qw%2bDsW5Y5eLyFoe6JRGcT%2bBKB0sLY%2fdr9gzU6Rw31wpaVhARQzDoCYUcrED6ANv7kQijG%2f4ROGI3bB2M6mpAk1zdh32RAH0yhIeQGjKbhUCsa%2b7m4w6Ahwf785ljZo6coBSaEWDE6dINKmcNjvO1D%2bnPqNOU%2buydO9JUPBxeG65eizr7KfT4OfHEJqTnwhl7oizPT6VqLZjXPDGZI728WCGMr35ArP1zPVR4mgqNA00EBj2ZA6rIsZ12S5vccbbz9uLcqx49if%2bVIpaHNq%2bFDCs6r3JKQD3wWcUYAC4Xt9vgQaetvF7kLRcMnd1%2fxMS%2fl8jT2%2f%2fSrbBGIb5iGBhmx%2f4wzV61KRU7KHpkD%2buTaYMeYkQdATkH%2bBGLbNHYqXQSZkd8Dhst5De7g6%2bn9G3JexTd0mXYBX6%2flmGy9JAM960HicEEAX5dyAgDe9feCs%2bkl4D6IO8ErKDmWzzp%2f0s7xz3bUtzMYuQ3F%2fdeV56dStarnbergsee in a seminar center s... read more

I have to make this one short and sweet. I haven't been able to check my email these last few days. I came to Berlin yesterday morning, and I am leaving this afternoon. Berlin is an awesome city! I have LOTS of pictures. Last night we went pub crawling with this organization thing. It was interesting, to say the least. Well I have to go cause we're going to see more sights. I will write more tomorrow! RHIA :)... read more