What *IS* that sound?!

So on a groggy-eyed Saturday morning I keep hearing this jackhammer sound around the house. It’s driving me batty — I’m going from room to room trying to find out what the heck it is.

So I go to my office and restart my computer, and notice the sound is louder — Oh great. So I open the window and what do I find — A Woodpecker has taken up residence on my neighbor’s chimney! Whats hysterical is that it’s an aluminum chimney — so the bird just ain’t gonna see any productive work. Or perhaps he’s hot-to-trot for a lady woodpecker and showing off his manlyness…

Anyway, I got it on my camera. I had to laugh, not because it’s a woodpecker (although funny enough) but that I was searching for this noise for about 20 minutes!

Watch video

It is so good to be home

It is so good to be home

I am back from my vacation to Germany. I had an incredible time and both Berlin and Munich gave me some great stories to tell. One thing is for certain, and the reason I travel: you can always find friends wherever you go — just be yourself, share a beer, and viola!

However, it is so good to be home. Really, it is.

I took a lot of pictures and notes, so in-between loads of laundry this week I’ll be uploading and sharing the stories. Stay tuned!

Germany Videos

Here is all the best videos I took (from my new camera of all things!!) Lots more photos to come from Munich, Berlin photos are below, but the videos are the funnest…and here’s all of them. Requires Windows Media Player, which most PCs already have, and a high-speed connection

Ride the bus along the Kurfurstendamm in Berlin. Public transport is so awesome, except in Seattle. Berlin buses were the nicest I’ve been on.

Watch German TV. This was a “springer-esque” show — gotta love the announcer guy and the look on the woman’s face at the end!

Watch the Glockenspiel in Munich. I love the crowd’s “ohh, ahh” at the start

More Glockenspiel

Drink with people at the Hofbrauhaus. This was between lunch and dinner, so not much of a crowd, but still really fun!

Hofbrauhaus cheers! Short, but fun as everyone clicks their steins!

Riding the train at 200 KPH. The trains were on-time and comfortable.

My connecting train arriving in Fulda. Or so I thought. This was the wrong train — I got on it by accident. Luckily it was going to Munich as well!

Passing by Wurtzburg on the train. This town looked charming from inside, this video doesn’t do it justice — lots of church spires on the other side of the train (so I couldn’t really shoot those)

A snowy arrival of….something! Obviously some sort of publicity stunt, this was in Munich as I was walking along. Apparently there was some sort of German soccer star there as well — I had no idea. It was funny to watch, though.

What is it? More of this important jewelry unveiling in Munich, complete with TV coverage and motorcycles.

Riding the Munich Subway. The cleanest and nicest system I’ve ever been on (but the Berlin busses were nicer…)

Greetings from M

Hello from the “Secret capital of Germany”! I’m in Bavaria after a long train ride from Berlin. It was good that the train ride was long, because I had a lot of recovering to do from a last-night party in Berlin — more later.

Berlin was BIG and spread-out. Thank GOD Munich is compact — and pedestrian friendly!! My feet thank you, Munich! This is my first real day here, and then I’ve got tomorrow and then I come home. Which actually is not that bad. Munich is so compact I’m covering a lot of ground and still having time to enjoy things.

BTW, hello, SNOW!!!!! Munich got dumped on the day before I got here, and there is about a foot of snow on the ground. It’s still snowing now. I love this — it’s perfect for me and the setting of Bavarian Germany.

Just got back from lunch at the Hoffbrauhaus! I drank 2 liters of really good beer, and am now walking off the buzz. Perhaps now I see why Munich is walkable — ahhhh, this all makes sense now. Nice planning Deutchland!

My last night I’m in a really nice hotel by the airport, so I will be uploading my photos then.

Another interesting note: you#ll see that I make fun of the Torino olympic opening ceremony and it#s music — so 80#s. Well, it must be a Europe thing, because it is ALL OVER THE PLACE here — everwhere I go it#s on the loudspeakers — I’m jazzing-out to ‘Celebrate a good time’ right now in the Internet cafe! How funny!!

Tsch

Greetings from Berlin!

Greetings froma snowy Berlin!! Its about 32 degrees with light snow flurries. Still getting used to the fact that I am actually here. Flights were long, but the UPGRADE was nice!!! Biz class from Chicago to Brussels — yeah baby!!! Nearly did not make my flight to Berlin — Brussels airport is huge!

So I have walked the Kurfurstendamm already today — to keep the blood flowing. Went all the way to the famous KaDeWe department store. It is Berlin