February 16-19, 2007
Chamonix Hurts Woman's Face!
How a bunch of mountains can cause permanent dopey smiles!

I'd like to start off by pleading with you all not to hate me. Those of you who ski should be first in line in that department. Not only did I get to ski for two days, but the weather was PERFECT! Ok, so the light got a little flat in the afternoon on the first day for like an hour, but that is TOTALLY NITPICKING!! The snow, while not champagne powder, was very very nice. Easy on a gal who hasn't skied in two years, due to certain rocks in my head. But rocks be damned!, I said.

Chamonix is beautiful and there is no doubt in my mind that Brooke and John have it made. I mean, they work, but they get to ski almost every day. And, as you can tell from the pictures, they're not just skiing on boring old groomed runs. The actual ski areas on the mountain are a full blown playground for adults, with on and off piste fun. And outside of the designated ski areas, there are about a zillion more lines, in less tracked snow. I am completely jealous that Brooke has been touring her little head off. For those of you not in the know, this involves getting geared up with pieps, shovels, rescue gear etc. (in case of avalanch or head first fall down a cravass), putting skins on your skis, and then sort of cross country skiing up to the top of an untracked area of powder, removing the skins and letting 'er rip. Now if you think this sounds (a) like hard work, and (b) sort of dangerous, you are very right. But I'm sure the work is worth it, and the risk can be managed with the right equipment and knowledge and respect for the mountains. I would love to try it someday. Touring has so been added to my list of things to do.

The Chamonix valley itself is really quite narrow. As a result, you can see in the photos that settlements at the bottom basically follow the contours of the bottom of the valley. The two main villages are Argentiere (where Brooke and John live), and Chamonix, which is much bigger. The town of Chamonix looks like what the Interwest people were going for at Whis and Tremblent, oh and Blue Mountain too (haha!!!), but authentic. I really should have taken some shots of it, because it really is pretty. Unfortunately, I was wandering around most of the time with my mouth wide open staring at the mountains. I found it very difficult to think of anything really while I was there, except how I could stay, so the photos suffer a bit. But there are quite a few nice ones of Le Tour, where I skied with Brooke for a bit on Saturday, after a bit too much to drink at MBC (the Canadian bar, yes you read right!) and Fubar, where people made us drink too fast. I was rusty, and in boots that were a bit too big, but it was still loads of fun, and I came off the hill skiing like a yeti cause my legs were so tired they wouldn't do anything anymore!. In the afternoon, we were going to head up the Aiguille de Midi (the famous mountaintop), but Brooke didn't quite make the last bin up. So I went on my own and discovered that cable cars are ok, but my ear rocks don't like those ones! The views were amazing. Unfortunately, cause it was the last ride up so I didn't have a lot of time to explore and wander down the arrete, that Brooke recommended.

On Sunday we took the day off, mainly because the weather report promised sun on Monday, and I couldn't really move. We ended up walking up to Argentiere, which was really nice. And then John cooked us a delicious tartiflette, a yummy salad and some banana bread. Mmmm. That ones a keeper. A tartiflette, like most of the french cuisine that I ate while I was there, involves lots of cream, cheese (sooooooo good!), and butter, layered between potatoes. It was amazing. I would get fat there for a million reasons, including the bread, cheese and wine, even if I was skiing and touring almost every day! How do they do it??? It's temptation central.

On Monday, Brooke and I went up the mountains again, this time at les Grand Montets. This mountain seemed much bigger and more open. It was mainly all off piste skiing. The conditions were great, but my rented boots were like torture devices! This had nothing to do with my boot fitter (Brooke) and everything to do with the fact that I am a dummy when it comes to boots, my legs were tired in weird places and therefore overcompensating in strange ways that caused me pain, and I was skiing like a weirdo to start with. After an agonizing first half run (and this takes awhile because they are looooooooong) I unbuckled and things were alot better. Not perfect, but better. Anyhow, they were good enough to head up to the top of the mountain and do a little off piste next to the glacier. Brooke was an amazing guide and very patient as I needed to stop every once and awhile as my feet or legs gave out and needed some rest. Even though I was less than comfortable I had the best time ever. First of all, hanging out with Brooke is always fun. You just could not beat the sceanary at all. It was spectacular!!! The glacier is incredible. It is enormous, and zillions of years old, and just looks every inch like a force of nature. It was really a treat to get so close to it. Also, the run that we took to get to it was a super fun pitch. I had some turns there, big huge arcing ones, where you could look out at where you were, that I will remember for the rest of my life. ahhhhhhhhh. Heaven. In the end, I had a plane to catch and had to go, frustratingly, just when my legs were starting to remember how well I used to be able to ski. But it was probably smart to end on a high note, with lunch of french cheese sandwhiches, sitting on the edge of the terrasse, looking up the valley.

Thanks to Brooke and John, who were amazing hosts. Also, they have some awesome friends there who were tons of fun. There were too many to name all of them, but Claire and Jim hung out with us a couple of times, and helped us drink wine and beer, cook, light fires and distract the creepy people who are always attracted to me! There are a ton of reasons to go back, and I definitely will one day. My mother will be happy to know that I wont be moving there anytime soon - there are mountains in Canada too though... I think that my brain was protecting me from feeling too homesick for BC by 'forgetting' how much fun skiing and mountain life is. Now that I remember, I am going to have to make it a mission to visit some mountains every year, and keep my skiing legs in good working order, because you never know...

Jen

February 10, 2007
That's Cologne to YOU!
Where the beer is weeny and the Romans whooped it up

A wise person once said "expect the unexpected". It sounds cliche, but it applies perfectly to travelling. And I'm not just talking about unforseen schedule changes, phantom trains, or mysteriously 'unbooked' hotel rooms. What I really mean is that almost 100% of the time you are planning to visit somewhere you have a sort of preconception of what it's going to be like. You've got an idea of what is going to be really interesting, what sort of things you're going to want to do there, the kind of vibe the place is going to have. About 95% of the time you are completely wrong. The things you thought would be fun end up being only so-so, and the stuff you never even thought about before you left ends up being the reason you dream of coming back. And I think this is the number one reason to get out there and travel. You can read about places, talk to people who've been there, and think you know them. But you don't, and you never will unless you go there. The surprises are my favorite part.

Koln was another one of those places that surprised me. I started off checking out my green guidebook to Germany to see what might be worth checking out. Turns out there are a bunch of great museums to see once you've done the cathedral. I picked two or three to try and get to, and thought I would wander around and see what I would stumble into. Turns out Koln wasn't going to be the typical German city that I thought it would be. And what distinguished it was what I had least expected - things that I had completely written off as uninteresting when I was looking in the guidebook. It was the Roman history of the city that was really fascinating, not the more recent gothic stuff. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I should start at the beginning.

Koln is only really about an hour and a half away from Frankfurt on the ICE (intercity express) train, so it was a pretty doable one day, get in and get out mission. When you walk out of the Koln train station the first thing you see is the cathedral. This is a pretty amazing sight (though one I didn't photograph as prettily as I should of because I couldn't get a good angle and it was raining). I think this is one of the must-see destinations in the city, and it's pretty hard to avoid! Like most great cathedrals, it took an insanely long time to finish (see, for example, the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona) - over 600 years. That's dedication! Anyhow, the real building boom began in 1164 when Frederick I Barbarossa donated the relics of the Magi to the town. The Magi are the three wise men, or three kings from the Christmas carols, in case you were wondering. I was a little disappointed that you didn't actually get to see any of these so called relics. But there is a nice little niche dedicated to them. Anyhow, the cathedral itself is this amazing, soaring gothic mass - which actually looks quite graceful for its size. As with most gothic structures, it is dark, complex and very imposing. It's the sort of place that would look amazing lit up at night, but that you wouldn't want to be locked in after closing time. But maybe it's too big to be haunted. I wonder... Inside it is surprisingly bright and open, not the stuffy cramped and cluttered spaces I was expecting. So I did the rounds of the building, read about the significance of the stained glass and the boring history of its construction and checked out where the Magi are hanging out these days (well, at least parts of them, or maybe some of their stuff). To be honest, I wasn't blown away. But this is definitely a case where the parts are greater than the whole. The inside of this cathedral is most interesting because of its details - as you will see in my photos. Particularly, the designs on the floor and wrought iron work are worth a look.

Another fun little cathedral experience is to see the city from the top of one of the spires. It was too crowded in the morning when I was doing the interior, but I came back later in the afternoon to work off the Kolsch I had with lunch with a climb to the top. It's 509 stairs and 470 something or other feet to the top. And no, there is no elevator. But that was ok. The climb was alright, though a bit dizzying because it was a seriously spiral staircase. The actual view of the city isn't really worth the effort if you find the concept of climbing to the top daunting, or object to paying 2 Euros for the privilege of working off your lunch. But, I think it's one of those things where the experience is definitely fun. When else do you get to climb a very small spiral staircase? Also, one of the payoffs is that you get to check out the bells, and that you get a pretty good up-close look at the details on the spires. The builders put some serious thought into towers that they probably thought no one would ever really see up close. Right down to angels tucked into the crenelations, it is pretty mind blowing how much effort went into everything. I'd say we don't build 'em like they used to, but it's worth remembering that this particular building took over 600 years to finish. Might've been the details that were slowing them down.

Other than the cathedral there are twelve other churches in the main city that are still standing. The oldest one dates back to the 4th century, but I didn't visit it. One I did check out though was St-Maria-im-Kapitol, built in the 11th century. Aparently, it is special because of its trefoil, or clover-leaf, chancel. It was definitely pretty in a much cleaner way than the gothic cathedral. The inside is smaller but much brighter, and much more sparse. You get the feeling that it was meant to be simple, with only a few really obvious signs of ornamentation. On closer inspection, though, you can see the very faint, and fading, designs that used to decorate the stone walls. I got the feeling that the whole place would have been much richer and darker if the original paint was still vibrant. I kind of dig the monastic spareness of the inside now, though. It gets you dreaming about the middle ages, and time sort of stands still for awhile.

But as far as time travel goes, nothing can beat the Roman museum, and the Praetorium. I literally stumbled onto the Roman stuff in town. As I mentioned above, I had some galleries and museums in mind before I came, but never considered checking out the German-Roman museum. But there is was, right outside of the Dom. And as I was heading for the arcade for some shelter from the rain I caught a glimpse of the inside of the museum, and an amazing mosaic floor. This piqued my curiosity, and I decided to check the museum out - if only to get a closer look at the incredible mosaic. It turns out that the museum was built over top of the mosaic, which used to be in a Roman villa. The "Dionysus Mosaic" is one of the best preserved in Europe, made of 1.5 million pieces of stone. Little did I know, but Cologne was the capital of the Roman province of Lower Germania and was very prosperous between the 1st and 4th centuries. In fact, it was colonized by General Agrippa, and named Oppidum Ubirom (the Germanic tribes in the area were the Ubii), but renamed Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium by Agrippina (third wife of Emperor Claudius, mother of Nero). Even for those of you not up on your Roman history, you'll recognize that these were pretty heavy hitters. The rest of the museum has fragements of monuments and funerary stele, as you would expect, but also has quite a lot of everyday items. What was very interesting to me was the part of the exhibit that dealt with boats and the river. It's kind of wild to imagine that the river that I live two minutes away from had ships (albeit river boats) of the Roman fleet in it. But I guess it's no surprise that the river was as vital to them as it is to modern commerce. Some things never change. I was also reminded of how sophisticated the Roman civilization was. It's tempting to think of it as ancient, and therefore, unsophisticated. But looking at some of the things in that museum, it wasn't hard to appreciate just how much they accomplished without back hoes, Humvees, and cell phones!

In any case, the visit to the German-Roman museum made me want more, so later on in the day I headed to the Praetorium. The foundation of the Roman governor's villa hang out under the old town hall. So you can wander around these old foundations that are lit up kind of trippily. I also got the distinct pleasure of meandering down a segment of Roman sewer. Minus the poo, naturally. Can't say that was really a highlight, but it was definitely dank and sewery!

Other things I learned in Cologne, in no particular order: (1) I don't actually like the smell of "cologne" - yes that's where the word came from. It isn't very nice, at least to my nose. And it smells nothing like an Italian afternoon (which was its inspiration), not that I've been to Italy to say for sure. (2) The beer glasses are too small. Kolsch, the Koln beer, is served in glasses called meters (I think). They are very small. Especially when the typical beer in Germany is around a half litre. At first, I thought they were that small because it must have tons of alcohol in it. But no. Just normal beer, in small glasses. I am not a fan of this policy. Also, I found that the Kolsch wasn't really anything special (sorry Koln!). It was kind of watery and bland, but then, I didn't try them all! (3) It is better to have the Kolsch after climbing (and descending) the windy stairs, then before. Though I had no major problems manoevering post-Kolsch, I don't think that it helped to mitigate the dizziness produced by the endless spiral staircase! What do you know, I started and ended with words of wisdom! Next stop, Chamonix!

Salut!

February 2-4, 2007
Bremen - Take Two!
Second time's a charm - and I got to rub a wee wee!

These days I am all about spontaneous travel. It's not that I don't have more work to do here (I'm pretty much done my interviews though) or that I'm bored in Frankfurt. It's just that, my time is running awefully short and I'm kind of in 'when the heck will I ever have the chance to do this again?' mode, so the expense isn't as scary. Also, I've managed to find some pretty good last minute-ish sort of deals. So, on the weekend I decided to give Bremen another shot, and dropped in on Johanna and Bjoern again.

Now I should reiterate that, even though I have physically been to Bremen before, I didn't really see much of it. Basically from the Hauptbahnhof to Johanna's place. This time, I would have time to see most of the exciting stuff. And that I did. Oh indeed. Yes, I've laid my peepers on the windmill (lovely), and touched and sat on a number of bronze statues - sometimes even inappropriately! I saw the amazing Rathaus (city hall), main square (which is specatacular at night), the Dom named after Johanna's brother (St. Petri). There were no St Jen or St Johanna churches there though. I also learned that the statue of Roland - a German knight who holds a sword and a purse, usually, and symbolizes civic rights - in the square is the largest in Germany (probably the world) and that they keep a spare in the basement of the Rathaus and can assemble it in like, under five minutes. Just in case.

I also learned about some of the bizarre traditions of the city. Sure - a historical market isn't so strange. But there is one tradition where a tailor with an iron crosses the river (the Weser). Something about keeping it from freezing. But it's not like that's been a problem lately! There's also a funny one where if you are unmarried by the time you are thirty you have to go and sweep the stairs of the cathedral and clean doorknobs. You can only be saved from these bizarre tasks by being kissed by a virgin. So, if I was an unmarried thirty year old cleaning doorknobs, I would have to convince a fifteen year old boy to kiss me? That sounds illegal! And who knows what other traditions Bjoern wasn't telling me about!

My two favorite parts of the city were the historical streets (what a surprise!). The first one is called Boettcherstrasse - and I can honestly say I've never seen anything quite like it. Not only is the architecture absolutely amazing, but it is full of interesting things. The story goes that a wealthy coffee dealer in the city decided to turn the street from an area full of coopers and barrel makers, into a street of museums between 1923-1930. The result is that the whole street is built in a very modern expressionist style - that sort of reminded me of some of the later modernist architecture in Barcelona, but all in red brick. And it is tucked away, so it feels almost like a secret part of the city. And the good news is that it's not just museums. There's also some cute cafes, little shops, a casino, and one of the city's breweries, Schuettinger. So not only was I dazzeled by the street itself. But I also got to check off another brewary off my list! Boettcherstrasse also has a Glockenspeil that we managed to see. It's not a typical one where figures turn around in a tower, but one where a whole section of a tower wall turns revealing scenes in gold porcelain. From what I can tell from the German pamphlet Johanna bought me about the street, the 10 different panels celebrate the pioneering spirit embodied by Roselius (the coffee merchant) and the 'ocean crossers'. So each represents one, or a group of historical ocean crossers - including Columbus, Lindbergh, and Zepplin (to name a few).

My other favorite area is the Shnoor. This is the oldest part of the city and is full of historical buildings and narrow lanes. This was the quarter (or Viertel) that housed the fishermen and their families - and buildings dating from the 15th to 19th centuries have been restored and turned into restaurants, shops and galleries. I am a huge fan of not quite straight streets, cobblestones, and pedestrian areas, so this place definitely did it for me. Like a trip back in time. And also, since there are so many narrow alleyways to explore, it's a bit of an adventure trying to find your way around.

Other than the touristy stuff I had a great time hanging out with Johanna and Bjoern. We had a great time eating and drinking together. I discovered that I love falafal, and that pizza after the bar is just the ticket! Also, that Bjoern can make a mean feta scrambled egg, and that Johanna's aunt has a great soup recipe. We talked about a million things including linguistics and semiotics! But in case you think we were intellectual the whole time, let me assure you that we also spent some time trying to remember the name of "that show with Bizzy and Amanda" (Ready or Not), watched Home Improvement in German, and Bjoern managed to light a fart on fire even though he told me he'd never do it! We also visited some really fun bars, including one that looked like a cave, and another one that was in an alley that reminded me of Glasgow's bar strip (unfortunately I have pictures of neither! Guess I was busy...) where we went to a cocktail bar and Bjoern made a gay guy jealous. On Saturday night we went to Schuettinger and drank some beers. Also, I tried to start a new tradition...

You see, in many German cities there are these bronze statues everywhere and there are traditions that you rub them for luck. For example, in Munich you rub the lions nose. In Bremen you rub the leg of a donkey (check out the photo page for some great shots of me doing just that). I've rubbed both, and I've got to say - not feeling much luckier. The result is that, while most of the statue has a dark patina, the rubbed bit is clean and bronze - almost gold looking (check out the donkey leg above). Outside of the brewary some people have taken this tradition to a new level, and the bust of a nude woman has very, um, gold, breasts. This seems slightly unfair because there is a whole life sized statue of a naked man there too. So I started a new tradition. Maybe I'm a perv, but I'm rubbing the schlong! I've got to say - it felt luckier than the donkey leg! Anyhow, so I'm calling on all you ladies out there to join me in this new tradition - go on and give him a rub, for luck, or for whatever reason you want. I don't think you should need an excuse, if the guy's going to stand around naked he's got to expect a little inappropriate attention! Next time I go back to Bremen, I'm expecting the Schuettinger naked guy to have a gold member!

December 30, 2006 - January 1, 2007
Hamburg and Bremen
Once upon a time in the Hamburg train station, or, the story of how I've been to Bremen, but didn't get to see much of it...

First of all, happy new year to one and all. I hope holidays were joyful and filling, and that many full miles were, um, experienced. I should mention that this first holiday season completely away from home was sort of sad, but full of happiness with my new friends here, and quite relaxing (until relatively recently, i.e. said trip to Hamburg). Of course, I missed you all like crazy, our annual parties and traditions. But I didn't miss having to be at places at certain times, or getting out of bed before I wanted to on Christmas morning, or having to drive anywhere on Boxing Day. In fact, there isn't any Boxing Day here, just another day of holidays, and I didn't miss that either! It's funny what you do miss though, which are traditions and people, not gists or trees. And I guess we were all pretty much missing snow...Anyhow, here's a photo of us on Christmas Eve in Frankfurt, taken by yours truly.

Going from left to right are Anders (Tony's ex, he's a DJ), Guido (Erik's boyfriend), Erik (my roommate the opera singer - no he didn't do any carols that night), Tamas (a dancer who used to live in my room and stays here when he's in town), Tony (my roommate, dancer/artist/choreographer/genius in the kitchen), Mette (Carston's girlfriend) and Carston (one of Tony's friends). We had a seven course meal that night and could barely walk for the rest of the night. I still feel full and satisfied when I remember it! If you look carefully behind Mette you can see a bit of our tree that was topped with a fish head hat. Hey, what's so fun about being 100% traditional?

It was just after Christmas that I decided to take up Johanna on an invitation to come and visit her and Bjorn for New Years. It was sort of spontaneous of me ebecause I had always wanted to go up and visit them, but hadn't counted on it being so soon. Also, I wanted to do both Bremen and Hamburg in one trip to save some money (the train here is not cheap) and because they were pretty close together. Initially, I had tried to just go to Bremen and do a day trip to Hamburg, but it turned out to be cheaper to just go through Hamburg for the day and then head to Bremen. So I did.

Why Hamburg? Well, it is one of the biggest cities in Germany, but it also has an interesting history, culture and a geography very different from anywhere I had been yet. Located in the northwest part of the country, it was part of the Hanseatic League, which was an alliance of cities around the Baltic that established a trading monopoly in the 12th century. The league also included Riga, Danzig and Lubeck - even London at one point. In any case, it became an important trading city in Germany (much like Frankfurt) and developed as a city-state, rather than as part of any Land. These trading ties are actually visible in the architecture of the city, in the sense that many of the older Hamburg buildings have more in common with Scandanavian cities than any other German city I've been to yet (Bremen may have been similar...). Even though the city was pretty much destroyed during the war, the architectural traditon is echoed in newer buildings along the fleets and portside.

I also had to get to Hamburg to see an exhibit of the work of Casper David Friedrich, who is one of the most important and well-known of German painters of the Romantic era. I first saw some of his work in a book called Landscape and Memory by Simon Schama (I think). No I wasn't reading it, my dad was, but I looked at all of the pictures and really like the ones by Friedrich. Anyhow, the exhibit brought together almost the entire collection of his work from museums and galleries all over Europe, and was really impressive. In fact, it must have been crazy impressive, because people were lined up three deep just to see them! It was really amazing. I'm glad I went, but wished there had been less people so I could look at them at my own pace.

I went to the exhibit first thing when I got to Hamburg at 10:30 (I left Frankfurt at 6:30 on an ICE, fast train). After that I walked around, visiting some churches, taking a ride to the top of a gothic church tower in a glass elevator, and wound my way down to the port. The port is amazing. I am a port person for sure. I love the craziness of a really busy port - with all sorts of boats coming and going, and a zillion things going on a once. I hope some of the photos I took convey this sense of chaos, but the light was fading when I got down there, and it was crappy to begin with. After a very late lunch, I decided to wait for Johanna and Bjorn, who were coming in from Bremen to join me for a beverage or two before heading back, in a brew pub near the train station.

For those of you who don't know, I am on a mission. A very important mission, to taste all of the beers in Germany. I know this is likely impossible, but that is not going to stop me from giving it my all! To help me in my mission I recently bought a book called The Good Beer Guide to Germany, which lists all 1250 breweries (official ones, this is not counting the tradition of communal brewing in certain cities/towns) and 7500 beers in Germany as of April 2006. By my reckoning I've had maybe 35 of these (at last count), so I'm not doing so great. But I still have time!! So I spent some time in the Gronigen Bier Keller, and planned to go to another one when Johanna and Bjorn came. Which they did, and we spent a great time at Joh. Albrechts Brewpub, which has a nice view over one of the fleets (canals). We drank and caught up, and had a gay old time until we realized that we weren't going to make the 11:15 train back to Bremen. No problem, we thought, it's later than we were intending to leave (we were throwing a party the next night and wanted to save some energy, if you know what I mean! Therefore, half miles for us!) but we could catch the 12:15. That, for your information, is the last train each night from Hamburg to Bremen. EXCEPT, on December 31st. When it doesn't run at all. From what we could tell, it would run ANY OTHER DAY, other than that one. So we were officially stranded. In the train station. Until 6:15 in the morning. I don't think any of us slept at all for more than 15 minutes. And we learned some valuable lessons about what goes on in German train stations in the wee hours. From our experience, it was mostly full of drunkards, whose train to Keil was (grrr) running until 2 for some reason. I could go on about the 14 year old who was drinking 5 euro whiskey on the way back from a heavy metal concert, looking for people from Bavaria to beat up. Or his apparently well meaning older friend who tried to apologize for these youngsters behaviour, but was, in fact, more annoying than them. By the way, Doug and Frank from Canada, if you're out there, he says hi! Though I have to say that the older guy was a pretty good sport when he got up to leave saying jokingly that we were his intellectual superiors, and I who had stopped listening to him awhile ago, said thank you. Haha. Well, I didn't take it back! I mean all evidence pointed to the fact that we were, seeing we would all have spent more than five euros on whiskey, even if we just wanted to get loaded. But enough about that!

We finally got back to Bremen at 8 in the morning we all had a good nap, and got up to get ready for New Years, which was very fun. I can't say that I was my well rested and raring to go self. This diminished party attitude may also have had something to do with the fact that my train back to Frankfurt left the next day at 10:44. Whirlwind tour indeed. As a result, although I spent about 26 hours in Bremen all I saw was the inside of Johanna and Bjorn's flat (very sweet by the way), their backyard in the dark with fireworks, and the route to and from the train station.Woo hoo! No complaining though. I had a great time with them, having racallette for dinner with Christine and Joshi, who also brought their Feuerzange Bowle set, so we had some homemade, delicious 'fire tong punch'. And then at midnight the fireworks show got underway, which really has to be seen to be believed. Imagine every house in your neighborhood setting off 15 fireworks a minute (and good ones!) each for an hour and you would come pretty close. Johanna, Christine and I had a blast throwing little mini sticks of dynamite off the balcony and watching them blow up! So, all in all, I think it's pretty clear that Germans know how to party, and blow things up in style! Anyhow, there's so much more to tell, but I have to run to dance practice (it's the dress rehersal!). More on that later!

Miss you all - J