Germany - In Words and Pictures
Now that I’m back in Spain it’s time to post a wrap up of the highlights from my trip to Germany. If you want to see the photos, I have uploaded over 100 to my Flickr account, including some great shots from the morning after a night of snow.
Anyway, here are the highlights, in no particular order, with a few accompanying photos.
The Klaus Factor - Perhaps the most memorable part of my trip was the encounter with Klaus. Klaus is a 63 year-old former bodybuilder who now runs an Italian specialty shop, selling mostly a ton of great wines. The first time I met him we were eating in an Italian restaurant and he had (obviously) been there several hours eating and drinking wine. He came over to our table offering a bottle of wine and I was introduced. Being that he was a bit tipsy I don’t think he realized how much it hurt when he shook my hand…it was definitely clear that he was a former bodybuilder. However the best encounter came several nights later when we joined Klaus in his shop for an after-hours wine-drinking/cheese-eating get together. To make a long story short we started at 8 PM and didn’t stop until after 12 AM. I walked out with 3 bottles of wine, Klaus’s gift to me. Amazing how generous he (and all of those I met in Germany) are. The next morning I was pleasantly surprised to wake up without a hangover despite drinking more than I had in a very very long time. I chalk this up to the quality of the wine we drank. The day before I left I went to Klaus’s shop and bought a quality bottle of Grappa, promising to visit Klaus again.
SNOW! - Ok, ok, I know this isn’t a big deal for many people, but for me it is. I got a good share of snow, and was amazed by how beautiful everything looks when covered in it. Just a few pictures I took to give an example:
These pictures come from a park that was once the grounds of a nearby “castle,” or more or less the estate of a noble.
Generosity - This post would not be complete without a big thank you for everyone’s generosity: Soeren, Soeren’s parents Kerstin and Karsten, Ricki and her family, and many others.
Now I am back at the residence, which is basically a ghost town. I should be working on one of my projects which is due in a few weeks, but I can’t seem to make myself do it. Maybe later today. Since I was lucky enough to get an Ipod Nano for Christmas as well as a 15 dollar ITunes gift certificate, I recently downloaded a great audiobook, and find myself spending a lot of time just laying around listening to it. Also, of course, I keep dabbling around with design and stuff, but nothing too concrete yet. I already have a good post in mind for tonight or tomorrow, so until then…