Meh-ünchen

As I mentioned before, Jeni and I have been able to take some long weekends, and these mini-breaks have allowed us to visit even more storied cities here in the Old World. Most recently we traveled to Munich,  the historic and political heart of Bavaria. München, as it's known in German, is well know for her beer halls, her crazy kings and of course her dubious denizens who went on to form the Third Reich in the beginning of the 20th century.

For those of you that have been keeping up with our kooky adventure for the last two-and-a-half years, thank you! You faithful readers also know that we are generally positive people, and its obvious that Jeni and I fall in love with places far too easily. Unfortunately I will have to bust this trend with our sojourn to Bavaria's capital city. Perhaps it was the cold and gray weather, maybe it was the fact that every significant edifice was undergoing renovations, or perchance it was the revelers that clogged the city streets that gave us a not so impressive view of this really fantastic city. Alas, there you have it…we just were't impressed with Munich, BUT do continue dear reader as there's bound to be some interesting tidbits!

Every edifice except, of course, the famous Glockenspiel.

The first thing we realized on the 45 minute train trip from the airport is that Germany's largest state is utterly flat. Pancake flat. I mean where are all of the Fairytale Castles Nestled in alpine mountains? If you don't believe me, just study this map…

See…dark "White Beer."

Munich's name is derived from the German word for, "Monk." It was these monks that originally settled in the area, and as we all know monks make beer. This beer culture permeates life throughout this region culminating in the annual Oktoberfest. Now, you know that I am not opposed to a nice beer from time to time, but these guys take beer-drinking to a whole new level. A small beer in Munich is 1/2 liter, and there is very little distinction among the various "varieties" of beer. A dark Weißbeer (yes, Virginia,  they do exist) tastes pretty much like the Helles which tastes exactly like the Pislner. This deserves our first, "meh." That said, the food scene in Munich is rather interesting. There are loads of vegetarian restaurants, and the Münchenern are certainly not afraid of experimenting and trying new cuisines. Munich definitely broke the bratwurst and sauerkraut stereotype. This certainly deserves our first, "woohoo!"

Veggie Burgers!

…and of course, the traditional Bavarian snack. 

Munich is also well know for her tremendous history, and for some amazing architecture. Again, unfortunately during our visit the buildings that weren't bombed flat by the allies were wrapped in construction tarps and scaffolds. To be fair Jeni and I didn't travel down to the mountains to see Crazy King Ludwig's masterpieces, but I am not exaggerating when I say every building of note was under some sort of renovation. You'd think the city elder's might have planned this a bit better. "Meh" number two.

Like the Frauenkirche Cathedral.

And the Theatine Church...

…which is really lovely inside!

This leads me to my third and final, "meh." Anyone who does not live under a rock knows that the Germans love their soccer, and Bayern Munich may be one of the hottest teams in club-league right now. The weekend of our trip to Die Roten (literally 'The Reds') lifted the Bundesliga trophy before thousands (?) of faithful supporters…all of whom started drinking beer around 10am. Needless to say, this may be one more reason we were lukewarm during our holiday in Germany's Star of the South.

Mayhaps, we are just spoiled. Probably so. At any rate, I wouldn't say we had a bad time in Muncih. In fact the people were warm and welcoming, and their restaurants exceeded expectations. In fact now that I reflect back on our trip, I would certainly say there were many interesting things we discovered while in Bavaria. Not the least of which was River Surfing on the Isar. Woohoo!

Straddlin' an Ocean Ain't Easy

Well, this is close to Alexandria.
Unfortunately my phone crashed and took with it my pics of Old Town :-/

Fear not dear reader, this blog is not nearly as dead as has been reported. These lengthy silences mean either Jeni and I are super busy or that we are super bored. In fact, we have been have been absolutely rushed off of our feet since our visit back to the States in April. We spent about half of April in and around our beloved Old Town Alexandria, so we were able to catch up with many friends and family members…plus we loaded up on All-American staples like Pupusas, gourmet Pizza and Mujaddara! We caught up with with many friends, but not everyone. Sorry to those of you that slipped through the cracks on this trip, and loads of thanks to everyone that put us up and put up with us! By far the highlights were surprising my parents in Philadelphia just before my Mom's birthday, breakfast at Chez Angel and of course eating our way across the mid-Atlantic. 

Just after we 'showed up' for a play featuring my awesome nephew Chris and his equally amazing sister Lauren.

…and here's how you start a day at Angel and Mike's place. Complete with the outrigger canoe!

Psyche. But there were loads of selfies…and selfies of selfies...

and loads of homemade treats! 

Thanks again Mike and Angel!

Keeping our trip home a secret from my parents wasn't too difficult. In fact no one (that I am aware of) had to lie, but I am certain my folks will now read our emails looking for vague statements and sentences that could be construed in more than one way. Honestly, it was probably more difficult on our end to not spill the beans, so I don't think we'll be trying more subterfuge anytime soon.  Nonetheless it was wonderful to see the looks on their faces. Thanks once again for everyone that helped with this…

Mom-O surrounded by her adoring children...

Happy Birthday, Mom!!!

As if two weeks in the States visiting everyone from Philadelphia to Easton, MD weren't proof enough that we have an awesome and supportive network, we were blessed with two visits from folks heading this direction. The weekend after we arrived back in the Grand Duchy our dear friends (and recent hosts), Andy and Chris, made there way over to Brussels after a river cruise down the Danube. Then our amazing amiga Abbey stopped over in the storybook beautiful city of Wiesbaden, Germany for a weekend. Needless to say, we hopped in the Mini and drove out to see everyone, and discovered some new places along the way! 

Visiting Chris and Andy in the lobby of the Brussels Hilton…ironically directly in front of the rail station the day after a rail strike that changed everyones plans for a day or two ;) 

Abbey and Lora in Weisbaden...

…which is a stunningly beautiful place. All of the historic buildings and hot springs were mostly untouched during the war!

…and here's the Ultimate team. Battered and scabby but still smiling! 

Now if all of this back and forth doesn't have your head spinning yet, just wait. May is known in this part of the world as a Swiss Cheese month because of all the holes in the calendar. As Jeni says, "The struggle is real!" With three long weekends, May is absolutely made for touring Europe. I am sure this post has a stream-of-conciousness vibe because I don't actually even know which day it is today. Anyhow…Since returning from the US, I have also been to Ghent, Belgium for a three day Ultimate Tournament, and Jeni and I just spent a four day weekend in Munich downing beers and dodging Bayern Munich fans. Looking back at the calendar I also see that we also peppered in a few dinners with Lux-o-friends, worked on a couple side projects (of the garden variety) as well as kept up with the normal day-to-day goings-on. Pfff!

Literally…garden projects :0

All that said, we are glad to be back in sleepy little Luxembourg. The trip home was awesome and certainly too brief. The visits from friends coming this direction were fantastic and helped to stave off any homesickness, and our travels around Europe are wonderful distractions that broaden our understanding of the cultures in which we find ourselves immersed. As the title of this post alludes, we have discovered a fabulous place here in Luxembourg, but the pull of "Home" is always present. For now we will be happy with the knowledge that we have so many tremendous people in our lives, both here and back in the States. I think we will just enjoy this feeling hovering somewhat weightless between two wonderful worlds. 

OMG! Gourmet Pizza…I just want what I want on a dam pizza! S'allimsayin. 

And, finally I leave you with my new look we discovered in Target. I call it the Walter White Cruise Collection.

"Say my name."

An Ultimate Tournament

No, seriously, we just hosted an Ultimate Frisbee tournament here in the Grand Duchy. It was the first time Luxembourg ever held such an event. It was the fifth and final installment of the Saar-Rhein-Mosel Regional WinterLiga. In fact, Ultimate deLux placed second overall out of fifteen teams in this series of indoor tourneys. Second place is pretty impressive considering just last year we ranked sixth among eleven teams.

I say, "we," because as some of you may recall I joined the local Frisbee team shortly after we arrived here. I've been practicing quite a bit and playing in tournaments when I can. Ultimate has truly been a fantastic discovery. It's a wonderful sport played by people that are friendly, quite athletic and a whole lot of fun. I know it sounds silly, but this sport really takes all sorts of skills and a lot of endurance. Aside from the fact that I can be hyper-competative, Ultimate really appeals to me because of the strict adherence to the "Spirit of The Game". This is a principal of FairPlay in a sport where there are no referees of judges. If there is a foul or an infraction, the matter is sorted out between the players involved right there and then. This Spirit carries through after the match when the two competing teams gather to congratulate each other, to encourage each other and to compliment or advise on the recent plays.

In a nutshell, Ultimate is a amalgamation of many popular American sports…we just play with a 175 gram disc of plastic. The object is to pass the disc to your teammate in an end-zone like American football while the opposing team tries to stop them by defending the pass. There is limited physical contact as any contact is prohibited just like in basketball. Once the disc is caught the player must stop and pivot on one foot just as in basketball. If the disc is dropped or thrown out of bounds then there is a turnover. Its actually quite a simple game, but as with most games the devil is in the details. Add in some trick shots and a healthy dose of deception, and this game becomes quite interesting, indeed. Needless to say I have become addicted.

The game day here was a great success. Luxembourg hosted teams from Germany and France full of international players from far flung places like Brazil, Canada and of course the Good ol' U.S. of A! We were supported by a bevy of friends and family, and of course there was loads to eat and drink. We kinda went a little overboard, but everyone really enjoyed the catering. It was such a success that we hope to host an outdoor tournament later in the year, so I'll keep you posted. The play was intense, and the Spirit was great. We even made it into the local newspaper…again! If you want to see all the pics here's a link to the gallery page on our team's website.

Ta-Ta for Now :)

This may (or may not) have been the girl that beaned some Luxembourger in the head one evening last winter!
She doesn't look dangerous at all...

Chamonix

There are still a couple weeks left before the official end of winter, but the crocuses here in Luxembourg are already signaling the upcoming equinox. Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let's take you to the picturesque alpine village of Chamonix, France. Jeni and I joined a group of friends for a long weekend of skiing and revelry. Since neither Jeni nor I ski, we simply made the trek for some fun in the snowy French Alps….and of course to help out with the revelry!

Situated below the massive Mont Blanc, the village of Chamonix has a long tradition of welcoming tourists. Back in 1744 two English adventure seekers, Pococke and Windham,  wrote of their travels to the Mer de Glace glacier in a British journal, and the rest is history. The first Winter Olympics in 1924 were held there, and Chamonix even makes a cameo in Mary Shelly's Frankenstein! 

Mont Blanc(15,781 ft)  as seen from L'aguille du Midi (12,605 ft)

All I can say for the place is that it is truly stunning, and there was enough to do beyond the ski slopes that Jeni and I kept busy for four days. We traveled up and down the valley and mountains that surround the quaint town by cable car, in a funicular train and on foot. I think our selflies speak volumes, so I'll let them do the talking :) Enjoy...we'll be back soon enough with our next escapade!

Actually we just went to the local WalMart and had these taken in front of a fake screen...

Getting pulled up the Luge track.
Sorry no pics on the way down…needed two hands to hold on for dear life!

In our handcrafted hats made with love by our dear friend Jenn W back in Virginia!

Oh…and here are some other shots of the scenery!

L'aguille Rouge above the Mer de Glace

Mer de Glace

The Grande Hotel du Montenvers built in 1880...

…is accessed by this fun little FUNicular tram :)

Half way to the summit of L'aguille du Midi

Two cable cars take you from the village at 1035 m to the summit at 3842 m!

The air is quite thin up there, and I actually suffered from the altitude. We spent the better part of the day up in the high altitudes, so by the end I finally got acclimated. Our day at the summit was stunningly beautiful. The clouds and some snow rolled in the next day therefore many of the cable cars didn't operate for much of the weekend. We certainly got lucky on that day!

Off-Piste skiers queueing for the chance to glide down the glacier!

The village of Chamonix. The mountains behind are where the traditional ski slopes begin.

And, don't ask me how the Inuits fit in here, but hey just go with it!