Watching NFL at the Old Dubliner

Watching NFL at Old Dubliner

Originally uploaded by mildog.

I got a little taste of the ‘States on Sunday night. There is a small Irish pub on the Hauptstrasse that plays the CBS noon game at 7pm Heidelberg time. They use the Sky (UK) feed, and the presentation is abysmal, but at least we got to see some football.

It was the Bucs/Dolphins game, so it was very little football. Also, you wouldn’t believe it…they basically never show the scores of other games. Oh well, like I said, it was football.

And at least I didn’t have to watch Penn State lose to Michigan.

Trip to Munich

Glockenspiel

Originally uploaded by mildog.

I had a great trip to Munich this weekend. In addition to the trip to Neuschwanstein, we also saw some other great sights:

1. The Glockenspiel
2. Peterskirche (Alter Petr)
3. Hofbrauhaus

In addition to these (which we saw on Saturday and Sunday), a small group of us came down on Friday night (it makes the trip short when you can drive over 200km/h on the Autobahn), and went out. We found out about a great place called Augustiner Keller (a beer cellar), and ended up shutting that one down. It is leaps and bounds better than the Hofbrauhaus. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera that night. But, the other two guys didn’t, so I’ll upload their pictures when I get them.

For now, here is the set of Munich Pictures.

Neuschwanstein Castle

Neuschwanstein Castle

Originally uploaded by mildog.

I went to Munich over the last weekend, and on Saturday we went to Neuschwanstein Castle. It is one of three castles built by King Ludwig II. He built it to pay tribute to his friend Richard Wagner (Think “Ride of the Valkeries”), so the entire inside is painted with murals from Wagner’s different operas.

The trip down there was a bit long. We left Munich at about 11:15am, with the understanding that it was supposed to take 1 1/2 hours. 3 hours later, we made it. Country roads.

It was a great time. You can see the set of pictures here. By the way, you may remember this castle as the model for the Disney castle.

Talking to my Baby from Germany

I’ve been reading to Lindy most nights that I’ve been home lately. However, since I’m now away in Germany, it makes it really hard (and cost prohibitive) to spend all that time on the phone.

So, I brought “Goodnight Moon” (no thanks Kim and Josh) with me to Heidelberg, and I used my PDA to record me reading it. I sent it to Rhya (with a recorded message for her as well), so she can play it for Lindy.

Not the most ideal, but it makes a hard situation a little easier.

Update: Happy now, Kim?

View of Castle from Haupstrasse

View of Castle from Haupstrasse

Originally uploaded by mildog.

We took a trip to Heidelberg Castle (Schloss Heidelberg) on Sunday. I have published a picture set of some of the sights.

The flight over wasn’t too bad, but we got in at 5:15am Walldorf time. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get into our rooms until around 10:30am, so we took a looong walk around Heidelberg. We walked on the Philosopher’s walk, which is absolutely awesome. However, it was too foggy to get good pictures. I’m sure I’ll go on it again. Basically, it is a walk on a hill overlooking all of Heidelberg.

I slept like a baby from 9pm till 5am, which makes me very lucky. Most everyone else had trouble, considering it is like sleeping from 2pm until 10pm, then getting up and going to work.

I ran this morning Heidelberg, and I’m glad I didn’t get lost. The fog here rivals San Diego’s May and June fog.

Anyway, everything is going well travel-wise. We’ll see how the testing goes (probably won’t report on here).

Update: Here is an interactive map of Heidelberg.

2 Plumbers – No Crack

I’m leaving for Germany on Saturday. So, of course, our garbage disposal goes haywire, and makes the sink in the kitchen totally unusable on Tuesday. Fortunately, my Dad had an evening free, so we went out to Lowes and got a new disposal and all of the piping (we thought) we needed to get the job done. Unfortunately, we didn’t have everything we needed to keep the flow of the sink heading downward. I’ll spare everyone the details, but a quick trip to Nena’s hardware to get some more PVC made quick work of the disposal. Everything runs like a dream, and Rhya won’t be stranded with a bunch of dirty dishes.

Thanks, Dad (for the bed support you made, too)!!