We´re coming home...

Well, the tickets are bought and we will be arriving back into Chicago at 2pm Illinois time on the 1st of August. That´s after a LONG flight and an overnight stay in the Dublin airport. We plan on taking the next couple of days back in good old Michigan getting adjusted back to the time zone. :)

This is the "official" announcement for the party though. Their will be a barbecue at Mom and Dad Fues´s house on Saturday the 4th of August. I am told that hot dogs and hamburgers will be provided. Please BYOB and a dish to pass. Food will be served at about 5:30pm.

If you need anymore information (address and such) please email Mike or I! Hope to see you all there!!

Venice

June 13 - 14, 2007

Lisa really wanted to go to Venice while she was here in Europe. Sadly, Mike could not go with us because he had class, but he had already been to Venice in High School. So, Lisa and I took the night train into Venice while Mike stayed in Munich. The train left Munich at about midnight and then got into Venice at about 7:30am. It was wonderful. Not many places were open, but we found a café selling great pastries that we ate while watching the city wake up. The island of Venice is not all that large, and we bought a map, so we decided to wander through the streets while making our way to Piazza San Marco. Its so much harder than it sounds. Venice has wonderful narrow winding streets that you could get lost in for days. At times the streets stop at a wall, canal, or building and you have to backtrack and find a different street, and because the streets are not straight, its incredibly easy to walk in the wrong direction. Thank goodness for the street index on the map!
We finally made our way across the Grand Canal near the Accademia. We had heard all about this building in Art History 101 at GVSU and still remembered the name 7 years after the class, so we really wanted to see it. It was under construction… So there was scaffolding and big advertisements all over it. But at least the views of the city from the bridge over the canal were great.
It only took us 3 ½ hours to get to Piazza San Marco, but we got there! The Piazza is huge and filled with people, even at 11:00am. It’s a huge tourist thing to buy pigeon food and feed the birds. Well, the stupid people actually feed the things out of their hands so that the pigeons climb all over them. They even let them land on their heads! And parents think this is great. Photo opportunity of the century to them. All I could think off is all the diseases those little rats with wings probably carried and how they have to poop sometime with all that food. I hope that they scrub their children with bleach after playing with those vile birds. The line to get into the basilica was pretty long, so we decided to come back during lunch time since the lines are usually shorter while everyone is eating.
In the meantime we wandered more streets. Its interesting to see a big city like that without cars and how they get on without them. Everything is done by boat: the trash pick-up, laundry pick-up/drop off, some market stalls were done by boat, travel, etc. The canals are, of course, pretty gross. The water color is fairly unnatural and things are floating in it all over. We did see kayakers, but again I think a good scrubbing with bleach afterwards would have to be in order. I think living in Venice during the hot summer months would have been pure torture as a child. You can definitely not swim in the canals nor do I think you can in the surrounding ocean.
We checked out taking a gondola ride, but for a forty minute ride, it was going to be 80 euro (about $100). Given that Mike and I have no real income this summer, I didn’t think that this would be a wise spending of our money. But I doubt I would have said “ok” if we did have income. That’s a really expensive 40 minutes when I could just walk the streets and see the same thing.
We moseyed through more streets and did lots of window shopping as we made our way back to San Marco. By the time we got back to the basilica, the line was much shorter and moving much faster. All the ladies in short skirts/shorts and sleeveless tops were holding us up greatly. You would think that more guidebooks would tell you that in Italy you HAVE to dress appropriately to get into churches. Maybe they do and no one pays attention…
The inside of the basilica is incredibly beautiful. There are amazing mosaics all over the walls, and even the floors are beautiful. You cannot take pictures inside, which is understandable, but is still a bummer. It would be nice not to have to buy expensive postcards, but such is life. We went into the treasury, which neither of us knew what to expect. I had not been into any of them yet, but it was interesting. Along with some beautiful old objects - such as bible covers, goblets, candelabras, etc. – there are bones of various Saints. None of them were labeled, so I have no idea what ones are what, but it was slightly creepy to see all the bones of long dead Saints.
Our hotel for the night was on the mainland. So we made our way back to the other side of the island and to our hotel. Instead of coming back into the city center that night, we were recommended a pizzeria in the area. Not only was it much cheaper than the island, but it was frequented by actual Italians, not tourists. Nice to know the food is authentic enough to be eaten by people that live there! And the pizza was very, very tasty.
The next day we headed back to Venice and went straight to the small island of Murano, which is known for their glass making. When we got there, we were able to see the glass being made and the process was explained to us. It was really interesting, and really HOT in that room. I cannot imagine working there, but those guys were incredibly talented. The island was really pretty to walk around in and window shop. There were lots of shops selling the glass works, but they were really expensive, and those that weren’t… I would be afraid would break on the way back to Michigan.
After Murano, we headed over to Burano. Its an even smaller island known for their beautiful lace work. It took us even less time to window shop through the town center, but the lace work was very beautiful. The rest of the town was great as well. The houses were brightly painted and the flowers were gorgeous. By the time we were done pursuing the islands, it was almost 3pm and it sounded like a huge thunderstorm was coming in. We wanted to get back to the main island of Venice before it fully rolled in. Thankfully, we just got the cool winds from the storm and saw the lightening and thunder. It threatened on and off all day, but passed us every time! We walked through more streets, watched people in Piazza San Marco – and there are a lot of them to watch! – and then headed to dinner. We ate at a wonderful little restaurant right off Piazza San Marco. Service is a lot more hands off there, so we were easily able to have a long Italian meal, which was great as we needed to kill time before our train headed out at 11pm.
Venice is incredibly pretty – the streets are beautiful, the canals interesting, and the food amazing – but it was nice to be going back to Munich. It was my first vacation without Mike since I met him. I did not like vacationing without him, even for a couple of days.

The Englischer Garden

June 5, 2007
After Mike got out of class today, we headed over to the Englischer Garden to have lunch. We had heard rumor of this park being frequented by naked sun bathers. When we poked through the park on the Sunday before there were no naked people, apparently we just were not in the correct part of the park. As Mike and I were walking up to a pretty waterfall… I caught view of a naked man. Not so bad from far away; you cannot see anything. But we did stop and watch the guy wander through that part of the park for a few minutes. I think I would begin to feel self-conscious as I walked next to clothed people with babies, but hey, that’s just me. I have no idea if there were more naked people, we didn’t explore.
After a beer in the beer garden in Hofgarten, we did explore more of the markets. All along Kaufingerstrasse in the pedestrian area, there are fruit and vegetable stands. Its great! I love getting all the fresh fruit. After wandering through those, we went over to the main open air food market, Virktualienmarkt. There are meat vendors (in buildings), fruit and vegetable vendors, people selling spices, crafts goods, flowers, souvenirs, etc. Its wonderful. Not only is the fresh food wonderful, but it also helps my German vocabulary. Before we came here I new very little… just what I remember from the 6 weeks I learned German in 8th grade. It was a while ago.

Hofbraühaüs

June 6, 2007
After seeing a pretty church (Michaelskiche) we headed over to the Hofbraühaüs for a beer. Not a massive one like the last time. A normal person sized beer. Anyway… this band was playing while we were there. I cannot remember the technical name for this band type, but it was neat to see!

Hofbraühaüs and the other numerous Beer Gardens of Germany

June 4, 2007
Well, needless to say, Mike and I enjoy beer. I loved the real ale beers of Scotland and Mike kept promising me I would love German beer just as well. Today I tried something called a Radler. They take the light beer and mix it with lemonade. I know it doesn’t sound tasty, but I was assured it was. It was okay, but they put too much lemonade in it. Maybe next time??
The restaurants here only sell beer from one brewer, which is interesting. The brewers only make a light (pilsner), a dark (dunkles) and a wheat beer (wiese). There are a few variations in some of the restaurants and breweries, but not many. Either way, Scotland beer is way better. Germany may be better known for their beer, but Scotland much more superior in the beer making process. According to Mike, I just need to give it time and try more…

Lisa Arrives

June 7, 2007
One of our friends came out to see us, all the way from Vancouver, Washington. Her flight plan over was incredibly long, so we expected her to be exhausted by the time she got here. Not so. We took her to a couple of beer gardens though, and out for German food. What better way to start a German vacation than with beer? J Actually, it was a public holiday, so everything was closed down except restaurants and museums. A beer garden seemed like the better option.
We went out to dinner at a place called Weissebraühaüs. First, pork is very popular here. Not many other meats are sold in the stores, and if it is, its expensive, and the restaurants are much the same. Its torture for anyone like me who hates pork (except salami and pepperoni – but the turkey versions are just as nice.) Pork is not something I have ever liked and unlike asparagus, I have never grown to like it. It might not be a very fatty meat, but I think its vile. So at dinner, I had one of the few non-pork meals, German style mac n’ cheese. And it was wonderful. Pork knuckles, livers, diaphragm, etc just did not appeal to me at all. I may starve here… At least there are lots of fruits and veggies, and there is always good old pasta.

Peterskirche and the Virktualienmarkt

June 8, 2007
After Mike got out of class today, we headed to the Virktualienmarkt for lunch. You can get lachs sandwiches there. Mike’s mom and dad make them every year for Christmas, and we wanted to try the real German version. It’s a sandwich with smoked salmon and onions. I am not going to lie, the texture is very odd for me and I can never really eat a whole one. They are REALLY good, but the fish has the texture of sashimi. But after poking around the market again and buying dinner, we went over to Peterskirche. (A kirche is German for church.) The church is very beautiful and ornate. You can climb up the towers to see the city from above. It was a very tight climb up, which was slightly stressful at times since the walkway is meant for two-way traffic. But we got to the top, and the view was wonderful. The town hall in Munich is absolutely beautiful. It has a massive glockenspiel that is at about eye level from the top of the towers. We couldn’t see the Alps because it was too hazy, but it was great to see the city. There are lots of other towers in Munich to climb and we have a lot of days left to climb them!

Neuschwanstein

June 9, 2007
Through the language program Mike is attending, we were able to get a great deal on going to Neuschwanstein, the palace that Disney used when designing their signature castle. It is a two hour train ride from Munich and it set in the Alps. The area is incredibly beautiful AND we got to visit the town of Füssen. SO cool for me. Sadly, by the time we were done with the palace and all the hiking, most of the town was closed up, but I did find a little charm in place of a hat pin (which can be very expensive here – bracelet charms are usually much cheaper.)
The castle has a one mile steep path up to it, and the views are wonderful. There is another palace in the area that you are able to look down upon, and the Alps are a stones throw away. The palace exterior was fully completed, but the interior is 65% incomplete. King Ludwig the II went crazy and was killed before it was complete. Some of the jewels are paste because of it. But what was complete was incredible. And the views from the windows are amazing. You cannot take pictures inside the castle, but you can take them out the windows, which is odd. Most times they ban picture taking all together for time.
They heard you like sheep through the palace though. You cannot wander at your own pace, which is irritating, but they have tons of people visiting everyday. We got there are 11:30am to buy tickets, and our tour was at 1:30pm. And tours are given every few minutes in a multitude of languages. The tours are so close, that the next tour is filling into the room as we were leaving. That’s time management for you!

Munich Street Festival 2007

June 10, 2007
One of the guys in Mike’s class told us about a street festival in Munich, so we thought we would check it out. There was a lot of stuff going on, so we’re glad we went. The highlight was an event call Parcouring. There was a course set up with a path all outlined. All the runners had to follow the path and were timed and marked down for any steps off the line. Those guys were incredibly fast! Granted it was the World Championships, so they had to be good to get there, but still, it was amazing. They had to run up stairs, climb all over stuff, roll, run over balance beams, jump and climb walls, and even climb through a police van. It was really fun to watch.
There were also lots of food booths, beer booths, and eco-awareness booths. Lisa has a degree in environmental studies and works for a conservation program in Oregon, so she was quite interested in all the booths (not that we weren’t as well.) We had French crepes to sustain us for our wandering, and then explored the booths. There was tons of information on various topics. Green Peace was there in all their craziness. They had a girl dressed in a thick rubber like tree outfit, complete with hairy legs, collecting money. My first thought was: I highly doubt that costume is eco-friendly. We stayed away from the Green Peace booth though, so I didn’t ask. They might have beat me if I did. We did give organic beer another try. We had tried some in Scotland, and usually they are not tasty. This one actually was. Pretty impressive. Mike was excited to finally drink a beer while walking through the streets. The drinking laws here are all sorts of crazy. On my morning walks through the city, I see people drinking by 10:30am (and that’s with most of the beer gone), you can drink while walking through the streets, on the subway, really where ever you like. And while everything might be closed on a Sunday and a religious holiday, not the beer gardens. In fact, in most of them you cannot even get ½ liter beers on those days, only whole liters. Beer is very important here.
After the drinking in public thrill, we headed over to the Englischer Garten. The park is huge with all sorts of popular spots. We went to the Chinese Turm, where there is another beer garten (I swear they are every 500 feet!). There was a band playing up in the turm, which was really nice. They played quite the array of music too. This beer garten is right next to the naked part of the park. Even more naked people today… even naked male soccer! I can see sun bathing, many people don’t want the tan lines, but naked sports? That’s odd. In the park there is a museum called Haus der Kunst, which is an art museum that was built by a Nazi architect which has housed art since 1937. It started with propaganda art and then opened a display mocking modern art. Rather ironic as it now houses famous modern artists. I have no idea what any of it means, but supposedly the artists are quite famous. We decided to go because (1) its free on a Sunday, and (2) the history of the building was interesting. Alas, there was nothing regarding its start, but, needless to say, that period of time is still touchy over here. The first exhibit was a huge replica of The Last Supper all made out of Styrofoam. Then there was homemade movie clips and video images all over the room. I have no idea what it was supposed to be telling me at all.
The next exhibit was one on ‘Gilbert & George.’ They are apparently two modern artists from London, who I believe are a couple. Some of the work was interesting, but others were disturbing. I saw more of the male genitalia in that exhibit than I ever wanted to see. And people were bringing children there. One of there goals was to make modern art easier to understand by the general public, but I still didn’t get it.

Ammersee and Andechs

June 11, 2007

While Mike was in class, Lisa and I headed over to Ammersee. It is a big lake southwest of Munich. There are ferries you can take to other villages, swimming, and hiking. We couldn’t figure out the ferry schedule because there were all these random options that made no sense, so we decided to just walk along the lake. To walk/bike around the whole thing is about 30km, which was way more that we wanted to do, but a little bit was great. It rained a bit while we were walking – and we had of course forgotten rain coats – but other than that it was a great hike. We were able to see the mountains off in the distance and the rain pouring down on them. The path stops when you hit the wetlands though. And we had no desire to walk along small roads, so we headed back to the town of Herrsching to met Mike and head over to the town of Andechs.
Andechs is a little town known for its church and beer hall. The Braüstüberl (beer hall name) is located within the same complex as the church, which is a little odd. But the beer has been brewed by the monks here for ages. Maybe that makes it okay. Either way, the beer was pretty decent. The light and dark beers were both great, but the wheat beer tasted a lot like cloves. Cloves are not bad when in the proper recipe, but it was an interesting taste in beer. Definitely not my favorite at all.

Munich

After a delayed plane, and a lost cabbie, we finally got to what we thought would be our apartment for the next two months. Come to find out is more like a home stay. With lots of rules about where things go, and a family that you never see. The never seeing the famly thing does not bother us at all, its all the rules about where things go. And we share a bathroom and kitchen area with the lady of the house´s business. Which means everything must be clean and in its place all the time... such as life, an apartment would have been nice, but its a lot better than the last place we left. No mold and mildew everywhere! Its quite a ways outside of the city center and takes us about an hour to get in every morning, but thats okay. We were able to get transportation cards for the month for both of us, so have been putting them to use!
The city here is beautiful and the weather is wonderful compared to the gray skies and continual rain of Scotland, but I miss English. I have never before even visited a country in which I was not able to speak to people. Even in Italy, I knew what was going on as it is very similar to Spanish. Not here. Some words are similar to English, but its still rough. I am catching on to a few words though... mainly foods and 'please can I have a beer' ... the important words. :)

Good-bye Scotland

Tomorrow we fly to Munich. We leave at around noon our time and will get into Munich airport at about 4:15pm their time. (We will then be 6 hours behind Michigan time.) Our new landlord is also a cabbie, so thankfully he will be meeting us at the airport. We of course have to pay, but its better than taking a train, then a subway, then a bus, then walking the rest of the way to our apartment with 3 big bags and two carry-ons.
We have been busy this week trying to cram more of sight-seeing in Scotland, packing, changing addresses, and all the rest of the odds and ends that comes with moving. We are now exhausted. After 8 months, you forget how tiring moving can be. Especially between countries. And on top of it all, since we are flying within Europe we only get one bag each. Lovely. Thank goodness mom, dad, and Mike's mom all brought suitcases home for us or we would be screwed. We still had to leave a few things behind, and pay for another bag. At least we didn't have to leave a ton behind AND the airline deems to have unrestricted carry on bag weight. We are using that to its fullest. :)
We have no idea what our situation in Germany will be. We don't know if we will be able to get Internet access in our apartment, if we will have phone access, etc. In other words, the posting may be even more erratic than before. But the good news is... we have plane tickets home!! :) Mike bought them last night so we now have a definite date we are returning to Chicago. So... we will see you all after August 1st. Our plane gets in at Dublin at 10:15pm and then doesn't leave again until 11:00am the next day. By the time we land in Chicago at 2pm on the 1st, I am sure that we will be more than exhausted... but at least we will be home again after our 10 month stint over here. It has been fun, but home is starting to sound awful nice. SO, we'll hopefully see you all in a couple of months!