sluggobear

Visiting my folks for the weekend, and my (5 younger) sisters are coming, too. Should be a nice time!

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Visiting the Museum of Anthropology, I couldn't help but think of that scene from Pee Wee's Big Adventure. ("Yes, there are thousands of ways to prepare corn..."

There were some neat artifacts, displays and exhibits.

There was an interesting video exhibit as well. Apparently they'd asked young children to draw pictures of Mexico. Then the drawings were computer-animated and incorporated into a montage. Here's a clip:

During the week we also visited Museo de Dolores Olmedo, Casa Luis Barragan and Trotsky's home.

There have been very few foreign tourists throughout our visit.

I had two years of Spanish in high school, and that helped quite a bit.

Traffic inside the city can suck. People honk A LOT. There are traffic cops all over. Buses have dedicated lanes on the larger streets.

Particularly interesting was the "Metrobus," which is like a cross between a subway and a bus. It's above-ground, with dedicated lanes, and an elevated loading platform; you enter through turnstiles, similar to a subway. This facilitates quick passenger loading, making for an efficient and (comparably) inexpensive method of transport. Neat! Here's what it looks like:

 

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For my last day in Germany, I decided to check-out Europa Park. With 7 or 8 roller-coasters and lots of quirky dark rides, it didn't disappoint .

The park is divided into themed areas, representing countries in Europe, including Germany, Russia, Greece, Italy, France, Switzerland and more. Perhaps for good measure, there's also a kids' land, an adventure land, and a (!) chocolate land.

For my first ride, I hit the "Euro-Mir" coaster. What a wacky ride! It starts-off in a darkened silo, with a rather trippy lift system: a giant cylinder rotates in the silo, with the track spiralling upwards around it. Your train latches onto this giant cylinder, which pushes you progressively higher and higher. It's a long lift hill, punctuated by a few lighting effects and techno music. After the long haul upward, you emerge into the light of day. The first few maneuvers are slow and spinny orbits around the outside of several silver-mirrored towers. At certain points the cars are allowed to spin individually, and at other times they are locked into forward or backward position. Really weird.

The two most enjoyable coasters were Silver Star (a giant steelie with lots of airtime) and Blue Fire, which added a component I've never seen before: a live display of your own pulse on your handlebar! Pretty nifty!

There was a neat laser show, which was displayed in a rotating theater (a la Carousel of Progress and America Sings.)

Check-out the video for more.

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I had the opportunity to visit a theme park called "Phantasialand," located
just outside of Cologne in Germany. As good fortune would have it, Thomas
(aka itchwoot) was able to join me!
 
We had a very fun, and very full day. The park had 4 coasters, and we rode
all of them... plus every dark ride (there were many... and there were some
weird ones!)
 
Of particular note was "Black Mamba," which is an inverted roller coaster;
the track is overhead, and your feet dangle beneath the seat. The ride
twisted and turned through a very tightly-landscaped jungle, complete with
waterfalls, pits and secret tunnels. I must say it had some crazy-impressive
moments where you thought your feet might actually smack into the ground!
Sooooooo good!
 
Also of note was the "Colorado Adventure" coaster, which is something of a
clone of Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain. While the theming wasn't
perfect, I dare say the ride itself was (gasp) even better than Thunder
Mountain! Lots of little surprises and highly-banked turns.
 
I've been to 3 or 4 theme parks in Europe so far, and it's really
interesting to see how often Disneyland is imitated. In one dark ride at
Phantasialand, there were scenes practically copied from Pirates of the
Caribbean; in another ride, effects were duplicated from Disney's Haunted
Mansion.
 
This park was a really interesting mix of incredible and wonderful theming
("Talocan," "Mystery Castle," "Winja's Fear and Force"), weird stuff ("Ghost
Rickshaw," "Hollywood Tour") and really cruddy theming ("Temple of the Night
Hawk," "1001 Arabian Nights.") An eclectic mix for sure.
 
Many thanks to Thomas... he and his partner Ingo (such a handsome couple!)
were very warm, took me to a fabulous Mongolian BBQ place in Cologne
("Mongo's"), and showed me parts of the city. Thomas also scored us a
2-for-1 coupon for Phantasialand, and was super-fun to hang-out with at the
park!
 
I will actually squeeze one more theme park in before I go... the legendary
"Europa Park." But first, a train ride...

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Sent from iPhone

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realaustinman

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I shot this video with my camera a few days ago. I took a 30-minute train
ride from Hamburg to Lübeck, and rented a bike for the day.
 

 
Germany is a lot more bicycle-friendly than the United States. In the larger
cities, the public transportation company ("Deutsche Bahn") offers a
high-tech solution for self-service bicycle rentals. They have several
thousand bikes located in about a dozen cities. Each has an ID number, a
little control panel, and an automatic lock. In some cities, the bikes might
be located just about anywhere; in other cities you'll find them at the main
train station. In either case, you just call a central phone number and
provide the bike's ID number; they respond with an access code that unlocks
the bike. You can keep using the bike as long as you want. When you're done,
you lock the bike and call the central number again, providing a code from
the bike's control panel. They bill your credit card directly at about 8
European cents per minute, with a maximum charge of 9 Euro (about $13) per
day. Such a deal! So that's what I did... and I've used the service several
times since then. Way handy.
 
More soon.

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I met Raphael at Disneyland last year, as he was visiting my friend Uwe in San Diego. I was delighted when I learned that our schedules would permit us to hang-out for an evening in Munich! (He lives about 30 minutes outside of town.)
 
We met for dinner and drinks, and then went to check-out the nearby street fair on Pestalozzistrasse. Mmmm, more beer! Later, Raphael introduced me to his new partner David, who is just awesome. We had a lovely evening. They'll both be coming to visit San Diego in a few weeks, so it'll be nice to see them again.
 
My hotel in Munich is a bit far from everything. Fortunately it was dirt-cheap, and located close to a subway station, so I think I can deal. (Besides, I had real nice hotels in Hamburg and Amsterdam, so it balances out. By the way: thanks, Hotwire!)
 
Believe it or not, I've made time to hunt for work back in the States, mostly through online job postings but also via a few phone calls. I've got a few promising leads, which I'll be pursuing aggressively. Wish me luck.
 
It's hard to believe my trip is more than half-over.
 
Ok, it's late and my eyes are glazing-over so I'll wrap-up for now.

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Went into Amsterdam for a quick one-night visit. The red light district is surreal. It's quite the tourist attraction too.
 
The town is quite pretty, too. Neat canals, lots of shops, lots of history. The place was super-happenin', even on a Thursday night.
 
I'm sleeping ok, not great, but no longer jet-lagging, yay.
 
Next: a week in Munich, including a bunch of day-trips to surrounding area... plus, a chance to catch-up with my friend Raphael, and meet realaustinman, who's working in Munich on an IT assignment!

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Rounding-out my activities in Hamburg was this nighttime water/light/music
show in the park. It was a free public performance that they were running
every night for a month. Lots of people showed-up, and it ran about 30
minutes or so. Most of the music was classic jazz, but they threw-in some
Beatles at the end. The whole setup was very similar to the old "Dancing
Waters" show that used to run at the Disneyland Hotel. There's a set of
water fountains, colored lights, and they're choreographed to music. (Or if
you prefer, a poor-man's version of the Fountains of Bellagio, but with
color.) It was pretty neat.
 
Watch the video on posterous.
 
Germany has definitely been satisfying my urges for wanderlust, well, and
for chocolate.
 
I've been enjoying sleeping-in in the mornings, hitting the street (and
sights and stuff) hard, going back to the hotel for a nap, then doing
something fun in the evenings. I'm being reminded that I'm something of
a night owl.
 
While riding on the train today I spotted two Ford dealerships. (Really?
Europeans want to buy Fords?!??)
 
More soon.

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Captured this moment in the "HarborCity" part of town. Awww, sweet.

HarborCity (or "HafenCity" if you prefer) is a massive urban development effort in Hamburg. It looks pretty impressive. It was pretty quiet when I was there, but they say weekends are pretty hoppin'; the area will have a snazzy skyline once they complete the Elb Philharmonie building.

The transport system here continues to befuddle me. Berlin was much easier to navigate! The signage was clear, maps were everywhere, everything was self-explanatory. In Hamburg, by comparison, you have to determine how many zones you'll cross to get to your destination, and the maps are a confusing mish-mash of lines and boxes. Luckily they offer an unlimited tourist transport pass, so I can just take any bus or train I want for three days. Oh yeah... apparently there are ferries that are in the public transport system, so those are included in my pass, too. (Hamburg has lots of canals and waterways!)

My sleep schedule is still pretty messed-up. But it's getting a little better. My allergies definitely have gotten a lot better.

I took a nice long walk through Lange Reihe today... it was gorgeous out. So far the weather has mostly cooperated with me! Lots of people were out and about.

Other than that, I did a little grocery/toiletry shopping, picked-up a train ticket (more on that soon), had a nap... lots more but I'll post more later.

For now, I'm off to bed.

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Last night I encountered the greatest ham and cheese sandwich I've ever had
in my whole life.
 
Granted, having a lap-band meant I could only eat about 1/3 of it, and even
that took me a half-hour... but MAN was it good! And the leftovers lasted me
for another couple of meals.
 
Hamburg is neat, though I must confess I liked Berlin a little more. But
there's still more of the city to explore, so the jury's still out. I will
say, Hamburg's Town Hall ("Rathaus" in German) is pretty spectacular. I
think it makes all other town halls jealous.
 
Decided to do the touristy "hop-on, hop-off" double-decker-bus thing today.
I rode for about 30 minutes and wanted to explore on foot a little. I didn't
realize (didn't notice?) that the tour bus only ran until 4pm. Well, I guess
I got about 8 bucks' worth of a $20 tour. *sigh* (Thankfully, the public
transport got me back to my hotel.)
 
Well, that's about it for now.
 
By the way, I'm seeing a LOT more than I'm posting here. Firstly, I don't
want to bore people, but more importantly, I don't want to spend TOO much
time blogging when I could be out wandering.

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I love little surprises like this. As I was walking around Hamburg, I heard some loud music echoing down the street. I walked toward the sound, and discovered a big, free public rock concert going-on at the Town Hall square.
 
I only stayed for about 20 minutes, and I hadn't heard of the band that was playing, but they were actually pretty good, and the vibe was great. Lots of people were out, drinking beer and having fun with their friends.
 
I headed down to Willi's Bar, as I understood it might be a bear night there. Sure enough it was. I ordered a beer with lemonade, as is popular here in summer, and hung-out for awhile. A few guys introduced themselves; they were very polite and friendly, and eager to answer my questions about Hamburg.
 
After that I went back to the hotel, with a pit-stop at the pharmacy. With the help of a very friendly pharmacist (and the Internet), we figured-out which medicine I was looking for (Sudafed Sinus, aka Mucinex, aka guaifenesin), which was sold here as a syrup made by Vicks. So I downed that, along with the Zyrtec I'd brought from home. My allergies are still acting-up, and I needed something!
 
It seems like it was easier to find English-speakers and signage in Berlin, than in Hamburg. Still, there are lots of people that do speak English here.
 
I put my head down on the pillow at the hotel and zonked-out immediately... Happy Friday to all!

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