sluggobear

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.

Posted via Posterous.

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.

Posted via Posterous.

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.

Posted via Posterous.

(3907 KB)

Watch the video on posterous

I was meant to be a star.

• I don't like the new Staind single. Cheese-fest.
• The game "Rockband" is the karaoke of the 2000's.
• I'm an ombudsman.
• See Eeyore as Captain EO! (YouTube, 1:15, work-safe.)
• Just re-discovered an old favorite song by Public Image Ltd.: Covered. (Rhapsody or iTunes.) ("I give, I give!") And such great lyrics, too. Listen to it loud!
• I have a little cold.
• My iPhone 3G got flaky yesterday. When I tried to sync, it kept saying the disk could not be read, or written to. Tried powering-off/on several times to no avail. Had to reset via iTunes. It seemed to be working fine, but now some of my contacts are coming-up as "Unknown." Harrrumph. Intermittently over the last few months, the phone would mysteriously be no longer activated. (It would re-activate a few minutes later.) Still, compared to my previous cell phones, the iPhone has been amazingly stable and reliable overall.
• A disquieting video: Satan in claymation, something to do with Mark Twain. (YouTube, 5:00, work-safe.)
• Beautiful art: The Cerebral Prostitute. (Image, work-safe.)
• I ran across this quote. I don't know where it came from, but it sums-up my beliefs succinctly: "Everything does not happen for a reason. There is no karma. Dreams don't always mean something. Good and bad shit happens to everyone. It's not exactly random, but it sure-as-hell ain't programmed or managed."
• Sometimes bears throw more attitude than so-called twinks.
• A favorite Aimee Mann lyric: "You don't know, so don't say you do."
• Meet the world's longest URL.

• BEFORE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJbs7z0FIck
• AFTER:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJbs7z0FIck#t=1m18s