Adventure 25.0: Zurich Street Parade

August 13, 2011

Yes, some of you may recall I attended this last year while visiting Switzerland. It was so funny the first time, I had to do a repeat. Enjoy the crazy photos.

The matching couples:

  The apparatus to carry the crazy people:

 The painted people. That has to be itchy; it was in the 90's that day.

 This is Boy George. Remember him from the 80's? "Do you really want to hurt me? Do you really want to make me cry?" You have to know that song.

 Poor little old grandma is only trying to get her groceries.

Adventure 24.0: The Black Forest

August 7, 2011

Driving through the Black Forest in Germany.

It should have been a day of hiking, but it rained most of the day. Only got 2 hours in at the end of the day.

  

  

  

Adventure 23.0: Munich and Neuschwanstein

August 1st - Swiss National Day,

The view from our
Hotel in Munich

My Favorite Dental Hygienist (FDH) flew back with me from the US. We arrived on Swiss National Day. To my delight, we didn't have to ride the train back from the airport; we had a ride - SWEET! We came home, took a quick nap and then headed off to a party. I was told that this was a traditional Swiss Day party. It is much like a BBQ in the US. You grill meat, but not hamburgers or steaks. Normally you grill bratwurst or meat on a stick. You bring you own meat, your own alcohol, and a side dish. Then you sit around eating and drinking and set off some fireworks at dark. Happy Swiss Day!

August 4-6, 2011

Hauxenbaur

Day 1: FDH and I rented a car, borrowed my friends TomTom and headed for Germany! We couldn't figure out how to pay for the toll roads in Austria. There were no toll booths. I found out late we got lucky. The police randomly stop cars going into the tunnel to check for this ticket. You can buy a ticket at any gas station. Sweet! We escaped paying the toll!

  

Hitler apparently brainwashed people here,
 I mean gave speaches here

We booked a great hotel only 10 minutes walking distance from the city center. From our hotel to the city center were many shops and a Starbucks. Day 1 was wine drinking day. Germany is famous for its Rieslings, so that is what we drank - white reislings, rose rieslings, and even a red riesling. At the recommendation of one of FDH's patients and my ex-coworker we ate at Hauxenbauer. This was sooooo good. We met some wierd American's that tried to pick us up, I got to practice my German, and we drank a bottle of wine at a wine festival in town. We also ran across a shrine to Micheal Jackson. This was so bizzare, however FDH was fascinated with this and took so many pictures.

Day 2: FDH spotted a backery the day before, so we stopped here for breakfast - yummmm pastries. We went to the Rathaus to watch the clock which plays music and tells a little fairytale. We ate lunch at the Hofbrauhaus - traditional Munich bratwurt. We visited a church and went up in the tower for some great views of the city. Then it was off to do some shopping....for dirndls! We visited a couple cute market places, had dinner at the Rathaus, and then got dress for an evening out...in our dirndls.

We went first to Hofbrauhaus where we had a beer; I had "ein Mass" aka 1 liter of beer. We met some crazy barvarians (aka dirty old men). Some dumb Americans from Chicago took our picture because they thought we were German. In their defence, FDH is tall, blond haired, and blue eyed, but it was still funny. Later, the guys wife came and apologized to use for her husband taking our picture. We ended the night at a piano bar and head back to the hotel.

Day 3: We drove to Neuschwanstein castle. This was so cool. We toured the castle, I told some lady off (in English) who didn't speak English. She was so rude! And then it was back to Switzerland where we made a pit stop in St. Gallen for dinner and chocolate shopping.

We had a great time.