Munich

The land of beer and brats....

This weekend was a fun one. My friends Matt and Brandi Render (see the "London Calling" post) flew in from London on Thursday. Unfortunately, I had to work both Thursday and Friday, but they kept themselves busy touring around Luxembourg.

They visited the city centre on Thursday and then we went to the American sports bar here to watch some NFL games and eat our Thanksgiving hamburgers.

On Friday, they took a train to Vianden. Vianden is a small town in northeast Luxembourg that has a big castle and overall pretty scenery. They said that it was very easy to get there and that is was really nice, so I'm excited to visit there myself. After Vianden, they went back to the Luxembourg city centre, where the Christmas market had just opened. Again, they claim that the Christmas market is nice, so I'm excited to go down there next weekend. When I got home from work, we went out to eat at a pretty nice Greek restaurant downtown. Then it was early to bed, in preparation for the rest of the weekend.

Saturday morning was an early one...we got up at 5:30am, made some coffee, jumped in the car and headed off for Munich (about 5 hours by car). After getting lost a bit, we found our way to the German Autobahn and started making some good time.

On the way to Munich, we passed through Dachau and visited the Dachau Concentration Camp site. They have turned the site into a memorial, with museums and a historical walk around the grounds. While a good experience and very interesting, it was also very sobering to be at and see a place where so many people suffered so much.

After Dachau, we got a bit lost again and ended up driving on back roads into Munich's city center. However, we got our bearings and found the hotel around 3pm. We parked the car, checked into the hotel, and headed off to explore.

Our hotel was smack dab in the middle of all the action, so it was not long before we found the main pedestrian areas and the Christmas market. Ice skating, roasted chestnuts, carolers, snow covered buildings and merchant tents, Gluhwine (hot spiced wine drink), and the general atmosphere made it everything that you would imagine Germany during Christmas to be.

We basically just walked around taking in the sights and sounds. We also went to the top of this tower in the main city center building, which provided a nice view of the entire city...very pretty!

Then we made our way to the original Hofbrauhaus and settled in for some brats, mashed potatoes, sauerkraut and, of course, beer. We lucked out by getting there when we did because not long after we sat down, it started to get very lively. A German band (accordian, horns, guitar, etc) kicked off the night with some music and general entertainment. Several liters of beer and some new friends later, we decided to pack it up and head back to the hotel.

Sunday morning we woke up, had some breakfast at the hotel, and then headed off back to Luxembourg. Driving back was interesting, as it was dark most of the morning on our way to Munich. Very beautiful, snow-covered forests and hills. Also, with other cars on the road, it was interesting to see just how people drive on the Autobahn. For example, I was sustaining a speed of about 140 km/hr (about 87 mi/hr), and people were flying by me like I was sitting still!

Overall, it was a very fun trip and I'm really happy that Matt and Brandi were able to come over from London and explore with me. The next trip for me will be Rome and Rothenburg (Germany) during the week between Christmas and New Year's, where I'll be accompanied by my better half...should be fun!

13 November - 19 November

Here's the situation: you just moved to a new country, you haven't driven in a month and a half, you can't read any of the street signs b/c they are all in a foreign language, you have never been accused of having either a good sense of direction or general common sense, none of the roads go in a straight line, the names of the streets change without any turns or notification that they are changing, and the other drivers on the road generally don't pay attention and drive very fast.

What's the best thing for you? Obviously you need to get a car. And so I did!

Wish me luck....

London Calling

Was in London this past weekend to meet Agnes and stay with some EY friends (also on GEP). Instead of me telling about the trip (b/c I am bound to forget something), I defer to Aggie's description of the weekend to our respective mothers.

Per Agnes (with some of my comments thrown in)....

"Hi! Okay, I will give you the run down....First off, it was so much fun!! ....and mom I am going to CC you on this so you have the details too!

I am going to say "Render" for Matt Render (the guy who works at E&Y in the London office who we stayed with. He transferred and is doing the same program Matt is doing. His wife Brandi was so nice and we got along well!)

Thursday:
I got in around 9:30a (after a overnight flight that left Chicago at 8:10p on Wed) and got to Render and Brandi's apartment around 11 or so. Render gave me the keys to their place, I relaxed, showered and then headed out around 1:30-2 to pick Matt up from the other, small airport in London. We met there and it was SO WONDERFUL to see him!! (yeah that's right...it wasn't so bad for me to see her either)

We got back on the train, went back to the apartment and Render and Brandi met us there after work. Their place was pretty nice: one bedroom, small kitchen area, decent size living room area and a huge TV. (The boys loved the TV, of course). (agreed....Sky TV is solid and I'm going to try to get it here in Lux)

We went to this Thai restaurant down the street from their place, had dinner, wine, etc. Then we went to a pub and met up w/some other E&Y people. Guinness was the drink of choice for everyone! We got home around 11 or 12 that night b/c all pubs in London close at 11.

Friday:
Render and Brandi went to work. Matt and I slept in and then toured all of London. We went to a pub for breakfast and did the full English breakfast...sausage, eggs, baked beans, etc (it was solid, and cheap). Matt and I are just dying for coffee, everyone else, (and I am not kidding) are drinking beers at 10a. It was nuts! I have never seen so many people drinking in the middle of the day as I did in London.

So we ate and then walked around....Saw the Tower of London, Monument, Piccadilly Circle, said hi to the Queen at Buckingham Palace etc. (message to Brenden and Kirin: I gave the Queen my best for you). Along the way, we decided to stop in a few pubs. We would sit down, order one drink, split it and then move on to the next site/pub.

We went to see the Producers that night which was interesting.....It's a great musical and we got discounted tickets. Problem was, we were tired from walking all day so we get to the show and Matt falls asleep through parts of it!! (As soon as the lights went out, so did I) I enjoyed it, and I think he would have too if he wasn't so tired!

Afterwards, we went to grab some food at this great Italian Place, had some wine and then met up w/everyone else.

Saturday:
Got up, had breakfast and then we went to a pub to watch rugby and soccer games. (Brandi made us a seriously good breakfast of eggs, toast, potatoes, something else I'm forgetting, and coffee. It was really good....Goetta is the only thing that could have made it any better) We were at this pub in the afternoon and into the early evening. No American football anywhere! We ended up leaving that pub and went to another to meet up w/more people. They had a great beer garden and we hung out there for a bit. After the pub closed at 11, we went to this 100% swanky place in Nottinghill. Very fancy club. Got home around 2. (I somehow ended up with a receipt from this place in my pocket for about 30 pounds...mysteriously, I only remember drinking one bottle of beer. Also mysterious about this place was that you had to walk across a drawbridge, down some stairs, and through a formal dining room to get to the bathroom....can't say I've ever had to do that anywhere else.)

Sunday:
Woke up, I am not going to lie....I had a few too many Guinness's the night before and was NOT excited about flying for 8 hours.... But we just all hung out and then Matt took me to the airport around 2 (flight was at 4:30p). Then, he had to get back on the train and head over to the other airport for his flight. I got in around 7:30p.

The weather was kind of yucky. It was in the 40's and kind of rainy each day."

I would say that about covers it. It was a great weekend and I can't wait for the next trip. Agnes is coming here to Luxembourg for Christmas and we are planning a trip to Rome. Should be fun!

31 October - 6 November

This week kicked off with me moving into my apartment (finally). It is good to be settled into a place to call "home." The picture above is my living room. The staircase leads up to my bedroom. From the bedroom, there is another staircase that leads up to a study. I also have my own garage and storage room in the basement. The place is big and nice and I'm really excited about it. The view off my back porch is amazing...green fields, hills, and forests. I have plenty of pictures, so if you're interested, email me at matthew.marcum@gmail.com and I can send you the link.

Tuesday was a day off, so that was the big day to explore my new 'hood and see what there is around. Three things stood out to me: there are a bunch of Chinese restaurants (good cashew chicken), the water is very cheap (8 bottles of water, 1.5 liters each, for 4 euros), and the wine is even cheaper (1 euro, 25 cents for a bottle of red wine). Also, there are a ton of fitness trails, forest trails, and overall good running and biking areas. There is also a nice pool and gym really close that I am probably going to join here soon.

All of my stuff arrived from the U.S. on Thursday. So after two months, I've finally been reunited with all of my things! I celebrated by fishing out my DVDs, drinking a couple of beers and watching Old School. It was a nice way to christen the new pad. I also got the internet all hooked up on Thursday, so I should be on Skype a lot here.

This weekend was decent...spent time on Saturday with a couple of my co-workers checking out some of the local establishments (i.e. bar hopping). Left the bars around midnight only to realize that the bus back to my apartment had stopped running for the night. Hoofed it home (about 3 miles), so I even got a semi-work out in too! (FYI: You can't hail cabs here from the street. You have to call ahead to order one. Also, all the cabs here are Mercedes and the cabbies don't smell...big difference from Chicago)

So this week should be pretty low-key. Will probably work pretty hard Monday through Wednesday. Then on Thursday, I am flying to London to rendevous with Agnes. I'm very pumped about that. We are staying with a friend of mine and his wife. Should be very fun and I'm looking forward to hearing a lot of English spoken!!!

Check back for more updates next week.