Friday, January 20, 2006

Rather Blather

Greetings, and please accept my belated New Year wishes to you and yours. Yes, it has been a while since I have updated, but, let’s face it, after living in Munich for over 7 months now, the place gradually gets less interesting; therefore, I get less interesting. “Impossible,” you say? Well, at least I like to pretend you say that. So I will.

I just returned Wednesday from a brief ladies’ sojourn to London. Ahhhhhhh London. I was long anticipating the little reprieve from Germany to a magical land where I understand everything I read and can unabashedly speak English. Short of High Tea, and one musical (Woman in White), I shunned all culture, so to speak, and ate (god, I’ve missed Chinese food), drank, shopped, and chatted my way through London. Therefore, to mix things up this time, my new favorite word is not German at all. Rather, it is English. The word is “rather”. But you must try saying it like this: raaah-tha. For example, the next time someone asks you if you “Fancy some tea?” You can reply: “Raaah-tha”. Try it! It’s fun.

I left behind the word “Whatevs”, it hopes that it will sweep the nation. So, for example (should any Brits happen to be reading), the next time someone asks you if you “Fancy some tea?” You can reply: “Whatevs.” It’s a beautiful thing. Rather.

In other news, last month Todd and I went to Hamburg! It was fun to see another major German city. A prostitute gave me the finger, or as my friend Lisa put it, “You got flipped off by a HO?” That was pretty much the highlight. It seems that women are not supposed to walk through the red-light district in Hamburg (unless you work there, that is). Damn English signs (I somehow missed them)! For all you ladies who will never get this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the Reeperbahn, let me fill you in on all the juicy details. It is basically a one-block length of street, barricaded (kinda) on both sides. The prostitutes pretty much hang out in the windows of the houses that line each side of the street. Essentially, they looked like bored, scantily clad, middle-aged women. On a Friday afternoon, a few drunken men littered the street, you know, window-shopping or whatever. Whatevs. It was somewhat anti-climactic.

December also brought the Pelmans to Munich! We had a fantastic time spending the holidays together, and traveling a bit around Europe. Rather. We went to Vienna, saw some fantastic museums (The Kunsthistoriche Museum was a winner) and enjoyed a night at the symphony--which included a guest appearance from the Vienna Boys Choir. I didn’t make a single castration joke the whole night, and was actually quite blown away by our proximity to the stage. We sat in the 4th row center, which was fancy, and we could practically reach over and dab the glistening brows of the violinists. Of course, that would be gross, so we didn’t do that.

After Vienna we traveled on to Rome. Todd and I had recently visited Rome for the first time just months before, but this second trip offered a totally different flavor. We stayed in the Testaccio district, which is something of a working class neighborhood. We had a little apartment with about a million stairs leading to our own little slice of Rome. Those who understand my farmers’ market fetish will appreciate the joy I found in the large market just steps from where we stayed. We also went to the Vatican, just slimly missing our opportunity to see the Sistine Chapel, but we did spend some time in St. Peter’s Basilica. Blame my lack of a good Christian upbringing, or simply the fact that I am a bad bad American tourist, but I had no idea of the importance of this church…or even really where I was headed. We pretty much followed the masses and ended up in what I later learned to be the second largest church in Christianity (I personally can vouch for its bigness), and the burial place of Saint Peter, one of the twelve apostles (I’m going to have to trust what I read on this one). Amazing stuff. We also visited ruins, and dropped in again on our fuzzy friends at the cat sanctuary.

Finally, just a week (or so) ago we had a visit from Justin and Malinda, passing through on their whirlwind tour of Europe. We spent a lot of time talking about Steve behind his back, and drinking fine Bavarian beer. Justin and Malinda took the night train from Paris, sharing their space, per special request, with several jars of cornichon. I do love all things pickled (within reason), and am saddened by the fact the silly Germans are hard pressed to make a sugar-free pickle. Thanks for the laughs, and the pickles, folks.

So, again, happy 2006 everyone. I will try and post again soon, and please do stay in touch. It is always quite lovely to have correspondence from friends. Rather….

A little glimpse of Hamburg...

Todd and Amy blending into the scenery in Rome...

The market in Testaccio, Rome...

This is London, near the Camden Town market...