Category: Fun

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Greetings aus (auf?) Deutschland!

Annette and I are in an Internet cafe right now while Will is with her parents/his grandparents/ my inlaws, which is the reason why we came to Mittenwald in the first place. And by “Internet cafe” I really mean “bar,” one that features a bunch of different kinds of games and stuff, inclduing Internet access. Nice computers, though again, a sort of weird interface. The “z” is where the “y” should be.

Anzwaz, here I am able to upload pictures to flickr but not my own server space. Whatever. Here’s some picts with narrative:

There’s much more to tell, but right now, Annette and I need to go meet the Grand-Ps and kinder for dinner. More later….

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As we leave Italy….

Will and I are at an Internet cafe right now while Annette rests from our travels for today to Fisole, which is a little and very scenic town just out side of Florence. This was our last big trip/stop in Italy; tomorrow, we get on the train toward Mittenwald.

And, to top it all off, I figured out how to upload photos. I think. Anyway, these images are all gigantic– I don’t think this semi-ancient PC has any way for me to edit them down– so be aware that the links you click here will open big images. Oh, and I don’t have my guide book so I might have to correct some of the “facts” of what we are seeing later.

Okay, away we go:

I tried to upload a bit of video I took with my little camera, but it didn’t seem to work. Oh well, maybe in Germany….

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Greetings from Italia!

Not surprisingly, I guess, finding Internet access in Florence has turned out to be easy. Really REALLY easy. I don’t think there is going to be a way to upload any pictures on this trip (I just don’t imagine this somewhat ancient PC will talk to my iPod, which is where I download my pictures from my camera), and besides, I don’t have that much time. However, since 15 minutes or an hour’s worth of time costs a euro, I figure I might as well give my millions of fans 15 minutes worth of what’s new over here:

  • On the whole, Air France rocks. While Annette had some seating problems with her leg (it’s too complicated to go into right now, but let’s just say that she probably would have been better off seating-wise without making a special request), they did have a food service that included free wine, the service in general was great, and each seat had individual screens for viewing a variety of different things. I watched the Hitchcock movie To Catch a Thief (I think they had it because it’s set in France) and Will watched an animated movie– something “hedge.” Annette read.
  • Running through the airport in Paris to catch our connecting flight, on the other hand, did not rock.
  • Our hotel totally rocks– not exactly a “room with a view,” but it’s plenty big, it’s clean, it has a nice kitchenette, and the people who run it are very nice.
  • Spent Sunday just trying to stay awake as long as we could and get adjusted; most of Monday wondering about, mostly by the Ponto Vecchio and this very cool park kind of in the hills looking down on Florence (great views); and today at the Uffizi (the big art museum) and Santa Croce (one of the big churches), both of which were beautiful. Tomorrow is “Dave.”
  • So far, we have one really good dinner, one so-so dinner, one pretty okay/good lunch (pizza), and one really good lunch.
  • Annette’s leg is bothering her, so we are spending tonight in. Will and I went to find a grocery store (with directions from the guy who runs our hotel) and got lost several times. It was nerve-racking and fun at the same time.

I think that’s about it for now– I’ll post more updates if I get a chance, but believe me, there will be pictures in the future. I think I’ve taken about 100 so far….

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“Ciao! or “Arevaderche!” or something…

This is probably going to be the last post here until we depart on our trip to Europe. Most of my millions of loyal readers already know this, but Annette, Will, and I are off to Florence and then to a town in Germany called Mittenwald tomorrow night. Sophie will be staying home with a very able house/dog sitter.

I won’t recount the whole detailed itenerary here, but basically, it goes like this:

  • Fly out of Detroit Saturday night, August 6; arrive at the place we’re staying in Florence around noon on Sunday, August 7. In other words, it’ll be a long night, I’m guessing….
  • In Florence, we’re staying in this place that is sort of an apartment kind of deal– kind of like a Residence Inn, I think/hope.
  • We’ve already got reserved tickets to see the Uffitzi and the Accademia Gallery (the home of “the Dave”). Everyone has said that you are way better off booking your tickets for these things in advance, so we did.
  • Other than that, I hope we get to take a day-trip to Siena, maybe Pisa, and just wander around Florence. I think a lot of that depends on how Annette’s leg is doing (she’s doing better, but I don’t think we’re going to be spending hours and hours hiking around), the weather (it looks now like it might be rainy for a lot of our stay), and the “general craziness” of Florence. I’ve been reading stuff on the web lately about how noisy the town is, and about looking out for the pick-pockets. I really am not sure if we are traveling there during the “high season” or not; I guess we’ll see.
  • A week from Saturday, we’ll take a train from Florence to Innsbruck and then to Mittenwald, where we will meet up with Annette’s parents. They have been going to this southern German tourist/resort town for years now, and while we probably won’t be engaging much in their idea of a good time there (hiking), I think it will be a good base for us to see some of the sites in the are– Neuschwanstein, maybe some other castles like these listed on the Bavarian Palace Department, (BTW, one of the clear differences between Bavaria and, say, Michigan, is the existence of a “Palace Department”), Garmisch, and on the way home, Munich.
  • And “home” will happen on August 21, the day I (sorta, kinda) begin teaching at EMU.

I might or might not be able to post here about our trip. I’m planning on taking my camera of course, along with my iPod with audio recording equipment, but I’m not bringing my computer. Though I have to say that I was tempted. It’s not like we’re going to be “backpacking” around with everything we own, and I think the Internet access over there is actually going to be half-way decent. But I think we’ll have to be content with one or two stops at some Internet cafes. In Florence, I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to find one; since Mittenwald is a quite small town, we might not have as much luck. Again, we’ll see.

So, possibly until I get back, Ciao! Arevaderche, Aloha, Auf Widersehen (and click the link to listen to this weird song…).

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The Eagle Crest Death March

Bill at Eagle CrestBill H-D., Steve B., and I had scheduled yesterday’s golf outting at the Eagle Crest Golf Course a couple of weeks ago, long before we knew about the current heat wave, “heat advisories,” and “cooling centers” opened in metro Detroit. I was a little concerned, Annette was very concerned, and Bill H-D. and Steve B. were not concerned at all. Bill said in an email something like “the day we can’t golf because it’s too hot is the day we’re too old.”

I’m officially too old.

Well, that’s not completely true. I felt okay after the first nine holes, though I was playing like shit and I do blame the heat for much of that. I also blame the course. The last time I played Eagle Crest (which was last year), they had these cool video things in the carts that were a GPS system (how far the cart was to the center of the green), a score keeping system, and a little narrative about each hole. Well, they got rid of those, and, besides the fact that you don’t have the gizmo to play with, you lose a lot of information about the course. For example, Steve B. hit it into water on his drive on #2, not realizing there was even a pond in play. (Of course, this does not explain the other two balls he subsequently put into the same pond). The yardage marking for #4 was off by at least 30 (maybe 40) yards, which I blame for my own problems of shooting it over the green by about 30 (maybe 40) yards, and which also lead to my call for a free mulligan and Bill H-D. accusing me of being a socialist.

But I digress.

Steve B. tees offAnyway, I don’t think I drank as much water as I should have on the front nine because by the time we got to the back, I was feeling it. I always thought that this “heat index” measure was kind of bullshit, but I got to say that by about #14 or so, it was 97 degrees and the heat index to me felt it was pegging at about 175. It was not pretty. I got to the water station and filled up my liter jug for the third time, and Bill H-D. said I looked a lot like Bugs Bunny in one of those desert cartoons: “waaa-ter… waaa-ter….”. Felt like it too.

But I got some more water into me and I bounced back, sorta. I even managed to bogey the very difficult “signature hole” of Eagle Crest, #16, and that was with a lost ball. Still, I had a 117 overall, sunburn, and a nasty heat-inspired head-ache.

So, note to self: no more golf during heat advisories. I’m still kind of feeling whipped from the whole thing this morning.

Indian food

On a happier note, we did have a nice Indian food meal with the golfers and the golfer’s families at our place. The chicken was certainly a hit.

Also on a happier note: it’s supposed to be rainy with a high of 79 tomorrow, and mid-80s Friday and Saturday.

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Web Zen BBQ Links

Here’s what happens to me when I finish up school and make a point of not doing any work: I web surf and I come across all kinds of wacky stuff. For example, check out web zen on bbq. I especially enjoyed the ground meat cookbook.

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Free Movies and Such

This might be the sort of thing that would be better posted on my Official Blog, but since I have “signed off” there until we get back from our upcoming trip, I’ll post it here. Besides, it is kind of “fun” stuff.

“Free Movies” is a list of/links to movies that have either fallen out of copyright and into the public domain or are otherwise available online. You’re not going to find the latest here, but (for example) you could watch very famous (and silent and hard to find) films like Battleship Potemkin (which I haven’t seen yet) and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. In fact, I might watch one of these while Annette and Will watch a different movie in the other room….. Oh, and there’s some totally crazy movies too, like Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.