boston, baseball + the beach

two fridays ago we went to boston to visit dave and get out of town for once. we got stuck in the airport for 3+ hours due to the kennedy funeral and ate dinner twice. the next day it rained and we started drinking around 3 in the afternoon, pre- sam adams brewery tour. later we found the best brazilian cheese puff mix and bought five bags, then i ate chewy corned beef reuben, we watched a hott mom play pool and then andy did some jump kicks. sunday we ate a buttery breakfast and walked thought little itlay and got some sun then flew home. i sat next to the same nice lady on both the way out and way home. weird huh.

last weekend we had house guests and accomplished a lot of baltimore-ish things that we had planned on doing then got too lazy to. saw the orioles at camden yards, went to the beach [!] and ate crabs. and saw a magic show. it was a quality weekend.

life is going just fine. i need to get in touch with friends and stop picking up drug paraphernalia from the street and remember to lock the door when i walk the dog. the only thing that i've been consistently doing lately is listening to martin topley bird, drawing patterns on grid paper and drinking fruit smoothies.












1. nap time / 2. this is written on a vacant house down the street. in blood! [probably not] / 3. i sewed up a vintage dress / 4. goody bags for the block party / 5. i only took two photos in boston. both of them look like this / 6. i tried to take a photo of max but he head butted me / 7. take II / 8. baseball game day drinking / 9. vito's bar and philosophical discussions about cat morris code / 10. this guy owns illusions magic bar. he is sweeeet / 11. mixies at the beach, c/o emili / 12. crabs before / 13. crabs after / 14. RIP pink mocs

fun, friends + phoenix

i forgot how wonderful summertime is. after a dismal summer in england two days in AZ reminded me what the sun feels like.

last night i returned from two days visiting one of my most favorite people and previewing what will be a very fun wedding. first, the duncan family and i toured desert botanical garden and saw lots of cati, succulents and chihuly goodness. then we partied with new friends at an engagement celebtation for alicia + cayle. the festivities left me with very little sleep and an serious old lady hangover.

next weekend my parents are coming for a visit. i hope i can keep them entertained and the weather cooperates. yay visitors!

happy almost st. patrick's day.

p.s.

two more stories about detroit. worth reading, but nothing new: 1 and 2

lately

peter is gone and i've become more of a recluse than usual. i hope he is having a good time but who know since i haven't heard a peep from him.

last friday after dropping off the deposit for our new place [woo!] we ate a deep fried lunch and drove to annapolis. the streets were tiny and we saw lots of adorable old homes with holiday decorations.. and lots of girls wearing uggs.. and a store named "america!".. and the oldest uni in the states. next we went to the mall so peter could buy sandals for his trip. i found the cutest polka dot cutout peep toe pumps in the world. then we returned our prius and went to the airport..

our plane was broken. every half hour or so the pilot would come out and make an announcement at the gate counter. we watched that week's episode of the office and 30roock then three episodes of the wire [just started season 5] and looked for recognizable locations. after being in the airport for five or so hours, our flight was canceled. we re booked for 6am the next morning and got our hotel vouchers.. then waited an hour for the shuttle before giving up and taking cab.

we were grumpy and eager to use the entire $40 food coupon, so we went to the hotel bar and ordered enough food for a family of four. we sat in bed watching the darjeeling limited while i ate the better part of three entrees. i don't know how it all fit inside.

shortly after we passed out only to wake up three hours later to repack and go home. on the way back from the airport we had breakfast burritos from del taco and i tried not to drive off the road. that night we had my little sister and her boyfriend over for dinner then got krunk at the union. the night ended with peter playing chef and making quesadillas, as usual.

sunday we were back at the airport for peter's birthright trip. i tried not to drive off the road some more then lounged for the remainder of the day. that night we had a sleepover at johana's. i drank one too many glasses of carlo rossi and had to call it a night a bit early. it was not pretty. monday i waited around all day for the repair man.. not like i had other plans. but still. that night i bought christmas cards and spent some quality time at value world. today i drove to lansing, had lunch with jackie and did more thrifting. amazingly i didn't buy a thing. tomorrow i start working at my mom's office for a few days. bah.

cookbooks, chicago + childhood

last week i slept in a lot and slowly sorted books from around the house. there are lots. we've inherited the best and most complete set of veggie cookbooks and recipe clippings imaginable. there are four moosewood books. four! i am in cookbook heaven.

wednesday [i think it was wed.. all the days run together] i raked leaves with rubber dish washing gloves and got two very painful and unattractive blisters. by the next morning my efforts were unnoticeable.

thursday we reluctantly returned lucy to my parents and spent the night with the william's. i slept like a baby.. much better than the last time i was there..

friday we all went to visit kelly in chicago. we saw a monkey eat poo at the lincoln park zoo [ha that rhymes] then squeezed onto the L with lots of luggage on the way to ravenwood. we ate thai then had girls night starting at chicago brauhause where jackie danced the polka with a grandpa-type. after that we visited two other lincoln square establishments but i was too busy with girl talk and beers to pay attention to where we were.

saturday we are yummy diner breakfast at the ravenwood diner and then joined the tourists at millennium park and navy pier. it was cold. for dinner i ate too many french fries and the bestest seitan reuben at earwax. after we had beers at the hopleaf and saw the neo-futurists. there were butts. and balls. and boobs. the night ended with more drinks, calvin asleep in his car, peter insisting on a late night/early morning bowl of vietnamese noodle soup and some sleep walking and talking from val.

sunday we got back on the bus and took naps. the weekend was fuuuuuun.
yesterday i filled my car with boxes from my parents garage. they were filled with lots of childhood nonsense and fun memories.. italian lire and greek drachma.. the body to my buttercup powderpuff girls key chain.. my baby doll tisha tosha.. i also found a box of notes from elementary onwards and lots fo kids meal toys. i used to love kids meal toys. i found the angry beaver! i donated it to sal army, but i took a photo for posterity.

today we ate rangoli buffet then i raked more leaves. still no job.. i am getting used to this. i can sleep for 10 hours a night and it is heaven. go unemployment. kind of.

EDIT: remember the cryptic news in this post... now there are seven!

cologne, amsterdam, brussels, bruges, frankfurt, munich + berlin

this trip actually happened 12-26 august and photos are here. i took notes but they don't make any sense. this might be painful to follow..

day 1
according to my notes we ate tacos for breakfast then went to the bank to pay rent. the first train to the airport was canceled [as usual] but we made it in time to relax and eat boots sandwiches for lunch. i actually remember i got a [supposed] mexican three-bean wrap that had ploughman’s-style pickle on it. very strange. anyhow, since we bought the cheapest possible no-frills tickets with ryanair, our plane was incredibly tiny and cramped.. there wasn't even a seat back tray table. it wasn't bad for peter or i as we are fairly normal sized, but there was a giant 6-5''+ guy next to us that must have been in hell. it only took 90 minutes and we were in bremen [bremen is also known as the "the city of trams", fyi]. we then took a speedy tram[!] to the main train station where we are again, this time sandwiches from the wonderful nordsee. one pickled herring with onions [bad breath city] and one smoked salmon with hard boiled egg. using out very thrifty euro rail passes, we hopped on the first [giant, comfy and mostly empty] train and napped on the way to cologne.

in cologne we stayed at the station hostel for backpackers, about a five minute walk from the station. we made our beds then walked towards the university. there were tons of people riding bikes in cologne. they were mostly between 20 and 30 and adorable. if people were not riding bikes they were walking around drinking beers. it was a tuesday night. i wished for a few moments that i lived in cologne. we sat outside and ate dinner at restaurant magnus. the food wasn't very good [kind of like tgi fridays but less deep fried] but it was in an excellent people watching location. after dinner we bought ourselves some beers and, since it was our only night in town, wandered around for miles. we got rained on, walked along the river front and got lost in a construction site then went to bed.

day 2
for breakfast we bought sunflower rolls and soft cheese and made sandwiches then found then wandered back towards the rhine. eventually we found rhine river stadt, a riverfront park that was obviously designed in the 50s. there was even a very rat-pack-esque bar with lounge-ish beach chairs and stage overlooking the river.

for lunch we went back into town and bought expensive miniature cheese sandwiches and watched the living statues. our favorite was batman.. it looked like a halloween costume from meijer and the person in it was either an extremely tiny adult or a entrepreneurial child. we then went back to the hostel to get luggage on got on a train to amsterdam. when we got off the train it was particularly crowded so we just followed the mob into town. we stayed at the flying pig downtown hostel. it was another of those bar/hostels with a no-shoes-allowed chill area. with lots of strange dangling light fixtures. it made no sense. but we did get a giant wooden double-sized bunk bed so that was sweet.

we wandered a while around town trying not to get run down by the even more beautiful bike-riders. seriously everyone was adorable and there was a lot of double-riding going on as well. eventually we escaped to a quiet-ish road along one of the canals and sat in a coffee shop listening to stoner music and drinking excellent lattes. i do remember a couple of stoners sat next to us playing an unbelievably slow game of chess. it was strange. for dinner we ate at a very crowded moaz falafel place. i hope wherever we end up living has one of these nearby. you pay for a falafel then get to fill and re-fill it with yummy veggies including tomato salad, mixed [real, not pitted] olives, marinated carrots, etc, etc. it is the best idea because you can just keep eating as much as you like.. and i like to eat lots. after that we were so happy we actually braved our hostel for cheap happy-hour beers. we ended up getting free hoegartens and lounged outside listening to more stoner talk. when it got good and dark we wandered out to where it had been madness earlier in the day and enjoyed the tiny shops and amazing houses. before bed we had beers at a tiny, dark belgian bar then shared another falafel and ended the night with a stroll the red light district.

day 3
we woke up super early to take full advantage of the hostel breakfast which included warm hard boiled eggs, croissants and coffee [out of a machine, but not terrible]. we then set off to find conditioner for my fussy hair and then the farmers market. the weather was nice so we bought a red pepper, avocado, tomatoes, goat cheese and the most giant and juicy blackberries for a picnic. peter saved the day by finding a fork/knife and we also stopped into a shop for a loaf of seeded bread and a giant bottle of rose. we wandered around vondelpark a bit waiting for the grass to dry then found a good spot in the sun then feasted like hobos and drank wine from tiny cups i had stolen from the coffee machine. while we lounged we watching a giant long-haired dog try to play soccer with a group of teenagers. he most definitely had doggy add because he kept at it [without ever actually getting the ball] for a good 45 minutes.

after lots of relaxing we walked around and eventually back to the hostel where we rested for a bit then had more happy-hour hogarten and used the internets. we spent the evening walking all over the place and out of town trying to find a decent place to eat. eventually we decided to go back into town and have thai at bird thai. it is a teeny-tiny place where you can stand on the sidewalk and watch two cute ladies made food in a miniature kitchen. the dining room was equally miniature [and hot and steamy] and we had to squeeze into our seats but it was worth it and delicious. petey had veggies with tofu and i had fish ball soup with rice noodles and lots of cilantro. after we walked it off and ended up back in the red light district trying to find another belgian bar to pee at but we decided we didn't want to go to after all so we had to pee in good old mcdonalds. we finished the night sitting along a canal and snapping photos.

day 4
woke up early again to munch on free breakfast and got on a train to brussels. on the way we saw moms on bikes with pouty kids on the back.. presumably they were on their way to school. it was so far from what i'm used to.. a mom van full of kids with pop tarts. so, we got to brussels in the early afternoon and it was disturbingly quiet and hideous. really. some of the first people we saw looked like vagrants drinking cans of generic beer in a park-ish square. and we saw lots of cops. probably because we didn't have a map and were wandering into the no-so-nice part of town. we wandered grumpily looking for an open restaurant but there were none. apparently it was some sort of religious holiday [it was a friday!] and every single business we passed was closed.. h&m.. even chi chi's. AND our hostel's reception desk was closed for a couple hours so we were homeless. we did eventually find a shop and bought supplied to make [more] cheese sandwiches, which we ate in another depressing park/square with more down-and-out looking men [one taking an afternoon nap just across from us] drinking beer from cans. eventually we made out way back into town and were able to at least drop our bags off at the hostel, but at this point we were hating brussels pretty hard. after more wandering we bought some peanuts to snack on while we sat in another park and discussed how exceptionally disappointing brussels was so far. it was nearly as dirty as england.. with seemingly pointless graffiti all over the place. there were tons of empty store fronts and loitering drunk men.. and we saw more coppers in the first half hour than we have in the past six months and how everything [except belgian beer] seemed ridiculously expensive, even by UK standards. not to mention the drivers from hell who speed up when they see you trying to cross the street and honk on a whim.

luckily after we checked in the whining stopped. our hostel, 2G04 quality hostel [strange name..] was much nicer than it looked for the outside. our room even had restored, original wooden carvings along the [very high] ceiling and giant windows. we sat in the common room and circled all the interesting things on the very excellent map the hostel provided then ate vietnamese food then explored. our second impression of the city was much better. we did see a guy hop off his bike and take a pee right in front of us [as well as the hundreds people in cars that drove by] but the mix of 80s architecture, abandoned buildings and strangely placed monuments was familiar. after being in perfect amsterdam brussels felt less like disney land and more like what we were used to [detroit].

so, we drank beers in warandepark parc de bruxelles, just in front of the royal palace. a giant group of hippies joined us for a bit, as did a group of local teenagers who [unknowingly] serenaded us through the bushes with guitars and songs sung in french. it was strange but good. after the beers and more wandering and trying to find some place to pee, stumbled upon a giant rollerblade race, then headed back towards the hostel in search of some late night frietkot but sadly everything was closed. we did find a few transvestite-looking prostitutes though. and that was exciting.

day 5
woke up early [it is hard to sleep in when you know the hostel showers will be covered in someone else’s hair if you dare] and drank too much horrible [complimentary] machine-coffee from the hostel and headed to the vossenplein flea market at place du jeu de balle [i don't know what that means but i took it right from my excel spreadsheet, so it should be accurate]. it was the coolest flea market i have ever seen. just lots of people with tables full of old goodies that filled up an entire square. one old man had a huge collection of old sun and prescription glasses, glasses cases, pipes, pipe cases and amazing old keys. sadly i did not purchase anything. afterwards we bought pastries and wandered around the neighborhood. we found a carnival where an old carnie was hanging out with his enormously overweight pup. then.. we went back to the flea market because i wanted a second look but still couldn't find anything.. and i was afraid of speaking my broken french.

after lots of rummaging we stared a sight-seeing walking tour [following our map, not a tour guide] ad walked a long long way.. found a few vintage shops from my spreadsheet and then sat on a bench and ate our first real frietkot from a cute little stand near botulism pond. that's not what it is really called, but you get the idea. while we were sitting a little boy peed his pants as his mother carried him, arms outstretched, towards the nearest patch of grass. it was funny. the kid had no idea what the big deal was about either. next we checked out the farmers market that ran along the pong and bought more ingredients for a picnic.. tomatoes, strawberries and yummy marinated lives. we also picked up some bread, cheese, beer, framboise and the cheapest box wine [1euro 79!] from a shop then headed towards parc leopold [which also had a botulism pond]. it was super sunny so we found a good spot away from duck poos and ate and drank. an older lady disrobed [not completely] and sunbathed next to us. it was cute. we didn't stay very long because we had forgotten to bathe peter in sunscreen, so we continued on our walking tour until we eventually ended up back in the tourist area, and joined the herd to see the gigantic flower carpet. it was very crowded and i got the pedestrian version of road rage.

after that we had to take a nap so it was back to the hostel, but not before i found a very cute white and blue polka dot 80s ruffle shirt/dress [which i wore pretty much every day for the rest of the trip] at sussies. we drank post-nap beers at the caravan bar then went back to eat fresh rolls [our homemade rolls were way better..] and some pho at the vietnamese place from the night before. after that we weren't sure what to do so we decided to check out the free view of the city.. this involved taking a rickety old elevator to the top of a parking garage. it was strange. eventually we ended up back at warandepark where we finished off the box wine and had a photo shoot. that night there was some sort of dance event at the pavilion so there was loud bid bad music playing and we sat and reminisced about the good old days [it was almost our one year wedding anniversary, so we were allowed]. we eventually headed back to the hostel after some nighttime sight seeing and ate more fries on some dirty garbage stairs.

day 6
for some reason some of our hostel-mates had a difficult time shutting the door / going to bed, etc. so we got poo sleep and slept in a big. we are leftover picnic cheese toast with tomatoes and strawberries for breakfast then caught a tram [with leather interior] to the train station then a train to bruges. please see this post...

day 7
so, we get on the train to frankfurt and manage to find the only two unreserved seats and are thankful because it is a four hour journey. of course our sandwiches taste like death but we had eaten A LOT of free toast and coffee at the hostel in bruges so it wasn't so bad. we both napped until we got into town and checked into the colour hotel. it was strange. every floor was a different color [there were only five i think] and our bathroom/shower was across the hall, but we had our own room with a tv and big bed so it was fine by me. we relaxed for a bit until we were starving then set out to find good foods. we were about three blocked from our hotel when we saw this scared looking lady back into a doorway to TAKE A HIT OFF HER CRACK PIPE. it was about two in the afternoon and we were in the financial district of frankfurt, so men in suits were all about. about two minutes later we are standing next to two chatting business men, waiting to cross a busy street when a guy drinking a beer/riding a bike rides right up to us. he gets crazy eyes and starts yelling at the business men, spitting and repeatedly calling them swine. they mostly stay quiet and laugh to each other a bit, but i for one was freaked out. apparently this must happen to men in suits quite often [i'm sure not] because the drunk biker rode away and everyone pretended nothing had happened. i'm just glad we didn't get angry man spit all over us.

peter had spent three weeks in frankfurt when he was still working for continental in the winter of 05 so he supposedly knew how to get around. but, after looking for a mysterious thai place for 45 minutes we gave up and ate more nordsee sandwiches for lunch. there was lots of wandering until we finally found the thai place near sachenhausen and ate foods. there was also small a polka festival [just guessing] where lots of over 65's were enjoying beers, sausages and loud music in the street. also walked around museum district and sat by the river main to watch the friendly swans and rowers. after a bit of resting we walked back into town to see the opera house lit up at night and through the red light district where we didn't see any girls but tons of coppers. then we had a sober night and watched funny over-dubbed american tv and soft core porn commercials until we passed out.

day 8
we slept in until late-ish and ate more cheese sandwiches from a bakery for breakfast. the weather was poo so we went into every shoe store we could find in search of some new sneakers for petey. we eventually gave up and found the modern art museum where there was a nice bernard buffet. the building was strange and had lots of overlooks and cubbyholes and weird notes written in corners. we like it. for lunch we ate thali style at an empty indian place and saw a car accident [just a rear-ender] which was out entertainment. it kept raining so we went to see a turkish cartoon exhibit at another small museum. too bad for us the cartoons were in turkish and only translated into german. it kind of stopped raining so we headed towards the university where it rained some more. we had lattes then walked lots, found parks with outdoor ping pong tables and tried to get in the botanical garden but it was not free so we changed out minds. eventually we bought bread, incredibly cheap smoked herring, cucumber, cheese and wines to eat for dinner back at the hotel.. then more tv and sleep.

day 9
caught an early train to heidelberg where we are leftover sandwiches and bananas for early lunch. we walked through town and saw a billion bakeries and some excellent second hand stores. there was also a spanish family singing incredibly loudly. like yelling loud. we found the castle and climbed lots of stairs to see [peter's favorite] giant keg and the scenic view. back in town we stopped to eat pastries then got back on the train to munich.

on the way we watched city of men which passed the time nicely. our hostel in munich was another wombats so we were sure not to stick around. luckily there was a reasonable sushi place where we ate dinner and watched as people continued to line up until the line was all the way out the door. we were happy we didn't have to wait because when i'm hungry i get angry at the world and we would have had to ditch sushi for more cheese sandwiches. after yummy dinner we walked around and got somwhat lost but finally ended up at the ginormous hofbrau house and drank giant beers. our entertainment for the night was a group of japanese tourist who had befriended a professional-wrestler-ish german drunkard. it brought back warm memories of our night at the hofbrau house in chicago where our ginger friend dan broke a beer glass then got us kicked out of a friends apartment by trying pee in a closet. on the walk home we ate falafel then went to bed. we also had a sassy british roommate [and two spanish roomies too] but i cannot remember much about her.. just wanted to note that for posterity.

day 10
woke up early again and ate hostel breakfast. i would like to note the vast selection of speads we have encountered: nutella, fake nutela, honey, butter, cheese spread, herbed cheese spread and potted meat spead. it was very impressive. we also drank lots of good coffee then took and train then bus to dachau. there were lots of americans and dachau was hideous, but i guess that is expented, considering its purpose. we wandered around lots and wondered why some tourists felt they needed to take photos of cremation ovens. back in town we ate stolen apples [from breaskfast] with fake nutella spread and tried to figure out where to have late lunch. our hostel map said led us to an imaginary restraunt [number 2!] but luckily we found a tiny korean place across the street where a cute old guy made us yummy lunch.

after foods we walked around the universtity areas a bit looking for cool shops but it was mostly really quiet but really pretty. also meandered through englischer garten where we saw an entire family of nude sunbathers plus plenty of other extra-tan nudies frolicing around. we also saw an older man wearing liederhosen ride by with a live pet duck on the back of his bike. there was also a scary-fast river where people apparently surf. it was gorgeous. next we went to pinakothek der moderne museum. it had the coolest bathrooms i've ever seen. i wanted to take a photo but was too embarassed as there were other ladies in there with me. besides the toilets, there was a good mix of exhibits including one on 50s architecture, photographs of [mostly hate-] crime scenes around germany, a nazi themed francis bacon and the special exhibit called "girl problems." lots of good female-themes art with some trannies and drag queens mixed in.

it was 8-ish when we left and getting cold so we had to go back to the hostel to put pants on and then we were starving so started walking towards paulander beergarten. we got pretty lost so asked the only people we could find for directions. this happened to be a 12-year old boy who assured us he spoke english. he [kindof] told us to go up a road then over something.. then we were supposed to "tick-tock".. we still don't know what that means, but after another half-hour or some we found it. it was much classier than hoffbrau with candles on the table and elivator music outside. we drank beers and ate sausages, sour kraut, pretzels with mustard and reclette. a cute older couple sat near us took several after-dinner-shots and we wished we were as cool as them. after we walked some more then went to bed.

day 11
ate more hostel breakfast and made extra cheese and mustard sandwiches for the road then got on a train to berlin. we started watching season one of the wire and the kid sat in front of us kept peeking over the top of his seat to see what was going on. we had headphones on but were worried he might see a stripper so tried to shoot him dirty looks as much as possible. it was a long train ride so we also ate sandwiches and napped. after the train ride we waited at the bus stop with some scary looking characters then took a bus into town to the circus hostel. they gave us a tiny, illegible map so we went to the wombats hostel to steal one of theirs then wandered around the riverfront and monuments and sat to eat one more cheese sandwich. after some more wandering we were caught in a downpour so we got ice cream and hid under a bridge until it let up.

next we checked out some shoe shops then got a beer at marcus-bräu brewery. there were lots of plastic plants and it was depressing. we had hoped to eat there but the menu read like a school cafeteria so we walked in circles trying to find someplace to eat. we tried and failed to find a thai place but got desperate and popped into a tiny italian deli/restaurant. the people sitting at the picnic tables out front looked happy and had clean plates so we went off that. we bought a 3euro bottle of wine and two bowls of pasta for a total of about 12euro. we then sat outside where they corked and poured our wine and we feasted on the most delicious pasta. it was actual italian food from an italian mom and dad and it was the best food we ate all trip. we were happy so went back to the hostel bar and drank beers then went to bed.

day 12
we planned to get brunch at a very good sounding place so we skipped hostel breakfast and set out walking. we found the street the restaurant was on and began to look for #60. we walked and walked and 10 or so blocks later the road ended at #59. we asked a man walking his dog for help and he said we had to go back to the beginning of the road as the addresses above #59 went in the other direction. ha! so we has to walk all the way back. there was a kids fun park and lots of pretty residential streets on the way but we were starving. i ate a packet of fake nutella. when we finally found the restaurant it was excellent and spent a couple hours drinking coffee and orange juice, eating fruit, cheese, eggs and a giant basket of bread.

after stuffing ourselves we spent the early afternoon visiting lots of vintage and second hand shops. there were some good stuff but it was ridiculously expensive and it just made me miss home and real thrift stores. for a lunch/snack we shared currywurst and fries at the very same stand anthony bourdain ate at - konnepke's. it was a deep fried hot dog with ketchup and curry powder on top. i don't quite get the hype, but i'm not known to turn down a hot dog under any circumstances.

i forgot what we did after currywurst, but in the evening we walked down to see the berlin wall then took the train back and ate more italian food at the deli/restaurant. after that we bought beers and wandered around downtown and in the jewish memorial. we ended the night back at the hostel bar where a large group of french teens were drinking beer from a giant two liter boots. then to bed.

day 13
we ate a giant breakfast at the cafe attached to your hostel.. caprese salad, hard boiled eggs, fruit and bread. the weather was poo and it poured constantly on our walk to the judisches museum. once there we had to wait in line then we stayed inside for a good four hours. after that we warmed up with ginger and mint tea and spicy foods at monsieur vuong. we also wanted to visit rogacki like anthony bordain so we took the train and a long walk out to west berlin to find it was closed. back in town we finished our trip with a final german-tastic dinner at weihenstephan that included pretzels, schnitzel. sausages, kraut and beers.

day 14
we took the train back to bremen for one night. not much to mention here. by this point we were ready to be back home in manchester and this pretty much made us hate bremen. we sat in bed and watched the wire for three or four hours then went to sleep and flew home! hooray!

day tripping: blackpool

last saturday we went to blackpool. it was warm-ish and sunny and we had an excellent time walking the promenad and piers, people watching and exploring the pleasure beach amusment park. we also ate fish + chips + [canned] peas that tasted like a school lunch.. and saw some strange people and strange good [check out the osama bin laden masks]. the highlight of the day was the steeplechase ride. we didn't actually ride it, but we watched other people ride it and that was enough.

today i brought in crispy cremes as my almost-last-day-of-work treat. i hadn't had a doughnut since i worked in lansing and almost forgot how heavenly they were. i wish they made doughnut perfume. that reminds me.. there was a quality dairy [neither peter or i could remember the name of the store.. i had to google "lansing convenince store".. we are old] doughnut factory down the road from my apartment in lansing. every morning you could smell doughnuts in the air. i think it was the best part of living there. that and the thrift stores. and pablos. but that was about it.

anyhow, i am anticipating a lot of things in the next 12 days, but mainly just looking forward to going home. i am also dedicating the rest of my time here to visit and photograph my favorite manchester-ish things. happy almost-friday.

bruges, bunkbeds + barak obama

i just read this and laughed until my eyes teared up. it reminded me that i haven't run down our trip. i am not going to now because i am lazy, but i will document a funny story. well, i think it's funny. you probably won't.

so. we got to bruges on a very wet sunday morning and checked in to our hostel. they told us what beds we were in and we stashed the bags in storage as our room was still occupied. but, the good thing about bruges [and brussels and antwerpt, even though we didn't go there] is that some company had provided the hostels with excellent, very cheap-traveler friendly maps with excellent suggestions on where to eat and what to see. so, we consulted the map and found a place where the owner looks like freddy mercury and you can get 3 euro spaghetti. because we had spent the night before drinking an entire box of wine in the park [that only cost 1.92 euro] we were hungover and needed drunk belly meal. so, we found said restraunt, medard, drank cheap belgian beer and ordered large spaghettis, even though freddy thought we might be better off with the smaller size. i told him i could handle it. when our bowls arrived, filled with [what looked like an entire pound of] pasta covered with cheddar [why?] cheese i felt a little sick but tried to eat it all. peter kindof accomplished this but i failed.

anyhow, after the pasta we were zombies and tried to walk it off.. we climbed the tower [which looked nothing at all like the one in the movie] and walked along the canals, checked out some shops and got stuck in a rain storm. eventually we made it back to the hostel, got our bags and went to check out our rooms. first we had to squeeze ourselves and our bags up a very scary free-standing spiral staircase that moved with every step. it was dangerous. then we saw out room was the first exit for the third floor. there was a sign on the door that read "in case of emergency all key cards work on this door." which really meant "anyone can get into this room at any time!" anyhow, we had a fire escape/balcony so i guess it made up for it. there were two bunk beds in the room and bed #1 had mr. man beach towels on it so we went for the far bunk bed thinking those two beds were ours. while peter changed and hot on the interweb i made the bottom bunk for us [with two pillows] and hung our towels on the top bunk to air out. we also met our australian roommie who was going to take a nap after staying out [until 6am.. what! we're too old!]. having made out bed for the night we peaced out to go find a grocery store. we got kindof lost of walked in circles around town but finally found a market that was jsut about to close. all the normal bread was bought up so we grabbed what looked like whole wheat pitas, red pepper, tomatoe, zuccini and goat cheese. and three bars of cote d ore chocolate. [we still have one and a half left!] back i the hostel kitchen i made sandwiches for the next day's train ride [just like my mom used to for road trips] and headed off to eat dinner.

i was hungry for ice cream and frites so we consulted the map again and found a close place named cafe brituur snack. it turned out to be an american themed diner filled a couple old farts who were drinking tiny glasses of beer chatting. we ordered frites and burgers from the lady with a blonde bouffant hairdo and 60s style eyeliner and sat down in a little booth with a mini-table-side jukebox. peter went up to get a beer and started speaking to one of the old farts. when we heard we were american he yelled out "barak obama!" and called us yankees. he also brought his adorable flemish sheep dog to meet us. he was a very friendly guy. after eating we went went to see the old windmills and wandered town for a while. it was so quiet and you could see into everyone's windows. made me feel like a creeper. eventually we bought beers and sat around in the park. we spotted a kitty stalking the ducks near the pond and, using my skills, eventually got her to come over and hang out for a while. she was very purry and obviously someone's lovey house cat. i wanted to steal her.

because we were leaving for frankfurt the next day we figured we had better go and try as many belgian beers as we possibly could. with guidance from the map [again!] we went to brugs beertje bar, the only brewpub in town. it was tiny and crowded and smokey and everyone was having a good time. especially the giant table of brits and australians [including our wino roomie] sitting across the room. anyhow, peter and i tried a few of their specialities and chatted until we got sleepy and headed home, stopping in quick [the belgian equivalent to mcdonalds] to use the restroom.

when we got back to the room i spotted a very large pair of yellow crocks in front of our bunk bed. i knew that our roomie was a petite girl so i thought she may have borrowed them from a large-footed, crock-wearing man. so i moved them so they were in front of her bunk. peter, of course. took our his laptop, sat down on the bottom bunk and started doing whatever he does on the internet. i took my pants off and brushed my teeth then went for a pee, then changed into pjs and sat down next to peter. i was sitting there for a few seconds before i realized there were infact an asian man sleeping in the bed. he was the owner of the mysterious yellow crocks and he was sleeping with both our pillows in the bed i so lovingly made earlier that day. he was also a very heavy sleeper, or thought i was a voyeur. anyhow, i laughed at peter's inability to realise when he was sitting on someone and was angry that he stole out bed and two pillows! i then had to make the other bottom bunk and we had to share. i was angry.

the next morning we got up and showered early to be first to enjoy free breakfast. i am greedy like that. and i don't like people to watch me eat 5 pieces of toast. mr yellow crocks sits down at the table next to us and i make peter apologize for sitting on him. instead of apologizing fo sitting on him and disrupting his slumber, peter tells him he slept in our bed and he should pay more attention to the bed he is assigned. a few minutes later they start talking all about traveling and engineering so its no big deal. turns out he is from korea and we are the stupid ones and made his bed for him instead of one of our own.

that is it.

oh, and we discovered that those sandwiches i made were the most disgusting things imaginable. the "pita bead" was actually sickly sweat and that mixed with goat cheese and red pepper tasted like a regurgitated meal.

lost in leeds

simba, take I and II
petey being attacked by a bee in howarth
fish + chips in leeds
neighborhood near uni. leeds






friday we went to the mackie's for dinner and very entertaining conversions. to get there we took a train to stalybridge then a very nauseating bus ride [winding through some yorkshire moores] to howarth. also on the bus was a middle-aged hiker who had asked the bus driver for some assistance finding his way. no less than three other local passengers took that as their queue to grab the bus schedule he was studying out of his hands and repeatedly advise him of the route they thought he should take. it was entertaining.

upon our arrival we caught up with the summer's events, which included a string of bad luck. thankfully after family dinner and wine the conversation became cheerier. topics included, but were not limited to, conspiracy theories regarding the US and UK government, german robots, england's pub culture, frank zappa, that notorious russian christmas party in clarkston [circa 1976], cuban cat-cuisine and traveling europe as an actual starving artist. we chatted until past bed time then ate cheese and biscuits then fell asleep by the fire place.

in the morning we bonded with the family pets [simba the old rickety persian and mac the henry-lookalike] and ate pie before wandering town a bit and setting off to leeds. i had spend most of friday morning at work making a list of vintage stores to visit. i included detailed directions for each and even found some cheap restaurants. unfortunately i forgot to print it out so we only had a map and my fickle memory to guide us. we did find one decent store from my list, then stumbled upon an excellent and very busy fish + chip shop. but then we wandered north and got lost trying to locate the notorious hyde park and the surrounding shops. we never did find it, but did get to see the ivy-covered neighborhood around uni. leeds and a very sketchy housing estate.

back in manchester we sat in st. ann square while petey recorded the terrible [but very well dressed] cover band and the tail end of an art market. afterwards we picked up some faux gordons gin and ate leftover fish pie [take II was much better than the first attempt] with green beans for dinner.

today we did not leave the apartment. the only thing worth mentioning is the very momoun's-ish lentil soup i made for dinner.

please observe the current 'most popular' page on NYTimes.com:
it seems as if the editorial team as well as the informed public have some concerns over that lady who looks like lemon.

praha, wien + cesky krumlov

i need to spell check this as it probably makes no sense.. but.. we are leaving to go on holiday again tomorrow morning and i have been feeling under the weather so i am going to bed.

this is the longest post ever. i am writing all this because my memory is horrible and unless i write it all out i will forget, and it was too good to forget. i recomend looking at photos instead of paying attendiont to the essay below.

day one
we left for the train station with plenty of time to spare, as we were not checking bags. after the third train to the airport was canceled due to supposed "signal failure," petey started to get antsy [angry, really.. even agro]. when we finally did get on a train after sweating on four different jam-packed platforms, we sat for a good half hour, ready to throw up. luckily peter was able to call a friend who assured us our flight was, of course, delayed. after getting to the airport ate a celebratory dinner of drugstore sandwiches and flew to prague.

at the airport it took way too long to figure out the ticket machine, even though i had [what i thought were] detailed instructions of how to get into town. luckily no one else could figure them out either. after a bus ride we rode the metro from dejicka station to muzeum to staromistska. Each station had a very 60s themed wall adornment that made an excellent first impression on me. the stations were also spotless.. no vagrant-poos or beer cans or gum seats. and, people do not steam-roll you on the escalator if you have luggage, unlike in the london tube stations.

of course we couldn't find our hostel so we wander around a bit before we found someone to get directions from and checked in to our [again] spotless dorm. after a pee break [the toilet paper in cz is like cheap office paper towel], we asked for suggestions of where to get an inexpensive drink. the man/boy-receptionist was very enthusiastic about a floating latin dance party on the river vltava [moldova in english.. which makes no sense..] but we decided to pass. it was 10-ish at night but still warm and old town was pretty much deserted. we found a cavernous bar where no one was speaking english and had some brewskis. i liked that the czech's enjoy very inexpensive adult beverages and even cheaper cigarettes. we sat, drank and watched the table of men across from us as they bought a bottle of vodka, some glasses and a couple of small mixies. after get yawny we searched for any open shop to get some snacks. after lots of slow walking and looking up at giant doors and windows with nouveau decorations, we found an "all the time" store with pretzel sticks. we continued to walk and stare and snack until we found our way back into the main square and went to bed.

day two
on the suggestion of a friend of a friend, we ate breakfast at zanzibar in prague 3. i had baguette, blue and brie cheese with fruits and petey had baguette, eggs and veggies [which just turned out to be lettuce. ha!]. and coffee. after we went to the tv tower, a space-aged looking silvery antena featuring a very creepy and fantastic planet-ish sculpture of [giant] babies scaling the outside. it was surreal and excellent. we took an elevator to the pastel-colored observation deck and got to see a panarma of pastel-colored prague. next we wandered through a park, past the national museum and bought our train tickets to vienna at the main train station, hlavni nadrazi, which looked like it had been bombed out, but was still beautiful, like all the buildings in prague are. then we drooled over everything at the muncha museum. the best things were photos of naked-ish modeling ladies in muncha's paris studio that he used as reference for his paintings. they were, of course, all gorgeous.

lunch was at beas, right next door to the hostel. yummy indian delisciousness, then a walk down to the river and some time in the shade cooling off and resting our feet before we went for beers [sour cherry and green nettle] and snacks [fried cheese and smoked herring] at pivovarsky brewery. more walking, passed by rudolfinum hall where we could hear the philharmonic orchestra practicing then through the jewish quarter to alberts where we bought a dinner of grocery store baguette sandwiches, then ate them in old town square and torrist watched. i know that after that we went back to the hostel to shower and.. the rest we forget.

day three
walked over charles bridge to eat at bohemian bagel which was alright. it had a fun spiral staircase to the bathrooms. i think that was the best part. then climbed a gazillion stairs to see the castle and tons of tourists. escaped to the almost empty letna park with lots of shade trees and views of town. the best part was a giant metronome sculpture atop a stone fascad, covered in graffiti, complimented by a power line with a collection of dangling sneakers. apparently a giant statue of stalin once stood atop the monument, but it was blown up in the 60s. it was by far the coolest/strangest thing we saw. kept walking towards the mysterious "yellow market" in prague 7. we figured out that the "yellow" was for asian.. very un-p.c., very, very terrible. it had some goodies.. like the cheapest gelato imaginable, death stars and the most mock-crocks i've ever seen in one place. we bought some sour cherries from the farmers market and walked back towards the park, taking lots of water and sit-down breaks along the way. ended up back at beas

day four
checked out of the hostel and ate more bagels with veggie cream cheese and had lates at the bake shop. cutest bakery in the world. got an extra bagel for the road and toured the jewish quarter, temples, monuments, cemetery and lots of prague-specific history. also saw a few very cute and very old volunteer ticket-checkers. they made my morning. afterward we went on the interweb and ate the extra bagel in the hostel before heading out to catch the train to vienna. it was packed with tourists. packed with tourists who were sweating and fanning themselves and miserable. it was hot but the sights were mostly excellent. we passed several naked swimmers, adorable baby deer, lots of sunflower and corn fields and other tiny towns and communities. we were already irritable because of the heat [and forgetting to fill up our water bottle] and the company made it worse. we were sat near to two canadian sisters, an older, unrelated canadian woman and another younger girl from some other eastern european country. the euro girl was asking them about canada.. what is a traditional canadian dish [poutine and tim hortons were the first things that came to my mind], what was the weather like, etc. the conversation turned to how canadians had a good sense of humor and could laugh at themselves, unlike americans. how americans don't have to take world history, only have to know how to find their state on a map to graduate high school and how american news does not cover international events. who knew the most anti-american people we would come across so far would be canadians. geez. anyhow, after the hot train we took showers at our night club-ish hostel and gulped beers and ate dinner at a turkish restraunt. afterwards we walked around and saw all the sights lit up at night. we also walked through the museum quarter where tons of hipsters were drinking gocery store beers and lounging on the giant purple louge/sculptures. i was jealous. after more walking, buying a very overpriced bottle of water and walking along the danube where there were many outdoor pee-ers, we found a bar and had drinks, then slept.

day five
rose early and ate pretzel breadsticks and pineapple yogurt drinks from the grocery store. so yummy. went straight to the eating baklava from naschmarkt [flea/veggie-market] and looked at old treasures and an excellent selection of produce, sweets and snacks from what seemed like all over europe. bought some bakalava and ate in in the museum quarter as a replacement for our morning coffee. next we decided to go to the albertina as it supposedly has the largest collection of european art in austria including lots of mark rothko. and it is in a giant gaudy palace. sounds excellent, but it was all a lie. after climbing a scary-ish staircase in the hotness and paying 7.5euro each, we found a hundful of restored, original palace rooms, one room full of paul klee, which was good, and a handful of empty rooms where the permanent collection should have been. it was a bummer. after that we ate our pain away at the tiny indian buffet the is vego. they had the most excellent deep fried sandwhiches with dosa filling. dipped in raita i could have eaten them all day.

the weather turned poo-ish so we took the bus up to the small town of grinzing. it was deserted. petey had a pee in a very suspeicious looking public toilet with funny warning stickers then we took another bus up even further to kahlenberg hill. there were some vineyards, a hotel or two, a shop and a scenic overlook. it was overcast so it was not so scenic. took the bus back to town and got stuck in a rain storm on our way to check out the crazy housing project, hunderwasserhaus. we made it almost all teh way there on foot before we gave up and went into a cafe to have some lates. it was a cute little place with old ladies drinking wine in the corner. we paid a ridiculout 5.6euro for two of the tinest lates i have ever seen. they were good, but if i pay 4$ for 4ounces of liquid it better be drugs. or booze. so after the rain let up we saw the hunderwasserhaus and went off to eat an early dinner of the most deliscious pizza at vesuvio de mario. it made us very happy and it was incredable inexpensive. we were so happy that i carried the leftovers around all night and after some outside beers [back in the museum quarter] we ate the leftovers on the walk home. having a purse that smells like pizza is wonderful.

day six
it was our last day in vienna we tried to find somewhere to have a real life eggs/toast breakfast. the diner that we wanted to go to was closed for the month. instead we went to a place that we thought was a diner but was really a night club.. it was described as the place to go if it is morning but you're not done clubbing. we were the only patrons. we drank 3euro lates and watched the giant, eastern-european bouncer play the fruit machine and dance to michael jackson songs. it was strange. we ended up eating yummy cream cheese, pepper, tomato and cucumber sandwiches from anker then visiting the MUMOK. this was the best museum of the trip and the best i've been to period. one exhibit included some very impressive coverage of 60s performance art and alternative architecture/lifestyle technology [that is the best description i can come up with]. lots of things that looked like they came straight out of a spacey 60s movie, in the best way possible. it was amazing.

it was hot and clear and gorgeious out so we took a long stroll, wandering towards vegatasia, well out of the city center. they had a giant, all veggie buffet with things i have never seen at eaten before, and they were all good. our favorite was desert.. deep friend pineapple chunks and coconut rice pudding. it is my favorite combination. it tastes just like suntan lotion smells. we were in such a good mood we went out to prater park, a carnival/amusment park. there were at least four different variations of bumper cars, the best being americna themed. there was an air brushed picture of a biker with a confederate flag and large-boobed lady on the back. it was hillarious. we stood and listened to a very enthusiastic carnival announcer for a good five minutes. something about a german accent gets me every time. there were at least 5 beer gartens and scary sculptures of children eating their way out of ice cream cones. we bought some beers to go and went to danube island. i am pretty sure we were the only tourist there. everyone was relaxed and having bbqs, swimming, boating, rollarblading and sun bathing along the river. we picked a spot near the water and drank beer until the sun went down. for dinner we ate a traditonal vienese pub. petey had fish and potatoe salad that was vinigary and delisious and i had a dumping filled with sausage and surrounded by saurcraut. we were so full that we tried to walk around but were also so tired we couldn't. after trying to drink beers in voksgarten we had to dump them out and go to bed.

day 7
ate more veggie samiches from anker and drank more pineapple yogurt on the way to the train station. took the train to a very deserted gmund then another, tiny one-car train [back into czeck territory] to cesky budejovice. we saw more excellent cz countryside, sunflowers, naked swimmers and deer. along the way the tiny train made quite a few stops to pick up people along the track, even though they were not always at stations. most of these were cute old men. when we got into town we had to catch a bus from the main shopping center.. after walking in circles we realized the bus station was on top of the shopping center and not underneath. the bus ride was smooth and scenic and when we got to cesky krumlov we were happy to be off public transport. our hotel is krumlov was called krumlov house and was the opposite of the wambat hostel we stayed at in vienna, which was good. there were no pool tables, no bar and no drunk americans/australians boozing it up. instead we were told there were no shoes allowed [i never even went barefoot in my own apartment!] and that the river was really dreamy. i don't mind as i am getting old and would much rather deal with hippies than drunken backpackers. and we were pooped from all the wondering and hot weather. so, we sat right on the river on ate a yummy veggie-ful dinner at laibon. afterwards we explored the almost deserted castle, courtyard and gardens. we ended up getting locked in the gardens with some italins, czecks and some other people who didn't speak english. we were all confused but eventually some guy with an impressive euro-mullet came to let us out and laugh at us. later we went to the horror bar, known for being spooky at night, and drank frankova wine. there were some skelatins hanging from the ceiling and a few coffin tables. people kept coming through to take photos and leaving without buying any drinks. it was odd. the scariest thing about the horror bar was the music. i don't know what it was but i was terrified.

day 8
bought bagels and cream-ish cheese and hiked up to the monestary. on the way we met many giant snails and slugs. it was like olympia natl. park all over again. we tried our best not to smooh any but it was a very uphill climb and i think i got too delerious to care about half way up. after the hike we wandered and bought groceries for a picnic. we made sandwiches and drank wine by the river and watched the canooers go by. it was excellent. wine in the afternoon is the best. next we climbed the castle tower. it was slightly more scary than it should have been, as we had been sitting in the sun drinking wine just before. there was good panaramic view and we could even see the monestary where we were earlier that morning. after we got back down we headed back into the gardens and visited the reflecting pond. petey took senior pictures of me. we watched the ducks chase eachother. after more extensive wandering we bought some beers from the brewart for later and ate bohemian feasts at two marys. it was lots of potatoe and other assorted goodness. then more wandering along the river. we sat for a while listening to some guy play classic rock covers on the piano. it was funny and entertaining. highlights were stairway to heaven and bohemian rapsody. then more wandering. lots of it. then drank our beers back at the hostel where petey plated guitar and i read rick steves. we were getting sleepy so in an attempt to extend the night we went to nearby bar bar. it was literally around the corner. but it was empty. there was the bartender lady and an old man she was chatting with. that was it. and they only had one beer on tap. and it poured incredable slow. must not get much business. being in there made me even sleepier so we went back and slept.

day 9
the shower smelled of pee and i realized i was not wearing shoes and then i freaked out. then i saw a spider and it was all over. i put flip flops on in the hostel. made sandwiches for the leftovers from the picnic the day before and brought them along for lunch on another hike. we didn't know where this one went [as the name was in czeck] but it ended up being a horse riding stable. luckily the walk was not all uphill, only mostly uphill, but pretty. we stood in the corner of the farm field and ate our sandwiches. it was strange but good. then headed back into town for a few more hours of wandering and had italina for lunch. homemade gnoccis and pizza. then ice cream bars from the grocery store. yummm. then back on the bus and into prague where we caught the metro and another bus to the airport. here we are the only bad meal of the entire trip. 15-ish euro for a [unimpressive] baguette sandwich, small greek salad and yogurt drink. then stood in line waiting to check in for our flight. the brits behind us wouldn't shut up and it made me remenice about how pleasant it had been not hearing any [well, many] garbled or hen-ish british accents for ten days.

the end.