Hello, USA?!?

I want more vacation! (Click on the words)

Working in and now living in Germany has proved to me that most Americans do NOT get enough vacation. In S'burg, I got 10 days of vacation per year. In germany, I get 30!!

Most germans take off the entire month of August and a good chunk of Decemeber too. We need a break, america.

No Cuse, Noooooooo

For shame, syracuse, for shameeeeee .... (click on the words)

Because of this sad news, I have added this awesome picture of my dad playing for Uconn. Irish 'fro, what what?!?!

Mad Upsssss

Around München: Wies'n

Also known as ... Oktoberfest! :) So as most people know, it is actually held the last few weeks in September. It started as party for King Ludwig I's marriage (the crazy's one grand daddy) to Princess Therese. It recently celebrated its 200th year, but it was not the 200th Oktoberfest. It was cancelled around 20 times due to wars or illness. So you can plan that trip in the future! :) It's held on a large field known as Theresienwiese (this is why the locals call Oktoberfest Wiesn). It starts with a large parade with all the beer makers bringing the barrells of beer to Theresienwiese. The mayor of Munich taps the first barrell and then the fun begins!

So now to the beer. Only beer that is brewed within the city limits of Munich is allowed to be served. Lets see if I can name them all: Augustiner, Spaten, Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr, Löwenbräu and Hofbräu. The beer is served in a maß or one liter of beer. And they are all served in tents. There are currently fourteen large tents and twenty small tents. I was in what was known as 'Oide Wiesn' or Old Weisn. Its a bit calmer then the big tents and they served beer in the ceramic mugs.

Oide Wiesn

My friends Keith and Katharina enjoying some beers

As you can see in the above picture, most people wear the traditional Bavarian garb. This includes the lederhosen (leather pants) for guys and Drindls (dress thing) for the ladies. No, I did not buy one so I did not wear one. But here is my friend Matt wearing the outfit to work one day! It was quite common to see this at work during Oktoberfest.

Looks happy to have his picture taken, right? haha

I thought Oktoberfest was kinda like the New York State Fair, but with way more beer. But there are tons of rides and food vendors. I went on a few rides. I think they try to find the rides with the most possibility for people to throw up. I mean, look at my first picture! Spin, drink beer, spin. They also have these cute heart cookies that everyone wears. They are made out of Lebkochen, or the german version of gingerbread. Most are hard, so sadly not edible. Here's my friend Katharina wearing one:

It says, "I love you." Awww :)

So overall experience was pretty awesome! I think it is something everyone needs to experience at least once ;) The 2012 dates are Sep 22 – Oct 7 (hint, hintttttttt). One thing that I learned is that Erin + maßes of beer = Erin falls down a lot. Now come on, who doesn't want to see that?! haha

Stay Tuned ....

Updates are coming!

Oh Be Calm.

Be calm.
I know you feel like you are breaking down.
I know that it gets so hard sometimes,
Be calm.
Take it from me, I've been there a thousand times.
You hate your pulse because it thinks you're still alive and everything's wrong
It just gets so hard sometimes
Be calm.

The Extended Royal Edition

Ahhh, another weekend, another castle to visit. They're easy day trips, so I like to do them on Sundays when NOTHING IS OPEN. This weekend I went to another one of Ludwig's castles, Herrenchiemsee. This one he lived in for a whopping 10 days! This one was pretty baller in the sense that its in the middle of an island. It's in the middle of the largest lake in Barvia called the Chiemsee (I think). I had to take a ferry to get there, after I drove anywho. Here's the car btw:


118 d

It's not available in the US sadly, its a cute lil' car. And pretty baller rims if I do say so myself. :) So the story behind this castle is that it is modeled after the Palace of Versailles in France. It's got a Hall of Mirrors and everything (longer than the original)!  It actually looks like Versailles too, without the two side wings.



Versailles- minus the side wings

 Why no side wings you ask? Quite simple actually. This is what happens when the King likes to build several castles all over Bavaria and runs out of money before they are finished. Seriously, this palace has like 70 rooms and only 20 of them were finished! Plus, of the 20, only 3 were like living quarters. The rest were just tributes to the Palace of Versailles. And when I say tribute, I mean it. There are literally no paintings of anything German in the entire place. All Louis XIV. Kinda weird when you think about it.

Front Lawn

Front Lawn that extends all the way to the lake

So, the coolest part about this castle is the fountains. They are all copied from some other castle, but the effect is still the same.

Fame and Fortuna (maybe?) Fountains

Getting artsy ... Creepy kid though, reminds me of that scary movie in that big hause where the little children statues come alive and tell the lady to saveeee them

Definitely my favorite fountain

The lady on top curses all the people below and turns them into frogs because they would not give her and her children any water. Also, there's no water in this picture because the fountains turn off every 15 minutes.

This dude has a frog head ... haha loves it.

The tour was really short again, only like 25 minutes. There were some cool things inside though. Like I said before, there was a hall of mirrors. There was a chanderlier (NO idea how to spell that) in every room with hundreds of candles on each. They were all only lit once when the king was there and for no special reason. Another cool part was his elevator dining table. The table actually could move between floors so that 'the help' could set the table in one room and then he would be waiting upstairs. They said this was so he didnt have to actually see 'the help.' I dont know if thats incredibly stuck up or sad! He was kinda a loner, so I am going to go with sad. :(

Orange flower :)

German dudes playing at the castle

So finally, the other cool part was of course getting there. The lake was very beautiful. There were a lot of people on boats, sailing or relaxing.

Dock at castle

Lake with mountains :)

Ducky! :)

Btw, people will cut you in line faster then you can say, 'Aww I want a picture of that ducky!' Above, said ducky. Oh well.

PS- Charlie turned two yesterday! My baby, they grow up so fast!

<3

Around Munich: The Sweaty Version

Well Mother Nature must have heard me complaining about the cold, raining summer here in Munich because now its as hot as balls. I know, I know, I shouldn't complain because its only like 90. But here is the big difference my friends, NO AIR CONDITIONING. I sit in work and sweat, go to the gym and sweat, go home and sweat ... ahhh, sucks.

I'm meltttinnngggggg

Just finished 'The Help' last night, it was a great book. Now maybe I can find it playing somewhere here in Munich. Stay coooool!

Go Yvonne! :)

http://teddyhilton.com/2011-08-16-yvonne-escapes-death-continues-to-be-on-the-run-in-germany

Around Munich: The Royal Version (Swans and Hoes)

Sorry Mom.

Hello Eveyone. I am on a roll today, this is post #3! I think it's going to be a long one too. So this past weekend I have deemed, 'The Royals Weekend.' I don't know why I am intrigued by the kings and queens of Germany ... it might be my love of German history, the fact that we dont have them in the states OR that a lot of German kings seem to have been crazy haha. No joke! My favorite happens to be Ludwig II, or as you probably know him, the guy who made the original Cinderella's Castle. He is also known as 'Mad King Ludwig' or the 'Fairy Tale King.' A little background for you (I'm sorry if this bores you ...), he became king at the ripe ol' age of 18 when his father died suddenly. He was never married but had several close relationships with men, including the composer Wagner. This had lead to the spectulation that he was gay. When he was older he built several fairy tale castles, one you will see further down this post. Eventually he was deemed 'mentally unstable' by the government and forced to give up his crown (his uncle convienently took up the post). A few days later, he went for a walk with a doctor around a lake near Munich and few hours later found dead ... in waist high water and he was known for being an excellent swimmer. Totally Sketchy!

So anywho, Brittany and I went to see two of his castles this weekend. They are situated in the Bavarian Alps a meer hour away from Munich. One was his summer home as a child, Castle Hohenschwangau (pay attention, I will probably only use their real names once) that was built by a beautiful lake.

I like the Orange color personally :)

Schwansee

He is also called the 'Swan King' and several swans can be seen throughout the castles. Here's some more pictures from Hogwarts:

Swan!

Looking out to Cinderella's Castle from Hogwarts

So this is where I will say a few things about the tours of these castles. You must go through the castles with a guide, luckily there are english tours available. The tours themselves are really, really short. The one of Hogwarts was really short, only about 25 minutes. They show you the living quarters of the king and the queen. Sadly, no pictures are allowed!! Brittany and I could not figure out why, something I thought about even more later on in the weekend. Luckily, you can wander the grounds as much as you want and take pictures there. The interesting points from Hogwarts: the kings bedroom was covered in nakey ladies (someone wanted sweet dreams), the king had his own floor, the queen hers and the children were in a completely different building (with a secret door from the queens room to the king), one hundred year old bread! I dont know why they felt the need to keep bread for that long, but hey, lets give it to them for their effort! I was totally the girl who was telling facts before the tour guide actually got to them, sorry Brittany. I was that girl. Oh! And definitely book your tickets in advance online. I bought ours the day before and we skipped the hour-long line at the ticket booth!

After a nice walk by Swan Lake, Brittany and I made our way up to Schloss Neuschwanstein, hereby known as Cinderella's Castle. You'd think with all this German around me I'd be able to pronounce that word but nope. We took this winding path for milessssss, okay like one but it was pretty steep ... at some points haha. I am proud to say that we kept in pace with horses pulling like twenty people up the mountain! Again, not that impressive. Did I mention I'm trying to get in shape? haha Anywho, so Ludwig wanted this castle to overlook his childhood home in the beautiful Alps. Sadly, Ludwig 'died' before the castle was complete so a lot of the interior rooms remain unfinished. I think he actually lived about 170 days in the castle. During the tour (again, short 35 minutes) you do get to see his living quarters, which were quite ellaborate! Again, no photos but I think Brittany snagged a few before getting yelled at by the tour guide behind us. You can see her awesome blog here. You might even see a few shots of me, something I generally dont do with my own camera! My favorite, favorite part was a walkway between his office and his living space. It was made to look like a fake cave, something from one of Wagner's Operas. He also had artwork of Tristian and Isolde all over his bedroom. Very cool.

Courtyard

Looking Back to the Mountains

The best view of the castle is by far from Marianbrücken, a bridge that was built for Ludwig's mother. She was one of the first female mountain climbers in Germany. It is made of iron, but the actual walkway is single planks of wood. Yes, only one layer of wood. It was a little intimidating, especially at the beginning where people tended to cluster. I could definitely see this bridge in a future edition of an engineering disasters book.

View of bridge from Cinderella's Castle

But don't let my fears scare you, like I said BEST view of Cinderella's Castle.

Ahhhhhhhh

Over the Bridge, thats a long way down!

To continue my royal weekend, I went to the Residenz in München. This was the official residence of the royal families while they were in Munich. It's also where their treasury is so you know I was looking at all the awesome jewelry. So some facts about the residenz, geezzz am I sounding like a loser or what? Well, it is extremely large with a beautiful garden. Large amounts of it were destroyed in WWII, enough that large portions of the outer buildings are painted to look like they used to on concrete walls or something. But in the Residenz you CAN take pictures so this time I will show more then talk! Yayyyy!

Birthday Present

Christmas Present

For Dad, Pat and Mattrick

Bavarian Crown: Happy Bday Momsicle

On the Grotto, German verison of the Blob I think

Courtyard Fountain- Noticed how they incorportated the decapitated head of Medusa into the fountain!

Big room with lots and lots of Heads

Hall of Ancestry- Pictures of the German Royal Family and a family tree!

A relic- Apparently relic means to save old gross hands and encase them as something precious. Man, that got lost in translation for me.

Royal Chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary

Some room with a baller ceiling

Okay, I think thats enough for now. You've probably had your fill of Ludwig II! Next I want to learn about his grandfather, Ludwig I, who used to have paintings made of the women that he 'conquered.' There's about 30 of them in another castle in Munich. Also, he later had an affair with someone named Lola Montez or something! Its like a soap opera, seriously!
PS- I am a little sad about the cancelation of Kate Plus 8, I used to love that show before she turned into a celebrity whore (sorry again mom haha).

More Family Celebrations

So August is an important month in the Harrison family for celebrations ... actually only two are, April and August haha (and now May for Jess).

So happy 35th Anniversary Mom and Popsicle! I am sorry I am not there to celebrate it with you in person. But have fun in Boston and have a canoli from Mike's for me! :)

And of course, happy birthday to my wonderful Mother! Love and miss you both! <3

Random Song of the Day

Heard this song the other day ...

I am driving up 85
in the kind of morning that lasts all afternoon
just stuck inside the gloom
Four more exits to my apartment but
I am tempted to keep the car in drive
and leave it all behind

Any guesses?

Around Munich: America! Version

I know, I know, it's been a few weeks. I'm sorry. Don't worry, several people have reminded me to keep up my blog so here goes! Well first, I must use this for a selfish reason and wish my brosky Pat a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

I think we look a lot alike in this picture and it freaks me out a bit haha. Well Pathew, I hope you have a great week off and survive the South Cakalaki heat!

So I've hanging around Munich the past few weeks, enjoying the cold ... and the rain ... haha. But I guess its still better than over 100 degrees the south has been seeing the past few weeks. The only thing of significance I can think of is that I joined a gym last week. I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I am a little outta shape. Okay, a lot. So I have been getting my run on. I just gotta keep telling myself that I could run 13 miles once! Now its like 1.5 or 1 ... I donno, the treadmills are in km and I'm generally too tired to do the conversion. Just keep swimming, I guess.

Lately, I find myself eating large amounts of mexican food, or as I have fondly been calling it, "Germexican." It's pretty good, but its no Chipotle ... oh wait, there's queso so it's much better! (OUCH burnnnn) haha. I"m always in the mood for a good marg so no real complaints.

Brittany's first Marg

Don't worry, I told her about the evils of tequila. I think she survived this time haha. This weekend I ate at Pizza Hut with Rob and Kyle (co-workers). I know, we're in Munich blah blah, but its the only place where they give you freeeee refills (for 50 cents). Bad idea- drink all the soda you can to get your 50 cents worth and then start drinking beer. We sat on Leopoldstrasse to "watch the show" as Rob said and see all the nice cars drive by. I think the highlight of the evening was a white GT3 that did several circles. I personally thought the storm passing over us was cooler, but thats just me :).

Someone got a little crunk, can you tell who? haha We also went to the Chinese Tower thing in the Englishe Garden, which is a huggeee beer garden. Here's a better picture of Kyle with my sweet, sweet new Raybans.



Seriously blogger, I'm gonna punch you

I guess to finish off my "Americans in Munich" post, I will include something I bought yesterday that made me very, so very happy.

BEN AND JERRY'S :D

It was wicked expensive but yayyyy, America! It made my night. I ate it while I watched that Tad Hamilton movie in German, almost like home ... almost. And how adorable is this picture?

Charlie <3

It makes me speak in baby talk and say, "Who's my little snuggle muffin?!" Luckily, that wasnt caught on camera haha. Okay, so it has been requested that I take more pictures of the area where I live so I'll work on that, I promise! I think that's it for today. Happy Monday!