So let this mark the glorious return of your favorite European resident to the musings of the information age. Ah the internet where anyone can dispense their random thoughts and maybe a few people will actually give them a read...how I have missed you. I do apologize once again for the 5 or 6 of you (my readership appears to be growing) who may enjoy the nuggets that I dispense from time to time. Unfortunately, work (and The Wire...seriously, how did I miss this show) gets in the way and after a long day of US GAAP-ing it, sometimes I just don’t feel that creative. My apologies...but alas here is a quick recap of things I haven’t wrote about from 2011.
Women’s World Cup Final - July 2011
So last July Frankfurt played host to the final game of the Women’s World Cup in soccer and wouldn’t ya know it, the American ladies were playing in this game. If you go back to your Facebook / Twitter / MySpace (ha...MySpace) feeds from last July you may notice that the US was pretty wrapped up in this run by the ladies (or just the hotness of the moment that was Hope Solo and Alex Morgan as they were described as “fly” by more than one of my buddies). So once the US Women beat Brazil in the quarterfinals I decided to try and find tickets and actually lucked into one when my friend Jeff bought two before realizing that his wife would be back in the US. So for the fair price of buying beer for the night (actually I think Jeff may have won on that level) I had a ticket to the game.
We met up at an Irish pub (where all English speaking people gravitate to in all European cities) to have a few before heading out to the stadium. Well the bar was completely packed full of Americans and Japanese folks heading to the game and the animosity of WW2 was sort of palpable amongst the American contingent there who were born 40 year after Pearl Harbor. At least for a few hours any progress in relations with our foreign counterparts was set back by at least 30 years. No reason to go into all that though. After we got into the game it became very apparent that we were in hostile territory as all neutrals in the crowd (i.e. Germans) were predictably pulling for the Japanese. Some said it was because of Fukushima, others because they were the new kids on the block, but I say once Axis always Axis.***
 |
| Hope Solo pumping up the crowd pre penalties |
I won’t bore you with recapping the game (we lost in penalty kicks) but needless to say it was exciting and quite frankly the US blew it by squandering numerous chances in the first half against a Japanese squad that was hapless for the first 30 minutes of that game. The more interesting development was that beer sales do not get cut off in Germany. So needless to say after two overtimes and penalty kicks I was pretty kicked myself. The most memorable part of the game to me came on the way out. The weather was pretty crap that day in Frankfurt so I was rocking my Cleveland Indians pull over which led to a guy and his son (probably around a freshman in high school) from Ohio striking up a conversation with me (which I am sure they both regret now). Sometime during the walk out of the stadium to the train the kid made the comment that the team did really well to make it to the final. Well this comment didn’t sit so well with me and I decided to school this kid exclaiming “Second place! Second place! American’s don’t settle for second place! Second place is the first loser and celebrating that is a load of dookie! Do we cheer when Ohio State comes in second in the Big 10! NO! Was I happy that the Bucks just made the BCS National Championship game? NO! Rooting for second place is a losers attitude and we are not losers...we are AMERICAN!” This is a very paraphrased account of this speech which went on for a long, long time and I am sure the kid wondered just what the hell kind of savage human being he was striking up a conversation with. One thing I did notice, however, was that the father didn’t say anything and just nodded in agreement with me. Maybe he appreciated the rantings and ravings of a mad man...one can only hope.*
Mallorca - October 2011
In the middle of October I got to head to Mallorca for a weekend for some work meetings (tough life I know) and a bit of island life relaxing in the middle of the Mediterranean. Not much of anything eventful happened on this trip other than going to some meetings that were run in German so I didn’t understand 98% of what was going on and really spending the majority of my time trying to finalize an 8-K that was going live the following Monday. Still this was a very beautiful place and one I wish I was just there to enjoy some time for. Also, many people refer to Mallorca as the 17th German state as many people flock there for their vacation and parts of Palma de Mallorca actually have German restaurants / bars / bier gartens. So maybe there will be a return visit in my future.
 |
| Mallorca @ Night |
Amsterdam - July & November 2011
So given the fact that I have some very good friends who live or were living in Amsterdam I have made two voyages to this fine city during 2011. The first trip was to catch up with my good friends Matt and Kim and to take part in the hallowed gaming tradition of ex-patriot Amsterdamers better known as the Moronathon. The Moronathon is just as it sounds, a day of field events of moronic proportions with the top point earner taking home the coveted Duck and the bragging rights that go along with this title. I actually had a very important job leading up to the Moronathon as my predecessor in Germany, Steve, was the reigning two time champion of the Moronathon and had repatriated back to the US leaving the duck in my protection. After a safe voyage on the ICE the Duck was back in the Netherlands and ready to be bestowed upon the next champion.
 |
| The Duck on his way back to the Dam |
The events of the day are fairly simple, each person is tasked to bring at least 6 cans of beer with them (bringing more is highly encouraged) and their gaming spirit. The events kicked off with the traditional Masterpunting where the object is to punt a football (American style) and then run to retrieve your own punt. If you don’t get that play one words here, then you may be reading the wrong blog. Other events included a crab walking challenge where you had to chug a beer for each lap (4 in total), the Dickmans challenge where place a Dickmans (basically a chocolate covered marshmallow thing) on one end of a plank and jump on the other end to catch this in your mouth, Longest Hanger where you hang from a tree as long as you can while the other competitors try to knock you off with those core ball things, and an egg toss that basically turns into people throwing eggs at one another as people are pretty much drizunk when this occurs. The final event of the day is a foot race through the park that requires you to traverse a shallow canal in the Vondelpark (I think you may catch a form of herpes by just jumping in). At the end of the day the fearless J-E captured his 3rd Moronathon (Steve is the only other champion) and relished the spoils of his victory.
Nothing much eventful happened the remainder of that trip as Matt and I were both wiped from the day’s events. However, catching up with old friends is always an excuse to get out of town. Which brings me to my second trip to the Dam in November when I went with my buddy Alex to visit our good friend Steffen who was working on a short term secondment to Amsterdam. This also happened to be the same weekend that the Morons (basically all the guys in AMS) were saying farewell to one of our own. So knowing that this would be an epic party I brought Alex and Steffen along for the ride. So off we went into the night in Amsterdam...(Ed. note...this section has been removed for legal purposes)...however the crowning achievement of the night was seeing our departing Moron puking into a canal. I can only hope that when I eventually leave Frankfurt that there are classy gents who will watch me lose my cookies in the Main.**
Visiting with Sneaky Pete and Sarah in Milan - Thanksgiving 2011
So as it would be cost prohibitive to travel home for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, I did the next best thing and took off to Milan for a weekend to spend the holiday with my very good friends Pete and Sarah. Pete is a buddy from work in Atlanta who is doing the same thing as I am, but in Milan, and we are basically operating on the same tour schedule (Pete and Sarah left one month before I did). So as we are displaced American’s abroad, they graciously offered to host me for the weekend and enjoy some delicious T’giving fare! I arrived on Friday in Milan and after a quick lunch and beer we were off to see Da Vinci’s The Last Supper. This was a truly amazing experience and something I would recommend doing anytime you may be in Milan. Although you cannot take pictures of the fresco anymore, it is just something that is stunning to be experienced in person. The rest of the day was spent with a quick wander through parts of the city and then to dinner to get some truly amazing pizza. This stuff was really stinking good and I am very jealous that Pete and Sarah get this quality of food on a daily basis! Also, we had a quick trip to the Tiki Bar which I have been told has since closed which is unfortunate as that was some fun times.
 |
| On top of the Duomo |
Saturday was spent heading over to an open air market in Milan to pick up the essentials for the evening’s T’giving fest of roasted chicken (a whole turkey is incredibly hard to get in Europe), butternut squash & pumpkin soup, asparagus, & potatoes. Sarah was the bomb for cooking this feast and it was really stinking good. So after a quick bite for lunch after the market, Pete and I went for a visit to the Duomo and this is an impressive building. We took the steps up to the roof which is worth a visit if you ever find yourself in Milan. From there Pete took me through some other random neighborhoods in Milan before we went to head back for Thanksgiving dinner. Sunday was my final day there and we spent most of the day wandering around the Castle area and through the park right by there. Then for a final meal at a restaurant that Pete and Sarah affectionately called the cheese place (as they have this massive and amazing cheese app...crazy good mozzarella). After the late lunch it was time to depart back to the real world in FFM.
Berlin - June 2011
So yeah there is no rhyme or reason to my ordering on this, so sue me. I had a long weekend in June so I decided to take a road trip with two guys who worked for my main client (they have both subsequently returned home) to Berlin. I probably should have granted Berlin a full posting of its own as it really is an impressive city with a ton of history around every corner. Still nothing funny happened so I guess upon return it didn’t stick out to mind so much. So here are a couple of quick highlights and things you could do in Berlin.
 |
| Olympic Stadion |
- Fat Tire Bike Tours - I have had nothing but great experiences with this company. I first went on one of their tours in Paris with my friend Emily in 2010 and it was great. The Berlin tours were amazing too. We ended up doing two of their tours in Berlin (general and WW2/Nazi tour) and while the WW2 repeated some things, it was still very interesting. So basically this hits the highlights, Checkpoint Charlie, Jewish Memorial, Brandenburg Gate, Tiergarten (with bier garten stop!), Bebelplatz (where the Nazis like to burn books), etc. Use them, love them...seriously great stuff.
- Berlin Dom - Very cool church in Berlin, worth while to climb up to the top and walk around the dome.
- Potsdam - Not exactly in “Berlin” but worth the trek out there (I think you can catch a train there) as everywhere you look is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the old palaces and gardens are quite cool.
- Museum Island - Berlin has a ton of great museums, we did the Neues Museum which housed a lot of ancient Egyptian artifacts as well as the Pergamon Museum which holds the Ishtar Gate from ancient Babylon as well as the Pergamon Alter (hence the name) from the ancient Greeks.
- Olympic Stadium - I saved this for last as this was my favorite thing I did. Unfortunately the weekend I was there they were setting up for a concert inside the stadium so there were no tours offered, but just to be in the area where Jesse Owens did his thing in 1936 was unreal. I just remember humming Carmine Ohio as I walked up the Olympischer Platz, calling Myers and Stabone as I knew they would appreciate it, and just soaking in everything about what the greatest Buckeye did there.
 |
| Brandenburg Gate @ Night |
Well that about sums up what else I did in 2011 in somewhere around 2,500 words. The only other trips were my travels back home where I delivered an epic best man’s speech for Marty and Becky, attended Forever 29 where we tried to figure out if Tyler is a hipster or homeless, Sheldofest which was pretty epic, and just catching up with all of you fools back on the state side of it all.
I do apologize for my lack of posting but I have a number of ideas so hopefully as I embark on year 2 of this journey in Europe (yeah I have been here over a year now) I will be able to back fill some of 2012 and keep the rest going on a relatively real time basis.
See you on the flip.
*Author’s note...I believe I cleaned up my language here...let’s just say I am sure this was full of a more fiery vitriol as after the 10+ beers I had consumed the filter was definitely off. Still the dad didn’t seem to mind.
** Just kidding Mom!
*** Late note: This is a joke, I hope people realize this without having to reference this.
*** Late note: This is a joke, I hope people realize this without having to reference this.
No comments:
Post a Comment