All's well in Allemagne
Doing well in Germany. Finally have found a rhythm to the tourist life--it helped that I did not succumb to sleepiness, but rather scurried out of the hotel as soon as protein was ingested and clothes were on.
I spent two hours driving about 25 miles--well, no. I took two hours to get to a destination 25 miles from here, but in fact, I probably drove 70 or 80 miles of back roads and crap, getting "lost" in my own special way. I only had to backtrack about 5 miles; I kept forging on through, down cowpaths if I had to (and if I saw a sign that had words on it I thought I recognized). I did spend about 10 minutes trying to find a MediaMarkt to buy a camera cord and an ipod output cable for the car, but the sign was deceptive and no MediaMarkt was found. (As it turns out, I don't need the camera cord, and I'm rocking out to Armed Forces Radio stations so much I don't know if I care if I get the ipod cord. How is it that "the Eagle" or whatever is better than 99% of all stations in America?
I also spent about 10 minutes snapping pics at a scenic overlook, and maybe another 15 minutes wandering a German grocery store, buying candy for home. So, 1.5 hours to go 25 miles. Not as bad now, huh?
You can click on that pic to go through to the Facebook album. By far not the full suite of pictures, though I must say my pic rate is slower than I'd've expected. I still have room for 2500 more on my memory card. Pshaw.
The ruins pictured above are Disibodenberg, where Hildegard of Bingen spent her life from age 8 to about 42 or so. Before she founded her abbeys. I really liked it--possibly because moss-covered ruins are kind of a Thing for me. I'm pretty sure that's where the opening chapters of the next book take place. To that end, I came back to a cafe and rewrote the opening chapters of my book so that they take place there. Haha!
Also, it took me only 25 minutes to get back from Disibodenberg, but a large chunk of it was on highways with speedlimits of 130 km/hr. So. That helps. Cowpaths: not so fast. Though there are some fun slower roads. The country roads in the valleys here curve and twist, but not too much. So you can see about five miles ahead and know if you can really start speeding (because they are narrow country roads, in spite of everything). Those are fun.
Other than drinking a super decadent hot chocolate, writing a whole bunch, and actually eating dinner for the first time since I've been in the country, not much else to report for the day! I've gotten used to being a crap German speaker. My biggest problem is that French tries to horn in on almost every conversation. I literally have to shut my mouth on it.
Oh, yes, my sore throat has dwindled to a soreish throat, and sniffles. And I have a lump under my tongue. Possibly a blocked salivary gland brought on by the dehydration of the flight. Oh, joy. This led to some midnight googling and all sorts of weird stories about squeezing out the little salt nubbin. "Rice krispie shaped" (I don't know why "rice shaped" never shows up in these discussions) is the very vivid descriptor of extruded salt lumps. I am passing on extrusion. However, the lump is rice krispie (or just rice) shaped.
Swell.
More than you wanted to know, I'm sure!
I spent two hours driving about 25 miles--well, no. I took two hours to get to a destination 25 miles from here, but in fact, I probably drove 70 or 80 miles of back roads and crap, getting "lost" in my own special way. I only had to backtrack about 5 miles; I kept forging on through, down cowpaths if I had to (and if I saw a sign that had words on it I thought I recognized). I did spend about 10 minutes trying to find a MediaMarkt to buy a camera cord and an ipod output cable for the car, but the sign was deceptive and no MediaMarkt was found. (As it turns out, I don't need the camera cord, and I'm rocking out to Armed Forces Radio stations so much I don't know if I care if I get the ipod cord. How is it that "the Eagle" or whatever is better than 99% of all stations in America?
I also spent about 10 minutes snapping pics at a scenic overlook, and maybe another 15 minutes wandering a German grocery store, buying candy for home. So, 1.5 hours to go 25 miles. Not as bad now, huh?
You can click on that pic to go through to the Facebook album. By far not the full suite of pictures, though I must say my pic rate is slower than I'd've expected. I still have room for 2500 more on my memory card. Pshaw.
The ruins pictured above are Disibodenberg, where Hildegard of Bingen spent her life from age 8 to about 42 or so. Before she founded her abbeys. I really liked it--possibly because moss-covered ruins are kind of a Thing for me. I'm pretty sure that's where the opening chapters of the next book take place. To that end, I came back to a cafe and rewrote the opening chapters of my book so that they take place there. Haha!
Also, it took me only 25 minutes to get back from Disibodenberg, but a large chunk of it was on highways with speedlimits of 130 km/hr. So. That helps. Cowpaths: not so fast. Though there are some fun slower roads. The country roads in the valleys here curve and twist, but not too much. So you can see about five miles ahead and know if you can really start speeding (because they are narrow country roads, in spite of everything). Those are fun.
Other than drinking a super decadent hot chocolate, writing a whole bunch, and actually eating dinner for the first time since I've been in the country, not much else to report for the day! I've gotten used to being a crap German speaker. My biggest problem is that French tries to horn in on almost every conversation. I literally have to shut my mouth on it.
Oh, yes, my sore throat has dwindled to a soreish throat, and sniffles. And I have a lump under my tongue. Possibly a blocked salivary gland brought on by the dehydration of the flight. Oh, joy. This led to some midnight googling and all sorts of weird stories about squeezing out the little salt nubbin. "Rice krispie shaped" (I don't know why "rice shaped" never shows up in these discussions) is the very vivid descriptor of extruded salt lumps. I am passing on extrusion. However, the lump is rice krispie (or just rice) shaped.
Swell.
More than you wanted to know, I'm sure!