Two weekends ago I tried to go to Madrid again, in hopes of making up the previous attempt that failed due to weather and a failed wake-up call. I left work on the early side to catch yet another train to Dusseldorf. Checked in all as normal, flight to Schiapol was a little late but it didn't seem like it would be a problem as I had a whole hour ( Read more... )

Last Thursday, Thanksgiving, was rather depressing. I have never missed it before and thinking about the food, family, and MST3K marathons I was missing did rather englumen (look for it in Sarah Palin's twitter sometime in the next week!) me for a day or so. Friday morning I set out to Dusseldorf airport, arriving late and almost missing my plane ( Read more... )

I've been writing a bit on FB about Christmasmarkets and I wanted to expand on that a bit. In Germany, around this time of the year, they start having Christmasmarkets in public squares. These consist of a number of rustic looking booths selling assorted craft items and food that you can eat while standing. There is also gluhwein; spices hot ( Read more... )

First off, if you have 15 minutes available watch this ( Read more... )

This weekend was supposed to be great. I was to head out for two days in Madrid, I had all sorts of plans, but unforutnately the weather tore through all of those like a rock through a soggy paper bag. My plane left Dusseldorf about 40 minutes late. With a tight 1 hour connection, it was going to be tough to make it though from my tickets it ( Read more... )

I don't know if you've noticed this, but the song 'Bohemian Rhapsody' is universal. This summer I was at my cousin's wedding and at one point during the reception the DJ played the song. Everyone sang along and it was a really fun moment. This last weekend, when Liz and I were in Amsterdam, we randomly went into what was dubbed a "rock bar" ( Read more... )

Last week a friend of mine from home, Liz, came over for a few days and we took a weekend trip to Amsterdam. She recently lost her job and decided to extend a short trip to Ireland into a longer one. Showed up Wednesday and we went to Heller's a brewpub that, for my money, has the best beer in Koln. Next day she bummed around while I worked and ( Read more... )

My record player. I can't listen to the Beatles, Clash, Stones, Elvis Costello, Zeppelin, so many more, too many to count ( Read more... )

So I've been keeping busy since my last post. In addition to doing nothing social of note for Halloween weekend, outside of watching the Patriots, I've been working on broadening my horizons and educating myself to the cultural treasures of Koln. This week I went to a number of interesting places. The first was the Roman museum. It should ( Read more... )

Or at least I hope it was for you. My plans (seeing Electric Wizard, a band that never tours the US) were a complete bust so....here we are ( Read more... )