Munich, Germany

April 30th
After a late night of celebrating the end of the semester, Rob and I groggily left our gorgeous apartment in Prague and headed for our train with three heavy suitcases and two full backpacks in tow. Our train ride was blissfully uneventful, and we arrived in Munich in the afternoon...

yaaay - the right train!

After hucking our stuff into the hostel, we foraged for food, and found solace in the arms of Burger King. Ick, I know. Sometimes, I've found, nothing says "yeah, you're in a foreign land, but you're still an American," like a burger and fries. It's comforting, really. We then hopped on a tram with one of the monster suitcases to go see my Mom and Brian. As previously mentioned -and a favor for which I am perpetually grateful- they schleped our bag back to the US of A. Our next stop was the HaufBrau House. I've been hearing about this place for YEARS, and while touristy, it definitely exceeded my expectations. Ah-mah-zhing. Rob's buddy Hanno met up with us, and gave us the German lowdown on the place, and a kick-ass restaurant for dinner, because "no one really eats at the Haufbrau House." Proof that I was there:

I ended up on stage with the leiderhosen-clad band...it was Rob's doing...act shocked.

I learned that there are 'drinking teams' that meet biweekly (for YEARS...like fifty years) at the HB, and they have specific seats at specific tables. this is one of their crests.

(note to Mom & Brian: if you got any good group shots of our evening at the HaufBrau, especially one with Hanno, I'd LOVE to post them...mine=not so good.)

May 1
Day two started off much more slowly than day one...we emerged around 11am, and didn't have an itinerary. Goals for the day: the surfer wave, the English Garden, a liter o' beer (or three), and relaxation.

Up first was the surfer wave, which was actually in the English Garden. There's a looooong canal that runs through Munich, and shortly after a bridge is a wave of sorts. I couldn't tell you what was under the surface of the water to create it, and frankly, I don't need to know. I do know, however, that these guys are nuts! They'll ride for a minute or so, then dive back into the foam and float down the river for a bit before swimming like hell for the edge, only to do it all over again...


We wandered through the rest of the Garden, and eventually found our way to a beir garten at the Chinese Tower. Among the Garden's highlights was a nude "beach", a huge patch of grass in the middle of the park where it's apparently okay to be naked. We didn't know about it until we stumbled upon it. Yay.


We also found these crazy ass ducks that ate grass. They were quite particular about just what grass they ate, and would rip it from the ground before chewing it up (I didn't know ducks chewed...now I do):


The giant beer mugs featured in these next shots will soon be seen in a home near you...ours. Seriously.


After a nap and Indian food for dinner (verrrrry German), we met up with Hanno again for beers before calling it a night. Day three was set to start with a mad dash to the airport...

a placeholder...

...until I can wrangle enough time with Mr. Internet to actually post some of the adventures of the last four days. We've hit Munich and Istanbul so far, and its safe to say that they could not be more different.

We're currently in the airport waiting to leave Istanbul for Santorini, and I'm confident that I've spent plenty of time in Turkey for now. Plenty. This place is odd. I can't decide whether I love or hate the people, the culture or the country. More details to come...

Annnnd I apologize for the insane lack of photos of recent posts, all the pics are locked in my cameras (again, waiting for some quality time with the computer to load 'em). Here's an oldie but goodie to hold you over:

I'm certain I've posted this one before, but it is pretty awesome

***UPDATE***
I wrote the above post at 9am this morning in Istanbul. It is currently 5:45pm in Greece, and we're STILL not on Santorini. Thanks to a delay on Olympic Airlines in Istanbul, we missed our connecting flight in Athens. Pleased. Especially when I asked employees MULTIPLE times if we would make our connecting flight, with each reassuring me that we'd be fine. We literally ran through passport control (seriously, like cutting in front of people...always makes ya feel good) and flying through customs only to arrive upstairs to recheck our bags and find that they'd left without us. Thanks. We're now lucky enough to be "compensated" with 12Euro each for meals and a 6 hour wait. Nice. "Well," we thought, "lets make the best of it and get some stuff done on the internet..." We then discovered that Athens Airport only offers 45 free minutes of internet. Awesome. An awesome way to start the Grecian leg of our tour.

Fingers crossed that things go more smoothly moving forward, eh?!

we're on tour...

...yet it doesn't have a name. I've been wracking my brain for an awesome name for Rob and Nicole's 2009 World Tour, but nothing's hit me yet. So far, my fave is Bottoms Up Tour 2009. I'm still waiting for the bolt of lightning that tells me 'this is the name o' your tour...'

We've spent the last few days in Munich, Germany, and leave early tomorrow morning for Istabul, Turkey. I'm excited for Rob to visit a new country, since many of those we've seen together have been repeats for Mr. World Traveler. : ]

More pics and posts as we go...although they'll probably be less frequent than before...